Socio-technical Approach Research Articles

“Known Unknowns”: Reducing Digital Inequalities in the Silver Economy

Because of the world's aging population, Europe's over-50 segment has grown significantly. This demographic trend has created a major economic opportunity known as the silver economy. Technology plays an important role in the development of products and services targeting this older market segment, yet technological innovation has compromised these individuals’ quality of life by aggravating already existing social disparities. Limited access to and use of technology is known as digital inequality, which is a matter of growing concern that is pushing experts to develop initiatives that mitigate the impact of this disparity. However, decision makers first need to be fully aware of the challenges associated with this endeavor, which arise out of the inherent complexity of digital inequality and the uncertainty produced by technological disruptions. This study addresses this decision problem by adopting a constructivist, socio-technical approach that combines cognitive mapping and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory techniques in a neutrosophic context. Data were collected from an expert panel with experience in real-world cases. The members analyzed different strategies and their effectiveness in terms of reducing digital inequalities in the silver economy. The results were analyzed and validated by the Head of Data and Analytics at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Data Europe and Latin America. No prior research was found that has used the same combination of operational research methods to address this decision problem. The findings include recommendations for how to facilitate the development of initiatives that increase digital literacy in a silver economy context.

A socio-technical analysis of factors affecting consumer engagement in livestream shopping: Evidence from structural equation modeling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis

Both in China and across the rest of the world, livestream shopping is developing at a considerable rate. Non-transactional consumer engagement has been demonstrated to be essential to the long-term growth of livestream commerce; however, few studies have addressed this topic. Using the socio-technical approach, the present study proposes a theoretical framework to explore the antecedents of non-transactional consumer engagement in livestream commerce. To obtain comprehensive insights into these antecedents, we employed structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) for data analysis. According to the SEM results, multiple cues, personal focus, and identification with streamers all have a positive and significant influence on emotional support and informational support, which in turn lead to greater consumer engagement. However, immediate feedback is associated with informational support, but not with emotional support. The results of fsQCA confirm the importance of the proposed antecedents and provide configurations that increase consumer engagement. The study findings not only enrich the literature regarding livestream shopping but also provide practical insights for practitioners to make consumer engagement strategies based on their own strengths. In addition, this paper demonstrates the feasibility of hybrid methods in the livestream shopping research.

Putting Patient Experience Data into Action! A Workshop to Explore the Collection and Use of Patient Experience Data in Practice

Health systems globally are in pursuit of the quintuple aim – better population health, improved patient and caregiver experiences, improved clinician experiences, sustainable per capita costs1 and greater health equity. Patients and their care partners (family and friends who provide care) have unique insights on the quality of healthcare delivery, yet, few organizations are poised to meaningfully integrate these voices into care delivery transformation efforts. Patient experience (PE) data comes in many forms including (and not limited to) structured and unstructured survey data, narratives of patient and family complaints or accolades, adverse event reporting, or qualitative interviews and focus groups. These data are often temporally lagging the patient’s interaction with the health system, rarely includes the voices of equity deserving groups (i.e, individuals who have been historically marginalized and underrepresented in research) and are seldom used for improving care.
 To meet the expectations of patients and care partners, we require a comprehensive, systematic, and sustainable approach to integrating patient and care partner voices into how we reform, design and deliver care.
 Through a scoping review and stakeholder engagements we have highlighted that methods for the collection and implementation of PE data should be multidimensional and have identified four components of a PE Tool-kit (PET) to move from knowledge to action: 1) engage the community meaningfully; 2) identify and curate multiple forms of PE data; 3) aggregate and synthesize PE data; and 4) integrate PE data into quality improvement efforts.
 We are conducting this workshop to further explore domains within our proposed Patient Experience Tool-Kit that resonates with an international audience and identify gaps and implementation considerations.
 The workshop will be grounded by a brief theory burst about the challenges the PET and its components aim to address followed by interactive sessions in small groups to address the following questions:
 1)How will the proposed components support the link between the collection and use of PE data into health system improvement efforts? What tool-kit components are missing?
 2)What are the barriers and facilitators to implementing the PE Tool-Kit?
 Note: we will direct participants to use a sociotechnical systems approach when identifying barriers and facilitators which consists of: people, environment (macro/micro), tools (i.e., technology), and tasks (i.e., process).
 3)What are the considerations/adaptations to consider that will support the Tool-Kit’s adoption across different sectors of the integrated care system?
 
