IT Interruptions and Coordination Effectiveness in Software Development Groups: A Conceptual, Multilevel Model

Research abounds on software teams enhancing their processes via IT. However, the unintended group-level effects of interruptions triggered by such IT are rarely examined. This paper develops a conceptual, multilevel model that focuses on the paths linking individually experienced IT interruptions to group coordination outcomes. Drawing on coordination theory and the work interruptions literature, we propose that different IT interruption types exhibit different effects. IT intrusions create resource constraints that emerge to the group level via interdependencies and debilitate group coordination effectiveness. To mitigate these effects, groups engage in coordination by task organization. IT interventions facilitate coordination by group problem-solving (a crosslevel effect), which enhances coordination effectiveness. This research extends the IT interruptions literature by focusing on the multilevel effects, and extends the IT impacts literature by unearthing the unintended differential effects of IT via interruptions of group members’ work.