ICT-mediated project team collaboration and issues of trust: an Actor Network Theory perspective

The use of high level information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate construction projects communications is not new and the technology to support it has been readily available from the late 1990s. In spite of this its use is not widespread and its exploitation often sub optimal, a concern in a time of increasing globalisation. On the one hand technical inadequacies are cited as barriers to adoption, whilst on the other social and behavioural influences are blamed for its lack of use. Actor Network Theory (ANT) attempts to explain the complex interactions between human and technological systems by combining all system elements into a single model. In doing so it ascribes each actant "motivation" and consequent "behaviour" in pursuance of their own strategic objectives irrespective of whether they are human or nonhuman. Whilst aspects of ANT are controversial this paper uses it basic tenets to provide a new perspective on a familiar problem in order to explore its usefulness as a tool with which to unpack problem complexities. The problem context is deconstructed using ANT principles, and case study data analysed from this perspective. Insights are presented, discussed, and some tentative conclusions drawn in relation to ANT.