UEF//eRepository
DSpace https://erepo.uef.fi
Rinnakkaistallenteet Luonnontieteiden ja metsätieteiden tiedekunta
2021
Information Systems in Developing
Countries: Opportunities and Challenges
Yigsaw, Samuel
ACM
Artikkelit ja abstraktit tieteellisissä konferenssijulkaisuissa
© 2021 ACM All rights reserved
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3486011.3486563
https://erepo.uef.fi/handle/123456789/26833
Downloaded from University of Eastern Finland's eRepository
ISDC: Opportunities and Challenges
Information Systems in Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges
SAMUEL, T. YIGZAW*
PhD Researcher, University of Eastern Finland, School of Computing, Samuel.yigzaw@uef.fi ILKKA JORMANAINEN
Senior Researcher, University of Eastern Finland, School of Computing, ilkka.jormanainen@uef.fi MARKKU TUKIAINEN
Professor, University of Eastern Finland, School of Computing, markku.tukiainen@uef.fi
Abstract
In today’s world, the advancement of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is revolutionizing the ways we experience life in general. It has become unavoidable for countries to engage their administration processes and activities as a system, an information system, with the new capabilities of ICT. However, developing countries have yet to consider a contextual approach to deploy appropriate technologies that should also leverage the non-technical aspects to cope up with the new intervention. This requires a collaborative and interconnected efforts in designing and adopting the technology solutions sought and the social leveraging required, hence a socio-technical approach to the comprehensive solution. This article identifies the core opportunities and the main challenges developing countries experience while implementing a new information system (IS) from the global domain. It explores relevant resources from literature and from the authors’ previous qualitative research on relevant topic in developing countries, the Eritrean Higher Education environment, as well as two case studies on IS development in Ghana and India. The results of the research recommend a framework for developing information systems in developing countries from the socio-technical systems perspective.
CCS CONCEPTS•
Information systems~Information systems applications~Enterprise information systems~Enterprise applications•Information systems~Information systems applications~Decision support systems~Data warehouses•Information systems~Information systems applications~Computing platforms•Computer systems organization~Dependable and fault-tolerant systems and networks~Maintainability and maintenance
Additional Keywords and Phrases: Information System, Socio-Technical, IS Challenges, non-technical factors
ACM Reference Format:
First Author’s Name, Initials, and Last Name, Second Author’s Name, Initials, and Last Name, and Third Author’s Name, Initials, and Last Name. 2018. The Title of the Paper: ACM Conference Proceedings Manuscript Submission Template: This is the subtitle of the paper, this document both explains and embodies the submission format for authors using Word. In Woodstock ’18: ACM Symposium on Neural Gaze Detection, June 03–05, 2018, Woodstock, NY. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 10 pages. NOTE: This block will be automatically generated when manuscripts are processed after acceptance.
1 Introduction
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have been vital factor driving economies into a new phase of industrial revolution since the last couple of decades. The advent of new capabilities of ICT including web2, Semantic web, AI, AR, and VR in the last decade have opened a new era of automation and re-engineering of traditional processes into highly sophisticated and highly efficient methods of doing things [1]. However, the overwhelming advancement of ICT seems to contempt the other important factors accompanying the development and deployments of those technology solutions in providing a holistic solution. Latest ICT solutions have been perfecting in solving critical problems and optimizing prevailing ways of addressing a problem, but inter-operability and inter-operational feasibility have been attaining less focus. An information system has been mainly leveraged by ICT augmentation and processes automation, without due consideration of the operating environment and social affairs involved. Most system solutions seem to be developed either without due concern to the social settings and people or addressing the social settings within the given target area of engagement, hence lacking inter-operational feasibility. A technology solution designed and developed to serve a particular domain of problems does require re-engineering to effectively be used in other domains. This matter even becomes more evident and important when we adopt technology solutions or system solutions in the market into the context of developing economies, where the social environment requires serious attention. As stated in the Socio-technical systems theory [2], an advanced technology solution does not guarantee an effective system solution, however much the technology is efficient or expensive, but an appropriate
relationship with the social settings and actors and interaction between the technology and those non-technical factors makes a system holistic and complete.
