Sociotechnical Systems Perspective Research Articles

An Exploration of Dutch Dermatologists’ Experience and Satisfaction with Teledermatology: A Sociotechnical and Complex Adaptive System Perspective (Preprint)

An Exploration of Dutch Dermatologists’ Experience and Satisfaction with Teledermatology: A Sociotechnical and Complex Adaptive System Perspective (Preprint)

Clinical Informatics Team Members' Perspectives on Health Information Technology Safety After Experiential Learning and Safety Process Development: Qualitative Descriptive Study.

Although intended to support improvement, the rapid adoption and evolution of technologies in health care can also bring about unintended consequences related to safety. In this project, an embedded researcher with expertise in patient safety and clinical education worked with a clinical informatics team to examine safety and harm related to health information technologies (HITs) in primary and community care settings. The clinical informatics team participated in learning activities around relevant topics (eg, human factors, high reliability organizations, and sociotechnical systems) and cocreated a process to address safety events related to technology (ie, safety huddles and sociotechnical analysis of safety events). This study aimed to explore clinical informaticians' experiences of incorporating safety practices into their work. We used a qualitative descriptive design and conducted web-based focus groups with clinical informaticians. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. A total of 10 informants participated. Barriers to addressing safety and harm in their context included limited prior knowledge of HIT safety, previous assumptions and perspectives, competing priorities and organizational barriers, difficulty with the reporting system and processes, and a limited number of reports for learning. Enablers to promoting safety and mitigating harm included participating in learning sessions, gaining experience analyzing reported events, participating in safety huddles, and role modeling and leadership from the embedded researcher. Individual outcomes included increased ownership and interest in HIT safety, the development of a sociotechnical systems perspective, thinking differently about safety, and increased consideration for user perspectives. Team outcomes included enhanced communication within the team, using safety events to inform future work and strategic planning, and an overall promotion of a culture of safety. As HITs are integrated into care delivery, it is important for clinical informaticians to recognize the risks related to safety. Experiential learning activities, including reviewing safety event reports and participating in safety huddles, were identified as particularly impactful. An HIT safety learning initiative is a feasible approach for clinical informaticians to become more knowledgeable and engaged in HIT safety issues in their work.

Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Living Kidney Donation Within a Sociotechnical Systems Framework.

The objective of this study was to investigate factors influencing one's decision to become a live kidney donor under the framework of sociotechnical systems, by expanding the focus to include larger organizational influences and technological considerations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with live kidney donors who donated through University of Louisville Health, Trager Transplant Center, a mid-scale transplant program, in the years 2017 through 2019. The interview transcripts were analyzed for barriers and facilitators to live kidney donation within a sociotechnical system. The most salient facilitators included: having an informative, caring, and available care team; the absence of any negative external pressure toward donating; donating to a family or friend; and the ability to take extra time off work for recovery. The most recurrent barriers included: short/medium-term (<1year) negative health impacts because of donation; the need to make minor lifestyle changes (e.g., less alcohol consumption) after donation; and mental health deterioration stemming from the donation process. The sociotechnical systems framework promotes a balanced system comprised of social, technical, and environmental subsystems. Assessing the facilitators and barriers from the sociotechnical system perspective revealed the importance of and opportunities for developing strategies to promote integration of technical subsystem, such as social media apps and interactive AI platforms, with social and environmental subsystems to enable facilitators and reduce barriers effectively.

