Title: Seeking stakeholder support and approval: a case study of legitimation process in an information system development project

Authors: Yongqin Du

Addresses: Business System Division, Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

Abstract: Legitimation is an abstraction of formal and informal approval of stakeholders towards organisational activities. Information systems (IS) development and implementation are more likely to receive stakeholder support and acceptance if they hold the belief that the IS and the changes implied are legitimate. This paper offers a case study of the legitimation process in an IS project at a large Chinese commercial bank, and obtains in-depth understanding of how legitimation was sought and obtained from various internal stakeholders through the project team|s strategic actions. This paper empirically examines the applicability of the legitimation activity model (LAM), and establishes a new improvisational legitimation seeking approach as an alternative to the deterministic LAM. Limitations and directions for further research are discussed.

Keywords: information systems; stakeholder support; stakeholder acceptance; legitimation processes; legitimation strategies; legitimation activity models; improvisation; China; development projects; informal approval; formal approval; systems implementation; commercial banking; banks; internal stakeholders; project teams; strategic actions; improvisational legitimation; deterministic models; business; systems research.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2011.038799

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2011 Vol.5 No.2, pp.136 - 157

Published online: 17 Apr 2015 *

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