Sociomaterial Practice of Actor-Network in Cooperative Information Systems Development

June 2024

The International Centre for Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy (CIRIEC) published a report in January 2024 exploring the impact of information systems on the organizational system of cooperatives. This report is based on a socio-material perspective that considers information systems not as mechanical technologies but rather as socio-material entities co-constructed by human and non-human actors.

Description of the publication

Information systems affect the way cooperatives operate and evolve. However, for a variety of reasons, it is often difficult to understand how these systems are continually reconstructed by the social practices of members.

By illustrating examples from a Korean cooperative, this study shows how information systems can be rebuilt in different ways through the practices of members, thus forming a network of multiple actors. This process demonstrates that information systems possess characteristics of multiplicity, dynamism, contingency and indeterminacy.

In this sense, this report is a valuable resource for cooperatives seeking to understand and improve the integration of their information systems by taking into account socio-material practices.

Key definition:

  • Sociomaterialism: "Sociomateriality refers to a set of approaches that consider that tools and actors are inseparable in an analysis of action situations" (see De Vaujany and Mitev, 2015, see Meissonier and Houzé 2018).

 

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