Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning: a human agency perspective

Abstract

Online learning applications are typically introduced with expectations that they will be used to improve learning and work practices, yet they often fall short of expectations following implementation. Numerous empirical studies have reported unintended use (and nonuse) of new IT applications, providing initial support for practice-based research for viewing emergent changes in work practices. Human agency is a core concept in theories of practice, which seek to explain how recurring patterns of action develop in social contexts such as work settings. However, current applications of theories of practice do not provide satisfactory explanations for the reasons underlying changes in work practice. In this study, we investigate changes in learning and work practices associated with the implementation of an online learning system in a Taiwanese hospital. We apply a temporal theory of human agency that disaggregates agency into elements reflecting actors' orientations to the past, present, and future. We use this theory to address the following research question: why do learning and work practices change following the implementation of online learning? The case study reveals that actors face pressures to respond to the attractions of new ways of learning while preserving traditional work practices. In addition, technological features and social structures constrain the exercise of human agency. As a result, use of the online learning system declined in the period following implementation. Our analysis adds explanatory power to the practice perspective by incorporating human agency, technological constraints, and structural conditions that affect practice.

Keywords:

• information technology use
• work practices
• human agency
• online learning

Acknowledgements

We thank Benoit Raymond for comments on earlier versions of this paper. Our work has also benefited from feedback by participants in workshops at New Jersey Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, and University of Georgia. This research was supported by the National Science Council of ROC under grant NSC 92-2416-H-259-006.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tsai-Hsin Chu

About the authors

Tsai-Hsin Chu is an Assistant Professor of Department of E-Learning Design and Management at National Chiayi University. She received her Ph.D. at National Sun Yat-sen University and had been a visiting researcher of Centre of Management Information and techpreneurship at National University of Singapore. Her research interests include technology-mediated learning, information technology adoption, knowledge management, and computer-mediated communication. She has published papers in major journals, including Information & Management, Journal of Organizational Computing & Electronic Commerce, Decision Support Systems, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Journal of Information Management and Academy of Managerial Communication Journal.

Daniel Robey

Daniel Robey is Professor and holder of the John B. Zellars Chair in Information Systems at Georgia State University. He holds a joint appointment in the Departments of Computer Information Systems and Managerial Sciences. He is Coordinator of the doctoral program in Computer Information Systems and teaches courses on Qualitative Research Methods and on Information Technology and Organizational Change. He earned his doctorate in Administrative Science in 1973 from Kent State University. Professor Robey is Editor-in-Chief of Information and Organization, former Senior Editor of MIS Quarterly and serves on the editorial boards of Organization Science, Academy of Management Review, Information Technology & People, and the John Wiley series on Information Systems. He is the author of three books and numerous articles in such journals as Management Science, Organization Science, Information Systems Research, Information and Organization, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Information Technology & People, European Journal of Information Systems, and Decision Sciences. His current research includes empirical examinations of the effects of a wide range of technologies on patterns of work, including the development of theoretical approaches to explaining the development and consequences of information technology in organizations. Professor Robey is a Fellow of the Association of Information Systems.