Barriers to continuance use of cloud computing: Evidence from two case studies

Continuous use of cloud computing and cloud sourcing has received limited research attention compared to cloud adoption. There are indications that cloud sourcing benefits are not easy to reap in continuous use for companies, calling for more research on the continuance use of cloud computing. The current study is one of the first studies of the continuance use of cloud computing processes at the organizational level, contributing to the management and business research literature on cloud computing. In particular, the present study has contributed with two case studies verifying the existence of barriers and more importantly identifying an additional type of barrier: management process barriers (MP), i.e., lack of objectives and strategies for cloud sourcing and lack of organizing cloud vendor communication. Overcoming or reducing management process barriers guides the continuance use of cloud computing process in a strategic direction for the company and enables cloud-related innovation. As a contribution, our research builds on and extends extant research by providing a TOMPE framework of barriers to the continuance use of cloud computing (based and modified from the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework, by complementing it with the identified man-agement process barriers).

Automated summary

The continuous use of cloud computing and cloud sourcing has been overlooked in research compared to its adoption. More research is needed on the continuous use of cloud computing, as there are indications that the benefits of cloud sourcing are not easily realized by companies. This study contributes to the literature on cloud computing by providing one of the first examinations of the organizational-level processes in the continuance use of cloud computing. The findings highlight the existence of management process barriers and emphasize their importance in guiding the strategic direction of cloud computing and enabling cloud-related innovation.