Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach applied to Information Systems research

Reviewed Article — SACJ, No. 37., 2006 1

Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach applied to Information Sys-

tems research

PM Alexander, LJ Phahlamohlaka

Department of Informatics, University of Pretoria, South Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes the use of Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach as an appropriate conceptual framework for Information

Systems research. This will be demonstrated by using the Capability Approach as the theoretical framework underpinning

an exploratory study into the information flows required to make the ideal of administrative justice an attainable goal.

The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act of South Africa requires administrators to provide those who have been

negatively affected by a decision with reasonable explanations if these are requested. Fair and accountable administration,

that is, administrative justice, is identified as a basic right in the South African constitution. However, ensuring that

state departments can provide information on request to even remote and poorly resourced citizens is a major undertaking

and, other than taking grievances to court, it is difficult to initiate, respond to and monitor the process. The information

flows pose the most significant challenges. An investigation is underway into how rural communities can use Information

and Communication Technology to access this right and it is this study that will be used to illustrate the use of Sen’s

Capability Approach in Information Systems research. More specifically it is used to relate the role of ICT to an expansion

of the capabilities of individuals and communities. The paper proposes an information flow incorporating facilitators and

a ’clearing house’ in addition to the citizens and administrators. Finally, the information flow is related to a schematic

representation of the Capability Approach proposed by Robeyns [1].

KEYWORDS: Capability Approach, community-based information systems, computers and society, developingcountries, human rights, Socio-Economic Development, end-user requirements

1 INTRODUCTION

Sen’s Capability Approach (CA), described by [2] as,‘a broad normative framework for the evaluation ofindividual well-being and social arrangements, the de-sign of policies and proposals about social change insociety’, has been chosen as the framework of thoughtor paradigm for this paper for several reasons. Firstly,CA has close links with issues related to developingcountries as it forms the underlying philosophy forSen’s contribution to welfare economics. In the wordsof the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, whichawarded him the 1998 Bank of Sweden Prize in Eco-nomic Sciences: ‘The human development of the ThirdWorld occupies a central position’ in Sen’s work andincludes, ‘an ethical dimension to the discussion of vi-tal economic problems’ [3]. This is confirmed by thefact that CA is used as a conceptual framework in theHuman Development Reports of the United NationsDevelopment Programme [4]. Clearly this approachfits well with research that is fundamentally concernedwith the social and economic impact and implicationsof information systems and information technology ina developing country.

One of the strengths of CA is its focus on the indi-

Email: PM Alexander [email protected], LJPhahlamohlaka [email protected]

vidual, diversity and inequality and hence it discour-ages the use of aggregate values such as Gross NationalProduct (GNP) to measure development. Most coun-tries have great disparities in society, but in SouthAfrica these were institutionalised for so long thata framework that highlights inequality is important.Secondly, although CA arose from the Economics dis-cipline, it has already been explicitly identified as be-ing suitable for interdisciplinary research [2] and par-ticularly the social sciences [5].

. . . the capability approach has gradually de-veloped into a paradigm, which moves be-tween and beyond existing disciplines, andwhich is applied in many more domains thanonly welfare economics or liberal philosophy[5]

Information Systems are generally accepted as be-ing social systems [6, p9] and there is an establishedgroup of Information Systems (IS) researchers who un-dertake social studies of ICT (as is indicated by thereadings in the book ‘The Social Study of Informa-tion and Communications Technology’ [7]). It follows,therefore, that Sen’s work should be examined to seewhether there are indeed common interests CA and ISresearch, particularly in terms of a conceptual frame-work that can assist us in seeing technology in termsof what it does to improve well being rather than inisolation and as ‘technology for technology’s sake’.

2 Reviewed Article — SACJ, No. 37., 2006

And finally, similarly to Information Systems,Economics is on occasions accused of paying ‘exagger-ated attention to formalism or oversimplified assump-tions’ [2]. It is for this reason that Sen emphasises theneed for a richer set of data to describe social and hu-man development than the indices (predominantly theGNP) used in the past. Empirical applications do notneed to be limited to purely quantitative studies [8,pp26–32]]. Nor are the only acceptable means of anal-ysis and evaluation those that are based on well-beingmeasurement and quantitative assessment of existingsurveys [2, 1]. It is however important to concedethat a great deal of Sen’s work includes large numbersof descriptive statistics (for example in ‘Commoditiesand Capabilities’ [8]).

CA has a research approach which is similar to in-terpretivist research and hence ‘allows us to see ambi-guities and complexities’ [5]. Robeyns gives numerousexamples of non-quantitative research using the CAconceptual framework (for example, Jasek-Rysdahl,Sabina Alkire, Dreze and Sen, Nussbaum) and herown work [1, 2] and she is unambiguous in endorsingthe use of both quantitative and qualitative data.

