NOT JUST ANOTHER TYPE OF RESISTANCE – TOWARDS A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SUPPORTIVE NON-USE

Research on information system (IS) adoption and resistance has accumulated substantial theoretical and managerial knowledge. Surprisingly, the paradox that end users support and at the same time resist use of an IS has received relatively little attention. The investigation of this puzzle, however, is important to complement our understanding of resistant behaviours and consequently to strengthen the explanatory power of extant theoretical constructs on IS resistance. We investigate an IS project within the healthcare sector in the UK in which end-users, who were heavily involved during the de-sign, implementation and roll out, expressed their support for the system, while simultaneously showing resistance. To examine this behaviour in detail, we applied Q methodology. As a result, we identified three different groups: (1) The convinced connector, waiting for collaborators. (2) The savvy explorer, sceptical about the tools’ benefits. (3) The ambivalent follower, overwhelmed by complexity. While the behaviour is similar across all three groups, the reasons for not using the system differ significantly. Based on these groups, as our main contribution, we explain the paradox of supportive non-use. We further add a fine grained understanding of supportive non-use to the existing types of IS resistance

Spoken Stories, Spoken Word: An Insurgent Practice for Restorative Education

This paper uses the terminology of whiteness, settler colonialism, culturally responsive pedagogy, and restorative education to interrogate the usage of spoken word in schools. I argue that spoken word can function as a form of resistance to white colonialist practices and as an advocate of emotional learning and critical education. This paper focuses on representation, student empowerment, and identity exploration in the context of education institutions. It crosses borders between education and authenticity, between classrooms and real life, and between teachers and students. I aim to ground this essay in the American Studies discipline as it discusses systems of power in the United States and seeks to disrupt dominant narratives through spoken word as an alternative education strategy for dismantling white supremacy and validating marginalized identities. This work is only a small part of the larger conversation on restorative justice in education

Great Expectations: Voluntary Sports Clubs and Their Role in Delivering National Policy for English Sport

“The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com”. Copyright International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University. DOI: 10.1007/s11266-009-9095-yVoluntary sports clubs (VSCs) account for about a quarter of all volunteering in England. The volunteers work in a mutual aid, self-production, self-consumption system whose main purpose is identifying and nurturing high-level performers. But the new HMG/Sport England strategies leading to London 2012 expects volunteers to make a major contribution to sustaining and extending participation. The study utilized six focus group sessions with a total of 36 officials and members of 36 clubs across the six counties of Eastern England to assess whether and to what extent government policy objectives can be delivered through the voluntary sector. The study focused on the perceptions and attitudes of club members about being expected to serve public policy and the current pressures they and their clubs face. The results lead the authors to question the appropriateness, sensitivity, and feasibility of current sport policy, particularly the emphasis on VSCs as policy implementers.Peer reviewe

Cutting Ties with Pro-Ana: A Narrative Inquiry Concerning the Experiences of Pro-Ana Disengagement from Six Former Site Users.

Websites advocating the benefits of eating disorders (“Pro-Ana”) tend to reinforce and maintain restrictive eating and purging behaviors. Yet remarkably, no study has explored individual accounts of disengagement from these sites and the associated meanings. Using narrative inquiry, this study sought to address this gap. From the interviews of six women, two overarching storylines emerged. The first closely tied disengagement to recovery with varying positions of personal agency claimed: this ranged from enforced and unwelcomed breaks that ignited change, to a personal choice that became viable through the development of alternative social and personal identities. A strong counternarrative to “disengagement as recovery” also emerged. Here, disengagement from Pro-Ana was storied alongside a need to retain an ED lifestyle. With “recovery” being just one reason for withdrawal from Pro-Ana sites, clinicians must remain curious about the meanings individuals ascribe to this act, without assuming it represents a step toward recovery.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Revealing the Vicious Circle of Disengaged User Acceptance: A SaaS Provider's Perspective

