Handbook of critical information systems research: Theory and application
Abstract
'This indispensable book provides an excellent overview of the variety of perspectives that characterize critical research in the information systems field.' © Debra Howcroft and Eileen M. Trauth, 2005. All rights reserved.
... Although the intent of this chapter is not to unpack power, ideology, and Discourse collisions in detail, one should be aware that accomplishment in higher education (HE) potentially implies new power and social capital which can be used emancipatorily or repressively (Flyvbjerg, 2001). Therefore, drawing from critical theory, adequate mastery of a Discourse should also include conscious and critical reflexivity about the potential for unintended disempowering supervisory practices (Ngwenyama, 1991;Ngwenyama and Lee, 1997;Howcroft and Trauth, 2005;McGrath, 2005;Stahl, 2008). As a critical theorist, I am obliged to briefly unpack the notions of critique and reflexivity as ethical conduct (Stahl, 2008). ...
... Critical researchers, for example, value critical reflexivity, emancipation, and empowerment. Moreover, they seek to challenge phenomena such as technocentricity, non-performative intent, and ideological repression (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005). ...
... In the discipline of Information Systems, I find the students I meet and supervise are often trained -forced or dominated even -into a worldview where systemisation, structure, forward planning, and extreme task-orientatedness are highly valued and sought after. In effect, they are taught to embrace technology-deterministic and systematic thinking (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005;Avgerou, 2010), which constitutes a particular way of valuing and being. This is potentially ideological because, as with other disciplines, the Information Systems discipline regulates (or disciplines) the knowledge and behaviour of individuals (Foucault, 1977;Brocklesby and Cummings, 1996;Myers and Klein, 2011). ...
... Western approaches and assumptions in the representation and implementation of ICT4D; and Hayes and Westrup (2012) question technology deterministic assumptions where technological development is seen as synonymous with meaningful social development (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005). In all these ICT4D discourses the need to reflect on the broader social and economic context is highlighted. ...
... 8), and " technological Utopianism " (p. 9), one can infer that in order to be ethical in development practice and discourses, one should be sensitised to the critical themes of non-performative intent and the critique of technological determinism (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005). Non-performative intent " rejects a view of action that is guided only by economic efficiency [i.e. ...
... producing maximum output for minimum input] as opposed to a concern for social relations and all that is associated with this. " (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005, p. 4). ...
The problem with many ICT4D projects and policy designed for African developmental contexts is that there is a tendency towards deterministic assumptions in that arguments and implementation guidelines are often presented a-contextually. The reality is, however, that ICT4D discourses and practice in the African context often imply cross-cultural working and worldview collisions. Therefore, simply adopting Western values and advice wholesale without deep and adequate reflection, may lead to a design reality gap, disruptive and oppressive ICT transfer, and ultimately failure. In addition, identifying, understanding, and representing cultural context and local development realities may present challenges, because it is interwoven with the assumptions and prejudices of those identifying and representing context or distorted with ethnocentric assumptions about ICT and its developmental role. This paper contributes by offering a case of how a particular ICT4D implementation framework with a developmental agenda was appropriated respectfully and ethically for the development realities of a traditional Afrocentric community in South Africa. The author reflects on a number of issues related to cross-cultural dynamics and power relations as it evolved during a particular case of ICT training and project introduction. Narrative examples, representing both method and phenomena, are used to demonstrate a number of interrelated reflexive themes for ICT4D project conduct and context understanding.
... This was considered appropriate because the authors suggested how the three constructs can be used in a CST informed study. This addressed some of the challenges of CST informed research where theorist do not provide a clear prescription of applying the theory as noted by a number of authors (Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2011;Cukier, Bauer & Middleton, 2005;Howcroft & Trauth, 2005;Kincheloe & McLaren, 2011). We acknowledge the application of the constructs with critical reflection to ensure that theoretical reasoning and study can improve the way researchers conduct CST research (Myers & Klein, 2011). ...
... It was also important to note the methodological consideration in the study. A fundamental point in the study was reflexivity as part of the process for conducting critical research methodology (Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2011;Howcroft, & Trauth, 2005). The researcher took time to question his own assumptions in the interpretation of the data, the value positions taken and representation of the results. ...
Use of social media applications has become popular in the context of developing countries. Social media are transforming the way individuals and organisations communicate and interact in their social settings. This paper presents a critical analysis of discourses on use of WhatsApp among opposition party politicians. Using the case of Malawi, the study analysed media reports and government documents using critical social theory. The findings showed power relations issues related to domination, communication distortions, and conflict of interests in the social and political discourses. Further, the study highlighted the effects of absence and outdated laws and legal frameworks in dealing with emerging use of new technologies in political activities (e.g., use of WhatsApp) in the context of a developing country. The study makes recommendations for policymakers and law enforcement agencies in addressing challenges related to the use and regulation of new technologies.
... B O U R D I E U ' S T H E O R E T I C A L A P P ROAC H In social science research, a range of epistemological positions falls under the 'umbrella' of the critical approach (or critical information systems – critical IS – research). Although these draw upon a variety of social theories, three major critical research streams have emerged as foundations for Critical IS research based on the work of Foucault, Habermas and Bourdieu (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005; Myers & Klein, 2011). Encouraging a breadth of critical approaches is beneficial in strengthening the field of critical IS research and in connecting theory and practice (McGrath, 2005 ). ...
... Encouraging a breadth of critical approaches is beneficial in strengthening the field of critical IS research and in connecting theory and practice (McGrath, 2005 ). Information systems (IS) research that consciously adopts a critical perspective emerged in the early 1990s and expanded further from the early 2000s (Howcroft & Trauth 2005; Richardson & Robinson, 2007). Critical theory perspectives encourage inquiry into both understanding what drives the unequal distribution of resources across a population and use of that understanding to bring about change (Crotty, 1998; Baum, 2008). ...
Despite the seeming ubiquity of young people's Internet use, there are still many for whom access to the Internet and online social networking remains inequitable and patterned by disadvantage. The connection between information technology and young people with disabilities is particularly under-researched. This article contributes to the field of critical information systems research by exposing significant barriers and facilitators to Internet accessibility for young people with disabilities. It uses Bourdieu's critical theory to explore how the unequal distribution of resources shapes processes of digital inclusion for young people with disabilities. It highlights access needs and experiences that are both disability and non-disability related. The article draws on interviews in South Australia with 18 young people aged 10–18 years with a physical disability (such as cerebral palsy) or acquired brain injury and with 17 of their family members. Interviews evaluated participants' and parents' reflections on the benefits of a home-based, goal-oriented intervention to increase the young person's Internet use for social participation purposes. The Bourdieuian analysis demonstrated how varying levels of accrued individual and family offline capital resources are related to digital/online resources and disability-specific online resources. This revealed how unequal resources of capital can influence technology use and hence digital inclusion for young people with disabilities. Our study demonstrates that young people with particular types of disabilities require intensive, personalised and long-term support from within and beyond the family to ‘get online’. We conclude that Internet studies need to more frequently adopt critical approaches to investigate the needs of users and barriers to information technology use within sub-groups, such as young people with disabilities.