Many studies on information systems often give exaggerated emphasis to technology tools and applications in addressing the intended problem, while neglecting the wholistic solution that required appropriate interconnection between the subsystems. An application can solve a single problem or set of problems, but it does not usually consider how the solution that it provides connects with other subsystems in the setting (organization, social community, process and so on).
In the case of developing countries, the ICT advancement is beyond the pace at which those economies can absorb seamlessly as in the developed world. A system solution needs to be more rigorously studied and designed to maintain the required relationship and interaction between the technical tools or application, and the prevailing social environment. Technology tools and applications developed for a system in the developed world need to be re-engineered to also augment the contextual social settings in the developing world to be effectively deployed.
This study explores the opportunities that developing economies have while introducing information systems into various organizations and governance, and challenges that require due attention in planning and designing those system solutions. It provides the background information on the topic exploring relevant literature, then discusses the findings from three referred cases of IS introduction in developing countries, including IS study in Eritrean Higher education institutions, an information system for customs processing in Ghana, and an information system for agricultural products auction in India. Finally, it presents the opportunities and challenges that developing countries experience when planning for IS projects as the core output of the paper and provides conclusion and recommendations from the authors.
2 Methodology
The research is based on qualitative research data the authors have used in the previous relevant research publications in the case of Eritrean higher education. Semi-structured interviews were used as preferred tool in IS research [3] to gather data from the higher education institutions of Eritrea regarding the need and introduction of IS systems to support teaching-learning and research. Further official guidelines from the board of higher education and the ministry of education were also consulted to frame and often validate the findings from the semi-structured interviews. The interviews were made with all HEIs’ leaders on the major themes to explore the status of IS and technology infrastructure within and across the HEIs. These themes were:
• Technology endowment and level of usage of those technologies in teaching-learning and research
• The prevailing collaboration among HEIs and the need for ICT enhanced systems to support collaboration
• Readiness for collaboration and initiatives to deploy IS
Moreover, case studies are often considered appropriate methods for capturing the influences from the environment on the adoption of IS and the interaction between the diverse actors in the IS projects [4,5]. Hence, this paper also considers two case studies on IS projects experience in two developing countries, India and Ghana, which the authors consider that they represent the developing countries scenarios. The first case study was a detailed research presented from Ghana on a maritime industry, related to customs processing IS introduction in the country, and the second case study on another qualitative research based IS system introduction on agricultural products auction in India. Both case studies were assessed based on the following focus areas as themes that could provide good info for this research. These themes are:
• Justification and Planning for the IS projects in the case studies
• Intentions Vs the realities
• Design-reality gaps, Contextual approach in planning and developing the IS
• Issues of Trust between parties in the IS
This research paper also used further relevant literature on Information systems in developing countries from various research databases, which are relevant to the topic on developing countries environments. Therefore, data related to the opportunities the developing countries can capitalize on and challenges they face in implementing IS into their communities were thoroughly gathered from those sources and analyzed them with reference to the literature consulted.
3 Background
With the advent of advanced and disruptive technological capabilities and increasingly complex world, the social, economic, environmental, and political realms have become dynamic and increasingly shacking. Technology solutions are invading almost all areas of our living; their solution spans beyond solving specific problem to address wider scope and domain solving institutional and societal problems on a scale [4, 6].
