"More and more plugged" Social Representations of the New Economy
An Investigation into the Common Sense of Business Professionals
©2001
Diplomarbeit
192 Seiten
Zusammenfassung
Inhaltsangabe:Abstract:
This study set out to explore representations of the new economy amongst business professionals in Internet enabled business. Going beyond the new economy-hype, the study was aimed at understanding the ways that business professionals make sense of the contemporary economy. In doing so, a social psychological perspective was taken, allowing multiple realities to emerge.
Behavioural economists and economic psychologists conceptualisations of economic life are challenged. They hinge on the presumption that individuals act independently from their social environment and deviate as cognitive misers from a single legitimate economic rationality. By contrast, this study drew on a social constructionist framework. More specifically, it employed social representations theory (Moscovici, 1961/76; Moscovici, 1984), which rehabilitated common sense as a legitimate form of knowledge. The theory of social representations as a theory of knowledge proved as a sensitive and more sophisticated tool to analyse contemporary economy in its manifestations in professionals common sense. It is suggested to view the notion of common sense independently of role constellations.
Given this framework, this study took a snapshot of the contemporary representational field of the new economy amongst business professionals. Particularly, the study was focused on exploring the taken-for-granted and beliefs underpinning discourses and symbols.
Data from semi-structured interviews and an in-depth analysis of Web-sites highlighted new findings: Business professionals have constructed symbolic meaning centring around the notion of interaction. Economic and social beliefs were not separated: Interaction is the new economy. The new and seemingly unlimited digital connectivity was perceived as a challenge and triggered a symbolic creation of a new space - the faceless space of interaction. Meanings around the faceless space of interaction are constructed in strong contrast to physical proximity and shared experience in communities: the face-to-face space. From numerous interlocking discourses and images a core set of values emerged at the heart of the representational field, deeply embedded in professionals common sense. Representations of new technology, of business professionals skills and roles in the new economy, of space and time were informed by symbolic coping with the challenges posed by the faceless space. This was evident in situative […]
This study set out to explore representations of the new economy amongst business professionals in Internet enabled business. Going beyond the new economy-hype, the study was aimed at understanding the ways that business professionals make sense of the contemporary economy. In doing so, a social psychological perspective was taken, allowing multiple realities to emerge.
Behavioural economists and economic psychologists conceptualisations of economic life are challenged. They hinge on the presumption that individuals act independently from their social environment and deviate as cognitive misers from a single legitimate economic rationality. By contrast, this study drew on a social constructionist framework. More specifically, it employed social representations theory (Moscovici, 1961/76; Moscovici, 1984), which rehabilitated common sense as a legitimate form of knowledge. The theory of social representations as a theory of knowledge proved as a sensitive and more sophisticated tool to analyse contemporary economy in its manifestations in professionals common sense. It is suggested to view the notion of common sense independently of role constellations.
Given this framework, this study took a snapshot of the contemporary representational field of the new economy amongst business professionals. Particularly, the study was focused on exploring the taken-for-granted and beliefs underpinning discourses and symbols.
Data from semi-structured interviews and an in-depth analysis of Web-sites highlighted new findings: Business professionals have constructed symbolic meaning centring around the notion of interaction. Economic and social beliefs were not separated: Interaction is the new economy. The new and seemingly unlimited digital connectivity was perceived as a challenge and triggered a symbolic creation of a new space - the faceless space of interaction. Meanings around the faceless space of interaction are constructed in strong contrast to physical proximity and shared experience in communities: the face-to-face space. From numerous interlocking discourses and images a core set of values emerged at the heart of the representational field, deeply embedded in professionals common sense. Representations of new technology, of business professionals skills and roles in the new economy, of space and time were informed by symbolic coping with the challenges posed by the faceless space. This was evident in situative […]
Leseprobe
Inhaltsverzeichnis
ID 5731
Steinberg, Alexandra: "More and more plugged" Social Representations of the New Economy:
An Investigation into the Common Sense of Business Professionals / Alexandra Steinberg -
Hamburg: Diplomica GmbH, 2002
Zugl.: London WC2A 2AS, Hochschule, Diplomarbeit, 2001
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- 2 -
ABSTRACT
This study set out to explore representations of the new economy amongst business
professionals in Internet enabled business. Going beyond the new economy-`hype', the
study was aimed at understanding the ways that business professionals make sense of the
contemporary economy. In doing so, a social psychological perspective was taken, allowing
multiple realities to emerge.
Behavioural economists' and economic psychologists' conceptualisations of economic
life are challenged. They hinge on the presumption that individuals act independently from
their social environment and deviate as cognitive misers from a single legitimate economic
rationality. By contrast, this study drew on a social constructionist framework. More
specifically, it employed social representations theory (Moscovici, 1961/76; Moscovici,
1984), which rehabilitated common sense as a legitimate form of knowledge. The theory of
social representations as a theory of knowledge proved as a sensitive and more sophisticated
tool to analyse contemporary economy in its manifestations in professionals' common
sense. It is suggested to view the notion of common sense independently of role
constellations.
Given this framework, this study took a `snapshot' of the contemporary representational
field of the new economy amongst business professionals. Particularly, the study was
focused on exploring the `taken-for-granted' and beliefs underpinning discourses and
symbols.
Data from semi-structured interviews and an in-depth analysis of Web-sites highlighted
new findings: Business professionals have constructed symbolic meaning centring around
the notion of interaction. Economic and social beliefs were not separated: Interaction is the
new economy. The new and seemingly unlimited digital connectivity was perceived as a
challenge and triggered a symbolic creation of a new space - the faceless space of
interaction. Meanings around the faceless space of interaction are constructed in strong
contrast to physical proximity and shared experience in communities: the face-to-face space.
From numerous interlocking discourses and images a core set of values emerged at the heart
of the representational field, deeply embedded in professionals' common sense.
Representations of new technology, of business professionals' skills and roles in the new
economy, of space and time were informed by symbolic coping with the challenges posed
by the faceless space. This was evident in situative tensions due to multi-modal interactivity
and interaction with the `other' through a network of unlimited information exchange and
reciprocity. Results suggested an early stage of maturity of representations. Anticipative
accounts by interviewees suggested a further familiarisation process with interaction in the
new context of faceless space.
A social constructionist framework has shed light on the very way business
professionals think and feel about the new economy, and how they actively shape a common
understanding of interaction, demonstrating their agency in symbolically integrating new
forms of interaction into common sense. Economic beliefs are part and parcel of this
common sense as a form of knowledge inherent to the fabric of daily contemporary life;
thereby this study highlights the contribution that social psychology can make to an
understanding of the economy.
Keywords: New economy, Internet enabled business, social representations, common sense
of business professionals, data triangulation, interaction.