User acceptance tests (UAT) are an integral part of many different software engineering methodologies. In this paper, we examine the influence of UATs on the relationship between users and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, which are continuously delivered rather than rolled out during a one-off signoff process. Based on an exploratory qualitative field study at a multinational SaaS provider in Denmark, we show that UATs often address the wrong problem in that positive user acceptance may actually indicate a negative user experience. Hence, SaaS providers should be careful not to rest on what we term disengaged user acceptance. Instead, we outline an approach that purposefully queries users for ambivalent emotions that evoke constructive criticism, in order to facilitate a discourse that favors the continuous innovation of a SaaS system. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our approach for the study of user engagement in testing SaaS applications

Creating a therapeutic community in an adolescents' online support forum for depression

A research report submitted to the Discipline of Psychology. Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology) 19 March 2014Literature shows that adolescents experiencing emotional distress do not often seek support in the form of therapy, and are thus at greater risk for experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts. As such, adolescents require varying sources of support. Owing to evidence suggesting that adolescents prefer seeking support from their peers, with online forums being popular sources of support, it becomes relevant to consider how it is that such media are used to create supportive environments. In light of this, I use conversation analysis to examine how users interactionally create a therapeutic community through their actions and practices in an adolescents’ online support forum for depression. My findings show that the forum is interactionally organised in such a way that a series of recurrent actions and practices that the users exhibited while co-creating a supportive environment could be grouped together to form a typical overall sequential structure. It further showed how the success or failure of particular practices that the literature seems to treat as “good” or “bad”, in counselling terms, is a contingent outcome of the particular details and circumstances of their production. Furthermore, my data provide empirically-grounded accounts for previous findings showing that the action of displaying sympathy yields both positive and negative reactions

Framing the collaborative economy - Voices of contestation

Within the context of multiple crises and change, a range of practices discussed under the umbrella term of collaborative (or sharing) economy have been gaining considerable attention. Supporters build an idealistic vision of collaborative societies. Critics have been stripping the concept of its visionary potential, questioning its revolutionary nature. In the study, these debates are brought down to the local level in search for common perceptions among the co-creators of the concept in Vienna, Austria. Towards this aim a Q study is conducted, i.e. a mixed method enabling analyses of subjective perceptions on socially contested topics. Four framings are identified: Visionary Supporters, Market Optimists, Visionary Critics, and Skeptics, each bringing their values, visions, and practical goals characteristic of different understanding of the collaborative economy. The study questions the need for building a globally-applicable definition of the concept, calls for more context-sensitivity, exploratory studies, and city-level multi-stakeholder dialogues

Using personal narratives to explore multiple identities in organisational contexts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore and incorporate personal narratives as a new methodological tool into the qualitative research of complex organisational issues such as identity. Particularly, this study provides a fresh methodological perspective on organisational identity exploration by using personal narratives to examine multiple identities that occur in dynamic organisational contexts. Design/methodology/approach In order to examine multiple identities, personal narratives found in the 43 semi-structured in-depth interviews collected were analysed. These narratives were examined following a textual and performative analysis. Findings The paper furthers methodological discussions in organisations in three ways. First, it responds to the need for a methodological approach that allows multiple identity exploration in organisations while it presents personal narratives as a valuable methodological perspective within organisational research. Second, it extends the methodological use of personal narratives for the in-depth qualitative study of complex organisational issues such as identity. Finally, the study stretches the boundaries of mainstream organisational research by illustrating that personal narratives can be used as a methodological approach to explore organisational identities. Originality/value This research integrates personal narratives as a methodological tool into the qualitative research of dynamic organisational issues. Employing personal narratives has allowed the exploration of multiple identities that take place in organisations in a manner not previously achieved in organisational studies. The study, therefore, challenges previous organisational research and expands the boundaries of organisational identity studies, offering a new qualitative methodological account for identity exploration in organisations

The Youth Transitions Study: Final Report

falsePalmerson Nort

Exploring the landscape of reflection

open4noopenFrison, Daniela; Fedeli, Monica; Tino, Concetta; Minnoni, ErikaFrison, Daniela; Fedeli, Monica; Tino, Concetta; Minnoni, Erik