Managing BYOD: how do organizations incorporate user-driven IT innovations?

Abstract

Purpose – In reference to increasing consumerization, this article investigates how organizations react to employees’ adoption and use of personal devices at work, such as by incorporating innovative, individual, IT-driven changes into their corporate practices. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Four in-depth, longitudinal case studies, conducted between 2006 and 2010, feature 92 interviews and observations to ensure triangulation. Findings – We identify three types of organizational reactions (induction, normalization, and regulation) that depend on specific dimensions and affect the nature of subsequent IT-based organizational change. Research limitations/implications – Continued research into the consumerization of IT can explore how it affects organizations today and whether different effects might arise in other contexts and with different kinds of organizations. Practical implications – Reversed IT adoption logics have deep consequences for organizations; companies could achieve great gains from them, if carefully considered and managed. Originality/value – This article addresses a topic that has been analyzed only scarcely and rarely, namely, the consumerization of IT and the tactics organizations use to incorporate user-driven IT innovation. Although this article presents only a few cases, it constitutes an initial attempt to explore this research area theoretically and investigate the ways organizations can harness employees’ personal IT adoption logics to promote creative, IT-driven change in firms.