Abstract
This study contributes to the literature on Information Systems (IS) implementation and provides insights into how IS implementation emerges as an assemblage constituted by diverse sociomaterial practices –that is, the intertwining of humans and technology in practice– during the implementation of Greece’s Yearly Property Tax policy and information system over the period 1997–2015. Drawing on the work of Deleuze, Guattari, and Delanda on ‘assemblage theory’ and Burke’s on motive (expressed as ‘intentionality’ and ‘motivation’) we discuss IS implementation as a performative process that is shaped by assemblage agents’ intentionality and motivation and conclude that explicitly attending to these dynamics during the emergence of policy and technology as a sociomaterial assemblage contributes to a better understanding of IS implementation and its success. We propose that higher levels of motivation and intentionality are related to higher chances of successful implementation. Finally, limitations and future research directions are proposed.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10796-018-9887-y/MediaObjects/10796_2018_9887_Fig1_HTML.png)
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
One of the authors is full-time academic in the United Kingdom.
References
Avgerou, C., & McGrath, K. (2007). Power, rationality, and the art of living through socio-technical change. MIS Quarterly, 31(2), 293–315.
Avgerou, C., Ciborra, C., & Land, F. (Eds.). (2004). The social study of ICT: Innovation, actors and contexts. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist performativity: toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(3), 801–831.
Bloomfield, B. P., & Hayes, N. (2009). Power and organizational transformation through technology: hybrids of electronic government. Organization Studies, 30(5), 461–487.
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2011). Business research methods. New York: Oxford University Press.
Burke, K. (1969a). A grammar of motives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Burke, K. (1969b). A rhetoric of motives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Burke, K. (2003). (Nonsymbolic) motion/(symbolic) action. In: Rueckert W. H. and Bonadonna A. (eds.), On human nature: A gathering while everything flows 1967-1984. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Butler, T., & McGovern, D. (2012). A conceptual model and IS framework for the design and adoption of environmental compliance management systems. Information Systems Frontiers, 14(2), 221–235.
Carlile, P. (2002). A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: boundary objects in new product development. Organization Science, 13, 442–455.
Carlile, P. R. (2004). Transferring, translating, and transforming: an integrative framework for managing knowledge across boundaries. Organization Science, 15(5), 555–568.
Cecez-Kecmanovic, D., Kautz, K., & Abrahall, R. (2014). Reframing success and failure of information systems: a performative perspective. MIS Quarterly, 38(2), 561–588.
Ciborra, C. (2002). The labyrinths of information. Challenging the wisdom of systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ciborra. (2005). Interpreting e-government and development. Efficiency, transparency or governance at a distance? Information Technology & People, 18(3), 260–279.
Ciborra, C., & Lanzara, G. F. (1994). Formative contexts and information technology: understanding the dynamics of innovation in organizations. Accounting, Management and Information Technologies, 4(2), 61–86.
Cordella, A., & Iannacci, F. (2010). Information systems in the public sector: the e-government enactment framework. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 19(1), 52–66.
Dang, Y. M., Zhang, Y. G., & Morgan, J. (2017). Integrating switching costs to information systems adoption: An empirical study on learning management systems. Information Systems Frontiers, 19(3), 625–644.
Davis, F. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340.
DeLanda, M. (2006). A new philosophy of society. London and New York: Continuum.
DeLanda, M. (2011). Philosophy and simulation: The emergence of synthetic reason. London: Continuum.
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia (trans: Massumi, B.). Continuum: London.
Doolin, B., & McLeod, L. (2012). Sociomateriality and boundary objects in information systems development. European Journal of Information Systems, 21, 1–17.
Dwivendi, Y., Rana, N., Jeyaraj, A., Clement, M., & Williams, M. (2017). Re-examining the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT): towards a revised theoretical model. Information Systems Frontiers. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-017-9774-y.
Fosso Wamba, S., Edwards, A., & Akter, S. (2017). Social media adoption and use for improved emergency services operations: the case of the NSW SES. Annals of Operations Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-017-2545-9.
Hirschheim, R., & Klein, H. K. (1989). Four paradigms of information systems development. Communications of the ACM, 32(10), 1199–1216.
Introna, L. (1997). Management, information and power: A narrative of the involved manager. London: Macmillan.
