Debra Howcroft
Biographic Data
| ID | 334907 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Debra Howcroft |
| GIVEN NAMES | Debra |
| FAMILY NAME | Howcroft |
| SIGNATURE | HOWCROFT D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manchester |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9489-9947 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 275 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Sociotechnical Change in British Supermarkets
When predicting the future of retail work, commentators tend to focus on automation and labour replacement and neglect the continued role played by labour, particularly in food retail. To understand this role, this article draws on both interview and newspaper data to show how change unfolded in the sector from before to just after the Coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, it shows how increased technology adoption and use in food retail occurred a…
Trade Unions and Sociotechnical Change
This article examines how trade unions in Chile adopted legal mobilisation to address a sociotechnical transformation agenda that triggered wage decline and work intensification. The proposed change involved the implementation of a Functional Flexibility Plan by a multinational retailer, facilitated by in‐store logistics and supermarket front‐end sales technologies. Connecting a Sociotechnical Approach with Employment Relations studies, and using…
Digitalisation and the Remaking of the Ideal Worker
The ideal worker concept, typified by an unencumbered male, continues to influence workplace norms, despite a more gender-mixed workforce. This article examines whether this concept is being disrupted or reproduced as digitalisation becomes increasingly embedded in the workplace. Based on qualitative research in two professional services firms, the analysis shows how the ideal worker themes of work prioritisation and presenteeism have been mainta…
Automation and the future of work
Recent years have seen enormous attention paid to automation and its potential implications for the future of work. This study rejects unhelpful speculation and, instead, poses the question ‘what is shaping automation and its predicted effects?’ In contrast to the technological determinism framing much of the current debate, this study utilises the social shaping of technology (SST) approach, a theoretically informed body of research largely over…
A Typology of Crowdwork Platforms
Despite growing interest in the gig economy among academics, policy makers and media commentators, the area is replete with different terminology, definitional constructs and contested claims about the ensuing transformation of work organisation. The aim of this positional piece is to provide a timely review and classification of crowdwork. A typology is developed to map the complexity of this emerging terrain, illuminating range and scope by cri…
Plus ca change, plus la meme chose?'—researching and theorising the ‘new’ new technologies
Plus ca change, plus la meme chose?'-researching and theorising the 'new' new technologies
They can't be the buffer any longer
This article reasserts the value of the examination of class relations. It does so via a case study of tax-processing sites within HM Revenue and Customs, focusing on the changes wrought by the alterations to labour and supervisory processes implemented under the banner of 'lean production'. It concentrates on the transformation of front-line managers, as their tasks moved from those that required tax knowledge and team support to those that narr…
Taxing Times
The prevailing economic and budgetary climate is intensifying the search for methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies in public sector provision. This paper investigates the increasingly popular bundle of techniques operating under the generic descriptor of lean , which promises to improve operational quality processes while simultaneously reducing cost. It offers a critical appraisal of lean as a fashionable component of public sec…
The future's bright, the future's mobile
Software work is often depicted as a 'sunrise occupation', consisting of knowledge workers that are able to craft stable careers. The aim of this article is to question this account by analysing the experiences of mobile applications developers, with a focus on Apple and Google platforms. The analysis is situated in the context of wider socioeconomic trends and developments in product and technology markets, since these structures frame the worki…
Stressed out of my box
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions - notably stress - and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be 'safe'. This study's locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty…
The back office goes global
This article explores a neglected aspect of IT-enabled service work: the back office. The fieldwork study reveals how back office service work has been identified as suitable for ongoing reorganization and reconfiguration as firms respond to the pressures of contemporary capitalism. The article focuses on standardization as a means of facilitating organizational restructuring into shared service centres as highly skilled back office work is refra…
Post‐structuralism, Social Shaping of Technology, and Actor‐Network Theory
This article aims to address an omission in information system research concerning the debate in social science on postmodernism and post-structuralism. It outlines the fundamental arguments of this debate and draw attention to the relevant discussions and disputes. This provides a clear understanding of actor network theory (ANT) as it originates from post-structuralist debates in the field of science and technology studies (STS). It begins by s…
All they lack is a chain’
The adaptation of lean techniques in public services is viewed as an innovative managerialist response to government demands for more efficient services amidst large reductions in public spending. This paper explores workers' experiences of the impact of lean on work organisation and control and provides new insights into developments within contemporary back office clerical work
