Information systems in decentralized social policies: an analysis of the federal coordination and management practices

Abstract

This article aims to assess how information systems created by the Brazilian federal government are used to coordinate decentralized social policies in three areas — health, education and social assistance — in which federal public policies are implemented in partnership with state and local governments. As part of this study, 35 semi-structured interviews with managers of the three programs studied were held and in the three levels of government. In addition, as supplementary information, 432 questionnaires were collected and they were answered by users of these systems. As a theoretical model for analysis, we used a multilevel model based on the combination of three theories — social constructivism, contextualism and structuracionism — which has been used in several studies related to the use of information systems designed for social purpose. As main findings of this study, we conclude that systems that were developed considering the participation of the different levels of government tend to have better acceptance by users and thus, produce better effects in policy outcomes to which they are associated. Systems developed with less participatory pratices tend to focus exclusively on the need for control by the federal government, not taking advantage of its potential as a management tool, and thus being less effective in making social control of the public policy to the one it is associated. Hence, these less participative systems are less relevant for the federal coordination.