Interpretive Flexibility in Using Mobile Applications to Handle Public Complaints by Government Officials

Abstract

The interpretation of government officers on Citizen Relation Management (CRM) application that used in daily organizational communication is constructed through the understanding and experience of using technology in the practice of work completion. The member of an organization has flexibility in interpreting the use of technology that such interpretation is usually the result of a social construction. The concept of Social Construction of Technology from Pinch and Bijker and its development that belongs to Humphreys are employed to analyze the use of technology at government organizational communications by emphasizing its essential elements, interpretative flexibility. Through in-depth interview to seven informants showed that the same technology used by users within the organization has the flexibility to be interpreted differently. The interpretation, attitude and the use of communication technology in an organization are constructed within the social context. The findings of this study are power and structural factors play a role to show the process of shaping the meaning of technology use within government organizational communications.