Matthew Jones

Professor of Information Systems

Fellow of Darwin College

BSc (Newcastle University), PhD (Reading University)

My research interests include the relationship between information systems and social and organisational change, and theoretical and methodological issues in information systems research. I have conducted studies in collaboration with Hewlett Packard, DMR Canada (Fujitsu Consulting), Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Addenbrookes Hospital and Royal Papworth Hospital. With data playing a more and more important role in organisations and society, I have a particular interest in the processes that contribute to the production of data and in the, often overlooked, work that this involves.

I am the Chair of the IFIP Working Group 8.2 on Information Systems and Organisations and a member of the Organisational Theory & Information Systems subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which is engaged with cross-disciplinary themes including organisational change.

My details

Contact details

+44 (0)1223 338188

m.jones@jbs.cam.ac.uk

Academic area

Organisational Theory and Information Systems

Professional experience

Professor Jones has conducted studies in collaboration with Hewlett Packard, DMR Canada (Fujitsu Consulting), Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Addenbrookes Hospital and Papworth Hospital. He is a Senior Editor at the European Journal of Information Systems, Information and Organisations and the Journal of the Association for Information Systems and on the Editorial Board of Health Informatics Journal and Information Technology and People and Organization Studies. He is the Chair of IFIP Working Group 8.2 on Information Systems and Organisations.

Selected publications

Selected publications

  • Jones, M. (2019) “What we talk about when we talk about (big) data.” Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 28(1): 3-16 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jsis.2018.10.005)
  • Prince, K., Jones, M., Blackwell, A., Simpson, A., Meakins, S. and Vuylsteke, A. (2018) “Barriers to the secondary use of data in critical care.” Journal of the Intensive Care Society, 19(2): 127-131 (DOI: 10.1177/1751143717741082)
  • Rose, J., Jones, M. and Furneaux, B. (2016) “An integrated model of innovation drivers for smaller software firms.” Information and Management, 53(3): 307-323 (DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2015.10.005)
  • Jones, M. (2014) “A matter of life and death: exploring conceptualizations of sociomateriality in the context of critical care.” MIS Quarterly, 38(3): 895-925
  • Jones, M.R. and Karsten, H. (2008) “Review: Giddens’s structuration theory and information systems research.” MIS Quarterly, 32(1): 127-157
  • Munir, K.A. and Jones, M. (2004) “Discontinuity and after: the social dynamics of technology evolution and dominance.” Organization Studies, 25(4): 561-581

