Sociomateriality and boundary objects in information systems development

Information systems (IS) development is a complex organisational activity involving multiple stakeholders who interact with various artefacts in order to facilitate understanding and cooperation across diverse knowledge domains. A considerable body of work has analysed such artefacts as boundary objects, focusing on their interpretive flexibility across communities of practice. Increasing interest in the materiality of organisational practices directs attention to how such objects result from the performance of sociomaterial relations. This paper draws on these two strands of research to complement the analysis of project-related artefacts as boundary objects with a sociomaterial perspective on such objects and the practices within which they are constituted. The contribution of this combined approach is illustrated using the findings of a longitudinal case study of IS development. We trace the production and use of a prototype, the various people and practices with which it was associated, the multiple sociomaterial configurations that constituted it as a boundary object, and the social and material consequences of its use. The utilisation of sociomateriality as a theoretical lens enables us to further our understanding of how project-related artefacts act as boundary objects, and in doing so, constitute IS development as a sociomaterial practice. European journal of Information Systems (2012) 21, 570-586. doi:10.1057/ejis.2012.20; published online 10 April 2012