 Introduction to Workshop/ Overview of Activities – 5 mins
 Presentation of Patient Experience Tool-Kit Components- 10 mins
 Small group discussions to address the three questions (each table to start with a different question)- 30 mins
 Large group activity to report back and synthesis small group discussion, including the l use Mentimeter to capture core insights). The facilitators will summarize key insights and highlight core themes captures in the discussion at the end of the activity – 20 minutes
 Wrap up to assess interest in developing a community of practice for continued learning and sharing- 5 mins
 

Evaluating the Adoption of mHealth Technologies by Community Health Workers to Improve the Use of Maternal Health Services in Sub-Saharan Africa: Systematic Review.

Limited information exists on the impact of mobile health (mHealth) use by community health workers (CHWs) on improving the use of maternal health services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This systematic review addresses 2 objectives: evaluating the impact of mHealth use by CHWs on antenatal care (ANC) use, facility-based births, and postnatal care (PNC) use in SSA; and identifying facilitators and barriers to mHealth use by CHWs in programs designed to increase ANC use, facility-based births, and PNC use in SSA using a sociotechnical system approach. We searched for articles in 6 databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and Africa Index Medicus) from inception up to September 2022, with additional articles identified from Google Scholar. After article selection, 2 independent reviewers performed title and abstract screening, full-text screening, and data extraction using Covidence software (Veritas Health Innovation Ltd). In addition, we manually screened the references lists of the included articles. Finally, we performed a narrative synthesis of the outcomes. Among the 2594 records retrieved, 10 (0.39%) studies (n=22, 0.85% articles) met the inclusion criteria and underwent data extraction. The studies were published between 2012 and 2022 in 6 countries. Of the studies reporting on ANC outcomes, 43% (3/7) reported that mHealth use by CHWs increased ANC use. Similarly, of the studies reporting on facility-based births, 89% (8/9) demonstrated an increase due to mHealth use by CHWs. In addition, in the PNC studies, 75% (3/4) showed increased PNC use associated with mHealth use by CHWs. Many of the studies reported on the importance of addressing factors related to the social environment of mHealth-enabled CHWs, including the perception of CHWs by the community, trust, relationships, digital literacy, training, mentorship and supervision, skills, CHW program ownership, and the provision of incentives. Very few studies reported on how program goals and culture influenced mHealth use by CHWs. Providing free equipment, accessories, and internet connectivity while addressing ongoing challenges with connectivity, power, the ease of using mHealth software, and equipment maintenance support allowed mHealth-enabled CHW programs to thrive. mHealth use by CHWs was associated with an increase in ANC use, facility-based births, and PNC use in SSA. Identifying and addressing social and technical barriers to the use of mHealth is essential to ensure the success of mHealth programs. PROSPERO CRD42022346364; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=346364.

Critical Success Factors in Occupational Safety and Health Management System: A Review Existing Literature

Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (OSHMS) play a crucial role in systematically managing risks and preventing injuries and illnesses in organisations. To ensure effective implementation of OSHMS, it is essential to focus on key critical success factors (CSFs) which leads to successful OSH performance. This is a review which aims to identify CSFs related to OSHMS implementation in organisations. Literature searches were conducted via Scopus and ScienceDirect online databases to identify articles published between the year 2008 to 2019. Search terms such as “critical success factor”, “success factors’’, “occupational safety and health management system”, “occupational health”, and “management system” were used as keywords and a traditional review concept was selected. Inclusion criteria involved English articles available in open-access journals or subscribed search engines, focusing on CSFs and/or OSHMS. The main themes of CSFs were summarised into categories fitting the Socio-Technical approach. Five studies were selected and reviewed, representing the aviation, construction and chemical industry sectors. These studies employed various tools involving questionnaires, qualitative techniques and structured interviews to determine CSFs. The identified CSFs primarily revolved around internal factors such as management commitment and leadership, cost and resource allocation and employee participation. These CSFs can serve as key areas to support the effective implementation of OSHMS and organisations can focus to improve their own internal factors to enhance their OSHMS implementation and ensure the safety, health, and well-being of their workers. This review provides valuable insights for organisations seeking a scalable framework for guiding OSHMS implementation basedon the identified CSFs.

