Socio-materiality and the physical environment of OB

Studies addressing the physical environment in relation to organizational behaviour tend to perceive these as distinct spheres of organizational life. The aim of this chapter is to rethink this assumption by demonstrating how the physical environment and behaviour are intrinsically interrelated: the physical environment shapes social behaviour, while this behaviour, in turn, shapes how the physical environment is used and perceived. To help us understand this dynamic and recursive interrelation, we introduce a ‘socio-material lens’, inspired by socio-materiality theory in organization studies, and share two empirical vignettes to show how organizational processes and practices are co-constituted by social and material spheres of organizational life.