| The current business environment is characterized by a high rate of change. The organization should be able to change in any direction at will with minimum effort. This state characterizes agility. Information Systems (IS) form the core information processing mechanisms in most modern organizations that strive to meet performance goals of profit and/or viability. The necessity of IS in an organization makes IS agility a prerequisite for organizational agility. There is little academic literature and research on IS agility and the MIS area is devoid of any systematic and rigorous study of IS agility. This study takes a step in that direction. It defines IS agility and conceptualizes its salient attributes. It also examines its antecedents and consequences.; Agility is defined based on its core characteristics as seen in living beings. This gives a more focused yet generic definition of agility as opposed to those existing in the current academic literature. A research model incorporating the antecedents, desired level of agility, actual level of agility, and benefits is proposed. Data are collected in two stages using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, to verify the validity of the definition and to verify the research model and its components.; Data analyses reveal that the definition put forward in this research may be more focused, and more amenable to operationalization than the existing definitions. Agility is defined as the ability to sense a change, diagnose the change, select a response, and execute the response in real time. The research arrives at a list of 23 attributes for sensing, 18 attributes for diagnosis, 8 attributes for selection, and 34 attributes for execution for an agile IS through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The research also provides a list of 18 benefits of an agile IS. Overall the results point to IS personnel as the most important factor in enhancing IS agility. This research can form the base for future research in the areas of IS agility and can also serve as a guide to practitioners for the kind of initiatives they can undertake to make IS more agile. |
