Issn 0832-7203 Reviewing Contingency Arguments to Compose an It Contingency Model

The contingency approach has been the subject of discussions, criticisms and reformulations, above all because of its huge usage in organizational research (Drazin and Van de Ven, 1985) and in other fields as well, such as information systems (IS) (Weill and Olson, 1989). What motivates the substantial adoption of contingency models and what are the sources of great critics are some of the issues explored in this paper. At first, we explored the main beliefs shared by contingent theorists. Next, the summary of the main criticisms found in a brief literature review will be outlined, followed by suggestions of improvements. The reviewing of contingency assumptions resulted in an information technology (IT) contingency model and was illustrated through a real case of organizational strategy involving IT capabilities. The VeriFone history and strategy will be revisited on the light of the proposed model.