Abstract
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) takes an architectural approach to designing and implementing IT solutions. Although it is fast emerging as one of the major architectural styles to execute enterprise architecture management, academic empirical research on SOA adoption is scarce, with most studies focusing on qualitative analysis. This study investigates organizational SOA adoption in South Africa and combines the perspectives of the diffusion of innovations theory and the technology-organization-environment framework into one comprehensive model of SOA adoption. In order to validate the research instrument and to gauge the state of SOA adoption, an online survey was conducted among enterprise architects in South African organizations. The survey provides insights in the perceived risks, obstacles but also expected benefits of SOA adoption. The results also highlight a number of factors significantly influencing SOA adoption in South Africa. Use of multiple standards and platforms, compatibility, top management support, good governance and strategy, adequate human and financial resources, vendor support for integration and development tools are all significant factors for a fruitful SOA implementation. Finally, all of the above adoption factors as well as cost and complexity were also found to correlate significantly with the degree of success of the SOA implementation as perceived by the IT or EA department.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This article is an expanded version of a PACIS conference paper (MacLennan and Van Belle 2012).
In the spirit of Open Data, the questionnaire, full dataset and detailed research report are available from the authors on simple email request.
References
AmberPoint (2008) State of SOA adoption survey: gauging the use of SOA systems in the enterprise. Retrieved 14 Apr 2010, from http://www.ebizq.net/white_papers/8864.html
Ayed A, Fielt E, Korthaus A, Rosemann M (2011a) Where do we find services in enterprise architectures? A comparative approach. ACIS 2011 proceedings
Ayed A, Rosemann M, Fielt E, Korthaus A (2011b) Enterprise architecture and the integration of service-oriented architecture. PACIS 2011 proceedings, AIS Electronic Library, Paper 16
Barry DK (2003) Web services and service-oriented architectures: the savvy manager’s guide. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San-Francisco
Basaglia S, Caporarello L, Magni M, Pennarola F (2008) Environmental and organizational drivers influencing the adoption of VoIP. Inf Syst E-Bus Manag 7(1):103–118
Basole RC (2005) Mobilizing the enterprise: a conceptual model of transformational value and enterprise readiness. Paper presented at the 26th American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM) National Conference, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
Becker A, Widjaja T, Buxmann P (2011) Value potentials and challenges of service-oriented architectures. Bus Inf Syst Eng 4:199–210
Boh WF, Yellin D (2006) Using enterprise architecture standards in managing information technology. J Manag Inf Syst 23(3):163–207
Bradford M, Florin J (2003) Examining the role of innovation diffusion factors on the implementation success of enterprise resource planning systems. Int J Account Inf Syst 4:205–225
Chen M (2003) Factors affecting the adoption and diffusion of XML and Web services standards for E-business systems. Int J Hum Comput Stud 58:259–279
Chen M (2005) An analysis of the driving forces for Web services adoption. IseB 3(3):265–279
Chen ANK, Sen S, Shao BBM (2006) Strategies for effective Web services adoption for dynamic e-businesses. Decis Support Syst 42(2):789–809
Ciganek AP, Haines MN, Haseman WD (2005) Challenges of adopting Web services: experiences from the financial industry. Paper presented at the 38th annual Hawaii international conference on system sciences, Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA
Ciganek AP, Haines MN, Haseman WD (2006) Horizontal and vertical factors influencing the adoption of Web services. Paper presented at the 39th annual Hawaii international conference on system sciences, Kauai, Hawaii, USA
Davis FD (1989) Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Q 13(3):319–340
DeLone WH, McLean ER (1992) Information systems success: the quest for the dependent variable. Inf Syst Res 3(1):60–95
Demirkan H, Kauffman RJ, Vayghan JA, Fill H-G, Karagiannis D, Maglio PP (2008) Service-oriented technology and management: perspectives on research and practice for the coming decade. Electron Commer Res Appl 7(4):356–376
DeVellis RF (1991) Scale development. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, NJ
Edigheji O (ed) (2010) Constructing a democratic developmental state in South Africa: potentials and challenges. HRC Press, Cape Town
