Actor-network theory as a processual approach to understanding collaborative practice in innovative construction supply chains

In this study we used actor-network theory (ANT) to develop a network-based, processual, heterogeneous view of collaboration in innovative housing construction supply chains. We selected an extreme case involving a supply chain experiencing multiple hindrances to collaboration, and qualitatively analyzed it at different developmental stages. Our findings suggest that ANT offers a fine-grained analysis that surfaces chains of conditions leading to successful collaboration, as well as tensions in collaboration (between integration and exclusion, disruption and stabilization) often overlooked by functional perspectives. We also argue that ANT’s ontological assumptions about networks lead us to interrogate widely-held assumptions about collaboration itself. This leads to a broader conceptualization of collaboration that embraces, among other things, nonhumans as participants in collaborative work.