Reflecting on Use of Practice Theories to Understand 'Practices': A Boundary Practice Perspective on Work of Business Analysts

In recent years, Practice Theory has been used as a theoretical lens to examine a number of phenomena in organisation and management studies. In this arena, Practice Theory has been used to increase our understanding of strategy formulation, the effective use of information technology in organisations, boundary spanning, innovation, learning and knowledge, governance and other topics. Given this it is arguably time to reflect on the efficacy of Practice Theory as a lens in organisation and management studies. In a contribution toward this need, this paper seeks to explore both the benefits and difficulties of using Practice Theory as a lens in the Information Systems field. The efficacy of the Practice Theory lens will be examined through the experience of the authors undertaking research that was focussed on the role of business analysts and the nature of their work practices in organisations. Specifically, the study explores the idea of business analysts’ work as a boundary spanning practice, spanning the boundaries of the information technology and business communities in an organisation. In this paper, the authors will reflect on their motivation for using Practice Theory, and the actual benefits and difficulties of the lens.