IS has had a similar positivist research traditionto that of Economics, but this has been challengedby leading academics over the last twenty years [9]and interpretivist research is now well established aspart of the discipline [10, 11]. It seems plausiblethat a theoretical framework used to address the over-simplification in Economics could also be appropriatein IS.

In summary, CA is suitable as a framework ofthought for IS research (and research in general) in:

• Developing countries particularly with respect toinequality and diversity, [3, 4].

• Interdisciplinary research [2] and particularly thesocial sciences [5].

• And where rich, multi-faceted, quantitative andqualitative information is needed. [1, 2]

In addition, since CA is appropriately used in ap-plied and empirical studies there is a good alignmentbetween this research method and practical Informa-tion Systems research [2].

This paper demonstrates the use of CA by ap-plying it to an exploratory study. It is used as aconceptual framework in order to highlight underlyingproblems in a situation where information flow playsa significant role. The exploratory study investigateswhether current initiatives regarding the administra-tive justice can be extended using ICT so that accessto just administrative action can be realised. Moreparticularly, this study is investigating whether theInternet has the potential, as a tool, to improve thecapabilities of individuals to claim a specific right asis intended by the constitution of South Africa. Thereare already procedures by means of which adminis-trative justice can be claimed and these are describedbriefly later. The breadth of the study, its rather ide-alistic point of departure, and the fact that this is onlythe first stage of the project (virtually a proposal, butwith some investigations in the form of interviews) are

acknowledged as valid criticisms. The project is en-visaged as continuing over six years or longer and twodoctoral students are currently working on proposalswhich will examine specific, and more focused aspectsof it. Nevertheless, we recognize that the project isambitious and that its eventual implementation mightnot achieve everything currently envisaged. Thus, al-though one outcome of this paper is a tentative pro-posal regarding how to facilitate the process by ad-dressing information flow this is not considered to bethe only, or even the major contribution. The secondaspect, where IS research is linked to CA, is equallyimportant as it provides the contribution to theory.

The paper has the following sections: The first sec-tion discusses the broader context and elements thatcontribute to the promotion of administrative justiceand the initiatives within the South African publicservice. Hence this section is devoted to the studywhich will later be interpreted using CA. This sectionincludes subsections in which aspects of the researchthat refer more specifically to Information Systems arediscussed, namely information flows in community-based and public sector information systems. A sec-tion follows in which the CA is described. The re-search objectives and method of the exploratory studyare clarified next. The findings from the exploratorystudy are presented in Section 5. A discussion in whichthe CA and the findings from the exploratory studyare brought together is presented as Section 6 and theconclusion follows in the final section.

2 THE RESEARCH CONTEXT OF THE EX-PLORATORY STUDY

2.1 The socio-techno divide

Governments, international aid organisations, privateorganisations and individuals are concerned about thehuge difference in access to information and communi-cation technology (ICT) between developed and devel-oping nations. Four general strategies (types of initia-tive) that are intended to increase the use of ICT andparticularly access to the Internet can be identified.Firstly, increase the reach and richness of technol-ogy education — this covers a wide spectrum includ-ing improving computer literacy, encouraging learn-ers to study Computer Science, Information Systemsand other related topics at tertiary level and encourag-ing research and development. Secondly, improve ac-cess to technology by providing physical access, suchas computers at schools and community centres, anddrawing up open-market policies and legislation to en-courage and monitor provision of telecommunicationnetwork infrastructure and make these more afford-able. Thirdly, recognise the importance of ICT to eco-nomic growth and job creation and encourage its useby emphasising the competitive advantage companiesthat use technology have and the similar advantagethat individuals who have technology skills have inthe work place. Fourthly, by providing Internet basedinformation and services that attract new users.


The United Nations Development Programme’sHuman Development Report of 2001 ‘Making newtechnologies work for human development’ identifiesthree different basic national strategies linked to thethree dimensions used in their technology achievementindex. These are:

• ‘Creating new products and processes through re-search and development.

• Using new technologies - and old - in productionand consumption.

• Having the skills for technological learning andinnovation.’ [12, p52].

These can be related to the general strategies sug-gested above. Roode et al [13] refer to approaches tothe digital divide that concentrate almost exclusivelyon issues of access and technological skills as tech-nocentric and contrast these with a sociocentric ap-proach that emphasises the use of technology as a toolto improve social conditions and development needs.These authors say that, whereas the digital divide hasproved to be an intractable problem, once the need forboth the technocentric and sociocentric approaches isrecognized, greater success will be possible. Henceit is not so much a digital divide but a socio-technodivide that exists. The CA is consistent with suchan approach as it considers the well being of individ-ual as its main focus but recognizes the role playedby social structures and norms (social conversion fac-tors) as well as the availability of basic commoditiesin achieving well being.

