CREATING AND FOSTERING SINGERIAN INQUIRING ORGANIZATIONS AND INFORMATION ASSURANCE THROUGH PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT

Kristen Wilson
Eastern Kentucky University

ABSTRACT

Singerian Inquiring Organizations (SIO) are knowledge-based enterprises based on
Churchman’s theory of Singerian inquiring systems (Courtney, 2001; Courtney, Croasdell, &
Paradice, 1998). For Singerian organizations to thrive, employees must feel unfettered to quest
for knowledge, share what knowledge they find, and express opinions about the findings of others.
In short, employees must feel empowered to act and foster the well-being and development of the
organization and its stakeholders. Both the psychology and organizational behavior literature
have examined psychological empowerment to challenge individuals and/or employees to take
control of and interest in organizational situations. However, there is limited research examining
the amalgamation of empowerment and information systems (IS) research constructs.
This research study extends the empowerment stream of research into IS and examines
the potential positive influence empowered employees can have on the information assurance of
an organization, and, how these principles can foster Singerian Inquiring Organizations,
providing a roadmap for organizations to construct their own SIO environment. The model
conceptualized in this research study offers a way for organizations to model themselves as a
Singerian Inquiring Organization and foster an organizational environment where empowered
employees contribute to the decision-making process to tackle real-world problems.

Keywords: Singerian inquiring organizations, assurance, empowered employees, psychological empowerment,
structural empowerment