... Supported by the works of Gregor (2006), Alvesson and Deetz (2000), DiMaggio (1995), and others, Grover et al (2008) encourage IS research to undertake the difficult challenge of expanding research approaches in a rigorous manner. This research attempts to "cross the ocean" by building on the exemplary research already carried out in the area of critical information systems (Howcroft & Trauth, 2006). We knowingly sidestep internal debates outlined by Thompson (2005) and Fournier and Grey (2000) regarding the inevitable contention between poststructuralist and Marxist thought. ...
... Instead, we commence by acknowledging the notable shift that has occurred in critical approaches used in information systems after Orlikowski and Baroudi's (1991) premature announcement regarding the death of critical research in IS studies. While, for many, the meaning of the term "critical" is not self-evident when studying information systems, critical studies in the field have come to encapsulate a range of related theoretical approaches (Howcroft & Trauth, 2006). In this paper, we critically analyse play in casual games as a form of labor that reinforces and supports current capitalist modes of production. ...
As unemployment figures rise in the developed world, questions regarding the meaning of "labor" and the intrinsic"value" of work re-emerge. This paper examines labor practices in virtual game worlds to extend existing theoretical explorations regarding concepts of labor and work in the information systems field. The cases explored in this study observe the labor processes associated with two virtual game worlds. We explore whether labor processes are being replicated in virtual environments and, if so, whether "conventional" hegemonies identified by Marxist literature regarding labor are also found in these virtual worlds. This paper contributes to critical information systems research by exploring emancipatory claims regarding labor practices in ICT-enabled work. We present the findings from empirical studies of the Puzzle Pirates and Farmville virtual worlds where we examine the forms of labor undertaken online and their significance in the construction of hegemonic power relationships. The research utilizes a structured ethnographic-style methodology to explore daily working life found in these game environments. This paper contributes to critical information systems research by testing the robustness of existing theories of labor process in the problematic and expansive space of virtual worlds.
... One interesting avenue of research might be applying the research paradigm of critical research (i.e., a paradigm aiming at critically examining a subject and its context, and investigating its hidden limitations to change, imposed by economic, political, and cultural authority (Howcroft and Trauth 2005)) to BPM, an approach that has found some application in IS research. Moreover, Sachs (see Schneidewind and Zahrnt (2014)) proposes the concept of sufficiency, focusing on deceleration (less speed and efficiency), deglobalization (less fragmented cross-global productions chains that externalize environmental impacts), decluttering, and decommodification (moving away from commodified mental models focused on numbers and financial benefits) (Göpel 2016), as alternatives to existing economic objectives, which might be able to contribute towards a more sustainability-oriented derivative of BPM. ...
Given the continuous global degradation of the Earth's ecosystem due to unsustainable human activity, it is increasingly important for enterprises to evaluate the effects they have on the environment. Consequently, assessing the impact of business processes on sustainability is becoming an important consideration in the discipline of Business Process Management (BPM). However, existing practical approaches that aim at a sustainability-oriented analysis of business processes provide only a limited perspective on the environmental impact caused. Further, they provide no clear and practically applicable mechanism for sustainability-driven process analysis and redesign. Following a design science methodology, we here propose and study SOPA, a framework for sustainability-oriented process analysis and redesign. SOPA extends the BPM life cycle by use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for sustainability analysis in combination with Activity-based Costing (ABC). We evaluate SOPA and its usefulness with a case study, by means of an implementation to support the approach, thereby also illustrating the practical applicability of this work.
... There is no definitive list of management fads. The following fads have also been recognized as management fads in management literature: Learning Organization, Cultural Change Programs, Total Quality Management, Business Process Reengineering (Balogun & Hope Hailey, 2008), Benchmarking (Furnham, 2004), Management by Objectives (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005), and Knowledge Management (Hislop, 2010). As a professor, I can imagine holding my lectures, where I speak in superlatives about the above-mentioned theories before the break. ...
On the ground of the Rover case, the authors were observed criticism of learning organization from the perspective of postmodernism and from the perspective of critical realism, excluding the perspective of positivism as disadvantageous. Postmodernists perspective is twofold, either an ideal that is close to a dream or a nightmare for its members. Learning organization is a postmodern approach to work that requires a paradigm change in the organization, but all postmodernist theses based on the paradigm change are problematic. From the perspective of critical realism, learning organization has failed to meet three objectives which are essential for any well-founded theory: a clear definition, practical operational advice for managers, and tools and instruments for measuring. The concept of learning organization ignores the fact that management rewards those who contribute to the success and punishes those who make the damage, the terms measurable purely in a financial form. The political question in business organizations is related to the fundamental question: for whose interest does the business organization exist, whether the interest of workers or the interest of capital? The legitimacy of managerial authority is a function of maximizing efficiency and effectiveness in the interests of capital. In a contemporary social context where capital dominates, the concept of a learning organization is naively apolitical. Therefore, the authors concluded that simplified recipes, as learning organization, are simply not relevant for modern organizations and they warn about useless journals that continue to promote the learning organization model.
... Hence, investigation on novel solutions is required to raise the barriers of entry for other competitors (ibid, P: [69][70][71]. To do this the limitations of current solutions should be studied through the newly raised stakeholder's expectations (ibid, P: [71][72][73][74][75][76][77]. It was therewith believed that the stakeholders at the HIT solutions providers' side are demanding a solution which is more efficient with marketing (Bernstein et al, 2007). ...
This research aimed to discover the difficulties and limitations of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) solutions and their stakeholders; where the investigation for the potential solutions by the Next Generation Information Technology was a further objective of this study. The IT systems that are developed to store, manage and disseminate the healthcare data were called the HIT (Chaudhry et al, 2006). And the Next Generation IT was addressed to cloud and ubiquitous computing solution (Young, 2012). A systematic literature review was conducted to search for the literature regarding the cited aims; with a part of this study researched through the principles of a critical incident technique to reflect the potential anthropologic hazard that might rise in future. A diversity of problems regarding quality of services, marketing, finance and sovereignty were reviewed in accordance with HIT and its adoption by the private sector. Potential solutions provided by Next Generation Information Technology have been reviewed; where both the advantages and disadvantages that were brought to other industries were investigated. The socio-reflection to capitalism was analyzed; thus HIT was considered to be a significant role player in future’s information economy, as an enhanced public administration service Moreover further research in problems with HIT and potential solutions was recommended, as far as this study was limited to time, scope and publication nations. Additional recommendations were likewise provided to persuade the goals of this study within security, sovereignty, immigration and socio-interaction concerns.
... The other stream focuses on those who have appeared on traditional IS research outlets and aimed to explore the adverse outcomes caused by ICTs to organisations and society in general. This stream of research is often referred to as critical social IS research (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005). One emerging phenomenon of critical IS research, and also considered as responsible IS research, is the higher demand for the understanding of the dark side of ICTs (Polites, Serrano, Thatcher, & Matthews, 2018;Tarafdar, D'Arcy, Turel, & Gupta, 2015;. ...
The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant threat to the healthy lives and well-being of billions of people worldwide. As the world begins to open up from lockdowns and enters an unprecedented state of vulnerability, or what many have called “the new normal”, it makes sense to reflect on what we have learned, revisit our fundamental assumptions, and start charting the way forward to contribute to building a sustainable world. In this essay, we argue that despite its significant damage to human lives and livelihoods, the coronavirus pandemic presents an excellent opportunity for the human family to act in solidarity and turn this crisis into an impetus to achieve the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In this article, we will highlight the six relevant themes that have evolved during the pandemic and the corresponding topics that future researchers could focus on. We conclude by issuing a call for more research attention on tackling SDG through developing the concept and practice of digital sustainability.
