Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

Advanced data analytics technology has experienced an explosion of interest as firms seek to increase profits, operational efficiency, and employee engagement through evidence-based management. However, empirical evidence of the impact of this technology on organizational outcomes remains mixed, which assertions of benefits closely matched by concerns about potential adverse outcomes. In this study, we explore the adoption of a popular application of analytics technology – a people analytics system – at Everest, a leadership development consulting firm. By juxtaposing idealized and realized facets of the organizational practices mediated by the system, we highlight the emergence of situational ironies, in which the pursuit of transparency, accountability, and predictability is inverted as organizational members respond to the material agency of the system's functionality. Building upon this analysis, we propose a theoretical model in which idealized and realized practices become ironically misaligned through the tuning of human and material agencies in a system's use. Our findings and the resulting model highlight the role that organizational members' emotions play in the manifestation of situational irony. Blending multiple reference theories, this novel perspective contributes to our understanding of felt experience of situational irony in IS adoption and use, the interplay of material and human agencies, and the experience of people analytics technologies in organizations.

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