Doing is believing: how the interplay among multimodal practices influences frame change

Although research has provided valuable insights into the process of frame change within organizations, it has primarily attributed this change to discursive activities, potentially relegating the role of nondiscursive modes and the interplay among multimodal practices. Against this background, we examine how the interplay among discursive, material, and embodied practices influences organizational members’ frame change. Drawing on an eighteen-month ethnographic study of the digital transformation of a major real estate project, we show how frontline employees’ frame change—from viewing digital technology as “Digital Wings” to “Digital Burden”—was achieved through multimodal practices. Our findings contribute to frame research by identifying three cross-modal mechanisms: limited interconnecting, permeating, and resonating. These mechanisms suggest that the subtle interplay among multimodal practices elicits initial understanding, subversion, and stabilization. Moreover, we introduce the “flesh-and-blood” basis of frame change and extend the current understanding of keying and engrossment to theorize them as multimodal accomplishments rather than solely discursive efforts.