Building on critical approaches that understand algorithms in terms of communication, culture and organization, this paper offers the supplementary conceptualization of algorithms as organizational figuration, defined as material and meaningful sociotechnical arrangements that develop in spatiotemporal processes and are shaped by multiple enactments of affordance–agency relations. We develop this conceptualization through a case study of a Danish fintech start-up that uses machine learning to create opportunities for sustainable pensions investments. By way of ethnographic and literary methodology, we provide an in-depth analysis of the dynamic trajectory in and through which the organization gives shape to and takes shape from its key algorithmic tool, mapping the shifting sociotechnical arrangements of the start-up, from its initial search for a viable business model through the development of the algorithm to the public launch of its product. On this basis, we argue that conceptualizing algorithms as organizational figuration enables us to detail not only what algorithms do but also what they are.

基于从通信、文化和组织方面理解算法的批判性方法，本文提供了算法作为组织形象的补充概念化，定义为在时空过程中发展的物质和有意义的社会技术安排，并由可供性 - 机构的多重制定所塑造关系。我们通过对丹麦金融科技初创公司的案例研究来发展这一概念，该初创公司使用机器学习为可持续养老金投资创造机会。通过人种学和文学方法，我们深入分析了动态轨迹，通过该动态轨迹，组织形成并从其关键算法工具中形成，映射了初创企业不断变化的社会技术安排，从最初寻找可行的商业模式，到算法的开发，再到产品的公开发布。在此基础上，我们认为将算法概念化为组织形象使我们不仅可以详细说明算法的作用，还可以详细说明它们是什么。