Journal articles

  • Morrison, C., Jones, M., Blackwell, A. and Vuylsteke, A. (2008) “Electronic patient record use during ward rounds: a qualitative study of interaction between medical staff.” Critical Care, 12(6): R148 (DOI: 10.1186/cc7134)
  • Nov, O. and Jones, M. (2006) “Ordering creativity? Knowledge, creativity, and idea generation in the advertising industry.” International Journal of Product Development, 3(2): 252-262 (DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2006.009374)
  • Martins, H.M.G., Nightingale, P. and Jones, M.R. (2005) “Temporal and spatial organization of doctors’ computer usage in a UK hospital department.” Medical Informatics and the Internet in Medicine, 30(2): 135-142
  • Rose, J., Jones, M. and Truex, D. (2005) “Socio-theoretic accounts of IS: the problem of agency.” Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 17(1): 133-152
  • Rose, J., Jones, M. and Truex, D. (2005) “The problem of agency revisited.” Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 17(1): 187-195
  • Jones, M. (2004) “Learning the lessons of history? Electronic records in the United Kingdom acute hospitals, 1988-2002.” Health Informatics Journal, 10(4): 253-263
  • Munir, K.A. and Jones, M. (2004) “Discontinuity and after: the social dynamics of technology evolution and dominance.” Organization Studies, 25(4): 561-581
  • Jones, M. (2003) “‘Computers can land people on Mars, why can’t they get them to work in a hospital?’ Implementation of an electronic patient record system in a UK hospital.” Methods of Information in Medicine, 42(4): 410-415
  • Jones, M. (2003) “The expert system: constructing expertise in an IT/management consultancy.” Information and Organization, 13(4): 257-284
  • Shoib, G.M. and Jones, M.R. (2003) “Focusing on the invisible: the representation of IS in Egypt.” Information Technology and People, 16(4): 440-460
  • Jones, M. (2002) “Development gain? Participant observation in interpretive management information systems research.” Qualitative Research, 2(3): 323-341
  • Kelly, S. and Jones, M. (2001) “Groupware and the social infrastructure of communication.” Communications of the ACM, 44(12): 77-79
  • Nandhakumar, J. and Jones, M. (2001) “Accounting for time: managing time in project-based teamworking.” Accounting, Organizations and Society, 26(3): 193-214
  • Brown, A. and Jones, M. (2000) “Honourable members and dishonourable deeds: sensemaking, impression management and legitimation in the ‘Arms to Iraq Affair’.” Human Relations, 53(5): 655-689
  • Jones, M. (2000) “Mission impossible? Pluralism and ‘multi-paradigm’ IS research.” Information Systems Review, 1(1): 217-232
  • Brown, A. and Jones, M. (1998) “Doomed to failure: narratives of inevitability and conspiracy in a failed IS project.” Organization Studies, 19(1): 73-88
  • Nanhajumar, J. and Jones, M. (1997) “Too close for comfort? Distance and engagement in interpretive information systems research.” Information Systems Journal, 7: 109-131
  • Jones, M. (1995) “Business process reengineering: management’s new paradigm or emperor’s new clothes?” South African Computer Journal, 14: 1-11
  • Jones, M. (1995) “Learning the language of the market: information systems strategy formation in a UK district health authority.” Accounting, Management and Information Technologies, 4(3): 119-147 (DOI: 10.1016/0959-8022(94)90001-9)
  • Jones, M. (1995) “Organisational learning: collective mind or cognitivist metaphor?” Accounting, Management and Information Technologies, 5(1): 61-77
  • Jones, M. (1994) “Going to work on an Apple: factors affecting microcomputer use in business organisations.” Information Systems Journal, 4: 237-252
  • Jones, M. (1994) “Information technology for group decision support: beyond GDSS.” Journal of Organizational Computing, 4(1): 23-39
  • Jones, M. (1994) “Losing our critical faculties: operational research, modernism, post-modernism and postmodernism.” Systemist, 16(3): 203-210
  • Jones, M. (1992) “SSM and information systems.” Systemist, 14(3): 123-125
  • Jones, M., Hope, C. and Hughes, R. (1990) “A multi-attribute value model for the study of UK energy policy.” Journal of the Operational Research Society, 41(10): 919-929 (DOI: 10.2307/2583270)
  • Jones, M. (1987) “The UK energy debate in the 1980s: ceasefire or new consensus?” Energy Policy, 18(4): 381-387
  • Hope, C., Jones, M. and Owens, S. (1987) “New directions for UK energy policy?” Energy Policy, 15(1): 5-6

Books, monographs, reports & case studies

  • Orlikowski, W., Walsham, G., Jones, M.R. and DeGross, J. (eds.) (1996) Information technology and changes in organizational work: proceedings of the IFIP WG8.2 Working Conference on Information Technology and Changes in Organizational Work, December 1995, Cambridge, England. London: Chapman and Hall.

