Recognising Alternative Rationalities in the Deployment of Information Systems

Information systems research and practice have been developed under the combination of scientific and economic reasoning that forms the bedrock of western modernity. Alternative ways of perceiving the value of technical innovation, often manifested in the deployment of ICT in the social context of developing countries, are poorly understood and tend to be dismissed as ‘irrational’. In this paper I review the literature that challenges the supremacy of the mutually dependent techno-scientific and economic rationalities of modernity and I argue for a shift from a universalistic and a-contextual notion of rationality to considering rationality as a system of reasoning arising from particular historical experiences and related to culture. Theoretical discussion on rationality draws from Weber’s analysis, critical theory, constructivist studies of science and technology, and writers on postmodernity. The manifestation and significance of alternative rationalities is demonstrated with two examples of systems implementation efforts, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for professional practice.