Introducing public sector eIDs
The power of actors’ translations and
institutional barriers
Fredrik Söderström
Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 701 Faculty of Arts and Sciences
At the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping University, research and doctoral stud-ies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organized in interdisciplinary research environments and doctoral studies mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in arts and Science. This thesis comes from the Information Systems Division at the Department of Management and Engineering.
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Department of Management and Engineering Linköping University
581 83 Linköping
Fredrik Söderström
Introducing public sector eIDs
The power of actors’ translations and institutional barriers
Edition 1:1
ISBN 978-91-7685-654-3 ISSN 0282-9800
©Fredrik Söderström
Picture: Alexander Åkerberg
Department of Management and Engineering 2016 Information Systems Division
Science, like all creative activity, is exploration, gambling and adventure. It does not lend itself very well to neat blueprints, detailed roadmaps and
The electronic identification (eID) is a digital representation of our analogue identity used for authentication in order to gain access to personalized restricted online content. Despite its limited and clearly defined scope, the eID has a unique role to play in infor-mation society as an enabler of public digital services for citizens as well as businesses and a prerequisite for the development of electronic government (eGovernment). This study shows a tendency of treating public sector eIDs like Information and Communi-cations Technology (ICT) artefacts in general. Hence, a narrow focus on technology is often applied thus placing non-technical aspects in the background. Consequently, social and organizational implications are often unproblematized which in turn becomes prob-lematic in the case of the public sector eID.
This study puts forth a need for a broader focus in this area and contributes by focusing on the challenges related to the resistance to introductions of eIDs among affected actors in the public sector. This study assumes that affected actors’ perceptions (translations) of the eID have a potential impact on its introduction on organizational as well as oper-ational level. Research questions focus on the influence of resistance on the introduction and the relationship between resistance and actors’ translations of the eID. The aim is to further develop existing concepts and bring new insights to research as well as practice. The analytical perspectives of sociology and institutionalism aim at developing a tenta-tive analytical framework for investigations of this relationship. Introductions, therefore, become institutional pressures facing resistance as related to affected actors’ transla-tions. The empirical basis consists of two interpretive case studies of eID introductions –a national eID to cover the entire public sector and a professional eID in health care. The result shows that resistance in the form of institutional barriers develops from ac-tors’ negative translations of the eID and main coordinating acac-tors’ tend to fail in their attempts to negotiate these barriers. This confirms a closer relationship between institu-tional pressures and barriers and a view of pressures, barriers and eIDs as translated institutions transferred across organizational settings is put forth. To facilitate future research and practice related to public sector eID introductions, three propositions are put forth. (1) The importance of acknowledging pressures to introduce eIDs as closely related to barriers. (2) The institutions involved in this process as all translated by the government, coordinating actors as well as affected actors. (3) The importance of a de-veloped understanding of these institutions, translations and relationships in order to facilitate cooperative efforts shaping future public sector eIDs.
Information Systems Development (ISD) is a research discipline within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping University (LiU), Linköping Sweden. ISD is a discipline studying human work with developing and changing different kinds of IT systems in organisational and societal settings. The research discipline includes theories, strategies and policies, models, methods, co-working principles and artefacts related to infor-mation systems development. Different development/change situations can be studied as planning, analysis, specification, design, implementation, deployment, evaluation, maintenance and redesign of information systems and its interplay with other forms of business development, processes of digitalization and innovation. The discipline also includes the study of prerequisites for and results from information systems develop-ment, as e.g. institutional settings, studies of usage and consequences of information systems.
The ISD research at LiU is conducted in collaboration with both private companies and public organizations. Collaboration also includes national and international research partners in the information systems research field. The research has a clear ambition to give distinct theoretical contributions within the information systems research field. Simultaneously, the research aims to contribute with practically needed and useful knowledge.
This work, Introducing public sector eIDs – the power of actors’ translations and insti-tutional barriers, is written by Fredrik Söderström, Linköping University. He is also a member of the research group VITS. He presents this work as his PhD dissertation in Information Systems Development, Information Systems Division, Department of Man-agement and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden.
Linköping, October 2016
Karin Axelsson Göran Goldkuhl Ulf Melin
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It has now been five years since I took my first steps into academia as a PhD candidate and I can honestly say it has been an adventure. Some might say that five years is a considerable time but in my case, the time has really flown by. There have been quite a number of ups and downs along the way, but as time goes by, you come to appreciate them both. It is as the pressures and barriers focused in this PhD - without the downs, you can not appreciate the ups. Since I have been far from alone on this roller-coaster ride, there are quite a few I want to thank for having supported this work. First, my supervisor Ulf Melin and co-supervisor Karin Axelsson. Ulf, your support of this work has been invaluable. No matter how lost I have felt before our meetings and conversa-tions, I have always left with renewed hope. So, that is quite a special power you have there. Combined with your excellent professional expertise, I could never have wished for a better supervisor. Karin, your comments and views on this work along the way have pushed me into new directions, and the opportunity to take advantages of your deep expertise and knowledge has been very valuable.
However, without the funding agency for our project focusing on the future use of eIDs, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, I would most likely not have come in contact with this very interesting research area at all. Without the skilled main authors of papers, I would not have had the opportunity to participate in these very interesting and creative writing processes and without my colleagues at the Information Systems Department, I would most certainly not have endured this process. Dear colleagues, your good advice and comments on seminars as well as in the corridor have been invaluable, and I look forward to our talks in coming ‘fikas’. Without the comments and feedback from par-ticipants at my final seminar, I would not have come this far either. I also would like to thank participating respondents as well as ‘the experts’ in the eID field. Without your willingness to participate and share your views, I would never have realized the great potential and vast challenges of this little thing called the eID. In addition, I am sure the cover would have been rather dull without the creative mind of the photographer. Last but not least, without the support and understanding of family and relatives, this could never have happened.
My sincere thanks to you all – you are the best!
Finally, to Anja, Jonathan and Anton: At last and always!
