When IT Evolves Beyond Community Needs: Coevolution of Bottom-Up IT Innovation and Communities

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While there have been increasing studies on the impact of financial technology (FinTech), limited research has explored how FinTech supports economic empowerment for informal businesses.Drawing on institutional logics and a case study of mobile money-a FinTech innovation-this study develops a model of mobile money-driven economic empowerment. We argue that this model is important to explain how those at the bottom of the economic pyramid, who are often neglected, use FinTech innovations to create and run informal businesses. Our findings and model explain the dynamics between logics, actors, and mobile money at three levels: regulatory, payments infrastructure, and informal economy. We identify three corresponding effects as outcomes of economic empowerment for informal businesses: greater access to start-up capital, new employment opportunities, and improved financial management. By illustrating these effects, our study contributes to a better understanding of how FinTech innovations offer a possible pathway to economic empowerment for informal businesses.

Section: Theoretical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 88%

Moving away from trading on the margins: Economic empowerment of informal businesses through FinTech

Senyo

Gozman

Karanasios

et al. 2022

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“…These studies are in line with the research on technology and development with its focus on economic and social divides (Davison, 2005; Lagna & Ravishankar, 2021), in their consideration of how COVID‐19 emphasises implications of the digital divide. Future work may also examine how the pandemic ushered in novel use of technology such as mobile payments (Lagna & Ravishankar, 2021) to replace contact with physical money or triggered community‐driven technology innovations (Zorina & Karanasios, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pursuit of relevance and impact: A review of the immediate response of the information systems field to COVID‐19

Karanasios

2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic demanded an immediate response from the research community, including adjustment to how researchers undertake research. As in many fields, information systems scholars attempted 'rapid response' research that addresses the immediate crisis. This paper reviews the state of the immediate research and scholarly discussion in the information systems field. Seventy-one journal papers are reviewed. The review categorises nine thematic areas and one broad area of discussion. The methods by which information systems scholars address immediate research questions are identified. The contributions are discussed, future research directions are outlined and a model is proposed that traces the pathway from initiation of research/ generation of new knowledge to practice impact. A further model is proposed to help information systems scholars clearly establish the link between the study of information systems phenomena and COVID-19.

“…These changes will not always be welcomed by organisations at the core of the field (Mazza & Pedersen, 2004). The information systems literature offers several examples of community organisations and bottom‐up movements with no organisational structure and unformalized roles using digital technology to transition into more formally structured organisations (Braccini et al, 2019; Sæbø et al, 2020; Zorina & Karanasios, 2021). For instance, an informal group of citizens developed technology innovation that evolved from a grassroots community innovation to formal business competing in the telecommunications space (Zorina & Karanasios, 2021).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The information systems literature offers several examples of community organisations and bottom‐up movements with no organisational structure and unformalized roles using digital technology to transition into more formally structured organisations (Braccini et al, 2019; Sæbø et al, 2020; Zorina & Karanasios, 2021). For instance, an informal group of citizens developed technology innovation that evolved from a grassroots community innovation to formal business competing in the telecommunications space (Zorina & Karanasios, 2021). Therefore, it is possible for organisations to move from a periphery to core position in a field, and digital technology can help them to do so (Oberg et al, 2022).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

The interplay of logics and social media: An organisational field perspective

Karanasios,

Adrot,

Hayes

et al. 2023

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This paper examines what happens when multiple organisations with competing logics enact social media concurrently and in diverse ways. This is important in organisational fields such as emergency management where it becomes problematic if information provision is fragmented and inconsistent. A qualitative and multi‐level case study of an organisational field is undertaken, comprised of interviews with 45 representatives from 27 organisations, including emergency management organisations, government agencies, non‐government organisations, private organisations, and community groups. Based on our findings, we build understanding of how logics and the enactment of digital technology coevolve in an organisational field. We articulate a theoretical model that explains the reciprocity between logics and the enactment of social media. We also develop a framework that captures an organisational field‐level perspective on the range of ways that information flows across such a field. We contribute to theory on institutional dynamics and to understanding of the enactment of social media in organisational fields. Implications for practice are discussed.