The age of smart cards: an exploratory investigation of the sociotechnical factors influencing smart card innovation (1974-1996)

This thesis breaks new ground by providing the first detailed study of smart card innovation during its first twenty years (1974-1996). The overall aim is to apply sociotechnical principles to further our understanding of the innovation process as it relates to smart card technology. By using a sociotechnical framework, this study also seeks to illustrate the Umitations of conventional innovation theory when applied to new information technologies such as smart card: The central thesis posited, is that to develop our understanding of the underlying innovation processes that have occurred during the development of this new information technology, it is necessary to study the interactions between three actors that have all appeared to play a role in the process of smart card innovation. These are smart card technology; the potential users and the organisations. However, in stating this, it is also important to realise that one tacit assumption underlying the work reported here is that new technologies are only adopted if the technological parameters (technology focus), the market needs (user focus) and the entrepreneurs (organisational focus) meet. At a more abstract level, the work has also endeavoured to consider whether a sociotechnical approach applied as a framework for understanding the process of innovation for smart card is, in fact, a reasonable and useful paradigm for developing our understanding from both a theoretical and applied perspective. Thus the multidisciplinary process approach adopted is not intended to lead to a complete alternative theory: nor is it intended to be merely a synthesis. What the current work has achieved, is to provide the very first insights into the understanding of smart card innovation. The sociotechnical framework adopted as a theoretical organiser and, which emphasises the role of the user, has also served to