The Construction of a Network Technology: Electronic Livestock Auction Markets

Ian Graham ()
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Ian Graham: Department of Business Studies, University of Edinburgh, 50 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JY, Scotland

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 1998, vol. 02, issue 02, 183-199

Abstract: This paper uses Callon's actor network theory (ANT) to analyse the emergence of an inter-organisational network innovation: electronic livestock auction systems in the United Kingdom. It is based on a study of the development of these systems by drawing on interviews with developers, operators and users of the competing systems and focusing on the social networks that evolved in their conception and adoption. The validity of ANT as a framework for the analysis of innovation is critically considered. The paper concludes that complexity and barriers to network building led the networks to be constructed from existing components and social linkages, thereby limiting the potential of the innovation to incorporate radical change in the social structure.

Keywords: Electronic markets; livestock marketing; actor network theory; social networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1142/S1363919698000092

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