A Reappraisal of Resilience in Digital Infrastructure: A Study of Cyber-Physical-Social Systems in Ongoing Crises

Abstract

Digital technologies are now entrenched in the core operations of organisations providing critical services (OCSs). This is due to ongoing innovations in work and practice. As new applications and services are developed, there is a convergence of traditional physical infrastructures and rapidly changing modern digital technologies. These technologies are complex and have been characterised as cyber-physical-social systems (CPSSs). CPSSs are tightly integrated, coordinated, sensor-based digital solutions with both human and cyber characteristics. They are notably embedded in and facilitate OCS operations. A salient instance of such a development is identifiable in the health sector. Service innovations (e.g., telemedicine) have been common in this sector for decades. There has, though, been a significant upturn in recent years, one that the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded. A priority for health OCSs is to bridge operational disruptions and secure care continuity. This is being increasingly achieved by leveraging digital assets like CPSSs. Health OCSs’ leveraging of CPSSs and other digital assets during the pandemic has been recognised as a resilient response in the information systems (IS) literature. However, early experiences during the pandemic revealed a stark fragility to unanticipated constraints. Indeed, health services nearly came to a standstill. COVID-19 was (and to some degree still is) a destabilising factor in OCSs. On the one hand, it posed unforeseen challenges and introduced sustained instability. On the other hand, it ignited widespread innovation and change. Limited research examines a crisis from this kind of dualistic perspective; a crisis is simultaneously a calamity and an opportunity. Unfortunate circumstances influence short-term innovation and digital assets’ selective expansion. This, in turn, triggers transformative learning and possible long-term evolution in OCSs. In this thesis, I follow an empirical case in which a CPSS solution was leveraged in an OCS supporting pandemic response efforts in Agder County, Norway. As part of the crisis response planning in Agder, a pre-existing remote patient monitoring tool was adapted and repurposed for monitoring COVID-19 patients. The pandemic presented unprecedented constraints and fast-paced mutations of new variants. This meant that OCSs only had a brief reprieve between waves of infection. …