Skip to main content

Using Antenarrative Approaches to Investigate the Perceptions of Information Systems’ Actors Regarding Failure and Success

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Information Systems Development

Abstract

Many Information Systems are viewed as underperforming by failing to meet expectations or deliver value to customers. In order to try and understand why these problems occur we apply narrative methods in the IS domain, taking into account the stories that different groups of actors tell regarding their experiences of the development and use of new information systems. This paper presents the perspectives of multiple actors regarding success/failure and problems encountered in developing and using information systems from their experiences. Qualitative approaches are followed to gather, analyze and interpret the rich, multi-voiced and incoherent generated stories of stakeholders involved in software systems. It is shown that the antenarrative approach that is employed in this study can produce deeper insights into the experience world of involved actors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 259.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anon (2007) What determines a project success or failure? www.lessons-from-history.com. Accessed 31 Oct 2007

    Google Scholar 

  • Boje DM (2001) Narrative methods for organizational and communication research. Sage, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Clandinin D, Connelly F (2000) Narrative inquiry: experience and story in qualitative research. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortazzi M (1993) Narrative analysis. Falmer Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Czarniawska B (1998) A narrative approach to organization studies. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dalcher D (2004) Stories and histories: case study research (and beyond) in information systems failures. In: Whitman ME (ed) The handbook of information system research. Idea Group Inc. (IGI), London, pp 305–322

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dalcher D (2009) Software project success: moving beyond failure. UPGRADE 10(5):42–50 (Oct 2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Drevin L, Dalcher D (2011) Antenarrative and narrative: the experiences of actors involved in the development and use of information systems. In: Boje D (ed) Storytelling and the future of organizations: an antenarrative handbook. Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egorova E, Torchiano M, Morisio M, Wohlin C, Aurum A, Svensson RB (2009) Stakeholders’ perception of success: an empirical investigation. In: Proceedings of 35th EuroMicro conference on software engineering and advanced applications. Patras, Greece, pp 210–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortune J, Peters G (2005) Information systems: achieving success by avoiding failure. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Harmer B, Pauleen D (2007) The work anytime anywhere mobility blues. In: 4th QAULIT conference. Wellington, New Zealand

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang JJ, Klein G, Discenza R (2002) Perception differences of software success: provider and user views of system metrics. J Syst Softw 63(1):17–27 (July 2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • KPMG (2005) Global IT project management survey. http://www.pmichapters-australia.org.au/canberra/documents/irmprm-global-it-pm-survey2005.pdf. Accessed 31 Oct 2007

  • Lieblich A, Tuval-Mashiach R, Zilber T (1998) Narrative research. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lyhne L (2007) eNatis crash may be due to missing safety net. Sunday Times. http://dariel.co.za/news6.html. Accessed 19 Oct 2007

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishler EG (1995) Models of narrative analysis: a typology. J Narrat Life Hist 5(2):87–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riessman CK (1993) Narrative analysis. Sage, Newbury Park

    Google Scholar 

  • Standish (1999) A recipe for success. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/PDFpages/chaos1999.pdf. Accessed 8 Mar 2004

  • Standish (2001) Extreme chaos. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/PDFpages/extreme_chaos.pdf. Accessed 8 Mar 2004

  • Standish (2003) Latest Standish Group Chaos report shows project success rates have improved by 50%. http://www.standishgroup.com/pres/article.php?id=2. Accessed 23 Feb 2004

  • Standish (2004) 2004 third quarter research report. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/PDFpages/q3-spotlight.pdf. Accessed 25 Apr 2006

  • Telegraph (2007) ÂŁ20bn NHS computer system doomed to fail. http://www.telegraph.co.uk dated 13-2-2007. Accessed 19 Sept 2007

Download references

Acknowledgments

This paper is based upon work that was financially supported by the NRF. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lynette Drevin or Darren Dalcher .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this paper

Cite this paper

Drevin, L., Dalcher, D. (2011). Using Antenarrative Approaches to Investigate the Perceptions of Information Systems’ Actors Regarding Failure and Success. In: Pokorny, J., et al. Information Systems Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9790-6_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9790-6_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-9645-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-9790-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics