Critique of a quantitative research article

Gebauer and Schober (2006)

The work of Gebauer and Schober entitled "Information System Flexibility and the Cost Efficiency of Business Processes" states that for an information system (IS) must be flexible if it is effective and must "be able to accommodate a certain amount of variation regarding the requirements of the supported business process." (2006) The problem statement is clear noting the need for flexibility in the information system.

Study Significance

The study is noted as being significant in that it "contributes to IS theory building with a focus on the effects of IS flexibility on the cost efficiency of a given business process." (Gebauer and Schober, 2006) The primary objective is stated to "present a theory of the impact of IS flexibility on the cost efficiency of a given business process" as well as establishing the "importance of IS flexibility as a success factor of IS management." (Gebauer and Schober, )

Literature Review

The literature review is thorough and examines the characteristics of a business process and specifically the three dimensions of the business process including: (1) uncertainty; (2) variability; and (3) time-criticality. (Gebauer and Schober, 2006) Many previous studies are cited in the study of Gebauer and Schober (2006) and the shortcomings in those studies as well as the strengths of the study being noted. The concept of Information Systems (IS) flexibility is reviewed as well as past studies in this area.

IV. Hypotheses and Research Questions

The study is clear in its statement of several preliminary propositions. A model structure is illustrated outlining a two-stage decision process. Relationship between variables of analysis were specified by distinguishing among three strategies to perform a process task: IS flexibility-to-use, IS flexibility-to-change, and task performance outside of an IS (manual operations). (Gebauer and Schober, 2006)

V. Methodology and Analysis

The study is reported to systematically analyze a formal quantitative decision model, which allowed us to obtain a refined set of propositions that included combinatorial effects of business process characteristics, yet that at the same time also become more situation-specific." (Gebauer and Schober, 2006)

VI. Study Findings, Discussion and Conclusion