{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,6]],"date-time":"2026-07-06T17:07:18Z","timestamp":1783357638168,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":66,"publisher":"Emerald","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,29]],"date-time":"2024-03-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1711670400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["ITP"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>Existing research on how professionals manage after-hours connectivity to work has been dominated by studies on the strategies\/practices individuals develop. In these studies, mobile technology is perceived as a tool or an enabler that supports otherwise human-centric connectivity decisions. This view sees technology as separate or external to the organisation, missing out on its nuanced role in shaping connectivity decisions. Our study aims to bring technology back into the sociomaterially imbricated context of connectivity and to unpack its parameters.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>Drawing on data collected from documents and semi-structured interviews, we adopt the framework of \u201csociomaterial imbrications\u201d (Leonardi, 2011) to understand the social and material parameters that influence connectivity management practices at two different academic institutions in Saudi Arabia.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The study identifies a set of social and material parameters (organisational, individual, technological and situational) that imbricate to shape, collectively and not individually, professionals\u2019 connectivity management practices. Connectivity decisions to change practice (such as decisions of where, when or why to connect) or technology (how to connect) are not as distinct as they appear but originate from, and are founded on, imbricated sociomaterial parameters. Our study further suggests that connectivity decisions are shaped by individuals\u2019 perceptions of sociomaterial imbrications, but decisions are not solely idiosyncratic. The context within which connectivity decisions are taken influences the type of decisions made.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>Connectivity management emerged from sociomaterial imbrications within a context constitutive of four interacting parameters: organisational, technological, situational and individual. Decisions around the \u201chow\u201d and the \u201cwhat\u201d of connectivity \u2013 i.e. the practice of connectivity and its underpinning technology \u2013 originate from how people perceive sociomaterial imbrications as enabling or constraining within a context. Individual perceptions account for changes in practice and in technology, but the context they find themselves in is also important. For instance, we show that professionals may perceive a certain technology as affording, but eventually they may use another technology for communications due to social norms.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/itp-05-2023-0442","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,28]],"date-time":"2024-03-28T02:02:20Z","timestamp":1711591340000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Unpacking the sociomaterial parameters of connectivity management practices in the Saudi academic context"],"prefix":"10.1108","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5703-8171","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Njod","family":"Aljabr","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2136-3858","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dimitra","family":"Petrakaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7109-310X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Petros","family":"Chamakiotis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"140","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,29]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1108\/JOEPP-08-2014-0042","article-title":"Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: an integrated approach","volume":"2","year":"2015","journal-title":"Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1111\/ntwe.12217","article-title":"After\u2010hours connectivity management strategies in academic work","volume":"37","year":"2022","journal-title":"New Technology, Work and Employment"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref004","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1111\/ntwe.12061","article-title":"Performing projects with constant connectivity: interplay of consulting project work practices and smartphone affordances","volume":"31","year":"2016","journal-title":"New Technology, Work and Employment"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref005","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsis.2020.101618","article-title":"Digital work and organisational transformation: emergent Digital\/Human work configurations in modern organisations","volume":"29","year":"2020","journal-title":"The Journal of Strategic Information Systems"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref006","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1177\/0268396220988550","article-title":"Instantiation: reconceptualising the role of technology as a carrier of organisational strategising","volume":"36","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of Information Technology"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref007","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"120","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-005x.2012.00283.x","article-title":"The differential impact of ICT on employees: narratives from a hi-tech organisation","volume":"27","year":"2012","journal-title":"New Technology, Work and Employment"},{"key":"key2024032806014791900_ref008","article-title":"Banning access to work emails outside office hours \u2018could impact employees\u2019 wellbeing\u2019 | the Independent","year":"2019","journal-title":"Independent"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref009","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"196","DOI":"10.1108\/CDI-09-2012-0092","article-title":"Careers in academe: the academic labour market as an eco\u2010system","volume":"18","year":"2013","journal-title":"Career Development International"},{"key":"key2024032806014791900_ref010","article-title":"VW turns off out-of-hours email","author":"BBC News","year":"2012"},{"key":"key2024032806014791900_ref011","article-title":"South Korea launches work-life balance campaign","author":"BBC News","year":"2016"},{"issue":"1-2","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref012","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1017\/iop.2021.10","article-title":"Remote communication amid the coronavirus pandemic: optimizing interpersonal dynamics and team performance","volume":"14","year":"2021","journal-title":"Industrial and Organizational Psychology"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2024032806014791900_ref013","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"328","DOI":"10.1080\/14780887.2020.1769238","article-title":"One size fits all? 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