The Analytical Model and Research Methods

The preceding chapter has shown how the concepts of IT use and national culture have been used in an organisational context in previous studies. It has illuminated to what degree previous studies have clarified these concepts and what kinds of drawbacks have been involved in them. Based on this review, this chapter provides explanations for the analytical framework and the research methods used in our study. I will begin by investigating what kinds of research approach are available in the discipline of IT/IS and which is appropriate for the purpose of this study. My analysis will make clear that the survey approach is well-suited for the topic being pursued. I will discuss how I approach IT use in an organisational setting and the analytical levels of IT use which are to be examined, and in the following section focus on how to operationalise national culture in the study including a review and discussion of some previous studies on conceptualisation and operationalisation of national culture. Then, specifying patterns of IT use which are sensitive to cultural influences, I develop a model of cultural influences on organisational IT use. The whole analytical framework used for the study is presented, and explanations of methodological details follow. Some preliminary work for the field study and the pilot study done before the survey are also given and the chosen techniques of data collection and the structure of the collected data are illustrated in the final section.