Fredrik Söderström
Part I – Starting points ... 1
1. Introduction ... 3
1.1 Background and motivation ... 3
1.2 Research questions ... 12
1.3 Aim and contribution ... 13
1.4 Knowledge development ... 15
1.5 Delimitations ... 17
1.6 Intended audiences ... 22
1.7 Dissertation outline ... 23
1.8 A reader’s guide ... 25
2. Research perspective and method ... 27
2.1 Introduction ... 27
2.2 Research perspective ... 28
2.3 Research method ... 35
2.4 Selecting cases ... 40
2.5 Data collection ... 45
2.6 Analysis and synthesis ... 51
2.7 Quality, relevance and ethical considerations ... 55
Part II – Theoretical and analytical perspectives ... 63
3. Theoretical perspective ... 65
3.1 ISR ... 65
3.2 Electronic government ... 68
3.3 Social and organizational perspectives... 72
3.4 Electronic identification ... 85
3.5 Concluding remarks ... 96
4. Analytical perspective ... 99
4.1 Introduction ... 99
4.2 The institutional perspective ... 101
4.3 The sociological perspective ... 116
5. The eGov eID ... 135
5.1 The public sector eID ... 135
5.2 The introduction ... 150
5.3 The government perspective ... 171
5.4 Service Providers’ perspective ... 175
5.5 Identity Providers’ perspective ... 182
5.6 Concluding remarks ... 187
6. The eHealth eID ... 191
6.1 The Swedish health sector eID ... 191
6.2 The project ... 196
6.3 The introduction ... 201
6.4 The implications ... 206
6.5 Concluding remarks ... 217
7. Translating the eGov eID ... 219
7.1 Problematization ... 219
7.2 Interdefinition of actors ... 220
7.3 Obligatory Passage Point ... 223
7.4 Interessement ... 228
7.5 Enrolment ... 236
7.6 Mobilization ... 243
7.7 Closure ... 245
7.8 Concluding remarks ... 246
8. Translating the eHealth eID ... 251
8.1 Problematization ... 251
8.2 Interdefinition of actors ... 252
8.3 The Obligatory Passage Point ... 253
8.4 Interessement ... 257
8.5 Enrolment ... 263
8.6 Mobilization ... 267
9. Concluding analysis and discussion ... 277
9.1 The socio-institutional framework ... 277
9.2 Stage 1. Pressure ... 280
9.3 Stage 2: Barrier ... 287
9.4 Stage 3: Negotiation ... 295
9.5 Stage 4: Institutionalization ... 304
9.6 Three significant analytical concepts emerging ... 310
10. Conclusions, implications and future research ... 315
10.1 Introduction ... 315
10.2 Conclusions and propositions ... 318
10.3 Implications ... 324
10.4 Quality assessment ... 329
10.5 Questions for future research ... 335
References ... 339
Appendices Appendix 1 – Interview guides...369
Appendix 2 – Qualitative data analysis...373
Appendix 3 – Assessment of SOU 2010:104...379
Appendix 4 – Action plan vs recommendations...399
Figures Figure 1. Dissertation outline ... 24
Figure 2. Timeline of case studies – an overview ... 41
Figure 3. Three grounding processes of MGT (adapted from Goldkuhl & Cronholm, 2010) ... 52
Figure 4. The four-stage institutional model ... 54
Figure 5. Societal steering media and systems (adapted from Broadbent et al., 1991, p. 8) ... 75
Figure 6. The entity, identity and attribute relationship (based on Clarke, 2008) ... 86
Figure 7. The three-step authentication model ... 87
Figure 8. Identification, authentication and enrolment (adapted from Beynon-Davies, 2006) ... 88
Figure 9. Theoretical perspective – a conceptual map ... 96
Figure 10. Framework of institutional effects (adapted from Mignerat & Rivard, 2009, p. 370) ... 112
Figure 11. Obligatory Passage Point (based on Callon, 1986, p. 20) ... 121
Figure 12. Problematization (adapted from Callon, 1986, p. 20) ... 122
Figure 13. The triangle of interessement (based on Callon, 1986, p. 21) ... 123
Figure 17. Cooperation/business model with banks (adapted from RSV 2000:15) ... 139
Figure 18. Agreements of the federation (adapted from E-Legnämnden, 2014d, p. 2) ... 153
Figure 19. The expanded federation (adapted from E-Legnämnden, 2014d, p. 2) ... 154
Figure 20. Introduction timeline ... 196
Figure 21. The OPP of the eGov eID (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 224
Figure 22. OPP problematization - Obstacles and goals of actors (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 225
Figure 23. Triangle of interessement – eGov eID (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 230
Figure 24. Interessement - service provider and identity provider (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 232
Figure 25. Combined triangle of interessement (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 236
Figure 26. The OPP of the organizational level eID introduction (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 254
Figure 27. OPP Problematization - Obstacles and goals of actors (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 255
Figure 28. Triangle of interessement - The eHealth eID (adapted from Callon, 1986)... 258
Figure 29. Triangle of interessement – User (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 260
Figure 30. Triangle of interessement – ITR (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 261
Figure 31. Combined triangle of interessement (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 263
Figure 32. Analytical model ... 279
Figure 33. Institutionalization of barrier - eGov case ... 307
Figure 34. Institutionalization of barrier – eHealth case ... 308
Figure 35. The translated institutions (inspired by Ogden & Richards, 1923, p. 11) ... 323
Figure 36. The triangle of potential eID success (inspired by Ogden & Richards, 1923, p. 11) ... 328
Figure 37. Example – First round of inductive coding ... 374
Figure 38. Theoretically informed analysis ... 377
Figure 39. eGov eID actors (adapted from SOU 2010:104)... 384
Tables Table 1. Characterization of concepts ... 4
Table 2. Summary of knowledge development based on classification by Goldkuhl (2011) ... 15
Table 3. A reader’s guide ... 25
Table 4. eGov case interviews ... 42
Table 5. eHealth case interviews ... 44
Table 6. Public documents of interest – an overview ... 49
Table 7. Types of science outreach activities – a selection ... 59
Table 8. Authored and co-authored publications ... 60
Table 9. Causes of resistance (adapted from Hirschheim & Newman, 1988) ... 82
Table 10. Causes of path dependence (adapted from Page, 2006) ... 84
Table 11. Institutional factors and predictive dimensions (based onOliver, 1991, p. 160) ... 108
Table 12. Strategic responses (based on Oliver, 1991, p. 152) ... 110
Table 13. Summary of steps in translation analysis (adapted from Callon, 1986) ... 125
Table 14. Summary of assessment (RiR 2009:19) ... 145
Table 15. Challenges and descriptions (based on SOU 2010:104) ... 148
Table 19. Summary of identified challenges and examples of outcomes ... 218
Table 20. Summary of eGov eID translation analysis ... 249
Table 21. Summary of eHealth eID translation analysis ... 273
