RE-CONCEPTUALIZING DESIGN OF INFRASTRUCTURES: STABILIZING AND INNOVATING THROUGH MAINTENANCE WORK

Abstract

Recent research in IS has demonstrated the challenges in developing and establishing large-scale digital infrastructures across various settings. Traditionally this literature has contrasted a top-down approach with an evolutionary approach – often conceptualized as ‘installed base cultivation’. This paper investigates the role of maintenance and repair work that as essential design activities for digital infrastructure evolution. Empirically, the paper reports from a longitudinal case study of an international company, and especially observe how maintenance work is pivotal for building competence for extending the installed base and for reducing technical debt of large-scale digital infrastructures. The paper contributes to the body of literature on digital infrastructures by analytically and empirically illustrating how maintenance and repair work comprise an essential mechanism for producing both stability and innovation.