MIS and the Dynamics of Legitimacy in Health Care

Abstract

Combining actor-network and neo-institutional theory, this paper reconstructs the MIS development and use in a Norwegian local public health care organization. Rooted in research of governmental IT and the corresponding implementation at the municipality level, the paper focuses on how the MIS project must be recognized both as an expression of institutionally infused change and as an actor-shaped change effort. More specifically, through a historical reconstruction of 1987–2000, we spell out how the MIS project legitimizes — and is legitimized by — the different types of logic at play: administrative, professional and democratic.Key wordsManagement information systemHealth CareNeo-institutional theoryActor Network theorylegitimacy