How intranets differ from the web: organisational culture's effect on technology

Paper in proceeding, 2005

An intranet is what you get when applying web technology inside an organisation and therefore – seen from a strictly technical perspective – intranets are almost identical to the public Web on the Internet. Reviewing available intranet research, it appears most academics seem to assume that intranets and Internet are identical also in other aspects. In this argumentative paper it is suggested that this assumption is erroneous and instead I argue that usage of and attitudes towards intranet differ significantly from that of Internet. Since these differences seem to have evaded academic interest, intranet research has been too single-dimensional, and in this article the organisational culture perspective is suggested as a theoretical lens for understanding intranets. The effects of organisational culture on web technology use and management are highlighted and discussed and the paper presents implications for both research and practice.