Information Technology, Innovation and Human Development: Hospital Information Systems in an Indian State

Abstract

This paper addresses the topic of how innovation based on information and communication technologies (ICTs) can contribute to human development. A theoretical framework is developed in two stages. Firstly, ICT-based innovation is conceptualized as involving technological, social and institutional innovations. Secondly, Sen’s capability approach is drawn on to theorize how such innovations can contribute to human development. The theoretical framework is used as a basis to explore a rich case study of the development and use of a hospital information system within the public sector of the State of Himachal Pradesh in India. The paper analyses both the potential that the system has to promote positive development outcomes in the State, but also the challenges which constrain that impact. Three human development themes are identified and discussed: strengthening processes to include the disadvantaged; empowering the patient and making communal voices count. Finally, it is argued that the theoretical approach in the paper may have applicability in other contexts where ICT-based innovations are aiming to support human development outcomes.

Keywords:

• ICTs
• Innovation
• Human development
• Capability approach
• Health
• India

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

About the Authors

Sundeep Sahay has been a Professor at the Department of Informatics of the University of Oslo since 2000. His primary research interests are in the domain of ICTs for development, and over the last two decades, he has studied different technologies and processes (e.g. GIS, Health Information Systems, MHealth, Global Software Development) in more than 25 countries, in both the developing and developed world. Additionally, he has worked extensively in the policy domain with WHO (Big Data, Regional Strategy), UN FAO (Food Security and Nutrition) and various other global agencies (e.g. GIZ, DFID). Broadly, he is concerned with strengthening the impact of ICTs towards better development outcomes.

Geoff Walsham is an Emeritus Professor of Management Studies at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. In addition to Cambridge, he has held academic posts at the University of Lancaster, the University of Nairobi in Kenya and Mindanao State University in the Philippines. His research is focused on the development, management and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), and the effects of ICTs on organizations and societies in both industrialized and developing countries. He has worked as teacher, researcher or consultant in over 25 countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. He has over a hundred publications, primarily in the fields of information systems and organizational behaviour.