PACIS 2020 Proceedings
Abstract
This article adopts a material discursive perspective underpinned by a critical-realist epistemology to explore the effects of exclusionary practices experienced by IT employees during a post-merger integration. Findings from an in-depth case study, based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with senior and middle managers in IT combined with document analysis, show how the material discursive struggles about social exclusion experienced during the strategic change were constraining their ability to perform at the individual, group and IT unit level. A conceptualization of change-induced exclusion is developed whereby both material and discursive practices are viewed to be mutually enacting during a strategic IS change. Our study builds on the strategy-as-practice perspective and goes beyond recent studies of strategic change in IS and organizational discourse by demonstrating that practices in organizational change, including exclusionary practices, are simultaneously both material and discursive. The article presents a material discursive framework for analysing change-induced exclusion and offers practitioners important insights on how to prevent or minimise exclusionary practices during a strategic IS change.
Recommended Citation
Naidoo, Rennie and Maluleke, Portia, "A Material Discursive Perspective of Social Exclusion in a Strategic IS Change" (2020). PACIS 2020 Proceedings. 123.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2020/123
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