Conducting critical research in information systems: Can actor-network theory help?

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

Volumn 143, Issue , 2004, Pages 259-274

  Klecun, Ela ^a  

^a LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Actor network theory; Critical theory; Foucault; Information systems

Indexed keywords

INFORMATION SYSTEMS; INFORMATION USE; SOCIAL SCIENCES COMPUTING;

ACTOR NETWORK THEORY; CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES; CRITICAL RESEARCHES; CRITICAL THEORY; EMPIRICAL STUDIES; FOUCAULT; INNOVATION PROCESS;

INFORMATION THEORY;

EID: 84902504905     PISSN: 18684238     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (76)

1. lh European Conference on Information Systems, Cork, Ireland: Cork Publishing Ltd., 1997, pp. 737-759.
2. Alvesson, M., and Deetz, S. Doing Critical Management Research, London: Sage Publications, 2000.
3. Alvesson, M., and Skoldberg, K. Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research, London: Sage Publications, 2000.
4. Alvesson, M., and Willmott, H. (Eds.) Critical Management Studies, London: Sage Publications, 1992.
5. Asaro, P. M. "Transforming Society by Transforming Technology: The Science and Politics in Participatory Design", paper presented at the Critical Management Studies Conference, Manchester, 1999 (available online at http://www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot/cmsconference/documents/Information%20Tech/Pd_cms.pdf).
6. Avgerou, C. "Information Systems: What Sort of Science Is it?", Omega 28, 2000, pp. 567-579.
7. Avgerou, C. Information Systems and Organizational Diversity: The Articulation of Local and Global Rationalities, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
8. Brooke, C. "Critical Perspectives on Information Systems: An Impression of the Research Landscape", Journal of Information Technology 17: 4, 2002a, pp. 271-283.
9. Brooke, C. "What Does it Mean to Be 'Critical' in IS Research", Journal of Information Technology 17, 2002b, pp. 49-57.
10. Burrell, G., and Morgan, G. Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life, Aldershot, England: Gower, 1985.
11. Callon, M. "Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St Brieuc Bay", in J. Law (Ed.), Power, Action and Belief, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986, pp. 196-233.
12. Callon, M., and Latour, B. "Unscrewing the Big Leviathan", in K. D. Knorr-Cetina and A. V. Cicourel (Eds.), Advances in Social Theory and Methodology: Towards an Integration of Micro- and Macro-Sociologies, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, pp. 277-303.
13. Cecez-Kecmanovic, D.; Janson, M.; and Brown, A. "The Rationality Framework for a Critical Study of Information Systems", Journal of Information Technology 17: 4, 2002, pp. 215-227.
14. Cordella, A., and Shaikh, M. "Actor Network Theory and After: What's New for IS Research?", Proceedings of the 11* European Conference on Information Systems, Naples, Italy, 2003.
15. Doolin, B. "Information Technology as Disciplinary Technology: Being Critical Interpretive Research on Information Systems", Journal of Information Technology 13, 1998, pp. 301-311.
16. Doolin, B., and Lowe, A. "To Reveal Is to Critique: Actor-Network Theory and Performativity in Critical Information Systems Research", Journal of Information Technology 17: 2, 2002, pp. 69-78.
17. Ellul, J. The Technological Society, New York: Vintage Books, 1964.
18. Feenberg, A. "The Bias of Technology", in R. Pippin, A. Feenberg, and C. B. Webel (Eds.), Marcuse: Critical Theory and the Promise of Utopia, London: MacMillan Education, 1988, pp. 225-256.
19. Feenberg, A. Critical Theory of Technology, New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
20. Feenberg, A. "Modernity Theory and Technology Studies: Reflections on Bridging the Gap", paper presented at the Conference on Technology and Modernity, University of Twente, 1999 (available online at http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/foculty/feenberg/twente.html).
21. Fitzgerald, B., and Howcroft, D. "Towards Dissolution of the IS Research Debate: From Polarization to Polarity", Journal of Information Technology 13: 4, 1998, pp. 313-326.
22. Foucault, M. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1979.
23. Foucault, M. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-77, Brighton, England: Harvest Press, 1980.
24. Foucault, M. "What Is Enlightenment?" in P. Rabinow (Ed.), The Foucault Reader, London: Penguin Books, 1984, pp. 32-50.
25. Guba, E. G., and Lincoln, Y. S. "Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research", in N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, London: Sage Publications, 1994, pp. 105-117.
26. Habermas, J. Communication and the Evolution of Society, Boston: Beacon Press, 1979.