Table 22. General characterization of pressures ... 284
Table 23. eGov case - factors, dimensions and predicted levels of pressures ... 286
Table 24. eHealth case - factors, dimensions and predicted levels of pressures ... 287
Table 25. General characterization of barriers ... 291
Table 26. eGov case - factors, dimensions and outcome of pressures ... 293
Table 27. eHealth case - factors, dimensions and outcome of pressures ... 294
Table 28. Legitimacy and efficiency ... 296
Table 29. Multiplicity and dependency ... 298
Table 30. Consistency and constraints ... 299
Table 31. Enforcement and voluntariness ... 300
Table 32. Uncertainty and interconnectedness ... 301
Table 33. Implications for research ... 326
Table 34. Implications for practice ... 329
Table 35. Addressing principles by Klein & Myers' (1999) ... 329
Table 36. Result from inductive coding ... 374
Table 37. Result from conceptual refinement ... 376
Table 38. Main incentives for the eGov eID (SOU 2010:104, p. 14) ... 381
Table 39. The four assurance levels (Kantara IAF, 2009, p. 6)... 386
1
Part I – Starting points
The first part of this dissertation covers the point of departure for this work with an introductory chapter to provide the background such as central chal-lenges addressed as well as aim and guiding research questions. The second chapter then provides the research perspective and methods applied to carry out this work.
3
1.
Introduction
This introduction provides the background, problem area, motivation and central perspectives applied in this dissertation focusing on the public sector eID as an important enabler of digital authentication. Basic concepts, op-portunities and current challenges are described along with a claim for a broader focus on public sector eIDs in research as well as practice. Guiding research questions are presented together with the aim, contribution and identified theoretical and empirical delimitations. The chapter is concluded with a description of the intended audience, an outline of this work and a reader’s guide for increased accessibility.
1.1
Background and motivation
The electronic identification (eID) has a unique role securing the identity of citizens and customers in public and private digital services (e-services) as well as for employees in organizations. Whenever there is a need for a securely identified user, this can be pro-vided by secure digital authentication1 provided by the eID. Compared to other methods
such as one-time passcodes or simple login procedures where a username and a pass-word is provided, the eID brings a significantly higher level of security and trust regard-ing the validity of the identification. This is in turn related to the way the eID is issued, implemented and used during the authentication process. For example, it may require two-factor or strong authentication; a process requiring a combination of two different components such as something you have, a certificate on a smart card or mobile phone, and something you know, a password or a passcode. The increasing development and widespread use of digital services requiring users to be authenticated in a more secure way also result in increased development, diffusion and use of eIDs for authentication in external as well as internal services in organizations. Many public authorities, as well as private businesses, are currently completely dependent on this seemingly small and delimited artefact2. As citizens and customers, we have also grown very dependent on
the eID enabling us to securely access public and private digital services, for declaring our annual income tax, applying for parental and sickness benefits as well as for our online banking services. Our digital identification, as represented by the eID, is overtak-ing physical identification at a rapid pace in a growovertak-ing number of service contexts. How-ever, as this dissertation suggests, this increasing dependence on the eID also introduces several new potential challenges in theory as well as in practice. On a general level, this dissertation puts forth the importance of the eID in the public sector and advocates an
1 The assessment of the identification representing the identity of the user.
2 In Information Systems Research (ISR), an instantiation (example) of an information system is often referred to
4
increased awareness of its social and organizational implications. Moreover, since cur-rent public sector eID introductions face significant challenges, I argue that this in-creased contextual focus will facilitate a more reflective and successful handling of the challenges at hand on national as well as organizational levels.
1.1.1
Identity and identification
The concept of using one's identity for the purpose of identification in a particular ser-vice context can historically be traced back to local or national population registers, commercial transactions as well as legal matters. For decades, these issues are rather unproblematic and relying on the standardized process of providing the relevant physi-cal documents such an ID card or passport in situations where the individual’s identity needs to be assessed in order for some transaction to take place. In the wake of digitization in the information society, the need for digital identifications and related processes such as authentication and authorization present opportunities as well as chal-lenges regarding the handling of digital identities. In research, the digital identity, as represented by the eID, is often taken for granted and left unproblematized to a great extent (see Section 3.4.1). While there are studies actively trying to analyse the eID concept and relate it to different contexts (e.g. Beynon-Davies, 2006; Whitley et al., 2014), the majority of previous eID studies seem only to spend a sentence or two in the introduction on clarifying this concept. I thereby argue that these over-simplified con-ceptualizations of digital identity and identification may result in misinterpretations or even misleading results. In applied social sciences, such as the research field of this dissertation (Information System Research, ISR), the surrounding world is the object of study. How this world is translated and interpreted by the human actors existing and acting in different contexts of this world, therefore, needs to be investigated and made transparent. Thus, in an effort to avoid any confusion and misunderstanding regarding the eID concept presented in this work, an analysis is performed inspired by the socio-instrumental pragmatist approach presented by Goldkuhl (2002). The eID is therefore deconstructed into the four sub-concepts of identity, identification, authentication and authorization.