The needs of the individual are the primary focusof the exploratory study. Hence, the information flowto the individual, and not only upward as is typicalin a bureaucracy, is examined. This research recog-nises that all members of society, including the ruralpoor, need opportunities to become full participants inthe ‘information society’ and ‘networked society’ notonly as receivers of information but as instigators ofdialogues. These opportunities are closely associatedwith individual capabilities. This research studies howa community-based information system can be linkedto the various public service information systems inorder to permit not only access to information butalso a dialogue. The Human Development Report [12,p32,41] specifically notes the need for such a dialogueand the potential of the Internet as a means to achievegoals of this sort.

2.2 The Promotion of Administrative JusticeAct

The constitution of the Republic of South Africa con-tains a Bill of Rights and this proclaims the right tojust administrative action for all South Africans (Sec-tion 33 of the Constitution). This means that:

1. Everyone has the right to administrative actionthat is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.

2. Everyone whose rights have been adversely af-fected by administrative action has the right tobe given written reasons.

3. National legislation must be enacted to give effectto these rights [14].

The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3of 2000 (PAJA) gives effect to this constitutional re-quirement and also aims at promoting an efficient, ac-countable, open and transparent administration. Asimilar code exists in the European Union, and effortsalong the same lines are being undertaken in the USA[15].

An administrative action is defined as any decisiontaken, or any failure to take a decision, by an admin-istrator which decision adversely affects the rights ofany person and has a direct external legal effect [14].‘The PAJA: Sets out the rules and guidelines that ad-ministrators must follow when making decisions;

• Requires administrators to give reasons for theirdecisions;

• Requires administrators to inform people abouttheir rights to review or appeal and to requestreasons; and

• Gives members of the public the right to challengethe decisions of administrators in court.’ [16]

2.3 Batho Pele

‘Batho Pele’ is a SeSotho term meaning ‘People First’.It sets out eight guiding principles, which focus onimproved service by state agencies to all the peopleof South Africa and calls for a change in procedures,attitudes and behaviour. It has been adopted by allbranches of government and can clearly be associatedwith the constitutional right to just administrative ac-tion referred to above. The Batho Pele initiative givesthe front-line staff a major role in improving serviceand an opportunity to give information and adviceto those who are attempting to redesign procedures[16]. These front-line staff members are best placedto identify how things are actually done at presentrather than what is done in theory, weaknesses in thecurrent system, the impact of proposed changes andpotential that has been overlooked. Hence the valuesembraced in the constitution and in the PAJA havebeen endorsed by South Africa’s public service andthe Batho Pele initiative includes various aspects in-tended to make these a practical reality. The recentrelease of national and provincial web sites such as thee-Government Gateway portal 1 and Cape Gateway 2

and the increased number of telecentres and multi-purpose community centres (MPCCs) are all projectsexplicitly associated with the Batho Pele concept 3.Research undertaken in the past into the sustainabilityand efficacy of telecentres in South Africa has unfor-tunately noted serious problems [17]. The UniversalService Agency, who are tasked with setting up thesefacilities appear to be aware of the difficulties and arein the process of carrying out evaluation, monitoringand impact studies through contract research by agen-

1www.services.gov.za2capegateway.gov.za3www.gcis.gov.za


cies that they have employed4. The reports arisingfrom these investigations will, however, only becomeavailable after May 2006.

Reaching the goals of true administrative justicepresents an enormous challenge to everyone concernedand the actual implementation and impact of BathoPele have not been investigated in this exploratorystudy. However, we believe that it is essential to men-tion that the State has explicitly recognized problemsregarding service and is making some sort of effort toaddress this. Batho Pele may not ‘solve’ the prob-lem at all and further research into this aspect is mostprobably needed.

2.4 Community-based Information andCommunication Technology systems

As mentioned above, the exploratory study tries toidentify ways that members of the public can use In-formation Technology to engage with the appropriateadministrators in order to obtain the information theyneed. This is essentially a community-based ICT sys-tem which must be designed to fit the particular needsof the people who will use it. The HDR [12] points outthat technology should be a tool for development notonly a reward. On the other hand, technology is nota miraculous single solution - there are many otherinteracting factors, which have extremely importantroles in development. Hence, as is stressed repeat-edly in the HDR [12], technology cannot simply beimported; it needs to be adapted to the new context.Information systems also need to be adapted to fit thecontext of use [18, 19, 20] and communities, includ-ing rural communities, have an important role to playin designing and developing the systems that impacton their well being [21, 22]. Community-based sys-tems ideally include the community members as fullparticipants in a dialogue as part of the ‘informationsociety’ instead of providing only access to the infor-mation on the Web. They should provide an interfaceby means of which individuals and the community asa whole can obtain information from customised infor-mation systems that refer to the community’s specificinterests and well being and that are directly relevantin ‘being and doing’, and decision making and canalso contribute information to those systems. Hence,community-based systems should allow the individu-als to initiate the dialogue between themselves andhigher levels of social organisation as is recommendedby both Max-Neef et al. [13] and Sen [2].

