An understanding of the meaning new technologies have for society must begin with an understanding of the types of actors that employ a given technology. While the Internet has become a rapidly expanding area of inquiry with respect to trends among individual users, there has been little systematic empirical work on the organizational characteristics related to this form of information technology. This article examines the use of Internet-based technology by U.S. organizations. An analysis of a national sample of 712 organizations in the United States surveyed in 1996 shows three significant findings: (1) financial organizations were more likely than other types of organizations to be early users of Internet-based technology; (2) CEOs with backgrounds in engineering and sales were likely to guide their organizations to make use of this type of information technology; and (3) organizations with large proportions of employees with degrees of higher education were likely to make use of Internet-based information technology. Viewed together, the results suggest that the social structure of the workplace and the specific markets in which an organization is embedded played significant roles in the spread of the Internet across U.S. organizations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AldrichHowardKallebergArneMarsdenPeterCassellJames. 1988. “In Pursuit of Evidence: Sampling Procedures for Locating New Businesses.”Journal of Business Venturing4:367–86.
2.
ArgoteLindaGoodmanPaul S.SchkadeDavid. 1983. “The Human Side of Robotics: How Workers React to a Robot.”Sloan Management Review (Spring):31–41.
3.
ArumRichard. 1996. “Do Private Schools Force Public Schools to Compete?”American Sociological Review61:29–46.
4.
BahramiHomaEvansStuart. 1989. “Emerging Organizational Regimes in High Technology Firms: The Bi-Modal Form.”Human Resource Management28 (1):25–50.
5.
BaldwinWilliam L.ScottJohn T.1987. Market Structure and Technological Change. New York: Harwood Academic Publishers.
6.
BenjaminRobertWigandRolf. 1995. “Electronic Markets and Virtual Value Chains on the Information Superhighway.”Sloan Management Review (Winter):62–72.
BohnRoger E.1994. “Measuring and Managing Technological Knowledge.”Sloan Management Review (Fall):61–73.
10.
BrancatoCarolyn Kay. 1996. Getting Listed on Wall Street: The Irwin Guide to Financial Reporting Standards in the U.S. Irwin Professional Publishing.
11.
BroderickRenaeBourdreauJohn W.1992. “The Evolution of Computer Use in Human Resource Management: Interviews with Ten Leaders.”Human Resource Management30:485–508.
12.
ChristieBruceMcEwanJohn. 1985. “Introduction.” Pp. 1–23 in Human Factors of Information Technology in the Office, edited by ChristieB.New York: John Wiley.
13.
CohenWesley M.LevinthalDaniel A.1990. “Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation.”Administrative Science Quarterly35:128–52.
DiMaggioPaulPowellWalter. 1983. “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields.”American Sociological Review48:147–61.
16.
DobbinFrankSuttonJohn R.MeyerJohn W.ScottW. Richard. 1993. “Equal Opportunity Law and the Construction of Internal Labor Markets.”American Journal of Sociology99:396–427.
17.
EdelmanLauren B.1990. “Legal Environments and Organizational Governance: The Expansion of Due Process in the American Workplace.”American Journal of Sociology95:1401–40.
18.
EdelmanLauren B.1992. “Legal Ambiguity and Symbolic Structures: Organizational Mediation of Civil Rights Law.”American Journal of Sociology97:1531–76.
19.
EllsworthJill H.EllsworthMartha V.1995. Marketing on the Internet: Multimedia Strategies for the World Wide Web. New York: John Wiley.
20.
FischerClaude S.1992. America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940. Berkeley: University of California Press.
21.
FligsteinNeil. 1985. “The Spread of the Multidivisional Form among Large Firms, 1919–1979.”American Sociological Review50:377–91.
22.
FligsteinNeil. 1987. “The Intraorganizational Power Struggle: Rise of Finance Personnel to Top Leadership in Large Corporations, 1919–1979.”American Sociological Review52:44–58.
23.
FligsteinNeil. 1990. The Transformation of Corporate Control. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
24.
FligsteinNeil. 1996. “Markets as Politics: A Sociological View of Market Institutions.”American Sociological Review61:656–73.
GattikerUrs E.1990. Technology Management in Organizations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
28.
GattikerUrs E. ed. 1992. Technology-mediated Communication: Technological Innovation and Human Resources. Vol. 2. New York: de Gruyter.
29.
GattikerUrs E.LarwoodLaurie eds. 1988. Managing Technological Development: Strategic and Human Resource Issues: Technological Innovation and Human Resources. Vol. 1. New York: de Gruyter.
