Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-vmclg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-01T12:25:07.660Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Mixing Ethnography and Information Technology Data Mining to Visualize Innovation Networks in Global Networked Organizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2014

By
Julia C. Gluesing ,
Kenneth R. Riopelle  and
James A. Danowski
Edited by
Silvia Domínguez  and
Betina Hollstein
Julia C. Gluesing
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
Kenneth R. Riopelle
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
James A. Danowski
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Silvia Domínguez
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston
Betina Hollstein
Affiliation:
Universität Bremen
Get access

Summary

Introduction

This chapter presents an example of an embedded research design drawing on a case example of empirical research that mixed ethnography and automated data mining to analyze communication networks in global organizations. The goal of the research was to dynamically visualize network structure and content across geographic, organizational, and cultural boundaries. We conducted the study described in this chapter as part of a United States National Science Foundation funded research study to examine how innovations are diffused in global networked organizations. The theory, methods, and tools that helped us conduct our investigation are varied and many, and it will not be possible to do them all justice in this chapter. However, it is our intent to illustrate the value of combining approaches from quantitative, automated data collection and analysis with a grounded ethnographic approach. The quantitative network analysis was given greater weight in the overall study design. However, the ethnographic data were gathered in parallel with automated quantitative data collection and with special emphasis on the triangulation of data that served to both validate and corroborate results. The approach demonstrates how ethnographic methods provide both relevant content and context that can be incorporated into IT-based techniques for data mining and network analysis.

We will demonstrate how the ethnography both validated and grounded the results we found through our analysis of electronic data as well as how the ethnography provided insights that gave our interpretation of the results depth and face validity with the organizational members we studied. We have organized this chapter to provide the reader first with some context for our study by briefly stating the problem and the research question and reviewing the theory and research related to networks, information technology, and diffusion in organizations. Next we discuss the appropriateness of using mixed methods in our study of networks in a global organization. Third, we describe the study procedures and both the quantitative and qualitative methods and results. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the implications for researchers of innovation networks and practitioners in global networked organizations who manage them and work in these networks.

