Understanding Stakeholder Feedback in Digital Contexts

Abstract

This article uses adaptive structuration theory to understand how employees use digital technology to communicate externally and how they respond to stakeholder feedback in the form of digital analytics. Extant research often overlooks how stakeholder feedback is incorporated into employees’ day-to-day work. By focusing on employees’ perception of work routines, this research asks whether increased access to task-related feedback enhances or detracts from routines. Growing availability of and access to digital analytics contributes to the assumption that incorporating feedback from key audiences increases future work efficacy. Using interview data from large, multinational organizations, findings demonstrate that information communication technology, managerial pressure, and organizational norms can inhibit feedback loops that enable adaptive structuration. Integrating analytics provides a means for employees to implement thoughtful external communication. Yet due to structural and cultural factors, employees are often unable to fully use feedback gathered from analytics and make improvements for engaging stakeholders.