ABSTRACT
The introduction of new technology at the enterprise level can be regarded as the outcome of a decision-making process in which social actors seek to introduce new technologies to solve certain problems. This chapter presents the history of the project, the main theoretical and methodological ideas, its design, the methodology that has been applied in the national and international analyses and the organisational structure that has evolved in the course of the work. The aim of the project was to contribute to a better understanding as to how societal conditions have an impact on consequences of the introduction of new technology at work. The relationship between technology and work has been a central issue of research in Europe for the past three decades. The chapter argues the main difference between 'cross-national' comparative research (CNR) and international comparative research (ICR) is that CNR treats micro- and macro-levels independently from each other while ICR explicitly looks at their interrelationships.
