article Open Access (green) EN 2016-05-04

Organizational Affordances: A Structuration Theory Approach to Affordances

Dhaval Vyas, Cristina Chisǎliţǎ, Alan Dix

Interacting with Computers (2016)

Queensland University of Technology, University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Utrecht University, University of Birmingham

DOI: 10.1093/iwc/iww008

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Abstract

Affordance is an important concept in the field of human–computer interaction. There are various interpretations of affordances, often extending the original notion of James J. Gibson. Often the treatment of affordances in the current human–computer interaction literature has been a one-to-one relationship between a user and an artefact. We believe that the social and cultural contexts within which an artefact is situated affect the way in which the artefact is used and the notion of affordance needs to be seen as a dynamic, always emerging relationship between people and their environment. Using a Structuration Theory approach, we conceptualize the notion of affordance at a much broader level, encompassing social and cultural aspects. We suggest that affordances should be seen at three levels: single user, organizational (or work group) and societal. Focusing on the organizational level affordances, we provide details of several important factors that affect the emergence of affordances.

Topics

Information Systems Theories and Implementation 1.00 Innovative Human-Technology Interaction 1.00 Open Source Software Innovations 1.00

Field: Social Sciences · Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Keywords

Affordance,Situated,Affect (linguistics),Field (mathematics),Activity theory,Psychology,Computer science,Human–computer interaction,Cognitive science,Communication

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Reduced inequalities (0.60)

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