Actor Network Theory and the Problem of Describing Heterogeneity

Actor network theory (ANT)Actor Network Theory (ANT) is one of the representative meta theories with discussing materiality in management studies. We reconsider the ANT, especially the concept of heterogeneityHeterogeneity(-nious), which Orlikowski used when she tried to find out the material properties, and the concept of translationTranslation, which is the process of shaping heterogeneous networks. The Orlikowski's pursuit of finding specific properties of the object in the relations between societies and objects using the concept of “constitutive entanglementConstitutive entanglement” invited criticism later, but this criticism is also a problem in describing the heterogeneityHeterogeneity(-nious) of ANT. Therefore, we confirm the direction in which ANT was originally aimed and point out problems in describing the heterogeneity. As a response to this problem, we discuss the valuationValuation studies, which are recent research theme incorporating ANT. As an example, we describe the case of the external labor marketLabor market in Japan, which is mediated by private employment services. Because of the longterm employment that is one of the Japanese employmentJapanese employment systems, Japanese companies have internally developed firm specific capabilities that are difficult to calculate. However, the private employment services, which have expanded its scale since the deregulation in 1999, disentangle human (and its capability) that are a hybrid, make it calculable human resourcesHuman resources, and have a function that makes human resourcesHuman resources as job seekers, thus the constructing an external labor marketLabor market in Japan.