schiavone - ham radio 2014 - ieseg

8/10/2019 Schiavone - Ham Radio 2014 - IESEG

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Creative Destruction

and Technologies inPractice: The Case ofHam RadioFRANCESCO SCHIAVONE, PH.D.

UNIVERSITY PARTHENOPE ITALY

LILLE, 28


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Paper History

Empirical Paper to Resubmit (2 resubmission) to Technology Analysis and StrategiManagement (IF 2013: 0,841)

Resubmission deadline: 31-12-2015

Main changes in this new version:

- Theory (from Weber to Orlikowski theory)

- Data (More sources and types of data analysed)

- Type of Case study (from Explanatory to Exploratory)


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The Evitability ofCreative Destruction (CD)

CD incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destold one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the about capitalism. It is what capitalism consists in and what every capitalist concern live in (Schumpeter, 1942, pp. 82-83).

Most of studies about CD analyse how rise of new technology drives CD, which is sucompletely destroy old technology. However, many scholars found CD can be hampinstance, firms are often able to survive within the new technological cycle, extend of their traditional technical knowledge and products and, as consequence, hampe(Rothaermel, 2000).

Similarly, technology management literature describes various phenomena, as retrothe so-called sailing ship effect, that are also able to stop CD and let the old techsurvive.


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CD and Technology UsersHowever these assumptions are not always true: also users play a role in this procedecide to hamper it, keep old technologies alive over time.

Various strands of literature (e.g., economics of innovation, organisation studies) renumber of motivations explaining why end-users could make evitable CD and let oldbased products survive after the rise of new technology. For instance:

In general, the substitution of an old technology-based product depends on technologicaconditions, social, and personal conditions of users. These three types of conditions affecusers switching costs and users willingness to abandon old technology (McVaugh and Sc

2010).

Ram and Sheth (1989) suggest two types of barriers produce resistance to innovation: funbarriers (referring to usage, value and risk) and psychological barriers (referring to traditio

Practice revitalisation and application of new technology support the survival of old technproducts in vintage communities of practices (Schiavone, 2013).


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Structures &Technologies in Practice (TiP)

The British sociologist Anthony Giddens (1984) defines structures as the structurinallowing the 'binding' of time-space in social systems.

Structures change (and are changed by) human agency. Structures mediate social athree modalities: facilities, norms and interpretative schemes.

TiP are the set of rules and resources that are (re)constituted in peoples recurrentwith technologies at hand (Orlikowski 2000, 407).

TiP shape the facilities (e.g., hardware), norms (e.g., etiquette) and interpretative scknowledge) driving people in their use of technological artefacts.


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Enactmentsof TiP

Orlikowski (2000, p. 422) reports that 3forms of enactment of TiP might occurwhen new technology emerges:

1. Inertia

2. Application of New Technology(occurring in various subforms)

3. Change


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Conditions and ConsequencesInterpretative Conditions: The conventional understandings and shared meanings tof a community construct to make sense of their world (including the technology th

Technological Conditions: The technological properties (both tool and data) availabusers in their work practices.

Institutional Conditions: The social structures (normative, authoritative) that constitthe larger social system within which users work

Processual Consequences: Changes (if any) in the execution and outcome of users'

practices.Technological Consequences: Changes (if any) in the technological properties availausers.

Structural Consequences: Changes (if any) in structures that users enact as part of tsocial system in which they are participating.


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The case of Ham Radioand Radio-Amateurs

Ham radio is a traditional wireless technology risen in the first years of the last cent

Radio amateursor Amateur radio operators (henceforth: ARO)are voluntary useradios by which they communicate by using common codes and rules.

The deep technical culture of this community provide to members a strong technicaabout what the technology is and how it has to be used (Haring, 2007).

Many hams adopted multimedia software (e.g., IRLP or Echolink) connecting ham

PCs and VOIP technology in order to improve the performance of old technological (Schiavone, 2012).


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Research MethodExploratory Case Study

Unit of analysis: TiP (enacted structures by users) making old technology endless evitable) after technological change.