27. Habermas, J. Knowledge and Human Interests, Boston: Beacon Press, 1972.
28. Held, D. Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas, Oxford: Hutchinson & Co, 1980.
29. Hirschheim, R., and Klein, H. K. "Four Paradigms of Information Systems Development", Communications of the ACM 32: 10, 1989, pp. 1199-1216.
30. Hirschheim, R., and Klein, H. K. "Realizing Emancipatory Principles in Information Systems Development: The Case for ETHICS", MIS Quarterly 18: 1, March 1994, pp. 83-109.
31. Horkheimer, M. "Postscript", in Critical Theory: Selected Essays of Max Horkheimer, New York: Herder and Herder, 1972a, pp. 244-252.
32. Horkheimer, M. "Traditional and Critical Theory", in Critical Theory: Selected Essays of Max Horkheimer, New York: Herder and Herder, 1972b, pp. 188-243.
33. Horkheimer, M., and Adorno, T. W. Dialectic of Enlightenment, New York: Herder and Herder, 1972 (originally published in 1944).
34. Howcroft, D., and Wilson, M. "Paradoxes of Participatory Design: The End-User Perspective", paper presented at the Critical Management Studies Conference, Manchester, 1999 (available online at http://www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot/cmsconference/documents/Information%20Tech/Howcroft.pdf).
35. Jerald, W. The Hermeneutics of life History: Personal Achievement and History in Gadamer, Habermas, and Erikson, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1990.
36. Jonsson, S. "Action Research", in H.-E. Nissen, H. K. Klein, and R. Hirschheim (Eds.), Information Systems Research: Contemporary Approaches and Emergent Traditions, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1991, pp. 371-396.
37. Kallinikos, J. "Reopening the Black Box of Technology: Artifacts and Human Agency", in L. Applegate, R. Galliers, and J. I. DeGross (Eds.), Proceedings of the 23' International Conference on Information Systems, Barcelona, 2002, pp. 287-294.
38. Kincheloe, J. L., and McLaren, P. L. "Rethinking Critical Theory and Qualitative Research", in N. K. Denzin and Y. S Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, London: Sage Publications, 1994, pp. 138-157.
39. Knights, D., and Murray, F. "Markets, Managers and Messages: Managing Information Systems in Financial Services", in B. P. Bloomfield, R. Coombs, D. Knights, and D. Littler (Eds.), Information Technology and Organizations: Strategies, Networks and Integration, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 36-56.
40. Knorr-Cetina, K. D. "Introduction: The Micro-Sociological Challenge of Macro-Sociology: Towards a Reconstruction of Social Theory and Methodology", in K. D. Knorr-Cetina and A. V. Cicourel (Eds.), Advances in Social Theory and Methodology: Toward an Integration of Micro- and Macro-Sociologies, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, pp. 1-47.
41. Latour, B. Pandora's Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.
42. Latour, B. "On Using ANT for Studying Information Systems: A (Somewhat) Socratic Dialogue", in C. Averou and C. Ciborra (Eds.), Social Study of ICT, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Oxford, Forthcoming.
43. Law, J. "Editor's Introduction: Power/Knowledge and the Dissolution of the Sociology of Knowledge", in J. Law (Ed.), Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986.
44. Lyytinen, K. "Information Systems and Critical Theory", in M. Alvesson and H. Willmott (Eds.), Critical Management Studies, London: Sage Publications, 1992, pp. 159-180.
45. Lyytinen, K. J., and Klein, H. K. "The Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas as basis for a Theory of Information Systems", in E. Mumford, R. Hirschheim, G. Fitzgerald, and A. T. Wood-Haper (Eds.), Research Methods in Information Systems, Amsterdam: North Holland, Amsterdam, 1985, pp. 219-236.
46. Marcuse, H. One-Dimensional Man, London: Sphere Books Ltd., 1970.
47. Markus, M. L., and Robey, D. "Information Technology and Organizational Change: Causal Structure in Theory and Research", Management Science 34: 5, 1988, pp. 583-598.
48. McAulay, L.; Doherty, N.; and Keval, N. "The Stakeholder Dimension in Information Systems Evaluation", Journal of Information Technology 17: 4, 2002, pp. 241-255.
49. McGrath, K. "ICTs Supporting Targetmania: How the UK Health Sector is Trying to Modernise", in M. Korpela, R. Montealegre, and A. Poulymenakou (Eds.), Organizational Information Systems in the Context of Globalization, Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003a, pp. 19-34.
50. McGrath, K. Organizational Culture and Information Systems Implementation: A Critical Perspective, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Information Systems, The London School of Economics, London, 2003b.
51. Mingers, J. "Combining IS Research Methods: Towards a Pluralist Methodology", Information Systems Research 12: 3, 2001, pp. 240-259.
