Paradoxical effects of institutionalisation on the strategic awareness of technology in organisations

Much of the IS literature focuses on the positive impacts of the institutionalisation of IT in business routines; that is it assumes that it is good for IT to become embedded within an organisation. In this paper, however, we explore the 'dark side' of such institutionalisation, demonstrating how a technology once institutionalised can become invisible to management so that its strategic potential is under-exploited while at the same time business risks associated with the IT are ignored. We demonstrate this through an in-depth longitudinal case study which follows the development of an intranet in a bank in the UK over a period of 5 years. By following changes to the management of the intranet and its continuous embedding in work practices, the paper identifies six characteristics of institutionalised systems and highlights five risks for a business. The paper contributes to the literature in IS by exploring the impact for businesses from the apparent paradox between institutionalisation and awareness of the strategic value of technology in organisations. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.