In dealing with problems and addressing them, knowledge has increasingly become the most important strategic asset for organizations and economies in general [7, 8]; whereas people remain to be the core source of knowledge. As Davenport and Prusak [9] mentioned, unlike other organizational assets, knowledge tends to increase when used or shared: “ideas breed new ideas and shared knowledge stays with the giver while it enriches the receiver”. Because knowledge is innately human [10], profoundly emanated from people as core hosts, sharing knowledge involves wide variety of technological and non-technical facilities to enrich wider community and regenerate itself. It has become evident that not only technologies but also many other non-technical factors do affect success of Information and knowledge sharing systems [2, 4, 6, 10, 11, 12]. The real benefits are harnessed by the effective application of this knowledge rather than just by virtue of any intrinsic value in the static knowledge itself [13]. Manipulation of knowledge is an essentially human process that cannot be separated from culturally based interpretation and reflection [8], while technology also plays
key role in facilitating the sharing and regeneration of knowledge within and across organizations. Information systems are vehicles for sharing and utilizing knowledge in its dynamic states by providing strategic and coherently designed technology capabilities facilitating to its desired ends.
In its simplest definition, Information system is an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, and processing data and for providing information, knowledge, and digital products. It is evident that ICTs are inseparable from a modern information system though not the only actors [7, 14], hence they are part of the core components that make up a functional IS along with people, procedures, policies and strategies [15], which are also vital for an effective and sustainable IS solution.
In the context of developing countries, the deployment of information systems takes various forms. They are brought to developing countries through ‘transfer and diffusion of technology’, hence transfer of knowledge, through socially embedded action- through creating techno-organizational structures with given local social context, or they could come as transformative process on broader social context- aiming at bringing larger scale socio-economic change [6, 16]. It is justified by many researchers that developing countries are huge, and yet untapped market for IS development and diffusion [7, 16, 17, 18]. However, there are misconceptions regarding the ways these IS can be brought to these economies. Most IS are designed in the industrialized countries with a great zeal and intention to address specific or societal problems in their context with due consideration of the prevailing socio-economic and environmental conditions. Those IS solutions with successful impacts in their intended business could not obviously be effective in the developing countries realities on ground. For the efficiency and viability of an IS, the context of the designer and the user are most important, hence those effective in the developed world are usually prone to failure when brought and deployed in another context of users in the developing countries. The designer and the user contexts are not only physically distant but also cultural, economic and many other ways too [17]. These are further explained as extreme design-actuality gaps, as also supported by [17, 19, 20]. Design- actuality gap refers to the fact that designers of the IS create it within and for the realities in the industrialized countries’ context, while not considering the local context of the developing countries where these systems may be subsequently transferred to; hence the gap created between the design and the local actualities for consideration.
Heeks [17] mentions the main reason for the flow of resources and technology artifacts from the industrialized world to developing countries has been the issue of economy and politics of aid, where these artifacts are perceived to be also functional and efficient as they appear in the countries of origin. Besides, this has been also promoted partly due to the cultural attitudes in developing countries where belief in the superiority of imported items from the developed world is often strong and unconditionally accepted [17, 19, 20].
Transfer of IS and other technology artifacts has often been too much politicized and intentionally brought for personal traits of a few communities of interest with decision capabilities. These IS end up reconfiguring the prevailed rent seeking behaviors of those community for new ways of bribery, extorsion and corruption, instead of healing and eliminating them, as well presented in the TRADENET experience in Ghana [21]. Besides, such transfer of IS get often prone to design-actuality gap and eventual failure when they are introduced by aid-funded projects where the choice and design is usually dictated by the fund provider than the recipient in the developing country. Over expectation of impacts of IS adoption in the developing countries [22] also poses additional reason for failure of such projects. A good example was provided by Heeks [17] where such a project in Philippines was brought from the US which was designed to an American model with the prevailing skilled programmers, advanced infrastructure, a need for information output that goes with American healthcare organizations. Whereas, non-of these was present in the context of Philippines and the project ended with the obvious consequences due to the design-actualities gap.
Many IS research have, therefore, recommended the need for proper strategic planning beforehand with clear and strong policies and institutional support, considering the local realities of the host [13, 14, 20, 21, 23], as also mentioned about the rise and fall of open-source software projects in a Gulf university by Sahraoui [24], greatly affected by the absence of appropriate ICT governance.
