A Theory of the Firm Perspective on Entrepreneurial Use of Consumer IT as Corporate IT

Why do some employees bring their own information technology (IT) to work? This behavior occurs in firms that provide considerable IT for employee use and in firms that have policies and governance that discourage employees from using consumer IT as corporate IT. In the theory of the firm, IT policy and governance are means for a firm to maximize value from its IT and to ensure employees do what they are supposed to do under their contracts. However, IT governance generally assumes that the only IT that is relevant to the firm is the IT that the firm owns. Employees can create value for the firm using their personal IT in conjunction with the firm’s. Actions like these are consistent with entrepreneurship, if the employees invest in their own IT in expectation of return. Entrepreneurship theory, however, tends to focus on founders and not employees of established firms. This paper proposes a link between the theory of the firm and entrepreneurship theory. This link is significant because it advances the notion that employees of established firms can be entrepreneurial when they use their own consumer IT as corporate IT. This link is also significant because it suggests that managing employee entrepreneurship requires tolerance of value creation that is emergent and that can occur widely within a firm, including anywhere where IT is used.