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About
In her research, Professor Avgerou has sought to understand the socio-technical process of information technology (IT) innovation in order to explain the socio- economic impact of IT in different contexts. To that end, she has studied the use of IT and concomitant organizational change in several countries. Her case studies include the development of information systems in the Greek institute of state insurance (IKA); IT and organizational change in the Mexican oil corporation PEMEX; the Brazilian electoral commission and their e-voting system; the Indian electoral commission and their e-voting system; entrepreneurs in Chinese villages doing business on the Taobao e-commerce digital platform; IT innovation and organizational change in the administration of international trade in Mexico; the impact of IT on corruption in Ghana’s customs.
From these and other in-depth interpretive case studies professor Avgerou has formed a contextual perspective of IT innovation and highlighted alternative rationalities and ideologies involved in the shaping of IT innovation and its diverse impact in different countries and sectors. The following publications best exemplify her argumentation and research findings: Information Systems and Global Diversity, Oxford, Oxford University Press (2002); “Power, rationality, and the art of living through socio-technical change”, MIS Quarterly (June 2007) (with K. McGrath); “Explaining trust in IT-mediated elections: a case study of e-voting in Brazil”, Journal of the Association for Information systems (2013). “Contextual explanation: alternative approaches and persistent challenges”, MIS Quarterly, (September 2019); “Information technology and government corruption in developing countries: Evidence from Ghana customs’ MIS Quarterly, (September 2021) (with Atta Addo).
She has been at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) for her entire academic career, starting as a lecturer in Information Systems in 1986 and becoming professor of Information Systems in 2003. She has taught mostly postgraduate, research-led courses on systems analysis, information technology and organizational change, conceptual foundations of information systems and digital innovation, IT policy, IT and socio-economic development, IT in the management of humanitarian emergencies. She has supervised to successful completion 15 PhD students on research topics concerning IT and organizational change and IT and socio- economic development.
Professor Avgerou was involved in the technical work of the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) from 1996 till 2011, first chairing the Working Group on IT in developing countries and later chairing the Technical Committee on ICT and Society. In 2004 she received the IFIP Silver Core award and from 2007 till 2011 she participated in the IFIP Council as technical expert on ICT and development. In 2012 she co-chaired the programme of IFIP’s World IT Forum (WITFOR) in New Delhi, India. In 1995-97 she served at the Council of the newly formed Association for Information Systems (AIS) as elected representative of the region of Europe, Middle East and North Africa. In 1999 she received the AIS Fellow award and in 2023 she received the AIS LEO award for exceptional lifetime achievement.
In 2025 she was elected Fellow of the British Academy.
Expertise
Information systems development and management, information systems in developing countries, IT and organisational change