Due socio-technical considerations are inevitable as IS development is needed, and especially for developing countries where most of the IS solutions are designed in the industrialized world and need proper adaptation to local realities. It is often recommended for a local design and development of an IS solution that could keep the designers and users from the same locality and coherently devising a contextual solution that will be less prone to failure or challenges [16, 19, 25].
Socio-technical thinking assumes that the systems will remain stable due to low component variation and their strong mutual interdependence between the technological and social components of the holistic system solution [2, 12, 26]. It is even more applicable approach to IS development in developing countries because the social subsystem entails unique realities that greatly varies from those in the industrialized world while the technology subsystem is usually the same as it is mostly originating from the developed world.
This social system comprises individuals involved in the solution and the sum of their individual and societal attributes, while the technical subsystem consists of the tools, techniques, devices, artifacts, methods, configurations, procedures, and knowledge used by participants to acquire input and transform them into outputs [11, 14, 25]. Nielsen [25] also mentioned important considerations when planning IS for developing countries to include due attention to the local context (information infrastructure, institutional and local practice), the process (introducing the IS, implementing, and maintaining), and the integration (compatibility with other systems, scaling, and sustainability).
In general, literature shows that many studies have been published in specialized conferences and journals and valuable literature sources have been formed in the area of IS in developing countries to base further research on IS projects development or transfer [16].
The most common factors characterizing IS projects in developing countries are the limitations in financial resources and dependence of aid-funding, lack of adequate homegrown innovation and technologies, and solid skills to overlook the required IS development and transfer domain [16]; while the over expectation of impacts of IS adoption in the developing countries due to the realities in the developed world, that local practices and context often fail to prove the expectations [26]. This paper is therefore presenting the prevailing environment of the developing countries for the inception of IS development or adoption as referred to the background literature presented in this section.
4 Findings and Discussion (Opportunities / Challenges)
This study explores the issues on introducing information systems in developing countries, focusing on the opportunities they can consider capitalizing on, as well as the challenges they need to get through in the process. The findings of the research are based on:
1) the researchers’ firsthand qualitative data gathered from a sub-Sahara African country, Eritrea, related to IS in higher education institutions, 2) a detailed research presented from Ghana on a maritime industry related customs processing IS introduction in Ghana [21], and 3) a qualitative research from India on agriculture related IS system introduction [27].
Due to the alarming diffusion of technologies in the recent decades following the advent of the internet and overwhelming applications of all kind, developing countries in most cases have been overflooded with technology gadgets of various levels and versions. Most of them ending up underutilized as they have not been planned for and getting to the users through informal channels and purely commercial routes. The flow of these resources and artifacts from the developed world have often been due to dominating attitudes in the developing world that all flowing artifacts and gadgets are superior and useful as they are in their origin [17]. Today, it is observed that many latest technology gadgets and tools, such as smart phones, high-end laptops etc., are available in the hands of the users in the developing world often as fancy appliances than as the tools for intended applications.
4.1 Information systems case studies
4.1.1in the case of Eritrean higher education institutions.
Findings in the case of Eritrean higher education institutions reveal that the higher education community does have considerable technology tools available in their reach and for their daily use, while the intended use of the capabilities of those tools is highly unattended. Technologies in all offices and resource rooms of the HEIs end up being used for clerical end, as they lack necessary repositories and whole system of resources needed for the academic community. Despite the huge investments required for introducing those technology tools in the communities, the usability of those remain negatively impacted as they are acquired as technology tools and systems and not with proper study and planning for their local adaptation in the local context, as also supported by [18, 19, 20, 26].
