Global Programs of Research: Maintenance and Extensibility

Abstract

This is the second part of a two-part chapter that describes and analyzes a program of research (PR) in international IT studies that began in the fall of 1992. The first part spans the years 1992 through 2000 and discusses the concept of a PR, the inception of our PR, and its maturation in terms of theory and methodology, research team dynamics, and program implementation. Part II focuses on the time frame of 2000 to 2004. The work undertaken during this second period is distinctive in two areas: the examination in detail of the full range of all constructs in the final research model; and grantsmanship, which was essential to the life of the PR. Specifically, a multi-year NSF grant funded the core of in-depth work undertaken between 2000 and 2003. A second NSF grant permitted us to work with domain experts from around the world to push the stream of research forward. In Part II, we also offer a retrospective analysis, based on our experience, on the PR effort. Pros and cons are articulated and then extrapolated into practical lessons learned that will be useful to others in similar undertakings. We offer guidelines for initiating and maintaining programs of research, highlighting the inevitable trade-offs that occur when high administrative work loads and intensive data gathering in the global setting, often involving long periods of time abroad, have to be balanced with the ability to carry out the research at all and the rarity of the data. Finally, we look forward to what we term Stage 4—the period of redirection—which is the bridge to the next program of research.