Tracing the emergence and formation of small dot-coms in an emerging digital economy : an actor-network theory approach

Effah, J

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to trace the emergence and formation of small dot-corns to
understand how they come into being and are made to work or not. The SME e-business
literature emphasises post-organisation and post-technology formation phases, paying less
attention to the early phases of innovation development such as opportunity emergence and
formation. The e-entrepreneurship literature, on its part, investigates such early phases to
some extent but emphasises the personality of entrepreneurs and organisation development,
paying less attention to technology and its development. Moreover, commonly used theories
in both research lines are largely based on deterministic, reductionist and dualist approaches.
As a result, the complex sociotechnical nature of SME e-business and e-entrepreneurship
phenomena is less accounted for.
In response, this study extends the existing knowledge in SME e-business and eentrepreneurship
research by drawing on IS interpretive case study approach and actornetwork
theory (ANT) combined with contextualism to trace the emergence and formation of
four small dot-corns in the emerging digital economy of Ghana, a developing country
context. The findings show that the early phases of dot-corn innovation, from emergence to
formation, are non-deterministic, non-linear, complex, and heterogeneously interwoven.
Moreover, such processes are created through the collective efforts of human and non-human
actors across physical and virtual environments as well as developed and developing
countries. By employing ANT combined with contextualism, the study offers a novel
theorisation of dot-corn innovation processes. For this reason, it is argued that ANT can be
extended with contextualism to offer explanations for unmet expectations of actors and
actants beyond an actor-world. The study also advises entrepreneurs to pay attention not only
to the virtual world but also to the physical world which together support dot-corn
emergence, formation, and operation. Finally, in addition to other recommendations, the
study calls for further research into the early phases of other forms of e-business such as
click-and-mortars and virtual organisations.

Citation

Effah, J. Tracing the emergence and formation of small dot-coms in an emerging digital economy : an actor-network theory approach. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2011