- 3 -
CONTENT OVERVIEW
1 Introduction ...7
2 Conceptual
framework ...16
3 Research
Questions ...29
4 Research
Methodology...30
5 Results
and
interpretation...43
6 Discussion ...71
7 Conclusion...75
8 References ...76
9
List of tables ...84
10
List of photographs, images and figures ...84
11 Glossary...85
12 Appendices ...88
- 4 -
CONTENTS
1 Introduction ...7
1.1
The new economy-`hype' ... 8
1.2
Professionals in the new economy: the social sphere of Internet enabled business... 13
1.3
The contemporary context ... 14
2 Conceptual
framework ...16
2.1
A critique of behavioural economics and economic psychology... 16
2.2
A social representational perspective on social knowledge... 20
2.3
Social Representations and the common sense of business professionals ... 23
2.4
An exploration of the `taken-for-granted'... 27
3 Research
Questions ...29
4 Research
Methodology...30
4.1
Research Design... 30
4.2
The data corpora ... 32
4.2.1
Interviewees... 34
4.2.2
Web-sites ... 35
4.2.3
Images... 36
4.3
Design of the interview schedule and conduct of interviews... 38
4.4
Design and conduct of the analysis... 40
5 Results
and
interpretation...43
5.1
Constructing the new economy: The faceless space of interaction... 45
5.1.1
`More and more plugged` ... 47
5.1.2
Online and offline worlds ... 48
5.1.3
New choices in a split world of interaction ... 52
5.1.4
Email neurosis ... 54
5.1.5
Network of strangers versus shared experience... 56
5.2
ICTs technology for interaction ... 58
5.2.1
Chicken and egg ... 60
5.2.2
The connected `freedom'... 61
5.3
Knowledge workers ... 62
5.4
From workplaces to work- and living spaces... 64
5.5
Speed... 67
5.6
Once the rhetoric has subsided: convergent economy? ... 68
6 Discussion ...71
7 Conclusion...75
8 References ...76
9
List of tables ...84
10
List of photographs, images and figures ...84
11 Glossary...85
12 Appendices ...88
12.1
Appendix 1: Management Summary issued to participants (via Web-page)... 89
- 5 -
12.2
Appendix 2: Web-site for participant information (screen-shots) ... 91
12.3
Appendix 3: Example of correspondence for access to interviewees ... 95
12.4
Appendix 4: Characteristics of participants in individual semi-structured interviews ... 96
12.5
Appendix 5: Characteristics of data from interviewees' web-sites... 98
12.6
Appendix 6: Interview Schedule... 101
12.7
Appendix 7: Transcription symbols used... 102
12.8
Appendix 8: Two samples of verbatim interview transcripts ... 103
12.9
Appendix 9: Two examples of Web-site data... 115
12.10
Appendix 10: Tables of thematic clusters from analysis... 118
- 6 -
Acknowledgements
This research study was a rewarding experience for me. Not only did I learn a lot about the
new economy, but also about myself as a researcher. There are numerous people I am
indebted to for making this study possible. Thanks to my Mum, Dad, sister and flatmates for
putting up with endless months of talk about the economy - and what that means to us and
our lives. I would also like to express my most sincere thanks for the warm guidance,
insightful comments and essential advice given by my supervisor, Dr. Marie-Claude
Gervais. I am also very grateful to all members of the LSE Social Psychology department
for supporting me in finding `my approach'. Sincere thanks to all participants and to my
friends Gabriella and Simon for their comments on earlier drafts.
- 7 -
1 Introduction
This study is an exploration of the common sense and taken-for-granted beliefs of business
professionals who are involved in the new economy on a daily basis. It was born from my desire
to investigate whether such individuals represent the new economy in the same way as conveyed
by the new economy-`hype', which focuses mainly on new forms of doing business, on the
stockmarket, and in an entrepreneurial context of `dotcoms' and `start-ups'.
This study will illustrate the new economy from the perspective of business
professionals' representations of the contemporary economy. The analysis will focus on common
sense as a form of social knowledge full of symbolic content which forms the common frame of
reference for business professionals to interact in the new economy. I criticise research by
behavioural economists and economic psychologists. Notwithstanding their contributions to the
understanding of human behaviour in the economy, they have, however, viewed the economy
from the perspective of the erroneous individual who acts independently of the social
environment. By contrast, I will employ a conceptual framework of social representations theory.
Thereby I use a social constructionist perspective to explore the social knowledge inherent to
business professionals' sense-making from both an individual and social perspective. I suggest to
see common sense untied from the notion of role constellations in order to benefit from the full
potential social representations theory offers to the social psychological research in the spirit of
an `anthropology of modern life' (Moscovici & Marková, 2000).
Based on fieldwork in Internet enabled business, I will show how business professionals
have created a new symbolic space of interaction the faceless space of interaction. More
importantly, the empirical research highlights the way that economic values and professionals'
daily social lives in Western modernity are inextricably linked the new economy was
represented by meanings centring on interaction; interaction is the new economy.
This study comprises seven sections: I will begin by contextualising the case of the
contemporary new economy as portrayed by media and management literature. Subsequently, I
- 8 -
characterise the social milieu of professionals working in the new economy - Internet enabled
business. I then relate this field of study to its contemporary social context. This leads me on to
the second chapter, in which I critically review the literature by behavioural economists and
economic psychologists. In critiquing their notions of economic behaviour I outline my
theoretical point of departure for analysing economic life from a social constructionist
perspective. This is to view the economy and its current contemporary transformations from an
angle of a social representations theory (Moscovici, 1961/76; 1984). In addition, by questioning
the strong linguistic link in social representations discourse of common sense to the `lay role', I
characterise my perspective on common sense in this research. Elements of the structural
approach in social representations research will be used to investigate taken-for-granted
knowledge. Subsequently, in the third chapter, the research questions are outlined: How is the
new economy represented by business professionals working in Internet enabled business and
which taken-for-granted beliefs are underpinning representations? Chapter four highlights the
methodology I used. Reasons informing all choices for the research methodology are presented.
In chapter five I present the main findings and interpretation of the representations I found
revolving around the notion of interaction. This is followed by chapter six in which I discuss my
findings in the context of the research questions. Ideas for further study are proposed. Chapter 7
concludes the study, making recommendations in the light of the findings.
1.1 The new economy-`hype'
There is a diverse and widespread discourse about the new economy
1
in the media. Since the
emergence of the Internet in the mid-1990ies and its booming use (Betteridge, 2001), coverage
in business periodicals and newspapers flourishes in praising the `new digital economy' (De
1
New economy is used interchangeably with `digital economy', the `web economy', the `information society', the
`Internet Age'.
- 9 -
Benedetti, 2000), the `Internet revolution
2
' (Dennis, 2001) and the Internet age' (Economist,
1999).
Two streams of public debate are particularly striking: First, the intensive coverage on a
new form of dynamic enterprising and a new way of doing business, epitomised by `dotcom'
companies. Second, discourses about the impact of fast-paced changes in the information and
communication technologies (ICTs) on the economic system. The latter is predominantly found
in market research and economic studies.
The first stream of public discussion is expressed by a huge new body of management
literature, which presents business in the new economy as a new dynamic, speedy environment
in contrast to an old, static and slow business in the traditional `old economy' (Tyson, 1999).
This seems to be endowed with almost unbounded attractiveness. Organisational practices, such
as working, managing and organising are characterised as a `whole new way of doing business'
(Sun Microsystems, 2000b): `it affects where they have their offices ..., what they make and
who they employ' (Micklethwait & Woolridge, 1997, p. 245). These `radical changes in the
way' people work (De Benedetti, 2000) `turned conventional economic wisdom on its head'
(Smithson, 2000, p. 6). Particularly, e-magazines cover this in great variety
3
. This new logic of
working is illustrated by Image 1, which shows a contemporary advertisement in business press.
2
I have attempted to explain all terms and acronyms specific to the new economy throughout the study, but the
reader is urged to consult the glossary at the end of this report..
3
Topics covered include advice on career paths in the new economy, contacts to venture capital firms, techniques
and tips for entrepreneurs seeking to start a new business and `best practice' on processes, locations and tools for
- 10 -
Image 1: `New economy old economy' (Financial Times, 2001)
Particularly striking is the coverage about the `dotcom companies'. Dotcoms seem to have
acquired a character of an epitome of new business activity by a new generation of young,
innovative, creative entrepreneurs, who built up their own `start-up' firms in Internet enabled
business (Wired, 2000). Typically, dotcoms are present on the Internet, their Web-site domain
names carrying the suffix ".com". Supported mainly by an equally new form of venture capitalist
companies, the `business angels
4
' (Crainer, 2001), and new business environments, such as
`business incubators' and `business accelerators'
5
, dotcoms were either founded from scratch or
formed a spin-off from a conventional `brick and mortar' firm. Characteristically, the launch
period and positioning on the market happens in a relatively short time period. Linked to this is
in most cases also an early positioning of the firm on the stockmarket.
The `hype' (Dunkerley, 1996) took a peak when in spring 2000 `the Internet bubble
burst' (Barker, 2001; Ellis, 2001). In this month, `the astronomic stock prices of many dotcoms'
(De Benedetti, 2000) fell dramatically on international stockmarkets. This `dotcom crash'
(Economist, 2001a; Economist, 2000b) reversed the positive publicity of dotcom businesses: the
work in the new economy. (Wired, 2000; Washingtonpost.com, 2001; Wall Street Journal, 2001; Fastcompany.com,
2001a; Lycos, 2001).
4
There are now 110 Business Angel networks in Europe. For instance, see
www.eban.org
or
www.nationalbusangels.co.uk
. Please also refer to the glossary at the end of this report.
5
Usually hosted by consultancy firms, these are the new centres for newly founded enterprise `nursing'. They
support start-ups through services for enterprise creation, specialist knowledge, funding and a network of contacts
(Peters, 2001).
