Conceptualizing the Dynamics of Rhetorical Practice and Technological Frame in the Context of Technology Diffusion

This paper examines and conceptualizes the process underlying the diffusion of a back office messaging system connecting the financial transaction activities of fund houses in Europe and banks in Taiwan. Drawing on the theoretical notions of rhetorical practice and technological frame, it develops a socio-cognitive process framework to conceptualize how the articulation of rhetorical situations and the deployment of rhetorical strategies influence stakeholders' sense-making towards a new technology. A conceptual framework is developed to enhance understanding of technology diffusion by taking into account the dynamic interplay between rhetorical practice and technological frame. We show that the persuasive power of rhetorical practices is largely influenced by (i) the rhetors' ongoing advancement of local knowledge, assumptions and beliefs, and (ii) an effective deployment of a balanced rhetorical strategy to promote the technology to different stakeholders. We demonstrate that analysis of rhetorical practice helps to explain how the phenomenon of diffusion is linguistically afforded and discursively constructed into a reality

The internal diffusion of new digital innovations : a case of enterprise social networking adoption

Despite a growing interest in processes of diffusion within organisations and some understanding of the social processes of creating and enacting external and internal IT innovations, little empirical research has studied potentially relevant intra-organisational diffusion dynamics underlying the movement of innovations adopted at an organisational level, into the front-line practices of organisational subunits. Furthermore, we know even less about the diffusion processes of non-transactional digital innovations, such as enterprise social networking (ESN). ESNs embedded “ideology of openness” and its nontransactional nature particularly create social tensions that largely run against the grain of organisational rationality and efficiency, pervade key organisational processes and lead to wide variations in how organisational actors interpret and appropriate ESN features within organisations. The goal of this research is to theorize about the institutional mechanisms and processes by which these highly flexible digital innovations become misaligned, aligned and diffused at the micro-level of everyday work, as well as the enabling and precipitating dynamics that condition and trigger these mechanisms. This theorization involved a longitudinal exploration of how different communities of actors in a globally distributed technology services firm appropriated an ESN platform over a four year period, and how managerial intervention shaped appropriation outcomes. These dynamics can be understood through a rhetorical legitimation lens as a process where organisational actors with competing interests use strategic communications, to legitimate and enable the generation of collective meanings around distinctly different IT features and practices. Findings indicate that the core internal diffusion process was intra-organisational theorizing around ESN. Intra-organisational theorizing was an on-going process of elaborating and refining the organisational level theorization for ESN to suit front- line employees in their immediate contexts. In this way, it gradually helped to standardize and scale the ESNs features and functions as it was appropriated by different communities of actors (infusion). In each infusion, intra-organisational theorizing unfolded in three cumulative and relatively sequential phases of legitimation: (1) rationale framing (2) value advertising, and (3) motivating engagement, which were instrumental for respectively managing political, technical and cultural institutional misalignments, and promoting intra-group meaning making. On the other hand, negotiation and inter-group meaning-making was enabled by strategically grafting on other intra-organisational theorizations, and co-opting people, ESN functions, and practices from other infusions. Further, these legitimation processes unfolded as a sequence of primarily pragmatic pathos and logos appeals. In particular, early and on-going logos appeals helped to de-legitimate established, competing technologies, and directly enabled legitimation and collective meaning-making around ESN

Affective Politics and Technology Buy-In: A Framework of Social, Political, and Fantasmatic Logics

We propose a socially informed explanation of technology framing by examining technology “buy-in”—actors’ relative susceptibility to such framing. We draw on the field of critical social theory to introduce the “Logics,” a new framework to the IS discipline that reveals a performative relationship between collective framing, power, and affect. The Logics enable us to study buy-in by revealing the differing degrees of affective self-identification that underpin and color social practices, showing their inherently political nature. We exemplify the affective as well as social politics of buy-in with an account of Unity 3D, a market-leading game engine that underwent a major repositioning from “fringe” to “mainstream” markets, and discuss four poles of affective positioning with which to conceptualize technology buy-in. We conclude by highlighting the consequent need for greater political and ethical awareness about the framing of IS and by proposing a framework for conceptualizing actors’ orientations toward and thus possible buy-in or resistance to technology framing

Information Technology Implementation and Organizational Change: A Dissipative Structure Theoretical Lens

Previous research on information technology (IT) implementation and organizational change postulates that neither technology nor human agency determines the new structure of the organization, but rather the new structure emerges as a result of the interplay between technology and human agency. A majority of these studies assume a linear relationship between contingencies and outcome during the emergence process. However, during the implementation process, the characteristics of organizations become non-linear, almost chaotic. Therefore, we postulate that approaching to IT-enabled change from complexity theory would be better suited to explain the emergence process. We propose a framework based on dissipative structure theory and specify four stages that organizations undergo during the implementation process. While the emergence process is considered unpredictable, we argue that with the help of certain organizational practices (i.e., organizational learning/unlearning) and managerial interventions (i.e., use of rhetoric), organizations can condition the emergence of the new structure for the success of the implementation. doi:10.17705/3JSIS.0001

Applying Framing Theory in Digital Transformation Research: Suggestions for Future Research

Meaning-making processes are essential to guide new action pathways in organizations. How organizations engage in meaning making of digital technologies should therefore be of particular interest in digital transformation (DT) research. This study explores how an existing theory of meaning making in organizations, namely, framing theory, can be applied in DT research. It contributes to the literature by offering a synthesis of framing theory, with an emphasis on framing of digital and information technologies in organizational contexts and proposing research questions inspired by framing theory for future DT research