Besides, due to lack of underlying technology infrastructure that interconnects the HEIs in the country, collaboration among them in teaching-learning and research is seriously hampered, hence the available instances are mainly based on personal knowledge of the collaborating parties. It was clearly mentioned that all institutions value the crucial importance of technology infrastructure and systems that could promote the needed collaboration among themselves and with the external world. That also proves the institutional readiness to grab opportunities for IS across HEIs, and some of those HEIs have been engaged in new technology systems introduction and extension lately through government supported initiatives with linkage partners from Finland and India. In general, this situation characterizes many of the developing countries as lacking complete systems to enable them to utilize their technology gadgets and tools, and it opens the urge for having unifying systems that provide the intended resources for use and better utilization of the capabilities of those gadgets.
4.1.2Information system for maritime industry related to customs processing in Ghana.
In other scenarios where information systems are brought to serve local needs in the developing world, it often involves serious mismatch when set in operation for many reasons. Addo [21] reported in the research from Ghana on customs related IS introduction in the maritime industry that serious issues were vested into the whole process from planning to misusing upon engagement for use.
These issues range from the readiness of the receiving environment to ill-planned introduction of the IS that was meant to reconfigure it for advanced corruption of the elites instead of eliminating it, promoting rent-seeking behaviors of the custom officers.
Core characteristics of the TRADENET (Customs processing system in Ghana), as presented in the case scenario include:
• International trade, considered as a solution to poverty and under-development
• IS-enabled customs administration rationalization as a technical solution to dysfunctions of traditional administration that impede efficient international trade
• do not consider historically shaped local positions and contexts that contradict their appropriateness
• designed by technocrats who ought to have been affiliated with local government officials and elites for rent-seeking or hidden agenda in the name of solving local customs process administration challenges
• sought as a technological solution to inefficient and ineffective trade processing in Ghana’s trade administration, especially customs, as part of broader global neoliberal push for increased international trade.
• Coverup justification given was that red tape, corruption and unlawful seizures of goods were deemed as great costs on businesses and governments
The local reality revealed in this study was that the IS design did not start from the contextual and local problem in its true mission, which would have engaged local experts and efforts or their due participation in the development of the IS to address the stated problems. The solution was rather imported without appropriate consideration of the local context either due to excessive trust of the IS solution that proved to be great in the context where it was designed for or due to the intension to re-configured corruption by the elites who had the decisive power for the introduction of the system. In the researcher’s terms, IS in developing countries has given no recognition of alternative ways of perceiving it when deployed in historically formed contexts of developing countries, leading to inconsistencies and failure.
4.1.3Information system for agricultural products auction in India.
Another study by Vidya [27] on IS in the agricultural sector was done in an Indian state, whose two-third of its population lives in rural areas, and one of the major states in India for its agricultural products. After a long historical process mentioned in the research, the
govt of India passed an act to engage farmers and traders to exchange the agricultural products in specific yards across the states. These designated yards were supposed to mediate the transactions between the traders and the farmers, which were intended to alleviate the direct misappropriation of the farmers products due to some conspiracies in the direct exchanges prevailed earlier between the traders and farmers. The necessary transaction documents provided by the yards, such as the weigh slips, auction slips and other necessary details were recorded manually into a computer which often created inconsistencies, hence leading to corruption and organizational inefficiency. Besides, farmers were also not able to get best prices for their products as they have no information on available prices in other markets.
In such a situation, an IS was introduced by a private vendor that provided the needed technology infrastructure that could solve the issues of data entry inconsistencies and tapping of data collected through an automated data collection from the yard and sending all the data directly to a central server from where info is automatically published on the website and accessible to stakeholders and for auction. This system seemed to address the farmers’ concerns regarding marketing their commodities, but not the trust issue due to emancipatory expectations of the farmers. This emancipation took three dimensions, namely – physical, socio-legal, and moral. Unless these emancipatory expectations are satisfied, the IS introduced could not serve its intended ends. Besides, conflicts arose between the private partners and the government over traces of corruption and data entry manipulation that dragged the IS to failure and complete closure in 2012.
