Collaborative networks (CNs) of organizations are nowadays complex and intertwined compositions of technological, cognitive and social artifacts. The design of such compositions should be addressed as a socio-technical endeavor as a way to maximize the success probability. In despite of intensive research in this community, much has to be explored to achieve sound contributions to a design theory of CNs. In this paper, we make use of the context-intervention-mechanism-outcome logic (CIMO-logic) as a way to improve the design propositions component of a CN design theory. Variations of the concept of “mechanism” are explored with the goal of making clearer the socio-technical perspective in the design propositions. This theoretical exploration is illustrated with a case of transforming an industrial business association (IBA) in a digital collaborative network.