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Inspired by the South American research tradition known as “social technology,” this article proposes an operational framework to advance the understanding of mechanisms that help to promote social transformation. To illustrate its theorizing potential, we apply the framework to a nonprofit organization–Parole d’excluEs–that was created in Montreal (Canada) in 2006 and that has been promoting citizen mobilization and commitment to social change (parole-dexclues.ca). To that end, we offer a theoretical paper with an empirical illustration as a first step in a reflection on employing a global South theoretical lens–drawing on the concept of social technology–to make sense of a global North social innovation experience and to advance existing knowledge on the mechanisms of social transformation. The results contribute to social innovation research and practice, particularly at the interface between the management and nonprofit literatures.

In this article, we examine the value of combining transformative and service learning pedagogical practices in management education programmes to encourage management students to be more critical and reflexive regarding serious contemporary issues like social inequality and sustainability. We draw on a long-term management education experience conducted in the northeastern region of Brazil, where international students learn how to develop a real-time community-based project with local inhabitants. We argue that while service learning approaches promote pragmatic action-based principles, transformative learning acts at the epistemic level, contributing to change in values. In addition, Paulo Freire’s ideas are integrated to reinforce critical and reflexive dimensions of the learning experience. Our results offer a process-based model showing how a critical experiential learning pedagogy might lead to the development of community-based competences, which, in turn, might lead to changes in the deeply held values of the participants. Freire’s emancipatory ideas are applied not only regarding the relationship between teachers and students, but also to the distinction between Western and non-Western societies, going beyond questioning of the destructive consequences of financial capitalism to question the hegemony of one worldview over all other possible ones.

In this paper we propose a methodological tool that seeks to contribute to the empirical study of practices in organization studies. There is a need for innovating and improving analytical tactics for theorizing about practice, particularly for helping connect localized social interactions to broader contexts. We propose the “temporal bracketing of discourses” tool and provide a detailed example that empirically illustrates its application. RESUMEN En este artículo proponemos una herramienta metodológica que busca hacer una contribución al estudio empírico de prácticas en estudios organizacionales. Existe la necesidad de innovar y mejorar las tácticas analíticas para teorizar la práctica, en particular para ayudar a conectar las interacciones sociales localizadas con contextos más amplios. Proponemos la estrategia analítica temporal bracketing para los discursos e incluimos un ejemplo detallado que ilustra empíricamente su aplicación. RESUMO Neste artigo, propomos uma ferramenta metodológica que busca contribuir para investigações empíricas da perspectiva da prática em estudos organizacionais. Existe a necessidade de inovar e aprimorar táticas analíticas para teorizar a prática, particularmente para ajudar a conectar interações sociais localizadas em contextos mais amplos. Este artigo propõe o “temporal bracketing” de discursos e inclui um exemplo detalhado que ilustra empiricamente a sua aplicação.

Although social innovation has gained increasing importance in recent decades due to its promise of promoting social change, critical scholars have identified a number of gray areas, notably numerous perspectives that fail to deeply question the conditions that maintain social inequalities and exclusion, and that are marked by the absence of the voices of those living in the so-called “peripheries.” Through the example of The Agency, we propose an alternative to hegemonic ways of understanding social innovation, one based on the Latin American concept of tecnologia social, which embodies a decolonial view. We make three contributions to the social innovation literature, thereby enriching the North-South debate. First, we illustrate a process of sociotechnical reconfiguration—an interplay of methodological tools, artifacts and discourses—which is central to the conception and implementation of a tecnologia social. Second, we show how a tecnologia social operates through a cumulative layering process of decolonizing the imaginary, challenging the colonial relationship between center/periphery and positioning deprived young people as actors who reinvent their repertoires and territories. Third, we introduce a debate linking the anthropophagic approach to epistemic justice, a valued theme in decolonial thinking. In doing so, this article contributes to the literature by proposing applicable and positive outcomes to critical and decolonizing thinking.

