Resist, comply or workaround? : a case based analysis of workarounds and resistance to information systems

This study provides a summary of studies of user resistance to information systems and identifies workaround activity as an understudied and distinct but related phenomenon. Previous studies of resistance have categorised the majority of incidences of non-compliance as resistance and have largely failed to address the relationship between the motivation for deviation from procedure and the associated workaround activity. This study develops, through several iterations, a composite model of resistance and workaround using data collected from two case study sites. The data has been analysed according to established procedures and provides support for the identification of four antecedent conditions. The final model distinguishes two separate and distinct stages in resistant behaviours and provides evidence of the application of this theory from the two case study settings. Furthermore, the study recognises, with recourse to theory, that multiple interpretations of these behaviours is probable in organisations and that ignorance of these multiple interpretations may be a further antecedent condition underpinning of non-compliant behaviou