The constructs analysed in the study are two:

1. The TiP enacted by radio-amateurs, measured in terms of facilities, norms, interpretativconditions and consequences after the rise of new technology;

2. The evitability of CD for ham radio technology

Multiple sources and types of data for triangulation (see the next slide)

Data Analysis: Tables, Matrices and Chronologies


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Data SourcesData Source TiP Evitability of C

Official Documents

and Statistics

Manuals of Yaesu Transceivers US Radio Frequencies C

Census.gov; ITU.int; Historic

US Ham Radio Licences (FCC

Archive Records eHam Produts' Reviews (ham radio

technological system)

Personal Interviews Questions about conditions and

consequences of new technology

Questions about CD

Physical Artefacts Chronology of the Main Yaesu

Transceivers (source: RigPix.com)

Data

Collection

in Nov. &

Dec. 2014


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Evitability of CDTotal Population in

Milions (source:

census.gov)

Radio Amateur Licences in US

(source:

http://www.ah0a.org/)

% of Hams onUS Population

% of US People Using

Internet (source:

ITU.int)

%

broadb

(so

2000 280726081 676718 0,24106% 43,08

2001 283647024 682602 0,24065% 49,08

2002 286340637 683350 0,23865% 58,79

2003 288998781 685037 0,23704% 61,7

2004 291553190 683274 0,23436% 64,76

2005 294230649 669744 0,22763% 67,97

2006 296987570 660943 0,22255% 68,93

2007 299890446 656266 0,21884% 75

2008 302754346 655952 0,21666% 74

2009 305519874 664272 0,21742% 71

2010 308169976 683583 0,22182% 71,69

2011 310543897 696302 0,22422% 69,73

2012 312805598 701969 0,22441% 79,3

2013 315079109 710166 0,22539% 84,2


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NTIA Radio Frequencies Alloca(2003 and 2011)The comparison of the last two USFrequency Allocations Charts (2003 and2011) by NTIA (NationalTelecommunications and InformationAdministration) shows that there areno substantial differences.


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Evolution (2000-2014) ofUS Radio-amateurs (N. of LicencCW= Morse Code


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TiP of Radio-Amateurs: FacilitiesNorms and Interpretative Schem

Ham technology greatly exploited new digital technology to make easier it (e.g., the

handheld radios). Multimedia software was developed (e.g. IRLP and Echolink) in oconnect VOIP and amateur radios.

Facilities of radio amateurs changed extensively during the period of CD. The analysonline archive of product reviews shows just 9 out of 69 categories of technologicalcompletely based on new technology. However, digital technologies entered in mantraditional product categories (E.g. transceivers).

Technical knowledge and norms changed greatly over the last years: Creation of on-line communities and forums

New rules for obtaining radio-amateur license (e.g., knowledge of Morse Code is not anymcompulsory)

Widespread knowledge of radio-amateurs for digital technologies


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TiP of Radio-Amateurs:Conditions and ConsequencesInterpretative Conditions: Radio-amateurs understand very well both old and new techn

Technological Conditions: Mature technology with a large set of technological devices. Mare very different each other. Ham radio shacks are highly customisable.

Institutional Conditions: All users know very well the social structures (e.g., norms) of thNon-hierarchical, collaborative and learning oriented community.

Processual Consequences: Practice of radio-amateurs profoundly changed (e.g., users cainterconnecting ham radios with new technology-based devices). Increased efficiency otechnology is achieved via new technology. Also the social structures of hams evolved in

make easer the use of old technology (e.g. abandoning of Morse code).

Technological Consequences: Further extension of the technological system with new dIncremental Innovation of the declining technology. Both changes in data and tools occu

Structural Consequences: Application of new technology in order to reinforce and enhatechnology and the users community.


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DiscussionThe case shows the TiP of radio-amateurs is a hybrid of collaboration, collective

solving and process-support TiPs

Some conditions might support critically the impact of users structures in hamperi

Very high interest by users in the use of new technology

Competent, detailed and extensive technical knowledge.

Large and customisable technological systems

Learning orientation, institutional adaptation and collaboration/communality between us

than individualistic behaviors or hierarchical structures).

Practice revitalisation is based on changes in social structures (e.g., social norms, neinteraction and communication), and in the development of new technology-based(technological consequences). The main outcome is improvement of old technologand performance (processual consequences).


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ConclusionsCD looks really evitable for some old technologies.

CD evitability can be achieved by the revision of users structures. The revision entaapplication of new technology into old artifacts.

Practice revitalisation is one main domain of revision of users structures. However,effective to hamper CD if some specific (interpretative, technological and institutioconditions apply.

General purpose technologies should be more likely to make CD evitable (users are and open to learn them).

Towards the definition of a new form of TiP?


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