It was also evident that imposing a uniform set of rules and guidelines across diverse yards without taking local contexts of the stakeholders in each yard has led to mistrust, due to the feeling that local authorities were not heard by the higher govt authorities as they enforce uniform rules centrally. The study suggested that it is important to consider an integrated view of emancipatory expectations, which impact the stakeholders’ trust among each other. It further suggested that entry level activities are usually undertaken to develop trust relations with the deprived communities before a project is implemented, referring that ICT for development projects have mechanisms for implementing this. The research concluded by mentioning that ICTs alone are not able to enhance trust relationship and address problems, which, otherwise end up acquiring ceremonial status benefiting the government officers and elites.
4.2 Opportunities and challenges
Analyzing the three cases mentioned above and referring to the information gathered by the researchers on the experiences from the developed world, it is evident that an IS implementation shall entail thorough understanding of local context of the user community and develop the requirements upon those findings. The developing countries environments generally exhibit various opportunities for IS due to a wide range of untapped domains that require ICTs and systems. At the same time, the prevailing status of the environment in terms of socio-technical readiness for accepting new IS solutions poses various challenges that are unique to them as compared to IS in the developed world. Due to the overwhelming effects of socio-political history and related economic challenges, these countries have not been coping with the pace at which the developed world has been progressing, and the technological advancements too.
Technologies that have been gradually developed and now transforming the way we live are available at their state and ready to deliver highly sophisticated solutions. Despite the lagging steps of the developing world, they do have the opportunities to not re-invent the wheel but invent the ways to adapt to those new technologies
As observed by the researchers in this research work and from the referred cases in the developing countries, today these countries have possessed or have easy access to possess the latest versions of all information technologies out in the market within their society and communities. Although, efficiency is yet being a major challenge that requires due attention, the accessibility of those state-of-the- art technologies and Information systems is considered as great opportunity for the developing world as half-way through with their challenges. Some researchers have also presented relevant indication as mentioned above in their research works [7, 20, 23, 25].
Therefore, the core consideration shall be not to configure the state-of-the-art technology to work in the local context of the developing countries, but to re-configure and develop the required capabilities in the local context to move up and gear the environment to fit the technology through education, awareness, strategic planning, and conscious political support by the leadership.
On the other hand, as ICTs and IS get diffused to developing countries, they take different forms as they could be initiated and claimed from the recipient community or over-imposed by the government authorities through aid and or government budget without thorough assessment of the user community context [16, 17, 26]. This usually leads to inefficiency or failure due to lack of strategic planning for the IS, haphazard decision-making for its adoption and initiatives, blind-dependence on aid sponsors with focused vision on a specific goal while lacking assimilation with other accompanying systems and the prevailing realities and lack of confidence on promised values of the new IS projects [23]. It often causes lack of incentives or motivation for the implementers, new knowledge diffused into the organizational community than initiating and gradually imparting the knowledge from the community itself, and it may also bring unhealthy competition due to lack of appropriate planning and coordination [28].
Besides, there are fundamental challenges that commonly characterize the developing countries in general in introducing IS. These include less flexible organizational structures, reluctance to processes change as there are vested interests in continuing with existing schemes as often corruption is entrenched in the system, re-engineering such processes is possible only with high political involvement and commitment, often excessively hierarchical systems that make it difficult to engage high level intervention in IS strategy [22, 23].
Sahraoui [23] also mentioned mistrust as characterized by exploitation and corruption, stake holders’ resignation, lack of local skills base, and most commonly the design-reality gap in most IS projects imported from the developed world; as well as Lack of formal procedures for project implementation [7]. In general, the socio-economic and political environment in the developing countries, the government and organizational structure, hierarchy and flexibility, the instability of social and political environment as well as the often-observed rent seeking behavior of the elites or authorities are the basic sources of most of the challenges mentioned above as also mentioned by Krishna and Walsham [22], in addition to the prevailing technical skills and technologies shortcomings.
