The domestication of online technologies by smaller businesses and the 'busy day'

General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Abstract Despite the institutional push for all businesses to embrace new forms of Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) and 'get online', it is evident that take-up amongst businesses has been highly uneven, with some cautious in their adoption and others not adopting, with the possibilities offered not being exploited. To understand this, a multi-method approach has been used to provide different lenses through which to observe the online practices of a specific group of practitioners. Analysis was performed using a modified version of Silverstone's (1992) domestication framework. It is proposed that users embed (internalise) online technologies within their 'busy-day' – which often requires much effort and involves configuration and learning (learning by trying). It is concluded that the apparently deterministic institutional view of the benefit of online technologies and the imperative that they are fully exploited to give competitive advantage, can be at odds with the locally contingent and diverse nature of online practices.