Information Technology and Bureaucratic Reform:A Case from India

摘要

Most governments see the use of information systems as part of a reform strategy to reconfigure relations both among variousrngovernment departments as well as between governments and other stakeholders. However, there is little empirical evidencernto support whether these systems achieve this intended outcome. Therefore, the overarching question that guides this studyrncan be articulated as follows: given that the information systems used by governments are proposed to institute new relationalrnpatterns within governments and between governments and other stakeholders, has this happened, if it so how and if not whyrnnot. I suggest that e-governance systems are designed and implemented with the context of existing institutionalized socialrnstructures, which constrain actors who come together to build and implement a new system. However, this does not mean thatrnthese actors are mere puppets. They are capable of strategic action and can choose whether to reinforce the existingrninstitutionalized set up or to change it. In either case, these constrained actors build coalitions by using strategic andrnassumptive frames in their attempt to move from interpretive flexibility towards institutionalization. This study uses thernextended case study approach with in-depth interviews and participant observation as the data elicitation techniques. My datarnanalytic approach stems from the notion of a hermeneutic circle that sees the process of social construction andrninstitutionalization as a series of constructed dialogues.