... There is no definitive list of management fads [4]. Besides the learning organization, which is in focus of this paper, these fads have also been recognized in the literature: cultural change programs, total quality management, business process reengineering [5], benchmarking [11], management by objectives [15], and knowledge management [14]. ...
Sažetak Autor poredi dve male akademske zajednice u cilju testiranja vremenske razlike publikovanja naučnog otkrića između vodećih svetskih žurnala na engleskom jeziku i onih sa periferija. Izabrane su akademske zajednice Srbije i Austrije, slične i po veličini i po tome što osnovni akademski jezik u njima nije engleski. Ipak, ove zemlje se veoma razlikuju po ekonomskoj snazi. U cilju testiranja te vremenske razlike, autor će testirati vremenski razmak u otkrivanju jednog prolaznog hita u menadžmentu, tzv. management fad-a, u tim zemljama i uporediti sa otkrićem u vodećim svetskim žurnalima. Jedan od detektovanih hitova u menadžmentu u akademskim žurnalima na engleskom jeziku je učeća organizacija ili organizacija koja uči, s tipičnim vrhuncem publikovanja u 1995. godini. U ovom istraživanju, vrhunac je otkriven u austrijskim žurnalima u 1997. godini, a 15 godina kasnije i u srpskim. Autor tvrdi da je sadržajnija saradnja sa svetskom akademskom zajednicom conditio sine qua non napretka malih akademskih zajednica. Ključne reči: učeća organizacija, prolazni hitovi u menadžmentu, Srbija, Austrija, naučni napredak.
Abstract The author is comparing two small academic communities to test the time discrepancies in publishing of an academic discovery between the world's leading English language journals and those from peripheries. The chosen academic communities are Serbia and Austria, similar in size, with a shared fact that the main academic language is not the English language. However, the economic strength of those countries is quite different. For testing the time discrepancies, the author will test the time lag in discovering a management fad in those countries, comparing to the world's leading journal discoveries. One of detected management fads in the English language academic journals is the learning organization, with a typical peak in publishing in the year 1995. In this research, the peak was discovered in Austrian journals in the year 1997, and 15 years later in the Serbian ones. The author is arguing toward the tighter connections with the world academic community, as the conditio sine qua non for an advancement of small academic communities.
... The other stream focuses on those who have appeared on traditional IS research outlets and aimed to explore the adverse outcomes caused by ICTs to organisations and society in general. This stream of research is often referred to as critical social IS research (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005). One emerging phenomenon of critical IS research, and also considered as responsible IS research, is the higher demand for the understanding of the dark side of ICTs (Polites, Serrano, Thatcher, & Matthews, 2018;Tarafdar, D'Arcy, Turel, & Gupta, 2015;. ...
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for people worldwide. To combat the virus, one of the most dramatic measures was the lockdown of 4 billion people in what is believed to be the largest quasi-quarantine in human history. As a response to the call to study information behavior during a global health crisis, we adopted a resource orchestration perspective to investigate six Chinese families who survived the lockdown. We explored how elderly, young and middle-aged individuals and children resourced information and how they adapted their information behavior to emerging online technologies. Two information resource orchestration practices (information resourcing activities and information behavior adaptation activities) and three mechanisms (online emergence and convergence in community resilience, the overcoming of information flow impediments, and the application of absorptive capacity) were identified in the study.
... 188) Richardson and Robinson (2007) in their review of critical IS research (CISR) also affirm that IFIP 8.2 and ITP were important publication outlets, adding that given the highly porous boundaries of the IS discipline, critical researchers mainly publish in non-IS journals. The interest in critical research is also reflected in special issues in Journal of Information Technology (JIT) (17:45, 2002) and ITP (19:3, 2006) and a critical stream at AMCIS since 2001 (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005). ...
Qualitative and Critical Research in Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction explores the history and adoption of qualitative and critical research in Information Systems (IS) and contrasts it with the growth of similar methods/theories in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and, to a lesser, extent Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW). The supposition behind the comparison was that the areas overlap in subject matter and would overlap in methods and authors. However, marked differences were observed in the structure of publications, conferences, and on social media that led to questions about the extent to which the fields shared a common framework. The authors find that the history of each discipline reflects institutional factors that affected the respective timelines for the use of these approaches. This leads them to consider a sociological epistemic framework, which explains the differences quite well. It also supports characterizations of the culture of IS made by members, as having open paradigm and high collegiality, described as an adhocracy. The authors propose that qualitative and critical research developed interdependently in IS. Aside from institutional factors, a further difference in uptake of methods and critical framework comes from the US/Europe divide in research traditions and the political/epistemic climates affecting research in the respective regions. Research from beyond the transatlantic traditions postdates the developments covered here but is touched on at the end of the monograph. The primary goal of Qualitative and Critical Research in Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction is to better understand the ways the IS research community differentiates itself into diverse constituencies, and how these constituencies interact in the field's complex processes of knowledge creation and dissemination. Another goal is to create cross-disciplinary discussion and build on related work in the fields. This is important in the era of platforms with global reach, and the concurrent development of powerful AI and analytics capabilities that both intrude on daily life and try to emulate human intelligence.
... Other criticisms have included the following: [10,21] • ANT's perceived inappropriate equal treatment of both human (e.g. clinical users) and non-human actors (e.g. ...
This chapter introduces Actor-Network Theory, a sociotechnical approach to studying health information technology implementation. The chapter is intended as a pragmatic introduction to the field, acknowledging that there are many contested features of an Actor-Network Theory informed methodology. Nevertheless, the approach can be usefully drawn on to help to focus data collection and sampling. A case study describing the application of Actor-Network Theory to study the "failed" implementation of national electronic health records in England as part of a national "top-down" implementation program illustrates the main tenets of the approach and provides concrete examples of how Actor-Network Theory may be applied. In doing so, this chapter offers a reflexive account of how Actor-Network Theory has provided a nuanced analysis of how the implementation of national electronic health records affected different stakeholders, organizations and technology.
... 188) Richardson and Robinson (2007) in their review of critical IS research (CISR) also affirm that IFIP 8.2 and ITP were important publication outlets, adding that given the highly porous boundaries of the IS discipline, critical researchers mainly publish in non-IS journals. The interest in critical research is also reflected in special issues in Journal of Information Technology (JIT) (17:45, 2002) and ITP (19:3, 2006) and a critical stream at AMCIS since 2001 (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005). ...
ABSTRACT
Information Systems (IS) and Human Computer Interaction
(HCI)–including Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
(CSCW)–address the development and adoption of computing
systems by organizations, individuals, and teams. While
each has its own emphasis, the timelines for adopting qualitative
and critical research differ dramatically. IS used both
in the late 1980s, but critical theory appeared in HCI only
in 2000. Using a hermeneutic literature review, the paper
traces these histories; it applies academic cultures theory
as an explanatory framework. Institutional factors include
epistemic bases of source disciplines, number and centrality
of publication outlets, and political and geographic contexts.
Key innovations in IS are covered in detail. The rise of
platformization drives the fields toward a common scope
of study with an imperative to address societal issues that
emerge at scale.
