Sheombar, Sattianandsing (2019) Social Media for Development: An ex- ploratory study of social media use in development activities by Dutch devel- opment NGOs. Doctoral thesis (PhD), MMU Business School in collaboration with HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. Downloaded from: https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/626055/ Usage rights: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Deriva- tive Works 4.0 Please cite the published version https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk Social Media for Development An exploratory study of social media use in development activities by Dutch development NGOs S. SHEOMBAR PhD 2019 Social Media for Development An exploratory study of social media use in development activities by Dutch Development NGOs Sattianandsing (Anand) Sheombar A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy MMU Business School in collaboration with HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht 2019 Supervisory Team Director of Studies professor Cathy Urquhart Dr Tidings Ndhlovu Dr Oliver Kayas Dr Bex Lewis Dr Pascal Ravesteijn 2 Abstract This PhD research project is about how Dutch development NGOs use social media for their development projects. For this, the following research question has been investigated: how do Dutch development NGOs use social media to further the development activities of their organisations? The purpose of this study is to understand how development NGOs are trying to get to grips with social media. Given the exploratory nature of this research, a qualitative research approach was adopted. Both case studies and the grounded theory method were used for this study. This combination is ideal because with a case study one tries to understand, or explore a phenomenon, whereas, in grounded theory studies, one tries to build theory. Given that this study is concerned with how Dutch development NGOs perceive social media for their development projects, an interpretive paradigm seems appropriate. The grounded theory methodology for this research is consistent with the epistemology of interpretivism. The combination of case study research and grounded theory works well for theory building and has been applied in Information Systems and ICT for Development studies before. As the use of theory before data collection is in opposition to the principle idea of the grounded theory methodology, in which theory emerges from the data, this needs to be addressed when combining case studies and grounded theory. This issue was resolved by using an initial high- level conceptual framework as a guiding instrument for both the noncommittal literature research and for the conceptualisation of the research problem, whilst not distorting the emergence of theory from the data. This study focuses on formally organised development NGOs who receive funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their development projects. From the approximately 100 organisations, fourteen NGOs were selected for this study. The choice of fourteen NGOs was driven by a theoretical sampling strategy. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with 18 respondents and field-notes of meetings or events of 14 development NGOs. The data was analysed using the Glaserian coding procedure of grounded theory, starting with open coding, followed by selective coding, and ending with theoretical coding. Three major themes (or core categories as they are called in the grounded theory method), were identified. This study's first contribution is captured in the theme ‘NGO Enacting Values in Development’. This is about how an organisation’s values are enacted in the context of international development. The organisational mixture of development mind-sets influences organisational activities in development. The ideological trends that are stimulated by societal and technological changes have an impact on the organisation’s development strategy and the strategic collaboration network of development NGOs. The second contribution of this study is captured in the theme ‘NGO’s Views on Social Media Use’. This core category discusses the organisation’s view on the meaning of social media and includes the four following categories: technological, individual, collective and contextual views attributed to organisational social media. The four categories empirically demonstrate the concept of affordance clusters and the connections between them. 3 The study’s third contribution is captured in the theme ‘NGO’s Use of Social Media in Development’, encompassing the social media activities of the studied development NGOs in their development projects. This has led to an assessment framework of organisational social media use by development NGOs, constructed by cross-referencing the organisational goals of development NGOs to the social media activity areas in the context of development. These themes represented by three core categories are inter-related. Feedback loops between NGO’s values in development, views on social media, and the actual uses of social media for development purposes have been discerned. This grounded theory study aims to build an initial theory of how NGOs might approach the use of social media in a development context. This qualitative study has produced some new concepts. This study has led to a substantive theory in the context of international development. Furthermore, this substantive theory is compared with three theory lenses, when applied on the data collected for this PhD research, in their ability to identify similar concepts as reached with the substantive theory following the grounded theory method. Finally, the thesis presents some avenues for future research that may help expand the substantive theory that has been developed under this research to formal theory Keywords: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), social media, development NGO, organisational social media, ICT for development 4 Dutch summary: Nederlandse samenvatting Dit promotieonderzoek heeft het gebruik van sociale media door Nederlandse ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsorganisaties in hun projecten onderzocht. Het doel van dit onderzoek was om te begrijpen hoe deze organisaties proberen vat te krijgen op sociale media. Daartoe is de volgende onderzoeksvraag onderzocht: hoe gebruiken Nederlandse ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsorganisaties sociale media ten behoeve van hun projecten? Vanwege het verkennende karakter van het onderzoek is gekozen voor een kwalitatieve onderzoeksopzet. Hierbij is een combinatie van case study onderzoek en de grounded theory methode gehanteerd. Deze combinatie is geschikt omdat met behulp van case study onderzoek men probeert een fenomeen te begrijpen of te verkennen, terwijl met grounded theory men probeert theorie te vormen. Gezien de opzet van dit onderzoek om de percepties van ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsorganisaties op sociale media gebruik voor ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsprojecten te analyseren is een interpretatief paradigma toepasbaar, waarbij je als onderzoeker probeert om subjectieve ervaringen te begrijpen en te interpreteren. Vanuit dit interpretatief paradigma is de wereld complex en voortdurend in beweging. Bij interpretatief onderzoek probeert men subjectieve ervaringen te begrijpen en welke betekenis mensen geven aan de sociale werkelijkheid. De combinatie van case study onderzoek en grounded theory methode werkt heel goed voor theorievorming is vaker toegepast in de disciplines van Information Systems en ICT for Development. Omdat het gebruik van theorie voordat data wordt verzameld en geanalyseerd indruist tegen een fundamenteel principe van grounded theory, moet dit geadresseerd worden bij het combineren van case study onderzoek en grounded theory. Dit is opgelost door gebruik te maken van een initieel high-level conceptueel raamwerk als een duidend instrument for zowel het niet-committerend (verkennend) literatuuronderzoek als voor de conceptualisering van het onderzoeksprobleem, terwijl de ontwikkeling van theorie vanuit de data niet verstoord wordt. Het onderzoek richtte zich op de Nederlandse ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsorganisaties met een professionele organisatie inrichting en cofinanciering vanuit de Nederlandse overheid. Van de ongeveer honderd organisaties zijn veertien ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsorganisaties middels een theoretische sampling strategie geselecteerd. Dataverzameling omvatte semigestructureerd interviews met achttien respondenten en secundaire data van de veertien ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsorganisaties. De data werd geanalyseerd met de grounded theory coderingsprocedure van Glaser, die begint met open coderen (labels aan tekstfragmenten), gevolgd door selectief coderen (clusteren en categoriseren van codes rond hoofdcategorieën) en eindigt met theoretisch coderen (relaties leggen tussen de hoofdcategorieën en reflecteren aan de literatuur). De analyse bracht drie grote thema’s of hoofdcategorieën aan het licht, ofwel ‘core categories’ zoals deze genoemd worden in de grounded theory methode. Het eerste thema heet ‘NGO Enacting Values in Development’. Dit thema gaat over hoe ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsorganisaties hun organisatiewaarden uitoefenen in de context van ontwikkelingssamenwerking. Het mengsel van verschillende organisatie mind-sets over ontwikkelingssamenwerking beïnvloedt de activiteiten van de organisatie. De ideologische trends die gestimuleerd worden door maatschappelijke en technologische veranderingen 5 hebben gevolgen voor de ontwikkelingssamenwerkingsstrategie en de strategische samenwerkingsnetwerken van de