Experiences from global e-collaboration: Contextual influences on technology adoption and use

Abstract

The article presents a cross-case comparison of experiences from organizational adoption and use of e-collaboration technologies in two large global companies. Challenges in the global implementation process were found to increase with the organizational and geographical scope of the implementation, level of autonomy in the adoption process, cultural diversity, technological heterogeneity, and level of work process support embedded in the system. Alignment with existing collaborative work practices resulted in faster adoption of the technological solution. Highly competitive conditions restricted the resources available for training and experience transfer between projects. Clients’ preferences for co-located project operations served as a potential barrier to the very concept of global e-collaboration. The study increases our understanding of the adoption and use of permanent e-collaboration infrastructures at the organizational level, thus expanding the focus of global e-collaboration research beyond the level of ad hoc, virtual teams.