Just as the technocentric approach described byRoode et al. [13] can be criticised as being mecha-nistic and relying on instrumental rationality, the so-ciocentric approach which predominates in research

4Cyberlabs: 200 (31 March 2005) increasing to 800 (31March 2006).MPCCs: 60 (31 March 2005) increasing to 100 (31 March 2006).Telecentres: 80 (31 March 2005) increasing to 120 (31 March2006).(Ref Annexure B: Tender Specification, Tender No 0301 2005 ,Monitoring and Evaluation of all USA Subsidised Sites., Uni-versal Service Fund, http://www.usa.org.za)

into community-based ICT systems can be regardedas unduly naıve if it is understood to imply that thecommunity will automatically embrace developmentgiven the opportunity. Puri et al. [22] report on re-search in different developing countries and note thatsince some social structures are ‘traditionally hierar-chical and non-conducive to self-initiated bottom-upprocesses, the initiative may need to come from thetop, and then be gradually nurtured over time’ [22].This observation is consistent with the need for so-cial and environmental conversion factors recognisedin the CA described in Section 3.

2.5 Information flows

The usual flow of information in systems within thepublic sector is the same as in typical bureaucracies,that is, in one direction only, from the community andoperational levels upward to managerial levels [21, 23].However, within the communities who are the originalsource of a large part of the original data, there is agreat need for access to the information derived fromit, as the people in the community often can then takeappropriate decisions and act on it themselves. Thusthere would be ‘data . . . flowing to people who cantake action’ [21]. This improves their self-reliance andself-esteem and strengthens their capabilities at var-ious levels and enables an important area of humandevelopment. Hence the extension of public sectioninformation systems to link to community-based sys-tems requires information flows to be re-designed.

McIvor, McHugh and Cadden [24] recommend theuse of Internet technologies within public sector or-ganisations as a means of communication and collab-oration between different organisations in the publicsector, and as a means of contact between the generalpublic and the staff of these organisations. The openstandard of the Internet allows incompatible computerapplications and legacy systems belonging to differ-ent departments within the public sector to be inte-grated seamlessly as well as ‘open’ information flows,which can easily be accessed by consumers, businessesand suppliers. This promotes a change in organisa-tional culture from one where information is jealouslyguarded to one where not only is it possible to share it,but the advantages of doing so are recognised throughall levels of the organisation. McIvor et al. point outthat senior management are not always supportive,and speculate that this is at least in part due to anunderlying fear that open and integrated systems willundermine their sphere of influence and force change,even if this was not the original intention, by ignoringdepartmental and hierarchical boundaries. However,they found that all the organisations that they stud-ied perceive the creation of Web sites and use of emailas a very important medium in improving communi-cation between themselves and citizens and that theyall had definite plans to enhance the functionality oftheir Web presence in the future.


Figure 1: A schematic representation of the capability approach [1]

3 SEN’S CAPABILITY APPROACH

3.1 Description

CA is used to evaluate the well being of individualswithin society. Improvements in well being are indi-cations of human development as well as the basis forsuggestions by independent agents regarding policies.There are different levels of human needs, the mostbasic of which are health, food and shelter, physicalsafety and basic education. (The Human DevelopmentIndex (HDI) groups these into the right to survive, beknowledgeable and have a decent standard of living[4].) These basic needs are recognised in CA but thisapproach focuses on the fact that needs cannot be sat-isfied simply by providing services and goods (that is,the ‘Means to Achieve’ — See Figure 1). Nor are basicphysical needs the only important ones. Being able tolive in freedom and dignity, exercise choices and par-ticipate in decision making are underlying rights with-out which the provision of commodities have limitedeffect.

In order to develop the ‘Freedom to Achieve’ or a‘capability set’, individuals need more than access tocommodities. There are personal, environmental andsocial factors, which enable the individual to go fromhaving options in theory (but which cannot really beimplemented) to having a practical set of options andhence real freedom to achieve. The complete set ofreal, feasible options for action are what Sen refersto as capabilities (and also ‘substantial freedom’ [25]).To illustrate these concepts we can take the example ofa community centre, which is equipped with comput-ers and located at a school in a rural area. Membersof the surrounding community could get great benefitby using the Internet as a source of information andas a way of submitting various applications. However,they need to know that the centre exists, that thistype of service can be obtained via ICT, and thus,know of the potential benefits the centre offers in or-der for the commodity to be at all useful (conversionfactors). Social conversion factors play a role if thehead master has appropriated the centre as a resource

for scholars only and is reluctant to allow ‘outsiders’to use the computers. Environmental factors wouldinclude reliable telecommunications links that makeInternet access a reality. Once a particular individualhas the capability of using the Internet at this commu-nity centre, an ‘Achieved Functioning’ occurs when hedecides to use it to search for information concerninga job and actually does so. Even here his choice is con-strained. Looking for a job, let alone on the Internet,brings a whole additional set of social and personalfactors into play, such as trusting the technology, thatmay encourage the applicant or make the undertakingseem extremely hazardous.

