Abstract
Many donor-funded ICT4D interventions are implemented to quantitatively measure, monitor, and evaluate results of development projects and programs in the global South. We focus on how quantification processes aren’t neutral and in the temptation of evidence-based efficiency, can potentially form new inequalities. Current studies within this field overlook the role of ICTs in the quantification process and how IT-enabled quantification systems potentially contribute in bringing institutional change with ethical and social implications for development. In this paper, using institutional logics, affordances, and the concept of IS artifact, we take a first step towards theorizing this problematic side of ICT4D and quantification. We further outline our plan to empirically illustrate this framework through an ongoing interpretive case study in Nepal. The case study explores a donor-funded public sector ICT4D intervention, implemented for assisting local governments to self-evaluate their institutional capacity through ICT-enabled quantification system. Finally, we contribute to the IS literature by providing a critical theoretical lens to scrutinize ICT4D interventions.
Recommended Citation
Thapa, Pragyan; Thapa, Devinder; and Sæbo, Øystein, "A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE ON QUANTIFICATION OF DEVELOPMENT IN ICT4D" (2023). ECIS 2023 Research-in-Progress Papers. 67.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2023_rip/67