Erl T (2005) Service-oriented architecture: concepts, technology, and design. Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, Upper Saddle River
Fagerberg J (2004) Innovation: a guide to the literature. In: Fagerberg J, Mowery DC, Nelson RR (eds) The Oxford handbook of innovation. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 459–484
Flowers K (2009) Changing the game: how coca cola enterprises is leveraging SOA to transform their enterprise presentation at SOA summit 2009, Scottsdale, AZ, USA. Retrieved 21 June 2009, from http://softwareag.s3.amazonaws.com/presentations/game.pdf
Frambach RT, Schillewaert N (2002) Organizational innovation adoption: a multi-level framework of determinants and opportunities for future research. J Bus Res 55:163–176
Gartner (2009) Gartner survey shows 40 per cent of SOA users don’t measure time to achieve return on investment. Retrieved 31 May 2009, from http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=978712
Gefen D, Ragowsky A (2005) A multi-level approach to measuring the benefits of an ERP system in manufacturing firms. Inf Syst Manag 22(1):18–25
Hackney R, Xu H, Ranchhod A (2006) Evaluating Web services: towards a framework for emerging contexts. Eur J Oper Res 173:1161–1174
Haines MN (2007) The impact of service-oriented application development on software development methodology. In: Proceedings of the 40th HICCS, Hawaii
Hall BH (2004) Innovation and diffusion. In: Fagerberg J, Mowery DC, Nelson RR (eds) The Oxford handbook of innovation. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 459–484
Horwitz RB, Currie W (2007) Another instance where privatization trumped liberalization: the politics of telecommunications reform in South Africa—a ten-year retrospective. Telecommun Policy 31:445–462
Iacovou CL, Benbasat I, Dexter AS (1995) Electronic data interchange and small organizations: adoption and impact of technology. MIS Q 19(4):465–485
IBM (n d a) IBM SOA maturity assessment tool. Retrieved 17 Apr 2010, from https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/cc/flash/soa/en/us/Tool.htm
Jamieson S (2004) Likert scales: how to (ab)use them. Med Educ 38:1217–1218
Khoshnevis S, Aliee FS, Jamshidi P (2009) Model driven approach to service oriented enterprise architecture. In: Proceedings of the IEEE services computing conference, pp 279–286
Kistasamy C, van der Merwe A, de La Harpe A (2010, 25–29 October) The relationship between service oriented architecture and enterprise architecture. 14th IEEE international enterprise distributed object computing conference workshops
Kontogiannis K, Lewis GA, Smith DB (2007) The landscape of service-oriented systems: a research perspective for maintenance and reengineering. In: Proceedings of the 11th European conference on software maintenance and reengineering “software evolution in complex software intensive systems”, Amsterdam
Kraak A, Press K (2007) Human resource development review 2008 education, employment and skills in South Africa. HSRC Press, Cape Town
Kuan KKY, Chau PYK (2001) A perception-based model for EDI adoption in small businesses using a technology-organization-environment framework. Inf Manag 38:507–521
Kumar S, Dakshinamoorth V, Krishnan M (2007) Does SOA improve the supply chain? An empirical analysis of the impact of SOA adoption on electronic supply chain performance. In: Proceedings of the 40th HICSS 2007, Hawaii
Lewis G, Simanta S, Morris E, Wrage L, Smith D (2007) Common misconceptions about service-oriented architecture. In: Proceedings of ICCBSS, pp 123–130
Lippert SK, Govindarajulu C (2006) Technological, organizational, and environmental antecedents to Web services adoption. Commun Int Inf Manag Assoc 6(1):146–158
Löhe J, Legner C (2010) SOA adoption in business networks: do service-oriented architectures really advance inter-organisational integration? Electron Mark 20(3–4):181–196
Luthria H, Rabhi F (2009) Service oriented computing in practice—an agenda for research into the factors influencing the organizational adoption of service oriented architectures. J Theor Appl Electron Commer Res 4(1):39–56
MacLennan E, Van Belle JP (2012) Factors affecting the organizational adoption of service-oriented architecture (SOA). PACIS 2012 Proceedings, AIS Electronic Library. Paper 21. Available from: http://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2012/21
Manes AT (2009) Application platform strategies blog: SOA: it’s dead, Jim! Retrieved 19 June 2009, from http://apsblog.burtongroup.com/2009/05/soa-its-dead-jim.html
Marais D (2009) ICT as an enabler for socio-economic development in South Africa. MBA Thesis, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
