Working Papers on Information Systems ISSN 1535-6078 The Role of Handheld Information Technologies in Controlling Inter-organisational Data Transactions: Electronic Cash Registers for Value-added Tax (VAT) Administration in Ghana Gamel Wiredu Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Ghana Abstract Currently, there is inadequate understanding of the use of handheld technologies to control electronic data transactions between public and private sector organisations. This problem has come about because the following circumstances have not been taken into account in current research on the exercise of technology control by public sector organisations: â ¢ the same use of the handheld computers satisfies the different motives of the focal and remote organisations, which motives may even be contradictory; â ¢ the focal organisation is seeking to monitor and control its remote activities which are performed by organisations whose employees are not its own; â ¢ the remote activities are only small parts of the entire activities of the remote organisations; and â ¢ these remote organisations are interested in and preoccupied by their own activities which are largely not subject to the control of the focal organisation. Therefore, this research seeks predominantly to explore these circumstances to proffer insights that will improve our understanding of public sector use of information technology for control. This exploration will be conducted in an empirical study of a pilot implementation of handheld card-reading payment technologies (called electronic cash registers) for value-added tax (VAT) administration in Ghana. To this end, the objectives of this research are: â ¢ to investigate the use of handheld computers for controlling inter-organisational data transactions â ¢ to analyse the dynamics of technology control in the face of an interplay between different and, possibly, contradictory organisational motives This research seeks to contribute a theoretical model of the appropriate socio-technical systems of control that ensure smooth implementation of inter-organisational information systems Keywords: inter-organizational control, inter-organizational information systems, handheld computers, electronic data interchange. Permanent URL: http://sprouts.aisnet.org/10-65 Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works License Reference: Wiredu, G. O. (2010). "The Role of Handheld Information Technologies in Controlling Inter-organisational Data Transactions: Electronic Cash Registers for Value-added Tax (VAT) Administration in Ghana," Proceedings > Proceedings of IFIP 8.2/Organizations and Society in Information Systems (OASIS) . Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems, 10(65). http://sprouts.aisnet.org/10-65 Sprouts - http://sprouts.aisnet.org/10-65