- 11 -
new sector is currently associated with extreme losses and dramatic examples of immediate
bankruptcy and failures (Newsweek, 2001). This development is expressed by an online-
magazine as follows:
`The first stage of the Internet revolution has come and gone. It was certainly one helluva run. But
with the NASDAQ flat on its back, with one high-profile dotcom after another dead and buried,
and with more and more executives in big companies wondering what it means to have an e-
commerce strategy these days, almost everyone recognizes that the Internet economy has arrived at
an inflection point.' (FastCompany, 2001b, published online)
As a result, discourse centres at present around repositioning strategies (Newsweek,
2001). Many business journals and newspapers in the UK include a dotcom supplement
(Whitley, 2000) that reports frequency statistics of dotcom shutdowns, such as the `dotcom body
count' (Wall Street Journal, 2001), or the `Technology Job Cuts Watch' (Betteridge, 2001).
`Business news has begun to resemble the obituary section of a local newspaper' (FastCompany,
2001b). In addition, lay-offs dominate the media as companies have announced `cutbacks,
downturns, and buyouts' with increased regularity (FastCompany, 2001b). The present business
atmosphere is conveyed as the `pink slip
6
blues' (Layne, 2001), that is, people having been laid
off by dotcoms now gather in `pink slip parties' (Betteridge, 2001, p.43) seeking to find a new
career. This current image of dotcom companies is captured most vividly in photograph 1.
Photograph 1, June 2001: `Disappears quicker than a dot.com company'
The second stream of research is dominated by market research focusing on the impact of
information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as mobile and Internet-based
technologies on the economy (OECD, 2001a). It seeks to express the new economy in economic
- 12 -
terms (Smithson, 2000, p. 40) by constructing various `e-indices' as new performance
measurement indicators, such as the number of Internet users, consumer behaviour in electronic
commerce, revenue gained via electronic commerce (McKinsey & Company, 2001; NetGenesis
Corp., 2000; Atkinson & Gottlieb, 2001), and various other metrics concerning aspects of buying
and selling of the `e-customer' (NetGenesis Corp., 2000, published online; OECD, 2000b;
OECD, 2000c). Most of the research questions in this realm circle around questions like: `Who
are the beneficiaries of the Internet revolution?'(INT Media Group, 2001; NUA, 2001;
InfoQuest!, 2001).
The present study seeks to enquire the common social understandings that underpin these
discourses. I agree with Thompson (1995) in that media discourses are concerned with the
production, storage and circulation of materials that are meaningful for the individuals who
produce and receive them. Hence, does the image of a new economy in public discourse mirror a
change in the common-sensical understanding of the economy? In what follows, I want to take
up the question posed in Image 3 - What is the new economy made out of? I will switch
perspectives - from the aforementioned `economic debate' to the viewpoints of people being
involved in this new economy on a daily basis.
Image 2: `What is the new economy made out of?' (Prospects Today, 2001)
6
`Pink slip`, an expression from the USA, symbolises the social insurance card employees receive back from an
employer once they leave the company.
- 13 -
1.2 Professionals in the new economy: the social sphere of Internet enabled business
The `hype' about the `new world of business' has aroused my interest and curiosity in
investigating how the new economy is represented by professionals working in the new
economy. However, counter-intuitively to the media discourse in dotcoms, the group of people
working in roles in the new economy goes beyond online-retail or dotcom businesses. The
`occupational change` (Webster, 1995) has created a new information sector: Internet enables
business
7
(Whinston et al., 2001). This includes a wide spectrum of roles; from IT related jobs
such as business operators to webmasters as well as in traditional functions from sales and
manufacturing, corporate staff to online business owners. Whinston et al. (2001) suggest that the
greatest changes have taken place in the area of managers, technicians and professionals, who,
according to Atkinson & Gottlieb (2001), are predominantly involved in `knowledge jobs'
(Atkinson & Gottlieb, 2001).
Whinston et al. (2001) suggest a taxonomy of Internet enabled business according to the
different types of processes the Internet technology enables. Based on their logic, there are
firstly, those companies that enable and provide services and solutions for the network
infrastructure, and the physical and electronic systems
8
. These companies make it
technologically possible to perform business activities online. Furthermore, there are the Internet
Intermediaries, who offer networking platforms and increased efficiency of electronic markets
by networking and facilitating `the meeting and interaction of buyers and sellers via the World
Wide Web'
9
(Whinston et al., 2001, p.50). Ultimately, there is the group of Online Retailers who
use the Internet as a channel to sell physical goods. This general way of distinguishing forms of
organisations will be drawn on as a general segmentation to guide fieldwork. This is further
outlined in chapter 4.
7
For this thesis the expressions `Internet economy','Internet enabled business' or `Internet related business' will be
used interchangeably.
8
These can be both telecommunications services as well as end-user networking equipment manufacturers
operating on the business to business as well as business to consumer market.
9
For instance, these are business to business marketplaces, information portals or content providers, online
brokerages and financial services.
- 14 -
Given this new professional field, I am interested in the shared references (Deaux &
Philogène, 2001b) that enable practitioners to interact in the `new world of business'. Therefore I
will investigate symbolic meanings inherent to their common sense they use in daily economic
life to cope with the `new' economy.
1.3 The contemporary context
Jovchelovitch (2001) stresses that `social knowledge is shaped by social context' (p. 166). This
is specifically relevant for the present enquiry of common sense of business professionals. The
present study wants to account for symbolic meanings about the economy in contemporary
Western modern life. This is a context, which, in recent years, was to an increasing extent
influenced by the advancement of new communication technologies.
With the Internet as a global communication network, now barely 10 years old, a
decentralised information space emerged, created and controlled by many different authors
(Whinston et al., 2001). Information and symbolic content can be transmitted over vast distances
with relatively little delay. The Internet enables global, real-time
10
communication (Jordan,
1999). Not only does it erase the idea of distance (Jovchelovitch, 2001), but also `simultaneously
time has itself been `shrunk' as contact via computer communications and telecommunications
[which] is immediate' (Webster, 1995, p. 20). In Thompson's (1995) words, with the emergence
of the Internet `Spatial distanciation no longer required temporal distanciation' (Thompson,
1995, p. 32). Thompson further argues that independence of the spatial-temporal locale has lead
to an increase of mediated communication, which can be oriented towards an indefinite range of
potential recipients.
`Today we must recognize that ...the development of communication media beginning with print,
but including the more recent forms of electronic forms of communication has created new forms
of publicness which do not share the features of the traditional model. These new forms of
mediated publicness are not localised in space and time' (Thompson, 1995, p. 244).
10
Global means connecting resources on a world-wide scale and real-time refers to activities which occur
immediately without any delay.
- 15 -
This contemporary context of changes in communication and technology has to be made relevant
to researching the new economy. I chose Internet enabled business as social milieu for finding
symbolic meanings about the new economy specifically for this reason. As indicated by its
name, Internet enabled business is a sector in the economy, in which I expected to find people
who, due to their roles in professional life, were very likely to be in an active process of
developing `new symbolic strategies' (Jovchelovitch, 2001, p. 171) to come to terms with the
economy in a context of an increasingly fast technological development.
- 16 -
2 Conceptual
framework
In the following, I review the academic literature on perspectives taken in research on the
economy. I criticise the Cartesian and cognitive perspective taken by behavioural economists and
economic psychologists which views economic life mainly by looking at the individual as an
erroneous, cognitive miser dissociated from the social context. The economic and social realms
are artificially separated and the existence of a universal rationality is not challenged. By
contrast, I advocate a social constructionist framework, that is, a conceptual framework drawing
on the theory of social representations (Moscovici, 1961/76; Moscovici, 1984). The latter lends
itself specifically to the enquiry of common sense as a legitimate form of rationality. It enables
the understanding of contemporary taken-for-granted themes and beliefs in the economy
(Moscovici, 2001a), which shape present realities. The theory truly embraces a social
psychological perspective based on a Hegelian philosophy by seeing phenomena both through
the perspective of the individual and the societal context in its dynamic relationship. Above all, it
sees the economy as inherent element in our contemporary social fabric. However, for my
present enquiry of common sense in the context of contemporary modernity, the conception of
common sense needs to be uncoupled from the linguistic link to the role of a layperson. I argue
that common sense takes on a form of symbolic knowledge depending on social contexts rather
than individuals' roles and thus forms the foundation for common references (Deaux &
Philogène, 2001b) for people.