See
http://ronininstitute.org/research-scholars/eleanor-wynn/
... CDA presents a unique opportunity to examine how social structures, such as power, domination, identity, inequality, and communication distortions, manifest through language, thus revealing emancipatory possibilities. We employ CDA to examine these social issues in online health forums and to reveal the emancipatory possibilities (Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2011;Howcroft & Trauth, 2005;Myers & Klein, 2011). We are interested in the ways community members use language and technology to discursively construct online practices. ...
Many individuals go to online health communities to obtain emotional and information support. This study employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the discourse in five online childhood immunization forums to identify online practices related to engagement and emancipation. We identify four online engagement discourse types in online health communities: cognitive, emotional, behavioural, and political. Consistent with our critical perspective, we identify drivers and obstacles to emancipation. The obstacles to emancipation include the adverse consequences of building online knowledge and collective intelligence, shifts in patient–physician relationships, and “Big” institutional power. Members’ suggestions for empowering community members include encouraging members to conduct their own research on childhood immunization and to differentiate between facts and opinions. These findings suggest that sensemaking is one way to emancipate online health community members, while highlighting the challenges of using online communities to promote emancipation.
... With our concern being the ethics of crowdsourcing practices, we conducted this study that was sensitized and informed by Habermasian discourse ethics (Habermas 1990; in the selection of both its empirical design and its theoretical analysis. Consequently, the study belongs to the category of critical social research (Adler et al. 2007;Alvesson and Deetz 2000) and, more specifically, to critical IS research (Cecez-Kecmanovic et al. 2008;Howcroft and Trauth 2005;Stahl 2008). Following the principles of critical IS research methodology (Cecez-Kecmanovic 2001; Myers and Klein 2011), we focused on the three key elements of critical field research: insight, critique and transformation (Alvesson and Deetz 2000). ...
Crowdsourcing practices have generated much discussion on their ethics and fairness, yet these topics have received little scholarly investigation. Some have criticized crowdsourcing for worker exploitation and for undermining workplace regulations. Others have lauded crowdsourcing for enabling workers' autonomy and allowing disadvantaged people to access previously unreachable job markets. In this paper, we examine the ethics in crowdsourcing practices by focusing on three questions: a) what ethical issues exist in crowdsourcing practices? b) are ethical norms emerging or are issues emerging that require ethical norms? and, more generally, c) how can the ethics of crowdsourcing practices be established? We answer these questions by engaging with Jürgen Habermas' (Habermas 1990; Habermas 1993) discourse ethics theory to interpret findings from a longitudinal field study (from 2013-2016) involving key crowdsourcing participants (workers, platform organizers and requesters) of three crowdsourcing communities. Grounded in this empirical study, we identify ethical concerns and discuss the ones for which ethical norms have emerged as well as others which remain unresolved and problematic in crowdsourcing practices. Furthermore, we provide normative considerations of how ethical concerns can be identified, discussed and resolved based on the principles of discourse ethics.
... There is no definitive list of management fads. Besides learning organization, which is in focus of this paper, the following fads have also been recognized as management fads in management literature: Cultural Change Programs, Total Quality Management, Business Process Reengineering (Balogun & Hope Hailey, 2008), Benchmarking (Furnham, 2004), Management by Objectives (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005), and Knowledge Management (Hislop, 2010). As a professor, I can imagine holding lectures, where I speak in superlatives about the above-mentioned theories before the break. ...
The management theories of no practical value are known as management fads. One of those management fads-which is the focus of this research-is learning organization. There is sufficient evidence in English literature to conclude that learning organization is a management fad. The aim of this paper is to present the ample evidence that learning organization is a management fad. The maximum number of the research paper with the subject of learning organization was made in the late 1995 and the typical bell-shaped curve of the management fad is evident. In contrast to the world trend, a content analysis of Serbian journals discovered that a typical pick of a bell-shaped curve of papers covering the topic of learning organization was 17 years later. It is argued in this paper that the learning organization phenomenon, as a normative or prescriptive theory, should be abandoned in the academic world altogether. The learning organization fad is a phenomenon with low practical applicability, a phenomenon of a little value for further development in the management research.
... By critically questioning 'social realities' and provide insights how these 'realities' are historically, politically and socially constructed and strongly shaped by asymmetries of power in society, we are able to move beyond established definitions and assumptions and can achieve emancipation from traditional existing structures (Croon-Fors, 2006). The importance of carrying out critical studies is today frequently pointed out by several IS-researchers (Avgerou andMcGrath, 2005, Howcroft &Trauth, 2005;Walsham, 2005;Willcocks, 2006). The number of studies where such perspectives are applied is nevertheless few but growing. ...
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have changed the conditions to consume and distribute child pornography. Child pornography is a criminal offence in many countries and therefore it is of great importance for the users to protect their identity and reduce the risk of getting caught. The technological environment, which ICT constitutes, provides powerful surveillance-mechanisms. The aim with this paper is to explore offenders’ relationship towards surveillance in the context of digital child pornography. The empirical findings presented are based upon semi-structured interviews with offenders convicted of child pornography. The findings show that the offenders develop different strategies to manage the risk of surveillance. The identified strategies have been divided into technological and social. The result of this study enhances the knowledge about the offenders’ ICT usage and their behaviour in their involvement in child pornography. This knowledge is of great importance to be able to develop effective combating-mechanisms, such as legislations and technological solutions. This paper contributes to previous research within the field of Critical Information Systems Research by applying Foucault’s concept of panopticon on the research subject.
... Alternative paradigms, such as the interpretative and symbolic or critical current, refer to the qualitative methodology, which focuses on exploratory aspects. Interpretivists prefer methods drawn from cultural anthropology and humanist sociology, i.e. organisation ethnology, in-depth interviews and discourse analyses [Alvesson, Willmott 2003, Howcroft, Trauth 2005. The representatives of the critical current prefer emancipation and involved methods, leading to changes of unjust social and organisational order, based on the distribution of power, such as empowerment, critical text analyses and other methods of the denaturalisation of management discourse [Parker 2002]. ...
This paper is the first publication from the series of four articles about cognitive challenges in management science. It is the result of the further discussions and reflections concerning the cognitive problems of management after publication of the books about epistemology of management. The question of identity of management perceived like a social science is important mainly to researchers, but also to reflective managers. The paper is a diagnosis of a current cognitive state with main thesis that management is still science in statu nascendi. Management belongs to the family of the social sciences and it is still in the primal stage of his evolution. First of all, there is a lack of agreement on the one paradigm or even one way of understanding and classifying the paradigms among scholars. Moreover, in consequence of multi-paradigmatic and multi-disciplinary approach, the polymethodological perspective must be applied to management sciences. That means, type of the methodological eclectism that is the third characteristic point of management epistemology. At the end of the chapter the case of the multiparadigmatic, poly-methodological and eclectic is shown in the marketing contemporary discourse.
... Habermas (Brocklesby et al. 1996; Howcroft et al. 2005; Klein et al. 2004; Myers et al. 2011); as well as critical realism (Johnston et al. 2010; Mingers 2004; Mingers et al. 2013), and critical versions of interpretive approaches such as critical ethnography (Myers 1997) and critical discourse analysis (Cukier et al. 2009). A critical approach, or the idea of critique, has two lineages one traceable to Kant and one to Marx (Cecez-Kecmanovic 2011; Mingers 2000). ...