Type
Chapter
Information
Mixed Methods Social Networks Research
Design and Applications
 , pp. 203 - 234
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al-Gahtani, S. 2001. “The applicability of TAM outside North America: An empirical test in the United Kingdom.” Information Resources Management Journal, 14(3):37–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baba, M., Gluesing, J., Ratner, H., and Wagner, K.. 2004. “The contexts of knowing: Natural history of a globally distributed team.” Journal of Organizational Behavior 25:547–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barabasi, A. L. 2002. Linked: The New Science of Networks. New York: Perseus.Google Scholar
Barley, S. R. and Kunda, G.. 2001. “Bringing work back in.” Organization Science 12(1):76–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartunek, J. M. and Seo, M.. 2002. “Qualitative research can add new meanings to quantitative research.” Journal of Organizational Behavior 23:237–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bass, F. M. 1969. “A new product growth model for consumer durables.” Management Science 15(5):215–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernard, H. R., ed. Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira.
Bernard, H. R. and Ryan, G. W. 1998. “Text analysis: Qualitative and quantitative methods.” Pp. 595–646 in Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology, edited by Bernard, H. R.. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira.Google Scholar
Borgatti, S. P. and Foster, P. C.. 2003. “The network paradigm in organizational research: A review and typology.” Journal of Management 29(6):991–1013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bostrom, , ed. 1982. Communication Yearbook, 6. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.Google Scholar
Buchanan, M. 2002. Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Burkhardt, M. E. and Brass, D. J.. 1990. “Changing patterns or patterns of change: The effects of a change in technology on social network structures and power.” Administrative Science Quarterly 35:104–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carley, K. M. 1995. “Communication technologies and their effect on cultural homogeneity, consensus, and the diffusion of new ideas.” Sociological Perspectives 38(4):547–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carley, K. M.. 1996. “Communicating new ideas. The potential impact of information and telecommunication technology.” Technology in Society 18:219–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carley, K. M. and Krackhardt, D.. 1996. “Cognitive inconsistencies and non-symmetric friendship.” Social Networks 18:1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Contractor, N. S. and Eisenberg, E. M.. 1990. “Communication networks and new media in organizations.” Pp. 143–172 in Organizations and Communication Technology, edited by Fulk, J. and Steinfield, E.. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Contractor, N., Zink, D., and Chan, M.. 1998. “IKNOW: A tool to assist and study the creation, maintenance, and dissolution of knowledge networks.” Pp. 201–217 in Community Computing and Support Systems (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1519), edited by Ishida, T.. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Contractor, N., Whitbred, R., Fonti, F., Hyatt, A., O’Keefe, B., and Jones, P.. 2000. “Structuration theory and the evolution of networks.” Presented at the 2000 Winter Organizational Science Conference, Keystone, CO.
Cotrill, K. 1998. “Networking for innovation.” Chemical Week 160(7):39–41.Google Scholar
Cross, R. and Parker, A.. 2004. The Hidden Power of Social Networks. Boston: Harvard Business School PressGoogle Scholar
Cross, R., Borgatti, S. P., and Parker, A.. 2002. “Making invisible work visible: Using social network analysis to support strategic collaboration.” California Management Review 44(2):25–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danowski, J. 1982. “A network-based content analysis methodology for computer-mediated communication: An illustration with a computer bulletin board.” Pp. 904–25 in Communication Yearbook, vol 6, edited by Bostrom, F.. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.Google Scholar
Danowski, J.. 1993a. “Automatic narrative generation via statistical content analysis of large-scale textual collections.” Presented at Conference on Computing for the Social Sciences, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, May 18–21, University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign.
Danowski, J.. 1993b. “Network analysis of message content.” Pp. 197–221 in Progress in Communication Science, XII, edited by Richards, W. D. and Barnett, G. A.. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Danowski, J.. 1993c. “WORDij: A word pair approach to information retrieval.” Pp. 131–36 in Proceedings of the DARPA/NIST TREC Conference. Washington, DC: National Institute of Standards and Technology.Google Scholar
Davis, G. F. 1991. “Agents without principles? The spread of the poison pill through the inter-corporate network.” Administrative Science Quarterly 36:583–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Debresson, C. and Amesse, F.. 1991. “Networks of innovations.” Research Policy 20:363–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eakin, E. 2003. “Connect, they say, only connect.” New York Times, January 25.
Fine, C. H. 2001. “Innovation and economic performance in the automobile industry over the long twentieth century.” Pp. 1–26 Innovation and Economic Performance, edited by Nelson, R. B., Steil, B., and Victor, D.. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fredrickson, B. and Losada, M.. 2005. “Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing.” American Psychological Association 60(7):678–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fulk, J. and Steinfield, E., eds. 1990. Organizations and Communication Technology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geletkanycz, M. A., Boyd, B. K., and Finkelstein, S.. 2001. “The strategic value of CEO external directorate networks: Implications for CEO compensation.” Strategic Management Journal 22(9):889–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gladwell, M. 2000. The Tipping Point. New York: Little Brown.Google Scholar