Mise au Jeu is a Quebec-based social intervention organization that has been putting on forum theatre – in the Augusto Boal tradition of the theatre of the oppressed – for over 20 years. We investigate how such a non-profit organization creates spaces where members of a deprived communities can elaborate counter-narratives to deconstruct dominant narratives, thereby helping them to make sense of situations of oppression they are living and to act to promote social change. By unpacking counter-narrative strategies and their enabling mechanisms, our study contributes to the narrative tradition in two principal ways. First, while extending Deetz’s work on dominant narratives, we enrich existing understanding of the disruptive power of counter-narratives in situations of social exclusion by bringing to bear the theatrical principles and techniques of Augusto Boal, a missing voice in extant narrative literature. Second, we propose a reflexive discussion related to the political conceptualization of counter-narratives.

In this paper we propose a methodological tool that seeks to contribute to the empirical study of practices in organization studies. There is a need for innovating and improving analytical tactics for theorizing about practice, particularly for helping connect localized social interactions to broader contexts. We propose the “temporal bracketing of discourses” tool and provide a detailed example that empirically illustrates its application.

Respective literatures on sustainable business models (SBMs) and the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) share the assumption that organizations can contribute to value creation for both business and society. The premise of a win–win solution for multiple stakeholders relies mostly on market-oriented solutions, giving little attention to the role that government programs and regulations may have in promoting such initiatives. At best, literature considers government as an obstacle to the development of SBMs in the BOP context. In this paper, we challenge that view by presenting the case of the Ecoelce project, an SBM developed in the BOP context of Northeastern Brazil. We show that this project transformed a coercive pressure from the Brazilian government into a strategic opportunity and a source of shared value. We argue that the mobilization of native capability was key in this process.

Empirical research suggests that financial inclusion initiatives - such as facilitating access to financial resources or providing microcredit - are alone not enough to lower socioeconomic disparities. In this article, we adopt a critical stance as a guide for our empirical investigation. Our aim is to propose a financial education framework, tailored to low-income micro-entrepreneurs, that embraces new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and seeks to improve financial inclusion and social emancipation. This empirical study was conducted in an Amazonian municipality in Brazil where recent access to ICTs has brought about important and varied socioeconomic changes. Results show that ICT-supported and tailored critical financial education can play a dual role: on the one hand, access to financial education might decrease the effects of generative mechanisms on global/local tensions, triggered by standardized ICT applications; on the other hand, such access might increase financial inclusion and social transformation through the integration of guiding principles into financial education programs. RESUMO Pesquisas empíricas sugerem que iniciativas de inclusão financeira - tais como o acesso a recursos financeiros ou o fornecimento de microcrédito - não são, por si sós, suficientes para reduzir as disparidades socioeconômicas. Neste artigo, adotamos uma abordagem crítica para guiar a nossa pesquisa empírica. Nosso objetivo é o de propor um quadro teórico para a educação financeira orientada a microempreendedores de baixa renda, vinculado às novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TICs), com o propósito de ampliar a inclusão financeira e a emancipação social. Este estudo empírico foi realizado em um município da Amazônia brasileira no qual o recente acesso às TICs resultou em significativas e divergentes transformações socioeconômicas. Os resultados evidenciam que a educação financeira crítica orientada por TICs pode desempenhar um duplo papel: por um lado, o acesso à educação financeira pode reduzir os efeitos provocados por mecanismos geradores de tensões globais-locais, desencadeados pelo uso de aplicações padronizadas de TICs; por outro lado, tal acesso pode aumentar a inclusão social e a transformação social por meio da incorporação de princípios norteadores, integrados a programas de educação financeira. RESUMEN La investigación empírica sugiere que las iniciativas de inclusión financiera -tales como la facilitación del acceso a recursos financieros o la concesión de microcréditos- solas no son suficientes para reducir las disparidades socioeconómicas. En el presente trabajo, adoptamos una postura crítica como guía de nuestra investigación empírica. Nuestro objetivo es proponer un marco de educación financiera, a la medida para microempresarios de bajos ingresos, que abarca las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) y busca mejorar la inclusión financiera y la emancipación social. El estudio empírico se llevó a cabo en un municipio amazónico Amazonas del Brasil, donde el reciente acceso a las TIC ha producido cambios socioeconómicos importantes y variados. Los resultados muestran que la educación financiera crítica a medida, respaldada por las TIC, puede desempeñar un doble papel: por un lado, el acceso a la educación financiera podría disminuir los efectos de los mecanismos generadores de tensiones globales/locales, disparados por aplicaciones TIC normalizadas; por otro lado, este acceso podría aumentar la inclusión financiera y la transformación social, a través de la integración de principios rectores en los programas de educación financiera.