2.1 A critique of behavioural economics and economic psychology
There is a large body of literature on the wider debate on the relationship between economics
and other social sciences. In this context, Struempel (1990) in his plea for a societal psychology
of macroeconomic processes criticises that since the beginning of the last century there is a
general trend of economics and psychology developing into incompatible ways of reasoning.
- 17 -
`While economics encompasses the psychology of the market or of producing organizations,
economists nevertheless have rarely tried to use the methods and instruments of psychology'
(Struempel, 1990, p. 193).
Orthodox scientific economic models rationalise human behaviour in formal models,
such as consumer theories, choice theories and intertemporal choice (Lea, Tarpy & Webley,
1987). At the heart of these theories are utility equations (Maital, 1982; Landreth & Colander,
1989) established in order to model behaviour and predict utility. In the phase of transition from
classical to neo-classical economics, this was reinforced: economics was understood as a
`positive, value-free science' (Landreth & Colander, 1989, p. 309). Since then mathematical
models are dominant in economic thinking. As a result, the economic perspective views the
human being from the perspective of a single universal rationality.
`The principle of rationality occupies a central position in traditional economic theory. It states that
the rational man aims at a specific end the maximization of utilities- by employing well-defined
means' (Katona, 1975, p. 217).
The major assumption of classic macro- and micro-economic reasoning is that rational
decision-making determines the actions of homo economicus. Thus, economic behaviour is
understood as a result of the economic environment and is therefore conceptualised as a function
of purely economic determinants
11
. Adam Smith's laws of the `invisible hand', the autonomy of
the market system and Bentham's utilitarianism (Struempel, 1990) are examples of the
reinforcement of a rationality of market mechanisms `unrelated to any other area of social reality
of human behaviour' (Struempel, 1990, p. 194).
The economic principle of rationality has been criticised by behavioural economists and
economic psychologists. First, a school of behavioural `heterodox' economists engaged in
studying how people actually make choices influenced by experimental and cognitive
11
To give an example, classic economics assumes scarcity of means. As a result economics is often defined as the
allocation of scarce means for the satisfaction of competing ends (Schroeder, 2000). This, however, is based on two
assumptions: first, that one knows the ends and second, that means are comparable. It is here where the assumption
of rationality comes in. Rational choice pre-supposes means that are established due to objective criteria, commonly
accepted rules and norms. Following this, means can be calculated, controlled, predicted and optimised to achieve
the utmost from the competing and known ends.
- 18 -
psychology, which rejects the rationality assumption as `generally unhelpful' (Lea, Tarpy &
Webley, 1987, p. 127).
Second, psychologists used concepts such as attitudes and expectations to study
economic behaviour. Katona (1951, 1975, 1979), the `founder' of economic psychology, was
concerned about integrating psychology and economics and conceptualised on the psychological
analysis of economic behaviour. His work was centred on consumer attitudes and consumer
behaviour. For instance, he studied the relationship between changes in consumer sentiment
12
and changes in purchasing behaviour (Struempel, 1990). He defined this field of enquiry as a
`behavioural science which studies the economic behaviour of man' (Katona, 1960, p. 6).
Thereby he demonstrated how people would not react in the same way as postulated by
economic models
13
. The main rationale for economic psychology is the acknowledgement that
the behaviour of individuals varies due to different cognitive strategies. In opposition to
economic models, concepts such as motivation, e.g. in the form of job interest and willingness to
work are employed when explaining the behaviour of individuals in an economic context. Thus,
this perspective is largely concerned with individual behaviour and with individual decision-
making (Lea, Tarpy & Webley, 1987, Maital, 1982, Van Raaij and Gianotten, 1990). Economic
actions were seen as the result of cognitive pre-dispositions located in the mind of the individual.
I argue that, albeit both behavioural economists and economic psychologists challenge
the economic notion of rational behaviour, the agency of the social and collectively realised
dimension of economic life is neglected. If at all, the social was solely taken into account as an
external factor exerting influence on the individual economic decision-making in form of socio-
cultural norms, attitudes, and habits. What is more, both streams of research considered the
individual still in deviation of a universal economic rationality therefore the individual was
deemed irrational. Hence, human error had to be taken into account when to predict behaviour
12
`The ways in which individuals view their own economic situation and status and the future of the economy`
(Struempel, 1990, p. 196)
- 19 -
intelligently (measured in terms of economic rationality). Thus, the very assumption that
economic rationality is universal (Jovchelovitch, 1998) was not challenged. Other rationalities
were excluded from their analytical framework a priori.
A third major branch of research is the perspective of societal psychology (Himmelweit
& Gaskell, 1990), promoted by Struempel (1990) for the case of macroeconomic processes. By
strong contrast to the aforementioned researchers, Struempel underlines the necessity of seeing
both the individual and the social as complementary dimensions that are inseparable if one is to
understand the everyday fabric of economic life. Societal psychology emphasises to examine
conceptually and analytically the collective experience of people in an economic societal system.
`... people's actions within the economy as well as their cognitive and affective response to the
economy are shaped by the social and historical context in which they live, in particular by their
expectations, social representations and value systems' (Struempel, 1990, p. 208).
Imminent to this plea for a shift from the cognitive to the societal psychological
perspective is the acknowledgement of social changes in Western society that have to be taken
into consideration when looking at economic processes. Struempel (1990) draws particular
attention to the need to consider the dynamic relationship between values in society and
economic systems.
Ultimately, I reject the perspectives taken by behavioural and economic psychologists.
Their focus on human erroneous deviation from the `objective' economic rational utility
maximising behaviour (Berkeley & Humphreys, 1982; Jungermann, 1986; Zey, 1992) leaves the
economic rational model as a universal norm unchallenged. As a result, this manifests a
reinforcing effect of the assumptions of economic rational models. Moreover, the dissociation of
the erroneous individual from its social context and the disregard of the contribution and agency
of the individual in its social context (Struempel, 1990; Jovchelovitch, 1995) conflict with the
concern of the present paper. Particularly, I argue, the economic `realm of consumption' and
individual behaviour stay artificially separated. Against this Cartesian philosophy, I subscribe to
13
For instance, he examined buying behaviour, saving, impact on inflation, causes of consumer aspirations,
- 20 -
a Hegelian approach. I opt for the angle of social psychology based on the conviction that for an
investigation of contemporary economy embedded in a modern Western context, a conceptual
framework is needed that allows research on the multiplicity of rationalities that exist in form of
various knowledges (Jovchelovitch, 1998) which is emerging in particular intensity in
contemporary `late modern' (Giddens, 1991) economic life.
2.2 A social representational perspective on social knowledge
The present study advocates a social constructionist framework, viewing the economy as a social
construction through discursive processes in interaction. I do this by drawing on the theory of
social representations (Moscovici, 1961/76; Moscovici, 1984). This theory of knowledge
(Moscovici, 2001b) lends itself to the enquiry of common sense as a legitimate form of
rationality. It enables the understanding of contemporary taken-for-granted knowledge and
beliefs in the economy (Moscovici, 2001a). The theory truly embraces a social psychological
perspective based on a Hegelian philosophy by seeing phenomena both through the perspective
of the individual and the societal context in its dynamic relationship. The overall logic of my
conceptual approach, which takes a rather `broad view on social representations'
14
(Wagner,
1998) is summarised in table 1. At the risk of over-simplifying, this table shall systematise my
conceptual approach throughout the study. The column on the very right hand side describes the
perspectives I singled out for the present investigation of common sense.
responses to fiscal policies and the relation between economic metrics such as GNP and the quality of life, consumer
culture (Katona, 1975).
14
This draws on the research conducted following Moscovici's seminal study (1961/76) throughout the last 50
years. It is characterised by a `movement towards a very broad understanding of the term `social representation'
(Wagner, 1998, pp. 299-300).
- 21 -
DIMENSIONS OF
ANALYSIS
BEHAVIOURAL
ECONOMICS AND
ECONOMIC PSYCHOLOGY
PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIAL
REPRESENTATIONS AS
THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
REPRESENTATIONS AND
KNOWLEDGES IN LATE
MODERN CONTEXT
Symbolic content,
knowledge and rationality
Universal single desirable
rationality; deviations from this
ideal are erroneous.
