Academy Fellow

Andrew Burton-Jones conducts research on how individuals and organizations can use information systems more effectively, how to improve systems analysis and design methods, and how to improve theories and methods in the Information Systems discipline. He has received over M in research funding and publishes his research in many of the best journals in the Information Systems field.

Andrew’s early research concentrated on solving theoretical and methodological issues in evaluating the use and impact of information technology in organizations. Before Andrew’s work, the traditional approach to evaluating new information technology in organizations focused on the adoption and use of the technology, based on the assumption that greater adoption and use implied a more effective technology and a more effective outcome. Andrew’s research showed that this assumption was false and that organizations needed much better ways to evaluate information technology. His research also provided practical heuristics that managers could use to determine how best to evaluate new IT and the challenges of doing so in particular contexts, e.g., depending on the type of work setting studied, and the methods of measurement available.

In recent years, much of Andrew’s work has focused on the digital transformation of healthcare, where his insights have helped inform health service strategy and policy. In particular, since 2010, Andrew has been conducting longitudinal research on the digital transformation of healthcare, in both Canada and Australia. In addition to his academic publications, this work has involved him writing evaluation reports of digital transformation projects for major government departments and health services and these reports have been relied upon by the government and also by audit offices evaluating these projects.

Another emphasis in Andrew’s research is building successful ecosystems for multi- disciplinary research. For instance, in his research on the digital transformation of healthcare, Andrew has helped to forge partnerships between academia and health services and among academics from multiple disciplines, in order to create larger bodies of funding and larger teams that can tackle the difficult challenges faced by the health sector and support ongoing learning and improvement.

The guiding theme of Andrew’s research is that the effects of information technology do not stem merely, or even mainly, from the technology, but instead from how technology is understood, governed, and used in an organizational context. His research has helped to draw out the practical and scholarly implications of this perspective. In particular, Andrew’s research helps practitioners to make wiser decisions regarding the management and evaluation of IT and digital projects. Likewise, his research has helped scholars to appreciate how studying how technology is used and evaluated in practical contexts provides a pathway for understanding the nature of information technology itself.

Professor of Business Information Systems, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland

Fellowships:

• Fellow, Association for Information Systems, 2019 (The AIS Fellow Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the information systems discipline in terms of research, teaching and service)

Major awards:

• Leaders Opportunity Fund Award, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, 2009. For Canadian scholars in any discipline who are “the very best of today’s and tomorrow’s researchers.”
• MIS Quarterly Best Paper Award, 2007
• Association for Information Systems, College of Senior Scholars Publication Award, 2007, 2019

Memberships:

• Association for Information Systems
• INFORMS
• Academy of Management

1. Burton-Jones, A. and Grange, C. “From Use to Effective Use: A Representation Theory Perspective,” Information Systems Research (24:3) Sept 2013, pp. 632-658. Runner up for Best Paper Award ISR
2. Burton-Jones, A. and Volkoff, O. "How Can we Develop Contextualised Theories of Effective Use? A Demonstration in the Context of Community-Care Electronic Health Records," Information Systems Research (28:3) 2017, pp. 468-489.
3. Eden, R., Burton-Jones, A., Casey, R., and Draheim, M. "Digital Transformation Requires Workforce Transformation," MIS Quarterly Executive (18:1), March 2019, pp 1-17. AIS College of Senior Scholars Best Paper Award.
4. Burton-Jones, A., Akhlaghpour, S., Ayre, S., Barde, P., Staib, A., and Sullivan, C. "Changing the Conversation on Evaluating Digital Transformation in Healthcare: Insights from an Institutional Analysis," Information and Organization (30:1) (100255), 2020, pp. 1-16.
5. Trieu, V-H., Burton-Jones, A., Cockroft, S., and Green, P. “Applying and Extending the Theory of Effective Use in a Business Intelligence Context,” MIS Quarterly, forthcoming.