This exploratory and interpretive research analytically examines perceived influence of the Water Supply Database (WSDB) initiative on Uganda's water sector development, particularly the rural sector. The WSDB was deployed by the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) to manage country wide water source information submitted by District Water Officers (DWO) and regional Technical Support Units (TCUs). The MWE has integrated the WSDB to support sector governance, planning, budgeting, information sharing, setting measures for performance indicators and data based decision making processes for developing new water supply projects. This research is the first in-depth study exploring the WSDB; hence justifying relevance and my enthusiasm. Instead of focusing on numerical concepts, this research qualitatively investigates and theorises from participant perceptions about the WSDB benefits and positioning as the MWE's primary information and communication technology (ICT) initiative. The perceptions are categorised from WSDB design, implementation, benefits and implicit contribution to recognise development influence. Grounded Theory (GT), specifically Glaserian Classic Grounded Theory (CGT) approach was adopted to inform methodology choice, data collection, data analysis and theory development. Data was collected across two field studies from multiple stakeholder participants working in Uganda's water sector over a total period of six months. Participant perceptions expound the developmental significance of WSDB using benefits, optimism and subtle discontents. As a result of CGT methodology, inductive thinking and interpretive philosophical assumption; I discerned that the main participant perspectives entailed MWE effectively leveraging the WSDB to increase citizen's access to water by managing functionality of water sources, tracking sector performance, governance and data based decisions to develop new water sources. This concept emerged from data analysis, coding and categorization processes which cultivated the conceptual core category Optimizing Perspectives from codes, primary sub-core categories and secondary sub-core categories. Four primary sub-core categories and thirteen secondary sub-core categories cultivated discovery of Optimizing Perspectives. Optimizing Perspectives emerged as a substantive theory whose constructs, processes and categories summarily infer that the MWE is continually engaged in optimisation of WSDB to develop the water sector. Other than the theory contribution, two main implications of adopting CGT methodology emerged from this research. First, findings are useful for understanding consequences of adopting CGT for artefact theorisation studies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for which the WSDB is an exemplar. Secondly, findings contribute to IS research which advance using CGT to theorise about the contemporary notion of ICT for Development (ICT4D) or Information Systems in Developing Countries (ISDC) studies that examine developmental significance of ICTs such as e-government systems in SSA. A comparative analysis of Optimizing Perspectives with related theories was undertaken to bring new conceptual meaning, understanding and potential theory generalisation. Optimizing Perspectives makes a case for the construction of guidelines to inform social-technical analysis of development oriented ICT artefacts. Finally, possibilities exist for CGT researchers to enhance studies about ICT artefacts and ICT4D or ISDC by adapting the theory Optimizing Perspectives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/36419 |
| Date | 18 May 2022 |
| Creators | Chemisto, Musa |
| Contributors | Rivett, Ulrike |
| Publisher | Faculty of Commerce, Department of Information Systems |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral Thesis, Doctoral, PhD |
| Format | application/pdf |
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