Table 1. Characterization of concepts
Concept Typification Location
Identity Unique combination of attributes Intra-subjective
Identification Representation of attributes Inter-subjective,
symbols, artefacts
Authentication Assessment of attributes Interpretive action
5
To be able to distinguish and characterize these basic concepts, an ontological approach is applied resulting in the typifications and locations described in Table 1. Identity is defined as a unique combination of attributes located in the inner intra-subjective world of an individual while identification is the representation of attributes located in the shared knowledge and institutions in the inter-subjective world also represented in the form of symbols and artefacts. The authentication is an assessment of identity performed as an interpretive action and authorization is granting permission based on attributes and thus performed as an interventionist action. It then becomes clear that the identity is in fact based on attributes unique to the individual while identification, authentication and authorization are related to the process of requesting and acquiring access to some-thing protected from public access. With the addition of the prefix ‘e’ (electronic) and based on the concept analysis above the following definition of the eID emerges.
1.1.2
The eID as an eGovernment enabler
Since public sector organizations need to handle sensitive data about individuals as cit-izens, an increased need to exchange such data in a secure digital way, in turn, creates the need for secure electronic authorization using eIDs (Otjacques et al., 2007). This exchange of data is related to public sector initiatives such as electronic government (eGovernment, eGov) facilitating development of information and communication tech-nology (ICT) (Kraemer & Perry, 1979). Digital services in the public sector, therefore, become important drivers of eGovernment development (e.g. Chan & Pan, 2008; Grönlund & Horan, 2005; UN & ASPA, 2002). There are also internal and external incentives and demands for increased efficiency and improved delivery of public ser-vices towards citizens, businesses, employees and agencies as well as an increased citi-zen participation (Grönlund, 2002). The eID thereby acts as a back as well as front office enabler (Melin et al., 2016) with a potentially positive impact on public administration and democracy. The underlying incentives of eGovernment development can be traced back to targets formulated by the European Council’s Lisbon Strategy in the beginning of 2000 with the aim of improving Europe’s economic performance (UNPAN, 2007). Thus, the eID becomes a very important prerequisite and a key enabler for the public sectors ability to deliver secure digital services (Rössler, 2008); a perspective also shared by the European Commission (EC, 2014a). Since the benefits of the eID are currently being identified and acknowledged on a broader scale such as in national and interna-tional initiatives, the research interest in this artefact is steadily increasing. Examples of prior studies focus on several different aspects of the eID such as identity management
The eID is an identification representing unique attributes used for authentication and authorization in an electronic public or private service context.
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(e.g. Seltsikas & O'Keefe, 2010; Talamo et al., 2014), identity service infrastructures (e.g. Shamah, 2006) and interoperability (e.g. Tauber et al., 2010), the ability of using a common eID in different identity management systems (Halperin & Backhouse, 2008). Significant challenges and opportunities of national eID initiatives are also reported in several studies (e.g. Grönlund, 2010; Hoff & Hoff, 2010). This is a direct consequence of the eID currently rising on national governmental agendas with the identified poten-tial of increased central coordination, standardization, interoperability, and control on national as well as European level where initiatives such as eIDAS3 is currently being
launched with a potential of cross-border enabled eIDs acting as a European digital mar-ket enabler (EC, 2015). There are currently several national as well as EU level initia-tives running in parallel that are all highly dependent on common and secure public sector eID solutions. However, national eID initiatives show a significant fragmentation (EC, 2015) and variance in terms of prerequisites, introduction, and use (Kubicek & Noack, 2010c; Kubicek & Söderström, Submitted). Examples of successful national eIDs such as in Estonia (Martens, 2010) and Sweden (Söderström & Melin, 2012b) are contrasted by the challenges in Finland (Rissanen, 2010), Belgium (Mariën & Van Audenhove, 2010) and the United Kingdom (Beynon-Davies, 2011).
On a national level, to be able to cover the need of eID services across the whole public sector, ongoing efforts to increase the level of coordination, standardization and control have to take a vast number of aspects and needs into consideration. This to be able to gain the acceptance of a large group of affected actors in public as well as the private sector. Therefore, I argue that introductions of such eIDs must be seen as considerable challenges which in turn motivates further research in this area as exemplified by this dissertation. Since the implementation and use of eIDs are spreading across society, the health sector is also an area where the eID has become increasingly important (e.g. Halperin & Backhouse, 2008; Stroetmann et al., 2011). The introduction of Electronic Patients Records (EPR)4 systems and the increased demands of information security in
the health sector when digitally storing and sharing sensitive patient data (Halperin & Backhouse, 2008) are strong incentives behind the introduction of eIDs which in turn also allow patients to access their own medical records online. In the private sector, the most successful examples of eIDs are commonly found in areas related to financial ser-vices such as online banking (Melin et al., 2013). As a result, in several countries, such as Sweden, actors in the banking sector have become the dominant providers of eID services to be integrated and used in public sector’s digital services (Söderström & Melin, 2012b). With the past development and future potential, it is, therefore, reasona-ble to assume that if the eID is important today, it will become even more crucial in the near future. This due to its important role as an enabler in the public sector’s strive for
The European Regulation for the electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions (eIDAS) (EC, 2015)
7
an increased coordination, standardization, interconnectedness, interoperability and pro-vision of secure digital services on organizational, national as well as international level.
