Information systems implementation is a challenging task in every organization. The technological determinism framework considers technology as a driving force for changes in organizational and social behaviors and for achieving strategic goals. The authors of this paper argue for actor-network theory (ANT), which views both the technical and social factors, such as the actors (humans, as well as information technology (IT) components) and the networks among the actors, as the major influencing factors for achieving intended transformations and strategic goals in IT projects.

ANT describes the actor-network formation and reformation as a translation process that consists of problematization, interessement, enrollment, and mobilization phases. According to the paper, in the problematization phase, “the network initiator frames an opportunity and persuades other actors, despite their diverse interests, to devote resources to developing a solution to the problem.” At the interessement phase, “other actors become interested in the proposed solution, thereby disrupting competing associations.” At the enrollment stage, the roles of actors in the new network are defined and the strategies are developed for the active participation of the actors. Finally, at the mobilization phase, “the actor-network becomes durable and the relations between actors become irreversible allowing the network to behave as if it were a single actor.”

The authors illustrate how ANT-based analysis can describe the disruptive translation process from a legacy human resource information system (HRIS) to a standardized SAP-based HRIS.

It remains to be seen if the ANT framework can provide more predictive power to avoid the lost-in-translation effect in an IT project implementation.