Book chapters

  • Jones, M. (2024) “Data as a contingent performance and the limitations of big data.” In: Simeonova, B. and Galliers, R.D. (eds.) Cambridge handbook of qualitative digital research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.28-42
  • Jones, M. (2024) “Physics or archaeology? Process organization studies in the age of data abundance.” In: Tsoukas, H., Langley, A., Barrett, M. and Vaast, E. (eds.) Organizing in the digital age: a process view. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.117-143
  • Jones, M.R. and Orlikowski, W.J. (2007) “Information technology and the dynamics of organizational change.” In Mansell, R., Avgerou, C., Quah, D. and Silverstone, R. (eds.): The Oxford handbook of information and communication technologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.293-313
  • Jones, M., Orlikowski, W. and Munir, K. (2004) “Structuration theory and information.” In Mingers, J. and Willcocks, L. (eds.): Social theory and philosophy for information systems. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, pp.297-328
  • Jones, M. (1999) “Structuration theory.” In Currie, W. and Galliers, B. (eds.): Rethinking management information systems: an interdisciplinary perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.103-135
  • Jones, M. (1998) “Hammer, M. (1948-).” In Warner, M. (ed.): The IEBM handbook of management thinking. London: International Thomson Business Press, pp.267-272
  • Jones, M. (1997) “It all depends what you mean by discipline…” In Mingers, J. and Stowell, F. (eds.): Information systems: an emerging discipline? London: McGraw-Hill, pp.97-112
  • Jones, M. (1997) “Re-engineering.” In Warner, M. (ed.): Concise international encyclopedia of business and management. London: International Thomson Business Press, pp.616-625
  • Brooks, L. and Jones, M. (1996) “CSCW and requirements analysis: requirements as cooperation / requirements for cooperation.” In Thomas, P.J. (ed.): CSCW requirements and evaluation. London: Springer-Verlag, pp.10-20
  • Jones, M. (1996) “Empowerment and enslavement: business process reengineering and the transformation of work.” In Gill, K.S. (ed.): Information society: new media, ethics and postmodernism. London: Springer-Verlag, pp.147-157
  • Jones, M. (1996) “Re-engineering.” In Warner, M. (ed.): International encyclopedia of business and management. London: Routledge, 1st edition, pp.4277-4285
  • Jones, M. (1995) “The contradictions of reengineering.” In Burke, G. and Peppard, J. (eds.): Examining business process reengineering: current perspectives and research directions. London: Kogan Page, pp.43-59
  • Jones, M. (1995) “Organizational analysis and HCI.” In Monk, A.F. and Gilbert, G.N. (eds.): Perspectives on HCI: diverse approaches. London: Academic Press, pp.249-269
  • Jones, M. (1994) “Don’t emancipate, exaggerate: rhetoric, reality and reengineering.” In Baskerville, R.L., Smithson, S., Ngwenyama, O. and DeGross, J.I. (eds.): Transforming organizations with information technology. Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp.357-377

