Conceptualizing the dynamics of rhetorical practice and technological frame in the context of technology diffusion and adoption

摘要

This paper examines and conceptualizes the process underlying the diffusion of a back office messaging system connecting the financial transaction activities of fund houses in Europe to banks in Taiwan. Drawing on the theoretical notions of rhetorical practice and technological frame, it develops a socio-cognitive process framework to conceptualize how the articulation of rhetorical situations and the deployment of rhetorical strategies influence stakeholders' sense-making toward a new technology. A conceptual framework is developed to enhance understanding of technology diffusion by taking into account the dynamic interplay between rhetorical practice and technological frame. We show that the persuasive power of rhetorical practices is largely influenced by (ⅰ) the rhetors' on-going advancement of local knowledge, assumptions and beliefs and (ⅱ) an effective deployment of a balanced rhetorical strategy to promote the technology to different stakeholders. We demonstrate that an analysis of rhetorical practice helps explain how the phenomenon of diffusion is linguistically afforded and discursively constructed into a reality.