Understanding digital transformation: A review and a research agenda

Extant literature has increased our understanding of specific aspects of digital transformation, however we lack a comprehensive portrait of its nature and implications. Through a review of 282 works, we inductively build a framework of digital transformation articulated across eight building blocks. Our framework foregrounds digital transformation as a process where digital technologies create disruptions triggering strategic responses from organizations that seek to alter their value creation paths while managing the structural changes and organizational barriers that affect the positive and negative outcomes of this process. Building on this framework, we elaborate a research agenda that proposes [1] examining the role of dynamic capabilities, and [2] accounting for ethical issues as important avenues for future strategic IS research on digital transformation.     

Keeping pace with the healthcare transformation: a literature review and research agenda for a new decade of health information systems research

Electronic Markets - Accelerated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, major and lasting changes are occuring in healthcare structures, impacting people's experiences and value...     

Amorphous computing: a research agenda for the near future

Amorphous computing presents a novel computational paradigm. The respective computational models have been recently introduced and studied in a series of works by J. Wiedermann and his Ph.D. student L. Petrů. From a computational viewpoint, amorphous computing systems differ from the classical ones almost in every aspect: they consist of a set of tiny, independent and self-powered processors or robots that can communicate wirelessly to a limited distance. The processors are randomly placed in a closed area or volume and form an ad-hoc network; in some applications they can move, either actively, or passively (e.g., in a bloodstream). Assuming the exponential progress in all sciences resulting in our ability to produce amorphous computing systems with myriads of processors, an unmatched application potential is expected profoundly to change all areas of science and life. But prior to this state of the matters theoretical and practical studies of the computational properties and efficiency of amorphous computing systems must be performed. It is expected that an indispensable part of computer science will be affected by this trend.     

Emerging language technologies and the rediscovery of the past: a research agenda

During 2001 and 2002, our Delos/NSF working group explored the possibilities that emerging language technologies open up for teaching, learning, and research in the broad area of cultural heritage. On the one hand, emerging language technologies will profoundly redefine the research and teaching of all those working with cultural heritage languages. At the same time, developers of language technology would also benefit from exploring the needs of new audiences and new collections. While multilingual technologies may ultimately prove the most revolutionary, this report focuses on monolingual technologies such as information extraction, summarization, and other aspects of document understanding. In this paper, we describe some of the audiences affected and technologies to be evaluated and argue for the creation of venues where the application of these technologies to cultural heritage materials can be rigorously evaluated. The potential impact of language technologies for our understanding of the past will emerge over a long period of time and will doubtless include many techniques not covered here. We make no claim to a comprehensive survey. Our goal is to provide enough information to suggest the potential importance of these new technologies.     

Electronic signatures: Germany sets the pace in virtual government

The European Electronic Signature Directive was due to be incorporated in the legislation of member countries by 19 July 2001. But to date only Germany has implemented the Directive. This has enabled regional governments in Germany to set the pace in paperless administration, using electronic signatures to authenticate transactions between citizens and local tax and licensing authorities.     

An Alvey survey: Advanced information technology in the U.K.

AIT is a serious object of Governmental concern in the U.K. This survey shows how.     

Simplicity in cognitive assistive technology: a framework and agenda for research

Technology offers substantial benefits to the many people with some form of cognitive disability. But the power of technology often comes in a package whose complexity is a barrier to many users, leading to calls for designs, and especially designs for user interfaces, that are “simple”. This paper analyzes the idea of simplicity, and suggests (a) that simplicity in a user interface is not a unified concept, but rather has distinguishable facets, and (b) that simplicity must be defined in terms of the cognitive capabilities of a user, so that what is “simpler” for one user may be “more complex” for another. Despite (b), the prospects for universal design in this area are good, in that interface technology with the flexibility needed to produce “simple” interfaces for a range of users with different cognitive strengths will be of value in addressing the overall design space of interfaces for a broad audience. While it is possible to sketch the outlines of a useful theory of simplicity, the sketch reveals much that is not fully understood. It also reveals opportunities to rethink the architecture of user interfaces in a way that will benefit user interface development generally.     

