Luc Lagrandeur and Denise Fortier
Information technology, more specifically, the use of online services is growing at an increasingly rapid pace. This reality proves highly challenging for practitioners who are trying to understand how best to implement new technological advancements. As our data will demonstrate, practitioners are trying to cope with the internal and external impacts of providing such services. Research is usually a slow and long process. If we as researchers can shorten the timeframe of the research life cycle when studying rapidly changing phenomena, we should therefore be able to better describe, understand and provide timely solutions to practitioners. Indeed, we aim to do so before the phenomena vanishes and is supplanted by a new one( Thomas and Tymon 1982). Thus, Rosemann and Vessey’ s( 2008) research lifecycle can be shortened by moving applicability check upstream simultaneously as part of the research problem identification so as to minimize the risk of contributing out‐dated research outcomes.
Since the publication of Rosemann and Vessey’ s work, very few IS studies have adopted this approach. We suspect that the procedures length does much to explain this paucity. Therefore, our work aims to show how to shorten the research lifecycle by an example of using applicability check at the beginning of the research life cycle for the identification of relevant managerial problems as identified by practitioners. Our experience with this approach, using the interview method and sense‐making analysis, leads us to identify research topics that should prove relevant and important for practitioners. These research topics can then be used as a basis for the remaining research life cycle.
2. An example of applicability check
The literature confirms that many communities are grappling with unanswered questions regarding how to best manage the development and offering of e‐services either 1) internally, within the organization of City Hall, and 2) externally, regarding how to best manage the relationship with the citizen‐client( Lagrandeur 2008). Consequently, a review of the literature establishes both the timeliness and the relevance of the impact of e‐services by municipal governments( Löfstedt 2005). Thus this study focuses on the external and internal forces of the development of online services in municipalities: forces that affect the organisation and the relationship with its citizens.
2.1 The inception phase of the study
In identifying managerial problems, we purposefully began by using our personal industry and research experience to better understand the phenomena and increase our insights into topics that we consider important. As purported by Tushman and O’ Reilly( 2007),“ the source of research questions should be the phenomena, not the traditions or constraints of a given disciplinary point of view”( Ibid, pp 772). Furthermore, these authors argue that researchers should test their ideas by interacting with engaged practitioners whereby such interaction can illustrate gaps between phenomena as they exist in practice and the current state of academic knowledge( Tushman and O’ Reilly 2007).
2.1.1 Research methodology
Given our quest to understand how to best manage and deliver e‐services both within City Hall and with its citizen‐clients, we designed a participatory research process involving relevant practitioners. We worked with the Intelligent Community Forum( ICF), a non‐profit think tank based in New York City( USA) that focuses on the use of broadband and information technology for economic development in communities around the world. Their contribution was highly valuable both in terms of elaborating research questions and to validate results.
2.1.2 Sampling and data collection
We conducted semi‐structured telephone interviews with a purposeful sample of elected officials and city administrators from 13 communities from North America, Europe, and Australia. A purposeful sampling strategy was used with no notion of random sampling to achieve statistical generalizability. Accordingly, the sample was built up to enable the researchers in order to satisfy the needs of this study. By using professional contacts, the researchers sought to recruit potential participants who fit the study requirements. See Appendix 1 for a complete list of participating communities along with a profile of research participants.
The goal of the interviews was to ask subject‐matter experts( SME), namely elected officials and city administrators, to discuss their motivation for introducing e‐services and joining the information highway as
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