McKendrick J (2009) Service-oriented architecture blog: Forrester: only one percent have negative experience with SOA. Retrieved 20 June 2009, from http://blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/?p=2053
Meehan M (2008) SOA adoption marked by broad failure and wild success. Retrieved 21 June 2009, from http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid26_gci1319609,00.html
Mueller B, Viering G, Legner C, Riempp G (2010) Understanding the economic potential of service-oriented architectures. J Manag Inf Syst 26(4):145–180
Ngai EWT, Cheng TCE, Ho SSM (2004) Critical success factors of web-based supply chain management system using exploratory factor analysis. Prod Plan Control 5(6):622–630
O’Brien L, Bass L, Merson P (2005) Quality attributes and service-oriented architectures. Technical Note CMU/SEI-2005-TN-014
O’Sullivan R, Butler T, O’Reilly P (2012) Realizing the business value of service-oriented architecture: the construction of a theoretical framework. In: Proceedings of the 6th European conference on information management and evaluation, pp 258–266
OASIS (2006) Reference model for service oriented architecture 1.0. Retrieved 21 June 2009, from http://docs.oasis-open.org/soa-rm/v1.0/soa-rm.pdf
Oh LB, Leong YX, Teo HH, Ravichandran T (2007) Service-oriented architecture and organisational integration: an empirical study of IT-enabled sustained competitive advantage. In: Proceedings of the 28th ICIS 2007, Montreal
Papazoglou MP, van den Heuvel W-J (2007) Service oriented architectures: approaches, technologies and research issues. VLDB J 16:389–415
Peppard J, Ward J (2004) Beyond strategic information systems: towards an IS capability. J Strateg Inf Syst 13(2):167–194
Phippen AD, Taylor J, Allen R (2005) Issues in moving from Web services to service orientation. Internet Res 15(5):518–526
Ren M, Lyytinen K (2008) Building enterprise architecture agility and sustenance with SOA. Commun AIS 22:75–86
Rogers EM (2003) Diffusion of innovations, 5th edn. The Free Press, New York
Schindler E (2008) Service-oriented architecture pays off for synovus financial. Retrieved 27 June 2009, from http://www.cio.com/article/451894
Schmidt M-T, Kalyana SS (2004) The on demand operating environment. Retrieved 30 June 2009, from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/i-odoe1/
Shankararaman V, Kazmi P (2011, 5–7 September). Unifying EA, BPM and SOA through a synergistic framework. IEEE 13th conference on commerce and enterprise computing (CEC)
Swanson EB (1994) Information systems innovation among organizations. Manage Sci 40(9):1069–1092
TechTarget (2010) State of SOA survey 2010. Retrieved 22 Apr 2010, from http://media.techtarget.com/searchSOA/downloads/TTAG-State-of-SOA-2010-execSummary-working-523%5B1%5D.pdf
Teo HH, Wei KK, Benbasat I (2003) Predicting intention to adopt interorganizational linkages: an institutional perspective. MIS Q 27(1):19–49
Tornatzky LG, Fleischer M (1990) The processes of technological innovation. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA
Varadan R, Channabasavaiah K, Simpson S, Holley K, Allam A (2008) Increasing business flexibility and SOA adoption through effective SOA governance. IBM Syst J 47(3):473–488
Veger M (2008) A stage maturity model for the adoption of an enterprise-wide service-oriented architecture (SMM-SOA): a multi-case study research. Master’s dissertation, University of Twente
Venkatesh V, Morris MG, Davis GB, Davis FD (2003) User acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. MIS Q 27(3):425–478
Walker L (2007) IBM business transformation enabled by service-oriented architecture. IBM Syst J 46(4):651–667
Wily CA (2008) CA Wily TechWeb study results. Retrieved 31 May 2009, from http://www.ca.com/files/SupportingPieces/cmp-global-survey_196383.pdf
World Wide Web Consortium (2004) Web services glossary. Retrieved 31 May 2009, from http://www.w3.org/TR/ws-gloss/
Wu C (2004) A readiness model for adopting Web services. J Enterp Inf Manag 17(5):361–371
Zhu K, Kraemer KL, Xu S (2006) The process of innovation assimilation by firms in different countries: a technology diffusion perspective on E-business. Manage Sci 52(10):1557–1576
Acknowledgments
This research was partly financed by the South African National Research Foundation. The research would not have been possible without the enthusiastic response from the many survey participants. The rigour of the paper was increased by the valuable comments provided by the editor and anonymous reviewers. Any imperfections remain the full responsibility of the authors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
MacLennan, E., Van Belle, JP. Factors affecting the organizational adoption of service-oriented architecture (SOA). Inf Syst E-Bus Manage 12, 71–100 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-012-0212-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-012-0212-x