User Participation Practice: to Overcome the Objective-subjective Dichotomy

This paper describes the Structure-Agency Model of User Participation Practice, which incorporates objective and subjective elements of user participation and is inspired by Orlikowski’s Structurational Model of Technology. The research question concerns how the objective-subjective dichotomy can be overcome in user participation research. To test the model, nine in-depth open interviews were conducted with the project manager, key-users and developers. All respondents were employed by a large Dutch administrative organisation that had customised and implemented a new and integrative BPM system. The results show that the use of the Structure-Agency Model of User Participation Practice makes it possible to give an objective representation of the practice of user participation, and also how this representation was experienced and adjusted by the different stakeholders. The paper concludes with recommendations for a more comprehensive research approach; new research perspectives and genres to overcome the objective-subjective dichotomy.