New Content Formats in Digital Communications

The emergence of new media channels goes hand in hand with the advent of new content formats and their subsequent rise in popularity. The digital era brings forth numerous new formats, with short video content currently emerging as the winner in terms of interaction, popularity, and return on investment (ROI) for content creators. This analysis examines a combination of psychological, lifestyle, and practical factors to explain why online users find this type of content so appealing and why the number of content creators joining this trend is increasing in the coming years. Social media with short video formats is studied from the perspectives of attachment theory and the socio-technical approach, which are useful in revealing the psychological motivators for online users actively seeking this type of content. Scientific literature about subjective feelings of engagement provides guidance on the fragmented workday and the usefulness of short-format content to fill small breaks in a busy day. From a practical standpoint, considering recent statistics on mobile usage, short-format content, especially vertical video, is faster, easier, and cheaper to create. At the same time, it is highly appealing, easy to distribute, and convenient to consume on smartphones without rotating the screen.

TIKTOK LIVE SHOPPING'S USE OF LIVE STREAMING TO INCREASE WORD OF MOUTH

Live streaming has become a well-liked way for businesses to boost interaction and consumer engagement, ultimately leading to positive word-of-mouth promotion. Word of mouth is crucial in business since it serves as a reliable gauge for assessing a product's quality prior to purchase, hence reducing uncertainty in decision-making. Previous studies overlooked the benefits of live streaming for word-of-mouth. Hence, the objective of this study is to examine the emergence of word-of-mouth communication facilitated by live streaming, employing the socio-technical approach and attachment theory. This quantitative research has a total of 12 hypotheses. Data was collected through the distribution of online questionnaires using purposive sampling, by examined 319 TikTok Live Shopping users. The data was collected and analyzed using SmartPLS. Live streaming yields a favorable impact on user engagement and viral marketing. Streamers exert significant effect on audience engagement, fostering strong connections with the platform, user loyalty, and word-of-mouth promotion. Consequently, marketers can optimize the utilization of live streaming by collaborating with the most compatible streamers. Additionally, this study discovered that vicarious expression does not have a beneficial impact on platform attachment. This study suggests using live streaming as a strategy to improve customer retention and build stronger relationships with customers, which offers insightful information for business experts in Indonesia. It addresses the constraints of previous research, which focused mainly on loyalty to brands in terms of transactions, by providing theoretical support for exploring the relationship between user stickiness and word-of-mouth generation on live streaming platforms.

Moving on from a Diesel Mindset—Understanding Enablers and Challenges for Electrifying Road Freight Using Stakeholder Engagement

Achieving net zero by 2050 requires the decarbonisation of road transport. Electrification is recognised as a market-ready solution for certain transport segments, but it still poses a considerable challenge when applied to road freight. Any consensus on the technology choice for road freight electrification has still not been established. Embedding stakeholder input in the approach to address the technology adoption challenge has proven useful in uncovering various perspectives, which can provide useful insights into managing such transitions. This review paper hence took a three-step approach where the findings from the initial step of the literature search were taken up for the second step of stakeholder validation and feedback. The third step involved an analysis of the input gathered and the subsequent literature review to arrive at the conclusions. The outcome from the stakeholder engagement suggests that any specific technology can only support the transition to electrified road freight if enabled by system changes around policy, infrastructure, user behaviour, and the societal setup A follow-up literature review validated the need for a sociotechnical approach to such transitions where system changes are involved. The review also found gaps in the literature when it comes to embedding such sociotechnical approaches to technology adoption for road freight transport.

