From icons to ideas: diffusion of the post-custodial paradigm within the New Zealand state sector

Abstract

This thesis investigates the diffusion of the post-custodial paradigm, the North American and Australian archival communities' re-conceptualisation of traditional archival principles, throughout the social system comprising New Zealand state sector records managers. It provides an empirical contribution to the almost exclusively a priori debate in the literatures of these communities concerning the validity of the paradigm and its relevance to practitioners. It also provides a framework for Archives New Zealand, a change agency within the New Zealand state sector, to diffuse innovations based on the paradigm. The review of literature outlines the development of the international archival community's traditional principles, the custodial paradigm, by locating their origins and exploring their development through to the emergence of the life-cycle model in North America during the mid-twentieth century. The development of the post-custodial paradigm, a direct response to a series of late-twentieth century challenges to the custodial paradigm, is then traced, particularly with reference to the records continuum model. Five dimensions or defining characteristics of this paradigm are distilled: 'evidence'; 'virtual'; 'post-modern'; 'design'; and 'outcome'. Using Diffusion of Innovations theory to frame the paradigm as an innovation, the research for this thesis identified which variables were significant to the adoption of the paradigm by New Zealand state sector records managers. The research findings explore these variables and articulate a series of recommendations for post-custodial theorists and Archives New Zealand.