Information Systems Journal Special Issue on: Activity Theory in Information Systems Research

Abstract

Activity Theory, based on the work of Vygotsky and colleagues, has developed into a contemporary social theory for studying work and social activity. In the last 20 years it has become internationalised and accepted in the Organisation, Management, Human Computer Interaction, Social-Psychology and Education fields; yet traditionally its use in IS has remained limited. In recent years there has been growing interest in its use in Information Systems (IS) research. This Special Issue aims to act as a compendium of outstanding research, focusing on the use, development and contribution of Activity Theory in IS research. It also aims to stimulate discourse and advance the use of Activity Theory in IS research. M OT I VAT I O NActivity Theory (or cultural-historical Activity Theory) is based on the concepts of the culturalhistorical school of Russian psychology, which drew largely upon the works of Vygotsky (1978) between 1920 and 1930. According to Vygotsky, the interaction between the human agent (the subject) and the world (the object) is mediated by tools and signs (Miettinen et al., 2009). Leont'ev built on the work of Vygotsky and proposed the concept of the activity as a specific form of the societal existence of humans, which is object-oriented and tool-mediated. Later Engeström (1987) added the community, the division of labour, and rules/norms to the activity structure. This became known as 'thirdgeneration' Activity Theory and has helped drive activity analysis across multiple fields to better understand complex work and social activities.It has been argued that one of the major contributions of the Activity Theoretic analysis for IS research is that it brings technology (tools) and the context together into the unit of analysis (the activity). Therefore, it does not privilege the social over the technical or overly emphasize technology (Allen et al., 2013), but rather offers a socio-technical perspective.

Transactive memory systems and Web 2.0 in knowledge sharing: A conceptual model based on activity theory and critical realism

“…It also has increasing resonance in IS research (Karanasios et al, 2015;Crawford & Hasan, 2006;Miettinen & Paavola, 2016). However, within the IS domain, activity theory has found limited application in relation to knowledge sharing (with notable exceptions Lin et al, 2008).…”

“…Activity theory has received great deal of attention in areas such as human-computer interaction (refer to Clemmensen, Kaptelinin, & Nardi, 2016 for an extensive review). It also has increasing resonance in IS research (Crawford & Hasan, 2006;Karanasios, Allen, & Finnegan, 2015;Miettinen & Paavola, 2016). However, within the IS domain, AT has found limited application in relation to KS (with notable exceptions Lin et al, 2008).…”

Activity Theory Analysis of RPA and Workforce in Financial Institutions

“…Rules are used as a control mechanism in carrying out activities (Karanasios, Allen & Finnegan, 2015). Directly or indirectly, rules govern the implementation of RPA in financial institutions, creating trust on the one hand.…”

How Do Project-related Artefacts Qualify for Bridging Boundaries in IS Implementation Projects _ An Activity Theoretical Perspective

“…Although AT is rather unfamiliar in IS research, it has emerged in related domains as an important theory for understanding change and development of ISmediated work activity [25,26,27,28].…”