Recognition of a multiplicity of
legitimate meaningful contents,
knowledges and rationales;
rehabilitation of common
sense.
Every knowledge and rationality
is meaningful to a given
community in the specific social
context of late modernity.
Relation between
individual and social
Cognitive individualistic view
of homo economicus
dissociated from social
environment. Non dialogical
knowledge encounters;
Cartesian paradigm.
Dialogical relationship and
Hegelian dialectic between
social actors and their social
contexts in communication and
interaction (thinking society).
Dialogical relationships
additionally in form of mediated
communication and interaction
independent of a shared
spatial/temporal locale.
Social psychology of the
economy
Economy as scientifically
rational model of the sum of
the optimal behaviour of all
homo economicus.
Economy intertwined with
social fabric of daily life;
everyday representations of the
economy in general are a `field
of research in statu nascendi'
(Moscovici, 2001a).
New economy is seen from the
perspective of how it is shaped by
common sensical knowledge,
which hinges on specific contexts
of mediated interaction in
contemporary modernity.
Table 1: Conceptual perspective and framework of the study
Serge Moscovici's project of the rehabilitation of common sense (Moscovici & Marková,
2000; Bangerter, 1995) created a foundation for the acknowledgement of a multiplicity of ways
of knowing as opposed to the assumption of a universal legitimate rationality. Moscovici' s
seminal study about the diffusion and transformation of scientific knowledge on psychoanalysis
throughout the French society in the 1950s in `La Psychanalyse: Son image et son public`
(1961/1976) revolutionised both social psychological theorising and research by focusing social
psychological research on the `thinking society' (Farr, 1998) rather than the cognitive miser.
`The "thinking society" typified by interpersonal and mediated communication is the arena where
reality is constructed and negotiated` (Gaskell, 2001, p. 232).
Moscovici attacked the ban of common sense from social psychology as irrational form of
knowledge that was held to be as `prone to errors, biases, stereotypes and every kind of cognitive
miserliness' (Moscovici, 1993, p.343). He conceptualised social representations as the `lay
- 22 -
theories' of scientific knowledge and claimed that social representations are `branches of
knowledge in their own right' (Moscovici, 1973, p. xiii), thus recognising the complexity and
plurality of common sense. Hence, common sense is neither seen as incoherent nor as illogical
but bearing the `rationality of a collectively produced form of knowledge` (Moscovici, 1993, p.
170) that are worth social scientific enquiry. Furthermore, social representations theory is a
conceptual angle that conceives of the relationship between modes of knowledge as a culturally
and locally determined phenomenon (Farr, 1998). In essence, `social representations are a
modern phenomenon' (Moscovici, 2001a, p.14). Moscovici therefore conceives of social
psychology as anthropology of modern culture (Moscovici & Marková, 2000), a science devoted
to the study of thoughts and beliefs in the society of our times. The content of common sense is
bound to the communities of the social world (Geertz, 1983). This specifically lends itself to the
present study of the `new' economy, which is a phenomenon unique to the present context of
modern society (see chapter 1.3) and to the multiplicity of rationalities in the economy
(Moscovici, 2001a).
Second, `Social representation theory ... [introduces] a new synthesis between the
individual and the social' (Deaux & Philogène; 2001a, p. 5) in that it conceptualises the social
elaboration of knowledges in their making (Moscovici, 1963). It describes how challenges or
unfamiliar aspects are collectively made sense of in daily life through the processes of anchoring
and objectifying (Moscovici, 1984). Thereby opposing the theory of social representations
opposes the Cartesian paradigm by a Hegelian view of a dialectic relationship between social
actors and their agency of constructing sense in a particular social context of social interaction.
`By associating .. [social representations] with communication, not only were we changing ... the
relationships between the social and the individual, but also we are substituting the constraint of the
social over the individual by a mode of interaction in which they create themselves.' (Moscovici,
2001a, p.14)
Knowledge construction is seen as an ongoing process rooted in social interaction expressing and
structuring the social conditions and identities of those who share it (Jovchelovitch, 2001). This
social constructionist perspective on reality based on a Hegelian philosophy will be useful if this
- 23 -
study is to explore phenomena in the new economy both through the perspective of business
professionals and the social context of contemporary Internet enabled business in its dynamic
relationship. It is in this way that the taken-for-granted, the essence of how the `new' in the
economy is collectively constructed, can be understood.
`Essentially the theory assumes that social phenomena do not occur as something that is outside the
individual, but rather within a dynamic process of interaction and communication` (Gaskell, 2001,
p. 232).
Third, against seeing the economy as dissociated from social life, the theory of social
representations views the economic way of understanding and making sense of phenomena in
modern life is inextricably linked to our social life. Moscovici argues that `economic phenomena
are also social-psychology phenomena' (Moscovici, 2001a, p. 13). Specifically this is relevant to
Western industrialised society in which our society is predominantly economically represented
(Moscovici, 2001a).
`the economic representation of the social element tends to prevail ... they pervade all the
levels of communications, form daily conversations to the media' (Moscovici, 2001a, p.
16).
This echoes Leiss, who holds that
`with the coming of the market-industrial system in modern times, economy and technology
become the major social representations for the interaction between humans and external nature'
(Leiss, 1984, p.56).
Thus, this perspective supports an investigation of the new economy as a socially created
phenomenon. I argue that in absence of an artificial split of the economy and society the
perspective of social representations theory lends itself to the study of the collective construction
of professionals' common sense, or in Morant's (1997) words, professional social
representations.
2.3 Social Representations and the common sense of business professionals
Social representations researchers have used the theory of social representations to study
economic phenomena. Examples are Pierre Vergès' (1987) work on social representations of the
economy and Furnham's research (1986) on children's understanding on the economic world. In
- 24 -
a recently published volume on `everyday representations of the new economy' (Roland-Lévy et
al., 2001), the social representations of phenomena such as financial and savings behaviour
(Roland-Levy, 2001; Webley & Nyhus, 2001), welfare and economic inequality (Furnham,
2001) and unemployment (Giron, 2001) are explored. In this undoubtedly invaluable
contribution to the social psychology of economics (Moscovici, 2001a) social representations of
the economy are understood as a form of knowledge underpinning the `everyday concepts of the
economy'. Nevertheless, Moscovici states that research on `everyday representations of the
economy' is in general a `field of research which is in statu nascendi' (Moscovici, 2001a, p. 17;
italics in original) and suggests that it is most timely to develop it further.
The present study investigates the business professionals' common sense through a social
representations framework, which as outlined above is judged as a most relevant approach.
However, given the current conceptualisation of common sense as `everyday representations'
(Moscovici, 2000a) and `lay thinking' (Moscovici, 2001b) it might be argued that the knowledge
I intend to explore in a sphere of business cannot be described as common sense or `everyday' as
business professionals might be conceived of as experts.
In this respect, it is useful to consider social representations researchers' discourse.
Common sense is linguistically strongly linked to phrases such as `lay concepts' (Vergès &
Bastounis, 2001, p. 19), `lay thinking' (Moscovici, 2001b), `lay beliefs' (Giron, 2001) and `lay
understandings' (Philogène & Deaux, 2001a). Joined by expressions such as `feelings in the
public' (Wagner & Kronberger, 2001) the choice of language runs the risk of being
misinterpreted. By this I mean the connotation that common sense is exclusively circulating in
spheres, which is public, and in which `lay people' converse. I argue that this role-centred
language concerning the notion of common sense in social representations research can restrict
the potential social representations theory has for research on the economy.
Common sense, rightly rehabilitated (Moscovici & Marková, 2000) by Moscovici runs
the risk of being linguistically degraded by linking it to a fixed role-constellation. For instance,
- 25 -
such a role constellation is evident in the lay person symbolised by `we as patients' (Moscovici,
2001b, p. 11) is in conversation with `a doctor', `an expert' (Moscovici, 2001b, p. 11). The latter
expert is described as having the ability to translate the `lay person's' everyday language of
common sense into expert knowledge (Moscovici, 2001b). Other examples out of research on the
economy are the connection of common sense to the `the consumer' (De Rosa & Kirchler, 2001)
and `households' (Roland-Lévy, 2001). The link of common sense to the lay role as opposed to
the link of academic, professional and scientific knowledge to the expert role presents both an
artificial and overly sharp distinction between forms of knowledge. In this way, potential insights
about common sense in the economic realm are limited a priori by restricting common sensical
knowledge to situations in which we act as lay people. Thereby meanings and symbols that
emerge in situations in which experts, professionals and academics interact on the basis of their
common sense are excluded a priori. I argue it is precisely the latter situations in which experts
amongst other expert deal with expert knowledge when collectively shared common sensical
knowledge is vital for a common understanding. Furthermore, the very character of expert
knowledge itself is underpinned by common sense, that is, by a common set of shared beliefs
about what `expert knowledge' is supposed to be and how it is supposed to be expressed. For
instance, an expert may use a common sensical notion shared by a community of professionals
when attempting to persuade another expert about a specific concept or professional issue.