Social media-based innovation: A review of trends and a research agenda

Literature investigating social media-based innovation has grown considerably in the last years, making a timely review. Accordingly, we systematically review studies of the so-called “latency phase” (2003–2013) outlining a framework based on two main actors – innovation seeker and innovation provider – and three main questions – why (determinants), how (activities), and what (outcomes). This framework is instrumental to unveil the foundational ideas and concepts, gaps, and contradictory results. On the basis of their impact and evolution in the “growth phase” (2014–2017), we outline a research agenda, suggesting research directions that remain unaddressed and deserve further study.     

Women in the information technology profession: a literature review,synthesis and research agenda

Gender differences in IT careers appear to be affecting the competitiveness of companies globally. It is posited that given the current labor shortage in the IT industry, it has become more important than ever to reduce sources of leakage in the IT career paths of women. A model of barriers faced by women in the field of information technology is presented. Three distinct career stages of career choices, persistence and advancement are analyzed. At each stage, the effects of social and structural factors which may act as barriers are identified and discussed. Social factors include social expectations, work–family conflict and informal networks, while the structural factors are occupational culture, lack of role models and mentors, demographic composition and institutional structures. A proposed research agenda is offered. It is suggested that these social and structural factors as well as their interactions will result in turnover of women in IT.     

VLSI research in the U.S.A.

Co-operative R&D in Advanced Information Technologies is not a Japanese privilege.     

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.     

Information systems security research agenda: Exploring the gap between research and practice

This paper undertakes a systematic review of the Information Systems Security literature. The literature review consists of three parts: First, we perform topic modeling of major Information Systems journals to understand the field's debates. Second, we conduct a Delphi Study composed of the Chief Information Security Officers of major corporations in the US to identify security issues that they view as important. Third, we compare Topic Modeling and the Delphi Study results and discuss key debates, gaps, and contradictions within the academic literature. Further, extant Information Systems Security literature is reviewed to discuss where the academic community has placed the research emphasis and what is now required in the discipline. Based on our analysis, we propose a future agenda for Information Systems security research.     

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.     

Big data analytics capabilities: a systematic literature review and research agenda

With big data growing rapidly in importance over the past few years, academics and practitioners have been considering the means through which they can incorporate the shifts these technologies bring into their competitive strategies. To date, emphasis has been on the technical aspects of big data, with limited attention paid to the organizational changes they entail and how they should be leveraged strategically. As with any novel technology, it is important to understand the mechanisms and processes through which big data can add business value to companies, and to have a clear picture of the different elements and their interdependencies. To this end, the present paper aims to provide a systematic literature review that can help to explain the mechanisms through which big data analytics (BDA) lead to competitive performance gains. The research framework is grounded on past empirical work on IT business value research, and builds on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities view of the firm. By identifying the main areas of focus for BDA and explaining the mechanisms through which they should be leveraged, this paper attempts to add to literature on how big data should be examined as a source of competitive advantage. To this end, we identify gaps in the extant literature and propose six future research themes.     

Narrative and learning with Web 2.0 technologies: towards a research agenda

Abstract   This paper investigates the impact of Web. 2.0 technologies on the ways learning can be conceived of as a narrative process within contemporary contexts, using blogs as an illustrative example. It is premised on the concept of narrative as a way in which individuals represent and organize experience in order to learn from it and make it shareable with others within social contexts. The first part of the paper offers a theoretical analysis of the role of narrative in the social construction of knowledge by the ways it enables users of Web 2.0 technologies to participate meaningfully in the exchange of experiences and ideas. The second part of the paper offers a 'situated' analysis of the narrative practices engaged with by users of blogs. A 'narrative trail' is used to provide a contextualized instance of the narrative practices which are involved. The paper concludes by examining the research issues which are raised and suggests a research agenda which is needed to explore Web 2.0 technologies as social utilities affecting knowledge production, in which the adaptation of narrative theory is a central feature.