Identifying the emergence and development of new technologies has become an essential ability for firms competing in dynamic environments. Nonetheless, current technology intelligence practices are unstructured and vaguely defined. Moreover, the existing literature in future technology studies lacks strong, systematic explanations of what technologies are, where technologies come from, and how new technologies emerge and evolve. The present study builds on Structuration Theory, and proposes the structurational model of emerging technologies (SMET). The SMET suggests not only an ongoing view of technologies as social objects, but also a process for thinking through scientifically the complex, multidimensional and emergent dynamic of social and technological change. The SMET proposes that the emergence and development of a new technology can be tracked by examining systematically and collectively the extent of development of its technology-related social structure – its degree of structuration. The degree of structuration of a technology is an ongoing process instantiated in social practices, and can be observed through visible patterns or specific social outcomes of systemic activity organized in three analytical dimensions: structures of meaning, power, and legitimacy. The SMET assumes that the conceptual initiation of a new technology triggers new patterns of social activity or a signal of technological change; thus, the variation in the slope or trajectory of the degree of structuration of a technology may indicate an early signal of technological change. The SMET sets a foundation for identifying early signals of technological change when it is used on a systematic basis. Empirically, the study conducted an exploratory case study in the Internet industry. The study employed a sequential transformative mixed method procedure, and relied on 77 Internet experts to create retrospectively a systematic and collective interpretation of the Internet industry in the last ten (10) years. The test of hypotheses was based on only seven (7) Internet technologies due to time and instrumental constraints. The results confirm the fundamental relationships among constructs in the model, and support, thus, the SMET. The degree of structuration of a technology is revealed as a process independent of individuals’ participation in the enactment of a technology. Technological outcomes are explained by the extent of development of structures of meaning, power, and legitimacy (i.e., the degree of structuration of a technology). Moreover, influential technological outcomes shape individuals’ perspectives over time – i.e., the structurational effect. Hence, the study not only provides evidence that supports this novel theoretical framework, but also illustrates methodologically how to identify the emergence and development of new technologies. Likewise, the study discusses the implications of these results for technology management practices (e.g., product and technology development, innovation policies, and technology transfer activities). Lastly, the study recognizes limitations and suggests further research avenues.

Abstract The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has earmarked 27 billion dollars to promote the adoption of Health Information Technologies (HIT) in the US, and to gain access to these funds, providers must document “Meaningful Use” during the care process. While individual HIT use according to lean measures, including meaningful use, is prevalent in the IS literature, few studies have incorporated rich measures to account for the task, the technology, and the user in a team context. This dissertation conceptualizes Team Deep Structure Use of Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) as an IT- enabled coordination mechanism, and Relational Coordination as the inherent ability of clinical teams to coordinate care spontaneously using informal, relationship based mechanisms. IT-enabled and Relational Coordination mechanisms are each evaluated across five maximally different patient conditions to simultaneously examine their impact on our outcome measure, Patient Satisfaction with the clinical care team. The extant literature has established a deep understanding of IT adoption shortly after implementation, yet the literature is silent on the antecedents of IT use according to rich measures well after the shake down phase, a period in which the majority of organizations operate. We incorporate the Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) constructs of Faithfulness of Appropriation, and Consensus on Appropriation as the focal antecedents of Deep Structure Use of the clinical system by team members. To our knowledge, no prior research has linked these two AST constructs to clinical outcomes through the incorporation of a rich use mediator such as Deep Structure Use of a Health IT. To test