INSTITUTIONAL PRESSURES ON FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS: THE ROLE OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

The financial crisis of 2008 led to new international regulatory controls for the governance, risk and compliance of financial services firms. Information systems play a critical role here as political, functional and social pressures may lead to the deinstitutionalization of existing structures, processes and practices. This research examines how an investment management system is introduced by a leading IT vendor across eight client sites in the post-crisis era. Using institutional theory, it examines changes in working practices occurring at the environmental and organizational levels and the ways in which technological interventions are used to apply disciplinary effects in order to prevent inappropriate behaviors. The results extend the constructs of deinstitutionalization and identify empirical predictors for the deinstitutionalization of compliance and trading practices within financial organizations

\u201cYou talkin' to me?\u201d The Italian Taxi drivers rhetoric as strategy of institutional resistance

The study deals with the institutional resistance dynamics, trying to enlighten the actors, contents and modes of the "institutional battle" around the liberalization of Italian Taxi Drivers' license. The article highlights that the main field of the struggle regards the discourse about the legitimacy of what is perceived as privilege of the Taxi Drivers' category. It also tries to delineate the rhetorical patterns that can act as successful strategies of institutional resistance

ICT in social protection schemes: Deinstitutionalising subsidy-based welfare programmes

Purpose: while the potential of information and communication technology (ICT) for poverty reduction is widely recognised, limited knowledge exists on its use in the social protection schemes devised for the world’s poor. Drawing on the institutionalist vision of IS development and organisational change put forward by Avgerou (2000), we propose that computerisation of these schemes entails two processes, namely the progressive affirmation of ICT innovation and a shift in the programmes' organisational structure, which moves from a subsidy-based model to one grounded on direct cash transfers. We illustrate how the role of ICT in anti-poverty schemes results from concomitance of such processes.Design/methodology/approach: the paper draws on a study of the Public Distribution System (PDS), the main food security scheme in India, as it is being computerised in the state of Karnataka. Following an interpretive case study methodology, it investigates the ongoing computerisation of the Karnataka PDS through a combination of back-end and front-end technologies, based on biometric recognition of the programme’s users.Findings: our data reveal that transformation of the PDS results from the simultaneous processes of institutionalisation of ICT innovation and deinstitutionalisation of the extant state-led subsidy scheme, in favour of a leaner social protection system centred on cash transfers to beneficiaries. This illustrates the point that ICT innovation is intertwined with the decline of an extant social welfare structure and the rise of a new one, based on the direct transfer of benefits.Originality/value: the paper offers a new theoretical perspective to illuminate the computerisation of anti-poverty programmes, a phenomenon that affects the entitlements of millions of poor people on a global scale. In parallel, it draws practical implications for countries embarking on the digitalisation of their social protection schemes.</div

Institutionalizing Information Systems for Universal Health Coverage in Primary Healthcare and the Need for New Forms of Institutional Work

Today, many countries around the world focus on ensuring that all people can access health services of sufficient quality without experiencing financial hardship (i.e., universal health coverage). To measure progress towards this goal, countries need to build robust health information systems. Because countries need to root universal health coverage in primary healthcare, they also needs to sensitively anchor health information systems that support universal health coverage in existing routine health information systems. However, doing so involves significant challenges, which we study via empirically analyzing an Indian state\u27s effort to implement a universal health coverage health information system in primary healthcare. Using a theoretical lens informed by institutional theory, we seek to answer the question: “What is required to develop institutions that support the use of new technologies and associated work processes that universal health coverage entails?”. We identify the contradictions that emerge when new systems clash with existing ones, and we discuss what implications such contradictions have in terms of system design, work processes, and institutions. We contribute to the literature by explaining inherent complexities in universal health coverage health information system design and implementation and providing system design guidelines

¿El Silicon Valley latinoamericano?: La producción de tecnología de comunicación en Costa Rica (1950-2016)

Este artículo analiza el crecimiento de un campo institucional de desarrollo de tecnología de comunicación en Costa Rica desde 1950 hasta la actualidad. El estudio hace dos contribuciones: empíricamente, sitúa la producción contemporánea de tecnología de comunicación en Costa Rica en perspectiva histórica; y, a nivel metodológico, suplementa fuentes primarias de datos con entrevistas en profundidad. Se discuten tres procesos: (1) el surgimiento de un campo de producción de tecnología en el país (en la segunda mitad del siglo XX), (2) la estabilización de una industria local (en la década del 2000) y (3) el auge de modelos de producción tecnológica asociados a la noción de emprendedurismo (aproximadamente desde el año 2010). El análisis revela que la convergencia de múltiples lógicas institucionales ha resultado en tensiones que podrían socavar el potencial del campo para el país.This article analyzes the formation of an institutional field around the production of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Costa Rica since the 1950s to the present day. The paper makes two key contributions: empirically, it situates the contemporary production of ICTs in the country within historical perspective; and, methodologically, it supplements primary data sources with in-depth interviews. Three processes are discussed: (1) The emergence of a technological production field in Costa Rica (in the second half of the 20th century), (2) The stabilization of a local industry (in the 2000s decade), and (3) The rise of models of technological production associated with the notion of entrepreneurship (approximately since 2010). The analysis reveals that the convergence of multiple institutional logics has resulted in tensions that could undermine the potential of the field for the country.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Sociales::Facultad de Ciencias Sociales::Escuela de Ciencias de la Comunicación ColectivaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Centro de Investigación en Comunicación (CICOM

