Kathy McGrath

Doing critical research in information systems: a case of theory and practice not informing each other*

Abstract. For more than 30 years, critical research in information systems (IS) has challenged the assumption that technology innovation is inherently desirable and hence to the benefit of all. Nevertheless, how researchers view the nature of being critical has changed over time, and so too have the ways that they pursue their critical agenda and argue for their contributions. In this paper, I present a brief historical account of critical IS research, tracing the theoretical perspectives that have been dominant at different times and the empirical efforts that were guided by them. As part of tracing our current position I examine two key texts authored by Chrisanthi Avgerou and Geoff Walsham, who pursue different types of critical agenda and make distinctive empirically based contributions concerning the substantive issue of global diversity in IS innovation and its consequences. Overall, I suggest that the IS field now accepts broad definitions of the nature of being critical, but despite having a body of empirical critical research from which to learn, we are not making the most of our opportunities to do so, which retards further development. While I do not seek to develop a prescription for conducting and evaluating critical research, or try to encourage lengthy confessional accounts of research conduct in all journal papers, I do argue that we need more explicit reflections about our sustained long‐term efforts in the field. Such reflections might consider the way we develop our critical arguments and insights, and what we strive for and accomplish through our interventions. In effect, the IS field has not yet reached a position where the theory and practice of doing critical research are informing each other.

Power, rationality, and the art of living through socio-technical change

Most information systems research takes for granted the assumption that IS practice and associated organizational change can be effectively understood as a process of technical reasoning and acting governed by a mix of concerns about software construction, administrative control, and economic gain. Its mission has been to empower managers, IS engineers, and information and communication technology users with knowledge and techniques for effective decision making. However, empirical research frequently encounters human activity that is at odds with the assumed pattern of rational behavior. Recent work tries to explain behavior in IS and organizational change in terms of social processes rather than as a consideration of rational techniques of professional practice. In this paper we address this ambivalence of the IS field with regard to technical/rational knowledge and practice. We draw from the theoretical work of Michel Foucault on power/knowledge and the aesthetics of existence to argue that the rational techniques of IS practice and the power dynamics of an organization and its social context are closely intertwined, requiring each other to be sustained. Furthermore, we develop a context-specific notion of rationality in IS innovation, through which interested parties judge the value of an innovation for their lives and consequently support or subvert its course. We demonstrate these ideas with a case study of a social security organization in Greece.

Ethics and social networking sites: A disclosive analysis of Facebook

Purpose – This paper aims to provide insights into the moral values embodied by a popular social networking site (SNS), Facebook.Design/methodology/approach – This study is based upon qualitative fieldwork, involving participant observation, conducted over a two‐year period. The authors adopt the position that technology as well as humans has a moral character in order to disclose ethical concerns that are not transparent to users of the site.Findings – Much research on the ethics of information systems has focused on the way that people deploy particular technologies, and the consequences arising, with a view to making policy recommendations and ethical interventions. By focusing on technology as a moral actor with reach across and beyond the internet, the authors reveal the complex and diffuse nature of ethical responsibility and the consequent implications for governance of SNS.Research limitations/implications – The authors situate their research in a body of work known as disclosive ethics, and argue...

The golden circle: A way of arguing and acting about technology in the London ambulance service

This paper analyses the way in which the London Ambulance Service recovered from the events of October 1992, when it implemented a computer-aided despatch system (LASCAD) that remained in service for less than 2 weeks. It examines the enactment of a programme of long-term organizational change, focusing on the implementation of an alternative computer system in 1996. The analysis in this paper is informed by actor-network theory, both by an early statement of this approach developed by Callon in the sociology of translation, and also by concepts and ideas from Latours more recent restatement of his own position. The paper examines how alternative interests emerged and were stabilized over time, in a way of arguing and acting among key players in the change programme, christened the Golden Circle. The story traces 4 years in the history of the London Ambulance Service, from the aftermath of October 1992 through the birth of the Golden Circle to the achievement of National Health Service (NHS) trust status. LASCAD was the beginning of the story, this is the middle, an end lies in the future, when the remaining elements of the change programme are enacted beyond the Golden Circle.

