A Phenomenological Understanding of Information Systems: from Epistemology to Concrete Connections

Which epistemological contribution social studies of Information Systems can give to organization studies? In particular, which contribution the actor-network perspective can give? Social studies of Information Systems (Avgerou et al. 2004) are influenced by social studies of science and technology. Social studies of information systems arguments are based on case studies. The question we would like to answer with the present contribution is: how to develop general arguments of organizational design when the evidence comes from single case studies? In what sense this procedure can be considered scientific? Our goal, in the first place, is to demonstrate how normative arguments concerning organizational design can be developed starting from local analyses on implementation, adoption and use of information systems? Furthermore, we will proceed by identifying in the concepts of bounded rationality, external environment and information some relevant directions for an actor-network contribute to organizational design.