A social representations perspective on information systems implementation: Rethinking the concept of "frames"

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advocate a “social representations” approach to the study of socio-cognitive processes during information systems (IS) implementation as an alternative to the technological frames framework. Design/methodology/approach – The paper demonstrates how social representations theory can improve research outcomes by applying it to three recent studies that employed the technological frames framework. Findings – It is found that because the technological frames framework is overly technologically centered, temporally bounded, and individually focused, it may lead to symptomatic explanations of IS implementation. Alternatively, using the theory of social representations can offer more fundamental causal explanations of IS implementation processes. Research limitations/implications – IS researchers are encouraged to use a social representations approach to study IS implementation as the theory provides a rich vocabulary to examine the formation, change, and content of representations of IS, and their relationship to people’s actions toward IS. Originality/value – The paper introduces a new theoretical perspective into the IS research discipline, which can be applied to provide better research results concerning IS implementation.