Socio-Technical Issues in Organizational Information Technologies

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/112549

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Communication Adaptation in Virtual Teams: An Agent-Based Modelling Approach Using Synthetic Data
(2026-01-06) Haidemariam, Tsehaye; Wong, Sut; Sanden, Guro
This study examines the evolution of communication preferences in virtual teams, focusing on language proficiency, social influence, and technological context. Utilizing Media Richness Theory (MRT) and Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST), it employs a novel computational framework incorporating synthetic data and agent-based modeling (ABM). A dataset of 5,000 synthetic team members simulates baseline communication, while the ABM assesses adaptation dynamics over 20-time steps. Findings indicate that communication preferences are not stable nor linear. Instead, medium-switching behavior arises from interactions among agents influenced by language proficiency, team structure, and peer norms. The results indicate that 42.6% prefer text-based communication, 26.2% voice, and 31.2% video, with a weak correlation (r = 0.08) between language proficiency and adaptation. The study redefines how communication is theorized and modelled in digitally complex team environments, offering a method to study adaptation in the context of immersive and distributed technologies like AI, blockchain, AR, VR, and the metaverse.
Understanding, Usefulness and Recognition of UX Artifacts: Crossing Boundaries Between Agile and UX Practitioners
(2026-01-06) Rukonić, Luka; Fastrez, Pierre; Kieffer, Suzanne
Artifact-mediated communication supports knowledge exchange about users and system design in user-centered agile software development (UCASD). While prior research documents the use of UX artifacts in UCASD, little is known about how practitioners interpret their content and perceive their usefulness. This study adopts a practitioner perspective and explores the role of UX artifacts through the lens of boundary objects theory to identify how they bridge disciplinary gaps. We used a questionnaire and a retrospective think-aloud protocol with nine agile and four UX practitioners, focusing on six commonly used UX artifacts. Findings show that storyboards and user journey maps support communication, persona and wireframe act as boundary objects between agile and UX teams, and affinity diagram and user test report serve local purposes. We conclude by providing practical recommendations for UCASD teams and directions for future research.
The Materialization of GenAI: Examining the Implementation of Large Language Models in Knowledge Organizations
(2026-01-06) Ulfsnes, Rasmus; Barbala, Astri; Moe, Nils Brede; Mikalsen, Marius
While Generative AI (GenAI) and in particular large-language models (LLM) holds significant promise for transforming knowledge work, there is limited understanding of how organizations implement and adapt LLM systems in practice. We conducted a case study in a large maritime organization, drawing on semi-structured interviews with leaders, developers, and expert users. Our findings show that the materialization of agency in GenAI use is not determined by the technology alone, but emerges from the interplay of organizational norms, leadership discourses, design choices, and workers’ situated practices. While GenAI carries open-ended potential, its affordances were constrained by prescriptive managerial framings, even as workers re-materialized agency through exploratory and relational engagements. We argue that organizational adoption of GenAI should be approached as an ongoing process of experimentation, attentive not only to technical fine-tuning but also to the relations that shape its use.
Bridging IS and Project Management: A Framework for Understanding IS Project Specificity
(2026-01-06) Coulon, Thibaut; Delisle, Julie; Bourdeau, Simon; Vieru, Dragos
This study investigates how academic literature justifies the distinctiveness of Information Systems (IS) projects. While often viewed as challenging to manage, a lack of shared understanding persists regarding what makes IS projects unique. Based on a structured review of 137 articles from leading project management journals, the paper synthesizes the main arguments describing their specificities. Using the theoretical lens of temporary organizations, justifications are mapped across five dimensions: Task, Team, Time, Transition, and Context. Beyond recurring themes—such as technological uncertainty, stakeholder complexity, and strategic embeddedness—the analysis reveals cross-dimensional patterns, including blurred boundaries between tasks and teams, as well as between project and organizational time. These features contribute to unstable coordination and temporal uncertainty. The study proposes a conceptual framework that clarifies the distinct nature of IS projects and fosters dialogue between the IS and project management communities, providing a foundation for future theorizing on IS project dynamics in volatile environments.
Towards an Understanding of the Impacts of Hybrid Work Technologies on Racialized and Underrepresented People
(2026-01-06) Jabagi, Nura