our model, we relied on survey responses from 555 physicians, nurses and mid-levels which had cared for 261 patients across five patient conditions, ranging from vaginal birth, to organ transplant, as well as pneumonia, knee/hip replacement and cardiovascular surgery. Our results confirm that the Adaptive Structuration constructs of Faithfulness of Appropriation and Consensus on Appropriation, generate positive and statistically significant path coefficients predicting Team Deep Structure Use of CPOE. We also report differential effects on Patient Satisfaction with the care team resulting from technology use. Results range from a significant positive path coefficient (.285) associated with higher Team Deep Structure Use on combined Pneumonia and Organ Transplant teams, to a significant negative path coefficient (-.174) on cardiovascular surgery teams. As expected, Pneumonia, Organ Transplant and Cardiovascular Surgery teams all reported positive effects on Patient Satisfaction with the care team as a result of higher Relational Coordination scores. For teams caring for patient conditions consistently associated with a shorter length of stay, including vaginal birth and knee/hip replacement, higher reported use of IT- enabled, or Relational Coordination mechanisms, did not result in a significant increase in Patient Satisfaction. This dissertation contributes to the growing Health IT literature, and has practical implications for clinicians, hospital administrators and Health IT professionals. This dissertation is the first to operationalize a rich measure of use of an HIT by clinical teams, and to simultaneously measure the impact of IT enabled and Relational Coordination mechanisms on Patient Satisfaction. Secondly, through the introduction of Adaptive Structuration constructs, our model establishes a methodology for predicting rich, nuanced use in teams well after the initial shake down phase associated with recent HIT implementation. Through the juxtaposition of the impact of IT-enabled and Relational Coordination mechanisms across patient conditions, practitioners can design interventions and adjust the level of resources applied to process improvement accordingly.

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With the coming era of Internet and knowledge economy, the importance of IS/IT(information systems/information technology) to enterprises can not be overemphasized. However, if IS/IT couldn¡¦t be implemented successfully and brings its performance into full play, the effectiveness and usefulness of IS/IT are unmeaningful. The implementation of IS/IT in an organization is a complicated and dynamic process, which is effected by a variety of factors. For instance, technical factors, the psychological and behavior factors of users, even the cultural, political, economic, and institutional factors rest on the level of organization or environment may all cause the critical effects of implementing IS/IT. For the purpose of understanding the whole picture of IS/IT implementation process, this study integrates the perspective of contradiction/opposition into Structuration Theory and then proposes an interpretive framework, which can contribute to the interpretation of how and why the organization changes and develops. The framework can be used to identify the mechanism behind changing events and the context connected with them, therefore, we can adequately make sense of the complicated and dynamic social process of IS/IT implementation. By distinguishing the contradiction/opposition between structures of agents, between social structures, and between agent structure and social structure, the study interprets how and why agents respond to the enabling/constraint forces caused by structures. According to this, we can understand the unique structuration of IS/IT implementation process in an organization. For the application of the integrated framework, this study adopts qualitative research methodology and the framework for guidance to study an intensive case of ERP implementation. Through the data collection and analysis, this study identifies all of the contradiction/opposition between social entities, and the enabling/constraint social forces during the process of ERP implementation. The result reveals that the severe contradictions/oppositions between social entities caused the failure of the ERP project in Phase I. Entering the Phase II, in addition to the transformation of some structures of social entities, the new forming MIS structure exercised its political and expert power to make ERP system finally perform well. In Phase III, the case company went back to the previous stable status, because the ERP project ended and main project members withdrew. At the end of the paper, this study proposes some conclusions and suggestions for practitioners and academia, and also shows the limitation of the study.

