How Technology makes Institutions: the case of Peru

The impact of ICTs on public sector organizations and the services they produce and deliver has been widely discussed in literature. Attention has been given to how functional properties of ICTs affect efficiency and effectiveness of public services provision and delivery, as well as the impacts they have on the value these services produce. This paper complements this literature exploring how the functions designed into ICTs carry regulatory properties that trigger institutional changes that have pervasive effects on the production and provision of public services. Building on the case of the deployment of the SISFOH system in Peru, the paper discusses how changes in the functional properties of SISFOH modify the institutional arrangement underpinning the production and provision of welfare services in Peru to the point where a new Ministry (MIDIS) is created. The paper offers valuable insights to better address and discuss the complexity of the impacts of ICTs on public sector organizations and the services they provide.