A Structurational Perspective on Belief Formation

Research on IT adoption has shown that object-based beliefs about IT systems have a profound impact on subsequent IT usage. However, we still need to identify antecedents of object-based beliefs in order to understand how the belief formation process can be influenced. This research builds upon and extends Adaptive Structuration Theory to examine how IT-related factors influence the formation of object-based beliefs. To test our research model, we surveyed 183 users of a student information system. The proposed model was supported, providing evidence that values, meaning and functionalities provided by an IT system positively affect information and system quality

The Impact of Functional Affordances and Symbolic Expressions on the Formation of Beliefs

Research on IS success and IT adoption has shown that object-based beliefs about IT systems have a profound impact on subsequent IT usage. However, we still lack knowledge on and need to identify antecedents and determinants of object-based beliefs in order to understand how the belief formation process works and how it can be influenced. Our research builds on and extends Markus and Silver’s (2008) concepts of functional affordance and symbolic expression to examine how IT-related factors influence the formation of beliefs. To test our research model, we surveyed 183 users of a student information system. The proposed model was supported, offering evidence that values, meaning, and functional affordances provided by an IT system positively affect information quality and system quality

The role of boundary objects in the co-evolution of design and use: the KMP project experimentation

Nowadays, it is widely recognized that an ICT tool cannot be built without knowing who will use it and what they will do with. In this perspective, Human-Computer Interaction community (Carroll, 1990; Jarke, Tung Bui and Carroll, 1998; Young and Barnard, 1987; Young and al., 1989) developed a scenario-based approach contrasting with the traditional information system design. The scenario describes an existing or envisioned system from the perspective of one or more users and includes a narration of their goals, plans and reactions (Rosson and Carroll, 2002). As a result, design is founded on the use of scenarios as a central representation for the analysis and design of use. The scenario-based design appears to be a first step in the integration of users in the design of ICT tool. However, we would like to underline in this paper a more active role of users in the design process. According to Orlikowski (2000) while a technology can be seen to have been constructed with particular materials and inscribed with developers' assumptions and knowledge about the world at a point in time, it is only when this technology is used in recurrent social practices that it can be said to structure user's action. The use of technology in recurrent social practices must be considered because how technological properties will for the moment be used or appropriate is not inherent or predetermined. Finally, this approach leads us to dissociate the designers' world from the users' world. In this perspective, the design project is the result of the co-evolution and the convergence of both worlds: on the one hand, the world of design and a first integration of users by scenarios; on the other hand, the world of users where innovation is the art of interesting an increasing number of allies who will make the world of design stronger and stronger. The objective of this paper is to understand the mechanisms of interaction between the world of design and that of users i.e. between loops of co-design and loops of uses. Indeed, according to Akrich, Callon and Latour (1988) we adopt a whirlwind model of innovation. In this perspective, “innovation continuously transforms itself according to the trials to which it is submitted i.e. of the “interessements” tried out » (Akrich and al., 2002: 7). We will demonstrate that the key success of an innovation depends on the co-evolution and convergence of design and use around boundary objects developed during this process (see Figure 1). More specifically, we will show the role of boundary objects on the integration and on the involvement of users in the design process. In order to do so, we carried out an empirical research – the Knowledge Management Platform project - located in the scientific park of Sophia Antipolis (Alpes-Maritimes, France), focusing on the Telecom Valley® (TV) association which gathers the main actors of the Sophia Antipolis Telecom cluster. Indeed, the KMP project aims to build a semantic web service of competencies in order to enhance exchange and combination dynamics of knowledge within the Telecom cluster thanks to an interactive mapping of competencies. This paper will comprise three parts: Based on the researches of Akrich, Callon and Latour (1988), Hatchuel and Mollet (1986), Orlikowski (2000), Romme and Endenburg (2006) we will identify and analyse in a first part the process of design. The combination of these approaches leads us to distinguish the design' world from the users' world. In this perspective, the success of an innovation may be explained by the co-evolution and the convergence of these two worlds. In this process, we suggest that boundary objects play a key role in the convergence of these two worlds. We will present in a second part the empirical study of the KMP project within the TV network. The KMP project involved researchers from socio-economic sciences (GREDEG Laboratory, UNSA-CNRS, Rodige and Latapses teams), cognitive sciences and artificial intelligence (INRIA, Acacia team), telecommunications (GET) and users (TV) for a total force of 187 men per month for a two-year period (2003-2005). At this present time this project is being set up in a pre-industrialization phase, supported by TV and the PACA region. Here, we will analyse the specific process of design experimented by KMP. Finally, the third part discusses the role of boundary objects in the KMP experimentation. In this part, we will show the evolution of boundary objects during the loops of design. More specifically, the focus will be on the emergence of compromises between designers and users, their materialisation in boundary objects and finally their evolution during the design' process.boundary objects, IS development, actor network theory

