Affordance and Strategizing: a Possible Relationship from the Perspective of Sociomateriality

Abstract

Interactions between humans and non-humans are permanent in organizational life, during the performance of a company's activities, and it is relevant for this study to approach the concept of affordance related to strategy as practice or strategizing. The intersection of these approaches is allied to the perspective of sociomateriality, a perspective that describes the inseparability between the social and the material. The goal of this study was to understand how affordance occurs in production strategizing, considering the perspective of sociomateriality. We adopted the qualitative methodology through the case study method. As data collection techniques we adopted direct observation, semi-structured interviews and documentary files. Data were analyzed using the pattern comparison technique, in order to identify converging elements between theory and practice, combined with analysis of the interviewees' narratives. As a result, we found significant relationships between affordance and strategizing, which stem from socio-material interactions. This study contributes with a practical approach to the influence that the interaction between human and non-human agents have when carrying out strategic practices, in which affordance situations occur, which can facilitate or inhibit certain practices (strategic or not) in the studied organization.