Date of Award

8-22-2025

Date Published

September 2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Information Science & Technology

Advisor(s)

Jeffrey Saltz

Abstract

This research explores the risk of failure in cloud-based data science systems within third-party service contexts. Specifically, it examines how the risk of project failure is socially constructed over time as the technology is incrementally shaped and negotiated. The study is grounded in participant observation conducted with data science practitioners at a professional services organization in India that partners with one of the world’s leading cloud providers. The research foregrounds the business model of professional services firms as a distinct sociotechnical setting for developing cloud-based data science systems, one in which practitioners who are not directly engaged in technical implementation still play critical roles. It further reveals that the risk of project failure is not static; rather, it shifts across the data science workflow as system development progresses through incremental stages. The study yields three key findings. First, it provides insight into the social construction of risks of project failure that emerge within data science workflows during the integration of pre-built, low-code/no-code ensembles owned by cloud providers. Second, it highlights the often-overlooked contributions of sales and pre-sales practitioners, whose roles shape sociotechnical systems despite their distance from the coding process. Third, the research is guided by the conceptual lens of Social Shaping of Technology (SST) and Hilgartner’s framework of risk objects to analyze how the construction of risk evolves alongside the development and negotiation of cloud-based data science technologies within organizational settings. Ultimately, this research contributes to the literature on SST used as the conceptual lens through which the risks of sociotechnical systems can be analyzed.

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Open Access

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