1.1.3
Current public sector eID challenges
Regardless of the opportunities for public sector eIDs acting as a common way of digital authentication in public as well as private-sector digital services, we are currently wit-nessing the results of trying to increase the level of coordination and control of eIDs on several levels in the public sector. This, in turn, being a result of the eID rising on na-tional as well as sector specific digital agendas. However, these coordination efforts, in fact, turn out to be particularly challenging in their nature. The first example is the troduction of the national eID in Sweden (Svensk e-legitimation) with the aim of in-creasing the coordination and control of eID services used in public sector digital ser-vices. This introduction, initiated at the beginning of 2011 still, after more than five years, suffers from a lack of support and acceptance of affected actors in the public and private sector. This effort is already described as a high-risk program due to its limited resources and aim to cover the entire public sector (Melin et al., 2013). Moreover, this introduction aims at replacing the current eID solution in turn being a result of a weak central governance model (e.g. Söderström, 2012) and a successful private and public sector market convergence (Kubicek & Söderström, Submitted) with public sector au-thorities as Service Providers (SPs) and major commercial banks as Identity Providers (IdPs).
The second example covers eIDs for professional use which have long been a way of ensuring proper security levels in public organizations. The health care sector in Swe-den, managed by government and tax funded to provide health care to all citizens, there-fore is a part of the public sector that has only recently initiated the introduction of eIDs for professional use. These efforts are related to current law and regulations requiring strong authentication for increased security levels to ensure sensitive patient data as well as integrity. This eID solution to be used by medical and administrative staff in their professional role is provided by a dedicated national technical framework. However, in line with the national level, eID introductions in the health sector face similar challenges related to high levels of technological as well as organizational complexity (Hedström et al., 2016) and patient confidentiality (e.g. Anderson, 2006). Health care is a context where the introduction of ICT, in general, creates integrity and privacy concerns (Angst & Agarwal, 2009), hence the introduction of professional eIDs in this context results in anticipated as well as new challenges (Stroetmann et al., 2011). For example, strong professional roles and specific requirements, therefore, result in challenges such as lack of acceptance of the eIDs among medical staff (Hedström et al., 2016) as well as the relation between identities and eIDs affecting the use (Hedström et al., 2015). Therefore, I argue that these two examples of public sector eID challenges share several similarities regarding their incentives as well as implications in practice. For instance, there are clear indications of existing diverging perspectives of the eID being introduced, with on the one hand the actor coordinating the introduction and on the other hand affected
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organizations or professionals pressured to accept and use the eID. These examples are also the result of clear external pressures (e.g. DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Zucker, 1987) being put upon organizations to introduce the eIDs. Hence there are clear potential con-flicts between the central government incentives and local requirements and needs in affected organizations. With potential conflicting views and central pressures to accept and use the eIDs, obstacles during these introductions should be imminent. Therefore, I argue that these challenges and obstacles serve as clear indications of eIDs as equally important as challenging to introduce on national as well as on organizational levels in the public sector. As a suggested approach to address these challenges, this dissertation focuses on the described lack of acceptance and particularly the active resistance to these eIDs among affected actors in organizations as well as in different networks and con-stellations. This is motivated by the potentially negative influence of this resistance on the eID introduction as a whole. Thus, I argue that a public sector eID facing a clear and complex resistance (e.g. Hirschheim & Newman, 1988; Laumer et al., 2016; Oliver, 1991) among affected actors, in turn potentially related to contradictory perspectives and demands (Scott, 1987), will face significant challenges during its introduction.
1.1.4
Need for a broader focus on public sector eIDs
Based on current eID challenges described above, I, therefore, would like to make a claim that there is a significant need for a broader focus of public sector eIDs in research as well as in practice. Historical dominating technical perspectives on eIDs (e.g. Collings, 2008) need to be challenged and revised. These challenges is also a direct consequence of increased complexity in our society including aspects such as identity, identification and ICT (Whitley et al., 2014). Hence, I argue that broader perspectives able to handle these complexities are needed. The problematic nature of the social con-text of this artefact can be related to research emphasizing the importance of acknowl-edging social aspects of ICT (e.g. Grint & Woolgar, 1995; Orlikowski, 1992; Walsham, 1993). Moreover, I argue that the eID is no ordinary ICT artefact, such as an information system or digital service with a clear, specific scope and purpose. Instead, the eID is totally dependent on its technical, organizational as well as social context in terms of service context, translations, attitudes, norms, values, actions and assigned meanings. For example, with a lack of a digital service context, the eID becomes completely use-less resembling a key to something that does not exist. Accordingly, I argue that this context-dependency makes the eID is a unique ICT artefact with vast opportunities as an enabler of secure services but at the same time related to significant challenges in different organizational and social contexts. Depending on the acceptance and use of the actor using it for authentication in a service context (Beynon-Davies, 2006) the eID is, therefore, an artefact with a clear social and technically intertwined character (Orlikowski, 2007). This can also be described as an artefact assigned with an institu-tional character (Kling & Iacono, 1989) since it also becomes a part of social structures guiding as well as restricting behaviour in organizations (Scott, 2014). The eID becomes embedded in cultural systems in organizations, also referred to as institutions (Avgerou, 2000). However, with a few exceptions, I argue that research focusing on eIDs have up
9
to this point mainly been of a descriptive or comparative character which in turn moti-vates further studies aimed at broadening the context of study as related to the eID. In ISR (see Section 3.1), the problematic relationship between the technical or material aspects of an artefact, such as the eID, and its social context is no novelty (see Section 3.3), and difficulties to predict the consequences and outcomes of ICT introductions and use in organizational and social contexts are basic problem areas of this research field (e.g. Keil, 1995). Given its interdisciplinary character (e.g. Galliers, 2003a), ISR has a long history of depending on other research disciplines for the appropriate theoretical perspectives for the study of contemporary ICT related phenomena.
ISR, therefore, provides opportunities to find suitable theoretical perspectives in other relevant areas, focusing on for example organizational and social behaviour, to be able to further investigate these contexts of the artefact in focus. Perspectives such as the ensemble view (Orlikowski & Iacono, 2001) and sociomateriality (e.g. Orlikowski, 2007; Orlikowski & Scott, 2008) are applied in efforts to address the intricate and com-plex relation between the technical and the social. ISR is therefore very suitable as a research field to approach current public sector eID challenges but so far, eID research, as originating from the more technical research area of identity and identification (Halperin & Backhouse, 2008), has not received much attention. In organizational stud-ies, traditional perspectives focus on formal structures of organizations (Meyer & Rowan, 1977) while the institutional perspectives apply a social perspective on collec-tive behaviour in organizations (e.g. DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Scott, 2014). Further, institutionalist perspectives emphasizing the importance of acknowledging institutions as shared social meanings apply a social constructionist stance (e.g. Berger & Luckmann, 1967) to the concept of institutions and are often referred to as new institu-tionalism (Avgerou, 2000) or neo-instituinstitu-tionalism (Scott, 2014).