Above all the sharp distinction between lay and expert knowledge does especially not
hold in contemporary economic life and modernity. It is a context in which boundaries between
knowledge forms become increasingly blurred. As Latour (1991/1993) puts it, a hybridisation is
taking place. Social interfaces are getting blurred, conventional distinctions are challenged,
hybrids of previously co-existent knowledges form (Jovchelovitch, 1998). In a similar way, I
argue it gets increasingly difficult to distinguish forms of knowledges from each other, even
theoretically. It is suggested, to see common sense as a dynamic phenomenon, constantly in flux
and predicated on the specific social and functional context.
- 26 -
Hence, I argue we need to unlock common sense conceptually out of the prison of the
role. The link between common sense and social roles obscures the fact that we use common
sense in manifold social roles, its character altering with the social and functional context. Yet,
this is not to claim that common sense is independent of people. It is rather used by people
independently to the social role they are in and can take on many different shapes and forms.
Hence, it needs to be recognised that common sense cannot be determined a priori but must be
understood in a particular social context. Therefore, social representations theory can only then
provide a conceptual angle on common sense on the economy if its conceptualisation is not pre-
supposing sharp distinctions between ways of knowing according to social roles. Different ways
of knowing (Jovchelovitch, 1998) are as manifold as the variety of communities existent.
One might argue of course, that the proverbial `man in the street' is not to be taken
literally and that `lay' is used to signify that while for instance, economics assumes that
economic behaviour is rational, social representations theory suggests economic behaviour s
guided by common sense such as `images, feelings ... and cultural symbols' (Vergès, 2001, p.
19). Yet, with the point I made above, I claim that if one wants to conceive of a timely approach
drawing on social representations theory one's language choice must be adapted to the present
context. As outlined above, in present modern society notions such as `laymen' and `experts'
appear outdated
15
. Unless this is taken into account, the possibilities social representations theory
holds for an understanding of common sensical knowledge as the `stuff of social psychology'
(Moscovici, 2001b, p. 10) might be restricted a priori for research on the economy.
I claim, thus, that `experts' and `professionals' have to be included in the number of roles
people are in when they draw on common sense, in this way I argue, people draw on
`professional social representations' (Morant, 1997). For example, I agree with Tyszka (2001)
and Gray (2001) that common sense is used when `the individual works' (p.171); Gray (2001)
outlines this for the case of small and medium enterprise (SMEs) owners:
15
Of course, in full appreciation of the fact that this might have been different in earlier societies in which the
notion of social class made it easy to conceive of person and social role as one unity.
- 27 -
`To the extent that they see themselves as part of a `business community', SME owners will also
share, use and refer to social representations of phenomena or event that are common to the world
of commerce, trade and work' (Gray, 2001, p. 157)
In this sense, the present study will explore professionals' common sense as a way of knowing
used to interact, communicate in situations related to the context of Internet enabled business in
the new economy. Business professionals are a seen as members of a community in the sense
that they have a shared 'object of work' (Morant, 1997) and use the same type of knowledge: the
common sense necessary to symbolically cope (Wagner, 1998) with the new economy.
2.4 An exploration of the `taken-for-granted'
With the focus on business professionals' shared social knowledge I intend to gain an in-depth
understanding of the taken-for granted themes that make the new economy `work'. It will
thereby be investigated what `makes them act together' (Moscovici; 2001b, p. 21) in Internet
enabled business. By focusing on social representations of
16
the new economy I intend to make
the familiar unfamiliar (Moscovici, 1984) and to take a contemporary snapshot of the field of
representation and symbolic system of meanings in Internet enabled business upon which
general understandings of the new economy depend.
`representation as a network of interacting concepts and images whose contents evolve
continuously over time and space`(Moscovici, 1988, p. 220).
In analysing the representational field I will distinguish between the thematic core of
beliefs and themes and symbolic meanings that are informed by the thematic core. Here I draw
on the notion of `central core' and `periphery', which was introduced by Abric's (1984)
structural hypothesis on social representations. Similarly, the present approach understands the
central core as outlined by Philogène (2001): as a core object and theme around which the
richness and diversity of the field of representations centres. In addition, I employ Moscovici's
16
I deliberately decided against labelling my investigation social representations in the new economy. When I refer
to representations of the new economy I intend to highlight that representations examined here were limited to the
analysis of communicative interaction. In a wider study, however, exploring additionally social practices would
prove invaluable.
- 28 -
notion of central themata (Moscovici, 2001b; Moscovici & Duveen, 2000) to characterise the
notion of the taken-for-granted:
`an "initial string of a few themata" ...These are presumed or evident in the culture of a group, so
that its members may not even spell them out in communication. They underlie the content or they
thematize notions, images, and meanings that are just about to become socially shared' (Moscovici;
2001b, pp. 30, 31)
`Every social representation returns.. to the reiterated expression in discourses of these exchanges
of locally or more universally negotiated theses or themata.` (Moscovici & Duveen, 2000, p. 179).
By investigating the taken-for-granted knowledge amongst business professionals I
attempt to surface those underlying elements in common sense that contribute to the very way in
which professionals become familiar with the new economy in Internet enabled business.
- 29 -
3 Research
Questions
In the light of the shortcomings of the approach taken by behavioural economists and
economic psychologists, the aim of this study is to use a social constructionist framework.
Drawing on the theory of social representations the new economy will be investigated from a
perspective of professionals' common sense as a legitimate form of rationality. Given the
aforementioned chapters, such an exploration of the new economy from a social representational
perspective, is to my knowledge novel.
First, the media perspective asserted that fast-paced changes in the information and
communication technologies result in major changes in `information society' and transform
conventional ways of doing business, epitomised by `dotcom' companies. Does this new
economy-`hype' point towards a new set of socially shared common-sensical beliefs? Therefore,
exploration will be made from the perspective of people involved on a daily basis: How is the
new economy represented by business professionals working in Internet enabled business? What
do they mean if they talk about the new economy?
Second, this study intends to investigate those core `economic beliefs' (Moscovici,
2001a, p.12) that underpin professionals' representations of the new economy and enable
interaction in Internet enabled business. This attempts to explore the taken-for-granted in the
common sense of business professionals that establish a framework for people in which to act.
What are taken-for-granted and shared beliefs informing the symbolic system of meanings about
the new economy? What are the core common references that enable professionals to act in
Internet enabled business daily interaction?
This study intends to provide an in-depth understanding about the system of
representations of the new economy in Internet enabled business. Thereby it is hoped to
exemplify that the theory of social representations is specifically suited as a conceptual frame for
the study of common sense amongst professionals as a type of knowledge inherent to the
contemporary social context of modern economic life.
- 30 -
4 Research
Methodology
4.1 Research Design
I opted for qualitative data collection and interpretative qualitative data analysis. First, the aim to
capture the dynamic and symbolic nature of meanings about the new economy made it
impossible to employ methods of data collection and analysis that endorse a positivist-empiricist
epistemology such as the analysis of individuals' attitudes (Farr, 1998). Second, quantifiable
results would be counter-intuitive in the light of the research questions. Third, the fact that I
intended to explore the taken-for-granted in social knowledge necessitated in-depth descriptions
of meanings. It is only in this that underlying common references can emerge.
Social representations are created and transformed through social interaction between
individuals and groups concerning social objects, which in turn are determined by their
representations (Moscovici, 1984; Abric, 1984). Social interaction, that is the `complex
interaction between our individual minds and the social life' (Deaux & Philogène; 2001b, p. 366)
was analysed by concentrating on two types of communication: informal communication in
interviews and formal mediated communication via Web-sites, Web-site images and artefacts in
professionals' environments. Thereby I attempted to analyse the common sense underlying
spoken, written and symbolic communication in its individual and social dimension of
representations, as expressed by Farr (1993),
`Representations are in the media as well as in people's minds; they are a part of culture as
well as cognition. They need to be identified and sampled in both contexts` (Farr, 1993, p.
