Abstract

Social media provide new opportunities for supporting the dynamics of collective action (CA), allowing for the mobilisation of people into debates and involving them in new forms of collective decision making. Although current studies focus on opportunities offered by social media for collective action, there is still a need to deepen the understanding of how social media support the organisation of CA and to study the effects of individual actions performed on social media in complex organisational settings. We here explore how social media are used to manage CA by the Italian political movement Movimento Cinque Stelle, using the concept of affordances as the conceptual framing. Based on the qualitative case analyses, our study contributes to the knowledge base by identifying a typology of nine affordances supporting CA and exploring how the combined actualisations of some affordances of the typology create antecedents of the fundamental processes of CA. On the basis of the study analysis, we suggest a model to describe how social media support CA through affordances, their combinations, and the creation of antecedents and then formulate implications for research and practice.

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Abstract

In addition to innate curiosity, many of us also see scientific research as a way of making the world a better place. There has been a drive to better understand and observe the practical and societal impact of research, led by researchers seeking to find meaning and purpose in their work, as well as government agencies responsible for allocating research funding to maximum effect. Despite a wealth of guidance from researchers discussing impact and agencies evaluating impact, making practice impact visible and demonstrable remains arduous to researchers because it appears to be possible only at the end of a long and winding pathway to impact. This article presents a framework for demonstrating practice impact as it is being realized progressively, rather than only at the end of the pathway. It identifies usable, in?use, and useful research outputs, with each having cumulative and demonstrable practice impact. Our analyses of existing impact evaluation guidelines and top?ranked impact cases submitted to the Research Excellence Framework 2014 showed that all three forms of impact can be demonstrated and are recognized as practice impact. Framing impact in terms of “use” inherently connects the perspectives of researchers and beneficiary users and positions users as co?producers of impact rather than passive objects and recipients of research. The 3U framework is descriptive as well as prescriptive. It identifies impact indicators for each form of impact. It also indicates the necessary actions for strengthening impact. When applied iteratively, the 3U framework facilitates the identification and pursuit of new research questions that will further solidify a research endeavour’s practice impact.

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Abstract

With the growing proliferation of smart home assistants (SHAs), digital services are increasingly pervading people’s private households. Through their intrusive features, SHAs threaten to not only increase individual users’ strain but also impair social relationships at home. However, while previous research has predominantly focused on technology features’ detrimental effects on employee strain at work, there is still a lack of understanding of the adverse effects of digital devices on individuals and their social relations at home. In addition, we know little about how these deleterious effects can be mitigated by using information technology (IT) artefact?based design features. Drawing on the person?technology fit model, self?regulation theory, and the literature on anthropomorphism, we used the synergistic properties of an online experiment (N = 136) and a follow?up field survey with a representative sample of SHA users (N = 214) to show how and why SHAs’ intrusive technology features cause strain and interpersonal conflicts at home. Moreover, we demonstrate how SHAs’ anthropomorphic design features can attenuate the harmful effects of intrusive technology features on strain by shaping users’ feelings of privacy invasion. More broadly, our study sheds light on the largely underinvestigated psychological and social consequences of the digitization of the individual at home.

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