Collaboration in Information Technology within the Committee on Institutional Cooperation
Open Access
- Author:
- Gilbert, Claire Krendl
- Graduate Program:
- Higher Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- December 07, 2012
- Committee Members:
- Kimberly Griffin, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Kimberly Griffing, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
John Thomas Harwood, Committee Member
Dorothy H Evensen, Committee Member
Aaron Wachhaus, Committee Member
Roger Lewis Geiger, Special Member - Keywords:
- Collaboration
Information Technology
Higher Education
Case Study - Abstract:
- This study is motivated by the increased scholarly interest in collaboration within higher education, as well as the specific rise of Information Technology (IT) collaboration as an organizational strategy. Existing research on IT collaborations has left several openings for additional work, namely, an investigation of the factors that IT leaders consider when deciding to pursue a collaboration, the relative weight that is placed on costs and benefits, and whether these calculations have changed based on the altered nature of higher education since the economic crisis of 2008. This dissertation is a case study focused on Information Technology collaboration within an existing academic consortium: the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). Specifically, this study explores attitudes and practices related to institutional collaboration among Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and other IT leaders within the consortium to determine why collaboration is—or is not—pursued, what happens when a collaboration begins, and how collaboration is viewed by CIOs. Using semi-structured interviews and participant questionnaires, this study sought to answer three primary research questions: 1. How do IT leaders view the idea of collaboration? 2. To what extent and with whom have institutions pursued inter- or intra-institutional collaborations? 3. How and why do IT leaders make decisions about whether or not to engage in collaborative activities? Overall, it does not appear that any one factor determines whether and how IT leaders collaborate on either an intra- or inter-institutional basis. Rather, there is a complex decision making process occurring that is not fully clear. The level of interest in collaboration, the perceived benefits of it, and the actual instances discussed differed widely amongst participants. This study presents a conceptual framework for understanding the primary factors IT leaders identified as influencing their decision making about collaboration. The Information Technology Collaboration Framework (ITCF) is a visual representation of the potential influence of factors IT leaders consider when making decisions about engagement in an intra- or inter-institutional collaboration. Additionally, rather than supporting a rational model conception of collaboration leveraged in past work, the findings indicate that decision making for IT leaders in the study is a matter of individual context and perspective more appropriate to a situated decision making approach.