The role of institutions in ICT innovation: learning from interventions in a Nigerian e-government initiative

Much research on developing countries highlights a link between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and development, albeit from different standpoints about the nature of such a link and the way that desired benefits may be achieved. Prompted by arguments about the developmental potential of ICTs, the Federal Republic of Nigeria has embarked on a mission to computerize all ministries and increase the level of adoption and use of ICTs in the country. This strategy involves the introduction of a wide range of information systems within different governmental organizations and relentless efforts at promoting them. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is one of several organizations targeted by this e-government initiative. We draw on research that highlights the role of institutions in the adoption and use of IT innovations to examine two attempts by the INEC to introduce an electronic voters’ registration (EVR) system. These efforts were intended to provide a more credible electoral process, leading to increased citizen participation in future voting exercises and the adoption of EVR as the status quo. However, despite a number of interventions promoting the innovation, these efforts failed to institutionalize the EVR system, which was poorly perceived after the elections amidst reports of high levels of electoral malpractice. We conclude by reflecting on the limitations in this context of institutional interventions and suggest some implications for policy-makers. Shirin Madon is the accepting Associate Editor for this article.

In a Mood to Make Sense of Technology: A Longitudinal Study of Discursive Practices at the London Ambulance Service

This paper addresses how an organization that experienced a major disaster when implementing an information system has attempted to rebuild its sense of identity, while responding to sectoral and national mandates that it continue to deploy information technology as a means of improving its performance. The organization is the London Ambulance Service (LAS). The disaster occurred 10 years ago during the LASCAD (LAS Computer Aided Despatch) implementation of October 1992. The institutions that mandate the continued adoption of information technology are the Department of Health, the UK government, and the popular press, acting as guardians of the public interest. This research addresses the discourses about information systems (IS) implementation that have taken place at the LAS over the last 10 years, how they have been framed by institutions, as well as informed by local memories. Moreover, it addresses the emotional medium in which these discourses have taken place, following the events of October 1992. In this way, the research considers the emotional and cognitive dimensions of IS implementation and use, or how an enduring mood and a pervasive mode of arguing and acting interpenetrated in three IS projects at the LAS during the last decade.

ICTs Supporting Targetmania

This research is concerned with a globalising discourse of modernisation, in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) are deeply implicated. It examines efforts to modernise the emergency arm of the UK National Health Service (NHS) so that it is more responsive to contemporary public demands. Pervasive in managerial and ministerial discourses about modernising the NHS are perceived joint needs to change its culture and to mobilise the potential of information technology. Drawing from critical social theory, the main argument of this paper is that the way the ambulance services are regulated and monitored is giving rise to a modernisation programme in which cultural change and ICT innovation is being narrowly conceived in terms of achieving response time targets. So in this case the process of modernisation is acting to deny autonomy locally and reinforce a 1950s image of ambulance workers that they would reject as not at all modern.

The LASCAD Project: A Failed Implementation or a Way of Understanding the Present?

This paper examines the London Ambulance Service Computer Aided Dispatch (LASCAD) project, in the context of changes in the health service sector since 1992. The paper presents two accounts. The first draws on the official inquiry report into LASCAD and gives an account of the project using a multiple perspective framework for analyzing decision-making. Like earlier studies of the project that have reconstructed the past so that we may achieve a better understanding of what happened then, it presents LASCAD as a systems implementation that failed for a number of reasons. In this way, the first account supports many of the conclusions reached by earlier studies. The second account provides an alternative reading. It revisits LASCAD in the light of information about the current situation in the ambulance services sector. It seeks a historical understanding, prompted not by an interest in the past and a wish to explain it, but by a desire to understand and respond to the present. The argument being made is that, while reconstructing the past produces interesting and useful results, understanding the present by looking for its traces in the past is potentially more action-oriented.