Institutionalism is commonly applied in ISR to provide insights about social systems of guidance and control in relation to ICT in organizations (e.g. DeSanctis & Poole, 1994; Mitchell & Zmud, 1999).Within the eGovernment research field, institutional ap-proaches are used to address the increased need for better understanding of the complex-ity of ICT, organizations and institutions during government transformation while em-powering all affected actors and acknowledging different individual perspectives (Luna-Reyes & Gil-Garcia, 2014). Studies on eIDs apply this perspective (Kubicek, 2010; Kubicek & Noack, 2010a) as a basis to investigate of how organizations react and man-age when subjected to external institutional pressures of conformance and control (e.g. Oliver, 1991). Accordingly, I argue that if the institutional perspective is applied in a study of the introduction of public sector eIDs it will present the opportunity to investigate further how social contexts of organizations in terms of values, norms, be-liefs, rules and taken for granted assumptions (Barley & Tolbert, 1997). These systems of social control (Berger & Luckmann, 1967), are affected by and in turn, also affect the
10
eIDs being introduced. The institutional perspective, therefore, provides a relevant the-oretical lens for further investigating the pressure of conformance to introduce eIDs in the public sector as well as exploring the relation between the resistance to the eID and affected actors in organizations and other constellations and networks. In research, re-sistance to ICT implementations as a factor that needs to be acknowledged is long known (e.g. Keen, 1981; Markus, 1983) and perceiving the resistance as an institutional factor related to ICT is acknowledged (e.g. Davidson & Chismar, 2007; Starr, 1997). For instance, Sharma and Yetton (2003) describe the need of aligning or shaping it to facilitate ICT success as an example of research focusing on resistance as an aspect of ICT related organizational transformation and change (e.g. Cha et al., 2008; Modol et al., 2012). Regarding resistance as related to actions and behaviours, Lapointe and Rivard (2005) focus on how it can be handled from a management perspective. How-ever, as a result of the literature survey (see section 2.3.4), existing studies seem frag-mented and focused on for instance how this resistance, as a rather black boxed variable, can be managed and controlled in order to minimize negative consequences on ICT im-plementation efforts; a view in turn in agreement with (Laumer & Eckhardt, 2010). Nev-ertheless, there are some notable exceptions such as Janssen et al. (2012) introducing the concept of barriers in the institutional context as negatively affecting ICT adoptions. To avoid perceiving the focused resistance as just a variable to be managed, I argue that it should instead be seen as a process of institutionalization (Barley & Tolbert, 1997). This can be described as actors orienting their actions based on a common set of norms and values or shared systems based on knowledge and belief (Scott, 2014).
By focusing on this process, the creation and re-creation of the resistance to the eID among affected actors, better knowledge can be developed about the factors that cause this kind of resistance and how it influences as well as is influenced by the introduction process. As suggested, the organizational context has a very important role to play re-garding how the eID will be perceived and translated by affected actors. These actors, such as organizations or employees, are all acting in a social context where the eID becomes a part of a complex relational context including technical, organizational as well as institutional aspects inherent to the organization as well as social aspects of the individual actor. To improve the understanding of resistance to public sector eIDs, I, therefore, suggest that this organizational level of analysis needs to be supplemented and synthesised with an actor level of analysis to be able to identify a potential relation between the resistance and the translations of actors affected by it. Further, Lamb and Kling (2003) put forth the need of an institutional perspective focusing on actors to be able to better understand the organizational context as related to ICT but this dissertation applies a different approach. The approach suggested in this work is an answer to this call since it includes synthesising an institutional perspective with a sociological actor and network focused perspective as motivated by the potential benefits of linking these perspectives. I argue that to be able to better understand affected actors and how they perceive, translate, influence and act as related to the eID being introduced, this actor
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level of analysis must be performed prior to synthesising these findings with the institu-tional level of analysis. Approaches in sociology are focusing on actors as related to other actors such as actor networks can, therefore, facilitate this level of analysis with one perspective being Actor-Network Theory (ANT) (e.g. Latour, 1991; Law, 1999; Law & Callon, 1988). ANT is developed with the purpose of addressing the problematic relationship between the social and the technical especially in situations where the dis-tinction and separation between these two aspects have been proven difficult (Callon, 1999). ANT is frequently applied in ISR (e.g. Bengtsson & Agerfalk, 2011; Walsham & Sahay, 1999) and Walsham (1997) describes it as a new way of “understanding the socio-technical nature of information systems” (Walsham, 1997, p. 470). Thus, for the actor level analysis, an ANT related framework called ‘the sociology of translation’ (Callon, 1986) seems particularly relevant since it acknowledges social structures and identity as well as emphasizes the importance of actors as perceived from their own perspectives.
