1. ¹Department of Business Studies, Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
2. ²Department of Information Systems, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, U.S.A.
3. ³Department of Management Information Systems, Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA

Correspondence: Kalle Lyytinen, Department of Information Systems, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-7235, U.S.A. Tel: +1 216 368 5353; Fax: +1 216 368 4776; E-mail: kjl13@po.cwru.edu

^†The second and third authors contributed equally to the paper.

Received 6 September 2006; Revised 6 May 2008; Accepted 13 May 2008; Published online 24 June 2008.

Abstract

In recent years, more companies engage in collaborative cross-organisational practices to achieve their business objectives. To cooperate effectively across boundaries requires organisations to overcome the tension between their distinct backgrounds and the need to create shared understandings with their partners for collaboration. This requires the creation of shared artefacts such as boundary objects. Whereas the past work on boundary objects has highlighted their role as translation devices, we examine them in relation to the information infrastructures within which they are embedded, and the identities of the organisations that use them. We propose a model that outlines the relationships among the three concepts and illustrate its dynamics by presenting two case studies that describe the introduction of three-dimensional modelling technologies into the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Based on the case studies we suggest that boundary objects, in addition to facilitating cross-organisational communication, also help to form organisational identities. We further suggest the occurrence of a process whereby changes in boundary objects enable changes in information infrastructures and identities in one organisation. These changes, in turn, create the conditions for change in bordering organisations through shared boundary objects and boundary practices.