Abstract
AbstractWe develop a perspective of IT innovation in the public sector as a process that involves three complementary areas of ideology and concomitant dispute: first, the widespread view of e‐government as a transformative force that leads to major improvements of public sector functions for the benefit of society at large; second, ideologies concerning the substantive policies enacted by public sector organizations; and third, ideology regarding public sector modernization. Our research examines how the objectives of IT projects and their actual effects in government are influenced by such ideologies and contestations that surround them. We develop our theoretical contribution with a critical discourse analysis that traces the ideological underpinnings of two consecutive IT projects for the administration of international trade in Mexico. This analysis associates the objectives of the IT projects with the emergence and ensuing contestation in Mexican politics of two ideologies: the first ideology concerns free international trade as imperative for economic development; the second ideology concerns public sector modernization that sought to overcome historically formed dysfunctionalities of public administration bureaucracies by adopting management practices from the private sector. The analysis then identifies the effects of the ideologically shaped IT projects on two key values of public administration: efficiency and legality. The insights of this research on the role of ideology in IT innovation complement organizational perspectives of e‐government; socio‐cognitive perspectives that focus on ideas and meaning, such as technology frames and organizing visions; and perspectives that focus on politics in IT innovation.
Highlights
It has long been established in information systems (IS) research that information technology (IT) innovation in organizations is influenced by ideas about transformative effects of IT that are shaped in their broader social context (Orlikowski & Gash, 1994; Swanson & Ramiller, 1997)
We argue that IT innovation in the public sector involves influences from three domains of ideological contestation: first, ideology about transformative effects of IT in government administration (Elliott & Kraemer, 2008); second, ideologies about substantive public policy areas, that is, ideologies concerning the areas of welfare and development of a society that specific public sector organizations serve, for example, economic growth, health care, and the provision of education; and third, ideology about how the public sector should be reformed to overcome historically developed rigidities of the bureaucratic model of government administration (Baptista, 2005; Cordella & Willcocks, 2010)
We extend the view of ideological origins of IT innovation in the public sector that has been elaborated in the computerization movement” (CM) studies of e‐government by examining complementary influences on the objectives of e‐ government projects that stem from two ideologies: concerning the substantive public policies enacted by public sector organizations and concerning the way public administration is conducted
Summary
It has long been established in information systems (IS) research that information technology (IT) innovation in organizations is influenced by ideas about transformative effects of IT that are shaped in their broader social context (Orlikowski & Gash, 1994; Swanson & Ramiller, 1997). We study the political origin of ideas that form objectives of IT innovation in public sector organizations. We assume that IT innovation is an intrinsically political process, which involves ideas, decisions, and actions shaped by the diverse interests of multiple actors with different degrees of power. Taking this perspective, our research aims to enhance existing sociotechnical views of IT and public sector reform by identifying the domains of contested ideas that shape objectives of IT innovation in government organizations. Identifying the domains of ideological contestation where objectives of IT innovation are formed is important for explaining observed outcomes and for predicting IT‐enabled organizational change. It can help IS practitioners to better understand the contested ideas that are implicated in the specification of IS requirements and in stakeholders' acceptance or challenge of the systems they strive to construct
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