Examining Alignment of Frames Using Actor-Network Constructs: The Implementation of an IT Project

IT projects often cannot succeed without bridging different stakeholders’ perspectives on system design and function during implementation. These perspectives often start as competing technology frames consisting of different beliefs, interests, technology evaluation routines and artifact characteristics. For successful implementation of IT, these competing frames usually need to be stabilized into a dominant frame which is widely accepted. Prior research has offered few clues on the mechanisms that are at work in aligning competing frames. This paper uses a case study to propose mechanisms for aligning frames—namely, two actor-network theory constructs of “black-boxing” and “obligatory points of passage”—that aid in translating the competing frames into a truce frame. The examined properties of these mechanisms are described and analyzed, thereby extending the literature on technology frames by providing evidence of generic aligning mechanisms.