The study analyzes data collected in two case studies in the healthcare industry, which is characterized by a variety of social and technical elements forming an activity system where all elements interact with each other. The findings indicate that many problems emerging during the implementation of a health information system can be traced back to contradictions between elements of the activity systems that are created or amplified by the new IS. The authors find that some contradictions are latent and become salient when introducing a new IS, while other contradictions are (unintentionally) newly created. Also, the study shows that contradictions are more complex than hitherto assumed and often concern more than two elements of a healthcare activity system. In a similar vein, effective interventions geared toward countering these contradictions are found to account for additional complexity while not always achieving their goal. Drawing on activity theory, the authors develop a framework to coherently synthesize the findings. The study can help increase the understanding of the IS’s role within an activity system and help guide IS implementation projects aimed at avoiding unintended consequences.

这项研究分析了医疗行业两个案例研究中收集到的数据，其特点是各种社会和技术要素形成了一个活动系统，其中所有要素彼此相互作用。研究结果表明，在实施健康信息系统过程中出现的许多问题都可以追溯到由新信息系统创建或放大的活动系统要素之间的矛盾。作者发现，在引入新的IS时，某些矛盾是潜在的并且变得显着，而其他矛盾则是（无意间）新产生的。此外，研究表明，矛盾比迄今所假设的更为复杂，并且经常涉及医疗保健活动系统的两个以上要素。与此相类似，人们发现，针对这些矛盾采取有效的干预措施会增加额外的复杂性，但并不能始终实现其目标。利用活动理论，作者开发了一个框架来连贯地综合研究结果。这项研究有助于增进对IS在活动系统中的作用的了解，并有助于指导旨在避免意外后果的IS实施项目。