Cargo Cults in Information Systems Development: A Definition and an Analytical Framework

Tanja Elina Mäki-Runsas (), Kai Wistrand () and Fredrik Karlsson ()
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Tanja Elina Mäki-Runsas: CERIS, Örebro University
Kai Wistrand: CERIS, Örebro University
Fredrik Karlsson: CERIS, Örebro University

A chapter in Advances in Information Systems Development, 2019, pp 35-53 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Organizations today adopt agile information systems development methods (ISDM), but many do not succeed with the adoption process and in achieving desired results. Systems developers sometimes fail in efficient use of ISDM, often due to a lack of understanding the fundamental intentions of the chosen method. In many cases organizations simply imitate the behavior of others without really understanding why. This conceptual paper defines this phenomenon as an ISDM cargo cult behavior and proposes an analytical framework to identify such situations. The concept of cargo cults originally comes from the field of social anthropology and has been used to explain irrational, ritualistic imitation of certain behavior. By defining and introducing the concept in the field of information systems development we provide a potential diagnostic tool to improve the understanding of one of the reasons why ISDM adoption sometimes fail.

Keywords: Agile development; Cargo cult; Method rationale; Self-determination theory; Social-action theory; Information systems development; Information systems development methods; Software development; Software development methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:lnichp:978-3-030-22993-1_3

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-22993-1_3

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