Hardwiring weak ties: individual and institutional issues in computer mediated communication

Recent accounts of computer-mediated communication (CMC) systems in organizations are mixed about the success of CMC. While some organizations eagerly embrace CMC systems for their employees, and support systems with thousands of users and multlple uses, other organizations have refused their employees access to CMC systems, or removed such systems after they have become established in use. Why the wide disparity in organizational support of CMC? We show the importance of differences in institutional dependencies on CMC support of individuals ‘ “weak-tie” relationships for explaining differences in willingness to support CMC infrastructure. We then examine the downstream implications of maintenance of weak ties via CMC infrastructure for individuals and institutions.