Research Perspectives: Improving Action Research by Integrating Methods

Action research (AR) has developed extensively since the 1970s. We reviewed the AR literature within the information systems (IS) discipline and found 16 different methods, which constitutes a problematic situation for researchers. We describe and critique those methods before integrating their strengths to improve the AR method that is most frequently practiced in IS: canonical action research (CAR). The existing set of principles and criteria for CAR is modified and elaborated to enhance the foundation for undertaking AR consistently. We discuss the general implications of this improved form of the method, which we name integrated action research (IAR). We specifically suggest how IAR can be used to investigate the application of disruptive technologies, including those that embody artificial intelligence and enable more flexible and socially distanced work

The domestic politics of policy diffusion

Why do some policies diffuse faster and to more countries than others? My dissertation provides a novel theory of policy diffusion. My research design, comparing the different diffusion patterns of three policies in Latin America, overcomes a long-lasting deficiency in the policy diffusion literature. Studies have focused almost exclusively on cases that diffused fast to many countries. This collective selection bias generated a theoretical oversight. Studies mistakenly consider the spread of information about a policy as a sufficient explanation for fast and widespread diffusion. My work focuses on the necessary domestic step, in which policymakers decide whether to enact and implement the idea. The speed and breadth of policies’ diffusion patterns depend on those decisions in multiple countries. With a focus on Latin America, I argue that presidents are the most influential policymakers. They apply institutional powers to fast-track the adoption of some models and to block the adoption of others. The expectation about the policy’s political effects on their popularity and electoral prospects determines presidents’ behavior. In short, policies that generate immediate political gains for the executive will be fast-tracked in multiple countries, resulting in a fast and wide diffusion. Policy models that reduce presidents’ electoral chances will be repeatedly blocked or delayed, failing to diffuse. In between, policies without a clear electoral effect will be adopted through normal policymaking and are likely to diffuse slowly to multiple countries. I apply a comparative process-tracing analysis of three policies: conditional cash transfers (CCTs) diffused quickly to most countries in the region; public-private partnerships (PPPs) diffused widely but slowly; and electronic voting machines (EVMs) diffused to only a couple of countries. Official documents and secondary data from eighteen countries reveal that presidents used their powers to accelerate the adoption of CCTs because the policy could increase their popular support among beneficiaries. In turn, they withheld investments in EVMs, which could alter voters’ behavior and jeopardize presidents’ expected electoral support. And these same chief executives initiated PPPs’ adoption but refrained from interfering in Congressional debates and implementation because the policy has limited effects on popularity. In-depth interviews from Colombia and Argentina confirm the political rationale that motivated presidents’ behavior.Governmen

Applying Institutional Theoretical Frameworks in MIS Research

This article investigates how Information Systems researchers apply institutional theoretical frameworks. We include theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects to explore modalities of use. After an overview of institutional concepts, we carry out a thematic analysis of journal papers on IS and institutional theory indexed in EBSCO and ABI databases from 1999 to 2009. This consists of descriptive, thematic coding and cluster analysis of this textual database. On the basis of thematic coding and cluster analysis, our findings suggest three groups of publications which represent different methodological approaches and empirical foci: descriptive exploratory approaches, generalizing approaches, and sociological approaches. We suggest that these three groups represent possible patterns of the use of meta social theories in IS research, reflecting a search for disciplinary legitimacy. This helps us analyze papers according to how they use and apply theories. We identify the organizing vision and the regulatory approach as two institutionalist intermediary concepts developed by IS researchers. Furthermore, we find that institutional theoretical frameworks have been used in direct, intermediary or combined conceptualizations. As a conclusion, we make suggestions to blend different conceptualizations, methodologies and empirical foci to enrich the use of institutionalist theories in IS empirical research. A comparison with the use of, for instance, structuration theory in IS research would also further insights into how researchers apply meta theories and may help develop IS theorization further

A post financial crisis study of compliance practices and systems in global financial organizations: an institutionalist perspective

The financial crisis of 2007–2009 and the resultant pressures exerted on policymakers to prevent future crises have precipitated coordinated regulatory responses globally. As a result, large scale regulatory change is being enacted within this industry to protect investors and economic systems. Very little research exists, either prior to the crisis or since, on how compliance practices are managed through technology within financial organizations. The research objective of this study is to understand how institutional changes to the regulatory landscape may affect corresponding locally institutionalized operational practices within financial organizations. The study adopts an Investment Management System (IMS) as its case and investigates different implementations of this system within eight financial organizations, focused on investment activities within capital markets. This study makes a contribution by outlining a detailed review of this technology and identifying post-crisis practices for organizing compliance and the social forces influencing them through technology. Through symbolic systems, relational systems, routines and artefacts the IMS diffuses new compliance practices and further embeds existing ones. The study shows that this system is not objective and is currently in flux as this dynamic and complex environment evolves in the wake of the global financial crisis. Correspondingly, social, political and functional pressures are acting to deinstitutionalise related behaviours and practices. Yet compliance behaviours and practices are simultaneously being institutionalised through coercive, normative and mimetic mechanisms. However, the study also highlights the ability of some agents to exercise limited control on the impact of regulatory institutions. The research found evidence that some older practices persisted and so the study suggests that the institutionalization of technology induced compliant behaviour is still uncertain. The research makes an additional contribution to practitioners by distilling the findings into a model of IS capabilities for compliance and a model to measure the maturity of a firm’s compliance capabilities