[en] Finding the 'right' balance between centralization and decentralization in organizational processes, governance, and IT can be difficult. To navigate this tension field, organizations need to find (de)centralization equilibria that are often dynamic and depend on organizational strategy and context. However, little is known about how organizations should respond once an old equilibrium is punctuated or breaks down. In this paper, we thus conduct an inductive multiple-case study to investigate how organizations sustain and transition between (de)centralization equilibria. We synthesize our insights into a process model that paints the transition as an iterative recalibration process subject to centralization and decentralization tensions. Often, this process will require local and temporary compromises. Our work contributes a muchneeded process perspective to the IS literature on (de)centralization.
Research center :
Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) > FINATRAX - Digital Financial Services and Cross-organizational Digital Transformations
Disciplines :
Computer science Management information systems
Author, co-author :
HARTWICH, Eduard ; University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SNT) > FINATRAX
HÖß, Alexandra ; University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SNT) > FINATRAX
This research was funded in part by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and PayPal, PEARL
grant reference 13342933/Gilbert Fridgen, as well as the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) in
the FiReSpARX (grant reference 14783405) project, and Luxembourg’s Ministry for Digitalisation. We also
acknowledge the support of the European Union (EU) within its Horizon 2020 programme, project MDOT
(Medical Device Obligations Taskforce), grant agreement 814654, that made this paper possible. For the
purpose of open access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY
4.0) license to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
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