Using auto-photography in psychosocial work environment research – when worker well-being is a sociomaterial matter

Abstract

The article addresses auto-photography as a method within psycho-social work environment research. The organizational aesthetics approach, which is often associated with photographic methods is being challenged on the basis of a performative and actor network theory position. The analysis of a single auto-photograph picturing a bike with a kickstand demonstrates how the articulation of photographic objects and its social and material relations to the wider organization may shift the focus from a psycho-social to a socio-material perspective on employee well-being. Otherwise put: well-being is also in a kickstand. The article concludes that the potential of auto-photography does not lie with its aesthetic qualities, but is to be found in the researcher’s ability to articulate the research field, to make visible new roads for action.