Social Interaction as Constituting Element of Routines: Incorporating Social Network Analysis into IS research

The resource-based view (RBV) considers organizational routines as fundamental for IT value creation as they determine the efficiency with which firms transform inputs to outputs. Yet, our understanding of how routines affect firm performance is still incomplete, especially concerning the contribution and complementarities between IT and non-IT-resources. As routines involve humans and consist of more than just technical aspects, we propose to use methods of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to formalize the social aspects of routines. We extend central findings of the RBV by considering the impact of the social embeddedness of a firm’s employees using Granovetter’s strength of ties argument. By considering RBV and SNA perspectives, we develop a model regarding the role of routines for alignment explaining how and why routines are able to generate positive outcomes of IT. The model provides good support for the effects cited in the literature and is illustrated by a case.