Title: Exploring the dimensions of project sustainability: a case study of an ICT4D project

Authors: Mananga Ranjula De Zoysa; Nick Letch

Addresses: UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia ' UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia

Abstract: The difficulty of sustaining ICT4D projects in developing nations is a challenging issue. Finding ways to ameliorate this problem is critical given the opportunity cost of IT investment failure in developing-world contexts and the consequence of discouraging donor support for ICT-enabled development interventions. This paper presents a study which explores the sustainability of ICT4D projects via a case study of a prominent, large-scale, nationwide ICT4D project that targets agricultural development in a developing nation in South Asia. The case study is interpreted based upon six major dimensions influencing project sustainability that have been identified in the literature. While providing confirmation of the importance and relevance of these dimensions and associated factors, the study highlights the inherent limitations of adopting this approach and proposes an alternative theoretical approach to complement analyses of ICT4D project sustainability.

Keywords: project sustainability; ICT4D projects; developing countries; actor-network theory; ANT; information and communications technology; information technology; ICT for development; South Asia; sustainable projects; agricultural development; agriculture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2013.054201

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2013 Vol.19 No.1/2/3, pp.120 - 136

Received: 01 Jul 2012
Accepted: 13 Mar 2013
Published online: 30 Apr 2014 *

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