Emergence of creativity in IS development teams: A socio-technical systems perspective

Emergence of creativity in IS development teams: A socio-technical systems perspective

How to improve voice assistant evaluations: Understanding the role of attachment with a socio-technical systems perspective

With the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) powered voice assistants (VAs) and increasingly homogeneous competition among enterprises, it is critically important to understand the driving factors behind consumer VA evaluations. Drawing on attachment theory and socio-technical systems theory, this study proposes a theoretical model to examine how social and technical attributes of VAs impact consumer evaluation behavior. To test the model, a two-wave longitudinal survey was conducted among 462 valid samples in China and analyzed using a multi-method approach, including partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). PLS-SEM findings reveal that consumers' VA evaluations (continuance and word-of-mouth intentions) are primarily influenced by individuals' emotional and functional attachments toward VAs. These attachments, in turn, are determined by social attributes (interactivity, natural speech, and design aesthetics) and technical attributes (accuracy, connectivity, and personalization). Furthermore, the results indicate that social and technology anxiety play a moderating role in the relationship between VA attributes and attachments. The fsQCA analysis supports the PLS-SEM findings and identifies three configuration paths for high continuance intention and three configuration paths for positive word-of-mouth intention toward VAs. These findings provide novel insights into both theory and practice.

Understanding the mechanism of social media addiction: A socio-technical systems perspective

Understanding the mechanism of social media addiction: A socio-technical systems perspective

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.

Sensing the breakdown: managing complexity at the railway

ABSTRACT This paper explores the complex and time-critical work practices within operational train traffic in Sweden by reporting on an incident causing an infrastructure breakdown and large traffic disruptions. Based on a workplace study approach, we report on how the control room workers – train traffic controllers and information officers – grasp, make sense of, and handle the consequences of the incident as it unfolds in real-time. We portray how the workers develop and acquire a sense of place in relation to the incident’s severity which is essential for successfully handling the situation. By introducing the ‘sense of place’ concept originally derived from the field of natural resources to the domain of operational train traffic, we provide a deepened understanding of the challenges characterising remote control work from a safety-critical socio-technical systems perspective. Finally, reflections on the application of the ‘sense of place’ concept, safety aspects and directions for future research are provided.

Integrating blockchain with building information modelling (BIM): a systematic review based on a sociotechnical system perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the current state of research on the integration of blockchain and building information modelling (BIM) in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO) industry as a means of identifying gaps between the existing paradigm and practical applications for determining future research directions and improving the industry. The study aims to provide clear guidance on areas that need attention for further research and funding and to draw academic attention to factors beyond the technical dimension.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method systematic review is used, considering multiple literature types and using a sociotechnical perspective-based framework that covers three dimensions (technic, process and context) and three research elements (why, what and how). Data are retrieved and analysed from the Web of Science and Scopus databases for the 2017–2023 period.FindingsWhile blockchain has the potential to address security, traceability and transparency and complement the system by integrating supporting applications, significant gaps still exist between these potentials and widespread industry adoption. Current limitations and further research needs are identified, including designing fully integrated prototypes, empirical research to identify operational processes, testing and analysing operational-level models or applications and developing and applying a technology acceptance model for the integration paradigm. Previous research lacks contextual settings, real-world tests or empirical investigations and is primarily conceptual.Originality/valueThis paper provides a comprehensive, critical systematic review of the integration of blockchain with BIM in the construction industry, using a sociotechnical perspective-based framework which can be applied in future reviews. The study provides insight into the current state and future opportunities for policymakers and practitioners in the AECO industry to prepare for the transition in this disruptive paradigm. It also provides a phased plan along with a clear direction for the transition to more advanced applications.

Emergence of creativity in IS development teams: A socio-technical systems perspective

Despite the crucial role of creativity in the dynamic and intricate practice of Information Systems Development (ISD), our understanding of its emergence in ISD teams is limited. Prior research has focused on isolated interventions into the people, structure, task, and technology components of ISD practices. However, the synergistic interactions between these components are often overlooked, resulting in interventions that may be ineffective or counterproductive. Drawing on Leavitt’s Socio-Technical Systems (STS) theory, this paper explores creativity as a synergistic outcome of interactions within and between the people, structure, task, and technology components. Our qualitative study at a multinational banking software provider reveals that creativity emerged from within-component interactions when innovators and facilitators in ISD teams interact empathetically during idea generation and evaluation, visualize ideas using technologies for representation and collaboration, and align their creative styles with the organization's formal and informal structures. Additionally, we found that interactions between the STS components in ISD team practices created stimulating environments for creativity to emerge. Our study advances an STS perspective on the emergence of creativity in ISD teams, emphasizing synergistic interactions between people, structure, task, and technology rather than isolated interventions. Practically, our findings provide insights into how IS professionals can nurture creativity by fostering empathetic leadership, aligning creative styles with organizational structures, and balancing tensions between control and drift.

