A Threesome Dance of Agency: Mangling the Sociomateriality of Technological Regimes in Digital Innovation

In this paper, we develop a sociomaterial perspecti ve for appreciating tensions between different technological regimes in digital innovation. Our ca se study research specifically looks at the tension between the deep-rooted component-based log ic of two automakers’ innovation practices and their attempt to introduce a new software archi tecture based on service orientation. Our evidence suggests that digital architectures need t o materialize and be shaped in a dialectical way in the mangle of both existing regimes. We argue th at the threesome dance of physical material agency, digital material agency and human agency ca n explain this finding and yield implications for our understanding of digital innovation in the traditional industries. Digital innovation is a result of a dialectical process, resolving various elements of resistance, subjection, and accommodation across the three types of agency.

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