The implications of a critical agenda in gender and IS research

Abstract.  This paper explores the nature of the critical agenda and endeavours to advance the critical debate by considering a particular case in point: gender and information systems (IS) research. It does so by drawing upon Chua's classic framework of outlining philosophical assumptions underpinning research and also by building upon prior work of the authors on the interconnections amongst research topic, epistemology and methodology. Specifically, it presents an argument for the benefits of adopting a critical perspective when studying gender and IS research, illustrating the additional insights that can be generated. These benefits and insights can also be mined from other areas of IS research.     

The mysterious case of the missing paradigm: a review of critical information systems research 1991–2001

Abstract.  In this journal, Chen and Hirschheim have provided a historical analysis of positivist and interpretivist research paradigms and methodologies in the 10 years following the much cited work of Orlikowski and Baroudi. In this paper, we investigate the mysterious case of the missing paradigm – that of the critical approach to information systems (IS) research. We take Chen and Hirschheim's survey as our starting point and aim to fill the gap left by the absence of the critical paradigm in their analysis and make some criticisms of their method. Recent years have seen the growth of IS research that consciously adopts a critical perspective. This paper charts the development of critical IS research over the period of 1991–2001, adding some comments on more recent developments. We conclude by critically reflecting on the current development of critical research in the field of IS.     

Development,global futures and IS research: a polemic

In this paper, I discuss the meaning of the term development as something of concern for all individuals, groups, organizations and societies, and I argue that many different global futures are possible depending on how well we succeed in realising our development goals and aspirations. Information and communication technologies are deeply implicated in approaches to development and in making global futures, and I argue the need for IS research which addresses a diversity of development arenas with context-specific studies, broadly critical in their approach, and aimed at making a better world with technology. I draw implications for action on the part of IS researchers in terms of research agenda, teaching activities, publishing, and institution building.     

A multi-method, holistic strategy for researching critical success factors in IT projects

In the field of information systems (IS) there is an observable trend towards the use of multi-method research. Using different research methods allows for the cross-validation of data obtained via multiple approaches, with the potential to increase the robustness of research results. Such a multi-method approach is applicable to a comprehensive research agenda on critical success factors, an agenda that needs to take into account not only the identification, but also the analysis and management of critical success factors. The goal of this article is to contribute new knowledge on how to carry out research on critical success factors in IS projects using a multi-method approach. For this purpose, two research projects are presented, each a variation of the research design customized to particular circumstances. First, there is an outline of the research approach taken for a critical success factor research project in the field of portal implementation, with discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the project. Taking into consideration these experiences, the research approach of a similar critical success factor research project in the field of offshore software development is then described. Finally, recommendations for using the multi-method research approach in critical success factor research are presented.     

Social Media Analytics

In this contribution, we introduce “social media analytics” (SMA) as an emerging interdisciplinary research field that, in our view, will have a significant impact on social media-related future research from across different academic disciplines. Despite a number of challenges, we argue that SMA can provide other disciplines – including IS – with methodological foundations for research that focuses on social media. Furthermore, we believe that SMA can help IS research to develop decision-making or decision-aiding frameworks by tackling the issue of social media-related performance measurement, which has been challenging until now. Moreover, SMA can provide architectural designs and solution frameworks for new social media-based applications and information systems. Finally, we call for an interdisciplinary SMA research agenda as well as a significantly increased level of interdisciplinary research co-operation, which must aim to generate significant advancements in scientific methods for analyzing social media, as well as to answer research questions from across different disciplines.     

Reconceptualizing platforms in information systems research through the lens of service-dominant logic

Platforms have gained significant attention in the field of information systems (IS) research. However, the concept of platforms remains fluid and complex due to the diverse phenomena associated with it. Research to date tends to cluster around two predominant perspectives: the economic network perspective and the architectural design perspective. To reconcile the divergent perspectives of platforms and establish a more cohesive foundation for IS theorizing, we undertake an interpretive literature review through the lens of service-dominant (S-D) logic. Drawing on an extensive analysis of the literature, we develop an S-D Platform Framework that provides a deep understanding of the multifaceted nature of platforms as a vital IS capability for value co-creation. This framework sheds light on the fundamental facets of relationality, ambidexterity, and cooperativity, which explain the deep structure of platforms in the realm of IS research. Building on our proposed framework, we put forth an agenda that aims to guide future studies towards a more theoretically compelling trajectory.     