How Attachment Influences Users' Decisions in Mobile Social Commerce Context From a Socio-Technical Systems Perspective

Drivers of social commerce usage have been the focus of scholars, but mobile social commerce is currently a sparsely researched area and therefore worth considering. Drawing on the socio-technical systems perspective and attachment theory, this article aims to examine the effect of social and technical enablers on user attachment and whether attachment influences users' shopping and sharing intentions. Results of an empirical study (N=305 active Pinduoduo users) indicate that emotional attachment directly impacts users' intentions, while functional attachment does so indirectly through emotional attachment. Besides, social and technical factors impact emotional and functional attachment, respectively. The study provides further insights about the impact of social and technical factors on attachment and attachment on MSC intention, and contributes to MSC research and practice by developing and validating the role of MSC platforms attributes in forming users' s-commerce behavioral outcomes.

Enterprise Digital Transformation using a Sociotechnical System Approach

AbstractDigital transformation is gaining increased attention due to its potential to change the way companies operate and unveil new business strategies. In consideration of the fact that digital transformations occur under specific sociotechnical environments and with particular intentions, success highly depends on the ability of companies to explicitly characterize their sociotechnical context and intended transformation. This paper sheds some light on how companies might approach digital transformation efforts through an enterprise‐level sociotechnical system approach that centers on digital twins and model‐based methods. Research findings and intervention strategies are derived from observations and interviews on ongoing projects, supplemented by findings from the literature. Core systems engineering analysis methods such as Concept of Operations analyses are part of such strategies given their potential to accelerate the sociotechnical system redesign cycle and generate actionable decisions toward digital transformation. A sociotechnical system analysis framework intended to guide organizations in developing their strategic approaches for adopting digital twins as transformation strategy is also shared. This framework and the entire paper assert the importance of taking a sociotechnical system perspective in defining, designing, and implementing a digital transformation.

Navigating the socio-technical impacts of purchasing digitalisation: A multiple-case study

The wave of digitalisation is impacting companies at multiple levels. Beside the most researched impacts on manufacturing, also other business functions are subjected to the change. Among them, purchasing is expected to greatly benefit from digitalisation, if properly managed. This research analyses the digitalisation of the purchasing process, in terms of how and why it happens, and the co-evolution which is triggered on the social dimension. A multiple-case study approach is adopted, analysing eight companies from industries characterized by different digital intensity levels but all at a relatively advanced stage of digitalisation of the purchasing department. The results show how different technological innovation approaches (i.e., automation and/or augmentation) impact the evolution of the purchasing department's social dimension in terms of autonomy, job enlargement, competences, internal and external collaboration. A new framework describing how automation and augmentation impact on purchasing social dimension, as well as purchasing efficiency and effectiveness, is proposed as main theoretical contribution. The study combines the socio-technical systems perspective with the automation-augmentation paradox and describe the strong relationship between purchasing departments' social and technical dimensions, offering managers insights on handling a purchasing digitalisation process, simultaneously managing the technical and social dimensions impacted along the process.

