”Making Pepper smart somehow” A qualitative case study on how sensemaking, enactment and boundaries take part in the ongoing construction of Pepper, a humanoid robot

摘要

This qualitative study addresses the recursive, continuous and iterative nature ofsensemaking in organizations, in relation to new technology. By adopting an ANT-inspiredapproach to our case study, we have collected stories from the field and allowed for thetheoretical framework of sensemaking to emerge abductively. Presenting the humanoidPepper as the focal point of our case study, we display how this technological object enablesfor the construction (enactment, crossing, moving) of boundaries, which in turn enable andconstrain sensemaking. This study presents composite boundaries in relation to theconstruction of Pepper; boundaries between discontinuous sensemaking, boundariesbetween social groups within the company as well as boundaries based on relationships ofasymmetric information. Concluding remarks illustrate how Pepper is constructed byorganizational members, as well as how Pepper plays an important part in the constructionof IBM’s context.