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Congratulations to Dr Marilyn Wells for achieving her Doctorate

Marilyn Wells
 Marilyn Wells
 

Title of Thesis

Perceptions of Knowledge Gatekeepers: social aspects of information exchange in an organisation undergoing change 

Abstract

This dissertation integrates theories of social influence, communication, groupthink, and cognitive dissonance to explain the role of a knowledge gatekeeper within an organisation during a period of organisational change. Relatively little research has been conducted on how the elements of social influence, groupthink, cognitive dissonance and communications potentially converge to enable the emergence of power during organisational change events. The change in this instance is the implementation of a new electronic document and records management system and the investigation describes how staff perceived the redistribution of power amongst staff members and the changing perception of the knowledge gatekeeper.

Grounded theory methodology, informed by phenomenology and the Technology Acceptance Model form a framework to explore the acceptance of change in the form of a new information system. Literature relating to information systems implementation is examined and related to the organisational change issues of resistance and counter-culture. Stakeholder perceptions of an information system and the subsequent change within the organisation enabled the construction of a more complex model which incorporates the relevance of social influences for change acceptance.

This dissertation proposes the Social Influence and Change Acceptance Model (SICAM) as a means of conceptualising how a knowledge gatekeeper influences colleagues' perceptions of events during organisational change. The main research findings can facilitate understanding of the issues that surround organisational change and knowledge gatekeepers, in particular the impact of information systems implementations on broader organisational changes. When seeking to understand how stakeholders react to social situations affecting change, SICAM can be transferred to broader situations, not just located within the information systems research arena.

Date of Presentation

23 April 2010