This is an interesting qualitative article that is apparently a continuation of previous research by Walsham. His use of Structuration Theory, developed Anthony Giddens, to analyze the two cross-cultural software development projects is apparently unique in the IS field. He makes what I consider to be a very direct statement about this paper: "The primary contribution of this paper has been to provide such a theoretical basis, drawing from structuration theory, which was used to analyze cross-cultural software production and use."
This research is interesting to a few fields of study. One almost can't go through an MBA organizational behavior class without studying Hofstede, so it is easy to see how this paper could have been published in a management practice or organizational behavior journal. I am not sure that the theorists in these fields would agree with Walsham’s assessment of the Hofstede’s usefulness in this study. This research again seems to be leaning towards those disciplines a touch more than IS&T, but it is a great reminder to developers that systems are not used in a vacuum or heterogeneously accepted around the globe. Because of this aspect of the research, I will probably be able to use this in my 360 paper (thanks Terry).Walsham makes an important point about the dynamic nature of culture. He is spot on with his assessment that culture changes, primarily because of outside forces. However, there is a trap that gets researchers caught up: globalization (i.e., “The World is Flat” by Freedman). While there is some effect on modern societies from the proliferation of what Walsham calls ICTs, research has found that local culture and traditions usually trump globalization practices in real world research. Globalization has not infiltrated as far as some might think.
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