Challenges seen as opportunities in disguise, developing countries may consider turning their challenges into opportunities with conscious and appropriate planning while acquiring and deploying IS in their environments. Therefore, figure 1 elicits the various forms of challenges identified in this research and mirrored into opportunities they can cherish and capitalize on with contextualized design and adoption of new IS deployments.
Figure 1. Challenge to Opportunity Mirror
5 Conclusion and Recommendation
Several opportunities and challenges are discussed in this research that could promote further research for a better understanding of possible contextualized solutions for the developing countries IS transformation. The fact that they do not need to re-invent the wheel and that the IS in developing countries drawing due attention in big research works and conferences are fertile opportunities to capitalize on. Lessons learned from the developed world and experiences shared among the developing countries can enrich the domain of solutions. At the core of the solution is educating and developing local capabilities, that could also include mobilizing the skilled nationals in the developed economies who would lead the transformation in the developed countries.
On the other hand, those opportunities do come with set of challenges yet requiring appropriate attention. Latest and trending technologies require appropriate socio-economic environment and receptive techno-culture in the developing countries to efficiently land and be diffused. Moreover, technology transfer spans the whole economy and society, hence it requires social awareness and cultural and technical readiness of the society at large, which in turn requires huge efforts and conscious planning. The two main concepts that should guide the whole IS and ICT transformation are the appropriate contextual design of IS solutions that consider local realities (closing the design-realities gap), as well as the unavoidable measure the countries need to strive to get the society and the environment ready for reception. This can be realized through education, awareness, investment, political and governance transparency, and above all inclusive collaboration that engages the authorities, the designers, the user community, the educators, and the implementers. This process reveals the very concern that technology alone can never provide a holistic solution for the IS needs of the developing world, but a corresponding social and cultural environment that is receptive to new changes and disruption, hence a socio-technical revitalization of the prevailing environment.
It is, therefore, recommended that the core consideration shall be not to configure the state-of-the-art technology to work in the local context of the developing countries, but to re-configure and develop the required capabilities in the local context to move up and gear the environment to fit the technology through education, awareness, strategic planning, and conscious political and government support.
References
1 Yigzaw, S. T., Jormanainen, I., & Tukiainen, M. (2019). Trends in the role of ICT in higher education knowledge management systems: A systematic literature review.
ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 473–480. https://doi.org/10.1145/3362789.3362805
2 Beese, J., Kazem Haki, M., & Aier, S. (2015). On the conceptualization of information systems as socio-Technical phenomena in simulation-based research. 2015 International Conference on Information Systems: Exploring the Information Frontier, ICIS 2015, November.
3 Myers, M. D., & Newman, M. (2007). The qualitative interview in IS research: Examining the craft. Information and Organization, 17, 2–26.
4 Walsham, G., & Sahay, S. (2006). Research on information systems in developing countries: Current landscape and future prospects. Information Technology for Development, 12(1), 7–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/itdj.20020
5 Tibben, W. J. (2015). Theory Building for ICT4D: Systemizing Case Study Research Using Theory Triangulation. Information Technology for Development, 21(4), 628–652. https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2014.910635
6 Gebre-Mariam, M., & Bygstad, B. (2019). Digitalization mechanisms of health management information systems in developing countries. Information and Organization, 29(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2018.12.002
7 Siakas, K. V., Georgiadou, E., & Balstrup, B. (2010). Cultural impacts on knowledge sharing: Empirical data from EU project collaboration. Vine, 40(3), 376–389.
https://doi.org/10.1108/03055721011071476
8 Usoro, A., & Majewski, G. (2011). Intensive knowledge sharing: Finnish Laurea lab case study. Vine, 41(1), 7–25. https://doi.org/10.1108/03055721111115520 9 Davenport, T.H. and Prusak, L. (1998), Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
10 Baskerville, R., & Dulipovici, A. (2006). The theoretical foundations of knowledge management. Knowledge Management Research and Practice, 4(2), 83–105.
