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Purpose – This study aims to explore how a microlending digital platform connects social investors in developed countries and micro-entrepreneurs in Africa. However, additional research is necessary to discuss how online auction models are designed and implemented and how existing theories can explain their use in the so-called developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a single case study: an online auction model for microlending named AfricaMC. Two main methods collected empirical data, namely, online participant observation, i.e. real-time participation in the online auction market and in the forum of discussions, where the authors observed the processes of microlending transactions as registered members; analysis of online documents, by reviewing forum discussions, analyzing reports, blogs, chats and other materials. Findings – The results suggest that using sociological and information systems theoretical lenses in a complementary manner could provide greater value than using economics. Originality/value – The study makes two main contributions. First, it mobilizes a pluralist theoretical approach based on economic, sociological and information systems perspectives to improve the understanding of microlending digital platforms using online auction models. Second, it uses the understanding produced from data analysis of one particular African case to validate propositions derived from these three theoretical approaches that might be applied to other cases.

High urbanization rates and low capacity to serve citizens result in constant urban conflicts in Latin America. Urban evictions make up this scenario and, although also caused by public policies, they are understudied in this area. This paper addresses this gap by investigating how, in the course of an urban conflict, the various actors interact to change the urban transformation process. The paper presents an analytical framework combining the right to the city with the sociology of public problems, which is employed to appreciate two cases of evictions, in São Paulo and Medellín, prepared from extensive field research. The paper advances in two contributions: in the creation and operationalization of the framework for the analysis of urban conflicts and in the identification of the publicizing devices and courses of action that favor or impede the attainment of the right to the city.

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.

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.

Coworking spaces are work environments that have spread quickly in recent years and might be seen as a new work model. The purpose of this article was to analyze coworking practices and relationships in order to better understand how they occur and how they contribute to building spaces of social interaction. To explore this question, a unique and in-depth case study was conducted. Data were collected using techniques of ethnographic inspiration, including intense participant observation, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. The field study lasted 25 days and 40 associates were interviewed. The results show three levels of relationship that support a workspace that goes beyond ‘sharing’. At each level, practices to construct a space of social interaction were identified: self-management practices, cooperative business practices and community practices. Finally, we call for a reflection of a better understanding on what a social space within a coworking really means.

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the benefits generated by the use of new technologies by nonprofit organizations, with focus on how these artefacts can improve their ability to achieve their social mission. Design/methodology/approach - To understand the potential use of technology by a nonprofit organization, the concept of affordance was applied. The authors propose a processual model of affordances’ interdependences that enrich the extant literature. Six nonprofit organizations in two Brazilian regions were deeply investigated using a multiple case study method. Findings - The authors identified new sub-categories of technology affordances, which are not just related to nonprofit but that could be also applied to other types, including for-profit. Sub-categories of affordances seem to play different roles in the actualization process. The authors are not proposing determinist connections among sub-categories, but they argue that they sustain some sub-categories precede or create the condition for others to emerge. Originality/value - Nonprofit organizations lack theoretical and empirical investigations on management in general and on technology management in particular. In its turn, the technology field does not pay much attention, both in terms of research and practice, to the specificities of the third sector where the nonprofit organizations operate. This process model of potential uses of new technologies that might favor nonprofit organizations contributes to the cross-fertilization between two distinct fields: third sector and technology management.

Integrative presentation on sociomateriality in management and organizational studies.

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.

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.

Beyond positivistic qualitative research

This research aims at investigating the social representations in public participation decision-making using ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). The Belo Horizonte City Hall used ICT for the first time in 2006, in the Digital Participatory Budget (OP-Digital). It was a choice made by the population of the implementation of public works for the next two years. The OP-Digital was applied again in 2008 and 2011, but with a lower participation than its first edition. We performed this study to understand the use of Internet by citizens in public decision making and to explain the decline of popular participation. The methodological approach is based in social representations theory and in the critical discourse analysis of 101 texts - from the press and from public agencies or government representatives. Our results suggest that current political strategies were not fully exploiting the potential for interaction and collective construction offered by the Internet, trivializing it. This may be one of the reasons of lower participation.

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.

This paper proposes a conceptual model to facilitate incorporation of sustainability into business practices, learning from the context of companies operating in Latin America – more specifically, in Brazil – that excel in terms of sustainability initiatives. Five large companies recognized as leaders in sustainability practices were studied using the grounded theory method. The main result of our study is the identification of a number of influential factors, interconnected according to three broad categories – corporate view, organizational structure and organizational mechanisms – allowing a better understanding of the integration of sustainability into business practices.

Leaving the thesis proposal defense room, the PhD business student had an important assignment to accomplish before being authorized to set a date for defending her thesis: to better justify the validity of her qualitative inquiry framed by a critical interpretive standpoint. Knowing that the generation, analysis, and interpretation of empirical materials are processes always conducted within some understanding of what constitutes legitimate inquiry and valid knowledge, she drew inspiration from ethnographical, confessional, critical, and post-modern work to propose a set of dialogical principles for conducting and evaluating a nonfoundational type of research inquiry. This manuscript revisits this venture a number of years later, reflecting on what has changed and what is still missing. We argue that there is a space and an occasion in the research methods literature for proposing dialogical principles for nonfoundational research, principles that are particularly relevant for qualitative researchers struggling in business schools worldwide.

Reflexão sobre a hegemonia do idioma inglês e sobre a possibilidade de disseminação de conhecimento por meio da diversidade linguística.

Apresentação do fórum sobre aplicações e impactos sociais do uso da tecnologia da informação e comunicação na América Latina.

O objetivo deste artigo é evidenciar a importância da integração de um módulo de inteligência competitiva (coleta, organização e difusão da informação externa) nos sistemas de informações para o apoio à decisão das empresas, enriquecendo assim os Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). É a efetividade do gerente na busca da identificação ou da antecipação de problemas ou oportunidades, em um cenário de cada vez maiores pressões internas e principalmente externas. O propósito maior é fornecer amplo ambiente de oferta de informações internas e externas, formais e informais, informações sobre as percepções do mercado, informações envolvidas em análises e simulações, enfim, um ambiente integrador das informações disponíveis e relevantes para o sucesso da organização e que crie condições de proatividade para os usuários.