Interpretive Flexibility EJIS - Final Submission - Paper 1382R.pdf (127.93 kB)
A re-conceptualization of the interpretive flexibility of information technologies: redressing the balance between the social and the technical
journal contribution
posted on 2009-04-29, 13:09 authored by Neil Doherty, Crispin CoombsCrispin Coombs, John Loan-ClarkeInterpretive flexibility – the capacity of a specific technology to sustain divergent opinions –
has long been recognised as playing an important role in explaining how technical artefacts
are socially constructed. What is less clear is how a system’s technical characteristics might
limit its ability to be interpreted flexibly. This gap in the literature has largely arisen because
recent contributions to this debate have tended to be rather one-sided, focussing almost
solely upon the role of the human agent in shaping the technical artefact, and in so doing
either downplaying or ignoring the artefact’s shaping potential. The broad aim of this study
was to reappraise the nature and role of interpretive flexibility but giving as much
consideration to how an information system’s technical characteristics might limit its ability to
be interpreted flexibly, as we do to its potential for social construction. In this paper we use
the results of two in-depth case studies, in order to propose a re-conceptualisation of the role
of interpretive flexibility. In short, this model helps explain how the initial interpretations of
stakeholders are significantly influenced by the scope and adaptability of the system’s
functionality. Stakeholder interpretations will then, in turn, influence how the system’s
functionality is appropriated and exploited by users, to allow divergent interpretations to be
realised and sustained.
History
School
- Business and Economics
Department
- Business
Citation
DOHERTY, N., COOMBS, C. and LOAN-CLARKE, J., 2006. A re-conceptualization of the interpretive flexibility of information technologies: redressing the balance between the social and the technical. European Journal of Information Systems, 15 (6), pp. 569-582Publisher
© Palgrave MacmillanVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publication date
2006Notes
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in European Journal of Information Systems. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ejis/journal/v15/n6/abs/3000653a.htmlISSN
0960-085XLanguage
- en