Changing Roles in is: a Role Theory Perspective

The recent dramatic and interesting advances in computer technology have significantly altered the roles of both users and developers. Role theory might be applied to more fully understand and more effectively investigate organizational, behavioral, and social issues related to these changes. A framework for categorizing information systems roles is built from a matrix of information system and organizational activities. The information system activity dimension is composed of indirect user, direct user, autonomous developer, traditional developer, and facilitator categories. The organizational activity dimension contains clerical, professional, and managerial categories. The resulting matrix can facilitate descriptive research, model building, and hypothesis testing.