Understanding How Middle Managers Prpmote IT Change: A Strategic Actor And Cultural Approach

This article in progress aims to understand the role of culture in the way middle managers promote Information Technologies (IT) and technological change. To gain new insights, this paper presents an approach of change and of culture based on the theory of the strategic actor of Crozier and Friedberg (1977). In this view, how and to what extent middle managers promote IT in the workplace is assimilated into a strategy of actors motivated by their interests and having to take into account the constraints they face, opportunities, and their capacity. An approach around the notion of “cultural tools” and “cultural capacity” is suggested in order to take into account cultural heterogeneity and organizational change. We suggest a multiple cases design qualitative methodology in one large organization in order to conduct this study.