72 • ©RAE • São Paulo • v. 51 • n. 1 • jan./fev. 2011 • 072-083 ISSN 0034-7590
forum • INNoVATIoN AND ADoPTIoN of moBILE TECHNoLoGY IN PuBLIC orGANIZATIoNS: THE IBGE CASE
INNoVATIoN AND ADoPTIoN of moBILE
TECHNoLoGY IN PuBLIC orGANIZATIoNS:
THE IBGE CASE
INOVAÇÃO E ADOÇÃO DE TECNOLOGIA MÓVEL EM ORGANIZAÇÕES PÚBLICAS: O CASO IBGE
INNOVACIÓN Y ADOPCIÓN DE TECNOLOGÍA MÓVIL EN ORGANIZACIONES PÚBLICAS: EL CASO IBGE
Amarolinda Iara da Costa Zanela Saccol aczanela@unisinos.br
Professor and Researcher at the Post Graduate Program in Business Administration, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos – São Leopoldo – RS, Brazil
Adriana manica manica100@hotmail.com
Master at the Post Graduate Program in Business Administration, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos – São Leopoldo – RS, Brazil
Silvia Elaluf-Calderwood s.m.elaluf-calderwood@lse.ac.uk
Research Associate at The London School of Economics and Political Science – London, United Kingdom
Submitted 31.03.2010. Approved 14.10.2010
Evaluated in a double blind review
Scientific Editor: Eduardo Diniz, Marlei Pozzebon and Nicolau Reinhard
ABSTrACT
The use of Mobile and Wireless Information Technologies (MWIT) for provisioning public services by a government is a re-
latively recent phenomenon. This paper evaluates the results of MWIT adoption by IBGE (The Brazilian Institute of Geogra-
phy and Statistics) through a case study. In 2007, IBGE applied 82,000 mobile devices (PDAs) for data gathering in a census
operation in Brazil. A set of challenges for a large scale application of MWIT required intensive work involving innovative
working practices and service goals. The case reveals a set of outputs of this process, such as time and cost reductions in ser-
vice provision, improved information quality, staff training and increased organizational effectiveness and agility.
keywords Mobile and wireless information technologies, IT adoption, census, organizational processes, information systems
evaluation
RESuMO O uso das Tecnologias de Informação Móveis e sem Fio (TIMS) para o fornecimento de serviços públicos pelos governos é um fenômeno
institucional relativamente recente. Este artigo avalia os resultados de adoção de tecnologias móveis pelo IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e
Estatística), por meio de um estudo de caso. Em 2007 o IBGE aplicou 82,000 dispositivos móveis (PDAs) para coletar dados em uma ampla operação
censitária no Brasil. Os desafios da implantação das TIMS em larga escala demandaram um intenso trabalho envolvendo práticas inovadoras e metas
de serviço. O caso estudado revela um conjunto de resultados deste processo, tais como a redução de tempo e de custos no fornecimento de serviços,
melhorias na qualidade da informação, qualificação da equipe e aumento da eficiência e agilidade organizacional.
PALAVRAS-ChAVE Tecnologia da informação móvel e sem fio, adoção de TI, censo, processos organizacionais, avaliação de sistemas de informação
RESuMEN El uso de las Tecnologías de Información Móviles e Inalámbricas (TIMI) para el suministro gubernamental de servicios públicos es
un fenómeno institucional relativamente reciente. Este artículo evalúa los resultados de la adopción de tecnologías móviles realizada por el IBGE
(Instituto Brasileño de Geografía y Estadística), por medio de un estudio de caso. En 2007 el IBGE aplicó 82.000 dispositivos móviles (PDA) para
recolectar datos en una amplia operación censitaria en Brasil. Los desafíos de la implantación de las TIMI en gran escala demandaron un intenso
trabajo, que incluyó prácticas innovadoras y metas de servicio. El caso estudiado revela un conjunto de resultados de este proceso, tales como la
reducción de tiempo y de costos en el suministro de servicios, mejorías en la calidad de la información, cualificación del equipo y aumento de la
eficiencia y agilidad organizacional.
