Connectivity Within a Context: Exploring Parameters Beyond Professionals’ Control

An emerging area of recent research has focused on how professionals experience and manage after-hours connectivity to work. Many studies attribute variations in connectivity practices to the nature of work, and very few studies discuss the context within which connectivity is enacted. Based on two case studies of academic institutions, this research applies the framework of sociomateriality to explore social and material components directing connectivity practices. The study identifies a set of parameters (organizational, individual, technological, and situational) which imbricates to direct professionals’ connectivity practices. We found connectivity to be subjective to the perception of those who enact it in a given context, rendering engagement with connectivity to be a burden for some, and trivial for others.