3).
Triangulation of data sources as a design element was employed as a means to achieve a
valid analysis. The following data sources were used: discursive data from individual semi-
structured interviews with professionals working in Internet enabled business, textual and visual
data from Web-sites of interviewees' organisations and photographs of interviewees'
- 31 -
environments. Thus, textual and visual data were combined to gain a rich picture of respondents'
life-worlds and knowledges. The characteristics of the data are described in table 2.
Description of
data sources
In-depth
interviews
Artefacts in the
physical world
Web-site text
Web-site images
Medium
Language Photography
Writing Photography/
painting
Mode of
communication
Informal
communication
Formal
communication
Formal
communication
Formal
communication
Mediation
Unmediated
communication
Mediated
symbolic
communication
Mediated
discursive
communication
Mediated
symbolic
communication
Perspective on
meanings in
context of social
milieu
Meanings from
direct interaction
with business
professionals in
interaction
Symbolic
meanings from
manifestations of
professionals'
practices in
artefacts in their
business
environment
Meanings from
professionals'
discourses on their
organisations'
Web-sites
Meanings from
symbols displayed
on professionals'
Web-sites
Table 2: Characteristics of the three data sources
However, these different data types were not used in the sense of describing one `truth'
from several sources, as advocated by Denzin (1978). By strong contrast, as outlined in chapter
two, I intend to outline the multiplicity of legitimate realities and symbolic meanings present.
Hence, triangulation (Flick, 1992) is used to support the present social constructionist
philosophy. Consequently, I avoided a pure `summing up of various methods' (Moscovici, 1986;
cited in De Rosa, 1994, p. 291; italics in original), which are outlined below.
Semi-structured individual interviews (Gaskell, 2000a; Kvale, 1996; Oppenheim, 1996)
were conducted with fifteen business professionals. Qualitative interviewing is widely used in
studies of social representations (Farr, 1993) to explore representations though informal
communication in a social process of interaction between interviewer and interviewee (Gaskell,
2000b). The interviewee answers to open-ended questions and thereby allows the interviewer, as
Gaskell (2000a, p. 39) writes, a way to tap into the `...life worlds of respondents...'. This lent
itself to the aim of eliciting in-depth accounts on ideas. Viewpoints `are more likely to be
expressed in a relatively openly designed situation...' Flick (1998, p.76). I preferred this method
- 32 -
over that of a structured survey interview or a questionnaire, which would advocate pre-
determined and rigorously ordered questions designed for the measurement of attitudes.
In this study all participants were interviewed separately. A focus group was initially
considered but decided against. Not only was it difficult to gather all interviewees in one
location, but also I anticipated (correctly) that some personal and work-related issues would arise
during the interviews, particularly when asking for the impact of the new economy on the
respondents` work and private lives. These would not have been voiced openly amongst other
individuals.
Echoing Bauer & Gaskell (2000) in that it is good practice in qualitative research
document credibly, transparently and procedurally clear (Bauer & Gaskell, 2000), this research
report includes samples of the textual and visual data used (see appendix).
4.2 The data corpora
This study explored an `unknown population` (Bauer & Aarts, 2000) of meanings inherent in
Internet enabled business. Therefore, the present approach was that of a qualitative data corpus
construction (Bauer & Aarts, 2000), which is functionally similar to sampling, yet, embraces a
rationale of a `purposive nature of selection,.. not only of texts but also of any material with
symbolic functions.` (Bauer & Aarts, 2000, p. 23).
In order to access representations of the new economy in their breadth and variety, I had
to typify the variety of meanings I could potentially retrieve from the community of business
professionals who share Internet enabled business as the same 'object of work' (Morant, 1997).
Only in this way I could subsequently select data in such a way that I would maximise the
variability in the currents of opinion (Gaskell, 2000b), thereby ensuring to gain an in-depth
understanding (Gaskell, 2000a, p. 41).
For the typification of the variety of potential meanings I sought to establish subdivisions
of variety in which the focal representations (Bauer & Aarts, 2000) could occur. These
subdivisions of variety were different types of Internet enabled business. However, this task
- 33 -
presented itself as a `corpus-theoretical paradox' (Bauer & Aarts, 2000): on the one hand
subdivisions of variety needed to be established in order to systematically segment the range of
representations, on the other hand the corpus data was needed to establish the subdivisions of
variety. Bauer & Aarts (2000) recommend constructing the corpus cyclically in this case.
Following this approach, firstly, using orthodox economic segmentation of industries or
labour markets was not considered useful. Existing categories such as `information and
communication technologies industry' were considered too broad for the present purpose of
characterising Internet enabled business. Secondly, I subscribed electronically to two electronic
newsletter services, which provided insights into the specific categories currently used in Internet
enabled business (Fast Company, 2001c, published online; Lycos Network, 2001). Reading these
newsletters regularly enabled me to consider candidate sub-milieus (Gaskell, 2000a), amongst
them dotcom companies (BusinessWeek, 1999; Sun Microsystems, 2001a). However, it was
decided against using dotcoms as cluster as it occurred later that Internet enabled business does
not exclusively consists of dotcoms. Rather, it includes any company that generates business
from the Internet. In addition, dotcom companies do not manifest a category sufficiently specific
in Internet enabled business. The characteristic they have in common is solely the suffix `.com'
in the domain-name of the firm's Web-site. Ultimately, I established the subdivisions of variety
on the basis of Whinston et al.'s (2001) definition of Internet segmentation of Internet enabled
business along the different business processes the Internet enables. This segmentation, as shown
in table 3, agrees with the present purpose of typifying the professionals' shared `object of work'
(Morant, 1997) in Internet enabled business. On the basis of this segmentation, I constructed
three data corpora from heterogeneous data sources.
- 34 -
Infrastructure, Systems and Solution provision
· Telecommunications business
· Systems & Solutions for business start-up (business incubators)
· Infrastructure & solutions technology, such as Internet Access Equipment,
software or Internet applications
· Other systems & solutions providers
Internet Intermediaries
· Information Gateways / Content Aggregators / Portals / Networking-platforms
· Consultancy
· Think-tanks & Business authors
· Skills and Recruiting Services
· Other Internet Intermediaries
Internet Commerce
· Online Retailing
· Other business to business and business to consumer transactions
Table 3: Subdivisions of Internet enabled business to maximise variety of meanings
4.2.1 Interviewees
Potential interviewees were approached on the basis of their typicality (Bauer & Aarts, 2000) for
above subdivisions (table 3). It was attempted to get access to as many subdivisions as possible.
Indeed I managed to include representatives of all subdivisions into the corpus. Yet, due to the
practical restrictions of a thesis of the present scope, I obtained a varying numbers of
respondents in each subdivision. Since demographic characteristics of individuals (Duveen & De
Rosa, 1992, p. 105) and their distribution within the corpus in the statistical sense were not a
focus of the selection strategy, this was, however, not jeopardising the goal of the study. I
intended to account for diversity of meanings, rather than for commonalties of subjects. The
resulting corpus (see table 4) was judged as successful in this aim
17
.
Access was obtained in fourteen cases through `acquaintances of acquaintances', who
were working in the target subdivisions. In each case, I was routed to a potential participant,
whom I would then ask for participation in an interview via email or telephone. Through this
indirect approach it was avoided to select people that could be thought of as `good informants'
17
In a further study, nevertheless, it would prove worthwhile to include additional dimensions concerning the
research subjects if a study was interested in specific meanings of certain age groups, employment types etc.
- 35 -
(Flick, 1998; Oppenheim, 1996). Also, self-selection bias was avoided thereby. In one case, I
approached a potential subject through a contact email address published on the Web-site of an
organisation operating in the target subdivision. The detailed characteristics of the fifteen
subjects are described in appendix 4.
