an article by Mark Thompson (Judge Business School, Cambridge, UK) published in Information and Organization Volume 22 Issue 3 (July 2012)
Abstract
This paper argues that practice-based management and IS literature has tended to portray a voluntaristic account of human agency that downplays the contribution to emergent social outcomes of more deeply rooted psychological dimensions of the human condition.
Within the IS research community, this tendency is exemplified in work using Giddens’ structuration theory, which, whilst acknowledging the importance of human interpretive properties, has foregrounded cognitive aspects to interpretation at the expense of important non-cognitive ingredients such as affect and biographical identity. These non-cognitive ingredients are less amenable for study using the structurational model, but receive comprehensive treatment elsewhere in Gidden’ work.
Accordingly, it is argued that a useful direction for future theory development would be to seek a more balanced account of humans’ co-constitutive relationship with technology in practice. This could be achieved by supplementing the structurational perspective, with its primary focus on emergent social structure, with a more explicit engagement with Giddens’ broader concern with emergent biographical structure. An initial integrative framework is offered as a first step in this direction.
Highlights
► The non-cognitive/affective is routinely downplayed in IS research.
► This is increasingly at odds with emerging interest in process/practice theory.
► Use of Giddens’ work in IS shows a similar downplaying of the non-cognitive.
► This is a missed opportunity to draw on Giddens’ broader ideas concerning the subjective.
► The paper rehabilitates structuration within the broader canvas of Giddens’ ideas.
Showing posts with label Giddens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giddens. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Monday, 26 September 2011
The adoption and diffusion of eLearning in UK universities: …
A comparative case study using Giddens’s Theory of Structuration
an article by Glenn Hardaker (University of Huddersfield Business School) and Gurmak Singh (University of Wolverhampton Business School) published in Campus-Wide Information Systems, Volume 28 Issue 4 (2011)
Abstract
Purpose
This exploratory study seeks to identifythe factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of instructional technology at five prominent universities in the UK. The study aims to examine the organisational factors that enable and inhibit organisational adoption and diffusion of innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative exploratory case approach has been adopted to address the research question. In total, 36 semi-structured interviews were conducted at five universities in the UK. The five diverse approaches to adoption and diffusion of instructional technology were examined; top-down, integrated top-down, bottom-up, research-driven and project-driven approach.
Findings
For this research e-Learning is conceptualised as innovation situated in the interplay between structure and individual and how this leads to adoption and diffusion. The paper argues that senior management need to acknowledge the need to bridge the gap between “local context” and top-down strategic change. The findings suggest that there are tensions between “signification of meaning”, “power and dominance” and cultural norms in adoption and diffusion of e-Learning.
Research limitations/implications
The implications of the research are significant in understanding the diversity of approaches to the adoption and diffusion of e-learning. This provides insight for other universities in successfully managing the application of e-learning.
Originality/value
Giddens's structuration theory provided a sensitising framework for understanding the dialectical nature of adoption of e-Learning within five universities in the UK. The tensions between institutional structures, such as strategies, training, access to technology, technical support and time resources, and levels of adoption can be captured by dialectic of control in Giddens's Theory of Structuration.
an article by Glenn Hardaker (University of Huddersfield Business School) and Gurmak Singh (University of Wolverhampton Business School) published in Campus-Wide Information Systems, Volume 28 Issue 4 (2011)
Abstract
Purpose
This exploratory study seeks to identifythe factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of instructional technology at five prominent universities in the UK. The study aims to examine the organisational factors that enable and inhibit organisational adoption and diffusion of innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative exploratory case approach has been adopted to address the research question. In total, 36 semi-structured interviews were conducted at five universities in the UK. The five diverse approaches to adoption and diffusion of instructional technology were examined; top-down, integrated top-down, bottom-up, research-driven and project-driven approach.
Findings
For this research e-Learning is conceptualised as innovation situated in the interplay between structure and individual and how this leads to adoption and diffusion. The paper argues that senior management need to acknowledge the need to bridge the gap between “local context” and top-down strategic change. The findings suggest that there are tensions between “signification of meaning”, “power and dominance” and cultural norms in adoption and diffusion of e-Learning.
Research limitations/implications
The implications of the research are significant in understanding the diversity of approaches to the adoption and diffusion of e-learning. This provides insight for other universities in successfully managing the application of e-learning.
Originality/value
Giddens's structuration theory provided a sensitising framework for understanding the dialectical nature of adoption of e-Learning within five universities in the UK. The tensions between institutional structures, such as strategies, training, access to technology, technical support and time resources, and levels of adoption can be captured by dialectic of control in Giddens's Theory of Structuration.
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