In the eHAT (e-Business;
Human Aspect to Technology) group e-commerce is studied from the consumers’
point of view, which means that we study how new e-services are incorporated
into consumers’ daily practices. This research objective is at the crossroads
of information systems and consumers studies. The group is located in
The group includes researchers from three disciplines. Most of the
researchers come from information systems (
The three disciplines involved view the objective of people and their
practices in e-commerce in different ways. The discipline of information
systems is focused on the organizational use of ICT and information systems, in
this human beings are of
marginal interest and limitedly understood. However, very human related issues,
such as trust in e-commerce, are discussed to some extent in the IS journals.
We searched for a better understanding of the human being in consumer studies,
as it is close to the IS field, by focusing on human beings in relation to the
organization (as consuming some products).
Consumer studies give a better (or different) understanding of human beings
than studying the e-commerce user, focusing on their experience, motivation
factors, behaviour and
attitudes. In social and cultural anthropology the main focus is on the human
being. Social anthropology is concerned with knowledge about human in societies
and the main focus in anthropology is the diversity of social life. Technology
is one part of human life and technology (also the Internet) has been studied
by anthropologists.
The human being is seen in a different context in the three disciplines: in
IS the human being is seen in relation to ICT; in consumer studies the human
being is a consumer and buyer of products; in social anthropology the human
being is a member of a social group, which affects the ways people make sense
of the world. Having three perspectives on the human being – i.e. the
informants in the field – the members of the eHAT group had to question their own views which
might have been limited and biased. Multidisciplinary cooperation gives an
answer to the problem which comes from researchers’ own taken-for-granted views.
Last update 3.4.2009 by Tarja Tiainen