Watchers, Watched, and Watching in the Digital Age: Reconceptualization of Information Technology Monitoring as Complex Action Nets

Aljona Zorina (), France Bélanger (), Nanda Kumar () and Stewart Clegg ()
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Aljona Zorina: Leeds University Business School, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
France Bélanger: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
Nanda Kumar: Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York, New York, New York 10010
Stewart Clegg: Nova School of Business and Economics Campus de Carcavelos, 2775-405 Carcavelos, Cascais, Portugal; University of Stavanger Business School, 8600 Forus, Norway

Organization Science, 2021, vol. 32, issue 6, 1571-1596

Abstract: Despite increasing studies of information technology (IT) monitoring, our understanding of how IT-mediates relations between the watcher and watched remains limited in two areas. First, either traditional actor-centric frameworks assuming predefined watcher-watched relationships (e.g., panopticon or synopticon) are adopted or monitoring actors are removed to focus on data flows (e.g., dataveillance, assemblages, panspectron). Second, IT monitoring research predominantly assumes IT artifacts to be stable, bounded, designed objects, with prescribed uses which provides an oversimplified view of actor relationships. To redress these limitations, a conceptual framework of veillance applicable to a variety of possible IT or non-IT-mediated relationships between watcher and watched is developed. Using the framework, we conduct a conceptual review of the literature, identifying IT-enabled monitoring and transformations of actors, goals, mechanisms and foci and develop an action net model of IT veillance where IT artifacts are theorized as equivocal, distributable and open for diverse use, open to edits and contributions by unbounded sets of heterogenous actors characterized by diverse goals and capabilities. The action net of IT veillance is defined as a flexible decentralized interconnected web shaped by multidirectional watcher-watched relationships, enabling multiple dynamic goals and foci. Cumulative contributions by heterogenous participants organize and manipulate the net, having an impact through influencing dispositions, visibilities and the inclusion/exclusion of self and others. The model makes three important theoretical contributions to our understanding of IT monitoring of watchers and watched and their relationships. We discuss implications and avenues for future studies on IT veillance.

Keywords: monitoring; veillance; information technology transformations; surveillance; panopticon; action net model; veillance foci; veillance apparatus; veillance goals; veillance actors; veillance web (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:32:y:2021:i:6:p:1571-1596

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