This perspective can therefore potentially provide the needed emphasis on the power of actors’ translations as a phenomenon and a central force that influence as well is influ-enced by the introduction of the eIDs in a public sector context. The institutional per-spective on resistance together with the perper-spective on the sociology of translation can, therefore, facilitate future public sector eID introductions by better knowledge of the influence of institutionalized resistance on the introduction process and a better under-standing of its creation and re-creation in the social context of affected actors. What remains is then to identify how these two theoretical perspectives described above can be synthesised to provide the requested broader social and institutional perspective on introductions of eID in the public sector (see Chapter 4). Moreover, the described iden-tified gaps in that will be addressed in this dissertation is the call for a process view on institutional aspects, broadening of the historical, technical view of the eIDs as well as acknowledging the complex context of public sector ICT artefacts. In addition, the merge between these two perspectives will also potentially provide new insights. With the process view of affected actors’ translations as related to institutional resistance and seeking the appropriate theoretical means for further exploring this relation, this dissertation develops and applies a tentative socio-institutional framework. This frame-work emphasizes the eID in the social context of actors combined with the institutional contexts of organizations to be able to better understand and address the current prob-lematic public sector eID context. This approach addresses the previously described lack of a broader focus on public sector eIDs. Further, a potential critic might argue that the term socio-institutional becomes a tautology since institutions, in essence, are social. However, I argue that term is still suitable since the prefix, in fact, is an abbreviation for sociological. It emphasizes the synthesis of the two analytical perspectives of sociology
12
and institutionalism5. Therefore, the emphasis is not put on the synthesized perspective
‘as a product’ but rather the synthesis ‘as a process’ bringing together these two per-spectives. This also being in line with the clear process view on how institutional re-sistance develops. Nevertheless, I am fully aware of that sociology focuses on social behaviour where institutions are also included hence a certain degree of overlap still remains. However, I argue that this is something positive since it reassures that both these perspectives are related thus sharing similar underlying assumptions which in turn will facilitate a positive synergy between the two.
1.2
Research questions
Based on this background and motivation, the research questions guiding this study are described below. Three questions are formulated to facilitate the process of knowledge development ranging from the initial assumption (RQ-1) via identification and analysis (RQ-2) to the contribution of results (RQ-3). Each question addressed below will be highlighted followed by a more elaborate description.
The first question (RQ-1) focuses on the previously suggested assumption that the re-sistance to public sector eIDs among affected actors indeed negatively influences the introduction as indicated by current challenges in practice described above. This ques-tion seeks to establish the noques-tion of the existence of an instituques-tional resistance among affected actors as shared systems of norms and values or knowledge and belief that op-poses the eID. This influence is further investigated with a focus on the eID introduction process, any efforts or neglect to handle it and consequences for the introducing as well as affected actors. The scope of the investigation is described as public sector eIDs for use in external digital services hence aimed at citizens and businesses and internal digital services for professional use in public sector organizations. Thereby, RQ-1 also directly responds to the previously presented claim for a broader perspective expanding the con-text of public sector eIDs since there is an underlying notion that this resistance exists in the social and institutional context as related to actors’ different translations of public sector eIDs and institutional resistance.
5 This approach is the result of a merger of two analytical perspectives hence not referring to sociological
institu-tionalism as related to normative instituinstitu-tionalism in political science.
(RQ-1) What influence does the resistance among affected actors have on the introduction of public sector eIDs for use in ex-ternal and inex-ternal digital services?
13
The second question (RQ-2) further investigates the institutional resistance, as con-firmed by a positive answer to RQ-1. The focus here is on how the institutional re-sistance identified on the organizational level can be related to actors’ translations thus synthesising the institutional and sociological perspective as previously put forth. The aim of this question is, therefore, to locate the relevant existing theoretical and analytical perspectives and bring them together. This to be able to identify, describe and further analyse this relationship to provide new insights on the creation of institutional re-sistance as related to and a result of actors’ translations. In addition, this will also provide the opportunity to investigate how any efforts to handle the resistance on the organizational/institutional level, in turn, affects actors’ translation.
The third question (RQ-3), requires RQ-2 to be confirmed and thus is relying on a suc-cessful synthesis between the two proposed perspectives of analysis. This question fo-cuses on the potential insights of the identified and analysed relationship between the sociological (actors’ translations) and institutional (resistance) perspectives and how these insights can make a positive contribution to research as well as practice to address current challenges and facilitate future public sector eID introductions. Although this last research question can be seen as covered by the aim and contribution, to be able to provide guidance and transparency to this work it needs to be explicated.
1.3
Aim and contribution
As described, this dissertation rests on the underlying assumption that the public sector eID is to be considered an important enabler for eGovernment development in general and public sector digital services in particular. At the same time, practice currently strug-gles with an active resistance on national as well as organizational levels during eID introductions. I argue that challenges can be a result of underestimating the complexity of the eID and failing to correctly address important organizational and social aspects
(RQ-3) How can these insights be structured and conceptualized in order to contribute to research as well as practice for less problematic public sector eID introductions?
(RQ-2) How can this resistance be related to actors’ transla-tions of the eID for further analysis, synthesis and insights?
14
of affected actors. Building on the previously suggested perspectives, this study devel-ops and presents an approach to increase the understanding of how actors’ translations of the eID can be related to the institutional resistance to it on a national as well as organizational level. As derived from the research questions presented above, the gen-eral aim of this dissertation is, therefore, to contribute to research as well as practice in the following way:
This contribution also implies the development and application of the previously sug-gested socio-institutional framework. This to be able to analyse the institutional re-sistance while also being able to relate and trace this rere-sistance to the social context of affected actors focusing on their individual translations on the eID. Thus, this disserta-tion focuses on the process of institudisserta-tionalizadisserta-tion of the resistance to an institudisserta-tionally and socially embedded ICT related artefact (the eID). The dual contribution to research and practice can be described as to provide novel insights from the theorization and synthesis of a sociological and institutional perspective of the eID and facilitate less problematic introductions of public sector eIDs. In detail, contributions to research will be the motivation and insights of applying this socio-institutional framework on public sector eIDs to eGovernment research as well as lessons learned from bringing together the sociological and institutional perspectives to general ISR research. To accomplish this, the institutional resistance must first be identified and described with a focus on its influence on the introduction process as well as management efforts and consequences for affected actors. Actors’ translations will then have to be identified, described and analysed in order to relate these translations to the resistance on the institutional level for further analysis. This provides the synthesis of these perspectives to facilitate new insights on the creation of institutional resistance to public sector eIDs among actors and how these translations influence the creation and re-creation of institutional resistance. Thus, the detailed aim and contribution of this dissertation described above can be sum-marized as to:
To identify and describe the resistance to public sector eID introductions and to develop and present a synthesised framework for analysis and new insights.
