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The IT artifact and its spirit: a nexus of human values, affordances, symbolic expressions, and IT features

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  • Mustapha Cheikh-Ammar
  • Nik Rushdi Hassan
  • John Mingers
  • Bernd Stah

Abstract

This article theorises the IT artifact using a new conceptualisation of IT Spirit that highlights the interrelationships between IT Features, Affordances, and Symbolic Expressions. Although these concepts have been discussed in the IS literature, researchers have mostly examined them independently. Drawing on the philosophical theories of Aristotle and Heidegger, this article discusses the “essence of technology” by conceptualising the IT artifact in terms of the intertwining relationships that exist between IT Features, their Symbolic Expressions, the Affordances connected to them at different levels of abstraction, and the Values that emerge from the enactment of their action possibilities within a user group. It is argued that these essential components of the IT artifact operate at variant levels of abstraction, instigate user sense-making, and subsequently form the overarching IT Spirit. The latter is presented as the incorporeal essence of a technology that shapes – and is itself shaped by – user sense-making and appropriation. With the emphasis that it gives to human values, the concept of IT Spirit offers researchers a high-level unit of analysis to tackle the IT artifact and a systematic framework that facilitates the identification of its prominent action possibilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Mustapha Cheikh-Ammar & Nik Rushdi Hassan & John Mingers & Bernd Stah, 2018. "The IT artifact and its spirit: a nexus of human values, affordances, symbolic expressions, and IT features," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 278-294, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:tjisxx:v:27:y:2018:i:3:p:278-294
    DOI: 10.1080/0960085X.2018.1436025
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    Cited by:

    1. Talwar, Shalini & Luqman, Adeel & Kaur, Puneet & Srivastava, Pallavi & Mishra, Shreya, 2023. "How social networking ties mediate the associations between enterprise social media affordances and employee agility?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    2. Saggi Nevo & Dorit Nevo & Alain Pinsonneault, 2021. "Personal Achievement Goals, Learning Strategies, and Perceived IT Affordances," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 1298-1322, December.
    3. Cheikh-Ammar, Mustapha, 2024. "Toward a theory of technology desirability: Blending task and feature fit with mutual values," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).

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