Information and Communication Technology Use in Organizations

Our review of recent studies on ICT use in organizations seeks to answer three interrelated questions about ICTs and organizations: (1) What are the influences on ICT adoption, use, and outcomes? (2) Through what contexts and processes do ICTs occasion change, at different levels of analysis? And (3) What outcomes are associated with ICT adoption and use? We further inquire, (4) How do the three social science disciplines of Communication, Information Systems, and Management compare in treatment of these three questions? First we summarize our method, and identify the major themes and general phases represented in the sampled articles. The next section synthesizes empirical findings and reviews from these disciplines to show what answers they have generated to the first three questions. The subsequent section answers the fourth questions, by describing differences and similarities among the three disciplines in themes, theories, and method. The final section considers the intersection of these three fields to ask what researchers in general, and communication scholars in particular, might begin to explore about ICT use in organizations