Grounded theorizing for electronically mediated social contexts

Abstract

Electronically mediated social contexts (EMSCs), in which interactions and activities are largely or completely computer-mediated, have become important settings for investigation by Information Systems (IS) scholars. Owing to the relative novelty and originality of EMSCs, IS researchers often lack existing theories to make sense of the processes that emerge in them. Therefore, many IS researchers have relied upon grounded theory in order to develop new theory based on empirical observations from EMSCs. This article reviews a selected set of papers concerned with grounded IS research on EMSCs. It examines how the authors of these papers handled the characteristics of EMSCs and, in particular, addresses the topics of data collection, data analysis, and theory building. The paper also draws implications and recommendations for grounded researchers interested in investigating these original and fascinating environments in their future work. For example, it calls for grounded researchers on EMSCs to reflect upon the characteristics of their domains of inquiry, to respect the logic of discovery of grounded methods, and to articulate more clearly their theoretical ambitions along the induction/abduction continuum. The paper closes by suggesting promising areas for future grounded research on EMSCs, including taking advantage of the potential for combining qualitative and quantitative analytical methods.

Keywords:

• grounded theory
• electronic data
• methodology
• theory building
• abduction
• induction

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emmanuelle Vaast

About the authors

Emmanuelle Vaast is Associate Professor of Information Systems at the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University. She holds a Ph.D. from the Centre de Recherche en Gestion, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris (2003). Her research examines how social practices emerge and change with the implementation and use of various new technologies and how these new practices lead to changes in organizational and field dynamics. Most of her research is qualitative, case-based, and interpretive, but she is also interested in the quantitative analysis of electronically collected evidence.

Geoff Walsham

Geoff Walsham is an Emeritus Professor of Management Studies (Information Systems) at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. In addition to Cambridge, he has held academic posts at the University of Lancaster in the UK where he was Professor of Information Management, the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and Mindanao State University in the Philippines. His teaching and research is focused on the question: are we making a better world with information and communication technologies? He was one of the early pioneers of interpretive approaches to research on information systems. For further details, go to http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/research/faculty/walshamg.html