https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.kmrp.8500090
11 Patnayakuni, R., & Ruppel, C. P. (2010). A socio-technical approach to improving the systems development process. Information Systems Frontiers, 12(2), 219–234.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-008-9093-4
12 Lyytinen, K., & Newman, M. (2008). Explaining information systems change: A punctuated socio-technical change model. European Journal of Information Systems, 17(6), 589–613. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2008.50
13 Richards, D., & Busch, P. (2013). Knowing doing gaps in ICT: gender and culture. In Vine (Vol. 43, Issue 3). https://doi.org/10.1108/VINE-10-2011-0031 14 Njoku, C. P. U. (2013). Establishing and Managing Management Information Systems in Developing Countries. International Journal of Knowledge and Research in
Management and E-Commerce, 3(4), 19–30. http://www.rgsociety.org/journals/index.php/ijkrm/article/view/467
15 Shareef, M., Ojo, A., & Janowski, T. (2008). A readiness assessment framework for e-government planning-design and application. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 351, 403–410. https://doi.org/10.1145/1509096.1509180
16 Avgerou, C. (2008). Information systems in developing countries: A critical research review. Journal of Information Technology, 23(3), 133–146.
https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jit.2000136
17 Heeks, R. (2002). Information systems and developing countries: Failure, success, and local improvisations. Information Society, 18(2), 101–112.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01972240290075039
18 Wiafe, I., Koranteng, F. N., Tettey, T., Kastriku, F. A., & Abdulai, J. D. (2020). Factors that affect acceptance and use of information systems within the Maritime industry in developing countries: The case of Ghana. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 22(4), 21–45. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-06-2018-0091 19 Ishijima, H., Mapunda, M., Mndeme, M., Sukums, F., & Mlay, V. S. (2015). Challenges and opportunities for effective adoption of HRH information systems in
developing countries: National rollout of HRHIS and TIIS in Tanzania. Human Resources for Health, 13(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-015-0043-1 20 Vaidya, R., Myers, M. D., & Gardner, L. (2013). Major issues in the successful implementation of information systems in developing countries. IFIP Advances in
Information and Communication Technology, 402, 151–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38862-0_10
21 Addo, A. (2017). Subalternity in Information Systems in Developing Countries A Critical Analysis of Ghana’s TRADENET. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 504, V–VI. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59111-7
22 Sahraoui, S. M. (2009). ICT governance in higher education: Case study of the rise and fall of open source in a Gulf University. 2009 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, ICTD 2009 - Proceedings, 348–356. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICTD.2009.5426692
23 Chauhan, R., Estevez, E., & Janowski, T. (2008). A model for policy interventions in support of Electronic Governance. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 351(415), 199–205. https://doi.org/10.1145/1509096.1509135
24 Walsham, G., & Sahay, S. (2006). Research on information systems in developing countries: Current landscape and future prospects. Information Technology for Development, 12(1), 7–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/itdj.20020
25 Nielsen, P. (2017). Digital Innovation: A Research Agenda for Information Systems Research in Developing Countries. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 504, V–VI. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59111-7
26 Irfan, M., Putra, S. J., Alam, C. N., Subiyakto, A., & Wahana, A. (2018). Readiness factors for information system strategic planning among universities in developing countries: A systematic review. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 978(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/978/1/012046
27 Krishna, S., & Walsham, G. (2005). Implementing public information systems in developing countries: Learning from a success story. Information Technology for Development, 11(2), 123–140. https://doi.org/10.1002/itdj.20007
28 Vaidya, R. (2016). Trust formation in information systems implementation in developing countries: The role of emancipatory expectations. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 14(2), 182–199. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-10-2015-0032
29 O’Brien, J. (2015). 10 Practical findings from the deployment of an exploratory knowledge management framework. Vine, 45(3), 397–419.
https://doi.org/10.1108/VINE-08-2014-0051
