Knowledge Workers and Associative Activity: An Examination of Knowledge Work Systems and Settings Toni Ferro A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2016 Reading Committee: Dr. Mark Zachry, Chair Dr. Charlotte Lee Dr. Jennifer Turns Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering i ©Copyright 2016 Toni Ferro ii University of Washington Abstract Knowledge Workers and Associative Activity: An Examination of Knowledge Work Systems and Settings Toni Ferro Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Mark Zachry Human Centered Design & Engineering The US has experienced broad reaching economic changes as work has moved from the farm, to the factory, to the office, and now beyond. The long-term, high-level shift toward information work in the US is accompanied by transformations in the activities of those engaged in it, knowledge workers. This dissertation is an inquiry into the contemporary tools and settings of knowledge work emerging in this developing ecosystem. The study examines knowledge workers, their use of publicly available online services (PAOSs), and their use of coworking locations. Previous research on computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) has focused on project teams and systems. This study shifts the unit of analysis to the individual knowledge worker, which provides a novel understanding of workplace interactions. The findings show that knowledge workers conduct identifiable categories of activities that rely on associative interaction: network expansion, relationship cultivation and maintenance, self- presentation, status awareness, information seeking, trend exposure, and organizational socialization. In the study presented here, these categories of associative activity are mediated both online through PAOSs such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and offline through interactions in coworking locations. These findings contribute to our understanding of knowledge work, connect the concept of knowledge work to the domain of CSCW, and produce implications for workplace internet and telecommuting policies, workplace systems design, and workspace design. This dissertation also introduces the concepts of the association-isolation divide and communal collocation. The association-isolation divide is the tension between a knowledge worker’s need to conduct associative activities while working in configurations that isolate them. Participants ameliorated the drawbacks of working in isolation through communal collocation, working collocated with other workers at coworking locations. iii Acknowledgements I am thankful to a number of people for their support and guidance. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Mark Zachry, for his patience and encouragement throughout the process of writing this manuscript. I would also like to thank all of the members of my dissertation committee past and present Charlotte Lee, Jennifer Turns, Judy Ramey, and Leah Ceccarelli. In addition, I am grateful to a number of other researchers who contributed to this study. Thank you to Marita Graube and Elly Searle who were involved in the earliest stages of this work. Additional thanks go to Jonathan T. Morgan, Katie Derthick, and Stephanie Steinhardt, who provided research help and support along the way. And special thanks go to Doug Divine who provided help with analysis and writing for a number of the publications that preceded this manuscript. I am also appreciative for the research and teaching opportunities that I have had in Human Centered Design & Engineering. Teaching in this program has been a remarkably rewarding and enriching experience. I have learned that all of the clichés about the rewards of teaching are true. The opportunity to work with the students in HCDE has added to my learning immeasurably. I would also like to thank my friends, coworkers, and co-activists in the academic student employee union, UAW Local 4121. It has been wonderful learning from and advocating alongside them. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends who have supported me throughout this process. I would especially like to thank my mom, Judy Ferro; my sister, Cindi Ferro Stockard; and my nieces, Amanda Cayler, Brandi Reid, Catanah Ferro, and Dakotah Stockard. Their unconditional and unwavering support and confidence makes anything possible. iv Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................. v List of tables ........................................................................................................................................ xii List of figures ....................................................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Research outline .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Research goals .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Dissertation structure ................................................................................................................................... 6 Preview of the research findings ............................................................................................................... 9 Language disclaimer .................................................................................................................................... 10 Research attribution .................................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 12 Literature review ............................................................................................................................... 12 Knowledge workers ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Publicly available online services (PAOSs) .......................................................................................... 15 Coworking locations ..................................................................................................................................... 17 Related computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) concepts and models ...................... 18 Chapter 3 .............................................................................................................................................. 20 v Theory and methodology ................................................................................................................ 20 Research approach ....................................................................................................................................... 20 Research methods ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Surveys .............................................................................................................................................................................. 21 Qualitative interviews ................................................................................................................................................. 25 Chapter 4 .............................................................................................................................................. 27 Knowledge workers use of publicly available online services (PAOSs) ......................... 27 Methods ............................................................................................................................................................ 28 Participants ..................................................................................................................................................... 30 Results - RQ1: What types of work are knowledge workers conducting through PAOSs and which PAOSs are they using ....................................................................................................................... 32 Restrictions on the workplace use of the internet ......................................................................................... 33 Elaborations on the use and non-use of PAOSs ............................................................................................... 34 The use of PAOSs ........................................................................................................................................................... 37 The types of activities