Critical realism in information systems research
01 Sep 2013-Management Information Systems Quarterly (Society for Information Management and The Management Information Systems Research Center)-Vol. 37, Iss: 3, pp 795-802
TL;DR: A great strength of the paper is that MA is used in an in-depth study to reveal over a long time line the processes and mechanisms that explain how the ICT for development trajectory emerged from the interplay of interactions at different levels of players in global, national, public, private, third sector, and civil society institutions and organizations.
Abstract: Critical realism offers exciting prospects in shifting attention toward the real problems that one faces and their underlying causes. As such, it offers a robust framework for the use of a variety of methods in order to gain a better understanding of the meaning and significance of information systems in the contemporary world. One of the interesting tensions is that Archer's argument for the centrality of reflexivity in contemporary conditions tends to downplay both routine action and tacit forms of knowing, whereas a considerable volume of work on organizations and IS stresses the centrality of both. A great strength of the paper is that MA is used in an in-depth study to reveal over a long time line the processes and mechanisms that explain how the ICT for development trajectory emerged from the interplay of interactions at different levels of players in global, national, public, private, third sector, and civil society institutions and organizations.
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TL;DR: Realist Socinl Tlicory: Tlic I\\loriJlio!gciicti( as discussed by the authors is a clear and well-structured introduction to critical i-disrri, one of the most vibrant theoretical streams in the field of social scicnces.
Abstract: he revised English edition of this book tlie T original Swcdisli cdition. without tlie subtitle. is froni 1997 should be considered :is i111 important contribution to sociology and social science in general to tlie extent tliat it is a clear and wcll-structured introduction to critical i-disrri, one of the most rccent and vigorous theoretical streams in the field of thc social scicnces. if we take into coiisidcration tlic influential work of hlargaret t\\rclier (1995: Realist Socinl Tlicory: Tlic I\\loriJlio!gciicti(’
913 citations
TL;DR: This work proposes a new paradigm for SLRs in the supply chain domain that is based on both best practice and the unique attributes of doing supply chain management research, and will push supply network management research to the frontier of current methodological standards.
Abstract: While systematic literature reviews (SLRs) have contributed substantially to developing knowledge in fields such as medicine, they have made limited contributions to developing knowledge in the supply chain management domain. This is due to the ontological and epistemological idiosyncrasies of research in supply chain management, which need to be accounted for when retrieving, selecting, and synthesizing studies in an SLR. Therefore, we propose a new paradigm for SLRs in the supply chain domain that is based on both best practice and the unique attributes of doing supply chain management research. This approach involves exploring existing studies with attention to theoretical boundaries, units of analysis, sources of data, study contexts, and definitions and the operationalization of constructs, as well as research methods, with the goal of refining or revising existing theory. This new paradigm will push supply chain management research to the frontier of current methodological standards and build a foundation for improving the contribution of future SLRs in the supply chain and adjacent management disciplines.
424 citations
TL;DR: This special issue on “Sociomateriality of Information Systems and Organizing” highlights the mounting interest in the relationship between the social and the material, in the context of the authors' increasingly digital society.
Abstract: Our motivation for putting together this special issue on “Sociomateriality of Information Systems and Organizing” was the mounting interest in the relationship between the social and the material, in the context of our increasingly digital society. The attention to this relationship is manifested in the emergence of studies of technology intended to augment and complement, but also and importantly, to question the received views on technology in social life (see Carlile et al. 2013a; Leonardi et al. 2012; Suchman, 2007).
316 citations
Cites background from "Critical realism in information sys..."
...This conception of sociomateriality 2See the introduction by Mingers et al. (2013) to the special issue of MIS Quarterly on the subject of critical realism in IS research....
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TL;DR: It is argued that the critical realist approach offers a methodological tool for identifying generative mechanisms, helping the researcher in conducting a more precise data analysis in empirical research.
Abstract: Critical realism has attracted increasing attention as an alternative to positivist and interpretive research for explaining contemporary phenomena. There are now several sources for information systems’ (IS) scholars providing guidance on conducting critical realist studies. However, the most challenging step of a critical realist data analysis, the identification of causal mechanisms, is still insufficiently described. Identifying mechanisms is challenging. Drawing on the concept of affordances as an analytical construct offers the researcher a tool to identify and analyse mechanisms. We present a step-wise framework for identifying structural components of a mechanism, how these components interact to produce an outcome and contextual influences on this outcome. We illustrate the application of the framework through an example of the identification of IS innovation mechanisms in a case study in the airline industry. In doing so, we argue that the approach offers a methodological tool for identifying generative mechanisms, helping the researcher in conducting a more precise data analysis in empirical research.
182 citations
Cites background from "Critical realism in information sys..."
...Our contribution is methodological, not theoretical, that is we explicitly build on recent key contributions on generative mechanisms (Easton, 2010; Smith, 2010; Wynn and Williams, 2012; Mingers et al., 2013) and affordances (Leonardi, 2011; Volkoff and Strong, 2013), in IS research....
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...Broadly speaking, critical realism enables us to bridge the objectivism–relativism chasm between classical positivism and liberal interpretivism through its three key principles: a realist ontology, an epistemic but not judgmental relativity, and methodological pluralism (Mingers et al., 2013)....
