Shifting Legitimation along Information Infrastructures Growth

ISBN:

Abstract:

<jats:p>This chapter addresses the institutional dimension of scaling of information systems through the interplay of globally distributed software development with organizational processes. Through examining various phases of a long term project to implement information systems for the public health care sector in global South countries, I highlight changing sources of acceptance and legitimation. The analysis centers on the balance between local and global levels, from pilot sites, through an emerging broader organizational field, to increasingly involving national level institutional settings. In parallel to the established view of the scaling of ICT implementations as relating to complexity and risk in the form of unintended side-effects of the growth of a system, the chapter highlights the qualitative switch between regulatory contexts. Shifting relations to local institutions means that scalability requires actors to interact with quite different organizational cultures, accountabilities and communicative practices.</jats:p>