Software and organisations
Information Systems
Gender matters in the global outsourcing of service work
This paper provides a gendered analysis of the outsourcing of service work to developing economies taking, as illustration, call centres, shared service centres and the general ICT sector. The paper challenges the suggestion that changes in global capitalism, facilitated by ICT‐enabled employment, offer new opportunities that benefit women, and suggests a degree of caution is needed before assuming a reduction of gender inequalities
Social Inclusion: Societal and Organizational Implications for Information Systems
Changes in society resulting from the pervasiveness of information technology have produced positive and negative, intended and unintended consequences. Key among them is the exclusion of individuals—who lack access to technological resources—from various societal processes and services. The theme of this book, social inclusion, explores the many dimensions of this exclusion. This issue has been the focus of much debate within the social sciences…
Social Inclusion and the Information Systems Field
Handbook of Critical Information Systems Research
'This indispensable book provides an excellent overview of the variety of perspectives that characterize critical research in the information systems field.' © Debra Howcroft and Eileen M. Trauth, 2005. All rights reserved
A decade of neglect
This paper presents the case that research on gender and information systems (IS), from both quantitative and qualitative traditions, is problematic as the concept of gender continues to remain under‐theorised. This will be elaborated upon with a critique of some recent qualitative and quantitative research papers that have been published in key IS journals within a ten‐year period
Participation
User participation in information systems development is often surrounded by assumptions that the resultant system will be a success, will reflect user needs, and that the process results in an empowered workforce. This paper argues that underlying these foreground rational assumptions are instrumental, politically motivated justifications driving the need to involve users
An empirical study of Internet usage and difficulties among medical practice management in the UK
Considers the use of information technology in the UK National Health Service (NHS) as the government pledges to connect every doctor or general practitioner (GP) to the NHS’s information superhighway by the year 2002. This paper uses a case study of a particular UK health authority as a vehicle to illustrate the complexity of the social and technical considerations surrounding this issue. At a grass roots level, the adoption and diffusion of inf…
The Hyperbolic Age of Information
The simplistic assumption that technological advancement will result in social change is prevalent amongst the mass media, academic communities and government bodies alike. Whether fuelled by a utopian or dystopian vision, predictions of immense social change brought about by technological developments surround us. Central to these visions is information, which many perceive as being imbued with revolutionary potential. However, the author argues…
A Typology of Crowdwork Platforms
Despite growing interest in the gig economy among academics, policy makers and media commentators, the area is replete with different terminology, definitional constructs and contested claims about the ensuing transformation of work organisation. The aim of this positional piece is to provide a timely review and classification of crowdwork. A typology is developed to map the complexity of this emerging terrain, illuminating range and scope by cri…
The future's bright, the future's mobile
Software work is often depicted as a 'sunrise occupation', consisting of knowledge workers that are able to craft stable careers. The aim of this article is to question this account by analysing the experiences of mobile applications developers, with a focus on Apple and Google platforms. The analysis is situated in the context of wider socioeconomic trends and developments in product and technology markets, since these structures frame the worki…
All they lack is a chain’
The adaptation of lean techniques in public services is viewed as an innovative managerialist response to government demands for more efficient services amidst large reductions in public spending. This paper explores workers' experiences of the impact of lean on work organisation and control and provides new insights into developments within contemporary back office clerical work
Plus ca change, plus la meme chose?'—researching and theorising the ‘new’ new technologies
Plus ca change, plus la meme chose?'-researching and theorising the 'new' new technologies
Stressed out of my box
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions - notably stress - and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be 'safe'. This study's locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty…
Automation and the future of work
Recent years have seen enormous attention paid to automation and its potential implications for the future of work. This study rejects unhelpful speculation and, instead, poses the question ‘what is shaping automation and its predicted effects?’ In contrast to the technological determinism framing much of the current debate, this study utilises the social shaping of technology (SST) approach, a theoretically informed body of research largely over…
The back office goes global
This article explores a neglected aspect of IT-enabled service work: the back office. The fieldwork study reveals how back office service work has been identified as suitable for ongoing reorganization and reconfiguration as firms respond to the pressures of contemporary capitalism. The article focuses on standardization as a means of facilitating organizational restructuring into shared service centres as highly skilled back office work is refra…