Fear and loathing of electric vehicles: the reactionary rhetoric of range anxiety

“Range anxiety,” defined as the psychological anxiety a consumer experiences in response to the limited range of an electric vehicle, continues to be labelled and presented as one of the most pressing barriers to their mainstream diffusion. As a result, academia, policymakers and even industry have focused on addressing the range anxiety barrier in order to accelerate adoption. Much literature recognizes that range anxiety is increasingly psychological, rather than technical, in its nature. However, we argue in this paper that even psychological and technical explanations are incomplete. We examine range anxiety through Hirschman’s Rhetoric of Reaction, which supposes that conservative forces may oppose change by propagating theses related to jeopardy, perversity, and futility. To do so, we use three qualitative methods to understand the role of range anxiety triangulated via a variety of perspectives: 227 semi-structured interviews with experts at 201 institutions, a survey with nearly 5,000 respondents, and 8 focus groups, all across 17 cities in the five Nordic countries. We find evidence where consumers and experts use and perpetuate the rhetoric of reaction, particularly the jeopardy thesis. We conclude with a reexamination of the policies geared to assuage range-based barriers, which a construction of range anxiety as a rhetorical excuse would render as ineffective or inefficient, as well as future implications for diffusion theory

Smartphone chronic gaming consumption and positive coping practice

Purpose: Chronic consumption practice has been greatly accelerated by mobile, interactive and smartphone gaming technology devices. This study explores how chronic consumption of smartphone gaming produces positive coping practice. Design/methodology/approach: Underpinned by cognitive framing theory, empirical insights from eleven focus groups (n=62) reveal how smartphone gaming enhances positive coping amongst gamers and non-gamers. Findings: The findings reveal how the chronic consumption of games allows technology to act with privileged agency that resolves tensions between individuals and collectives. Consumption narratives of smartphone games, even when play is limited, lead to the identification of three cognitive frames through which positive coping processes operate: (a) the market generated frame, (b) the social being frame, and (c) the citizen frame. Research limitations/implications: This paper adds to previous research by providing an understanding of positive coping practice in the smartphone chronic gaming consumption. Originality/value: In smartphone chronic gaming consumption, cognitive frames enable positive coping by fostering appraisal capacities in which individuals confront, hegemony, culture and alterity-morality concerns

Ordering theories: typologies and conceptual frameworks for sociotechnical change

What theories or concepts are most useful at explaining socio technical change? How can – or cannot – these be integrated? To provide an answer, this study presents the results from 35 semi-structured research interviews with social science experts who also shared more than two hundred articles, reports and books on the topic of the acceptance, adoption, use, or diffusion of technology. This material led to the identification of 96 theories and conceptual approaches spanning 22 identified disciplines. The article begins by explaining its research terms and methods before honing in on a combination of fourteen theories deemed most relevant and useful by the material. These are: Sociotechnical Transitions, Social Practice Theory, Discourse Theory, Domestication Theory, Large Technical Systems, Social Construction of Technology, Sociotechnical Imaginaries, Actor-Network Theory, Social Justice Theory, Sociology of Expectations, Sustainable Development, Values Beliefs Norms Theory, Lifestyle Theory, and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. It then positions these theories in terms of two distinct typologies. Theories can be placed into five general categories of being centered on agency, structure, meaning, relations or norms. They can also be classified based on their assumptions and goals rooted in functionalism, interpretivism, humanism or conflict. The article lays out tips for research methodology before concluding with insights about technology itself, analytical processes associated with technology, and the framing and communication of results. An interdisciplinary theoretical and conceptual inventory has much to offer students, analysts and scholars wanting to study technological change and society

Digital Storytelling At An Educational Nonprofit: A Case Study And Genre-Informed Implementation Analysis

Digital stories--two- to five-minute videos consisting of a first-person voiceover set to a slideshow of personal photographs--combine personal reflection with digital technologies. The stories and the process of making them appeal to many organizations, particularly those with a mission of outreach or education. However, despite the inexpensive and fairly easy-to-use digital technologies involved, organizations have typically had difficulty implementing the practice. This dissertation presents a case study of one organization that hoped to implement digital storytelling, detailing the 15 months after its Writing Director completed a digital storytelling train-the-trainer workshop. The case study organization, Tech Year, is a one-year intensive college and job-readiness program for urban 18-24 year-olds. The case study aims for descriptive detail, and reflects 300+ hours of site visits, 29 interviews, and extensive document collection. Everett Rogers\u27 theory of organizational innovation is used to frame the case study description. Tech Year hoped to integrate digital storytelling into its Business Writing curriculum and imagined a number of other utilities for digital storytelling related to fundraising, recruiting, and student development. During the 15-month research period, a wide range of digital storytelling-related activity happened at Tech Year, including a pilot of digital storytelling in the Business Writing classroom. At the conclusion of the study, however, Tech Year had not settled on a sustainable organizational use or uses for digital storytelling, and organizational members were uncertain whether the practice would persist. Besides telling an implementation story, the study has a second major aim: to explore theoretically informed reflective tools that might be used by researchers and organizations to assess and direct ongoing digital storytelling implementation efforts. A novel methodology that examines digital storytelling pilots through the lens of North American genre theory, called genre-informed implementation analysis, is both described and applied to the case of Tech Year

Learning from Recent Work on Innovation Processes and the Co-evolution of Technology, Economy and Society

CrESSI Deliverable D4.1, part 2