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TL;DR: A case study is invoked to explore how one organization’s implementation of an ESM for its IT new hire program influenced the socialization process and outcomes and draws upon technology affordance theory to uncover the various first and second-order affordances actualized by different actor groups and the various outcomes resulting from the affordances.
Abstract: In response to the challenge of socializing new IT employees, some IT departments are exploring the incorporation of enterprise social media (hereinafter ESM) as an informal organizational socialization tool. Because this is a relatively new phenomenon, little is known about how ESM facilitate employee socialization. In order to contribute to our understanding of how ESM affects employee socialization, this paper invokes a case study to explore how one organization’s implementation of an ESM for its IT new hire program influenced the socialization process and outcomes. To delve deeply into how the ESM influences socialization, we draw upon technology affordance theory to uncover the various first and second-order affordances actualized by different actor groups and the various outcomes resulting from the affordances. We then identify five generative mechanisms – bureaucracy circumvention, executive perspective, personal development, name recognition, and morale booster – that explain how the actualization of different strands of affordances by various groups of users produces eight different outcomes. Our results provide insights into the different affordances made possible by ESM in the context of a new hire socialization program and how these affordances have repercussions beyond those experienced by the individuals using the ESM. The results have important implications for new hire socialization and technology affordance research.
130 citations
References
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Abstract: A continuously conveyed series of uniformly dimensioned panels of thin sheet material are counted and stacked from the bottom against an abutment edge of a stationary but rotatable cam plate. When a predetermined number of panels is collected in the stack, the cam plate is rotated to lift the stack into a rotating roll nip for conveyance to a second roll nip. Removal of the stack from the proximity of the collecting cam plate is completed by the second roll nip after the collecting cam has resumed a stationary, collecting position.
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TL;DR: Shils's attempt to work out a macrocrosociological theory which does justice both to the spiritual and intellectual dispositions and powers of the mind and to the reality of the larger society is an enterprise that has spanned several decades as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Edward Shils's attempt to work out a macrosociological theory which does justice both to the spiritual and intellectual dispositions and powers of the mind and to the reality of the larger society is an enterprise that has spanned several decades. In his steps toward the development of this theory he has not proceeded deductively; rather he has worked from his own concrete observations of Western, Asian, and African societies. Thus, despite the inevitable abstractness of marcrosociological theory, the papers in this volume-which have been published separately since the Second World War-have a quality of vivid substantiality that makes the theoretical statements they present easier to comprehend. Professor Shils has attempted to develop a theory that has a place for more than those parts of society that are generated from the biological nature of human beings and those parts that are engendered by the desires of individuals, acting for themselves or for groups and categories of individuals, to maintain and increase their power over other human beings and to secure material goods and services for themselves. He has argued that there are constituents of society in which human beings seek and cultivate connections with objects that transcend those needed to satisfy biological necessity and the desire for material objects and power over others. This third stratum of social existence, he concludes, cannot be reduced to the other two and cannot be disregarded in any serious attempt to understand the function of any society. Thus Edward Shils, without disregarding its many valuable achievements, has nevertheless parted ways with much of modern sociology. For this collection of papers the author has written an introductory intellectual autobiography that places each essay in the setting of the development of his thought and that connects it with his other writings.
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"Critical realism in information sys..." refers background in this paper
...It is worth noting that aspects of this inform Giddens’ (1984) arguments in developing his widely influential structuration theory (Mingers 2004a)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an extension to the structurational perspective on technology that develops a practice lens to examine how people, as they interact with a technology in their ongoing practices, enact structures which shape their emergent and situated use of that technology.
Abstract: As both technologies and organizations undergo dramatic changes in form and function, organizational researchers are increasingly turning to concepts of innovation, emergence, and improvisation to help explain the new ways of organizing and using technology evident in practice. With a similar intent, I propose an extension to the structurational perspective on technology that develops a practice lens to examine how people, as they interact with a technology in their ongoing practices, enact structures which shape their emergent and situated use of that technology. Viewing the use of technology as a process of enactment enables a deeper understanding of the constitutive role of social practices in the ongoing use and change of technologies in the workplace. After developing this lens, I offer an example of its use in research, and then suggest some implications for the study of technology in organizations.
4,036 citations
Book•
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TL;DR: The authors published an eight-volume collection of Peirce's writings on general philosophy, logic, pragmatism, metaphysics, experimental science, scientific method and philosophy of mind, as well as reviews and correspondence.
Abstract: Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) is best known as the founder of pragmatism - the philosophy that assesses the meaning of what we say by its practical consequences. His writings cover a wide range of subjects and his influence can be seen in ethics, aesthetics, symbolic logic, religion, epistemology and metaphysics, and also scientific topics. The greater part of Peirce's papers were unpublished during his lifetime and upon his death several hundred manuscripts were left to Harvard University. This eight-volume collection also includes Peirce's writings on general philosophy, logic, pragmatism, metaphysics, experimental science, scientific method and philosophy of mind, as well as reviews and correspondence. Paragraphs are numbered for easy reference and contents arranged by subject.
3,967 citations