When Institutional Logics Meet Information and Communication Technologies: Examining Hybrid Information Practices in Ghana’s Agriculture

In this paper, we describe how changes in the availability of information artifacts—in particular, information and communication technologies (ICTs)—among smallholder farmers in Ghana, led to a process of hybridization of information practices, and how this process could be linked to underlying institutional change. We use the notions of institutional carriers and activity systems to study the evolution of the prevailing “smallholder” institutional logic of Ghanaian agriculture toward an incoming “value-chain” institutional logic concerned with linking farmers to output markets, improving the knowledge base in agriculture, and increasing its information intensity. We draw on a mixed-methods approach, including in-depth qualitative interviews, focus groups, observations, and detailed secondary quantitative data. We cultivate activity theory as a practice-based lens for structuring inquiry into institutional change. We find that information artifacts served to link the activities of farmers that were embedded in the smallholder logic with those of agricultural-development actors that promoted the value-chain logic. Hybridization occurred through the use of artifacts with different interaction modalities. In terms of conceptualizing change, our findings suggest that hybridization of the two logics may be an intermediary point in the long transition from the smallholder toward the value-chain logic

Exploring the Value of Business Analytics Solutions for SMEs

There is an increasing recognition of the need for organisations to make effective use of the information which is available to them, that sources of information have expanded hugely and that analytics offers organisations the possibility of insights which could not otherwise be obtained. Sophisticated analytics, however, have been seen as the preserve of large organisations but is this is, potentially, changing. In this paper we have explored the potential value of business analytics solutions in the specific case of smaller organisations and we have highlighted how such organisations may start to drive value from such analytic tools

Innovation in UK Law Enforcement: The Emergence of Mobile Data

In this paper we use activity theory to illuminate our understanding of the emergence of an innovation (mobile data) in one police constabulary. In particular, we focus our efforts on the salient developments of the innovation and relationships formed with IT suppliers and government bodies. The case study provides an instructive example of the innovation process and a presents a number of interesting findings. The analysis showed that the innovation process can be described as a shared activity and the innovation itself as modular. Along these lines, the innovation activity demonstrated the case of open innovation in a policing context and identified the importance and concerns surrounding central body intervention

Modelling ill-defined domains using activity theory for semantic augmentation of the social web

This poster describes research concerning modelling ill-defined domains using activity theory for semantic augmentation of the social we

Strategic Responses to Digitised Products: a Case Study of an Automotive Firm

Firms are faced with the pace and complexity of digital transformation, which leads to changes in organisational structures, processes, culture and products. This study examines how an automotive firm attempts to align its strategy to an increasingly digitised and software-based product. The key observations show how digitised products disrupt intra-organisational and inter-organisational ways of working, and old-fashioned mass production. To combat these challenges, essential strategic responses including the implementation of new processes and the establishment of own software firms take place. In addition, since manufactured digitised vehicles are not sold as completed products and require frequent software updates during their lifecycle, organisations need to develop dynamic alignment competencies to continuously update their business strategy, thrive in a digital world and sustain their competitive advantage

HOW PARTS CONNECT TO WHOLE IN BUILDING DIGITAL GENERATIVITY IN DIGITAL PLATFORM ECOSYSTEMS

Generativity drives digital innovation and platform growth by engaging many other businesses with diverse digital skills and resources in a digital platform. As the proliferation of generativity research grows, the Information Systems (IS) literature demonstrates the basic understanding of this notion in the areas of properties of digital technologies, social events, and/or the interaction between these two without an integrated view of how generativity is raised to enable the digital innovation. Therefore, considering that digital platforms are a kind of ecosystem, we aim to develop a new understanding of this emerging phenomenon by employing a holistic perspective. Through the information ecology theoretical lens, we develop a digital generativity process model that explains how the technological and social resources interact to generate perpetual digital innovation in digital platform ecosystems (DPE). This study contributes to generativity research by providing a dynamic and holistic view of generativity formalization in DPEs

Dynamic Spectrum Access: Implications of the diffusion of spectrum sharing technology

This poster describes early research into the impacts of Dynamic Spectrum Access technology and the implications of the diffusion of spectrum sharing technolog

WHEN IS A GOAL A GOAL? ADDRESSING EQUIVOCALITY WITH TECHNOLOGY

Video assistant Referee (VAR) was introduced in football (soccer) to minimize errors directly affecting the match result. As a socio-technical intervention in the sport of football to support decision-making, there is tension between real-world contexts that lack objectivity and the application of information systems to make sense of them. In this research, we set out to offer new insights for information systems research by demonstrating this fundamental but hitherto neglected tension arising from the use of technology to reason about events and execute tasks. Using an initial sample of 27 VAR errors, we demonstrate the challenge of using information systems to faithfully represent subjective events. Our initial analysis outlines emergent concepts that help to explain the incidents analyzed, which serves as the orienting framework for our findings. Our findings suggest that information systems may not necessarily offer answers to messy, complex and subjective matters

Does blockchain introduce new tensions in supply chain networks? A view from the food supply chain industry

Traceability and Authenticity (TA) has been a crucial concern for supply chain networks, as illegal and unauthorised practices spread due to a lack of TA. Innovative technology blockchain is argued to enable TA and address different issues in the food supply chain. While existing literature has mostly taken a techno-optimistic view of blockchain’s potential to solve current supply chain issues, tensions that blockchain can introduce in supply chain activities remain neglected. Therefore, this study empirically investigated blockchain implementation to uncover the new tensions in supply chain activities while solving existing tensions. Activity theory was adopted as a theoretical lens with in-depth qualitative interviews from organisations deploying blockchain to enable TA in the network. The study proposes new theoretical insights on how tensions emerge and build on each other to achieve TA in the supply chain network, which will guide organisations to improve TA by adopting blockchain