Institutional theory has proven to be a central analytical perspective for investigating the role of social and historical structures of information systems (IS) implementation. However, it does not explicitly account for how organisational actors make sense of and enact technologies in their local context. We address this limitation by exploring the potential of using institutional theory with sensemaking theory to study IS implementation in organisations. We argue that each theoretical perspective has its own explanatory power and that a combination of the two facilitates a much richer interpretation of IS implementation by linking macro-and micro-levels of analysis. To illustrate this, we report from an empirical study of the implementation of an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system in a clinical setting. Using key constructs from the two theories, our findings address the phenomenon of implementing EPRs at three levels: the organisational field, the organisational/group, and the individual/socio-cognitive level. The study shows how a rationalised myth of an efficient EPR system has travelled from the organisational field to the hospital ward and on to individual doctors. The findings also provide evidence of a strong human agency by showing how doctors enact their work practices and shape the use of the EPR system. The study contributes to IS research by showing the need to address macro-level structures, as well as individual interpretations and practical use situations, in order to identify how and why information systems are adopted by users.

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent ABSTRACTThis paper reports a longitudinal field study on the effects of positive media coverage on the re-construction of organizational identity. The study highlights how intense positive coverage -to the point of turning an organization into a 'celebrity' -influences both the way members understand their organization (sensemaking effect) and the gratification they derive from its positive representation (self-enhancement effect). Our findings suggest that positive media representations foster members' alignment around an emergent new understanding of what their organization is. Over time, however, celebrity may 'captivate' members' organizational identity beliefs and understandings, and impede further identity work as media persist in the replication of representations that differ from members' experienced reality, but are too appealing to them to be publicly contradicted.

This paper introduces the special issue on information systems, identity and identification. In addition to introducing the papers in the special issue, it provides a state-of-the-art review of research into identity and identification to contextualise the contributions of the special issue papers. The paper reviews research themes in personal and organisational identity as well as research challenges in identification before considering the interplay between these two strands.

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