The implementation of planned organizational change is ultimately a communication-related phenomenon, and as such, it is imperative that organizational communication scholars examine the interactions surrounding EHR implementation and understand how users (e.g. healthcare practitioners) utilize, evaluate, and deliberate this new technological innovation. Previous research on planned organizational change has called for researchers to adopt a more dynamic perspective that emphasizes the active agency of organizational members throughout implementation processes and focuses on informal implementers and change reinvention (work-arounds) as individuals actively reinterpret and personalize their work roles during implementation socialization. This dissertation seeks to fill this gap in research by demonstrating how communication between doctors, nurses, and other health professionals affects the adoption, maintenance, alternation, modification, or rejection of EHR systems within health care organizations. To delve into these inquiries and examine the intersecting domains of medical informatics and organizational communication research, this dissertation proceeds in the following manner: First, a literature review, capitalizing on Laurie Lewis’s work in planned organizational change and social constructionist views of technology use in organizations, outlines the assumptions that undergird this research. Next, this dissertation builds a model that predicts the communicative and structural antecedents of the study outcome variables, which include 1) organizational resistance to EHR implementation, 2) employees’ perception of EHR implementation success, 3) levels of change reinvention—or work-arounds—due to change initiatives and activities, and 4) employees’ perceptions of the quality of the organizational communication surrounding the change. Hypotheses guiding the model specification are provided and are followed by a description of the empirical methods and procedures that were utilized to explore the variable relationships. Results of the SEM model suggest that work-arounds could play a mediating role governing the relationship between informal social influence and the outcome variables in the study. In addition, one-way ANOVAs and multiple regression analyses reveal that physicians are the most resistant to EHR implementation and perceived change communication quality positively predicts perceived EHR implementation success and perceived relative advantage of EHR and negatively predicts employee resistance. A discussion of the expected and unexpected results is offered in addition to study limitation and future directions. / text

Identifying the emergence and development of new technologies has become an essential ability for firms competing in dynamic environments. Nonetheless, current technology intelligence practices are unstructured and vaguely defined. Moreover, the existing literature in future technology studies lacks strong, systematic explanations of what technologies are, where technologies come from, and how new technologies emerge and evolve. The present study builds on Structuration Theory, and proposes the structurational model of emerging technologies (SMET). The SMET suggests not only an ongoing view of technologies as social objects, but also a process for thinking through scientifically the complex, multidimensional and emergent dynamic of social and technological change. The SMET proposes that the emergence and development of a new technology can be tracked by examining systematically and collectively the extent of development of its technology-related social structure – its degree of structuration. The degree of structuration of a technology is an ongoing process instantiated in social practices, and can be observed through visible patterns or specific social outcomes of systemic activity organized in three analytical dimensions: structures of meaning, power, and legitimacy. The SMET assumes that the conceptual initiation of a new technology triggers new patterns of social activity or a signal of technological change; thus, the variation in the slope or trajectory of the degree of structuration of a technology may indicate an early signal of technological change. The SMET sets a foundation for identifying early signals of technological change when it is used on a systematic basis. Empirically, the study conducted an exploratory case study in the Internet industry. The study employed a sequential transformative mixed method procedure, and relied on 77 Internet experts to create retrospectively a systematic and collective interpretation of the Internet industry in the last ten (10) years. The test of hypotheses was based on only seven (7) Internet technologies due to time and instrumental constraints. The results confirm the fundamental relationships among constructs in the model, and support, thus, the SMET. The degree of structuration of a technology is revealed as a process independent of individuals’ participation in the enactment of a technology. Technological outcomes are explained by the extent of development of structures of meaning, power, and legitimacy (i.e., the degree of structuration of a technology). Moreover, influential technological outcomes shape individuals’ perspectives over time – i.e., the structurational effect. Hence, the study not only provides evidence that supports this novel theoretical framework, but also illustrates methodologically how to identify the emergence and development of new technologies. Likewise, the study discusses the implications of these results for technology management practices (e.g., product and technology development, innovation policies, and technology transfer activities). Lastly, the study recognizes limitations and suggests further research avenues.

