Paper Number
ECIS2026-1192
Paper Type
SP
Abstract
Humanitarian coordination involves multiple organisations working across various locations, mandates, and governance arrangements, making alignment a persistent challenge. This study examines how interoperability is enacted within this setting by analysing early empirical material from an ongoing qualitative investigation of the Syrian cluster system. While humanitarian policy discourse often frames interoperability as a multi-layered technical and organisational issue, the initial analysis suggests that, in crisis contexts, the work of achieving interoperability is shaped more by governance ambiguity, donor authority, and fragile organisational trust than by system architecture. Drawing on a sociotechnical perspective, the study conceptualises interoperability as a form of negotiated compliance, whereby organisations adapt their practices to meet donor and governance expectations in order to maintain legitimacy, even when these adaptations do not result in meaningful interoperability across technical, semantic, and organisational dimensions. This empirical account challenges policy assumptions that technical alignment alone will produce coordination and instead highlights the political and relational dynamics through which interoperability unfolds in humanitarian crises. Further data collection including additional interviews, document analysis, and focus groups, will extend and refine this argument across additional coordination settings.
Recommended Citation
Khitou, Anas, "Interoperability As Negotiated Compliance: A Sociotechnical Perspective From The Syrian Humanitarian Response" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 1.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/govtrans/govtrans/1
Interoperability As Negotiated Compliance: A Sociotechnical Perspective From The Syrian Humanitarian Response
Humanitarian coordination involves multiple organisations working across various locations, mandates, and governance arrangements, making alignment a persistent challenge. This study examines how interoperability is enacted within this setting by analysing early empirical material from an ongoing qualitative investigation of the Syrian cluster system. While humanitarian policy discourse often frames interoperability as a multi-layered technical and organisational issue, the initial analysis suggests that, in crisis contexts, the work of achieving interoperability is shaped more by governance ambiguity, donor authority, and fragile organisational trust than by system architecture. Drawing on a sociotechnical perspective, the study conceptualises interoperability as a form of negotiated compliance, whereby organisations adapt their practices to meet donor and governance expectations in order to maintain legitimacy, even when these adaptations do not result in meaningful interoperability across technical, semantic, and organisational dimensions. This empirical account challenges policy assumptions that technical alignment alone will produce coordination and instead highlights the political and relational dynamics through which interoperability unfolds in humanitarian crises. Further data collection including additional interviews, document analysis, and focus groups, will extend and refine this argument across additional coordination settings.