Towards an Emancipatory Systems Approach for IT Adoption in Organizations

This paper discusses emancipatory systems approaches with regard to IT adoption in organizations. Emancipatory systems approaches’ emphasis is on IT adoption problem situations which are perceived to be associated with issues of power relations that affect decision-making in organizations. This paper explores user perceptions on emancipatory systems approaches during IT adoption in organizations. The paper is based on two case studies. The study was guided by the following questions: What are the users’ perceptions of emancipatory systems approach during IT adoption in organizations? What are the perceived users’ expected benefits of emancipatory systems approach during IT adoption in organizations? The results indicate that emancipatory systems approaches may be useful during IT adoption in organizations. The results suggest that emancipatory systems approaches may have a potential to improve IT adoption success in organizations through emancipating and empowering discriminated stakeholders.