Lawrence, Cameron
(2005)
The transformation of IT governance: A neo-institutional interpretation.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis examines how deeply institutionalized IT governance arrangements change over time. The research captured in this work focuses on the transformation journey of the IT organization and its governance mechanisms within one state government in America. Our case study analyzes the breakdown of a historically dominant IT governance arrangement and the process that gave rise to a fundamentally different regime. This process was captured through a longitudinal case study lasting one and one-half years. This aim of this thesis is to provide an alternative perspective to the planned change models that dominate the literature related to the transformation of the IT function and its governance mechanisms. This is accomplished by drawing on neo-institutional theory and conceptualizing the IT governance regime as an institution. This perspective suggests that IT governance arrangements within some organizations possess a deeply ingrained status that is resistant to change. The process of institutional change captured in our case study is analyzed and explained by coupling two innovative analytic frameworks found within the larger neo-institutional literature. The first framework provides insight into the deinstitutionalization process; the second framework focuses on the process of institutional construction. The neo-institutional approach employed in this work enables us to provide an insightful and nuanced interpretation of the IT governance transformation process, which has important implications for theory, practice, and pedagogy.
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