A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Methodological practices for enacting "strong" sociomateriality in qualitative IS research
Authors: Niemimaa Marko, Schultze Ulrike, van den Heuvel Gijs
Editors: Robert M. Davison
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
Publication year: 2023
Book title : Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for Information Systems: New Perspectives
Journal name in source: Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for Information Systems: New Perspectives
First page : 182
Last page: 196
ISBN: 978-1-80220-538-1
eISBN: 978-1-80220-539-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802205398.00017
Web address : https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802205398.00017
By redefining the relationship between the social and the technological in Information Systems research, the ontological stance referred to as “sociomateriality” has received considerable attention as well as critique, especially with regard to its application in empirical investigations. In this chapter, we explore how researchers can enact fully-relational or “strong” sociomateriality in qualitative empirical research. We develop and illustrate methodological practices to enact this form of sociomateriality in field studies. These practices are derived from Agential Realism, a philosophical position that is most frequently applied in IS research that adopts a fully relational ontology. The practices support authors in their efforts to conceptualize their phenomena of interest in relational terms, that is, as flows and forms of becoming. Further, drawing on published studies of IS phenomena in which Barad’s concepts have been applied, this chapter provides IS researchers with insights into how “strong” sociomaterial theorizing may be accomplished.