ICT4D Research in Developing Countries: A Call for Pragmatism Approach

About Our Authors

The rapid evolution of health information systems (Health IS) research has led to many significantcontributions. However, while the Health IS subset of information systems (IS) scholarship hasconsiderably grown over the past two decades, this growth hasled to questions regarding the currentintellectual structure of this area of inquiry. In an effort to more fully understand how Health ISresearchhas contributed to the IS discipline, and what this may mean for future Health IS researchin the IS domain, we conduct an in-depth evaluation of Health IS research published in mainstreamIS journals. We apply citation analysis, latent semantic analysis (LSA), and social network analysis(SNA) to ourdata setof Health IS articles in order to: (1) identify Health IS research themes andthematic shifts, (2)determine which Health IS research themes are cohesive (versus disparate), (3)identify which Health IS research themes are central (versus peripheral), (4) clarify networks ofresearchers (i.e., thought leaders) contributing to these research themes, and(5) provide insights intothe connection of Health ISresearchto its reference disciplines. Overall, we contribute a systematicdescription and explanation of the intellectual structure ofHealth ISresearchand highlight how theexisting intellectual structure of Health ISresearchprovides opportunities for future research.

A literature analysis of the use of Absorptive Capacity construct in IS research

While ethics are recognized as an integral part of information systems (IS) research, many questions about the role of ethics in research practice remain unanswered. Our report responds to this emerging set of concerns with a broad and integrative account of five perspectives on ethics in IS research and design science research (DSR) in particular. Our report is informed by a broad literature review, a panel discussion at DESRIST 2020, and substantial personal experience from wrestling with ethical considerations in the field. The report provides a comprehensive discussion of prevailing perspectives on ethics and the implications for IS research. Together, we hope the report will inspire more ethics-conscious and responsible IS research. © 2022 by the Association for Information Systems.

This report is part of a series of publications on the status and development of the North-American Information Systems (IS) field and Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI), its counterpart in German speaking countries. Information systems in businesses and organizations are the main subject of research in IS and WI. Hence, both disciplines are applied fields of research. Thus, the valuation of research results and graduates by business practice are vital indicators for the disciplines’ status and success. Between 1991 and 2001 a plethora of articles were published in leading Information Systems (IS) journals and conference proceedings addressing the issue of relevance of IS research and teaching. This research report provides a comprehensive content analysis of this „relevance debate“ in the North-American Information Systems field. The perceptions, opinions, and recommendations of the contributors are presented structured according to statements of valuation, perception, explanation, and recommendation. The reconstruction of the main IS relevance debate indicates that all debate participants agree that relevance to practice plays a vital role for the IS discipline, but that the field largely lacks relevance in terms of research as well as in terms of teaching. The lack of relevance is, for example, illustrated by the general perception that research results rarely impact practice and that IT/IS professionals usually do not read academic IS journals. In order to analyse if the debate has lead to any changes in terms of practice relevance of the IS field the most recent literature and studies available on IS relevance are evaluated. Analysis results indicate that no significant changes took place. But various IS researchers still report on problems in terms of acceptance and perception of IS degree programs and research. Based on the perspectives of experienced researchers from WI and other European IS communities the concluding remarks of this report attempt to explain the apparent lack of change in the North-American IS field and provide suggestions for improving the current status of the IS field in terms of relevance.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly transforming business operations and society, as AI capabilities are incorporated into applications ranging from mobile personal assistants to self-driving cars. The potentially disruptive nature of AI calls for an extensive investigation into all aspects of AI-human interactions at individual, group, organizational and market levels. However, there is paucity of academic information systems (IS) research in this area that goes beyond the development and testing of specific narrow AI capabilities. AI represents an important opportunity for organizational and behavioral IS researchers, but also presents challenges associated with the underlying complexity of AI technologies and the diversity of AI applications. Understanding how existing AI research and business practice relate to traditional areas of IS research is an important step towards creating a comprehensive behavioral and organizational AI research agenda. This dissertation seeks to achieve a dual purpose in a series of three essays. Essay 1 seeks to understand the current state of business AI research and practice in business through a quantitative literature review, relate the findings to traditional IS research areas, and identify potentially fruitful research areas for AI-focused IS research. Essays 2 and 3 seek to address specific research questions related to one of such research areas, namely, human interactions with AI enabled applications. Essay 2 focus on user experience with a chatbot, a popular AI application, and Essay 3 explores how user experiences with AI assistant apps differ from their interactions with more traditional IT artifacts.

This study examines information systems (IS) research in Chinese Mainland in recent years and identifies the similarities and the differences between international and Chinese IS research in terms of research topics and research methods. The data consists of a total of 410 research papers published in ten leading Chinese academic journals related to IS over the five-year period from 1999 to 2004. Compared to IS research abroad, the following may be said of Chinese IS research: (1) Systems-related issues, especially system design issues, system implementation, analytical models and tools, DSS/ESS/EIS are emphasized in research topics, whereas human-related and research methodologies issues are scarce. (2) Empirical studies, including case study, survey and experiment, are few and far between. (3) The majority of non-empirical studies focus on applications and conceptual description of IS, mainly in different applied fields and introducing or illustrating hot topics abroad. The "general shift" from traditional issues such as system design to non-technical problems is still continuing. There is a need to go beyond mere description of IS related phenomenon and to move away from non-empirical to empirical studies.

