Organisational Support for ICT4D Practitioner Performance: A New Pathway for Enhancing ICT4D Project Outcomes

Organisational literature shows that outcomes such as project success are significantly influenced by how organisational practices influence actions and behaviours of organisation actors, but the mechanisms through which this may happen in ICT4D are unknown. This article describes a two-phase research study to understand how the organisational and individual levels of ICT4D context may interact and influence ICT4D project outcomes. The first phase involved a multiple case studies research design and the second action research, conducted in a total of five ICT4D implementing organisations in East Africa. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with a total of 33 participants; 23 in the first phase and 10 in the second. The concept of Organisational Support enabled understanding of how organisational practices influence ICT4D practitioner performance, identifying eight key findings. Namely Mechanisms of Organisational Support for ICT4D Practitioner Performance, these are: (1) Reinforcing Mission-Congruence; (2) Skills Hybridisation; (3) Supervisory Mentorship; (4) Socioemotional Support; (5) Support for Personal Aspirations; (6) Balancing Monetary with Non-monetary Rewards; (7) Involvement in Reward Decisions; and (8) Autonomy Support. Given existing record of poor ICT4D project outcomes and insufficient research on the context of ICT4D implementing organisations, these findings contribute new and practical pathways for enhancing ICT4D project outcomes.