Need for intensive care? A socio-technical systems perspective on water supply failure preparedness in German health care facilities

Health care facilities play a crucial role in the well-being of society. They are heavily dependent on other critical infrastructures including water supply for their daily operations and failure of water supply can have severe consequences. However, health care facilities are often underprepared for this scenario. The study investigates the emergency preparedness of German health care facilities to water supply failures, utilizing a socio-technical system approach. Data from interviews with experts and a survey among German hospitals were evaluated to determine the social and technical preparedness measures, in order to identify barriers and potential approaches for solutions. The findings show that there are still many gaps and needs for improvement. In particular, the social components of emergency preparedness are often given insufficient attention, with a lack of awareness about vulnerabilities to water failures being a shortcoming. The results were used to develop a framework linking social and technical components of critical infrastructure systems. The framework demonstrates that although the technical infrastructure components form the basis of preparedness, preparedness levels depend on the functioning of social infrastructure. The results underline the necessity of understanding the interlinkages between social and technical components, which can help identify potential vulnerabilities to infrastructure failures and risks. The study highlights the urgent need to comprehend health care facilities as socio-technical systems.

Demystifying the dynamic link between project value and design team networks: A socio-technical lean management framework

ABSTRACT Construction projects are complex networks of people with various backgrounds, perceptions, objectives, and dynamically changing project value expectations. Attaining common project objectives that satisfy all stakeholders’ value propositions requires collaboration whether formally or informally. Although the need for collaborative approaches on projects seems like an intuitive thought, the actual foundations and drivers needed to achieve effective implementation of a collaborative and value-based environment are usually plagued with hurdles. Moreover, previous research work and common industry practices remain mostly focused on the ‘product’ or technical end of the project while marginalizing the human-centric processes that can make or break the project. This research aims to help project managers attain higher value on projects through analyzing and managing the social context of project teams. Specifically, this research investigates the links between design team communications and project value performance as well as analyzing the evolving dynamics of value and network structures. Data analytics was used to reveal a potential correlation between the communication structures of project teams and value fulfilment on projects. Findings revealed that the inherent social dynamics and social network composition can reflect the team’s reported level of fulfilling value on projects. Such structures affect a team's ability to effectively exchange knowledge and coordinate design tasks. The research's contribution lies in introducing a sociotechnical approach for delivering value on projects through developing value-based social networks that help improve design communications and presenting a reproducible framework that enables teams to advance and align value propositions among different stakeholders.

The Relevance of Technology to Information Verification: Insights from Norwegian Journalism During a National Election

ABSTRACT Growing concerns about disinformation have led to the development of new digital tools and systems designed for journalists’ verification and fact-checking needs. Despite these technological developments, research has demonstrated that emerging technologies are not utilised as often and are not as highly valued as industry narratives suggest. There are indications that the typical journalist values traditional skills such as writing and interviewing higher than digital technology skills and that many journalists do not consider the new tools to be very useful in their everyday work. This article takes on a sociotechnical approach to study the interplay between journalists, technology, organisational and professional routines. Specifically, we examine journalists’ use of verification technologies to detect disinformation during an election period. Our findings show a discrepancy between the alleged potential of new technologies and the everyday practices of newswork and fact-checking – also in the digitally advanced Norwegian media industry. We found tensions between established routines and cultures in the newsroom and the push for the renewal of journalistic methods which can be sorted under two headings: strategy vs. practice and proximity vs. distance to the beat and sources.

Above the law: Drones, aerial vision and the law of armed conflict – a socio-technical approach

AbstractAerial visuals play a central – and increasing – role in military operations, informing military decision-makers in real time. While adding relevant and time-sensitive information, these visuals construct an imperfect representation of people and spaces, placing additional burdens on decision-makers and creating a persuasive – yet misleading – virtual representation of the actual conditions on the ground. Based on interdisciplinary analysis of critical security studies, behavioural economics and international law literature, as well as rich data from US and Israeli military investigations into four military operations spanning from 2009 to 2021, this article identifies three types of challenges stemming from the mounting reliance on aerial visuals to inform military operations: technical challenges, relating to the technical capabilities and features of aerial vision technologies; cognitive challenges, relating to decision-making biases affecting human decision-makers; and human-technological challenges, relating to the human–machine interaction itself. The article suggests ways to mitigate these challenges, improve the application of the law of armed conflict, and protect people, animals and the environment during armed conflicts.