Often promoted as a pillar of the Future of Work, hybrid work is a flexible workplace model combining both in-office and remote work; it is enabled by technologies such as the internet, video-conferencing, enterprise social media (ESM), collaboration platforms, as well as algorithmic management. Despite its growing prevalence, the benefits associated with hybrid work—such as improved work-life balance, more efficient time use, burnout mitigation, and higher productivity—may not be equally distributed. Emerging research suggests that hybrid models risk reinforcing workplace inequities, particularly for racialized and underrepresented workers. This research-in-progress paper theorizes the paradoxical effects of hybrid work technologies on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. Drawing on socio-material theory, affordances, paradox theory, and critical perspectives, this paper develops a conceptual model and set of falsifiable research propositions. Research limitations, and scholarly and practical implications are discussed, as are the proposed next steps in this research project.
Data Beyond Technology: Toward a Conceptualization of Datastress
(2026-01-06) Saigot, Maylis; Lefebvre, Hippolyte; Karanasios, Stan
As digitalization accelerates, data has become central to how work is conducted across professions. Employees now engage with continuous streams of data to fulfill core responsibilities. Yet the pace, volume, and variability of data introduce strains not fully captured by existing models of technostress. This paper introduces datastress as a distinct but complementary concept from technostress, capturing the contextual, relational and systemic stress that arise from data work. Drawing on cognitive load theory and research on the specific nature of data, we identify working-memory drain, trust erosion, and moral tension as three resulting strains from datastress. We use two thought experiments drawn from emergency care and algorithmic food delivery to clarify the analytical boundaries between technostress and datastress. The model advances IS research on digital work by relocating the focal stressor from the screen to the data stream.
Considering the Material-discursive Practice: Enacting the Unspoken Goal
(2026-01-06) Silfversparre, Jonna
Goals are commonly recognized through their materialization in explicit statements. By applying a sociomaterial lens to the practice of goal formation, the scope of the analysis is widened beyond pre-defined social and material actors. Hence, considering also the mundane, presumed and overlooked spatial and material dimensions. Through observations of workshops in a home care service quality development initiative in a local Swedish government, it is shown how goals are in becoming and performatively configured given conditioned possibilities of material-discursive arrangements. This study contributes to IS research by demonstrating the applicability of a sociomaterial lens in understanding social phenomena. This is done by showing how goals are formed not only by what actors say and do, but also where, when, how and with what they do it. Through downplaying language and increasing tentativeness toward significant material dimensions, this study shows how goals can be perceived when not necessarily spoken or conscious.
Driven Online: How Organisational Knowledge-Hiding Fuels Knowledge-Seeking in Virtual Communities
(2026-01-06) Bhatti, Zeeshan; Arain, Ghulam Ali; Yasin, Hina; Syed, Tahir Abbas
While prior research has primarily focused on personal factors influencing online knowledge-seeking in virtual communities, this study examines the role of organisational factors. Specifically, we investigate how supervisor knowledge-hiding, a behaviour typically associated with negative outcomes, can drive employees to seek knowledge externally. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, we develop and test a conceptual model through a three-wave time-lagged design survey of 370 employees based in the UK and the US. Our findings reveal that when employees experience knowledge-hiding from their supervisors, they are more likely to disengage from internal sources and turn to online virtual communities for knowledge-seeking.
How Well-being in the Digital Workplace Shapes Employee Experience: A Socio-Technical Study on Loyalty and Performance
(2026-01-06) Schätzle, Anna; Gräf, Miriam; Buxmann, Peter
As organizations navigate rapid digital transformation, improving the employee experience has become a strategic priority to retain talent and maintain a competitive advantage. Many employees’ day-to-day work is shaped by the adoption and continuous expansion of the digital workplace. Despite the known challenges of digital workplaces, little research has examined the impact of employee well-being in these environments. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring how well-being in the digital workplace impacts employee experience, loyalty, word-of-mouth and business performance. Based on a literature review and a quantitative study with N=192 employees, our results show that digital workplace well-being significantly increases individual engagement, satisfaction, loyalty and positive word-of-mouth communication as well as the overall organizational performance. However, no significant impact was identified on commitment and collective engagement. Our findings underscore the role of well-being in promoting positive employee experiences and organizational success in digitally transformed work environments.
Introduction to the Minitrack on Socio-Technical Issues in Organizational Information Technologies
(2026-01-06) Vidolov, Simeon; Vieru, Dragos; Plugge, Albert; Jabagi, Nura

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