The closest parallel to the ISBL concept is to be found in what is now generally termed actor network theory (or ANT), where both human and non-human entities are assigned roles in the constitution and functioning of a network (Callon and Latour, 1981; Callon, 1989). Callon (1989), for instance, includes the Renault car-making firm, a new kind of fuel cell, consumers and engineers as components of a network concerned with the proposed introduction of an electric car into the French car market. ANT has itself been proposed as a promising theoretical perspective for IS researchers (Underwood, 2002).

There are, however, some basic differences in concept. The proposal in this paper is that autonomous IS be themselves considered as social actors, whereas it is the network that is the actor in ANT. Non-human entities may wholly or partly constitute such a network, but they are held to contribute to the actions of the network by virtue of their position and their associations, not because they act autonomously themselves (Callon, 1989, p. 93). The ANT concept is therefore an important conceptual precedent for the proposal in this paper, but is applicable in a radically different analytical context.