Information systems action research: Debunking myths and overcoming barriers

The relevance of action research as a research method in the information systems (IS) discipline is not disputed. Nevertheless, the extent to which action research is published in good journals is infrequent enough to indicate a serious problem. In this article, we explore the reasons underlying this situation and make recommendations aiming to increase both the practice and the publication of action research. To identify both the barriers to undertaking action research and potential ways of overcoming those barriers, we survey 218 authors of 120 articles demonstrating empirical action research published in 12 of our good journals during the period 1982–2016. We received 70 usable responses. We also surveyed 52 editors of selected IS journals and received 25 usable responses. Our findings are revealing as they indicate both genuine barriers associated with action research and some apparent barriers that are in reality misperceptions or myths. In reflecting on these, we emphasize the special qualities of action research. We also reflect on the critical role that action research plays in the IS field as a whole and its potential for further contributions to research and practice, given the strong and close connections with organizational problem contexts that action research requires. Finally, we make a number of recommendations that are designed to increase the incidence of action research in the IS discipline     

Pluralist action research: a review of the information systems literature*

Action research (AR) has for many years been promoted and practised as one way to conduct field studies within the information systems (IS) discipline. Based on a review of articles published in leading journals, we explore how IS researchers practise AR. Our review suggests that AR lends itself strongly towards pluralist approaches which facilitate the production of both theoretical and practical knowledge. First, on the level of each study we analyse how research and problem‐solving activities are mixed, in three ways: the research dominant, the problem‐solving dominant and the interactive approaches. Second, in the context of the wider research programme in which the study is situated, we analyse how AR is mixed with other research methods, in two ways: the dominant and the sequential approaches. We argue that these pluralist practices of mixing types of research activities and types of research methods provide IS action researchers with a rich portfolio of approaches to knowledge production. This portfolio helps them address the risks involved in AR to ensure their efforts contribute to the literature as well as to practical problem‐solving.     

Learning about being critical

Abstract. This short paper is a response to the article by McGrath in this issue which argues that information systems (IS) researchers need to be more explicit about 'being critical'. I accept her point, and I use this paper to offer a sketch of my personal journey in learning about criticality, and some thoughts from where I am now on various aspects of carrying out critical IS research.     

Towards an information systems perspective and research agenda on crowdsourcing for innovation

Recent years have seen an increasing emphasis on open innovation by firms to keep pace with the growing intricacy of products and services and the ever changing needs of the markets. Much has been written about open innovation and its manifestation in the form of crowdsourcing. Unfortunately, most management research has taken the information system (IS) as a given. In this essay we contend that IS is not just an enabler but rather can be a shaper that optimizes open innovation in general and crowdsourcing in particular. This essay is intended to frame crowdsourcing for innovation in a manner that makes more apparent the issues that require research from an IS perspective. In doing so, we delineate the contributions that the IS field can make to the field of crowdsourcing.     

Decolonising critical information systems research: A subaltern approach

Theories used in the Information Systems (IS) field come in large majority from authors based in Western countries, a bias that holds for critical theories as well. Such a bias is made more problematic by the mandate of critical theory, which is meant exactly to illuminate the oppressive conditions of the status quo. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the subalternity theory approach – developed by the Subaltern Studies collective from the early 1980s – as an indigenous theory that, proposing a socially and geographically connotated narration of ‘history from below’, can play a major role in the effort to decolonise critical IS research. By positioning subaltern theory in the IS field, the paper offers an alternative to the Western hegemony of critical theories, exploring the potential of such an alternative to voice systematically silenced and marginalised perspectives.     