PALABRAS CLAVE Tecnología de la información móvil e inalámbrica, adopción de TI, servicios públicos, procesos organizacionales, evaluación
de sistemas de información

AmAroLINDA IArA DA CoSTA ZANELA SACCoL • ADrIANA mANICA • SILVIA ELALuf-CALDErwooD
ISSN 0034-7590 ©RAE • São Paulo • v. 51 • n. 1 • jan./fev. 2011 • 072-083 • 73
INTroDuCTIoN
In the last two decades, the world witnessed a rapid spread
of Mobile and Wireless Information Technology (MWIT),
which includes mobile devices such as mobile phones,
PDA, smartphones, pocket computers, wireless networks
and other technologies such as RFID (Radio Frequency
Identification), as well as information systems accessed
through these technologies (AGAR, 2004). Castells (2008)
notes that, by 2007, mobile phone ownership or access
has reached 50% of the entire world population. While
estimates suggest that there will be at least 5.4 billion fixed
and mobile phone subscriptions worldwide by 2010, this
does not mean that 5.4 billion people own a telephone
(LING and DONNER, 2009). Conservative estimates as-
sume a total of 3.4 billion mobile users. Due to the fast
diffusion of mobile technology, Castells (2008) asserts
that social research lags behind in trying to understand
the new patterns of communication that emerge from the
use of these technologies, as well as its impact and influ-
ence on many aspects of social life.
In current academic literature, there are several stud-
ies that focus on MWIT use and its impact on individual
users or specific societies or groups (as those presented in
KATZ, 2008), but there are still few studies that examine its
effects on organizations. For Sorensen and others (2008),
enterprise mobility –that is, the use of mobile devices for
enterprise operations – creates new organizational forms to
manage the way how people work collaboratively. Besides
an increase in mobile technology applications, there are ef-
forts to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
Although these issues are very important to organizational
practice, its relevance is not reflected in the current litera-
ture on IS, which has dedicated relatively little attention to
corporate mobility (SORENSEN and others, 2008).
This is due in part to the relegation of technology to the
background in organizational sciences. It reflects the role
played by IT in organizations in the 1980s. It was primar-
ily used to automate existing operations and to increase
communication speed (ZUBOFF, 1988, ZAMMUTO and
others., 2007). However, organizational innovations using
IT since the 1990s have shown new ways of organizing,
which demands a careful analysis of the mutual shaping
of IT and organizations.
We can also highlight the scarcity of academic studies
showing criteria, typologies, frameworks or models to
evaluate actual results of corporate investments in MWIT
adoption. This is particularly true in regard to services,
which tend to adopt these technologies in a higher pro-
portion (MATHIASSEN and SORENSEN, 2008). If we
consider a more precise focus on the service sector, there
is an array of possibilities for mobile applications in public
and governmental services, which can involve a wide geo-
graphical area and a potentially significant number of us-
ers. Therefore, it is relevant to generate references that can
help to evaluate MWIT adoption results in this context.
The evaluation of IT adoption results is important to
provide feedback to managers, increase organizational
learning and diagnose gaps and opportunities for future
improvements. However, this is not an easy task, since
the evaluation of IT adoption results has different levels
of analysis (macro, sector, firm, applications or stakehold-
ers) as well as different consequences such as economic,
organizational, social, managerial etc. (SMITHSON and
HIRSCHHEIM, 1998).
This paper presents data from a research project that
aims to assess results of MWIT adoption for service provi-
sion by public organizations. The research is based on a
case study about the use of MWIT by IBGE (The Brazilian
Institute of Geography and Statistics). IBGE is a Brazilian
federal institution under the Ministry of Planning which is
the main statistical information provider in the Country,
attending several segments of the civil society and gov-
ernmental spheres (IBGE, 2008).
In 2007, IBGE innovated by replacing paper question-
naires with electronic questionnaires accessed by census
workers in field work via PDAs, in a complex census opera-
tion. This census operation involved three different surveys:
(1) the National Register of Addresses for Statistical Purposes
(known as the CNEFE survey); (2) population count in cities
up to 170,000 inhabitants; and (3) Agricultural Census. This
case of MWIT application received national and international
attention, since IBGE deployed 82,000 mobile devices in this
operation, which took place in a country of continental size
with many different local realities. Therefore, it represents
a unique situation that is worth documenting and evaluat-
ing in order to inform other cases of MWIT applications in
public services, particularly in similar local realities, such as
in South America.
This article is structured as follows: Section 2 presents
the theoretical base of the research. Section 3 explains its
methodology and analyses the data gathered in the case
study. Section 4 presents a summary of results, a discus-
sion and some final comments.
THEorETICAL BACkGrouND
MWIT afford resources for organizational processes such
as provision of mobile communication, location-based