An investigation of user-led system design: rational and political perspectives
Communications of the ACM - Special section on management of information systems
In the age of the smart machine: the future of work and power
In the age of the smart machine: the future of work and power
A scientific methodology for MIS case studies
MIS Quarterly
Power, politics, and MIS implementation
Communications of the ACM
Knowledge and Organization: A Social-Practice Perspective
Organization Science
Organization Science
Knowing in Practice: Enacting a Collective Capability in Distributed Organizing
Organization Science
Information Systems Research
Journal of Management Information Systems
Template Use and the Effectiveness of Knowledge Transfer
Management Science
Process Virtualization Theory and the Impact of Information Technology
Organization Science
Trans-Situated Learning: Supporting a Network of Practice with an Information Infrastructure
Information Systems Research
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Practice transfer processes in organizations often do not proceed as planned. Prior literature has viewed unplanned deviations as undesirable, emphasizing ways to reduce or overcome them. Performative deviations refer to such unplanned deviations in the actual performance of practice transfer processes from the prescribed intentions of the organization. In this research, we seek to provide a fine-grained analysis of the nature of performative deviation paths through which practice transfer processes unfold by focusing on the role of power differentials. We find that power differentials among transfer participants can cause the unfolding practice transfers to deviate from prescribed processes along one of two alternative paths—the agency-based performative deviation path or the knowledge-based performative deviation path. Although the agency-based performative deviation path hinders successful practice transfer, the knowledge-based performative deviation path can actually be helpful to organizations. We draw on the dual-nature framework of organizational routines and the pluralist lens of power as our theoretical foundation and evidence-based medicine in healthcare as our empirical context to derive a set of propositions about the different performative deviation paths through which practice transfer processes unfold, based on the nature of power differentials among work roles involved in practice transfer and the different outcomes that result. The roles of outcome uncertainty and information technology are also presented.