This study investigates the factors that influence appropriate use of audit support systems. Appropriate use is use of an audit support system in a manner consistent with how the audit firm expects the system to be used. Investigating appropriate use of audit support systems is important because the extent to which these systems can assist auditors achieve efficient and high quality audits depends on how auditors use them. Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) (DeSanctis and Poole, 1994) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) are combined to model the relationship between constructs hypothesised to increase the probability that audit support systems are used appropriately. The theoretical model decomposes two TPB antecedents, perceived normative pressure (or subjective norms) and perceived behavioural control, into the exogenous constructs hypothesised to influence whether audit support systems are used appropriately. Perceived normative pressure is decomposed into two socio-ideological control mechanisms, team and firm consensus on appropriation. Perceived behavioural control is decomposed into self-efficacy and two technocratic control mechanisms, perceived system restrictiveness and perceived audit review effectiveness. (For complete abstract open document)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The overarching objective of this thesis is to investigate and examine several contemporary IC theories and how they are utilised in practice so that understandings of the IC concept can be developed, in order to answer in part the main research question of “How does IC in action influence organisations?” The content of the thesis is based on a review of IC from both a theory and practice perspective and four empirical papers that examines IC theory as it is implemented in practice. In combining these papers into a coherent piece of work, a critical research perspective, as outlined by Alvesson and Deetz (2000), has been utilised as the theoretical framework. The term ‘critical’ is used in this thesis not to find fault with contemporary theory and practice of IC but rather to examine and question the application of IC theory into practice. The end result of doing so is the narrowing of an identified gap between IC theory and practice. A ‘critical’ analysis of IC in action is justified because the development of the concept of IC parallels that of ‘critical’ theory in that both have evolved from changing conditions in society as technology and the proliferation of knowledge that have fundamentally altered the conditions under which organisations operate. The overarching findings of the thesis are based on three outcomes of critical research being insight, critique and transformative re-definitions. Insight into IC is developed by examining contemporary IC frameworks as they have been applied. Critique is developed by putting to the test the implications for organisations as a result of implementing these contemporary IC frameworks. Last, transformative re-definition is achieved by opening a discourse on the impact of implementing IC practices so that academics and practitioners can develop critical, relevant and practical understandings that begins the process of change and develops practical managerial skills. More importantly this thesis identifies how the development of tools to reduce ‘causal ambiguity’ about how intangible resource help create (or destroy) value has the potential to raise the profile of IC as a strategic management technology. But from the wider view of the critical perspective, it is not the intention of this thesis to prescribe specific formulae for the measuring, management and reporting of IC, nor does it intend to further develop theory. So while the individual papers may proffer that certain avenues proved productive in developing insights, critique and transformative re-definition, these avenues are not offered as the preferred way of investigating IC. More specifically the goal of a critical perspective is to open a discourse. The opprurtinity for academics and practitioners to engage in discourse is enabled by the thesis’ focus on the issues identified by highlighting the gap between IC theory and practice. Furthermore, each of the included papers offers the opportunity for further discourse by way of the opportunities that remain for future research. Additionally, the thesis achieves exemplifies a number of different approaches to conducting research into IC practice that puts to the test particular aspects of IC theory in order to develop insights and understandings of IC in practice. As the empirical material only examines a fraction of contemporary IC theory there is scope for further research and thus discourse into the implementation of IC theory into IC practice. This future research should not be constrained by a particular method of research as exemplified in the variety of methods employed to gather the empirical material for the papers which stretches along the continuum of qualitative and quantitative research. This too provides an avenue of for future discourse.