The CA framework is people-oriented and empha-sises that diversity is inevitable and needs to be recog-nised. It is not sufficient to measure the theoretical‘average’ access to information, but to identify withinthe population which groups have very good accessand which groups are deprived. Personal conversionfactors, as well as external factors such as the envi-ronment and social constraints will shape the actualuse that the individual can make of resources that arein theory available to him. The larger the number ofpossible choices that exist in each individual’s capa-bility set, the more options the individual has and themore individual freedom he has to choose one partic-ular course of action according to his own perceptionof the good life.

Information and information flows are not men-tioned explicitly in this model but can be related toit not only as a commodity but as informing the indi-vidual openly and as embedded knowledge about thesociety and environment in which he lives.

3.2 Capabilities and the PAJA

All South Africans are protected by the constitutionand have the rights provided by it. The constitutionand legislation enacting the constitution are, there-fore, commodities, which contribute to the entitlementof each individual. The capabilities set of each citi-zen ideally includes knowledge about this right, the


option to request an explanation regarding a decisionmade which affected him adversely, assistance in mak-ing the request, an understandable response within areasonable (stipulated) period of time, and the rightto appeal. Hence at the level of functioning, shouldthe pension application of an elderly woman in a ruralarea be denied, she has the right to apply for an expla-nation that she can understand and subsequently toappeal against the decision (a choice that may resultin specific action). However a number of factors maymean that these options are not really in her capabil-ity set. She may be illiterate (a personal conversionfactor) and hence be unable to benefit from writtencommunication. She may be socialised to accept deci-sions made by authority figures without any resistanceor argument and may therefore not consider this tobe an option even if she was informed of her rights(a social conversion factor). Or she may not have themeans, such as financial resources, to make the neces-sary journey by bus or taxi to the offices of the publicdepartment to communicate with the authorities inorder to submit a request. This translates into an en-vironmental factor and technology, in the form of atelephone or Internet access, together with the help ofa facilitator would make the journey unnecessary.

The actual response that the applicant is entitledto may also be seen as a commodity and might consistof standard, freely available information — providedshe could access it. In this example it might explainthat the pension was refused because the applicationdid not include adequate proof of birth date.

This example shows that the ultimate well beingof the individual, which is what the CA is largely in-tended to evaluate, depends in a significant way onthe facilitation of a flow of information. It illustratesthat the freedom to achieve administrative justice islikely to be very unequal and biased in favour of theeducated, urban dweller. It also illustrates that fa-cilitation of various sorts, including additional com-modities such as technology and assistance in usingthem, is important in the conversion of commoditiesto capabilities.

4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHODOF THE EXPLORATORY STUDY

This paper has a theory building goal but in doingso it reports on the first phase of a staggered ex-ploratory study. the discussion on research objectivesand methods that follows applies specifically to theempirical, but nevertheless interpretive, study of in-formation flows and administrative justice. This in-cludes finding out what level of awareness ordinarycitizens, administrators and managers have regardingthe PAJA and about the necessary social practice (ora particular thought processes) that should lie behindit. The research also aims to increase that awareness.

The research is considered to be ‘exploratory’ aswe are still familiarising ourselves with the existing po-sition and have not yet fixed the scope of the project.It is important to emphasise that this primary study is

still in an exploratory phase but this does not consti-tute ‘a weak claim’ regarding the level of the research(in the way that Walsham [10, p388] interprets ‘ex-ploratory’ studies) as not only does it propose a seriesof new information flows but also presents a concep-tual framework based on that of Robeyns [1] whichrelates information flow within an information systemto CA.

An interpretivist approach, as described by Wal-sham [10, p384], was selected to help us understandthe complex and as yet informal (not integrated) se-ries of information flows associated with the PAJA.A number of different points of view from the verydifferent groups of role players were sought and theresearchers chose to do this to a certain extent as‘outside observers’ [11], that is, in a way that wouldnot impose any predetermined views or agenda onthem, although recognising that ‘the researcher inter-acts with the human subjects of the enquiry, changingthe perceptions of both parties’ [10, p376]. A specificcultural and contextual setting is described in this re-port. Although this is an exploratory study it is aninterpretive study and it is expected that subsequentphases will also be interpretive.

Large sections of South African society are un-aware of the protection that they enjoy under the cur-rent constitution. They are, therefore, not in a posi-tion to identify and challenge those instances wheretheir human rights may have been violated. In ad-dition, the PAJA clearly requires quite complex in-formation to flow in both directions between mem-bers of the public and the administrators and thisprocess will occur over a period of time. This posesproblems for the rural poor who have little access tocommunications media. During the first phase of thestudy wide ranging but fairly informal interviews werecarried out with well-informed representatives of thegroups who would be involved in the flow of informa-tion in giving effect to the PAJA. The semi-structuredinterviews were loosely based on related sets of ques-tions intended for administrators, managers and non-governmental organisations. However, these were usedonly as guidelines.

