Casting the Net: A Multimodal Network Perspective on User-System Interactions
Authors: Kane, Gerald C.; Alavi, Maryam
Journal: Information Systems Research (2008)
<jats:p> Information systems (IS) researchers have typically examined the user-system relationship as an isolated dyad between a single, independent user and an individual, freestanding information system. We argue that this conceptualization does not adequately represent most organizations today, in which multiple users interact with multiple information systems within a group. Relying heavily on the theory and methods behind social network analysis, we introduce the concept of multimodal networks to assess both users and information systems as equivalent nodes in a single social network. This perspective allows us to examine the influence of information systems on organizational outcomes as a function of all of the user-system and interpersonal interactions in a group. We explore two different possible mechanisms for this influence: (1) direct user-system interactions by aggregating the strength of all the dyadic user-system interactions in a group, and (2) indirect user-system interactions by assessing the centrality of the information systems within the social network. We survey approximately 600 individuals in 40 healthcare groups to test whether either or both of these mecha…