Sociomaterialism Theory

Sociomaterialism

Acronym

N/A

Alternate name(s)

N/A

Main dependent construct(s)/factor(s)

Firm Performance, Organizational performance

Main independent construct(s)/factor(s)

Social and Material dimensions like IT skills, IT capability and IT infrastructure.

Concise description of theory

Sociomaterialism perspective argues that social and materiality aspects are entangled or interlinked in an organizational life. (Orlikowski, 2007) elucidated that social and materiality dimensions are inseparable and related. From this theoretical lens, it is considered as the technology and the humans are inextricable. The literature of sociomateriality is a part of Actor Network Theory (ANT), which was developed by sociologists Michel Callon and Bruno Latour. As per ANT, the social and technological elements interact with each other and are indistinct.

The conceptualization of Sociomaterialism in IS literature posits that the organizational (i.e., IT management), physical (i.e., IT infrastructure), and human or social (e.g., skills and knowledge) dimensions are interlinked and it is difficult to measure these dimensions separately. According to (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008), “sociomateriality is integral, inherent, and constitutive, shaping the contours and possibilities of everyday organizing”. In our everyday life, there are innumerous sociomaterial examples. For example, the web search engine is sociomaterial, as the coders (computer engineers developed it), and they update it regularly, which in turn used by millions of users every day on different computer systems, which was developed by some other engineers and production workers. Hence, all dimensions are entangled and exists together. Identification of an individual dimension in isolation can not be done. Therefore, sociomaterial perspective helps in understanding the interlinkages of these social, material, and technological dimensions in organizational life.