Paper Number
ECIS2026-1758
Paper Type
SP
Abstract
Large-scale IT renewal disrupts established routines and redistributes influence, yet the role of power in shaping renewal trajectories remains underexplored in IS research. Using Clegg’s Circuits of Power, this study analyses a government agency replacing its core case-management system. We trace two obligatory passage points (OPPs) that redirected the renewal: an advisory board review that dissolved the central program and shifted control to business-owned domains, and an EU legal mandate that recentralized authority around a deadline-driven mission structure. Across both OPPs, episodic power was translated into new governance arrangements, discursive frames (“business in the lead,” “bronze version”), and infrastructural routines that defined what counted as legitimate progress. The findings show that external triggers do not determine renewal outcomes; rather, they reorganize power in ways that shape priorities, pace, and possibilities for change. We argue for a power-sensitive view of IT renewal that explains why similar pressures can produce divergent trajectories.
Recommended Citation
Grasmeijer, René; Elshan, Edona; and van den Hooff, Bart, "Power In It Renewal: How Influence Shapes The Trajectory Of Large-Scale System Replacements" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 6.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/govtrans/govtrans/6
Power In It Renewal: How Influence Shapes The Trajectory Of Large-Scale System Replacements
Large-scale IT renewal disrupts established routines and redistributes influence, yet the role of power in shaping renewal trajectories remains underexplored in IS research. Using Clegg’s Circuits of Power, this study analyses a government agency replacing its core case-management system. We trace two obligatory passage points (OPPs) that redirected the renewal: an advisory board review that dissolved the central program and shifted control to business-owned domains, and an EU legal mandate that recentralized authority around a deadline-driven mission structure. Across both OPPs, episodic power was translated into new governance arrangements, discursive frames (“business in the lead,” “bronze version”), and infrastructural routines that defined what counted as legitimate progress. The findings show that external triggers do not determine renewal outcomes; rather, they reorganize power in ways that shape priorities, pace, and possibilities for change. We argue for a power-sensitive view of IT renewal that explains why similar pressures can produce divergent trajectories.
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