AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF JOINT APPLICATION DESIGN (JAD) IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS DELIVERY
Elizabeth Davidson · DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) · 1993
Joint Application Design (JAD) methods are commonly used in information systems delivery to gather business requirements for systems development projects. Although these methods are popular and their use is widely advocated, there have been no theoretical analyses of their effects on ISD processes and no systematic empirical evaluation of their use and potential organizational outcomes. This paper reports on an exploratory field study into the adoption and use the JAD methods at three research sites. The major empirical finding was that espoused JAD methods were incorporated into practices and used in ways that were highly consistent with the existing ISD process at the research sites. Without changing the ISD process in ways prescribed by JAD methods, the extent to which use of JAD methods result in expected benefits is questionable. This result can be explained by drawing on institutional theory. Implications for managers are discussed and additional research areas are identified.