Title: Emergence of multipresence - a theoretical underpinning

Authors: Somesh Gaur; Bala Krishnamoorthy

Addresses: NMIMS – School of Business Management, V.L. Mehta Road, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai 400 056, India ' NMIMS – School of Business Management, V.L. Mehta Road, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai 400 056, India

Abstract: 'Anytime anywhere' and 'immersive' information and communication technologies have penetrated all spheres of our life. Because of these technologies, an individual can be present in multiple environments either real or virtual at a given time or in a time frame. Such technology driven multipresence has emerged as a prominent behavioural phenomenon today. Multipresence might have significant influence on an individual's behaviour as well as on team, organisation and society. Despite being such a prevalent and important behavioural phenomenon, there has been limited research and literature in this area. In this conceptual paper, we explore and refine the concept of multipresence. We start with the exploration of concept of presence, which forms the basis for understanding multipresence. We further discuss various aspects of multipresence from the literature. We also introduce a new revised definition and new concepts about multipresence. Finally, we discuss possible implications of such behaviour on performance of an individual and suggest potential future research opportunities in this area.

Keywords: presence; multipresence; multitasking; polychronicity; attention sharing; attention switching; technology affordance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2018.088574

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2018 Vol.27 No.1, pp.123 - 134

Received: 15 Apr 2016
Accepted: 04 Jul 2016
Published online: 12 Dec 2017 *

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