They can't be the buffer any longer
This article reasserts the value of the examination of class relations. It does so via a case study of tax-processing sites within HM Revenue and Customs, focusing on the changes wrought by the alterations to labour and supervisory processes implemented under the banner of 'lean production'. It concentrates on the transformation of front-line managers, as their tasks moved from those that required tax knowledge and team support to those that narr…
A decade of neglect
This paper presents the case that research on gender and information systems (IS), from both quantitative and qualitative traditions, is problematic as the concept of gender continues to remain under‐theorised. This will be elaborated upon with a critique of some recent qualitative and quantitative research papers that have been published in key IS journals within a ten‐year period
Digitalisation and the Remaking of the Ideal Worker
The ideal worker concept, typified by an unencumbered male, continues to influence workplace norms, despite a more gender-mixed workforce. This article examines whether this concept is being disrupted or reproduced as digitalisation becomes increasingly embedded in the workplace. Based on qualitative research in two professional services firms, the analysis shows how the ideal worker themes of work prioritisation and presenteeism have been mainta…
Taxing Times
The prevailing economic and budgetary climate is intensifying the search for methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies in public sector provision. This paper investigates the increasingly popular bundle of techniques operating under the generic descriptor of lean , which promises to improve operational quality processes while simultaneously reducing cost. It offers a critical appraisal of lean as a fashionable component of public sec…
Gender matters in the global outsourcing of service work
This paper provides a gendered analysis of the outsourcing of service work to developing economies taking, as illustration, call centres, shared service centres and the general ICT sector. The paper challenges the suggestion that changes in global capitalism, facilitated by ICT‐enabled employment, offer new opportunities that benefit women, and suggests a degree of caution is needed before assuming a reduction of gender inequalities
Participation
User participation in information systems development is often surrounded by assumptions that the resultant system will be a success, will reflect user needs, and that the process results in an empowered workforce. This paper argues that underlying these foreground rational assumptions are instrumental, politically motivated justifications driving the need to involve users
The Hyperbolic Age of Information
The simplistic assumption that technological advancement will result in social change is prevalent amongst the mass media, academic communities and government bodies alike. Whether fuelled by a utopian or dystopian vision, predictions of immense social change brought about by technological developments surround us. Central to these visions is information, which many perceive as being imbued with revolutionary potential. However, the author argues…
An empirical study of Internet usage and difficulties among medical practice management in the UK
Considers the use of information technology in the UK National Health Service (NHS) as the government pledges to connect every doctor or general practitioner (GP) to the NHS’s information superhighway by the year 2002. This paper uses a case study of a particular UK health authority as a vehicle to illustrate the complexity of the social and technical considerations surrounding this issue. At a grass roots level, the adoption and diffusion of inf…
Participation
User participation in information systems development is often surrounded by assumptions that the resultant system will be a success, will reflect user needs, and that the process results in an empowered workforce. This paper argues that underlying these foreground rational assumptions are instrumental, politically motivated justifications driving the need to involve users
A decade of neglect
This paper presents the case that research on gender and information systems (IS), from both quantitative and qualitative traditions, is problematic as the concept of gender continues to remain under‐theorised. This will be elaborated upon with a critique of some recent qualitative and quantitative research papers that have been published in key IS journals within a ten‐year period
Handbook of Critical Information Systems Research
'This indispensable book provides an excellent overview of the variety of perspectives that characterize critical research in the information systems field.' © Debra Howcroft and Eileen M. Trauth, 2005. All rights reserved
Social Inclusion: Societal and Organizational Implications for Information Systems
Changes in society resulting from the pervasiveness of information technology have produced positive and negative, intended and unintended consequences. Key among them is the exclusion of individuals—who lack access to technological resources—from various societal processes and services. The theme of this book, social inclusion, explores the many dimensions of this exclusion. This issue has been the focus of much debate within the social sciences…
Social Inclusion and the Information Systems Field
Gender matters in the global outsourcing of service work
This paper provides a gendered analysis of the outsourcing of service work to developing economies taking, as illustration, call centres, shared service centres and the general ICT sector. The paper challenges the suggestion that changes in global capitalism, facilitated by ICT‐enabled employment, offer new opportunities that benefit women, and suggests a degree of caution is needed before assuming a reduction of gender inequalities
Information Systems
Software and organisations
