Information Technology and Government Corruption in Developing Countries: Evidence from Ghana Customs
Authors: Addo, Atta; Avgerou, Chrisanthi
Journal: MIS Quarterly (2021)
<jats:p>The literature on information technology (IT) and government corruption in developing countries indicates contradictory evidence about the realization of anti-corruption effects. So far, there is no theoretical explanation of why the anti-corruption potential of IT demonstrated in some countries is not realized in many other countries. Drawing evidence from a case study of information systems interventions at Ghana customs over 35 years, we investigate how and why IT’s anti-corruption potential may be curtailed in the context of developing countries’ governments and societies. We focus on IT-mediated petty corruption practices of street-level officers, which we consider to be socially embedded and institutionally conditioned phenomena. We find that conditions of possibility for the IT-mediated petty corruption practices are created during the implementation of information systems. The configuration of IT and organizational processes of a government agency are constrained by the broader government administration system and influenced by the vested interests of government officers, politicians, and businesses. Subsequently, the co-optation of IT for petty corruption practice…