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The role of context in IT assimilation: A multi-method study of a SaaS platform in the US nonprofit sector

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
European Journal of Information Systems

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) operate in environments characterized by growing competition for resources and greater stakeholder demands for accountability, which makes deploying and maintaining information systems a struggle. In this competitive, resource-constrained environment, enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms offer NPOs a cost-effective way access reliable, low-maintenance information technology services. Thus, the extent to which NPOs assimilate SaaS is an important area of inquiry. Yet despite the wealth of research on organizational IT assimilation, we know little regarding whether, when, and how NPOs assimilate IT innovations. We further our understanding of NPO assimilation of SaaS by conducting a context-based study. To do so, we employ multiple methods with data collected from US-based NPOs executives. Our first study showed that organizational factors (e.g., readiness, top management participation) and environmental factors (e.g., social gains, industry) affect the degree to which NPOs assimilate SaaS. However, we also found that technological factors do not appear to play a significant role in NPO SaaS assimilation. We conducted a phenomenological analysis to shed further light on this unexpected finding. Our analysis found that readiness to adopt SaaS, perceptions about SaaS complexity, and the use of outside consultants all played a key role in NPOs’ assimilation process.

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Figure 1
Figure 2

Note: Standardized beta weights are reported; *p < .05; **p < .01; *** p < .001.

Figure 3

Notes Top beta weight = highly assimilated organizations; Bottom beta weight = discontinued organizations. Constructs and paths in bold = Significantly different group difference at p < 0.05.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Ryan T. Wright

  2. College of Business, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Nicholas Roberts

  3. Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

    David Wilson

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  1. Ryan T. Wright
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Correspondence to Ryan T. Wright.

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Editor: Frantz Rowe.

Associate Editor: Yujong Hwang.

Appendices

Appendix A: Literature review

We used a systematic approach in reviewing the contextual assimilation literature for this study. We first searched the publication histories of each of the journals in the AIS basket of eight (Saunders et al, 2007) for studies on assimilation of technologies, and we performed more general searches by keyword using Google Scholar. We used keywords related to assimilation of technology, as well as those relating to NPOs and cloud computing. To ensure that we fully examined the literature on NPO assimilation, we also searched through the top journals from public administration, including Public Administration Review, Administration & Society, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, the American Review of Public Administration, the International Review of Public Administration, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

For inclusion in our literature review, a retrieved article had to fulfill a number of criteria. The article had to be empirical (either quantitative or qualitative) and have technology assimilation as a key dependent variable under examination. In the for-profit sector, we limited our set of articles to only those addressing late-stage assimilation (as opposed to early-stage adoption).

As the articles addressing assimilation in NPOs and assimilation of cloud technologies were much less numerous, we relaxed this requirement for studies examining assimilation in the nonprofit sector or of cloud technologies. A study in the table focused on adoption rather than assimilation is marked with an asterisk under the “Sector” column. In order to be classified as a nonprofit organization study in our literature review, the paper had to examine true nonprofit organizations such as voluntary organizations, charities, and the like. Public organizations such as governments or utility companies were excluded. Additionally, NPOs in the education or healthcare industries (e.g., universities and hospitals) were excluded (Table 10).

Table 10 Summary of prior literature addressing IT assimilation in organizations
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Appendix B: Items and psychometric properties

See Table 11.

Table 11 Measurement items and psychometric properties
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Appendix C: Industry NTEE code counts

Table 12 is the breakdown of the different nonprofit verticals that responded to the two surveys request according to the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE).

Table 12 Industry NTEE codes
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Appendix D: Concept maps

There are several cues a reader should look for when interpreting these concept maps. First, a reader will see many words populated throughout the figure and attached to nodes (e.g., very small circles). These words are the concepts that are also developed through the previously mentioned bootstrapping procedure from related words in the dataset. All of the concepts that are relevant (i.e., likelihood greater than 0%) are shown in the figures. Next, one will see these concepts grouped by circles. These circles of concepts are called themes. The location of the themes is calculated by the relationship between each concept. Themes help the reader understand the co-occurrence between concepts. Third, the reader should note the links between concepts (i.e., lines). These links from the concept nodes represent a likelihood of the concepts being mentioned together. Fourth, spatially, the closer the concept nodes and themes are the more likely they are to be statistically related. For example, concept nodes on the opposite side of the figure are the least likely to be related (Figures 4, 5, 6).

Figure 4
figure 4

Concept map perceived readiness for IT innovation.

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Figure 5
figure 5

Concept map for perceived complexity.

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Figure 6
figure 6

Concept map for trialability.

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Wright, R.T., Roberts, N. & Wilson, D. The role of context in IT assimilation: A multi-method study of a SaaS platform in the US nonprofit sector. Eur J Inf Syst 26, 509–539 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41303-017-0053-2

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