Organizational Assimilation of Technology in a Sunrise Industry – A Story of Successes and Failures

  • Ravi A. Rao
  • Rahul De’
Conference paper
Part of the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology book series (IFIPAICT, volume 402)

Abstract

The study analyzes the contextual factors impacting technology assimilation in an environment that is characterized by macro-economic changes, rapid technological innovations, emerging industry practices and shifting organizational contexts. Stones’ strong structuration theory (SST), a refinement of Giddens’ structuration theory, is used as the theoretical lens for studying the technology assimilation process. SST is used to analyze the structuration process at the micro-level and its impact on the structures at the meso/macro-level. In addition, actor network theory (ANT) is used to analyze the role of heterogeneous actors in altering the structures as the actor network adapts to the technological innovations and changing contexts.

Keywords

Structuration theory Actor network theory Technology diffusion Technology assimilation 
Download to read the full conference paper text

References

  1. Bijapurkar, R.: We are like that only: Understanding the logic of consumer India. Portfolio Penguin (2009)Google Scholar
  2. Briers, M., Chua, W.F.: The role of actor-networks and boundary objects in management accounting change: a field study of an implementation of activity-based costing. Accounting, Organizations and Society 26(3), 237–269 (2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Callon, M.: Some elements of a sociology of translation: Domestication of the scallops and the fisherman of St. Briene Bay. In: J. Law, Power, Action and Belief A New Sociology. Routledge, London (1986)Google Scholar
  4. Cao, L., Kannan, M., Peng, X., Balasubramaniam, R.: A framework for adapting agile development methodologies. European Journal of Information Systems 18, 332–342 (2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Cohen, I.: Structuration Theory: Anthony Giddens and the Structuration of Social Life. Macmillan, London (1989)Google Scholar
  6. Dash, M., Chandy, S.: A study on the challenges and opportunities faced by organized retail players in Bangalore. Available at SSRN 1435218 (2009)Google Scholar
  7. DeSanctis, G., Poole, M.: Capturing the complexity in advanced technology use: adaptive structuration theory. Organization Science 2(5), 121–147 (1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Dholakia, N., Dholakia, R.R., Chattopadhyay, A.: India’s Emerging Retail Systems Coexistence of Tradition and Modernity. Journal of Macromarketing 32(3), 252–265 (2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Fichman, R.G.: The diffusion and assimilation of information technology innovations. In: Framing the Domains of IT Management: Projecting the Future Through the Past, pp. 105–128 (2000)Google Scholar
  10. Gersick, C.J.: Revolutionary change theories: A multilevel exploration of the punctuated equilibrium paradigm. Academy of Management Review 16(1), 10–36 (1991)Google Scholar
  11. Giddens, A.: The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structure. University of California Press, Berkeley (1984)Google Scholar
  12. Greenhalgh, T., Stones, R.: Theorising big IT programmes in healthcare: strong structuration theory meets actor-network theory. Social Science & Medicine 70(9), 1285–1294 (2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Jack, L., Kholeif, A.: Introducing strong structuration theory for informing qualitative case studies in organization, management and accounting research. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal 2(3), 208–225 (2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Jarvenpaa, S., Shaw, T., Staples, D.: Toward Contextualized Theories of Trust: The Role of Trust in Global Virtual Teams. Information Systems Research 15(3), 250–267 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Kachru, U.: India Land of a Billion Entrepreneurs. Pearson Education India (2011)Google Scholar
  16. Karsten, H.: It’s like everyone working round the same desk:’ organizational readings of Notes. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems 7(1), 7–34 (1995)Google Scholar
  17. Langley, A.: Strategies for theorizing from process data. The Academy of Management Review 24(4), 691–711 (1999)MathSciNetGoogle Scholar
  18. Latour, B.: Science in action: How to follow scientists and engineers through society. Harvard University Press (1987)Google Scholar
  19. Loch, C., Huberman, B.: A Punctuated Equilibrium Model of Technology Diffusion. Management Science 45(2), 160–177 (1999)MATHCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Maznevski, M., Chudoba, K.: Bridging space over time: Global Virtual Team Dynamics and Effectiveness. Organization Science 11(5), 473–492 (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Miles, M., Huberman, A.: Qualitative Data Analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Sage, Thousand Oaks (1994)Google Scholar
  22. Mukherjee, A., Patel, N.: FDI in Retail Sector: INDIA: A Report by ICRIER and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India. Academic Foundation (2006)Google Scholar
  23. Newman, M., Robey, D.: A Social Process Model of User-Analyst Relationships. MIS Quarterly 16(2), 249–266 (1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Orlikowski, W.J.: The Duality of Technology: Rethinking the Concept of Technology in Organizations. Organization Science 3(3), 398–427 (1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Orlikowski, W.J.: Improvising organizational transformation over time: A situated change perspective. Information Systems Research 7(1), 63–92 (1996)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Orlikowski, W.J., Scott, S.V.: Sociomateriality: Challenging the separation of technology, work and organization. The Academy of Management Annals 2, 433–474 (2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Pozzebon, M., Pinsonneault, A.: Challenges in conducting empirical work using structuration theory: Learning from IT research. Organization Studies 26(9), 1353–1376 (2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Rose, J.: Evaluating the contribution of structuration theory to the information systems discipline. In: 6th European Conference on Information Systems, Granada (1998)Google Scholar
  29. Sengupta, A.: Emergence of modern Indian retail: an historical perspective. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 36(9), 689–700 (2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Srivastava, R.K.: Changing retail scene in India. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 36(9), 714–721 (2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Stones, R.: Sociological Reasoning: Towards a Past-Modern Sociology. Macmillan, London (1996)Google Scholar
  32. Stones, R.: Structuration theory. Palgrave-Macmillan, Basingstoke (2005)Google Scholar
  33. Strauss, A., Corbin, J.: Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Sage, Newbury Park (1990)Google Scholar
  34. Walsham, G., Sahay, S.: GIS for District-Level Administration in India: Problems and Opportunities. MIS Quarterly 23(1), 39–65 (1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Yin, R.: Case Study Research: Design and Methods, vol. 3. Sage, Thousand Oaks (2009)Google Scholar

Copyright information

© IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ravi A. Rao
    • 1
  • Rahul De’
    • 1
  1. 1.Indian Institute of ManagementBangaloreIndia

Personalised recommendations