Business Commons^™

Beneficial Noncompliance And Detrimental Compliance: Expected Paths To Unintended Consequences, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

This paper explores the possibility that compliance and noncompliance to process specifications, software usage procedures, business rules, and best practices could be beneficial or detrimental. After introducing different types of compliance and noncompliance, it uses a simple 2 x 2 matrix to postulate four types of situations: beneficial compliance, detrimental compliance, beneficial noncompliance, and detrimental noncompliance. It provides examples that illustrate subcategories within all four possibilities, thereby bringing into question the common assumption that compliance is beneficial and noncompliance is detrimental. It presents a model that explains decisions related to intentions toward compliance and noncompliance. It concludes with implications for …

Work System Theory As A Platform: Response To A Research Perspective Article By Niederman And March, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

This article responds to “Taking the Work System Theory Forward” (Niederman and March, 2014), a JAIS research perspective article about an article on work system theory (Alter, 2013e). The research perspective article recognizes value in the work system approach, suggests that WST is not a proper theory, and suggests areas for related theory development.

After summarizing the main ideas in WST, this article explains disagreements between Niederman and March (2014) and Alter (2013e), hereafter called N&M and the WST article, regarding what WST is and what WST should become. It notes that N&M interprets basic ideas in WST differently than …