The ethical nature of critical research in information systems

Abstract.  Critical research in information systems is based on and inspired by ethics and morality. In order to support this proposition, this paper will suggest a way of classifying critical research that differs from definitions common IS research. According to the current definition, research is critical when it is motivated by the intention to change social realities and promote emancipation. Based on this critical intention, critical research is furthermore characterized by critical topics, critical theories, and critical methodologies. Using these criteria of critical research, the paper argues that critical research is ethical in nature. To support this view, the paper introduces the concepts of ethics and morality by analysing two traditions of moral philosophy, here called the 'German tradition' and the 'French tradition'. Using three examples of current critical research in information systems, the paper will show that ethics and morality strongly influence critical intention, topics and theories. Having thus established the ethical nature of critical research, the paper concludes by discussing the weaknesses of critical research from the point of view of ethics and morality.     

Modern information technology in an old workforce: Toward a strategic research agenda

As the workforce ages rapidly in industrialized countries, a phenomenon known as the graying of the workforce, new challenges arise for firms as they have to juggle this dramatic demographical change (Trend 1) in conjunction with the proliferation of increasingly modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) (Trend 2). Although these two important workplace trends are pervasive, their interdependencies have remained largely unexplored. While Information Systems (IS) research has established the pertinence of age to IS phenomena from an empirical perspective, it has tended to model the concept merely as a control variable with limited understanding of its conceptual nature. In fact, even the few IS studies that used the concept of age as a substantive variable have mostly relied on stereotypical accounts alone to justify their age-related hypotheses. Further, most of these studies have examined the role of age in the same phenomenon (i.e., initial adoption of ICTs), implying a marked lack of diversity with respect to the phenomena under investigation. Overall, IS research has yielded only limited insight into the role of age in phenomena involving ICTs. In this essay, we argue for the importance of studying age-related impacts more carefully and across various IS phenomena, and we enable such research by providing a research agenda that IS scholars can use. In doing so, we hope that future research will further both our empirical and conceptual understanding of the managerial challenges arising from the interplay of a graying workforce and rapidly evolving ICTs.     

Epistemological and theoretical challenges for studying power and politics in information systems

Abstract.  The study of the role of power in managing information systems (IS) still offers a major epistemological challenge to researchers in the field. Although significant work has been done, there is yet to emerge a research approach that permits a penetrating study of the phenomenon of power by virtue of adopting a Machiavellian stance. This paper proposes such an approach in the form of an interpretivist position combined with a theoretical framework whose origin lies in political science and the sociology of technology. In developing its philosophical argument, the paper compares three meta-theories that have been applied to study IS: Phenomenology, Critical Theory and Structuration Theory. All three are compared in terms of their epistemological position regarding the relationship between power and IS. We argue that, although enlightening, those meta-theories fail to unravel the hidden and strategic nature of power. The paper concludes by proposing a particular theoretical formulation that, rather than censoring power and politics, will provide the epistemological means for unravelling them.     

Analyzing IS research productivity: an inclusive approach to global IS scholarship

An increasing number of studies have appeared that evaluate and rank journal quality and the productivity of IS scholars and their institutions. In this paper, we describe the results of one recent study identifying the ‘Top 30’ IS Researchers, revealing many unexamined assumptions about which IS publication outlets should be included in any definition of high-quality, scholarly IS journals. Drawing from the argument that all categories and classification schemes are grounded in politics, we critique the process by which the recent study in question (and several earlier studies) have derived the set of journals from which they count researcher publications. Based on a critical examination of the widespread inclusion of practitioner outlets, and the consistent exclusion of European scholarly IS journals, we develop our own arguments for which journals should be included in such evaluations of researcher productivity. We conduct our own analysis of IS researcher productivity for the period 1999–2003, based on articles published in a geographically balanced set of 12 IS journals, and then we compare our results with those from the recent study in question and their predecessors. Our results feature a more diverse set of scholars – both in terms of location (specifically, the country and continent in which the researchers are employed) and gender. We urge future studies of IS research productivity to follow our practice of including high-quality European journals, while eschewing practitioner-oriented publications (such as Harvard Business Review and Communications of the ACM). We also advocate that such studies count only research contributions (e.g., research articles), and that other genres of non-research articles – such as book reviews, ‘issues and opinions’ pieces and editorial introductions – not be conflated with counts of research contributions.     