Gloor, P. 2006. Swarm Creativity: Competitive Advantage through Collaborative Innovation Networks. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gloor, P. and Cooper, S.. 2007. Cool Hunting: Chasing Down the Next Big Thing. New York: AMACON.Google Scholar
Gluesing, J. C. 1998. “Building connections and balancing power in global teams: Toward a reconceptualization of culture as composite.” Anthropology of Work Review 18(2):18–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gluesing, J. C., Alcordo, T., Baba, M. L., Britt, D., Harris, K., McKether, W., Monplaisir, L., Ratner, H., and Riopelle, K.. 2003. “The development of global virtual teams.” Pp. 353–80 in Virtual Teams That Work: Creating Conditions for Virtual Team Effectiveness, edited by Gibson, C. and Cohen, S. G.. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Gulati, R. and Westphal, J. D.. 1999. “Cooperative or controlling? The effects of CEO-board relations and the content of interlocks on the formation of joint ventures.” Administrative Science Quarterly 44(3):473–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrisson, D. and LaBerge, M.. 2002. “Innovation, identities and resistance: The social construction of an innovation network.” Journal of Management Studies 39(4):497–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, J. R. and Carroll, G. R.. 2002. “The dynamics of cultural influence networks.” Computation & Mathematical Organization Theory 8:5–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haunschild, P. R. 1993. “Interorganizational imitation: The impact of interlocks on corporate acquisition activity.” Administrative Science Quarterly 38(4):564–92.Google Scholar
Haythornthwaite, C. and Wellman, B.. 1998. “Work, friendship and media use for information exchange in a networked organization.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science 46(12):1101–14.3.0.CO;2-Z>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishida, T., ed. 1998. Community Computing and Support Systems (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1519). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, S. 2001. Emergence. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google ScholarPubMed
Meerwarth, T., Gluesing, J., and Jordan, B., eds. 2008. Mobile Work, Mobile Lives – Cultural Accounts of Lived Experiences. NAPA Bulletin, 30.Google Scholar
Miles, M. B and Huberman, A. M.. 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Monge, P. R. and Contractor, N. S.. 2001. “Emergence of communication networks.” Pp. 440–502 in The New Handbook of Organizational Communication: Advances in Theory, Research, and Methods, edited by Jablin, F. M. and Putman, L. L.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Monge, P. R. and Contractor, N. S.. 2003. Theories of Communication Networks. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mustonen-Ollila, E. and Lyytinen, K. 2003. “Why organizations adopt information system process innovations: A longitudinal study using Diffusion of Innovation theory.” Information Systems Journal 13(3):275–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, M. E. J. 2002. “The structure and function of networks.” Computer Physics Communications 147:40–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, D. A., Jennings, P. D., and Zhou, X.. 1993. “Late adoption of the multidivisional form by large U.S. corporations: Institutional, political, and economic accounts.” Administrative Science Quarterly 38(1):100–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, M. S. and DeSanctis, G.. 1990. “Understanding the use of group decision support systems: The theory of adaptive structuration.” Pp. 175–95 in Organizations and Communication Technology, edited by Fulk, J. and Steinfield, E.. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Powell, W. W., Koput, K. W., and Smith-Doerr, L.. 1996. “Interorganizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: Networks of learning in biotechnology.” Administrative Science Quarterly 41(1):116–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riopelle, K.R., Gluesing, J. G., Alcordo, T., Baba, M. L., Britt, D., McKether, W., Monplaisir, L., Ratner, H., and Wagner, K.. 2003. “Context, task, and the evolution of technology use in global virtual teams.” Pp. 239–64 in Virtual Teams That Work: Creating Conditions for Virtual Team Effectiveness, edited by Gibson, E. and Cohen, S. G.. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Rogers, E. M. 1983. Diffusion of Innovations, 3rd ed. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, E. M.. 2003. Diffusion of Innovations, 5th ed. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, E. M. and Kincaid, D. L.. 1981. Communication Networks: Toward a New Paradigm for Research. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Strogatz, S. 2003. Sync. New York: Hyperion.Google Scholar
Torenvlied, R. and Velner, G.. 1998. “Informal networks and resistance to organizational change: The introduction of quality standards in a transport company.” Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory 4(2):165–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Utterback, J. M. 1996. Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Valente, T. W. 1995. Network Models of the Diffusion of Innovations. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.Google ScholarPubMed
Valente, T. W.. 1996. “Social network thresholds in the diffusion of innovations.” Social Networks 18:69–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valente, T. W.. 2005. “Network models and methods for studying the diffusion of innovations.” Pp. 98–116 in Recent Advances in Network Analysis, edited by Carrington, P. J., Wasserman, S., and Scott, J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Watts, D. 1999. Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Watts, D.. 2003. Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Weitzel, T., Wendt, O., Westarp, F., and Koenig, W. 2003. “Network effects and diffusion theory: Network analysis in economics.” International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research 1:1–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, D.R. and Johansen, U.C.. 2005. Network Analysis and Ethnographic Problems. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Zack, M. H. 2000. “Researching organizational systems using social network analysis.” Proceedings of the 33rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Maui, Hawaii ().

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×