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1.4
Knowledge development
Regarding knowledge development, Goldkuhl (2011) puts forth the importance of being aware of the specific type of knowledge to be able to assess it. Based on this classifica-tion, the knowledge development taking place in this dissertation can be described as categorical, characterizing, explanatory and prescriptive as summarized in Table 2. As the basic form for of all knowledge development, categorical knowledge seeks to con-ceptualise the world (Goldkuhl, 2011). Hence, this type of knowledge aims at describing the basic concepts and notions of the studied context that form the knowledge base needed for further exploring the most specific aspects of the phenomenon. While, char-acterizing knowledge describes the properties of a categorized phenomenon, the aim of explanatory knowledge is to explain the phenomenon by giving causes, grounds, reasons and conditions. Finally, the aim of prescriptive knowledge is described as to provide guidance on how one should act in different situations thus this type of knowledge can be provided in the form of rules, prescriptions, advice et cetera (Goldkuhl, 2011).
Table 2. Summary of knowledge development based on classification by Goldkuhl (2011)
Type of knowledge (Goldkuhl, 2011)
Developed knowledge Research
ques-tion(s)
Categorical -Public sector eIDs
-Public sector eID introductions -Institutional pressures
-Institutional resistance -Actors’ translations
RQ-1, RQ-2 1. Identify and analyse resistance to the eID in a public sector
context
2. Identify, develop and apply an analytical framework to relate actors’ translations to resistance
3. Provide insights on the synthesis of sociological and insti-tutional perspectives
4. Present insights for less problematic eID introductions in the future
16 Type of
knowledge (Goldkuhl, 2011)
Developed knowledge Research
ques-tion(s)
Characterizing -Influences on eID introductions
-Resistance to eIDs
-Implications on social and organizational con-texts
-Translations of eIDs and related contexts
RQ-1, RQ-2
Explanatory -Relating resistance to actors’ translations of
eIDs
-An approach for analysis, synthesis and in-sights based on different perspectives (the so-cio-institutional framework)
RQ-2
Prescriptive -Structures, concepts and propositions
-Insights to facilitate future research
-Insights to facilitate future public sector eID introductions
RQ-3
To be able to fulfil the aim and purpose of this dissertation, categorical knowledge needs to be developed in order to describe and categorize public sector eIDs as well as public sector eID introductions. This knowledge is needed to be able to address the described first research question (RQ-1). Further, categorical knowledge is also required to address the second research question in order to form the basis of the suggested relationship between actors’ translations and resistance to eID introductions. As described, the sug-gested institutional perspective to be applied on the pressure to introduce eIDs, as well as the resistance thereby, needs the basic concepts of institutional pressures and institu-tional resistance to be described. In addition, the suggested approach used for analysing actors’ translations also needs to be categorized in a similar way (RQ-2). Next, the de-velopment of characterizing knowledge is needed by the first as well as the second re-search question. In addressing the first question, this type of knowledge is needed to be able to describe the properties of the influences of resistance on eID introductions (RQ-1). For the second question, characterizing knowledge is needed to describe the re-sistance to eIDs in a more detailed way as related to implications in social and organi-zational contexts of affected actors. Characterizing knowledge is also developed when applying the approach for addressing actors’ translations (RQ-2). Explanatory knowledge is sought during the further investigation of the resistance to find out how this can be related to translations of the eID existing among affected actors. A soft social
17
causality is thereby implied (Goldkuhl, 2011) by applying the above proposed sociolog-ical and institutional perspectives for further analysis, synthesis and insights. Hence, this results in the development of knowledge regarding this relation between resistance and actors translations as well as identifying the appropriate approach (the socio-institutional framework) for analysis, synthesis and insights based on different perspectives as re-ferred to in the second research question (RQ-2). The prescriptive knowledge developed focuses on the need of acknowledging the public sector eID as being part of a broader context as embedded in social and institutional contexts. The dissertation seeks to pre-scribe a needed move away from current narrow perspectives of the public sector eID since this is identified as one plausible cause to current challenges. The emphasis on the importance of acknowledging and a better understanding of resistance to the eID as re-lated to institutional and social contexts of affected actors as well as the benefits of syn-thesising the institutional and sociological perspectives are also central.
As related to the third research question (RQ-3), the prescriptive knowledge developed is focused on the structuring and conceptualising of these insights as well as the devel-opment of propositions to be able to contribute to research as well as practice. Hence, insights facilitate the development of structures, concepts and propositions, in turn, fa-cilitating future research in relevant areas as well as future public sector eID introduc-tions. The knowledge developed is of an action oriented character (Goldkuhl, 2011) with the aim of facilitating research in research fields such as ISR and eGovernment as well as practice focusing on public eID introductions as the prescriptions and desirable goals of the knowledge developed (Goldkuhl, 2011). Although not included in Table 2, the knowledge developed can also be argued as being predictive or prospective (Goldkuhl, 2011) to a certain extent since failing to acknowledge and address social and institutional aspects of the eID in general and the resistance to it, in particular, will most likely result in problematic eID introductions.
1.5
Delimitations
To achieve the purpose, framing the dissertations specific characteristics regarding the applied theoretical and empirical approach become crucial. One aspect of this is to dis-cuss the approach in the light of existing relevant theoretical approaches and focuses as well as empirical considerations and delimitations. Accordingly, these delimitations will be further described and motivated below.
1.5.1
Theoretical
One central character is the phenomenon put in the foreground, the introduction of a new or revised eIDs for internal or external use in public sector organizations. It would, therefore, be obvious to perceive this as an example of organizational change or organ-izational development and transformation thus relating it to this specific field of re-search. Organizational change and innovation could therefore be considered as moti-vated by this area’s interest in different aspects of change such as its nature, key concepts