Walsham [11] says, ‘It is desirable in interpretivestudies to preserve a considerable degree of opennessto the field data, and a willingness to modify initialassumptions and theories’.

The purpose was to investigate what these repre-sentatives consider to be the purpose of the PAJA,and what they were currently doing in order to im-plement the PAJA in the public service, the courts oflaw and in communities. This investigation was sup-plemented by a study of policy documents, laws andlegal descriptions, and training material developed bythe justice college.

Some of the primary research questions are:

• How best can the South African public be em-powered to exercise this constitutional right?

• What implications do administrators and man-agers themselves understand this particular Actto have on the entrenchment of the democratic


ideals of the country?

• How do these implications manifest themselves?

• To what extent would Web-based technologies beconsidered relevant in this process?

However, since Sen’s CA is used as the theoreti-cal framework (as described in the previous section)these questions are rephrased as: How can commodi-ties, social conversions and personal conversions besupported or enhanced so that individual role players(be these members of the community, administratorsor facilitators) can acquire an interacting set of ca-pacities which will give them the option of engagingin discussions regarding administrative action?

In order to explore the capability sets required, thedifferent groups of stakeholders had to be identified.Initially communities, managers and administratorswere noted but as the investigation progressed morerole players became evident. The process of choosingsources was organic rather than strictly planned. Onmany occasions an interviewee would suggest that wespeak to someone from a new interest group and wouldintroduce us to an appropriate person. (Hence the in-terviewees are a snowball sample.) These discussionscontinue. Information was usually collected by inter-viewing at least one representative from a group andby collecting published reports, articles or informationon web sites.

Nine interview sessions have taken place duringwhich both interviewers were present and on variousoccasions more than one interviewee participated. Fif-teen people were interviewed in all. In addition theresearchers interacted with people who are significantrole players by attending a conference devoted to le-gal aspects of the PAJA and one researcher attendeda three day workshop for ‘training trainers’ mainlyattended by delegates from an impoverished ruralprovince (North West province of South Africa) in-cluding paralegals and people from non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs).

Five main groups have been identified. Threeof these are facilitators, namely NGOs, governmentagencies such as MPCC, and the legal fraternity. Theremaining two are end-users namely, administratorsand individual community members (autonomous in-dividuals and individuals needing assistance). Therepresentatives of NGOs who have been interviewedcome from the funding agency, consultants employedto do training and a human rights activist. Govern-ment agencies, who act as facilitators, were found atrural and urban MPCC and Tele-centres. CommunityDevelopment Workers are currently being trained andcould play an important role but we have not yet beenable to interview anyone directly associated with thatprogramme. E-Government portal developers and of-ficials who assist the public in using the portals havealso been interviewed. Various members of the legalprofession have been asked for their input, includinglawyers, paralegals, a magistrate and the head of theJustice College. Four administrators from differentpublic service departments have provided their ideas.Input from the individual community members has

been obtained by holding two workshops in two sepa-rate rural areas. These have only recently taken placeand will be reported on more fully elsewhere.

5 FINDINGS OF THE EXPLORATORYSTUDY

The following almost contradictory positions were no-ticed:

• A clear difference in opinion exists between thosewho believe the PAJA is an ideal that will neverbe achieved, largely because they believe thatthe existing structures are already overloaded andthis will be yet more work, and those who see thePAJA as being closely aligned with the BathoPele goals and hence that additional resourcesand attention must be found.

• An opinion was voiced by some of the role playersthat there is no role for technology in achievingthe PAJA because they believe that neither theskills nor the financial resources nor the necessaryinfrastructure are available. The programme tobuild viable MPCCs in rural areas, as one-stopservice centres in which not only technology butalso representatives of key service departmentscan be found, contradicts this position. Infor-mation available on government Web sites makesit clear that within government there is a com-mitment to provide access to information and fa-cilitating interaction via the Web.

• The accelerated programme of creating MPCCs,telecentres and school cyberlabs conflicts witheven recent research papers questioning the valueof such centres.

There appears to be an underlying conflict in theimplementation of the PAJA caused by the misalign-ment between an ambitious constitution, an over-loaded and inefficient state information system, thedeveloping economy, a large percentage of illiteratecitizens and technology that is increasingly promi-nent. A number of initiatives are already under wayincluding recently introduced E-government portals,a revived and revised programme of MPCCs andthe introduction of Community Development Work-ers (CDW). These explicitly recognise many if not allof the areas of concern raised in this paper. However,they do not as yet refer to the PAJA and they do notseem to recognise the resulting information networkas comprising an information system, which could becommunity-based and integrated. Having the PAJAand having the training workshops may not be enough.

