IT and changing professional identity: Micro‐studies and macro‐theory

Geoff Walsham

Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 1998, vol. 49, issue 12, 1081-1089

Abstract: This article explores linkages between the use of information technology and changes in the self‐identity of professional groups, in terms of how they see and describe themselves in relation to their work and that of others. Three micro‐level studies are described, involving the work of loan managers in a particular bank, insurance brokers in the London Insurance Market, and professional salespeople in a pharmaceutical company. Results from the case studies are analyzed using concepts from the macro‐level social theory of the sociologist Anthony Giddens. It is argued that such theory can help to us to generalize the results from micro‐level studies and, conversely, that micro‐studies of IT and social transformation are needed to add in the IT dimension to macro‐level theories. The article offers a modest starting point for the investigation of IT and social transformation across multiple levels of analysis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Date: 1998
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https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(1998)49:123.0.CO;2-R

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