Prof. John Effah gets Landmark Publication in Information Systems Research
Prof. John Effah of the Department of Operations and Management Information Systems (OMIS), at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), has achieved a significant academic milestone following the acceptance and publication of his co-authored research manuscript in Information Systems Research (ISR). The study, entitled Digital Bricolage and Its Limits: How Micro-Enterprises Undertake Digitalisation in Resource-Constrained Environments, was co-authored by Prof. Effah alongside Stan Karanasios of the University of Queensland Business School, P.K. Senyo of the University of Southampton Business School, and Aljona Zorina of Neoma Business School.
Published by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), Information Systems Research is globally recognised as a top-tier journal in the field of management information systems. The journal features prominently on the Financial Times 50 (FT50) and University of Texas at Dallas (UTD24) journal lists. The publication represents a substantial academic achievement and highlights the international calibre and scholarly rigor of UGBS faculty. The research addresses a critical theoretical gap in information systems literature, which has historically evaluated digitalisation through a rational-economic lens, assuming that firms operate with capital abundance, strategic foresight, and access to mature digital infrastructure.
Drawing upon a comprehensive qualitative study in Ghana involving 69 interviews across micro-enterprises, technology developers, mobile network operators, and government bodies, the authors examine how smaller ventures in penurious environments make do with available digital resources. The paper advances a novel theoretical framework of digital bricolage, conceptualising it as the creative and adaptive assembly of readily available, consumer-grade digital tools, such as personal mobile money wallets, free messaging platforms, and social media, to address immediate operational challenges. Within this conceptual framework, the authors map three distinct digitalisation trajectories that firms navigate depending on their environmental limits.
The first pathway, parallel digital bricolage, involves a pervasive reliance on basic, free, or repurposed personal digital tools, serving primarily as a mechanism for operational survival under severe resource constraints. In contrast, selective digital bricolage offers a more balanced approach, blending improvised workarounds with targeted, paid business platforms to achieve moderate growth and heightened operational efficiency. Anchoring the formal end of the spectrum is digital planning, a conventional and structured trajectory underpinned by deliberate IT investments, comprehensive system integration, and dedicated digital capabilities.
A central contribution of the paper is the identification of the digital bricolage trap. While ad-hoc digital workarounds offer an immediate lifeline for short-term survival, an overreliance on informal, fragmented tools can lead to accumulated operational compromises. Over time, this locks micro-enterprises into low-capability digital states, inhibiting long-term value creation, system integration, and enterprise growth. By contextualising the operational realities of Ghanaian micro-enterprises within high-level information systems theory, the paper offers both scholarly depth and practical insights for policy interventions aimed at enterprise development in emerging economies.
UGBS congratulates Prof. Effah and his international collaborators for generating impactful research that bridges local context with premier global scholarship. The entire UGBS community celebrates Prof. John Effah on this remarkable milestone and wishes him continued success in his research.
The full accepted article can be accessed online via Information Systems Research (DOI: 10.1287/isre.2023.0193).