Despite the predominance of packaged application software, information systems (IS)
researchers have focused more on custom software development. Packaged software
deserves to be investigated separately due to the uniqueness in terms of its development
and implementation. One of the challenges for organizations is to fit packaged software
into their organizational context in order to reap the benefits through adopting the best
practices this type of software promises to offer. This dissertation concerns the
implementation of packaged software, specifically, technical and organizational aspects
of its post-purchase configuration. An interpretive study aimed at investigating this
process through the lens of Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) was conducted.
SCOT is a sociological approach to studying development of technological artifacts. One
of the main premises of SCOT is that various relevant groups influence the course of
development of a technological artifact based on their varied interpretations of the
artifact. SCOT lent itself well to the context of this study, in which the influence of the
understanding, perceptions and expectations of various groups on the configuration
process of packaged software was studied.
The empirical part of this dissertation consists of two case studies: a pilot study at a nonprofit organization and a main case study at a large public organization. The pilot study
was conducted in 2005 with the aim of examining SCOT in the context of IS research and
refining it as a theoretical lens for this dissertation. The data collection for the main case
study began in Spring 2007 by contacting a public organization that was in the process of
implementing a work management software package. The researcher participated as a
neutral observer in the simulation sessions conducted during the configuration of this
software. In addition, during the configuration process, the researcher reviewed
organizational documents related to the project and conducted semi-structured interviews
with the members of the configuration team.