Web 2.0-enabled team relationships: an actor-network perspective

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how the deployment of Web 2.0 technologies, specifically digital platforms for internal communication within organizations, influences the nature of the team relationship. Previous research on the impact of these technologies in teams call for new approaches and conceptualizations of leadership. However, there is no consensus in the literature to help us understand the nature of team relationships that are sustained by these technological intermediations. To address this gap, we theoretically explore how the intermediation of Web 2.0 technology within teams generates what we propose as the technologized team relationship, in which the technology is as much a part of the relationship as the humans involved. In doing so, we also highlight potential unintended consequences for individuals in this technologized team relationship. We underpin our analyses with Latourian actor-network theory, which recognizes the agency of objects such as digital technologies in social relationships with humans. We then propose a theoretical framework for understanding and researching the nature of this technologized team relationship.

KEYWORDS:

• Actor-network theory
• Web 2.0 technologies
• team relationship
• unintended consequences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.