Research in information systems includes a wide range of approaches which make a contribution in terms of knowledge, understanding, or practical developments. The measure of any research is, ultimately, its validity: are its finding true, or its recommendations correct? However, empirical studies show that discussion of validity in research is often weak. In this paper we examine the nature of truth and correctness in order to construct a validation framework that can encompass all the varied forms of research. Within philosophy, there has been much debate about truth, is it correspondence, coherence, consensual or pragmatic, and in fact current views revolve around the idea of a pluralist view of truth: it is one and many. Related to truth is the concept of correctness, and in particular the necessity of both internal correctness and external correctness. The framework we develop based on these concepts of truth and correctness has been applied to a range of research forms including positivist, mathematical, interpretive, design science, critical and action oriented. The benefits are: i) that a greater and more explicit focus on validity criteria will produce better research; ii) having a single framework can unite what at times seem conflicting approaches to research; iii) having criteria made explicit should encourage debate and further development.
... Interpretation is about developing insight / enlightenment or an understanding of the situation (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005;Myers & Klein, 2011;Zheng & Stahl, 2011). This could be achieved using literature reviews, discourse analysis, and/or empirical analysis. ...
Background - The main concern of this study is that the perspectives at the foundation of the deployment of information and communication technologies (ICT) undermine the pertinent long-term benefits in developing countries. Not only that, but they also affect the ways in which communities in the global information society engage themselves in the diffusion process of ICT.
Claim of the study – The innovation and diffusion process of ICT in developing countries of Africa is foreign and sponsor driven. Consequently, the process is infested with a focus on the realizations in the short-term, with a continued domination of technological innovations by the technologically advanced communities. The argument in this study is that Africa’s developing countries need to change their perspectives, and play an active role to drive the diffusion process of ICT in local contexts for long-term developmental impacts.
Purpose of the study – The main aim of this study is to explore the conceptions surrounding ICT processes in theory and practice, for the purpose of gaining insight into the improved approaches for applied ICT. The study looks into ways through which local communities and their governments in Africa’s developing countries can play a role in cultivating the enhancement of ICT to promote productivity, like it has happened in other places of the world.
Problem statement – The assumption for the problem statement draws from the expressed main concern in the background. That is, there is a need for adequate theoretical foundations to appropriately guide the ICT deployment and application initiatives for effective social development in Africa’s DCs. In the other words, theoretical contributions in the discipline of information systems are needed to explain the relationships between long-term impacts of ICT and societies, and the frameworks for practice to realize the impacts.
Design/methodology/approach - The study takes a qualitative approach, guided by interpretive epistemology, in the paradigm of social constructivism. It uses the perspectives of Sen’s capabilities and functionings to craft a theoretical framework for the deployment of ICT for social development in Africa’s DCs. Data for the study were mined from the ITU-WSIS Stocktaking and the IDRS databases. Content analysis techniques were applied in the analysis of data.
Findings – Most of the initiatives to apply ICT are based on problem solving approaches with a focus on realizing impacts in the short-term. The initiatives are foreign driven, and they rely on foreign sponsorship for resources. The local component for the strategic deployment of ICT for long-term productivity outcomes in Africa’s DCs is not significantly evident.
Contributions – This study has exposed the weak position of firms in the creation of the necessary complementary investments, innovation complementaries, and inter-sectoral linkages in the diffusion process of ICT in Africa’s DCs. This results in a low and narrow appropriation level of ICT, which does not promote factor productivity growth and ICT’s contribution to output. This situation may not change soon if the developing countries do not commit to taking initiatives to promote local innovation capabilities for the strategic diffusion of ICT. To this I proposed for State intervention.
... Furthermore, critical hermeneutics realizes that the act of interpretation is never closed (Harvey and Myers, 2002), because interpretation is driven by an emancipatory agenda (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005); i.e., value judgements are made during the interpretation process (Myers, 2009;Myers and Klein, 2011). The critical hermeneutic constantly seeks possible alternate explanations and in doing so researchers are aware that interpretations may be influenced by political or socio-economic constraints or power distance (Myers, 2009;Thompson, 1981). ...
In this paper we put forward a basis for a debate on adequate and self-reflexive sensemaking in ICT4D social situations. To portray the idea (our value judgement) that everyone (researchers and research participants) needs development, self-reflexivity and practical immersion are discussed as concepts that should form part of ICT4D social inquiry. We build on Bourdieu’s critical views on ‘adequate sensemaking’ and ‘practical immersion’ in social situations, but also draw from work on hermeneutics, Phronetic social research, ethnography, critical reflexivity, and a view on social linguistics to firstly construct our argument for alternate methodological considerations that prioritizes virtuoso expertise that is aligned with the critical paradigm, above analytical scientific knowledge and technical knowledge or know-how. Secondly, we test these emerging ideas with self-reflexive and self-conscious conversations presented in the form of narratives (demonstrations of virtuoso expertise) about our involvement in a rural marginalized high school in a remote district in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. We focus specifically on the sensemaking context created by our presence in the community and we argue that for ICT4D social inquiry to truly matter (i.e., to be adequate), it should stop valuing attempts to try and mimic natural sciences and appeal for methodological accountability only. We further argue that adequate sensemaking and social inquiry cannot be divorced from seeking some form of experientially-based immersion on the part of the researcher. Based on the research, we recommend increased attention to local context, particularly community tensions; researcher use of conscious sensemaking through reflexivity; people-orientation along with experiential learning; all of which should be considered for future ICT4D work in developing environments.
... -calculated by the Ministry of Finance. This study aims to explore e-government operations in order to generate an initial framework of negative impacts from e-government from a critical IS research approach [24] ensuring in-depth understanding, critique and transformational redirection. Qualitative research methods have been applied including informal, in-depth, semi-structured interviews and participant observations. ...
Governments around the world are implementing e-government to achieve the widely anticipated positive outcomes-especially increased public sector efficiency. However, both public sector and citizen adoption of e-government lacks behind expectations and documented benefits from e-government investments are sparse. This may result in governments forcing citizens to e-government use, thus enforcing benefits realization. This paper reports from a case study of coercive e-government. The enactment of coercive digital communication between public sector and citizens in Denmark were explored through qualitative and quantitative empirical studies over three years. This case reveals that the coercive strategy imposed harm on individual, organizational and at societal levels. A responsible e-government ethics is derived from the empirical findings as a step to mitigate unintended harm from coercive e-government.
... There are other philosophers whose work falls within the critical realm but who have made less impact on information systems so far including Adorno (Probert, 2004) and Callon and Latour (actornetwork theory) (Mitev and Wilson, 2004;Walsham, 1997). Howcroft and Trauth (2005) have produced a handbook on critical research in information systems which covers theories as well as practical applications. There have been several recent empirical studies based on a critical realist perspective (Volkoff et al., 2007;Bygstad, 2008;Reimers and Johnson, 2008;Wynn and Williams, 2008). ...
This article raises important philosophical and practical issues in undertaking research in the pursuit of knowledge, including some of the questions and debates that are of interest within the philosophy of information system (IS). It presents five propositions concerning high-quality research. They are adopting a systemic and holistic approach to the world; using critical realism as an underpinning philosophical perspective; employing multiple research methods to reflect the complexity of the real world; recognizing a variety of forms of knowledge; and accepting the importance of truth or warrantability. These are the hallmarks for producing research that is both rigorous and relevant to the complexities and seriousness of the problems we face in the organizational world. Taken together they form a more consistent, coherent, and comprehensive account of the philosophy and methodology of IS research than any other position.
