ABSTRACT:
Coordination of work activities through information exchange is fundamental and increasingly occurs over technology, yet breakdowns are frequent and lead to performance declines. Taking an episodic lens and applying configurational theorizing, we identify seven technology-enabled coordination affordances that facilitate enactment of coordination episodes. Given that coordination episodes often involve combinations of these affordances, we use qualitative comparative analysis (a technique used for configurational analysis) to identify affordance configurations associated with successful coordination. By analyzing our data and paying special attention to coordination breakdowns, we uncover how each configuration is suited to manage a specific type of coordination dependency (pooled, sequential, or kairotic). We contribute to the affordances literature by recognizing the relationship between first-order affordances, which are enabled by technology features, and affordance configurations (analogous to higher-level affordances). We contribute to coordination theory by providing new insights into how technology can augment human coordination and describe a new type of dependency (kairotic). Our work helps inform the design of systems to support coordination processes.
Key words and phrases: Coordination, affordances, coordinating knowledge, health IT, case study, affordance configurations, qualitative comparative analysis, configurational theorizing, coordination breakdowns, kairotic dependency