Looking at the moment at Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and the possibility of using this as the underlying theory for my thesis project. I am considering using ANT along with Everett Rogers Diffusion of Innovations Theory and Karl Weick’s Sensemaking Theory. The rationale for these together is that they compliment one another in many regards. ANT has been used over the past 20 years for analysing socio-technical systems (STS) and other Information Systems. One influential text was – Actor-Network Theory and Information Systems by Arthur Tatnall and Anthony Gilding, 1999. ANT was developed in the mid-late 1980’s by Bruno Latour, Michael Callon and John Law and was initially used as a technique for studying science and technology. The aim of Tatnall and Guilding was to make use of ANT as an alternative to the prevailing use of quantitative methods used for studying IS at that time.
Michael D. Myers in the paper Qualitative Research in Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, 1997 states that there are four main qualitative methods commonly in use in IS research. These include, case study method, ethnography, grounded theory and action research. Since the mid 2000’s ANT has increasingly been seen as complementary the case study method. In recent years ANT has been used increasingly in other fields of research including accounting and finance research, human resources research (e-HRM), archaeological research and maritime archaeology research and organizational research to name a few.
One of the main reasons for the widening of interest in ANT is it’s ability to bring into the view of the researcher both human and non-human entities (or things). This allows researchers to better understand many more aspects of organizational (human/non-human) constructs than straightforward human systems constructs or information systems constructs. Humans and non-humans operate in complex networks of interactions. Innovations are often led by a main actor (actant) who ‘enlist’ other actants into the network of the innovation. The innovation – e.g. a technology – also becomes an integral part of the network. These are in effect heterogeneous actors working together in a network or black-box, a single point actor.
A key characteristic of ANT is it’s description of all actors as texts that can be examined and interpreted. Actors within a black-box can include documents, emails, reports, software agents, organizations etc. etc. All of these can be described textually or verbally from documents or observation. This aspect lends itself to the case study technique which also draws on similar elements.
More on Diffusion of Innovations Theory and Sensemaking Theory soon…
