Abstract
Existing IS project control research primarily draws on agency theory to conceptualize control, relating control closely to aligning behaviors of self-interested controllees with organizational objectives. Recent studies in neighboring disciplines, however, suggest that the agency view of control is too narrow to fully understand control activities. Informed by these studies as well as drawing on stewardship and coordination theory, we introduce the concept of control purpose to the IS literature. We define this concept as the intentions underlying the controller's control activities, and distinguish between appropriation-And coordination-oriented controls. To evaluate the control purpose concept, we conduct a secondary analysis of 21 IS project control case studies. Results show that, despite their stated agency focus, most studies report on controls addressing both appropriation concerns and coordination requirements. On this basis, we discuss two potential research areas, knowledge management and control dynamics, where the control purpose concept can offer novel insights.