Bjørnar Valbø

• Valbø, Bjørnar & Sanner, Terje Aksel (2023). Informing sustainable development in education: Identification and actualization of layered is affordances. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. ISSN 1681-4835. doi: 10.1002/isd2.12302. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Valbø, Bjørnar (2021). The IS-Notion of Affordances: A Mapping of the Application of Affordance Theory in Information Systems Research. IRIS Selected Papers of the Information Systems Research Seminar in Scandinavia. ISSN 1891-9863. Vis sammendrag

  This paper presents the findings from a systematic literature review of affordance theory research in the information systems field. 71 articles from the top eight information system journals were analysed, from the first publication in 1999 until March 2021. The analysis combines quantitative trends with qualitative analysis of the application of the concept of affordances. Significant findings include that half of the reviewed articles label technology use, features and attributes as affordances, although Gibson proposed that the term should be a non-replaceable term. The main contribution of this paper is a proposal of a tentative IS-flavoured definition of affordances, distancing itself from the possibility of labelling technology use as affordances. I conclude the analysis by stressing the importance of a common understanding of affordances in order to move forward in affordance research in the information systems field.

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• Valbø, Bjørnar (2022). The Nested Affordance Process Model: Bridging Technology Use and Societal-Level Impact. Vis sammendrag

  This paper reports on an ongoing research endeavor in The Gambia. The study develops a nested affordance process model to make sense of the strengthening of the national education management information system. Distinguishing lower-level technology use affordances from mid- and higher-level affordances, the three-layered nested affordance process model guides the research and contributes to illuminating findings, explaining the implementation of the Gambian education management information system. The contribution of the paper is twofold. The paper contributes with the elaboration of a stepwise framework for affordance categorization in terms of granularity levels. Second, the paper illustrates how the actualization of mid-level affordances play a key role in an organization’s quest for societal-level changes, thus bridging the gap between technology use and societal-level impact.

• Valbø, Bjørnar & Sanner, Terje Aksel (2022). Investigating Mid-level IT Affordances as Drivers for Societal Change: Addressing the Education Data Challenge in The Gambia. Vis sammendrag

  Affordance perspectives have gained traction among information systems (IS) scholars and have seen recent adoption in ICT4D research. Although scholars recognize the need to differentiate between mere technology use and higher-level organizational and societal IT affordances, no clear terminology for the representation of affordance granularity exists. This paper introduces “mid-level IT affordances”, which, we argue, emerge from technology use and serve as prerequisites for the actualization of higher-level affordances. To illustrate, we draw on a case study of education management information systems in The Gambia. International development agendas encourage public sector actors to produce increasingly granular data. Yet, the capacity to utilize the data is not strengthened correspondingly. This introduces a disconnect between policy and practice, whereby investments in technology use affordances fail to translate into IT affordances for monitoring progress towards complex policy goals. A mid-level IT affordance perspective allows for the identification and potential mitigation of such gaps.

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