Post‐structuralism, Social Shaping of Technology, and Actor‐Network Theory
This article aims to address an omission in information system research concerning the debate in social science on postmodernism and post-structuralism. It outlines the fundamental arguments of this debate and draw attention to the relevant discussions and disputes. This provides a clear understanding of actor network theory (ANT) as it originates from post-structuralist debates in the field of science and technology studies (STS). It begins by s…
All they lack is a chain’
The adaptation of lean techniques in public services is viewed as an innovative managerialist response to government demands for more efficient services amidst large reductions in public spending. This paper explores workers' experiences of the impact of lean on work organisation and control and provides new insights into developments within contemporary back office clerical work
The back office goes global
This article explores a neglected aspect of IT-enabled service work: the back office. The fieldwork study reveals how back office service work has been identified as suitable for ongoing reorganization and reconfiguration as firms respond to the pressures of contemporary capitalism. The article focuses on standardization as a means of facilitating organizational restructuring into shared service centres as highly skilled back office work is refra…
Taxing Times
The prevailing economic and budgetary climate is intensifying the search for methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies in public sector provision. This paper investigates the increasingly popular bundle of techniques operating under the generic descriptor of lean , which promises to improve operational quality processes while simultaneously reducing cost. It offers a critical appraisal of lean as a fashionable component of public sec…
The future's bright, the future's mobile
Software work is often depicted as a 'sunrise occupation', consisting of knowledge workers that are able to craft stable careers. The aim of this article is to question this account by analysing the experiences of mobile applications developers, with a focus on Apple and Google platforms. The analysis is situated in the context of wider socioeconomic trends and developments in product and technology markets, since these structures frame the worki…
Stressed out of my box
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions - notably stress - and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be 'safe'. This study's locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty…
Plus ca change, plus la meme chose?'—researching and theorising the ‘new’ new technologies
Plus ca change, plus la meme chose?'-researching and theorising the 'new' new technologies
They can't be the buffer any longer
This article reasserts the value of the examination of class relations. It does so via a case study of tax-processing sites within HM Revenue and Customs, focusing on the changes wrought by the alterations to labour and supervisory processes implemented under the banner of 'lean production'. It concentrates on the transformation of front-line managers, as their tasks moved from those that required tax knowledge and team support to those that narr…
A Typology of Crowdwork Platforms
Despite growing interest in the gig economy among academics, policy makers and media commentators, the area is replete with different terminology, definitional constructs and contested claims about the ensuing transformation of work organisation. The aim of this positional piece is to provide a timely review and classification of crowdwork. A typology is developed to map the complexity of this emerging terrain, illuminating range and scope by cri…
Automation and the future of work
Recent years have seen enormous attention paid to automation and its potential implications for the future of work. This study rejects unhelpful speculation and, instead, poses the question ‘what is shaping automation and its predicted effects?’ In contrast to the technological determinism framing much of the current debate, this study utilises the social shaping of technology (SST) approach, a theoretically informed body of research largely over…
Digitalisation and the Remaking of the Ideal Worker
The ideal worker concept, typified by an unencumbered male, continues to influence workplace norms, despite a more gender-mixed workforce. This article examines whether this concept is being disrupted or reproduced as digitalisation becomes increasingly embedded in the workplace. Based on qualitative research in two professional services firms, the analysis shows how the ideal worker themes of work prioritisation and presenteeism have been mainta…
Sociotechnical Change in British Supermarkets
When predicting the future of retail work, commentators tend to focus on automation and labour replacement and neglect the continued role played by labour, particularly in food retail. To understand this role, this article draws on both interview and newspaper data to show how change unfolded in the sector from before to just after the Coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, it shows how increased technology adoption and use in food retail occurred a…
Trade Unions and Sociotechnical Change
This article examines how trade unions in Chile adopted legal mobilisation to address a sociotechnical transformation agenda that triggered wage decline and work intensification. The proposed change involved the implementation of a Functional Flexibility Plan by a multinational retailer, facilitated by in‐store logistics and supermarket front‐end sales technologies. Connecting a Sociotechnical Approach with Employment Relations studies, and using…
Political science (17 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Computer Science (12 works) · Business (9 works) · Engineering (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Digital Economy and Work Transformation (8 works) · Social science (8 works) · Economics (7 works)