A distributed model of the structuration of information technology in organizations

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to develop a distributed model of structuration of information technology (IT) in organizations to complement the collective that dominates the application of structuration theory to organizational phenomenon.Design/methodology/approach– This paper draws on secondary qualitative data to specify how differences among people's practices with and around IT determine the effect of IT in organizations.Findings– The paper provides an analytical framework to extend the structuration theory of IT in organizations that can also explain differences among people's use of IT and track their consequences for the effect of IT in organizations.Research limitations/implications– This paper extends the theory of the structuration of IT so that it can take into account the effect of the different ways in which people use IT at work.Practical implications– This paper underscores the increase adaptability that managers can build during IT implementation by taking advantage of the differences among people's appropriation of IT, instead of attempting to make people use IT in similar ways.Originality/value– The paper introduces the role of variation among people's practices into research on the structuration of IT on organizations. This research, which is one of the dominant approaches to the effect of IT in organizations, assumes that people share the same practices with and around IT and is ill suited to explain the consequences of variation among people's use of IT at work.