A Case Study on Achieving Legitimation in Information Systems Action Research Projects

Theoretical and practical aspects of strategies for achieving legitimacy in Information Systems projects are not a widely researched topic. Legitimation is particularly relevant for projects involving action research interventions though it is desirable also in those including observations. An overview of action research and of past work on legitimation strategies in Management and Information Systems is provided. The paper then illustrates the practical application of heuristics for achieving legitimacy proposed by Landry and co-workers originally in Operations Research to an intervention aiming at improvement of software development productivity in an outsourced information systems project. The findings, limitations and possible directions for future research are presented.