1 Re-Thinking Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action in Information Systems Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic Faculty of Management University of Western Sydney Hawkesbury Sydney, Australia E-mail: Dubravka@uws.edu.au Marius Janson Department of Management Science and Information Systems University of Missouri-St.Louis St.Louis, Missouri, US E-mail: mjanson@umslvma.umsl.edu Abstract Habermas's theory of communicative action has made a significant impact on information systems (IS) practice and research. However, the expected benefit to information systems has been lagging due to the existing gap between the theory and IS practice. This paper re-examines the concepts of the theory of communicative action and interprets their meaning for IS in organizational contexts. The theoretical analysis is amplified by illustrative case studies drawn from a retail company. The fruits of our research provide advice for critical empirical analysis of IS in social and political context as well as for IS development informed by critical theory. Keywords Information in organization, conceptual study, empirical research, case study, changes in workforce, organisational communication, organisational development, organisational culture, participative design, development approaches INTRODUCTION Habermas’s (1984, 1987) theory of communicative action (TCA) has made a significant impact on information system research and practice (Lyytinen and Klein, 1985; Klein and Hirschheim, 1991;; Lyytinen, 1992; Hirschheim and Klein, 1994; Hirschheim et al., 1996; Cecez-Kecmanovic, 1994; Janson and Brown, 1997; Ngwenyama and Lee, 1997; Myers and Young, 1997; Ngwenyama, 1998; Cecez-Kecmanovic, 1999; Janson and Brown, 1999). However, the application of TCA in information systems (IS) has been criticized for its theoretical opacity and its alleged inability to make practical contributions to IS field (Wilson, 1997). Furthermore, the proponents of TCA in IS have been accused of promoting their own agenda. Moreover the use of TCA in IS suffers from misinterpretations of Habermas’s ideas which has interfered with the theory’s potential