... This research is conducted in the paradigm of critical social theory (CST). CST enables a particular way of seeing a world and its phenomena [8]. CST is an important branch of IS scholarship that studies various structures and power arrangements, and their effects. ...
With the growth of Social Network Sites (SNS) and other online services, the collection and processing of personal information across boundaries has become an everyday reality including Africa. Africa is growing and technology offers a possibility to break the vicious circle of poverty. However, the limited IT infrastructure and weak economic realities have made African communities highly vulnerable for potential privacy violations. To mitigate such threats, various actors have implemented privacy protection mechanisms based on the Fair Information Practice (FIP) principles. However, Africa is a weak player in the Internet realm with limited decision power, dependent on external world, and limited skills to leverage technologies. Compounding the problem, Africa is lagging behind to start even proper discussions on legal protections and proper practices for information privacy. This work-in-progress reports on critical literature review conducted using critical social theory as lens and highlight potential privacy protection mechanisms and practices for Africa.
... Be critically self-reflexive about your own position and role in the project. Start by listening, acknowledging, and asking questions, know your position, remain open, ask for advice and guidance, make sure to know your interviewee's position and acknowledge it, and if possible align with a cultural interpreter or a development agent as partner -and, I suggest that you also think about the disruptive effects of not being self-reflexive (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005 I did not assume this position in my email only to get things done. Through introspection and knowing my inabilities, I sincerely believed in Mrs Dlamini's leadership and that I needed guidance in the project. ...
In this paper I reflect on the community entry phases of doing critical ethnography in a traditional Zulu community in a deep rural part of South Africa. I present my reflections in the form of a confessional account on community entry and on how an ICT4D project was introduced in the community. The primary research question that guided my engagement in the project is: In what ways should I achieve self-emancipation, in order to ensure the ongoing emancipation and empowerment of the people I engage with? I thus argue that the emancipation of the researcher is a precursor for the emancipation of the researched. The paper is practice-orientated in that it demonstrates how community entry was established in a particular situation, how community entry encounters informed follow-up work, and how cultural interpreters empowered me to do community entry successfully. Through confessional writing I reflect on the beginnings of criticality in fieldwork practices and how I recognised, exposed, and articulated my own inabilities, social entrapment, and need for emancipation in ICT4D work. The paper concludes with guidelines for ethical community entry conduct in situations similar to what I encountered and for doing critical research at the grassroots level of practice.
... 3. Non-performative intentrejecting the provision of ICT tools to support and assist managerial efficiency and the mere focus on increased efficiency and maximum output. 4. Critique of technological determinismplacing technological development in a broader context of social and economic changes instead of assuming that societal development is determined by technology. 5. Reflexivityassuming a methodological approach and the conscious role of researcher critiquing the objectivity of research, the choice of research topic, and how research is conducted (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005, pp. 2-5). ...
... Critical theory has found applications in a wide range of fields of inquiry. The present article draws in particular on critical research in information systems (CRIS) (for an introduction, see Howcroft & Trauth, 2005;Stahl, 2008b) and critical legal studies (CLS) (for an introduction, see Fitzpatrick & Hunt, 1987;Kelman, 1987;or Mansell, Meteyard, & Thomson, 1999). For a more in-depth discussion of these two traditions, see Stahl (2007). ...
Forensic computing is an emerging academic discipline and professional field. Most publications in the area concentrate on technical issues related to the provision of digital evidence that can stand up to scrutiny in a court of law. There is a generally shared assumption that forensic computing activities are legitimate and in the best interests of society. This article aims to shed doubt on that prevailing narrative. The article uses some of the concepts of critical theory as applied in critical research in information systems and critical legal studies to point to some potential problems of forensic computing in the workplace. Drawing on traditional critical theory, the article argues that forensic computing can be used as a hegemonic means to uphold ideology even when it is used in law enforcement. Further problems arise due to the use of forensic computing by private organisations. An obvious use to which forensic computing can be put in corporations is that of employee surveillance. The parallel between forensic computing and the Panopticon is explored. The article concludes by discussing the relationship between the different critical approaches and the ways in which these approaches can inform us about the future use of forensic computing in the workplace. Crime is ubiquitous, so are computers, and, consequently, so is computer crime. Computers and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be used as tools of conventional crime and they may lend themselves to qualitatively
... Statements were not only taken for facevalue . Critical IS research acknowledges that employees are not always conscious about their conditions due to socialization (Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2005), which informed the coding process. Further, the author takes the philosophical stance that the real world is out there but every person has a personal perception of it. ...
The great potential in e-government -the provision of public services to citizens through the internet -is widely recognized by governments and expectations of the benefits are high. E-government research has been preoccupied with its evolution, public websites and citizen adoption, from a 'natural growth and voluntary use' perspective. Little attention has been drawn to mandatory e-government. This paper reports from an exploratory study on a Danish mandatory e-government initiative – enforced e-communication between local government and citizens. Civil servants' perception was investigated through two Focus groups. Civil servants reported that some citizens find it really hard to manage computer and e-communication. Moreover, the civil servants feel that they are not allowed to offer the necessary assistance, which makes them frustrated. They find that especially weak citizens may lose welfare benefits due to e-communication. This has a negative effect on motivation and work life quality and may affect the public sector ethos. Increased efficiency by mandatory e-government may be the next hype. How will it affect citizens, civil servants and the 'public good'? How can it ensure that citizens' rights are not violated? This paper calls for critical research on e-government impact and for e-government scholars to play an active part ensuring ethical e-government.
... Hence, one recognized aim of critical research is to demonstrate the contrast between what is apparently said and a number of alternative messages which can be drawn out of the text. While there is no unanimity concerning appropriate methodologies of critical research (McGrath, 2005), there is a general recognition that methodologies that are sensitive to language, its use and shaping are central to the critical enterprise (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005). This process leads the critical researcher to draw on analytical frameworks, theories and philosophies which will help make the contrasts clear and offer some external validity to the critical interpretation of the texts. ...
The development of ICT policies within developing countries in the past ten years has opened up a new area for study. These documents chart the ambitions of the countries for the use of ICT to promote rapid development. As such they are intercultural documents, developing at the interface between the culture of the country and western economic culture. This paper develops a critical approach to understanding these documents and studying their message. The approach involves the preparation of a critical dictionary which identifies relevant terms within the ICT policy document and reflects on their multiple meanings. The approach was applied to an Egyptian ICT policy document, Building Digital Bridges. A dictionary of thirty seven entries was developed. The dictionary, presented in full in an appendix, was used to identify critical themes in the document.
... For this purpose we will briefly look at the position of Critical Research in Information Systems (Howcroft & Trauth, 2005) and explore which issues this may raise for our model. Critical Research in information systems (CRIS) is an approach to IS that draws from critical theories in the social sciences and attempts to discover angles typically overlooked by traditional research. ...
