Heteromorphism: Beaconing RFID Innovations under Institutional Pressure Towards Unique Capabilities

RFID is a promising technology with great potentials and it is often seen as a silver bullet to improve supply chain performance. However, the expected large scale diffusion did not ensue. Major retailers indeed reported great benefits with RFID in 2004, but the diffusion stagnated afterwards. This study first analyzed 89 RFID innovations in supply chain management and results show that organizations often jump on the RFID bandwagon by mindlessly mimicking the pioneering retailers. However, RFID innovations similar to that of the retailers may not always suit the business goals of the respective organization. Therefore, organizations often end up with mere resources instead of unique capabilities, which lead to disappointing results and causes organizations to look alike.;A deeper look into the RFID innovations showed that there are exceptions. Several observations show that organizations were able to make use of the technology despite institutional pressure and even derive unique capabilities. We posit that, with the right beacons, organizations can still develop unique capabilities despite institutional pressures. The aforementioned phenomenon can be best described by two rather competing theories namely Institutional Theory and Resource Based View. Institutional Theory discusses that organizations under institutional pressure lead to isomorphic behavior and drive organizations to become homogeneous. Resource Based View, on the other hand, discusses that organizations thrive by differentiating iv them from competitors with unique capabilities. We therefore posit that organizations can learn to make use of the technology from their disappointing IT innovations and turn it into unique capabilities. We call this phenomenon "Heteromorphism".;In this study, a conceptual model of Heteromorphism is proposed based on well-established theories and it is validated through case studies. Case studies are used as Heteromorphism is an unexplored phenomenon and the theories as-is are insufficient to fully explain Heteromorphism. The findings from the case studies suggest that organizations indeed often innovate under institutional pressure, which lead disappointing results. However, various organizations use their initial encounter with the technology as a stepping stone to learn more about the technology and are able to use their Absorptive Capacity to launch subsequent IT innovations. The subsequent IT innovations often turn out to be successful. The reason for a successful IT innovation depends on factors such as: type of institutional pressure, mode of implementation, level of stakeholder participation, and capacity of organizational learning.;Moreover, we propose a "mindful" information system design research (ISDR) methodology, in order to help organizations in developing unique capabilities with IT technology, such as RFID. ISDR is utilized, as it can effectively and rigorously design IT artifacts. However, existing studies argue that ISDR is often found too complex and rarely incorporates the organization's context into the design. We propose a parsimonious mindful ISDR methodology with mindful IT innovation process in mind. The IT innovation process is a simple and easy to understand. Mindfulness, on the other hand, can help organizations to ensure that the IT innovation fits the organizational context. We validate the proposed mindful ISDR by discussing an instantiated end-to-end garment supply chain RFID innovation. Thus mindful ISDR not only aims to create technically sound designs, but it rather aims to create designs that lead to unique capabilities.