Methodological practices for enacting "strong" sociomateriality in qualitative IS research

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.