Turning Collaboration into Transaction: A Case of Intranet Use in Boundary-Spanning Practices

Abstract

This paper draws on Bourdieu's theory of practice and on observations from a qualitative case study to investigate how the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) affects boundary-spanning practices inside organizations. To understand boundary-spanning practices, we distinguish between collaborative and transactive practices, where the former is defined as the engagement of agents in the joint production of objects; whereas, the latter is defined as the engagement of agents in the exchange of objects produced separately by each party. We found that before the introduction of ICTs, agents relied primarily on relationships facilitated by individuals - boundary spanners. However, boundary spanners were overwhelmed with work, not available on all projects, and sometimes seen as biased. The Intranet was envisioned to replace boundary spanners with a boundary object to save on the communication overhead. The use of the system, however, also replaced a collaborative practice with a transactive one.