An Agency Perspective on New Technology Champions

Michael W. Lawless and Linda L. Price
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Michael W. Lawless: Graduate School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309
Linda L. Price: Graduate School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309

Organization Science, 1992, vol. 3, issue 3, 342-355

Abstract: Technology champions are members of organizations presenting new technology to fellow members who are potential users. They are widely accepted as instrumental in many implementation settings. In the perspective that dominates the current literature, champions are allied with outside technology, and users are slow to adopt innovation. Much effort has gone into describing traits of champions and solving problems in the process of getting users to accept the new technology. This focus emphasizes one particular view of the champion role, and leads to a constrained set of alternatives to manage technology championing. We propose instead that champions can be seen as agents of potential users, and implementation described in terms of constructs familiar in the agency model. This approach challenges some fundamental premises in the existing literature and introduces new propositions to the research on technology champions. They address alignment of self-interest between champions and users, implicit contracts, incentives and penalties, risk-bearing, and performance evaluation.

Date: 1992
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