Barriers to IT exit

All organizational information systems will at some point in time be decommissioned. Yet, current IS research is predominantly focused on the adoption and implementation of an information system. It pays scarce attention to the final phase of a working IT system and the substantial theoretical implications of its decommissioning. This research in progress draws on the broader notion of 'exit' and 'barriers to exit' to position the decommissioning of working IT systems in a wider theoretical framework. It seeks to develop a sound conceptualization of IT exit and its barriers by analyzing the exit literature from related business disciplines. The conceptualization identifies IT exit as multi-phased longitudinal process with extensible transition points. This refined understanding will provide the basis for an impending empirical investigation that identifies specific IT-specific barriers to exit and their impact on individual phases in the IT exit journey. The steps of this forthcoming investigation are outlined.