The enactments and consequences of token, shared, and compliant participation in information systems development

System development methodologies assert that user participation is crucial for successful information systems development efforts. User participation is advocated for product and process reasons: to select system features and to coordinate the work between client and developer. However, a closer examination of the methodologies reveal that the prescriptions for user participation are often contradictory. The IS research literature acknowledges these contradictions, but presents empirical results that are largely inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to examine how user participation is actually enacted in practice, and to explain why those enactments' result in particular project outcomes, such as task-system fit, psychological involvement, and client ownership of the system. An in-depth qualitative analysis of eight information systems development projects reveals three patterns of user participation enactment: token, shared, and compliant. These patterns vary in terms of who brings technical and domain knowledge to the project, who controls feature selection, what coordination mechanisms are used, and how conflict is handled. Further, the analysis shows that: (1) the form of the enactment is as much the choice of the client as it is the choice of systems developers; (2) client ownership of systems is not a result of sign-offs, but a result of how clients view their overall responsibilities and organizational accountability; (3) intense user participation is not required for high task-system fit; and (4) client attitudes can be influenced by the actions of developers. Implications for research and practice are drawn.