Transforming the grid for a more environmentally and socially sustainable electricity system in Great Britain is a slow and uneven process.

Electricity system decarbonization is key for environmental sustainability. From a consumption-production perspective, much attention has been paid to changes in how electricity is generated and used, but electricity systems also rely on a grid infrastructure that connects and integrates production and consumption, and which will also need to transform. At the same time, new technologies in the electricity system, including the grid, offer the potential for more socially sustainable ways of producing and consuming energy. However, in practice, change has been slow, uneven, and often dysfunctional. A socio-technical transitions approach offers insights into why this is so, seeing electricity system change not simply in technical and economic terms, but also as the outcomes of interactions between technology and social and political processes. The approach draws attention to the particular challenges of achieving rapid transitions in complex critical infrastructures like electricity with strong institutional logics of security. This article applies this approach to the case of Great Britain, where despite strong commitments to sustainability in the form of high-level climate policy, the electricity grid has often been a constraint on the pace of change. The nature of the British transition is explained partly by weak links between these high-level goals on the one hand and the detailed rules and practices in the electricity system on the other. It is also explained by patterns of ownership and grid regulation in the British case that protect incumbents and make it difficult for new actors to develop the system in more socially sustainable directions.

Beyond structural inequality: a socio-technical approach to the digital divide in the platform environment

With the widespread use of social media platforms, human-technology interactions in platform environments provide a new perspective for understanding digital inequality. This article constructs a conceptual framework through the analytical tool of “platform affordance” to reveal how the mutual construction of humans and technology extends the boundaries of digital inequality beyond structural factors. The framework considers the positive sequential relationship between technology-efficacy and self-efficacy, highlighting their dominant role in promoting stratified uses and outcomes on social media platforms. Using survey data from Sina Weibo users in China, we find that users’ perceptions of the location of the feature’s icon and methods of operation shape online content creation through their perceived capabilities and needs, resulting in an unequal distribution of digital capital. On the one hand, platform affordance weakens the mechanisms that reproduce social inequality; it does so by revealing the fundamental role of interaction between technological properties and personal expectations in guiding online activities. On the other hand, platform affordance also reshapes how social structural factors operate; it does so by triggering moderating effects of personal and positional characteristics on the relationship between technology-efficacy and self-efficacy.

Effects of contemporary technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing consumers’ trustworthiness of online reviews

ABSTRACT The research note discusses the potential effects of contemporary technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), in enhancing consumers’ trustworthiness of online reviews in the tourism and hospitality context. The study postulates that three characteristics of blockchain – decentralization, immutability, and timestamping – ensure transparency in the online review process. Using a socio-technical systems approach, the current study provides insights into how blockchain technology, AI agents, and human factors interact to facilitate such transparency and thereby enhance consumers’ trustworthiness of online reviews for their decision-making. Therefore, the study proposes that perceived transparency mediates the relationship between these three blockchain characteristics and the trustworthiness of online reviews. In proposing an investigation of the characteristics of blockchain and its interaction with AI in online reviews, the study highlights that researchers and practitioners pay attention to a specific characteristic of contemporary technologies to actualize potential benefits.

From individuals to collectives in energy systems — A social practice, identity and rhythm inspired lens

The need for socially smart energy systems that incorporate both individual and collective social, spatial, and technical dimensions is increasing. However, the social, spatial, and technical interplay between individual and collective scales has been poorly studied and lacks a conceptual basis. Most research to date has focused on social, technical, socio-technical, or spatial approaches at the individual level, or at the collective level independently of the individual. Therefore, overlooking the complex underlying dynamics between the individual and the collective and the multidimensional and multimodal nature of energy use and demand across scales. In response, we propose a novel integration of social practice, social identity theory, and rhythm analysis, with a focus on the collective capabilities of energy users, observable across neighbourhood social contexts and spatial scales. Our conceptual framework offers analytical benefits to energy research and policy by viewing energy users within their individual and collective socio-technical contexts across rhythms of everyday routines. This approach can inform future research in energy systems, as well as policy and practice in the design of new governance mechanisms and engineering requirements for socially smart grids, devices, and collective energy systems.

