How Social Media and Institutional Logics Shape Information Practices: The Case of the Emergency Sector

Abstract

Despite increasing attention to the role of social media platforms in emergencies, research has tended to focus on citizen use or how they are deployed by single organizations. We draw on the concept of institutional logics to examine the impact of social media platforms on the information landscape of the emergency sector. A qualitative theory-generating and multi-level case study of the emergency sector is undertaken, comprised of interviews with 29 organizations including emergency management organizations, government agencies, NGOs, private organizations, and community groups. We show how the emergency sector embodies multiple logics that are reflected not only in its structures but also in its social media mediated information related practices, as well as how these emergent practices alter or reinforce or contradict the incumbent logics. We thus unpack the interaction and mutual shaping between logics and technology. A model is proposed that reveals the way organizational and sector dynamics are pivotal arbiters of how the organizations reinforce, compartmentalize, or hybridize logics. We also develop a matrix to capture the interconnections of information practices at organizational field level that explains how they embody both logics to account for the diverse needs of citizens. Implications for practice are discussed.

Biography

Associate Professor Stan Karanasios recently joined the University of Queensland Business School. Previously he worked at RMIT University and the University of Leeds, where he has a visiting position. His current research focuses on the interaction between new information and communication technologies and society and in particular the impact of digitalisation/digital transformation in a range of settings. His research has been used to inform policy, drive organisational change and design systems. He has published in leading information systems and information management journals, including: MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, and the Journal of the Association for Information Systems. He has been awarded research grants from a range of government and industry sources and worked on large scale European Union funded projects. In addition to his research work he has undertaken a range of consulting work for industry and international bodies such as the United Nations.