"I Can Simply…"? Theorizing Simplicity as a Design Principle and Usage Factor

The usage of social software to support collaboration and knowledge management in corporate intranets is a pervasive topic in practice and research. However, there remain many open research questions concerning its socio-technical system design. To address this gap and to contribute to a deeper understanding of the role and success of corporate social software, we first identify and conceptualize simplicity as an influential design principle and usage factor. We propose a theoretical framework that helps us to empirically study the role of simplicity based on six case vignettes of corporate social software implementation and use. From the theoretical basis and the empirical analysis we develop a series of theoretical propositions and discuss implications for IS design and adoption.