AbstrAct Despite decades of research, healthcare information systems have been characterised by cost over-runs, poor specifications and lack of user uptake. A new approach is required which provides organisations with a reason to invest in this type of software. W Edwards Deming argues that quality is not an entity but derives from using feedback, iteratively to seek improvement to processes, in order to increase productivity and to make better use of resources. The authors propose that supporting this form of quality assurance (QA) using information systems (IS) has the potential to deliver a return on investment. An object-oriented analysis, where healthcare is viewed as the delivery of interdependent processes to which Deming's form of QA is applied, results in a class model of data types that has some useful characteristics. It is able to store data about medical and non-medical events; to save descriptions of procedures and to represent the QA process itself. With software based on the model, organisations will have a memory of previous attempts at making improvements as well as data about feedback from patients and staff to drive future change. A critical research in information systems (CRIS) analysis of this model proposes a number of criticisms deriving from theories about rationality; concepts of technology; politics and hidden agendas, as well as the social consequences of technology. The view that QA is a standardised, ongoing conversation about the important characteristics of a process pre-empts many of these counter arguments. The CRIS critique also highlights the need to ensure that development is in harmony with the needs of the many stakeholders in healthcare IS. These concepts lead to new directions in healthcare IS research. The class model needs to be tested against clinical and non-clinical use-cases for its viability not only as support for QA but also as an electronic patient record. A standard terminology is required for processes and for how objects from the model should be used to represent them. The model predicts that user interfaces will have to collect more detailed data than hitherto. Also use of the software should be tested in controlled trials to demonstrate whether the required improvements in quality not only benefit the patient but also the organisations managing their care.
IT governance seems to be one of the best strategies to optimize IT assets in an economic context dominated by information, innovation, and the race for performance. The multiplication of internal and external data and increased digital management, collaboration, and sharing platforms expose organizations to ever-growing risks. Understanding the threats, assessing the risks, adapting the organization, selecting and implementing the appropriate controls, and implementing a management system are the activities required to establish proactive security governance that will provide management and customers the assurance of an effective mechanism to manage its risks.
IT Governance and Information Security: Guides, Standards and Maturity Frameworks is a fundamental resource to discover IT Governance and Information Security. This book focuses on the guides, standards, and maturity frameworks for adopting an efficient IT Governance and Information Security Strategy in the organization. It describes numerous case studies from an international perspective and brings together industry standards and research from scientific databases. In this way, the book clearly illustrates the issues, problems, and trends related to the topic while promoting the international perspectives of readers.
On the one side, it could be argued that ICT provide a perceived anonymity for people downloading and distributing child abusive material, also labelled child pornography. While, on the other side the technology offers powerful surveillance mechanisms to monitor these activities and thus constitutes a powerful tool for law enforcement. This paper aims to explore how offenders manage the risk of surveillance when downloading, distributing and exchanging child abusive material. Critical research with a focus on panopticon is used as a theoretical framework. The data is drawn from interviews with offenders, convicted of child pornography. The findings show that the offenders have developed technological and social strategies to reduce the risk of surveillance and addresses the need of a new theoretical concept better adjusted to surveillance practices that allow the many to watch the many. The ultimate motivation for researching this topic is to contribute to the development of effective child protection strategies.
There is an increasing public concern about harmful and illegal content, such as terrorist and extremist content, child abuse material available on Internet. As a response, many countries have implemented Internet filtering as a tool to regulate certain types of harmful and illegal content on Internet. This paper will focus upon the use of Internet filtering for child abuse material. On the one hand, Internet filtering is described as a tool to regulate child abuse material, on the other hand Internet filtering is associated with concern for important ethical questions related to effectiveness and censorship strongly connected to important democratic values and rights such as freedom of expression, privacy etc. Therefore, this paper addresses the question how democratic societies can recognise, evaluate, and address ethical issues raised by the implementation and use of filtering systems to prevent and control the distribution of harmful and illegal content such as child abuse material. The analysis draws on ideas from the critical tradition of information systems research. It concludes by recommending that a more discourse-oriented style of governance may be more suited to complex socio-legal-technical questions such as Internet filtering than a top-down approach. This paper contributes with theoretical knowledge to the debate of this topical issue and thereby support policy-making on a national and international level.
Keywords: Harmful and illegal content, Technological regulation, Internet filtering, Child abuse material, Critical information systems research
The target of this seminar paper is to examine how the concepts and ideas of critical theory are adapted in Information Systems and its German equivalent. Because of the socio-technical characteristic, research methods are required that can support both per-spectives. As the other paradigms don’t exceed the description and understanding of problems, scientific methods are demanded to solve problems. This paper starts with the history and theoretical foundations of the critical theory. Subsequently, require-ments for its adaption in Information Systems are given. The main section consists of perspectives that show advantages and disadvantages of application of critical theory. Despite the obstacles regarding its practical application, there is a vital debate about critical research in Information Systems. Nevertheless, it may also inspire conventional researchers to look into opportunities and limitations of this research area.
The aim of this chapter is to study the success factors of the ISO 27002 framework related to the implementation of information security in organizations, with particular emphasis on the different maturity controls of ISO 27002 in the implementation of information security policies in organizations. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate what controls are commonly used and how they are selected to the implementation of an information security in large public organizations in Middle East and North Africa MENA through ISO 27002, with a specific focus on practical framework for the implementation of an effective information security policy through ISO 27002. The finding will help organizations to implement an effective information security policy.
Along with increased globalization and anything prefixed with "global", there is a pressing need for what is referred to as standardization or globalization in advertising. This heated debate on localization versus standardization, in which "one size fits all", have occupied recent advertising research. This research will lead to relevant strategic implications for the UK marketers and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies seeking to enter international markets. The findings are expected to fill a gap in the existing literature by incorporating several cultural aspects embedded in an international advertising policy. This research attempts to explore advertising content in the UK, especially from the level of information provided, stereotypes portrayed and the individualist and collectivist values that may be embedded in advertisements. The article employs Content Analysis (CA) using both closed-and open-questions. Chain referral sampling is utilized to select the respondents from various countries to evaluate advertisements randomly from UK magazines. The findings suggest that UK FMCG printed advertisements contain both individualist and collectivist values. Although they are informative, they are prone to containing stereotypes with regards to their portrayal of men and women. The strategic implications of the findings are that the creativity and delivery techniques of UK advertising can be accepted by people from other countries with cultural modifications in relation to the issue of the standardization versus adaptation. The research also suggests that UK advertising has not been fully optimised to attract a minority audience.
Major security breaches continue to plague organizations decades after best practices, standards, and technical safeguards have become commonplace. This worrying trend clearly demonstrates that information systems security remains a significant issue within organizations. As policy forms the basis for practice, a major contributor to this ongoing security problem is a faulty security policy lifecycle. This can lead to an insufficient or worse, a failed policy. This chapter is aimed at understanding the lifecycle by analyzing the meanings that are attributed to policy formulation and implementation by the stakeholders involved in the process. A case study was carried out and a "snapshot in time" of the lifecycle of IS security policy lifecycle at the organization revealed that a disconnect is evident in the security policy lifecycle.
The security of information and communication technology is a high priority for any organization. By examining the current problems and challenges this domain is facing, more efficient strategies can be established to safeguard personal information against invasive pressures.
Security and Privacy Management, Techniques, and Protocols is a critical scholarly resource that examines emerging protocols and methods for effective management of information security at organizations. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as cryptography, secure routing protocols, and wireless security, this book is geared towards academicians, engineers, IT specialists, researchers, and students seeking current research on security and privacy management.
