The Coevolution of Routines and IT Systems in IT-enabled Organizational Transformation

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to study the phenomenon of IT-enabled Organizational Transformation (IT-enabled OT) as a coevolution process of organizational routines and a new IT system to understand IT-enabled OT in a holistic and integrated manner by investigating how actors perceive, interpret, appropriate and enact the new IT system in their work routines. It allows the examination of the reciprocal interactions between different aspects of organizational routines and a new IT system. The framework emphasizes appropriation where the actors use the new IT system in a different manner than intended by its designers, and enactment where the logic of the new IT system is locally adopted through planned as well as unplanned actions. The conceptualization of IT-enabled OT as a coevolution process of organizational routines and a new IT system enhances our understanding of how change unfolds in the organization during the implementation and use of a new IT system.