This paper explores how large-scale social-driven collaborations might grow in scale and help promote political change. We present the results of a qualitative investigation of a complex platform where multiple and hybrid collaborations co-exist and where civil society plays a central role. Based on a longitudinal comparative case study, we draw a processual model describing micro-practices and pathways of engagement. We show that the emergence of these collaborations requires a new type of convener, one that is able to manage the interplay between the sharing/co-creation of abundant resources and the coordinated decentralization of informal authority. Our study extends existing debates on the role of resources and authority, showing the complementarity between possession and practice perspectives of power. Finally, we identified synergies between collaboration and social movement literatures, particularly showing that large-scale collaborations could be mobilized to refine social movement agendas and achieve more purposive collective action.

This paper seeks to understand the use and the consequences of Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) in a Mexican local community. A multilevel framework was applied, mainly influenced by two theoretical lenses – structurationist view and social shaping of technology – structured in three dimensions – context, process and content – according to contextualist logic. The results of our study have brought two main contributions. The first is the refinement of the theoretical framework in order to better investigate the implementation and use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) artifacts by local communities for social and environmental purposes. The second contribution is the extension of existing IS (Information Systems) literature on participatory practices through identification of important conditions for helping the mobilization of ICT as a tool for empowering local communities.

Integrative presentation on sociomateriality in management and organizational studies. We are at Paris-Dauphine University on a warm afternoon of May 2011. A small group of scholars and PhD students are currently occupying two rooms to start a new and informal experience together. Their wish is to create an occasion for discussing, from a multidisciplinary perspective, a number of emergent topics and their interconnection with technology and practices "in the context of organizing." Among the emergent topics, some terms appear prominent, like material, materiality, sociomateriality, and performativity. This first meeting sowed the seeds for the launching of a series of annual workshops under the name OAP: Organizations, Artifacts, and Practices. The purpose of this introductory article is to present the OAP community to the RAE readers in order to initiate a dialogue and eventually integrate Latin American voices in the so-called materiality turn. publishersversion published

Finding ways to downscale microfinance is one of the current challenges facing commercial banks, especially in developing countries. As banks have a poor knowledge of microfinance, operating in this market will require capacity-building, innovative business models and new technological architectures. This paper discusses how one particular architecture – the Brazilian model of correspondent banking (CB) – is helping banks cope with these challenges. Since the model was created, in 2000, it has allowed banks to downscale financial services outside their traditional branches and establish successful partnerships with local microfinance institutions (MFIs). The authors focus on one particular case involving a partnership between an accredited MFI (Banco Palmas) and two major banks (Banco do Brasil e Caixa Econômica Federal), to make the argument that the Brazilian CB model represents an innovation at the “meso level”, defined by Helms (2006) as the infrastructure comprising a network of service providers necessary to the operation of MFIs.

Reflection on the hegemony of the English language and on the possibility of disseminating knowledge through linguistic diversity.

The focus of this article is the emerging phenomenon of citizen participation in civil society movements at the municipal/city level. In various parts of the world, ordinary citizens have been engaging in social movements so as to more purposively engage with and exert influence on public policies regarding important issues like the improvement of quality of life and sustainability of their cities. The overall goal of the article is to understand a network called the ‘Latin American network of cities’, which in 2011 linked more than 50 Latin American cities, including Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, Quito and Rio de Janeiro. One of the most important components is a movement located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, called Nossa Sao Paulo, which mobilizes citizens representing more than 600 organizations of varying types. From a management perspective, this study describes and analyses the means employed by Sao Paulo civil associations to create a space for debate and action that leads not only to adoption of common pr...

