Review Series 1 of 3

Article: Organizational adoption of Web 2.0 technologies: An empirical analysis

Authors: Terence Saldanha & MS Krishnan

This article is a detailed analysis on the uptake of Web 2.0 technologies by organisations, it engages with benefits and negatives of these new technologies in the commercial sphere as well as the factors that influence whether or not an organisation will incorporate Web 2.0 technologies into their business. The article contains a detailed literature review as well as an extensive discussion of the framework they used to examine organisational adoption of Web 2.0 technologies.  In this review we will discuss the major issues highlighted by the article in particular the pros and cons of these technologies, as well as the reasons why companies may be more or less reluctant to adopt them in their organisation. This review will also attempt to detail shortcomings in the article as well as providing suggested improvements for further studies on the topic.

One of the benefits of Web 2.0 suggested by the article is the way that it can encourage a more collaborative work style, encouraging workers to share knowledge and information across the organisation. The article also suggests the potential for Web 2.0 technologies to improve employee engagement.  One of the concerns raised about Web 2.0 technologies in the article is the potential for an overload of unstructured information and that the benefits to businesses can be somewhat unclear. There is also a perception that Web 2.0 will lead to increased security risks within the organisation. The article uses the Technology-Organisation-Environment or TOE framework to evaluate the factors influencing whether a corporation is likely to incorporate Web 2.0 technologies into their organisation.

This framework allowed the writers to establish the following hypothesis around the prevalence in uptake of Web 2.0: Importance to Open Standards; Organisation size; Industry knowledge intensity; and Industry competitive intensity. Open standards in organisations allow a more seamless integration of Web 2.0 technology. “The Ability to leverage Web 2.0 technologies requires openness in the social and technological architectures of the firm” (Prahalad & Krishnan qtd in Saldanda & Krishnan 2012 p.309). The article argues that although smaller firms may find it easier to initiate Web 2.0 technologies as they have less bureaucracy to work through, there are greater benefits to a larger organisation because of the largely social nature of Web 2.0 technology, the greater number of users the stronger the net benefit. Larger organisations also have more to lose by not sharing information the Information Silo Effect which can lead to duplication of effort as information is not shared. Organisations that have greater levels of industry knowledge intensity will have more use for Web 2.0 as these organisations are generally more predicated on IT innovation and information sharing. The competiveness of the industry an organisation is part of can the uptake of Web 2.0 technologies as management seeking a competitive edge are more likely to look to alternative technologies.

The main shortcoming of this article is the data it is based on. The survey was completed in 2007, some five years before the paper was published in 2012. In most areas of research a five year difference between the data collection date and a report being written would be considered a long time, time in information technology terms is more like “dog years” with five years representing an epic gulf between the data collected and the conclusions being drawn from it. An example of the seismic shift which took place in social media in this time one only needs to look at Facebook uptake between 2007 and 2012. 

  

In 2007 there were 58 million monthly users, and by 2012 that figure had increased to 1,056 million monthly users (Sedgi 2014). Another concern is that in addition to being quite old, the data which forms the basis of the article is also incomplete. The original data is from an opt-in survey completed by Information Week the writers of the paper are not aware of the response rate of the survey, but are assuming an averaged rate of response based on the average response to surveys from Information Week. To improve future studies it might be helpful to directly partner with Information Week, this would allow the researchers to have access to the full data set, as well as being able to expand the survey to encompass more current areas of Web 2.0 technology.

While I have no reason to suspect that the conclusions of the article are not perfectly valid based on the data used, my concern is that questions around uptake of Web 2.0 had moved on significantly in the five years between the survey being taken, and this report. Information technology is a fast moving field and while this study is an excellent snapshot of Web 2.0 usage in organisations, it is also a historical document to a certain extent.

Article Reference

Saldanha, T.J.V & Krishnan, M.S. (2012). Organizational adoption of Web 2.0 technologies: An empirical analysis, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 22 (4), 301-333. (available via Taylor & Francis Online, CSU Library)