Making Sense of IT in Organisations: The Repertory Grid Technique in Information Systems Research

As the uses of information technology (IT) in organizations increase in both variety and complexity, practitioners and researchers are searching for ways to better understand how various information system (IS) stakeholders (users, managers, IS professionals) make sense of IT in their organizations. Sense making in organizations begins with the personal constructs individuals use to understand and interpret events that occur around them. A technique suitable to the elicitation of personal constructs that individuals use to understand IT and its role in organizations is the repertory grid (RepGrid). This technique offers the potential to significantly enhance our understanding of how users, managers and IS professionals make sense of IT in their organizations. The tutorial presents an overview of the RepGrid and discusses how the technique has been employed in the IS field including a program of research using the RepGrid undertaken by the presenter. At the end of the tutorial, participants should be able to: • demonstrate a basic understanding of the RepGrid, • demonstrate a clear understanding of issues they need to consider when employing the RepGrid, • apply the RepGrid in their own research