This interpretative grounded theory study describes and analyses the actual lived experiences ofproject members who worked in a three year long inter-organisational information system (IOIS)project. The IOIS project was a Nordic project which spanned four user organisations (Alpha,Beta, Gamma and Delta), two suppliers (Eta and Zeta), two national organisations (Lambda andKappa), a research organisation (Epsilon) and a Ministry who funded the project. The project wascarried out between 2004 and 2006. The data was elicited by means of in-depth interviews(narrative stories), observations of project meetings, diaries, project memoranda and emails sentby project members to each other during these years. Other secondary data (the data from previousprojects) was also analysed.

Feelings and emotions as a research object are acknowledged to be a very demanding researcharea. The terms ‘feelings’ and ‘emotions’ are partly used interchangeably in this study, thoughthese concepts are also partly distinguished in this study: feeling is what is felt, and emotion iswhat is shown; feeling is classified as a subjective experience whereas emotion involves emotionalperformance where social conventions have a significant role.

The Glaserian grounded theory method was used as the technique for theory building. Threecore categories were identified: Governance, Power and Emotions. There were also relationshipsbetween categories: Governance contributed to issues related to Power which in turn impacted onEmotions and vice versa. The categories not only defined the nature of the core theme but alsoformed a connection between themselves. The emergent category Emotions demonstrates thatemotions influence structure and that emotions are intimately linked to social structures of power,and shows that ‘inequality’ is an essential part of that theme.

This study shows that emotions have a remarkable role in the work of an IOIS, and that theyhave an affect on decisions. The study also finds that feelings and emotions are the basis of action(Power), and that emotions easily trump the intellect. At a higher level of abstraction, the scalingup process produced one core theme: Emotions of Control, and this study builds a substantivetheory of Emotions of Control.