A set of ethical principles for design science research in information systems

Over the past decade, design science research (DSR) has re-emerged as an important research paradigm in the field of information systems. However, the approaches currently recommended for conducting design science research do not include an ethical component. Thus, the objective of this paper is to initiate a debate about the need for ethical principles for DSR in Information Systems (IS). To launch this debate, we suggest that a set of ethical principles for DSR in IS must be created. Although the interpretation and application of these principles might not always be straightforward, our argument is that all DSR practitioners in IS should devote at least some time to consider ethical principles.     

Role of situational context in use continuance after critical exergaming incidents

Use continuance is crucial in terms of information systems (IS) success. Previous research has shown that situational context can be central for IS use continuance but has paid limited attention to its specific characteristics. Furthermore, the link between situational context and use continuance has remained unexplored in the novel area of “exergames,” which are defined as digital games requiring physical effort from the player that determines the outcome of the game. Studying exergames is deemed important due to their potential in providing health benefits for users, revenues for providers, and well‐being for societies. However, their potential remains unreached because users tend to discontinue usage after their initial experiences. To address these gaps, we investigate the relationships between specific situational characteristics and use continuance after critical exergaming incidents, in which the user has an exceptionally positive or negative experience. To do this, we quantitatively and qualitatively examined 461 actual critical exergaming incidents. Our findings provide a greater understanding of IS use continuance by revealing new knowledge about the relationships between specific situational characteristics (ie, purpose of use, type of gaming platform, social setting, place, and exertion level) and use continuance. We also offer explanations for these relationships, thus providing a first understanding of the previously unmapped area of how users behave situation‐dependently after critical exergaming incidents. Thus, we contribute both to the general IS continuance literature as well as to the specific area of exergaming. The context specificity of our study matches the calls for heavily contextualised IS research.     

Socio-technical IS design science research: developing design theory for IS integration management

Design science research is an essential part of IS research since the field should not only try to understand how the world is, but also how to change it. We argue that the aim of IS design science research should be to develop practical knowledge not only for the design of novel information technology (IT), but also for IS governance and management. Whereas at least some methodological support exists for researchers engaged in IT-centric design science research, limited support is available for researchers who want to develop design knowledge and theory for IS governance and management. To overcome this shortcoming, we suggest a socio-technical IS design science research approach. The approach has four main activities: (1) identifying problem situations and desired outcomes, (2) reviewing extant theories, knowledge and data, (3) proposing/refining design theory and knowledge, and (4) testing design theory and knowledge. The applicability and usefulness of the proposed approach is shown by means of a design science research project concerning IS integration management in the context of mergers and acquisitions.     

Useful business cases: value creation in IS projects

Business cases have become popular as part of managing value creation in IS projects. Nevertheless, business cases are often poorly linked to value creation activities and organizations struggle to develop business cases that are useful and express more than simple cost savings. This action research study seeks to improve the usefulness of business cases in IS projects. We used collaborative action research with Danish municipalities to improve their practices when developing and using business cases and to change their perceptions of what constitutes a good business case that is useful during implementation and value creation. This article presents lessons learned from our action research, lessons that we incorporated into a business case method and subsequently evaluated with IS managers. There are three lessons on (1) improving the content of business cases, (2) how to develop business cases, and (3) the use of business cases in subsequent value creation. These lessons summarize our findings and the contributions are that we in the business case method propose to (1) include minimal contents, (2) develop social commitment, and (3) structure for dynamic use during value creation. We discuss the lessons and contributions related to research on IS business cases and value creation.