The exponential growth of digital content has generated massive textual datasets, necessitating the use of advanced analytical approaches. Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as tools that are capable of processing and extracting insights from massive unstructured textual datasets. However, how to leverage LLMs for text analytics Information Systems (IS) research is currently unclear. To assist the IS community in understanding how to operationalize LLMs, we propose a Text Analytics for Information Systems Research (TAISR) framework. Our proposed framework provides detailed recommendations grounded in IS and LLM literature on how to conduct meaningful text analytics IS research for design science, behavioral, and econometric streams. We conducted three business intelligence case studies using our TAISR framework to demonstrate its application in several IS research contexts. We also outline the potential challenges and limitations of adopting LLMs for IS. By offering a systematic approach and evidence of its utility, our TAISR framework contributes to future IS research streams looking to incorporate powerful LLMs for text analytics.

agile information systems, flexible information systems development, distributed information systems development, global software development, software development, special issue

This paper reports on a panel held during the 2006 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). The panel titled, “Social Activism in IS Research: Making the World a Better Place,” was organized to question whether and how Information System (IS) research is making tangible impacts to our society. More specifically, each panelist was asked to address: (1) How can IS research, and researchers, make contributions to underdeveloped societies and underserved communities?; and (2) How can IS researchers learn from the particularities of these communities to inform better research, teaching, and service? While each panel member had different perspectives to offer in relation to these two questions, all agreed that IS academe needs to raise its awareness and efforts considerably with a view to address the needs of underserved communities.

Information Systems (IS) research strives for the design of innovative as well as the investigation of existing methods and techniques for information management in organizations. IS methods and techniques can support the automation of operational tasks as well as management tasks in organizations. Furthermore, they offer considerable potential for the automation of research processes in IS research. This paper examines the potential and boundaries of automated analyses of fads and trends in the field of IS research based on a design-oriented research approach. A concept for automated trend analysis is developed and implemented in an innovative software tool. The proof of concept software is exemplarily applied for the investigation of fads and trends in Business Process Management (BPM) research as an important field in IS research. Moreover, the potential and boundaries of the presented approach are discussed.

This essay discusses the use of big data analytics (BDA) as a strategy of enquiry for advancing information systems (IS) research. In broad terms, we understand BDA as the statistical modelling of large, diverse, and dynamic data sets of user-generated content and digital traces. BDA, as a new paradigm for utilising big data sources and advanced analytics, has already found its way into some social science disciplines. Sociology and economics are two examples that have successfully harnessed BDA for scientific enquiry. Often, BDA draws on methodologies and tools that are unfamiliar for some IS researchers (e.g., predictive modelling, natural language processing). Following the phases of a typical research process, this article is set out to dissect BDA’s challenges and promises for IS research, and illustrates them by means of an exemplary study about predicting the helpfulness of 1.3 million online customer reviews. In order to assist IS researchers in planning, executing, and interpreting their own studies, and evaluating the studies of others, we propose an initial set of guidelines for conducting rigorous BDA studies in IS.

In this research paper, we argue that the tendency of Information Systems (IS) researchers to work with a rather parsimonious set of research methods, notably those that follow the positivist tradition, demonstrates a significant degree of methodological exclusiveness. We contend that such an exclusive practice is both counterproductive to good IS research and unethical. Further, it severely and unreasonably limits the extent to which IS research and researchers can contribute to both pressing organisational problems and the scholarly literature. We synthesise our position in a set of four arguments that guide our discussion of the nature and consequences of methodological exclusiveness, as well as possible solutions. We end the paper with an exposition of steps that could be taken to address the current situation.

A formal conceptualization of the original concept of system and related concepts—from the original systems approach movement—can facilitate the understanding of information systems (IS). This paper develops a critique integrative of the main IS research paradigms and frameworks reported in the IS literature using a systems approach. The effort seeks to reduce or dissolve some current research conflicts on the foci and the underlying paradigms of the IS discipline.

PurposeThe space industry has experienced rapid development over the last few years. Activities such as building things in space, learning about our Earth and exploring outer space are satisfying people's fantasies and achieving humanity's ambitions. Such activities have also generated many issues that belong to several information systems (IS) research domains. In this article, the authors discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with the space economy.Design/methodology/approachThe authors discuss why the emerging space economy opens a new frontier of e-commerce and data analytics. Linking three important IS research areas (i.e. digital commerce, data analytics and information security) to the space economy, this study motivates scholars to pay close attention to this promising new frontier for IS research.FindingsThe authors identify new research opportunities within several IS research contexts (digital commerce, data analytics and information security). The authors highlight the potential for opening a robust, interdisciplinary field in the IS domain that could provide valuable insights for practitioners and academics.Originality/valueBecause of the unique characteristics of the space economy, this article presents some promising avenues, research opportunities and implications for several IS fields (digital commerce, data analytics, decision science, information sharing and information security and new business models). Indeed, many opportunities are interdisciplinary in scope, with overlaps occurring between IS and other disciplines.