IT Governance in the Light of Paradox--A Social Systems Theory Perspective

This paper uses Niclas Luhmann´s concepts of paradox and deparadoxization as a starting point for looking at IT governance within large, Swedish organizations. All in all a total of 25 organizations within both the public and private sector have been investigated through interviews with the companies Chief Information Officers. The results are presented in relation to a number of areas within the study that could be identified as dichotomies, or areas where the respondents had to deal with conflicting logics. The results are discussed in general terms in relation to IT governance practice as well as the potential value of applying Luhmann´s theory of social systems to the study of IT governance