Toward the validation of VR-HMDs for medical education: a systematic literature review

The latest technological advancements in the domain of virtual reality (VR) have created new opportunities to use VR as a training platform for medical students and practitioners more broadly. Despite the growing interest in the use of VR as a training tool, a commonly identified gap in VR-training for medical education is the confidence in the long-term validity of the applications. A systematic literature review was undertaken to explore the extent of VR (in particular head-mounted displays) applications for medical training with an additional focus on validation measures. The papers included in this review discussed empirical case studies of specific applications; however, these were mostly concerned with human–computer interaction and were polarized between demonstrating that a conceptual technology solution was feasible for simulation or looked at specific areas of VR usability with little discussion on validation measures for long-term training effectiveness and outcomes. The review uncovered a wide range of ad hoc applications and studies in terms of technology vendors, environments, tasks, envisaged users and effectiveness of learning outcomes. This presents decision-making challenges for those seeking to adopt, implement and embed such systems in teaching practice. The authors of this paper then take a wider socio-technical systems perspective to understand how the holistic training system can be engineered and validated effectively as fit for purpose, through distillation of a generic set of requirements from the literature review to aid design specification and implementation, and to drive more informed and traceable validation of these types of systems. In this review, we have identified 92 requirement statements in 11 key areas against which a VR-HMD training system could be validated; these were grouped into design considerations, learning mechanisms and implementation considerations.

Governing fiduciary relationships or building up a governance model for trust in AI? Review of healthcare as a socio-technical system

ABSTRACT ‘: Fiduciary law aims to mitigate the inherent risk of ‘trust’, which helps restore interpersonal trust. It remains to be answered how trust should be governed in an AI-driven socio-technical system where technical and social factors are involved including interpersonal relationships and AI-human interactions. Taking interpersonal trust as the backdrop of analysis, this article seeks answers to this question focusing on healthcare. It firstly draws a conceptual framework regarding 'trust' and investigates its interplay with AI as well as examines how it is governed under the fiduciary law. Subsequently, it upholds a socio-technical system perspective, examining how to enable and sustain trust in an AI-driven socio-technical system. A governance model is then developed to elicit ‘intrinsic’, ‘dynamic’ and ‘ethical’ values of trust attributed to various elements under a tri-partite framework. It is recognised that findings of the literature as to trust, its trajectory and implications can be implemented within the proposed framework. Furthermore, it brings novelty by re-conceptualising the elements of 'trust' and associated values, marking distinction to its interpersonal roots and fiduciary relationships. It is considered this governance model, by upholding a holistic viewpoint, provides a generalisable framework that can construct, maintain and restore trust in AI-driven socio-technical systems.

Learning from Each Other, Improving Medical Command and Control after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences from a Bosnian-Swedish Collaboration.

Introduction:The Covid-19 pandemic strained health care organizations to their limits, and sometimes beyond. Different countries took different approaches to minimize the effects of the pandemic, both to protect public health and to safeguard the capability of the health care system.A collaborative project between Sweden and Bosnia-Hercegovina with the aim to share and learn from experiences of managing the COVID-19 pandemic from a medical command and control perspective, initiated in 2021.The project departed from three theoretical stances: sociotechnical systems perspective, experiential learning theory, and organizational learning theory. Framing the problem using a holistic systems approach, compared to focusing on individual experts, allows for understanding interactions on a system level. Hence, could these theories contribute to supporting individuals' learning and organizational change?Method:A two-day workshop involving participants from both Swedish and Bosnian (N=21) medical command and control allowed for the exchange of experiences and another's perspective on similar challenges. During the workshop, two themes were addressed: common operational picture and evaluation. First, an introductory presentation was held, then the theme was discussed and reflected upon in small groups. After this, the groups presented their conclusions, and a full group discussion was moderated.Results:The discussions resulted in participants sharing perspectives on the selected themes, providing personal insights and experience, allowing for deepened and increased understanding of the theme. In spite of major differences between the Swedish and the Bosnian health care systems and Covid-19 approaches, several shared conclusions were identified. For example, reflections on decision processes and strategies, as well as interest in improving the crisis organization.Conclusion:Exposing participants to different views on well-known processes and challenges allows for reflecting, verbalizing, and reaching a deeper understanding. By displaying a culturally differently organized way of approaching the challenges the contrast is even more evident.