O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir para uma compreensão mais clara sobre o desenvolvimento de intranets e portais corporativos nas organizações, através da análise do principal determinante do sucesso desses projetos: o uso efetivo da tecnologia. Para atingir esse objetivo, esta pesquisa adota uma visão multidimensional, considerando tanto a perspectiva individual como a organizacional. O suporte teórico advém de extensa revisão das pesquisas já publicadas sobre o tema, compreendendo elementos retirados da teoria da estruturação de Giddens e de modelos consagrados de aceitação da tecnologia, como UTAUT e TAM. A metodologia consiste de estudo de caso em três organizações do setor público, com estruturas bastante semelhantes, mas que desenvolveram suas intranets de modo independente. A análise dos contextos organizacionais demonstrou que o uso da tecnologia nos casos estudados, na prática, ainda é muito limitado. Os resultados da pesquisa revelam que esse uso é resultado da conjunção de complexos elementos. Além das deficiências na funcionalidade da tecnologia, os indivíduos não reconheceram a utilidade prática das intranets e, do mesmo modo, não se sentem estimulados a usar a tecnologia. Essa realidade é consequência de problemas na gestão da tecnologia, como a falta de participação efetiva de setores estratégicos, que aliados a aspectos estruturais das organizações, como a divisão entre os setores e a acentuada especialização funcional, contribuem para a manutenção desse quadro. Em sua maioria, esses elementos constituem práticas já institucionalizadas nas organizações, reforçadas pelo comportamento de seus membros no fluir de suas interações. / The goal of this paper is to help provide a clearer understanding of the development of intranets and corporate portals in organizations, by examining the main determinant behind the success of these projects: the effective use of technology. To achieve this goal, this study uses a multidimensional approach, considering both the individual and organizational perspective. The theoretical support is based on an extensive review of already published research on the subject, including elements drawn from Gidden's theory of structuration and renowned technology acceptance models, such as UTAUT and TAM. The methodology consists of a case study in three public sector organizations, with very similar structures, but which developed their intranets independently. The analysis of the organizational contexts demonstrated that the use of technology in the cases studied is still, in practice, very limited. The research findings show that using it is the result of a complex conjunction of elements. Besides the shortcomings in the functionality of the technology, people have not recognized the usefulness of intranets and, likewise, do not feel attracted to use the technology. This reality is a consequence of problems in technology management, such as lack of effective participation of strategic sectors, which combined with structural aspects of organizations, like the division between sectors and accentuated job specialization, contribute toward maintaining this state of affairs. Most of these elements are already institutionalized practices in organizations, reinforced by the behavior of their members in the course of their interactions.

O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir para uma compreensão mais clara sobre o desenvolvimento de intranets e portais corporativos nas organizações, através da análise do principal determinante do sucesso desses projetos: o uso efetivo da tecnologia. Para atingir esse objetivo, esta pesquisa adota uma visão multidimensional, considerando tanto a perspectiva individual como a organizacional. O suporte teórico advém de extensa revisão das pesquisas já publicadas sobre o tema, compreendendo elementos retirados da teoria da estruturação de Giddens e de modelos consagrados de aceitação da tecnologia, como UTAUT e TAM. A metodologia consiste de estudo de caso em três organizações do setor público, com estruturas bastante semelhantes, mas que desenvolveram suas intranets de modo independente. A análise dos contextos organizacionais demonstrou que o uso da tecnologia nos casos estudados, na prática, ainda é muito limitado. Os resultados da pesquisa revelam que esse uso é resultado da conjunção de complexos elementos. Além das deficiências na funcionalidade da tecnologia, os indivíduos não reconheceram a utilidade prática das intranets e, do mesmo modo, não se sentem estimulados a usar a tecnologia. Essa realidade é consequência de problemas na gestão da tecnologia, como a falta de participação efetiva de setores estratégicos, que aliados a aspectos estruturais das organizações, como a divisão entre os setores e a acentuada especialização funcional, contribuem para a manutenção desse quadro. Em sua maioria, esses elementos constituem práticas já institucionalizadas nas organizações, reforçadas pelo comportamento de seus membros no fluir de suas interações. / The goal of this paper is to help provide a clearer understanding of the development of intranets and corporate portals in organizations, by examining the main determinant behind the success of these projects: the effective use of technology. To achieve this goal, this study uses a multidimensional approach, considering both the individual and organizational perspective. The theoretical support is based on an extensive review of already published research on the subject, including elements drawn from Gidden's theory of structuration and renowned technology acceptance models, such as UTAUT and TAM. The methodology consists of a case study in three public sector organizations, with very similar structures, but which developed their intranets independently. The analysis of the organizational contexts demonstrated that the use of technology in the cases studied is still, in practice, very limited. The research findings show that using it is the result of a complex conjunction of elements. Besides the shortcomings in the functionality of the technology, people have not recognized the usefulness of intranets and, likewise, do not feel attracted to use the technology. This reality is a consequence of problems in technology management, such as lack of effective participation of strategic sectors, which combined with structural aspects of organizations, like the division between sectors and accentuated job specialization, contribute toward maintaining this state of affairs. Most of these elements are already institutionalized practices in organizations, reinforced by the behavior of their members in the course of their interactions.