A rural tale: A cautionary allegory for is researchers

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Abstract

We present a fragment of text which describes the introduction of a water delivery system to a rural village that is comprehensively rejected by a group of women. We use the story allegorically, examining the contributions from different research traditions to make sense of the rural tale and apply the lessons to the study of Information Systems. We briefly examine how hermeneutics, management change theories, a more critical approach and information systems studies can individually help us to make sense of the text. This shows that no one research tradition gives any more than a partial view of the events in the text but that some are more insightful than others. We discuss the findings including a sideways look at several IS issues (such as the complexity of success and failure, and escalation of commitment).
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2008|Amer. Conf. Inf. Sys., AMCIS
Place of PublicationAtlanta, Georgia
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems
Pages2968-2979
Number of pages11
Volume5
ISBN (Print)9781605609539
Publication statusPublished - 2008
Event14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2008 - Toronto, ON
Duration: 1 Jul 2008 → …

Conference

Conference14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2008
CityToronto, ON
Period1/07/08 → …

Keywords

  • Information systems development
  • Management theories
  • Success and failure
  • User involvement

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