Modelling data activities in workarounds: a narrative network approach

Workarounds are non-standard processes in organisations to accomplish work-based tasks. They can lead to various data issues, such as data loss, data breach, and data privacy. These data issues are the outcomes of the data activities that constitute a workaround (e.g., store data, transfer data). The problems with workarounds are that they are unique and situational. One way to unpack these data activities is to model them as patterns of action. Thus, this research aims to demonstrate the use of a narrative network to model data activities within workarounds and discuss both the benefits and drawbacks of using this modelling approach. We expect that this research is valuable for researchers to represent, observe, and analyse workaround-centric data activities. It is an essential first step towards revealing the actual cost of workaround-centric data activities. Also, we envisage that this research is useful for managers to establish organisational awareness of workarounds.