An Asian perspective on the governance of cyber civilization

2022 | Electronic Markets | Citations: 1

Authors: Kokuryo, Jiro

Abstract: This paper proposes potential benefits of adopting Asian philosophies in conside ... Expand

Abstract: This paper proposes potential benefits of adopting Asian philosophies in considering the design of “cyber civilization” governance. The West is currently struggling to balance the use of data for commercial purposes with the social good stemming from the protection of personal privacy and dignity. It is also grappling with the idea of machines having autonomous capabilities that human minds alone were supposed to monopolize. East Asia, with its tradition of Confucianism, Buddhism, and animism, has long emphasized the virtue of mutual benevolence as well as conviviality with nature, both of which may be contrasted with the Western emphasis on the autonomy of individuals and the supremacy of humans over nature. We need to revisit such foundational schools of thought in view of such factors as network externalities of data, extremely low marginal cost of digital services, and high level of traceability, all of which are altering the historical prerequisites of the modern market economy. In the face of the emergence of a new civilization, we need to find a guiding philosophy which allows us to develop policies that adequately benefit all people. There are notions such as integrity (fiduciary responsibility) that East and West share and that may be adopted to build broadly acceptable governance principles. Collapse

Topics: data governance network effect IT policy IS economics economic surplus

A Paradox Lens to Systems Development Projects: The Case of the Agile Software Development

2021 | Communications of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 8

Authors: Iivari, Juhani

Abstract: Research into organizations has concluded that organizational effectiveness is ... Expand

Abstract: Research into organizations has concluded that organizational effectiveness is paradoxical (i.e., effective organizations must have simultaneously contradictory, even mutually exclusive, attributes). Although systems development projects constitute temporary organizations, researchers have largely omitted the paradox lens in their context. In this paper, I move toward rectifying the situation by focusing specifically on the agile software development (ASD) as a timely systems development approach in practice. I identify 11 interrelated and actable paradoxical tensions concerning the priority, structure, and execution of systems development projects. Each tension imposes competing demands on projects. To address them requires human ingenuity and judgement, though systems development methods and approaches can provide aid. I show that ASD comprises mechanisms for that purpose largely due to the reflective nature of the ASD process in which each retrospective assesses what went well in the previous sprint (iteration) and what could be improved in the next sprint. At the same time, ASD has built-in flexibility that makes it possible to adapt the method-in-use when deemed necessary or reasonable. Collapse

Topics: systems development IT development project agile software development project productivity innovation management

Methods: design methodology literature sample literature study meta analysis

Theories: organizational theory

Does Marxism Still Apply? Exploring Digital Worker Perspectives in the Sharing Economy

2019 | Americas Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Villafranca, Eric

Abstract: Imagine a world full of people that own nothing but have access to everything t ... Expand

Abstract: Imagine a world full of people that own nothing but have access to everything they need because they share things such as tools, meals, rides, couches, and even homes. While this may sound utopian, we are seeing a glimpse of what this society would look like with the rise of the sharing economy-a hybrid economy, characterized by sharing as well as commercial exchange (Lessig 2008). The sharing economy has created new opportunities for digital labor. Sharing firms such as Task Rabbit and Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) match those who need to complete tasks with others that have the time and knowledge to complete those tasks online (Brinkley 2016). The benefit to workers comes in the form of new work opportunities, empowerment, schedule flexibility, and social benefits. However, the disadvantage to workers comes in the form of very few substantive rights and benefits, and low wages. Collapse

Topics: sharing platform IT workforce IT work blog

Methods: triangulation grounded theory literature study personal interview

Digital Nomadism and the Market Economy: Resistance and Compliance

2019 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Wang, Blair; Schlagwein, Daniel; Cecez-Kecmanovic, Dubravka; Cahalane, Michael

Abstract: Digital nomadism is a growing phenomenon wherein technology enables new forms of ... Expand

Abstract: Digital nomadism is a growing phenomenon wherein technology enables new forms of resistance against the norms of the market economy. However, digital nomads inevitably also comply with the market economy. In this paper, we synthesise literature about the complicating role of technology in the market economy throughout history, to develop a research framework for an empirical study of digital nomadism and the market economy. Based on this research framework, we have conducted some preliminary fieldwork, observing the emergence of five trends in how digital nomads participate in the market economy: collaborative creative consumption; self-driven and self-disciplined work; reimagination of work materials; interjurisdictional prospecting; and unregulated de-facto citizenship. These trends have a range of theoretical and practical implications that we will continue to uncover in our ongoing research. Collapse

Topics: offshoring digital good blog website

Methods: field study qualitative interview literature study qualitative coding synthesis

Theories for Analysing Innovation and Technology in Emerging Financial Markets: The Case of Algorithmic and High Frequency Trading

2018 | Americas Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Currie, Wendy; Seddon, Jonathan; Cooper, Ricky; Vliet, Ben Van

Abstract: Theoretical and empirical analysis of complex innovation and technology from a m ... Expand

