The “easy” digital documentation system - A study of the complexities of implementing technology

Abstract

This article investigates the effects of the implementation of a so called “easy” digital documentation system in a low-tech environment. The implementation took place in the Care and Welfare organization, a municipal health care organization in Sweden. A qualitative approach was used throughout the study to explore the implications of the implementation. By utilizing an affordance and constraint perspective as well as literature on resistance to technology this study identified how technology users and non-technology users have created different affordances or constraints and acted upon them to either use or resist the system. Our findings show that users that have created constraints team up with, or use certain aspects of technology to resist technology. Furthermore, a second path within the perception of constraint was revealed in which the level of interaction with the new technology plays an important role. With limited interaction it is likely that the perceiver will refrain from trying to use the technology rather than attempt to mitigate their constraint perspective. Our study contributes to the resistance to technology and affordances literature with new insights on the types of constraints that people with limited technological experience generate to resist when they engage with technology in a low-tech environment.