TYPE:
In depth semi-structured interviews
PERSPECTIVE QUANTITY
Infrastructure, Systems and Solution
provision
Telecommunications business
2
Systems & solutions for business start-up
(business incubators)
1
Infrastructure, systems & solutions
2
Internet Intermediaries
Information Gateways / Content Aggregators
/ Portals / Networking-platforms
1
Consultancies
5
Think-tanks & business authors
1
Skills and Recruiting Services
2
Internet Commerce
Online Retailing
1
TOTAL 15
Table 4: Corpus for discursive data from interviews
4.2.2 Web-sites
The second corpus was targeted at obtaining formal communication in form of text from Web-
sites of participants' organisations. The use of Web-site text in the context of social
representations research is, to my knowledge, novel. I argue, that Web-sites provide a unique
insight into social representations constructed at a collective level. Communication mediated by
the Web-sites was furthermore particularly appealing in the context of this study since the
professionals' roles were centred on the Internet as major `shared object' (Morant, 1997) of their
businesses.
Once I obtained agreement from respondents to participate, I asked them to provide me
with the domain-names (URL) of their organisations' Web-sites. These were the Web-sites of
- 36 -
either their own firms or the sites of specific projects that was published by them on the Web. All
subjects referred me to a Web-site
18
.
The Web-sites consisted of a complex network of linked Web-pages. I randomly selected
three pages of text published within each Web-site. To avoid selecting `appropriate meanings`
(Flick, 1998) I asked a friend, who was not involved in the study, to select the Web-pages. All
selected pages were stored electronically to a local medium at the same time. This was vital as
Web-sites get frequently updated. As a result, I created a corpus (see table 5) bearing an equal
potential diversity of meanings as the interview corpus, yet from the perspective of collective
formal communication in Internet enabled business. It consisted of text from 15 Web-sites of
respondents and within that from 45 Web-pages. The corpus of Web-page text is characterised in
detail in appendix 5 and two samples of Web-site data are shown in appendix 9.
TYPE: Web-site text
PERSPECTIVE QUANTITY
Infrastructure, Systems and Solution
provision
Telecommunications business
6
Systems & solutions for business start-up
(business incubators)
3
Infrastructure, systems & solutions
6
Internet Intermediaries
Information Gateways / Content Aggregators
/ Portals / Networking-platforms
3
Consultancies
15
Think-tanks & business authors
3
Skills and Recruiting Services
6
Internet Commerce
Online Retailing
3
TOTAL 45
Table 5: Corpus containing textual data from Web-sites
4.2.3 Images
Analysing images in conjunction with discursive data was considered relevant to both the
research questions and the framework of social representations (Moscovici, 1984).
18
The domain-names of used Web-sites are kept anonymous due to confidentiality agreements with the
respondents.
- 37 -
Representations not only make discourses
19
matter but are also present in symbols and images. In
order to understand images, people draw on `common references' (Deaux & Philogène, 2001b)
to interpret them. Moreover, we communicate by visual means: Moscovici (2001b) states, we
need to acknowledge the `role that images play in communication` (p. 19). In Morphy and
Banks' (1997) terms there
`are visual dimensions to most human actions, from speech to the manufacture of artefacts.
We incorporate our capacity to see into virtually every aspect of our lives' (Morphy &
Banks, 1997, p. 21).
I included images in my data in reflection of the aim to explore the multiple facets of symbolic
meanings. Thus, the present analysis explored social representations embedded in language,
writing and images.
The third corpus contained artefacts
20
from the environments of interviewees
21
, which I
photographed, and images published in connection with texts on Web-pages. They were selected
only in those cases in which they contributed fundamentally to the meaning that was conveyed
by the empirical unity of the social situation or the Web-page. This corpus if images was
considered vital for my aim to explore the taken-for-granted. Taken-for-granted is not obtainable
in literal terms, it is expressed `between the lines`- symbolically.
In contrast to the text I selected from Web-sites, images were selected differently, as not
every Web-page contained images and as not every image was conveying meaning in
conjunction with the text. Thus, the criteria for Web-page selection images was first, that those
images had to appear on three randomly selected Web-pages and that second, the depictions had
to stand in connection with the meaning of the text selected. As a result, I created a corpus (table
6) of Web-page `thumbnails` and two photographs. All images are included in appendix 10.
19
It is important to note here that while the research did not use socio-linguistic techniques such as discourse
analysis in the manner as demonstrated by Potter & Wetherell (1987), an appreciation of this body of literature
permeates the conduct and analysis of the study.
20
I photographed these artefacts. Photography can be used as a means of observation (Collier & Collier, 1986) and
can aid the description of the experience of the social context to support a holistic understanding. In a further study,
it would prove invaluable to enhance the `anthropology of modern life` (Moscovici & Marková, 2000) by capturing
social practices in photography.
21
Only in those cases that I interviewed participants in their workplaces.
- 38 -
TYPE: Images
PERSPECTIVE QUANTITY
Infrastructure, Systems and Solution
provision
Telecommunications business
2 (Web images)
Systems & solutions for business start-up
(business incubators)
1 (interviewee environment)
1 (Web-image)
Infrastructure, systems & solutions
1 (Web-image)
Internet Intermediaries
Information Gateways / Content Aggregators
/ Portals / Networking-platforms
0
Consultancies
2 (Web-images)
Think-tanks & business authors
0
Skills and Recruiting Services
1 (interviewee environment)
4 (Web images)
Internet Commerce
Online Retailing
0
TOTAL
2 images from interviewee
environments;
10 Web images
Table 6: Corpus containing visual data
4.3 Design of the interview schedule and conduct of interviews
The interview schedule (see appendix 6) was designed according to the research goal of
obtaining in-depth accounts that would allow me to understand the underlying `taken-for-
granted' knowledge. In essence, the central notion Moscovici conceptualises with social
representations theory is how and why knowledge changes and how it thereby shapes and
changes our beliefs (Jovchelovitch, 2001; Moscovici & Marková, 2000). Thus a main design
element of the interview schedule was to ask for changes. This was especially relevant since I
was interested in changes in individual ways of knowing in relation to economic change. The
interview schedule was therefore targeted at obtaining common sensical explanations about the
new economy. Questions were asked with regard to changes in respondents' roles, organisations
and their personal lives in relation to the new economy. The final design of the interview
schedule was clarified by means of two pilot interviews.
- 39 -
Yet, the interview schedule was not adhered to rigidly, it rather supported me as an aide-
memoire throughout the interviews (Gaskell, 2000b; Oppenheim, 1996) and supported a
comfortable framework for discussion. The sequence of the questions was used flexibly
according to how the dialogue with each interviewee would develop. By asking open, non-
directive (Oppenheim, 1996b) and associative questions, I intended `to find out how people
frame an issue ... and to understand the range of related concepts and ideas' (Gaskell, 2000a,
p.50), without leading participants. This allowed the interviewees to talk in their own patterns of
telling rather than having to follow a pattern imposed by the interview (Jovchelovitch & Bauer,
2000). Thereby, interviews were much more likely to lead to creativity, surprises and ideas.
Based on the conviction that the interview is a technique for eliciting self-reports (Farr, 1982), I
was concerned to leave potential space for the respondents to tell stories and give accounts on
their experiences with a specific issue concerning the new economy. Thus, I deliberately probed
only as little as necessary.
The interviewing process was very field intensive and was conducted over a period of
three weeks in June 2001 in different locations. It occurred that context-sensitive issues, such as
the personal future of respondents due to the unstable economic situation in parts of the
subdivisions of Internet enabled business organisation were likely to be tapped into. Hence,
harmful effects through the participation in the interviews were avoided (British Psychological
Society, 1993) by briefing the participants (Hoinville, 1978a) prior to interviews via information
on the study published a Web-site (see appendix 2), obtaining informed consent from them (see
appendix 2), and conforming to confidentiality and anonymity regulations
22
(British
Psychological Society, 1993). Moreover, I issued a management summary of the results to
participants (appendix 1).
22
It was ensured that all data that could lead to an identification of the interviewees, including information on the
organisation they work with, was kept confidential and is stored in a secure manner. Therefore present report uses
pseudonyms to protect the privacy of the respondents.
Details
- Seiten
- Erscheinungsform
- Originalausgabe
- Jahr
- 2001
- ISBN (eBook)
- 9783832457310
- ISBN (Paperback)
- 9783838657318
- DOI
- 10.3239/9783832457310
- Dateigröße
- 1.8 MB
- Sprache
- Englisch
- Institution / Hochschule
- London School of Economics – unbekannt
- Erscheinungsdatum
- 2002 (August)
- Note
- 1,0
- Schlagworte
- internet connectivity konnektivität
