Technology-use mediation

Abstract

This study analyzes how a group of 'mediators' in a large, multinational company adapted a computer-mediated communication technology (a 'virtual workspace') to the local organizational context (and vice versa) by modifying features of the technology, providing ongoing support for users, and promoting appropriate conventions of use. Our findings corroborate earlier research on technology-use mediation, which suggests that such mediators can exert considerable influence on how a particular technology will be established and used in an organization. However, this study also indicates that the process of technology-use mediation is more complex and indeterminate than earlier literature suggests. In particular, we want to draw attention to the fact that advanced computer-mediated communication technologies are equivocal and that technology-use mediation consequently requires ongoing sensemaking.