Information and Communication Technologies in Organizations

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are an important subject of organizational communication research. The research on ICTs in organizations can be characterized as having moved from technological determinism to social determinism to a “middle ground” in which the interaction between technology (the material) and users and their organizations (the social) has become the central focus. Four main themes in organizational communication research on ICTs are discussed: adoption and use, media choice, computer mediated communication, and ICTs in knowledge management. Finally, recent developments in the world of ICTs related to digitization, mobility, the virtualization of work and organizing, social media, big data and analytics, the Internet of Things, and their implications for privacy and surveillance are discussed in terms of their relevance for organizational communication research.