The technological imperative of newspaper-publishing companies in Thailand: Routine technology and organizational structure

This paper investigates technological imperative, that is, the relationship between organizational technology and organizational structure, in the leading national newspaper publishing companies in Thailand. Many researchers have attempted to improve the accuracy of pinpointing technological imperative. The objective of this study was to determine the right fit of the relationship between organizational technology and structure which makes the organizations optimally effective and efficient. It was based primarily on Woodward's theory of technological complexity and Perrow's theory of routineness technology, both of which share a similar perspective on technology as the degree of routineness in transforming inputs into outputs.; This correlational study involved 8 newspaper publishing companies in Thailand with a total sample size of 212 full-time employees. Data on employees' perceptions toward their organization and technology were collected through the questionnaires. The study was conducted at the job level of analysis. Contrary to previous research reports on technological imperative, this study found a very weak relationship between organizational technology and organizational structure. Several observations were made to explain this inconsistency in results, among them differences in the organizational structures studied by the various researchers and the employees' reported reluctance to participate in and be open in their responses to the questionnaire in the present study. Future research is strongly recommended to further tease out the relationship between the two variables and improve our understanding of technological imperative in the newspaper publishing industry in Thailand.