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Communications of the Association for Information Systems

Author ORCID Identifier

Proma Chowdhury: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4548-7032

Arindam Mukherjee: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2021-0799

Siddharth Gaurav Majhi: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1345-9606

Abstract

Despite significant investments and interest in ICT4D (information and communication technologies for development) initiatives in developing countries, the outcomes of these initiatives have often been underwhelming. While the extant scholarly discourse has examined this phenomenon from a contextual lens focusing on cultural, political or economic aspects, the spatial perspective has largely been undertheorized. In this paper, we adopt a sociomaterial perspective to explore the localized space characterizing the ICT-led last mile foodgrain distribution process of the Indian public distribution system (PDS). Examining the enactment of the PDS in the spatial context of Burdwan, a small town in West Bengal, this paper explicates the mechanisms underlying the emergence of new space. By showing that the emergent space disrupts the intra-actional order of the ICT-led distribution process and spatial restoration leads to the extension of the ICT-led distribution process in time and space, this paper reveals the costs of emergence of space and the new intra-actional order that service deliverers must adhere to. By theorizing these unintended outcomes and costs from the theoretical lenses of sociomateriality, space and Lefebvre’s spatial triad, and the concept of territorialization-deterritorialization-reterritorialization, this paper advances scholarly understanding of the ICT4D - space nexus while providing a novel perspective that enhances understanding of ICT4D performance and offers insights relevant to policymakers.

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