Vested Interests Obstructing Information Systems Use: Land Administration in a Least Developed Country

While there are identified factors that inhibit information communication technology (ICT) adoption in the public sector of LDCs such as lack of knowledge, attitude and mindset, leadership, socio-economic condition, infrastructure and so on, another implicit and relatively unexplored factor, the „vested interest‟ of some stakeholder groups, often becomes the overriding factor for ICT and information system adoption and use in organizations. This problem was evident in a case study of land administration organization in Bangladesh. This paper attempts to elucidate the nature and interactions of the vested interest factor through an in-depth revelatory case study, and explains this phenomenon in relation to prior literature with possible implications for future IS research. While the „vested interest‟ issue has not been prominent in western society or in the relevant literature, it has been found to be crucial in some developing country environments. The findings warrant further investigations and explanations in order to suggest appropriate strategies to overcome this critical obstruction to information system use in some public sector organizations in least developed countries.