Abstract

Traditional IT introduction approaches tend to follow a goal-driven, top-down logic, whereby management evaluates and selects technology that is then imposed on end-users. In this research-in-progress paper, it is argued that such approaches are not appropriate for enterprise social software (ESS) as a type of malleable technology requiring end-user appropriation. Through an embedded researcher relationship with a case organisation, a research approach and preliminary findings are presented in which the juxtaposition of two, client and consultant, practices align with either a top-down or employee-centric view regarding ESS. By utilizing a practice breakdown lens, this paper explores the tensions that are revealed in ESS projects as the two practices struggle to socially construct a joint solution for ESS inside client organisations. This unique context affords studying the particular nature of ESS and solutions for its uptake, as breakdowns foreground the role of the end-user in malleable technologies.

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