Gaining social values of wireless technology: An interpretive case study in the healthcare institutional context

•Organisational implementation of wireless networks and relevant technologies often yields social values that might not easily surface let alone be quantified.•These social values manifest themselves in various forms that could help an organisation better compete and survive.•A matrix of social values in relation to technology changes and their interactions with various stakeholders is further discussed.•The social and institutional perspectives allow intangible, non-quantifiable IT values to surface and even help justify IT investment.

The existing literature has given little consideration to social values of information technology in general or of wireless technology in particular. The purpose of this paper is thus to shed new light on this issue. Based on an interpretive case study, we examine two healthcare organisations and discover that social values are often manifested beyond, as well as within, organisations. A matrix of social values in relation to technology changes and their interactions with various stakeholders is further discussed. The matrix helps understand how various social values emerge from and revolve around organisations’ strategic management of information technology. The implications of the findings about social values are discussed and future research directions are suggested.