Why Do People Reject New Technologies and Stymie Organizational Changes of Which They Are in Favor? Exploring Misalignments Between Social Interactions and Materiality

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2270099
AutoresPaul M Leonardi (0000-0003-0929-8731, University of California, Santa Barbara, autor de correspondencia)
Año2009
Volumen35
Número3
Páginas407-441
Fecha de publicación2009-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHuman Communication Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0360-3989 • E-ISSN: 1468-2958
EditorialOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01357.x
OpenAlexW2023442973
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas27
Referencias citadas58

This paper explores the relationship between users' interpretations of a new technology and failure of organizational change. I suggest that people form interpretations of a new technology not only based on their conversations with others, but also through their use of technology's material features directly. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of ethnographic data on the implementation and use of a computer simulation technology at a major automotive engineering firm, I show that engineers' communication with managers, coworkers, and customers led them to develop an interpretation about what the technology was supposed to do while their interactions with the material features of complementary technologies led them to develop an interpretation that the new simulation technology was not an efficient tool for that specific purpose. I show how the interpretations developed from people's material interactions moderate the effects of the interpretations developed through social interactions on willingness to use the technology in the future. I then demonstrate that, in this particular setting, engineers inadvertently stymied an organizational change of which they were very much in favor by reducing their use of the new technology. I conclude by discussing how misalignments between the information generated in users' interactions with others and with technologies' material features can lead to the failure of planned organizational change

Automotive industry · Business · Emerging technologies · Interpretation (philosophy · Knowledge management · Materiality (auditing · Computer Science · Engineering · Information Systems Theories and Implementation · Open Source Software Innovations · Team Dynamics and Performance · Artificial Intelligence