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Technological Teleology and the Theory of Technology Enactment

The Case of the International Trade Data System

North Carolina State University, david_garson{at}ncsu.edu

Jane Fountain's book, Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change, uses the International Trade Data System (ITDS) as its leading case in support of technology enactment theory and in refutation of technological determinist theory. An examination of the ITDS case in the years since the termination of Fountain's coverage in 1999 shows the case to be of a different nature than presented in the book. The weaknesses of technology enactment as social science theory are compensated by its descriptive/prescriptive uses for practitioners and researchers interested in public sector information technology implementation.

Key Words: technological determinism • teleology • technology enactment theory • Jane Fountain • ITDS • International Trade Data System • case study research

Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 21, No. 4, 425-431 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0894439303256371


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