52. Mitev, N. "Constructivist and Critical Approaches to an IS Failure Case Study: Symmetry, Translation and Power", Working Paper Series, Information Systems Department, London School of Economics, 2003.
53. Monteiro, E. "Actor-Network Theory and Information Infrastructure", in C. Ciborra (Ed.), Control to Drift, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 71-83.
54. Monteiro, E., and Hanseth, O. "Social Shaping of Information Infrastructure: On Being Specific About the Technology", in W. J. Orlikowski, G. Walsham, M. R. Jones, and J. I. DeGross (Eds.), Information Technology and Changes in Organizational Work, London: Chapman &Hall, 1996, pp. 325-343.
55. Monteiro, E., and Sahay, S. "On the Life-Blood of Actants", paper presented at the Latour's Seminar, Tromsø, Norway, 2000 (available onine at http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~ericm/life.blood.htm).
56. Morrow, R. D., and Brown, D. D. Critical Theory and Methodology, London: Sage Publications, 1994.
57. Myers, M. D., and Young, L. W. "Hidden Agendas, Power and Managerial Assumptions in Information Systems Development: An Ethnographic Study", Information Technology and People 10: 3 1997, pp. 224-240.
58. Ngwenyama, O. K. "The Critical Social Theory Approach to Information Systems: Problems and Challenges", in H.-E. Nissen, H. K. Klein, and R. Hirschheim (Eds.), Information Systems Research: Contemporary Approaches and Emergent Traditions, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1991, pp. 267-280.
59. Oliver, D., and Romm, C. "Justifying Enterprise Resource Planning Adoption", Journal of Information Technology 17: 4, 2002, pp. 199-213.
60. Olssen, M. "Michel Foucault's Historical Materialism", in M. Peters, W. Hope, J. Marshall, and S. Webster (Eds.), Critical Theory, Poststructuralism and the Social Context, Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press, 1996, pp. 82-105.
61. Orlikowski, W. J. "The Duality of Technology: Rethinking the Concept of Technology in Organizations", Organization Science 3: 3, 1992, pp. 398-427.
62. Orlikowski, W. J., and Baroudi, J. J. "Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions", Information Systems Research 2: 1, 1991, pp. 1-28.
63. Orlikowski, W. J., and Iacono, C. S. "Desperately Seeking the 'IT' in IT Research-A Call to Theorizing the IT Artifact", Information Systems Research 12: 2, 2001, pp. 121-134.
64. Rabinow, P. "Introduction", in P. Rabinow (Ed.), The Foucault Reader, London: Penguin Books, 1984, pp. 3-29.
65. Radder, H. In and About the World: Philosophical Studies of Science and Technology, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996.
66. Saravanamuthu, K., and Wood-Harper, A. T. "Developing Emancipatory Information Systems", paper presented at Redefining Critical Research in Information Systems: An International Workshop, The University of Salford, 2001, pp. 91-109.
67. Stalder, F. "Beyond Constructivism: Towards a Realist Realism. A Review of Bruno Latour's Pandora's Hope", The Information Society 16, 2000, pp. 245-247.
68. Walsham, G. "The Emergence of Interpretivism in IS Research", Information Systems Research 6, 1995, pp. 376-394.
69. Walsham, G. "Actor-Network Theory and IS Research: Current Status and Future Prospects", in A. S. Lee, J. Liebenau, and J. I. DeGross (Eds.), Information Systems and Qualitative Research, London: Chapman & Hall, 1997, pp. 466-480.
70. Waring, T. S. "The Challenge of Emancipation in Information Systems Implementation: A Case Study in an NHS Trust Hospital", paper presented at the Critical Management Studies Conference, Manchester, 1999 (available online at http://www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot/cmsconference/documents/Information%20Knowledge/Waring_Manchester.pdf).
71. Whitley, E. A. "Habermas and the Non-Humans: Towards a Critical Theory for the New Collective", paper presented at the Critical Management Studies Conference, Manchester, 1999a (available online at http://www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot/cmsconference/documents/Information%20Tech/Habermas%20and%20the%20non-humans.pdf).
72. Whitley, E. A. "Understanding Participation in Entrepreneurial Organizations: Some Hermeneutic Readings", Journal of Information Technology 14: 2, 1999b, pp. 193-202.
73. Williams, R., and Edge, D. "The Social Shaping of Technology", Research Policy 25, 1996, pp. 865-899.
74. Wilson, F. A. "The Truth Is Out There: The Search for Emancipatory Principles in Information Systems Design", Information Technology and People 10: 3, 1997, pp. 187-204.
75. Winner, L. Autonomous Technology: Technics-Out-of-Control as a Theme in Political Thought, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977.
76. Winner, L. "Upon Opening the Black Box of Technology and Finding it Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology", Science, Technology and Human Values 18: 3, 1993, pp. 362-378.