Introducing a Third Dimension in Information Systems Design: The Case for Incentive Alignment

Abstract

Prior research has generated considerable knowledge on information systems design from software engineering and user-acceptance perspectives. As organizational processes are increasingly embedded within information systems, one of the key considerations of many business processes — organizational incentives — should become an important dimension of any information systems design and evaluation, which we categorize as the third dimension: incentive alignment. Incentive issues have become important in many IS areas, including distributed decision support systems (DSS), knowledge management, and e-business supply chain coordination. In this paper we outline why incentives are important in each of these areas and specify requirements for designing incentive-aligned information systems. We identify and define important unresolved problems along the incentive-alignment dimension of information systems and present a research agenda to address them.

Keywords: Information Systems Design; Incentive Alignment; Distributed Decision Support Systems; Knowledge