Trust formation in information systems implementation in developing countries. The role of emancipatory expectations
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-10-2015-0032 |
| Date | 09 May 2016 |
| Published date | 09 May 2016 |
| Pages | 182-199 |
| Author | Ranjan Vaidya |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology |
Trust formation in information
systems implementation in
developing countries
The role of emancipatory expectations
Ranjan Vaidya
Information Technology Policy and Planning Unit, University of Auckland,
Auckland, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand the trust formation expectations of stakeholders
in the implementation of information and communications technology for development (ICT4D)
projects.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a qualitative methodology inspired by a critical
approach. It uses a thematic analysis approach, and draws the results using a constant comparison
method. It is guided by the Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practices. This is an empirical study that uses
semi-structured interviews for the data collection.
Findings – Lack of an integrated view of emancipatory expectations has a negative impact on the trust
levels of stakeholders. An integrated view of emancipation has physical, moral and social dimensions.
Originality/value – The study brings forth the concept of entry point activities (EPAs). To the
author’s knowledge, this is the rst application of this concept in ICT4D research. EPAs can be used to
develop trust relationships between the stakeholders of ICT4D projects.
Keywords Developing countries, Empirical, Trust, ICT for development, Stakeholder practices
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Recent past has seen a growing interest in information and communications technology
for development (ICT4D) research. This is reected through dedicated journals and
special issues of information system journals (Majchrzak et al., 2012;Walsham et al.,
2007). The premier information systems conferences now have dedicated tracks on
developing countries. For example, the recent 2016 call for the European Conference on
Information Systems has a dedicated track on information systems in developing
countries. Coinage of specialised terminologies further indicates the evolution and
advancement of the ICT4D research stream. For example, a recent study by (Sandeep
and Ravishankar, 2014) uses the terminology Public sector Information and
Communications Technology to discuss an information technology project in India. One
such terminology is “emancipatory information systems” which indicates that
emancipation of the underprivileged is the focus of ICT4D (Kanungo, 2004).
This growing interest in ICT4D research is for instrumental and substantive reasons
(Walsham et al., 2007). World’s economic development cannot be sustained if bulk of the
world’s population continues to earn less than $1.25 a day (van der Ploeg, 2012), when
nearly 780 million people across the globe are facing severe hunger, and when nearly one
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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JICES
14,2
182
Received 2 October 2015
Revised 21 December 2015
17 February 2016
6 March 2016
Accepted 7 March 2016
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.14 No. 2, 2016
pp.182-199
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-10-2015-0032
third of people of the low- and middle-income countries are dened as poor (FAO, 2015).
ICT4D research is also important for the progress of mainstream information systems
research, as the data collected from it is of empirical nature and the themes emerging
from ICT4D research would otherwise not emerge in the mainstream information
systems research (Avgerou, 2008).
There is a consensus that information technology plays an important role in
development, and the moot question now is to discuss the suitability of mechanisms for
implementing ICT4D (Walsham et al., 2007). According to Avgerou (2008), ICT4D
research can be characterised along three themes, namely, transfer and diffusion of the
ICTs in developing countries; their ability to transform the economic, social or political
inequalities; and their socially embedded nature whereby ICTs are seen to interact with
the cultural settings. This empirical study contributes to the discussions about the
transfer and diffusion theme, as it suggests that an integrated view of emancipation is
needed for meaningful ICT interventions.
It is a well-known fact that ICT4D projects serve emancipatory functions (Kanungo,
2004). Impact assessment studies of such projects measure the emancipation in form of
benets arising from information emancipation. For example, studies measure the
reductions in the cost of accessing the services, improvement in the quality of
governance and estimate the reduction in corruption (Bhatnagar, 2007). A more recent
study by Prasad and Shivarajan (2015) follows a similar approach and discusses the
reduction in corruption through economic construct of “asset specicity”.
On the other hand, the beneciaries of such projects view the ICT4D projects as
developmental intervention. They expect that the focus of the project is their
amelioration. This also highlights the contradiction in the development paradigm – that
ICT4D interventions are projected as emancipatory, while in actuality, they do not
benet the poor (Kuriyan et al., 2008). This suggests that an integrated view of
emancipation is needed, one that transcends information emancipation.
The emancipatory theory of trust conceptualises trust as a “booster” that helps
people to explore new opportunities by emancipating them from their commitment
relations (Yamagishi et al., 1999). According to this theory, commitment formation is a
means of countering social uncertainty. However, one drawback of commitment
formation is that the actors are restrained from exploring outside opportunities. If
outside opportunities are frequent, commitments become a liability. In such situations,
trust plays an emancipatory role and emancipates actors from conning to the
commitment relationships. According to the theory, in situations of social uncertainty,
the bias towards the goodwill and benign intentions represent trust. In other words, a
high-trusting person will have a greater belief that the intentions of the other party are
benign. On the other hand, when there is no such uncertainty, what is called as trust is
merely assurance or condence. Other researchers have suggested that trust
expectations include other dimensions. For example, Baba (1999) and Schoorman et al.
(2007) mention that expectations have affective and cognitive dimensions. Sztompka
(1999) describes trust expectations as duciary, axiological or instrumental.
The argument of this study is that emancipatory information systems will need to
have an integrated view of emancipation that has physical, social and informational
dimensions. Absence of an integrated view, as is shown by the results, can have
disastrous impact on trust levels between the stakeholders. Specically, the study
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Information
systems
implementation
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