Information technology as disciplinary technology: being critical in interpretive research on information systems

Abstract

This paper argues that interpretive researchers need to consciously adopt a critical and reflective stance in relation to the role that the information technologies which they describe play in maintaining social orders and power relations in organizations. The concern of the paper is to highlight-potential shortcomings in the treatment of technology in interpretive research on information systems, but also to present a specific approach to studying information technology and organization which may overcome these weaknesses. By utilizing a perspective drawn from the discursive and disciplinary work of Foucault and recent work on the sociology of technology, we can complement the thick description of interpretive research with the broader sweep of critical social theory.