Exploring Ideology in the Adoption of Socio-Technical Assemblages

In this paper the authors explore ideological influences on the organizational adoption and development of the Managed Learning Environment (MLE), an enterprise level approach to information systems development in Higher Education, that was advocated by UK national agencies such as the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). The authors present three detailed longitudinal case studies. To capture the ideological dimension of MLE we use the concept of Technology Action Framing. They find that the ideological dimension of the technology has a significant impact on organisational socio technical processes by shaping strong and often conflicting attitudes to the adoption of MLE. The findings contribute to better understanding of this pattern of socio technical adoption and development.