Citation:
David Denyer, Emma Parry and Paul Flowers, “Social”, “Open” and “Participative”? Exploring Personal Experiences and
Organisational Effects of Enterprise2.0 Use, Long Range Planning, Volume 44, Issues 5–6, October–December 2011, Pages 375–396
Abstract:
Organisations are increasingly adopting Web2.0 technologies such as web-based
communities, social networking sites, wikis and blogs to enable users to
interact, share information and alter web-based content. In a business/
commercial context, the use of such technologies has been termed Enterprise2.0.
This paper explores organisational actors’ experiences of this new technology
and how the shift to Enterprise2.0 is shaping how people work and organise. We
present an in-depth case study of a large multinational telecommunications
company that is commonly regarded as one of the leading proponents of
Enterprise2.0. Data were collected from three business units each exhibiting
different characteristics in terms of the level of Enterprise2.0 experience and
employee participation in decision-making. Our findings show that while
Enterprise2.0 is claimed to be “social”, “open” and “participative” and has the
potential to deliver significant business benefits, the experiences of
organisational actors suggest that their expectations regarding Enterprise2.0
use were not met. Paradoxically, employee participation was limited and the
monitoring and moderation of certain discussions, together with political use of
the technology by leaders, meant that the use of Enterprise2.0 was often thought
of as no more “social”, “open” or “participative” than more traditional methods
of communication. These results are discussed within the framework of previous
research on the management of the introduction of new technology and its use and
exploitation within organisations.
