Limits to Change in Is Implementation: a Study of Small Business

Given the current e-commerce environment small business success often depends on IS-enabled change. Small businesses rely on IS-enabled changes to enhance cooperation and alignment among themselves and to achieve benefits from information technology. The literature identifies factors of resistance to IS-enabled change as human, political, and technical. A key result of this paper is that knowledge management is also a factor of resistance and may negatively impact IS. A qualitative case study of IS implementation in small businesses was employed to identify factors that influence planned technical and work process changes. Through case study analysis resistance factors surfaced that limited the planned changes. System dynamics helped us in exploring the complexity of the relationship among limiting conditions. A conceptual model is presented to help IS managers understand how limiting plateaus develop when implementing new technology in small business.