Socializing the value of technology - a multi-stakeholder perspective on valuing IS

IS value research focuses on the economic understanding of value as the contribution of IS to the financial performance of the organization. This narrow understanding of value may explain why, despite decades of IS value research, most IS deployments continue to underperform. This paper adopts a valuation lens to study the realization of IS value, examining value as action (valuation). The research plans to compare the valuation actions across two similar IS (course information visualization and selection tools) in two similar organizations (large European universities). The paper presents the tentative results following the analysis of one of the cases. The interim findings suggest that valuation actions are relative to alternatives and stakeholders’ needs, and as such vary significantly across different organizational actors. The findings also point to the interaction between evaluation and valorization actions, both anchored in the material features of the technology. Finally, the research unearths the role that interactions across actors play in shaping valuations of IS. The research, while in progress, suggests valuation as a useful lens to understand how IS value emerges through the intersection of material features and the dynamics of human actions.