Understanding Successful Use of Technology in Organisations in Developing Countries: A Structurational Perspective

Abstract

Information Technology and its relationship to organisational performance has been a subject of continued interest to researchers and other stakeholders in developing countries. While there is concurrence that IT does contribute to performance, and we are efficiently expanding our knowledge on what factors cause better leveraging of IT resources in organisations, we have done little to understand how these factors interact with technology that results in improved performance. This paper suggests looking that the interaction between organisational resources and technology within the structurational lens, which recognises the recursive interaction between technology and people in the presence of social practices, and the norms that inform their ongoing practices. An ethnographic approach to understanding this interaction between technology and resources, as suggested by the structuration perspective, is suggested, aiming to provide richer insights on the nature of the environment that promotes better use of IT resources in developing countries. Such insights could provide the IT users in developing countries with at least an initial conception of the "IT usage platform" that they could promote in their organisations to leverage the most from their IT resources.

Structurational analysis of cross-cultural development of an academic registry information system in Mozambique

“…This is particularly true in the IS project here, since the researcher gave his input to, and thereby influenced, different people involved in the project on various topics, such as software development, collaboration between distant participants in Africa and Europe and on the implementation of the IS at Mozambican universities. To report one's own role as an involved researcher is particularly challenging (Walsham, 1995), but at the same time, this deep involvement prompted many rich observations of the project, as the research gained an insider view and participated in day-to-day activities (Prasad, 2009).…”

“…4 -5). Prasad (2009) recommends a structuration perspective to understand the relationship between ICT and organizational performance in developing countries.…”

Task Performance and Information Technology Usage: The Mediating Role of the IT Department

“…Moreover, the current study has similarly practical implications for decision-makers in JPUs. Considerably, IT usage is a approach of leading practise in current era that has progressively dominated both sectors, private and public (Prasad, 2009). Consequently, the significance of this approach should be highlighted as well as the way that this approach facilitates activities among the organisations.…”