Explaining Contradictory Reactions to Information Technology Implementation

Researchers have often been confronted with contradictory reactions to the implementation of a new technology within a single setting. For example, Walsham (2002) documents a technology transfer case that resulted in a variety of contradictory reactions including partial acceptance, outright resistance, and conflict, all within the same organization. The literature documents numerous situations where contradictory consequences of IT implementation were observed, either between studies or within the same study (Robey and Boudreau, 1999). In order to explain such contradictions, Robey and Boudreau recommend the adoption of a logic of opposition, which focuses on opposing forces that influence the outcomes of an implementation process. In this paper, we adopt Martin’s (1992) three-perspective theory of culture, which uses such a logic of opposition, to investigate a case where contradictory reactions to the implementation of a clinical information system (CIS) in a hospital occurred. Our research question is: ‘How do cultural interpretations of a new IT explain contradictory user reactions?’