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of client-consultant relationships and analyze how power and knowledge are shared and negotiated between consultants and clients during the implementation of configurable technologies. Empirical evidence is provided by three case studies representing three classic types of client-consultant relationships. We draw on two complementary perspectives: possession view (i.e., power and knowledge are based on resources that can be owned or controlled by individuals) and practice view (i.e., power and knowledge are relational in nature and exercised in action). The paper develops a framework that shows that power and knowledge are closely intertwined and that the possession and practice views are complementary in understanding configurable technology projects. The paper also demonstrates the importance of the initial set-up of the project and how knowing/powering mechanisms can reinforce or change implementation trajectories, which, in turn, can affect project results.

Presentation of the forum on social applications and impacts of the use of information and communication technology in Latin America.

This paper focuses on local adaptations, referring to the significant or subtle changes local firms make in their local business processes and rules in order to fit with a generic application system, and to the changes they make in the features of a generic application system. Local adaptations are therefore bidirectional in nature. Although several studies stress the importance of local adaptations for the overall success of information technologies (IT) used across locations, more research is needed regarding what kind of local adaptations are required for a particular generic application system to work well in particular localities. The nature and extent of local adaptations are still poorly understood. This paper provides a concrete illustration of a historically situated local adaptation: the case of Veiling Holambra. This Brazilian cooperative has imported a generic auction marketplace model from Holland and adapted it to local conditions, to succeed in a globalized and competitive flower market. Using concepts drawn from studies on globalization, cross-cultural implementations, and IT-based organizational change literature, we put forward three propositions that help to explain the success of local adaptations. The results of our case study indicate that the immigration of Dutch people was critical for bringing knowledge of cooperative structure and flower production to Holambra and led to a relatively small design-use gap. The ability to take local, contextual requirements into account without neglecting the ‘generic’ knowledge led to the successful implementation of the generic auction model. This mutual influence was particularly enabled by the Brazilian culture of improvization.

Giddens’s structuration theory is increasingly used as an alternative approach to studying numerous organizational phenomena. However, the applicability of Giddens’s concepts is not without difficulties because of two main challenges. First, structuration theory is complex, involving concepts and general propositions that operate at a high level of abstraction. Second, structuration theory is not easily coupled to any specific research method or methodological approach, and it is difficult to apply empirically. Arguing that structuration theory is a valuable framework for a rich understanding of management, organization and related subjects of inquiry, this paper aims to improve the application of structuration theory in empirical work by drawing on the experience in information technology (IT) research. It identifies patterns of use of Giddens’s theory in publications in the domain of IT, and then describes how IT researchers have attempted to address its major empirical challenges. The paper presents a repertoire of research strategies that might guide students of organization in dealing with three elements that are central to structuration theory: duality of structure, time/space and actors’ knowledgeability.

In this article, strategic management research using structuration theory from 1995 to 2000 is reviewed. I describe and analyse the theoretical articulations adopted to make sense of strategy using a structurationist view. I found that, instead of being applied as the sole theoretical foundation, Giddens’ propositions have been incorporated into other perspectives, the effects of which should be known by researchers looking for theoretical frameworks that avoid dichotomist thinking. The paper draws on the effects that structurationist arguments may produce regarding classical oppositions such as micro/macro and voluntarist/determinist. Its main contribution is to show how theoretical complementarities using structuration theory are promising avenues of research in the strategic management field. It also suggests that, although other alternatives of avoiding dichotomist logic exist, making a choice among them is more a question of ontological affinity than of making the ‘better choice’ among competing accounts. There are several routes to advance the understanding of the possibilities of human choice.

In this paper we present a multilevel and pluralistic conceptual framework that is particularly useful for Brazilian researchers investigating information and communication technology (ICT) based social changes from a community/societal level of analysis. The framework is influenced by three theoretical perspectives: social shaping of technology, structurationist view of technology and contextualism. It integrates four main concepts - relevant social groups, interpretive frames, negotiation and technology-in-practice - organized in terms of three dimensions - context, process and content. The framework, already applied to 12 different research projects led by Brazilian scholars during the last four years, is seen as a work in permanent transformation and open to reuse, revision, remix and constant revalidation.