Abstract
In collaborative innovation projects, boundary objects play a critical role in communi- cating and coordinating across expertise domains. We theorize how boundary objects evolve in their dominant roles over time. Drawing on a study of an innovative univer- sity-wide mental wellbeing service, we identify four phase-dependent roles of bound- ary objects. In the early phases, boundary objects legitimate and frame the project. During development, new boundary objects translate and coordinate across expertise domains. As development progresses, boundary objects become infrastructural, em- bedding shared understanding into material artifacts and routines. Over time, bound- ary objects stabilize collaboration by preserving continuity across personnel turnover and organizational change. By conceptualizing boundary objects as temporally em- bedded artifacts whose roles shift, we advance boundary object theory and offer guid- ance for managing long-term service innovation.
Recommended Citation
Takamaa, Markus; Pekkola, Samuli; and Lumivalo, Juuli, "Function and Evolution of Boundary Objects in Collaborative Innovation" (2026). 17th Scandinavian Conference on Information Systems. 7.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/scis2026/7