Conference papers

  • Jones, M.R. (2023) “After Latour.” In: After Latour: Globalisation, Inequity and Climate Change, Proceedings of the IFIP WG 8.2 and WG 9.4 Joint Working Conference, IFIPJWC 2023, 7-8 December 2023, Hyderabad, India.
  • Jones, M. (2019) “Beyond convergence: rethinking pluralism in IS research.” In: International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) Proceedings, 40th, 15-18 December, Munich, Germany.
  • Jones, M., Munir, K., Orlikowski, W. and Runde, J. (2008) “About time too: online news and changing temporal structures in the newspaper industry.” In Boland, R.J., Limayem, M. and Pentland, B. (eds.): ICIS 2008 Proceedings, 14-17 December, Paris, France.
  • Kelly, S. and Jones, M. (2006) “Towards a distinctive ‘praxiological’ perspective on ICT-enabled organisational innovation.” In: Re-turn to practice: understanding organization as it happens: Organization Studies Summer Workshop, 2nd, 15-16 June 2006, Mykonos, Greece.
  • Munir, K., Jones, M., Orlikowski, W., Runde, J. and Nikolychuk, L. (2005) “Of continuities of discontinuous institutional change: evidence from technological transformation in the photographic field.” In: Theorizing process in organizational research: Organization Studies Summer Workshop, 12-13 June 2005, Santorini, Greece.
  • Jones, M.R. (2004) “Debatable advice and inconsistent evidence: methodology in information systems research.” In Kaplan, B., Truex III, D.P., Wastell, D., and DeGross, J.I. (eds.) Relevant theory and informed practice: looking forward from a 20-year perspective on IS research: IFIP TC8 WG8.2 20th Year Retrospective, 15-17 July 2004, Manchester, England. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp.121-142
  • Abbott, P.Y. and Jones, M.R. (2002) “Importance of being nearest: nearshore software outsourcing and globalisation discourse.” In Wynn EH, Whitley, E.A., Myers, M.D., De Gross, J.I. (eds.): IFIP WG8 Working Conference on Global and Organizational Discourse about Information Technology, 12-14 Dec 2002, Barcelona, Spain. Norwell, Mass.: Kluwer, pp.375-397
  • Jones, M. (2001) “An interpretive method for the formative evaluation of an electronic patient record system.” In Remenyi, D. and Brown, A. (eds.) European Conference on Information Technology Evaluation (8th), 17-18 September 2001, Oriel College, Oxford, England. Reading: MCIL, pp.349-355
  • Jones, M. (1999) “Mission impossible? Pluralism and ‘multi-paradigm’ IS research.” In Brooks, L. and Kimble, C. (eds.): Information systems: the next generation: Proceedings of the UK Academy for Information Systems Annual Conference (4th), University of York, York, England.
  • Jones, M. (1998) “Information systems and the double mangle: steering a course between the Scylla of embedded structure and the Charybdis of strong symmetry.” In Larsen, T., Levine, L. and DeGross, J.I. (eds.) Information systems: current issues and future challenges: Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.2 and 8.6 Joint Working Conference, 10-13 December 1998, Helsinki, Finland. Laxenburg: International Federation for Information Processing, pp.287-302
  • Nandhakumar, J. and Jones, M. (1997) “Accounting for time: managing time in project-based teamworking.” In Rasmussen, H.K. (ed.) Accounting, time and space: Proceedings of the AOS Conference, Vol.2, 4-6 September 1997, Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School, pp.115-130
  • Nandhakumar, J. and Jones, M. (1997) “Designing in the dark: the changing user-developer relationship in information systems development.” In Kumar, K. and DeGross, J.I. (eds.) Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (18th), 15-17 December 1997, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Madison, Wis.: Omnipress, pp.75-87
  • Orlikowski, W.J., Walsham, G., Jones, M. and DeGross, J.I. (1996) “Information technology and changes in organizational work: images and reflections.” In Orlikowski, W.J., Walsham, G., Jones, M. and DeGross, J.I. (eds.) The impact of computer supported technologies on information systems development: Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.2 Working Conference, December 1995, Cambridge, England. London: Chapman and Hall, pp.1-10
  • Jones, M. and Nandhakumar, J. (1993) “Structured development? A structurational analysis of the development of an executive information system.” In Avison, D., Kendall, J.E. and DeGross, J.I. (eds.) Human organizational and social dimensions of the informational systems development: Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.2 Working Group, 17-19 May 1993, Noordwijkerhaut, The Netherlands. Amsterdam: North Holland, pp.475-496
  • Jones, M. and Walsham, G. (1992) “The limits of the knowable: organisational and design knowledge in systems development.” In Kendall, K.E., Lyytinen, K. and DeGross, J.I. (eds.) The impact of computer supported technologies on information systems development: Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.2 Working Conference, 14-17 June 1992, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Amsterdam: North Holland, pp.195-213
  • Jones, M. and Hope, C. (1989) “Decision analysis models as a framework for policy dialogue.” In Jackson, M.C., Keys, P. and Cropper, S.A. (eds.) Proceedings of an IFORS Specialized Conference on Operational Research and the Social Sciences, 10-13 April 1989, Queens’ College, Cambridge, England. New York: Plenum Press, pp.379-384

Working papers

  • Jones, M. and Karsten, H. (2003) “Review: structuration theory and information systems research.” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.2003/11
  • Brown, A. and Jones, M. (1999) “Honourable members and dishonourable deeds: sensemaking, impression management, and legitimation in the “Arms to Iraq” affair.” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1999/19
  • Han, P. and Jones, M. (1994) “The dialectics of information systems.” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1994/4
  • Jones, M. and Brooks, L. (1994) “Addressing organisational context in requirements analysis.” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1994/17
  • Jones, M. and Nandhakumar, J. (1993) “Structured development? A structurational analysis of the development of an executive information system.” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1993/5
  • Jones, M. (1990) “Equivocality and information systems.” Management Studies Group at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1990/6
  • Jones, M. (1990) “The impact of organisations on computers.” Management Studies Group at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1990/3
  • Hope, C., Hughes, R.M. and Jones, M. (1988) “Examining energy options using a simple computer model.” Management Studies Group at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1988/14
  • Jones, M. (1988) “Interactive modelling in decision support systems II – the role of the model.” Management Studies Group at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1988/10
  • Jones, M. (1988) “The UK energy debate in the 1980s: ceasefire or new consensus?” Management Studies Group at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1988/16
  • Jones, M., Hope, C. and Hughes, R.M. (1988) “A multi-attribute value model for the study of UK energy policy.” Management Studies Group at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.1988/13

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