Mindfully experimenting with it: Cases on corporate social media introduction
Abstract
In many companies the process of new Information Technology (IT) identification and assessment lacks the rigor associated with experimentation. We explore cases of 5 companies not using formal experiments to implement social media but who applied differing levels of mindfulness to their social media implementations. It was observed that companies with a more mindful implementation had wider boundaries of assessments, richer interpretations of the IT's usefulness, multi-level foci concerning benefits and costs, persistence to continue exploration, and a greater use of fact-based decision-making. The cases illustrate that the extent of mindfulness influences not only how new technologies are introduced, but also that a mindful introduction process can reap benefits of experimentation, such as greater stakeholder satisfaction and organization-wide learning and understanding the technology's potential. Implications for theory and practice are outlined.
Publication Title
Journal of Database Management
Recommended Citation
Poston, R., & Kettinger, W. (2014). Mindfully experimenting with it: Cases on corporate social media introduction. Journal of Database Management, 25 (2), 29-51. https://doi.org/10.4018/jdm.2014040102