In this paper I reflect on the community entry phases of doing a critical ethnography in a traditional Zulu community in a deep rural part of South Africa. I present my reflections in the form of confessional narratives on community entry and on how an Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) project was introduced in the community. Drawing on a basic principle of doing social science research, I ask: In what ways should I achieve self-emancipation, in order to ensure the on-going emancipation and empowerment of the people I engage with? I also ask: How should one do critically reflexive community entry and ICT4D project introduction in communities that embrace a people-orientated worldview? The paper is practice-orientated in that it demonstrates critical self-reflexive community entry in a particular ICT4D project situation, how community entry encounters informed follow-up work, and how cultural interpreters empowered me to do community entry successfully. Methodologically, the paper contributes by demonstrating the value of using narrative examples to represent virtuoso expertise of how I developed knowledge of self-reflexivity while excavating hidden social meanings from an ICT4D project situation.
The purpose of this research is to derive principles for conducting critical research using postcolonial theory in information and communications technology for development (ICT4D) studies. While information systems research focusing on development in underserved, rural and remote communities has been growing, too little focus is placed on the pervasive and powerful postcolonial context that hampers progress in the impacted regions. This research contends that more critical research will help examine the assumptions and contexts that ICTs are deployed, adopted and used in developing countries, particularly those impacted by colonialism. Critical research in ICT4D studies positions information systems beyond merely being tools for immediate organizational efficiencies but as an emancipatory mechanism for the marginalized against structures of disempowerment. Postcolonial theory is a macro critical theory concerned with the historical asymmetric power relations due to colonialism, therefore, its application as a theoretical lens in ICT4D studies will enable the field to better explain the continuing multi-dimensional developmental implications of colonialism.
This article addresses the relationship between IT, globalization, and human development, and discusses how IS research can inform our understanding of this relationship. It summarizes some key literature on globalization through the eyes of various well-known scholars of the contemporary world. All of them argue the need for increasing reflection and changed action in order to make a better world or to support human development in its broadest sense. This is followed by globalization and presents a brief discussion of 'human development' arguing that this is needed by all people and countries, not just by the developing countries. The argument is made that IS researchers can contribute by addressing their research explicitly to issues of human development through a critical approach. Two illustrations are given of critical research on IT in a globalized world, namely health information systems and IT for the poor.
In this paper we present an investigation on dynamics of implementing finance information systems (FISs) and how the implementation relates to usage. A case study based on implementation of a finance information system at Makerere University, Uganda between 2004 and 2007 was conducted from February to June 2011. Current literature shows that how to implement information technologies (ITs) successfully is still a challenging factor. In this paper we aim at answering the research question: What factors related to social context influence the implementation and further usage of finance information systems? Data was gathered through face-to-face interviews with staff from the finance and IT departments. The analysis which was based on human environmental model supports findings of 7 lessons learnt that can help decision-makers in guiding implementation processes of large enterprise systems especially in the accounting and finance management disciplines.
The rationale for the inclusion of gender among the legitimate topics of management information system (MIS) is embedded within the larger rationale for the inclusion of the human resource dimension of the MIS field. This article traces the evolution of research in the field of gender and information systems in the context of developments in shaping the twenty-first century. It begins by addressing the issue of gender being a part of our thinking about MIS. It then moves on to consider the evolution of research on gender and MIS. There is an illustration of the impact of globalization in providing impetus for the IS academy to pay greater attention to human differences and identify increased opportunities for research in relation to gender and socio-cultural differences. This article ends with some thoughts about the topic of gender and MIS in the future.
Information systems in developing countries (ISDC) research tends to focus on the development and implementation of information technology applications and the organizational changes associated with them. This article refers this object of study of ISDC research, as 'IS innovation' to convey the notion of novelty of experiences of IS implementation and the associated changes within the organization. This article presents two perspectives regarding the nature of the IS innovation process: as transfer and diffusion and as socially embedded action and draws relevant examples from the literature on IS implementation to demonstrate them. It then discusses the four discourses formed with examples from the literature on software industries in developing countries. Finally, it argues for the need to develop theoretical capabilities for studying IS innovation in relation to socioeconomic contexts and to increase awareness and use of socio-economic development theory.
Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies lays down foundations for the analysis of media, information, and information technology in 21st century information society, as well as introducing the theoretical and empirical tools necessary for the critical study of media and information. Christian Fuchs shows the role classical critical theory can play for analyzing the information society and the information economy, as well as analyzing the role of the media and the information economy in economic development, the new imperialism, and the new economic crisis. The book critically discusses transformations of the Internet ('web 2.0'), introduces the notion of alternative media as critical media, and shows the critical role media and information technology can play in contemporary society.
In the South African higher education context, teaching and learning practices remain biased towards a white, middle-class, elite, and English speaking worldview. Moreover, research on teaching and learning, has a historically tendency to consider students as decontextualized and deculturalized beings, basing explanations of student success predominantly on intrinsic factors. More sociological and cultural views are, therefore, needed to study higher education practices. To address this problem situation, this paper draws from Gee's (2008) sociolinguistic theory on Discourse as a way of being, using it as a critical lens to inform the author's own teaching practices in an undergraduate module in the final semester of the IS major at Rhodes University, South Africa. The argument put forward is that learning implies a preferred or dominant type of Discourse or worldview inherent to the learning situation. For students whose home-based Discourses are similar to the Discourse of higher education, this transition is relatively smooth. However, students from minority Discourses may experience debilitating Discourse collisions. The paper contributes by presenting reflections on the how Discourses and Discourse collisions manifested in the particular setting that the author encountered. He also reflects on how social media and group work could facilitate students' acquisition of a new Discourse.
In this paper, the more than 40-year history of the information systems discipline is discussed by dividing history into four somewhat overlapping eras. For each era, important events that occurred are highlighted. The events are categorized as "management/governance of the IS function", "technology", "research themes", "research methodology", "education", and "infrastructure" (organizations, conferences, journals, etc.). The paper then speculates on what the value would be if the IS community were to adopt a shared history. The paper contends that such a shared history would be effective in helping to bridge the communication gaps that exist between the different sub-communities that make up the discipline.
This paper presents the unanticipated detours encountered in the data collection phase of a South African community informatics study. The study set out to observe the impact of a small group of learners acting as change-agents within their community, and informally sharing their ICT knowledge within an impoverished urban community (Zandspruit, outside Johannesburg) which has a Digital Doorway installed in it, providing free community access to computer and internet technology. The process has proved both interesting and unexpected. The participants in this study include the Zandspruit high-school youths who undertake ICT training at a nearby campus of Monash University; the parents and guardians who consent for their children to attend the programme; Monash student volunteers who provide the ICT training; and local community champions of the Digital Doorway. Several unforeseen detours were encountered whilst collecting data. These had not been anticipated because of the commonly voiced opinion that "the community was very ready" for the DD. The air of excitement in the community, when the DD was launched in February 2010, had been electric. It was therefore surprising to hear that people from the community appeared to be uninformed about or disinterested in the computer kiosk. The unforeseen obstacles are being managed by modifying the data collection approaches and instruments. These unexpected turns in the data collection illustrate some of the challenges that can arise from unexamined assumptions and highlight the need for flexibility in research methods. It is a perfect example of how precise research plans are disrupted by real-life chaos.
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