Introduction

Abstract

The socio-technical approach to the study of the relations between people and technology in organizations has a long standing tradition in the managerial research. The increased adoption of information and communication technologies in organizations contributed to offer new empowerment opportunities for organizations, as well as opened new avenues for research. ICTs offer different, peculiar, organizational and individual affordances if compared to process technologies. ICTs are also continuously evolving at a quick pace. As a result the literature has seen, throughout the years, the growth and the evolution of different conceptualizations of the socio-technical relationship between technology and organization. On this specific topic this book contains a selection of the best papers presented and accepted at the XI edition of the ItAIS conference, held in Genova in November 2014. Papers included in the books discuss the role of empowerment potential for organization of IT artifacts and IT platforms, providing the results of cutting-edge research projects in the Italian and international scientific community

Beyond national boundaries in the study of digital public engagement: Interparliamentary institutions and cooperation in the Austrian and Portuguese national parliaments

“…Parliaments that try to develop (digital) public engagement activities seek outside information because they are unsure how to achieve this. Given that in most cases these activities are supported by digital technologies, that is, complex sociotechnical systems that are not stable over time and thus require constant learning, adaption, and technical skills (Torre et al, 2016), parliaments turn to other parliaments to overcome their uncertainty, lack of experience, and limited capacity and technical skills. An alternative explanation proposes that parliaments may imitate what peer parliaments do simply because they are peers or imitate what apparently successful parliaments do simply because they are high-status countries that are thought to know best (Meseguer, 2005).…”