Irani, Z., Elliman, T., & Jackson, P. (2007). Electronic transformation of government in the U.K.: a research agenda. European Journal of Information Systems, 16, 327–335.
Irani, Z., Love, P. E. D., & Jones, S. (2008). Learning lessons from evaluating eGovernment: reflective case experiences that support transformational government. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 17(2), 155–164.
Jones, M. (2014). A matter of life and death: exploring conceptualizations of sociomateriality in the context of critical care. MIS Quarterly, 38(3), 895–925.
Leonardi, P. (2011). When flexible routines meet flexible technologies: affordance, constraint, and the imbrication of human and material agencies. MIS Quarterly, 35(1), 147–167.
Leonardi, P. (2012). Materiality, Sociomateriality, and socio-technical systems: What do these terms mean? How are they different? In P. M. Leonardi, B. A. Nardi, & J. Kallinikos (Eds.), Materiality and organizing: Social interaction in a technological world (pp. 25–48). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Leonardi, P. (2013). Theoretical foundations for the study of Sociomateriality. Information and Organization, 23, 59–76.
Leonardi, P., & Barley, S. (2008). Materiality and change: challenges to building better theory about technology and organizing. Information and Organization, 18(3), 159–176.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications Inc..
Njihia, J. M., & Merali, Y. (2013). The broader context for ICT4D projects: a morphogenetic analysis. MIS Quarterly, 37(3), 881–905.
OECD (2009). OECD economic surveys: Greece 2009. Available at: http://docs.glotta.ntua.gr/International/OECD/1009151etemp.pdf. Accessed on 20 Aug 2018
Orlikowski, W. J. (2007). Sociomaterial practices: exploring technology at work. Organization Studies, 28(9), 1435–1448.
Orlikowski, W., & Scott, S. (2008). Sociomateriality: challenging the separation of technology, work and organization. Academy of Management Annals, 2(1), 433–474.
Papadopoulos, T., Stamati, T., Nikolaidou, M., & Anagnostopoulos, D. (2013). From open source to open innovation practices: a case in the Greek context in light of the debt crisis. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(6), 1232–1246.
Papazafeiropoulou, A., & Spanaki, K. (2016). Understanding governance, risk and compliance information systems (GRC IS): the experts view. Information Systems Frontiers, 18(6), 1251–1263, ISSN: 1387-3326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-015-9572-3.
Rana, N., Dwivedi, Y., Lal, B., Williams, M., & Clement, M. (2017). Citizens’ adoption of an electronic government system: towards a unified view. Information Systems Frontiers, 19(3), 549–568.
Robey, D., & Markus, M. L. (1984). Rituals in information system design. MIS Quarterly, 8(1), 5–15.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.
Sadiq, S., Muehlen, M., & Indulska, M. (2012). Governance, risk and compliance: applications in information systems (editorial). Information Systems Frontiers, 14, 123–124.
Schandorf, M., & Karatzogianni, A. (2016). Agency in Posthuman IR: Solving the problem of Technosocially mediated agency. In E. Cudworth, S. Hobden, & E. Kavalski (Eds.), Posthuman dialogues in international relations. Farnham: Ashgate.
Scott, S. V., & Orlikowski, W. (2014). Entanglements in practice: performing anonymity through social media. MIS Quarterly, 38(3), 873–893.
Silverman, D. (2001). Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analysing talk, text and interaction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Stamati, T., Papadopoulos, T., & Anagnostopoulos, D. (2015). Social media for openness and accountability in the public sector: cases in the Greek context. Government Information Quarterly, 32(1), 12–29.
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M., Davis, G., & Davis, F. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27, 425–478.
Venters, W., Oborn, E., & Barrett, M. (2014). A Trichordal temporal approach to digital coordination: the sociomaterial mangling of the CERN grid. MIS Quarterly, 38(3), 927–949.
Walsham, G. (2001). Making a world of difference: It in a global context. New York: Wiley.
Yeow, A., & Faraj, S. (2014). Technology and Sociomaterial Performation. Information systems and global assemblages. (Re)configuring actors, artefacts, organizations. Volume 446 of the series IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, pp 48–65.
Yin, R. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods. London: Sage Publications.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Anagnostopoulos, D., Papadopoulos, T., Stamati, T. et al. Policy and Information Systems Implementation: the Greek Property Tax Information System Case. Inf Syst Front 22, 791–802 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-018-9887-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-018-9887-y