Research Article

Journal of Information Technology (2007) 22, 235–247. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jit.2000102 Published online 31 July 2007

Conflicting institutional logics: a national programme for IT in the organisational field of healthcare

Wendy L Currie1 and Matthew W Guah2

  1. 1Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
  2. 2Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Accounting & Business Economics, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Wendy L Currie, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 24 7652 4262; Fax: +44 (0) 24 7652 4539; E-mail: Wendy.currie@wbs.ac.uk

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Abstract

This paper reports the findings from a 4-year study on the UK National Health Service on the introduction of a national programme for information technology.1 This is the largest civil IT programme worldwide at an estimated technical cost of £6.2 billion over a 10-year period. An institutional analysis of our historical and empirical data from six NHS organisations identifies growing fragmentation in the organisational field of healthcare, as past and present institutional logics both fuel and inhibit changes in the governance systems and working practices of healthcare practitioners. This is further complicated by new institutional logics that place the citizen at centre stage of the NPfIT, in a move to promote patient choice and public value.

Keywords:

healthcare, institutional logics, IT policy

1 NPfIT is the programme of work. Connecting for Health is the government agency charged with the delivery of the NPfIT. This agency replaces the NHS Information Authority.