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- Forsgren, Emma
(författare)
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Enterprise Social Media in Project-based Knowledge Work : A contextualized view through the lens of activity theory
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Project-based knowledge work is characterised by decentralised and dynamic team-based structures, different from the traditional, bureaucratic organisation. Arguably, this flexible and collaborative work setting could benefit from enterprise social media, which helps facilitate how people connect, collaborate and share information across organisational boundaries.This thesis applies the theoretical lens of activity theory to explore the adoption, use and integration of enterprise social media in project-based knowledge work. Moreover, it develops a rich sociocultural understanding of how these platforms are situated in work activities. In particular, the focus lies on information sharing and the potential to connect different types of work, roles and responsibilities.Through a qualitative research design, this thesis contributes towards understanding the subtle interplay between enterprise social media, employees’ information sharing and their situated work activities. Key findings reveal that enterprise social media created long-term strategic benefits, such as a shared knowledge base, situation awareness, horizon scanning, as well as making project-based knowledge work more intertwined. Furthermore, support was also found for a grassroots approach for adoption, as employees were personally invested and more likely to find meaningful use in their activities, through exploration, innovation and trial and error.This thesis also identifies contradictions that relate to the role of enterprise social media for information sharing. It became evident that different platforms could co-exist in functional arrangements, with a specific place and purpose in the wider ecology. However, contradictions emerge in terms of overlaps between technolo-gies, asymmetry in usage and the appearance of different information sharing practices and dependencies.This work presents new theoretical insights into how enterprise social media are used for information sharing in work activities, bringing attention to what people are aiming to achieve, and highlighting how sociocultural elements can have an influence.
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| 2. |
- Hicks, Alison
(författare)
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The theory of mitigating risk : Information literacy and language-learning in transition
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This qualitative study explores the information literacy practices of students who were learning a language overseas as part of their undergraduate degree. Constructivist grounded theory and situational analysis were used to examine the information activities of 26 English-speakers from Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Students were learning one of eight languages in 14 different American, Asian and European countries for a period of between four and 12 months overseas. Semi-structured interviews and photoelicitation method were used to give each participant the opportunity to present an explanatory narrative of their time overseas and to explicate nuanced and contextual information that is hard to verbalise. The study is informed by a theoretical framework that includes practice theory and transitions theory. The theory of mitigating risk emerges from the study’s analysis and provides a rich explanation of how an engagement with information supports language-student transition to new and culturally unfamiliar information environments. The theory illustrates how academic, physical and financial stress that is produced through participation within a new setting catalyses the enactment of information literacy practices that subsequently mediate student transition from acting like a language-learner to becoming a language-learner during their time overseas. From an educational perspective, the theory of mitigating risk broadens understanding about the shape that information literacy takes within transition to a new intercultural context while setting the scene for the design of educational interventions that recognise the fluid and generative possibilities of this period. From a broader social perspective, the theory of mitigating risk contributes to research that explores how businesses and communities can respond to and prepare for increasingly flexible global movement.
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