Successful IS innovation: the contingent contributions of innovation characteristics and implementation process

This paper unifies two apparently competing theories of information systems (IS) implementation by developing a model in which the contributions of innovation characteristics and implementation process theories are contingent upon the implementation context. To do this, we identify the different assumptions regarding the implementation context implicit in the two theories and, based on these differences, develop a contingent model within which to integrate the two theories. A partial test of the model within one particular context is reported using data collected from the end-users of an IS innovation introduced in a State health system in Australia. As hypothesized, we find that, within the context, characterized by high individual level impact and low group level impact, the contribution of innovation characteristics to implementation success is higher than that of implementation process. © 1999, Association for Information Technology Trust. All rights reserved.