6 DISCUSSION

6.1 The exploratory study

The conflicting ideas and opinions noted in the Find-ings can be related to the different views of technol-ogy noted in Section 2.1. The technocentric view con-flicts with the sociocentric view in each of these cases.The technocentric view (where all that is needed for


technology to succeed is access and technology skills)is also closely allied with a technology utopian view,which sees technology as having the potential to pro-vide solutions for all problems. In the section thatfollows a third approach (the socio-techno approachproposed by Roode et al [13] ) will be followed andthis will be explained in terms of CA. Eventually theschematic representation of CA developed by Robeyns[1] will be used together with the proposed informationflows to illustrate the use of this conceptual frameworkin IS research.

Reputable researchers recommend that the re-quirements analysis for a community-based a systemshould follow the human rights perspective for infor-mation systems development and requires communityparticipation in the process [26, 21]. This is reason-ably complicated as all community-based informationsystems are multi-sectoral [21]. The PAJA system is aparticularly complex case as can be seen from the listof stakeholders and because numerous administratorsfrom various departments in national and local gov-ernment and other service agencies are involved. In-formation flows must be possible between stakeholdersand these must flow in both directions, not only up,and not only within ‘the system’ but with the nec-essary ‘feedback pathways’ back to the communitiesand individuals [21]. As pointed out earlier, this ispredominantly a sociocentric view of IS research andtechnology may play a very limited role in the infor-mation system.

A typical series of information flows would be:

• An application for service is made by the citizento a public officer.

• The decision made by the public officer is com-municated to the citizen.

• The justification of this decision requires a dia-logue between the citizen and public officer.

Additional discussion amongst the citizens in thecommunity could allow good advice on forms of possi-ble engagement with the administrator to be obtained.This becomes increasingly important once technologyforms part of the IS, particularly if a model is intro-duced where the citizen can have direct interactionwith the technology. Strong community bonds andmultiple resources at the MPCC will make this sup-port an important but also feasible factor, which is notdirectly ‘inside’ the system. Facilitators who providetraining and support both in terms of technology andin terms of the process of interacting with the admin-istrative decision makers come from these arenas.

However, the human aspects are more importantthan the technology and these are not only in play onthe side of the citizen. The most basic of these are:

• Citizens must know their rights. This is currentlya major problem.

• Administrators must ‘buy in’ to the concept. Wehave found that role players within the estab-lished structures are very sceptical about the pub-lic administration and legal systems’ capacities tohandle additional work and most of them see lit-

tle need for technology as part of the informationflow.

• On the other hand, while the main governmentpolicy making agencies, as reflected in the reportsand documentation on official Web sites, explic-itly support the idea of the Internet being usedto communicate with the citizens and to facilitatetheir requests and participation in the dialogue,they need to be aware of the social issues. Tech-nological utopianism must be avoided.

One of the most common arguments against in-corporating ICT into the information flow being dis-cussed here refers to the lack of technological skill andhence individual capacity amongst the potential endusers. This was one of the issues that was highlightedin our findings and is a very valid point. Hence, thereis a distinct need for facilitators to mediate betweenthe citizens and public officers. Either staff at NGOsthat are already active in the community, staff at theMPCCs or the CDWs must receive training and sup-port to play this role. In addition these facilitatorsmust make the community aware of their rights withrespect to the PAJA and aware that they can be as-sisted in becoming active participants and thus act associal conversion initiators. The introduction of fa-cilitators is evidence of a socio-technical approach asa need to bridge the socio-techno divide is explicitlyrecognised.

6.2 Bridging the socio-techno divide

Although this study is exploratory in nature and thatinvolves an extremely complex system where the polit-ical and power issues are recognised as being daunting,an integrated community-based system could possiblybe used to strengthen accountability and simplify ac-cess by including a ‘clearing-house’ or central author-ity as an additional facilitator, that is, it is in addi-tion to facilitators at MPCCs and in the communityas described in the previous subsection. This clearing-house would provide a channel through which all re-quests and responses would be channelled, recorded,routed and monitored. Hence it acts as an agency inSen’s terms [25] as it provides a commitment to buildcapacity without having an ulterior motive. An ad-vantage is that the community member or community-based facilitator would need to interact with only oneagent and hence from their perspective the systemwould be simplified. This proposed information flowis depicted in Figure 2. As will be seen in the conclu-sion, we go beyond proposing a new series of informa-tion flows to provide a conceptual framework relatingthese flows to CA. This model specifically addressesthe two issues highlighted in our Findings, namely,whether the PAJA is feasible and whether technologycan contribute to achieving the PAJA. The proposedclearing house will assist as:

• a source of expertise in terms of the PAJA, con-necting community members with the appropri-ate public servant, and in providing some assis-tance with the technology,


Figure 2: Information flows

• and will monitor the system and hence be an in-centive as well as a control to assist in entrenchingthe PAJA.

