Extending Social Constructivism with Institutional Theory: A Broadband Civic Networking Case

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorVenkatesh, Murali
dc.contributor.authorShin, Dong Hee
dc.date.accessioned2017-04-15T12:06:19Z
dc.date.available2017-04-15T12:06:19Z
dc.date.issued2005
dc.description.abstractA longitudinal study of broadband civic network design is analyzed using social construction of technology (SCOT) approach and then through the lens of institutional theory. SCOT is useful to show how artifacts take on the forms they do; institutional theory, by locating (design) action in a cultural, historical and structural context can complement SCOT by explaining why they tend to assume certain forms. Broadband civic networking initiatives often have mixed goals: ensuring financial viability and realizing normative social aims. In the present case, this tension was resolved by fitting the network’s technological and social form to a criterion of legitimacy prevailing among power centers in the broader field; this succeeded in eliciting necessary financial resources to sustain the network, but at the expense of the project’s normative aims. Institutional approaches theorize the relation of cultural ideas and social structure, and that of structure and social action, to interrogate micro-politics of social constructions and the (intended/unintended) forms they assume. To engage the Why question, constructivists need to theorize action. Sociological institutional theory offers pointers.
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/1-4020-3591-8_4
dc.identifier.isbn978-1-4020-3591-3
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSpringer London, Dordrecht Amsterdam
dc.relation.ispartofCommunities and Technologies: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Communities and Technologies 2005
dc.relation.ispartofseriesCommunities and Technologies
dc.titleExtending Social Constructivism with Institutional Theory: A Broadband Civic Networking Case
dc.typeText
gi.citation.endPage74
gi.citation.startPage55
gi.conference.locationMilano, Italy
gi.conference.sessiontitleFull Papers

Files

Original bundle
1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
00313.pdf
Size:
79.6 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
0 B
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

C&T 2005: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Communities and Technologies 2005