A theoretical essay on socio-technical systems design thinking in the era of digital transformation

Digital technology is here to stay. Currently, digital technologies are unleashing the fourth industrial revolution. This so-called digital transformation is about the integration of digital technology into all areas of society. Within organisations, work is fundamentally changing which impacts how organisations will operate and deliver value to customers. Furthermore, but often forgotten, it is also about a cultural change that requires organisations to continually challenge their status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure.Digital possibilities are emerging which cannot be viewed separately from social effects in organised (eco-)systems and for people in those systems. The challenge is to jointly optimise technical and social aspects for creating both added value in a sustainable manner and improve quality of working life. As we have an ‘organisational choice’, technical possibilities can be aligned with social needs and requirements, and vice versa. This alignment forms the basis of socio-technical systems (STS) thinking, which is necessary for developing sustainable organisational solutions. Sociotechnical theory and practice originally have a focus on optimising social and technical aspects in organisations. Therefore, we choose in this essay for an STS perspective, especially for the STS Design (STS-D) approach which is elaborated by the Lowlands STS school of thought. As digital technologies offer new affordances and constraints for organisational design, we aim, with this essay, to merge STS‑D with digital thinking.We start with a brief sketch of the understanding of current digital technologies. After this, we discuss organisational design in terms of the division of labour and the penetration of digital technology into the nature of work. Then, the STS-D’s core design principles and design sequence, specifically from the Lowlands school of thought, are introduced and adapted for digital thinking. This is followed by a section on design routines for unlocking the potential for designing future, digital-receptive workplaces and organisations. We end the essay with some closing remarks and reflections.

A socio-technical system perspective to exploring the negative effects of social media on work performance

PurposeThis research aims to explore the potential negative effects of social media on employees' work performance in a stressful working environment.Design/methodology/approachThis study model was tested using a sample of 398 social media users from China.FindingsStructural equation modeling analysis provide support for most of the hypothesized relationships as results reveal that social stressors and technical stressors are related to exhaustion and anxiety of employees using social media. Furthermore, results reveal that exhaustion and anxiety exhibit a negative influence on employees' work performance.Originality/valueThis study extends the authors’ understanding of how social stressors and technical stressors are related to work performance. The integration of the transactional theory of stress and coping with socio-technical systems offers a holistic view to explain the phenomenon of stress in the social media context.

Framework for enablers and outcomes of workforce agility: socio technical systems perspective

Framework for enablers and outcomes of workforce agility: socio technical systems perspective

The Vicious Circles of Skill Erosion: A Case Study of Cognitive Automation

Cognitive automation powered by advanced intelligent technologies is increasingly enabling organizations to automate more of their knowledge work tasks. Although this often offers higher efficiency and lower costs, cognitive automation exacerbates the erosion of human skill and expertise in automated tasks. Accepting the erosion of obsolete skills is necessary to reap the benefits of technology—however, the erosion of essential human expertise is problematic if workers remain accountable for tasks for which they lack sufficient understanding, rendering them incapable of responding if the automation fails. Though the phenomenon is widely acknowledged, the dynamics behind such undesired skill erosion are poorly understood. Thus, taking the perspective of sociotechnical systems, we conducted a case study of an accounting firm that had experienced skill erosion over a number of years due to reliance on their software’s automated functions. We synthesized our findings using causal loop modeling based on system dynamics. The resulting dynamic model explains skill erosion via an interplay between humans’ automation reliance, complacency, and mindful conduction. It shows how increasing reliance on automation fosters complacency at both individual and organizational levels, weakening workers’ mindfulness across three work task facets (activity awareness, competence maintenance, and output assessment), resulting in skill erosion. Such skill erosion may remain obscure, acknowledged by neither workers nor managers. We conclude by discussing the implications for theory and practice and identifying directions for future research.