30.
HoffmanJames J.CullenJohn B.CarterNancy M.HofackerCharles F.1992. “Alternative Methods for Measuring Organization Fit: Technology, Structure, and Performance.”Journal of Management18:45–57.
31.
HounshellDavid A.1984. From the American System to Mass Production, 1900–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
KallebergArne L.Van BurenMark E.1996. “Is Bigger Better? Explaining the Relationship between Organization Size and Job Rewards.”American Sociological Review61:47–66.
34.
KnokeDavidKallebergArne L.1994. “Job Training in U.S. Organizations.”American Sociological Review59:537–46.
35.
KovacevicAntonioMajlufNicholas. 1993. “Six Stages of IT Strategic Management.”Sloan Management Review (Summer):77–87.
36.
LongRichard J.1987. New Office Information Technology: Human and Managerial Implications. New York: Croom Helm.
37.
MajumdarSumit K.1995. “The Determinants of Investment in New Technology: An Examination of Alternative Hypotheses.”Technological Forecasting and Social Change50:235–47.
38.
MannFloyd C.HoffmanL. Richard. 1960. Automation and the Worker. New York: Holt.
MeyerJohn W.RowanBrian. 1977. “Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony.”American Journal of Sociology83:340–63.
41.
MeyerN. DeanBooneMary E.1987. The Information Edge. New York: McGraw-Hill.
42.
MirvisPhilip H.SalesAmy L.HackettEdward J.1992. “The Implementation and Adoption of New Technology in Organizations: The Impact on Work, People and Culture.”Human Resource Management30:113–39.
43.
MohrLawrence B.1971. “Organizational Technology and Organizational Structure.”Administrative Science Quarterly16:444–59.
44.
MolloySteveSchwenkCharles R.1995. “The Effects of Information Technology on Strategic Decision Making.”Journal of Management Studies32:283–311.
45.
MumfordEnidBanksOlive. 1967. The Computer and the Clerk. London: Routledge.
46.
NobleDavid. 1984. Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation. New York: Knopf.
47.
NortonJohn A.BassFrank M.1992. “Evolution of Technological Generations: The Law of Capture.”Sloan Management Review (Winter):66–77.
48.
PerrowCharles. 1967. “A Framework for the Comparative Analysis of Organizations.”American Sociological Review32:194–208.
49.
PerrowCharles. 1970. Organizational Analysis: A Sociological View. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
50.
PisanoGary P.1990. “The R&D Boundaries of the Firm: An Empirical Analysis.”Administrative Science Quarterly35:153–76.
51.
PowellWalter W.1987. “Review Essay: Explaining Technological Change.”American Journal of Sociology93:185–97.
52.
SchoonhovenClaudia BirdEisenhardtKathleen M.LymanKatherine. 1990. “Speeding Products to Market: Waiting Time to First Product Introduction in New Firms.”Administrative Science Quarterly35:177–207.
53.
ScottW. Richard. 1990. “Technology and Structure: An Organization-Level Perspective.” Pp. 109–43 in Technology and Organizations, edited by GoodmanPS.SproulL.S.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
ShaikenHarley. 1985. Work Transformed: Automation and Labor in the Computer Age. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
56.
StinchcombeArthur L.1965. “The Structure of Organizations.” Pp. 142–93 in Handbook of Organizations, edited by MarchJ.G.Chicago: Rand McNally.
57.
SuttonJohn R.DobbinFrankMeyerJohn W.ScottW. Richard. 1994. “The Legalization of the Workplace.”American Journal of Sociology99:944–71.
58.
ThompsonJames D.1967. Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
59.
University of Maryland Survey Research Center. 1996. “GDSS Business Survey SRC Study 1267: Methods Report.” College Park, MD.
60.
WestphalJames D.GulaitRanjayShortellStephen M.1997. “Customization or Conformity? An Institutional and Network Perspective on the Content and Consequences of TQM Adoption.”Administrative Science Quarterly42:366–94.
61.
WhyteWilliam Foote. 1961. Men at Work. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin.
62.
WilliamsL.K.WilliamsC.B.1964. “The Impact of Numerically Controlled Equipment on Factory Organization.”California Management Review (Winter):25–34.
63.
WinslowCharles D.1994. Future Work: Putting Knowledge to Work in the Knowledge Economy. New York: Free Press.
64.
WoodwardJoan. 1965. Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice. London: Oxford University Press.
