Making sense of unexpected events: insights from information system consultancy companies

Oussama Abidi (), Claudio Vitari () and Jean-Loup Richet ()
Additional contact information
Oussama Abidi: CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon
Claudio Vitari: CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon
Jean-Loup Richet: LAB IAE Paris - Sorbonne - IAE Paris - Sorbonne Business School

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: The contemporary economic market is full of unexpected events that significantly impact information system (IS). These events present both threats and opportunities, emphasizing the need to be prepared to confront them. The objective of this study is to expand the existing research by exploring how IS consultancy companies make sense of these unexpected events, as this process plays a crucial role in their decision-making process. Our focus extends from internal organizational challenges to making decisions and delivering services to customers, with the goal of minimizing losses and capitalizing on the circumstances. To accomplish this goal, we conducted interviews with different experts. Our population included experts from various IS consultancy specialties such as aerospace, transportation, supply chain management, e-commerce, insurance, and telecommunication. We identified several major areas highlighted by experts, interpreting them from a sensemaking perspective. The "ongoing" property emerged as the most frequently utilized, the "social" property being the least employed, while the "historical cues" property was completely absent in our case. These insights offer a deeper understanding of the sensemaking efforts employed by IS consultancy companies to navigate disruptions.

Keywords: Information system (IS) consultancy companies; unexpected events; information system (IS); sensemaking; decision making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-02-13
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04948300v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Journal of Decision Systems, 2025, 34 (1), ⟨10.1080/12460125.2025.2462902⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04948300

DOI: 10.1080/12460125.2025.2462902

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().