It is important, once again, to emphasise thatthe technology should not be the driving force incommunity-based systems. The context and the needsof the community are the primary drivers. In manysuccessful systems the interface between the informa-tion system and the individual within the communitymay be designed to deliberately emulate the traditionsand culture in practice, be shaped by the capabilitiesof the individuals, and may therefore be a paper andoral based system [22]. Feedback to the communityin the type of integrated community-based informa-tion system required in South Africa to facilitate im-plementation of the PAJA would require a facilitatorsuch as a CDW.

6.3 The schematic representation of theCapability Approach applied to theexploratory study

The schematic representation of CA as depicted ear-lier in Figure 1 focuses on the individual and henceembraces a completely subjective ontology althoughthe influence of the social context is also clearly ac-knowledged. A community-based information systemof the sort sketched out in the preceding discussionis dependent on an otology that is primarily inter-subjective or socially constructed, as the capacities ofthe different role players or team members in fact en-hance those of the individual. For example, training aCommunity Development Worker (CDW) to use ICT(and in particular the Internet) and about the practi-cal aspects of administrative justice will significantlybroaden that person’s capabilities set, and change thecapabilities set of the community as a whole. The newcapabilities of the CDW alter the conversion factors

applicable to everyone in the community. As a result,accessing their right to administrative justice becomesan option for everyone.

Technology is a commodity providing a Means toAchieve as shown in Figure 1. An information system,however, consists of more than just technology. It in-cludes people, procedures and embedded power struc-tures. Hence it should be seen as a conversion factorrather than a commodity. The capabilities of actors,(the facilitators and Clearing-house) represented bythe elliptical ‘nodes’ in the Information flow diagram(Figure 2) augment the capabilities of the original end-users, namely the individual ‘applicants’ and admin-istrators. The actual flow of information indicatedby the arrows coincides with Achieved Functioningsmore than with capabilities as they represent actualoutcomes such as timely response regarding reasonsfor administrative action.

In a proposed new model, Figure 1 is superim-posed on Figure 2 to give a schematic representationof CA applied to the exploratory study. This is shownin Figure 3. This allows the CA to be applied to In-formation Systems in the South African context andhence can be used to relate the role of ICT to an ex-pansion of the capabilities of individuals and commu-nities. The role of information and information flowis now added explicitly to the model.

It the level of the exploratory study, the introduc-tion of the additional resources is proposed in order toallow the citizen to acquire genuine options to accesshis constitutional rights. In this way IS could supportthe human rights intended by the PAJA.

7 CONCLUSION

In this paper we have presented two very differentoutcomes. One is at a practical level and recom-mends information flows, which could assist in satis-


Figure 3: Schematic representation applied to the exploratory study

fying end-user requirements and in minimizing socialand individual constraints in the implementation ofthe Promotion of the Administrative Justice Act ofSouth Africa. The second is at a theoretical level. Itintroduces the Capability Approach as a conceptualframework for IS research. This is demonstrated withrespect to the exploratory study by applying Robeyns’schematic representation of CA to the study.

At the practical level an important limitationmust be noted: The research proposes an informationflow incorporating facilitators and a ‘clearing house’ inaddition to the citizens and administrators. However,ways of assessing the efficacy of this information flowwill have to be devised in later phases of this project inorder to substantiate the as yet untested model. Thisexploratory study has not got the clear structure ofproblem statements and explicit ways of assessing im-pact as would be expected in a more advanced study.As mentioned in the Introduction, a number of ini-tiatives are under way [27, 28], but they are at thestage of detailed research proposals which have notyet been completed or approved. It is not going tobe at all easy to get free and full access to informa-tion, although some members of the team have alreadyhad discussions with senior administrators in state de-partments and funders who support the project andits goals. All we can say at this time is that we willbe collecting both quantitative and qualitative infor-mation, will not claim to have a complete picture or aneat ‘solution’ but are trying to identify particularlythe role IT might be able to play in this very complex

scenario. As interpretive IS research we are tryingto understand the context and problem and to clarifysome aspects.

The definition of development suggested by Roodeet al. [13] identifies three things. Firstly, a degreeof self-sufficiency, secondly reciprocal support of peersand thirdly, complementary attributes at different lev-els. These goals coincide particularly well with theinformation flow plus Capability Approach proposedin the exploratory study. Capabilities provide peo-ple with genuine options to decide for themselves howthey want to live and what choices they want to ex-ercise. This is in excellent agreement with the ideaof self-sufficiency. Reciprocal support of peers at thelevel of the community is met by the recognition of theneed for community facilitators. At the level of admin-istration it is supported by the clearing house. Com-plementary attributes are provided for by the bidirec-tional flow of information between the state and thecitizen.

A final quotation seems appropriate: ‘There is anemerging consensus on the importance of civil societyas actors in promotion of development’ [4]

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Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach applied to Information Systems research