Towards an Understanding of Valence in E-Government Services

The Australian government, to remind job seekers of appointments with employment services providers in order to cut costs and free up human resources, is using technologies such as Short Messaging Services (SMS). However, the technologies in-use are but one side of this equation – the specifics of how these technologies are used is the other side, and these specifics are highly undertheorized, particularly in regard to the views of the people to which these technologies are directed. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical framing for this phenomenon as well as to introduce an emerging methodological direction that may allow for a better understanding of demographic-specific values and thereby better valence framing. The paper also theorizes reactions to information that could be applicable elsewhere, not just in e-government or with SMS, thereby contributing to discussions surrounding the ‘Big Data’ debat

An exploratory examination of individual relationships with technology and people

The growth of technology and systems personalisation is leading to increasing personal choice and power. Hence, it becomes increasingly difficult to force people to appropriate, adopt, use, etc., any technology. Relationship marketing sees relations as key to appropriation contexts and that the nature of relations is closely tied to individual identity concerns. Identity literature in IS posits that appropriation or use of technology is based not what the person necessarily is but what they hope to become, which is highly idiosyncratic. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to understand the ‘why’ behind IS phenomena rather than stopping at lists of characteristics. Furthermore, personal construct theory and existentialism posit that quite often individuals’ identity concerns are highly contradictory to their actual everyday actions in moving towards a preferred self. Hence, to progress the relational literature in IS, this thesis employs the following research objective: To elicit and document the relational dimensions of people’s daily work existence at the intersection of people and technology. The findings challenge many fundamental assumptions underlying various theories employed in IS and management, particularly regarding change. They suggest that 1) people are not averse to change, rather, they demand it, 2) inertia depends largely on where the change is coming from as well as where in the individual’s personal construct system that relations with the object tied to the change are strongest or weakest, and 3) identity and existential concerns are at the heart of the explanation. However, this research offers a theoretical lens (existential phenomenology) and methodology (repertory grid plus laddering to core constructs) that provides a way forward. The methodology employs the repertory grid technique followed by laddering to core constructs. Both of these techniques consist of in-depth semi-structured interviews, and are considered qualitative in nature. While these techniques result in dichotomous constructs, the identity and existential concerns are arrived at through iterative interpretation. The methodology provides a way of understanding both relationships and identity concerns about people and technology in a single, easy to use, semi-structured interview, which could provide a more complete picture for other areas of IS research as well

Explicating Individual Relationships with IS/IT and Uncovering Techno-identities Using Repertory Grid and Laddering to Core Constructs

This research-in-progress paper illustrates how technoidentologists can explicate relationships with IS/IT and uncover techno-identities in a single interview. The power of this approach lies in the ability to paint a more complete picture of users’ preferences for various IS/IT. This includes beginning with concrete IS/IT and ending with core constructs that represent purpose and/or meaning in life. Although prominent in Personal Construct Psychology, this approach is embryonic and not well understood in Information Systems. This paper seeks to pave a methodological way forward for technoidentologists by explicating this process, as doing so allows researchers the ability to link concrete IS/IT and core motivations, as well as to hone in on areas of divergence and convergence. Preliminary findings hold immense implications for IS subfields that may be backgrounding key aspects, that if understood, could have a ‘table turning’ effect on relations between industry and the academy

Managing the Paradox of Growth in Brand Communities Through Social Media

The commercial benefits of online brand communities are an important focus for marketers seeking deeper engagement with increasingly elusive consumers. Managing participation in these socially bound brand conversations challenges practitioners to balance authenticity towards the community against corporate goals. This is important as social media proliferation affords communities the capacity to reach a scale well beyond their offline equivalents and to operate independently of brands. While research has identified the important elements of engagement in brand communities, less is known about how strategies required to maximise relationships in these circumstances must change with growth. Using a case study approach, we examine how a rapidly growing firm and its community have managed the challenges of a maturing relationship. We find that, in time, the community becomes self-sustaining, and a new set of marketing management strategies is required to move engagement to the next level

Managing the Paradox of Growth in Brand Communities Through Social Media

The commercial benefits of online brand communities are an important focus for marketers seeking deeper engagement with increasingly elusive consumers. Managing participation in these socially bound brand conversations challenges practitioners to balance authenticity towards the community against corporate goals. This is important as social media proliferation affords communities the capacity to reach a scale well beyond their offline equivalents and to operate independently of brands. While research has identified the important elements of engagement in brand communities, less is known about how strategies required to maximise relationships in these circumstances must change with growth. Using a case study approach, we examine how a rapidly growing firm and its community have managed the challenges of a maturing relationship. We find that, in time, the community becomes self-sustaining, and a new set of marketing management strategies is required to move engagement to the next level

Challenges for engineering students working with authentic complex problems

Engineers are important participants in solving societal, environmental and technical problems. However, due to an increasing complexity in relation to these problems new interdisciplinary competences are needed in engineering. Instead of students working with monodisciplinary problems, a situation where students work with authentic complex problems in interdisciplinary teams together with a company may scaffold development of new competences. The question is: What are the challenges for students structuring the work on authentic interdisciplinary problems? This study explores a three-day event where 7 students from Aalborg University (AAU) from four different faculties and one student from University College North Denmark (UCN), (6th-10th semester), worked in two groups at a large Danish company, solving authentic complex problems. The event was structured as a Hackathon where the students for three days worked with problem identification, problem analysis and finalizing with a pitch competition presenting their findings. During the event the students had workshops to support the work and they had the opportunity to use employees from the company as facilitators. It was an extracurricular activity during the summer holiday season. The methodology used for data collection was qualitative both in terms of observations and participants’ reflection reports. The students were observed during the whole event. Findings from this part of a larger study indicated, that students experience inability to transfer and transform project competences from their previous disciplinary experiences to an interdisciplinary setting