This study investigates how institutional context influences the implementation and use of digital technologies for openly sharing and reusing open research data at public universities. Using an institutional work lens, we develop a conceptual model and apply it to three case studies involving Dutch universities. The institutional work lens proved useful for identifying influencing mechanisms in the context of open research data sharing and reuse in universities, enabling us to distinguish historical trajectories, such as culture; contextual conditions, such as the type of research data; and institutional contexts, such as regulative mechanisms and the daily activities of individual researchers. Eight of the nine identified mechanisms appeared in all three cases. While this study is among the first to examine open research data from an institutional work lens, it finds that applying this lens is not always straightforward. Our contributions include an adjusted theoretical model of institutional work tailored to the context of open research data. In addition, it expands the limited number of case studies available on institutional contexts and institutional work influencing the use of digital technologies for open research data sharing and reuse, while providing in-depth insights into such contextual factors across different universities in the Netherlands. Furthermore, our findings highlight for practitioners which mechanisms can be influenced to promote open research data within specific contexts and which are more resistant to change.
Misana et al. (Tue,) studied this question.