Framework for critical information infrastructure protection in smart government: a case study in Indonesia

PurposeThis paper aims to develop a framework for critical information infrastructure (CII) protection in smart government, an alternative measure for common cybersecurity frameworks such as NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO 27001. Smart government is defined as the government administration sector of CII due to its similarity as a core of smart technology.Design/methodology/approachTo ensure the validity of the data, the research methodology used in this paper follows the predicting malfunctions in socio-technical systems (PreMiSTS) approach, a variation of the socio-technical system (STS) approach specifically designed to predict potential issues in the STS. In this study, PreMiSTS was enriched with observation and systematic literature review as its main data collection method, thematic analysis and validation by experts using fuzzy Delphi method (FDM).FindingsThe proposed CII protection framework comprises several dimensions: objectives, interdependency, functions, risk management, resources and governance. For all those dimensions, there are 20 elements and 41 variables.Practical implicationsThis framework can be an alternative guideline for CII protection in smart government, particularly in government administration services.Originality/valueThe author uses PreMiSTS, a socio-technical approach combined with thematic analysis and FDM, to design a security framework for CII protection. This combination was designed as a mixed-method approach to improve the likelihood of success in an IT project.

How can human factors close the gender data gap?

AbstractThis commentary paper will describe how the discipline of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) can help to close the gender data gap, which is prevalent across many domains and arises due to a lack of data capturing female metrics and viewpoints. HFE is a domain‐independent discipline that seeks to understand human performance and well‐being with respect to the interactions that humans engage in and the environments that they inhabit. HFE therefore presents an opportunity to understand how gender influences human performance, effective design, social interactions, and environmental factors. This paper argues that a sociotechnical systems approach is essential when reviewing equality, diversity, and inclusivity issues, without which attempts to close the gender data gap will not go far enough. Following the sociotechnical systems approach in HFE, the micro‐, meso‐, and macro‐levels of system design with respect to closing the gender data gap are reviewed. We discuss these issues in relation to a case study example of a crash test dummy. A checklist approach for researchers is presented, which identifies key questions that prompt where gender should be considered in the research process across these levels of sociotechnical systems.

Sociotechnical Work System Approach to Occupational Fatigue.

Occupational fatigue is a characteristic of excessive workload and depicts the limited capacity to complete demands. The impact of occupational fatigue has been studied outside of health care in fields such as transportation and heavy industry. Research in health care professionals such as physicians, medical residents, and nurses has demonstrated the potential for occupational fatigue to affect patient, employee, and organizational outcomes. A conceptual framework of occupational fatigue that is informed by a sociotechnical systems approach is needed to (1) describe the multidimensional facets of occupational fatigue, (2) explore individual and work system factors that may affect occupational fatigue, and (3) anticipate downstream implications of occupational fatigue on employee well-being, patient safety, and organizational outcomes. The health care professional occupational fatigue conceptual framework is outlined following the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model and adapted from the Conceptual Model of Occupational Fatigue in Nursing. Future research may apply this conceptual framework to health care professionals as a tool to describe occupational fatigue, identify the causes, and generate solutions. Interventions to mitigate and resolve occupational fatigue must address the entire sociotechnical system, not just individual or employee changes.

Optimizing Future Advanced BCIs: Using WDA to Identify Potential Pain Points in BCI Systems

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are a rapidly developing technology with the potential for a wide range of applications, yet the technology and its possible risks are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to develop and analyse an abstraction hierarchy model of a hypothetical, advanced invasive BCI system lifecycle to identify potential design lifecycle risks. Ten subject matter experts participated in a workshop to validate a BCI lifecycle abstraction hierarchy, which was subsequently analysed using the Sociotechnical Systems-Design Toolkit (STS-DT) prompts. The analysis identified the system purpose of generating wealth for companies and shareholders conflicted with other system purposes relating to health and wellbeing. Findings also identified poorly supported system functions, such as the regulation of BCI technologies, and potentially unreliable system objects. In conclusion, it is recommended that the identified issues be addressed through a sociotechnical systems approach focusing on joint optimisation across the system.