Understanding structures and practices of meaning-making in industrial networks

Purpose: To propose an approach for exploring industrial marketing network environments through a social semiotic lens. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper introduces social semiotic perspectives to the study of business/industrial network interaction. Findings: We describe how structures of meaning derived from a cultural history of signification and interpretive processes of meaning in action are co-determined in social semiosis. We emphasise the meaning of environments using this social semiotic approach, leading us to explore the idea of the ‘atmosemiosphere’ - the most highly complex business network level, in illustrating how meaning is made through structuration between structures of meaning and their enactments in interactions between actors within living business networks. Practical Implications: Figurative language plays an important role in the structuration of meaning. This facilitates establishing plots and, therefore, in the actors’ capability to tell a story, which starts with knowing what kind of story can be told. By implication, the effective networker must be a consummate moving ‘picture maker’ and to do so, she must have competences in narrative, emplotment, myth-making, storytelling and figuration in more than one discursive repertoire. Originality/Value: In employing a structurational discourse perspective informed by social semiotics, our original contribution is a ‘business networks as discursive constructions’ approach in that discursive nets, webs of narratives and stories, and labyrinths of tropes are considered just as important in constituting networks as networks of actor relationships and patterns of other activities and resources

Formation and Operation of a Blogging Community: A Structurational Perspective

Blogging is popular. It has emerged as a formidable phenomenon that not only draws massive daily following but also shifts the paradigm of human interaction. As a new communication genre, blogging has no specific governing bodies to manage the entity. This raises interesting questions on how is a blogging community being formed and how does it function. Founded on Structuration Theory, this paper applies the concepts of structure and agency as well as signification, legitimation, and domination to explain the formation and operation of a blogging community. The framework is valuable in serving as the basis for understanding how rules and practices are produced and reproduced to govern smooth functioning and operation of a virtual blogging community

The duality of technology : rethinking the concept of technology in organizations

"April 1990."Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-36).Wanda J. Orlikowski

A Structurational View of E-Commerce in SMES in Least Developing Countries

E-Commerce studies in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Least Developing Countries (LDCs) have been labelled as being obscure and characterised by a list of challenges which if, not remedied, will continue to plague these countries. Many LCD studies employ research methodologies that are quantitative and techno-centric in nature. However, although E-Commerce is a technology, it is embedded within a given context – that of a least developing country that is characterised by specific contextual challenges different from both developing and developed countries. Against this background, investigation of E-Commerce in SMEs in LDCs requires initial understanding of structural properties inherent in the specific context and thereafter in the technology. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for examining the interaction of structural properties of ECommerce in SMEs in LDCs. The framework integrates the structuration theory concepts with factors drawn from E-Commerce studies in SMEs in LDC

Identification and Identity Building in/by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

This study explored the identification process of employees within the national offices of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This research explored identification as an attachment process to particular identity structures (e.g., individual, work group, occupational, and organizational). Findings illustrated particular tensions that emerged during the identification process. The role of faith-based organization, as well as, non-traditional organizational structures was accounted for in the identification process. Results of this study provided some immediate and practical implications for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in their identity building efforts. Most notable, was the relevance of uncovering the identity resources in the attachment process of identification. That is, by realizing to what employees attach the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will be able to collectively form an established and relevant organizational identity

Connecting the Dots: Issues of Organizational Identity Among Training and Development Professionals

This study explored issues of identity, identification and the identification (attachment) process of training and development professionals employed in medium to large organizations. This research focused on determining what resources training and development professionals identified with, how these resources were expressed and acted on and finally what challenges or tensions are results of this identification process. The findings of this project illustrate unique identity related resources and challenges specific to the training and development industry; furthermore, this study analyzes these results and presents both theoretical and practical implications. Notable findings of this study suggest that training and development professionals primarily identify with helping others and prefer to execute job duties that directly develop or assist others within the organization. Additionally, this service to others mindset often is expressed when training professionals are able to help make sense of organizational messages for other employees, and this work often subordinates the training and development professional. Thus, this research suggests that the identity related challenges that training and development professionals encounter stem from being an unknown or misunderstood part of the larger organizational mission; furthermore, training and development professionals may communicate an organizational message that they do not experience in practice

The Structuration of Identification on Organizational Members’ Social Media

The structurational model of identification is applied to test structures that may lead to sharing organizational membership on social media and increased organizational identification. We propose and test how antecedents (e.g., social media use, organizational prestige) relate to acts of identification on social media and promote organizational identification. United States working adults (N = 303) responded to an online survey about hypothesized motivational structures, online disclosures of organizational affiliation, and organizational identification. Results show three specific structures significantly predicted one’s willingness to share her or his organizational affiliation across social media: personae overlap, social media use, and organizational prestige. Commitment and turnover intentions were, surprisingly, not direct predictors of organizational affiliation disclosure. Implications for individuals, organizations, and both organizational and computer-mediated theory are presented