Explaining persistence and resilience of interorganisational information systems : theoretical and methodological considerations

The study of diffusion, adoption and implementation of inter-organisational information systems(IOIS) so far relies on theories which do not address the question of why systems continue to be usedonce adopted and implemented. We call such theories inertia theories because they imply that continuedused can be taken for granted once the adoption decision has been made and the systems are implementedif decision parameters do not change. We identify two distinct aspects of ongoing use,namely persistence and resilience which are in need of theoretical explanation. In order to fill thisgap, we aim to build a theoretical framework which specifically asks how systems are reproduced intheir day-to-day routine operation. For this purpose, we offer a new conceptualization of IOIS bycombining core ideas from Structuration and Practice Theory. Based on this framework, we define thetwin problems of persistence and resilience. We find that these issues can be related to two core processesin our theoretical model and thus offer the conceptual tools for their theoretical explanation. Wediscuss the methodological implications of this framework and suggest possible directions for futureresearch.