Exploitation and exploration of IT in times of pandemic: from dealing with emergency to institutionalising crisis practices

Andrea Carugati (1) , Lapo Mola (2, 3, 4) , Loïc Plé (1) , Marion Lauwers , Antonio Giangreco (1)

1 LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221
2 SKEMA Business School
3 UNIVR - Università degli studi di Verona = University of Verona
4 GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion

When looking at changes in IT adoption and use in organisations, our theories rely – for the most part – on slow adoption timespans or – to a lesser extent – abrupt crises of short duration. We lack a model of IT adoption during a crisis of extended duration. This paper tackles this gap by looking at the IT-explorative and -exploitative teaching-related practices of university lecturers in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Based on qualitative data from three European higher education institutions and their responses to the COVID-19 crisis, we propose a process model of IT exploration/exploitation under a condition of extended crisis. The model shows that IT use and practices in response to a prolonged crisis go through phases, presenting predictable challenges that management can alleviate with a well-timed approach.

Domaines: Gestion et management; Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Andrea Carugati, Lapo Mola, Loïc Plé, Marion Lauwers, Antonio Giangreco. Exploitation and exploration of IT in times of pandemic: from dealing with emergency to institutionalising crisis practices. European Journal of Information Systems, 2020, 29 (6), pp.762-777. ⟨10.1080/0960085X.2020.1832868⟩. ⟨halshs-03187028⟩