Abstract: Theoretical and empirical analysis of complex innovation and technology from a multi-disciplinary perspective is often recommended, yet rarely undertaken in management and information systems scholarship. This paper examines high frequency trading as an innovation in financial markets enabled by sophisticated computer technology. Primary data from the US and UK is combined with secondary sources from academic studies, government agencies, financial institutions and the media on the ideologies and practices governing high frequency trading. Theoretical perspectives of rational choice theory, bounded rationality, social constructionism and Marxism are rooted in different ontological and empirical positions. Each theory prioritises distinct levels and units of analysis for HFT which, by extension, shape the research agendas for examining the regulatory processes, market structures, firm strategies and technologies of the HFT phenomenon. Collapse

Topics: innovation management electronic trading decision making

Methods: qualitative interview literature study ontological modelling theory development

Theories: theory of bounded rationality

Critical Discourse Analysis as a Review Methodology: An Empirical Example

2015 | Communications of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 34

Authors: Wall, Jeffrey D.; Stahl, Bernd Carsten; Salam, A. F.

Abstract: Research disciplines and subdisciplines are steeped in epistemological beliefs a ... Expand

Abstract: Research disciplines and subdisciplines are steeped in epistemological beliefs and theoretical assumptions that guide and constrain research. These beliefs and assumptions both enable scientific inquiry and limit scientific progress. Theory and review papers tend to be a means for reproducing ideological assumptions. However, review papers can also challenge ideological assumptions by critically assessing taken-for-granted assumptions. Critical review methods are underdeveloped in the management disciplines. The information systems (IS) discipline must do more to improve the critical examination of its scientific discourse. In this paper, we present a method with guiding principles and steps for systematically conducting critical reviews of IS literature based on Habermasian strains of critical discourse analysis. We provide an empirical example of the method. The empirical example offers a critical review of behavioral information security research with a focus on employees’ security behaviors. Collapse

Topics: data security IS discipline cybersecurity behavior intrinsic motivation decision support system

Methods: literature study qualitative content analysis literature sample qualitative interview mixed method

User knowledge transformation through design: A historical materialism perspective

2014 | Information and Organization | Citations: 0

Authors: Yamauchi, Yutaka

Abstract: Through observation of an accounting system development project, this study exam ... Expand

Abstract: Through observation of an accounting system development project, this study examines how user knowledge of work, organization, and information system is transformed. The study employs the framework of historical materialism to explicate the interplay of knowledge and material conditions. The findings suggest that contradictions within the material condition, both in the resulting designs and in relations between users and developers, engender crises and trigger alteration of existing knowledge, and that new knowledge is created and validated through negotiating and specifying material designs. Knowledge transformation is shown to be historical in that knowledge is based on material condition at a certain moment and therefore is subject to change due to contradictions in the material condition. Therefore, often knowledge is transformed only partially as users and developers settle on a design to replicate existing practices with new features designed for different practices, producing contradictions for further transformation. The historical interplay of knowledge and material conditions paints a holistic picture of knowledge transformation through information system design. Collapse

Topics: systems design accounting IT development project

Methods: design process ethnography theory development

Laboring Online: Are There "New" Labor Processes In Virtual Game Worlds?

2013 | Journal of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Greenhill, Anita; Fletcher, Gordon

Abstract: As unemployment figures rise in the developed world, questions regarding the mea ... Expand

Abstract: As unemployment figures rise in the developed world, questions regarding the meaning of "labor" and the intrinsic "value" of work re-emerge. This paper examines labor practices in virtual game worlds to extend existing theoretical explorations regarding concepts of labor and work in the information systems field. The cases explored in this study observe the labor processes associated with two virtual game worlds. We explore whether labor processes are being replicated in virtual environments and, if so, whether "conventional" hegemonies identified by Marxist literature regarding labor are also found in these virtual worlds. This paper contributes to critical information systems research by exploring emancipatory claims regarding labor practices in ICT-enabled work. We present the findings from empirical studies of the Puzzle Pirates and Farmville virtual worlds where we examine the forms of labor undertaken online and their significance in the construction of hegemonic power relationships. The research utilizes a structured ethnographic-style methodology to explore daily working life found in these game environments. This paper contributes to critical information systems research by testing the robustness of existing theories of labor process in the problematic and expansive space of virtual worlds. Collapse

Topics: virtual world social network Facebook information system use blog

Methods: ethnography participant observation qualitative interview theory development simulation

PERSPECTIVE—The Sociological Ambivalence of Bureaucracy: From Weber via Gouldner to Marx

2012 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Adler, Paul S.

Abstract: Reports of the demise of the bureaucratic form of organization are greatly exagg ... Expand

Abstract: Reports of the demise of the bureaucratic form of organization are greatly exaggerated, and debates about bureaucracy's functions and effects therefore persist. For many years, a broad current of organizational scholarship has taken inspiration from Max Weber's image of bureaucracy as an “iron cage” and has seen bureaucracy as profoundly ambivalent—imposing alienation as the price of efficiency. Following a path originally sketched by Alvin Gouldner [Gouldner, A. W. 1954. Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy. Free Press, Glencoe, IL], some recent research has challenged this view as overly pessimistic, arguing that bureaucracy need not always be coercive but can sometimes take a form that is experienced as enabling. The present article challenges both Weber's and Gouldner's accounts, arguing that although bureaucracy's enabling role may sometimes be salient to employees, even when it is, bureaucracy typically appears to them as ambivalent—simultaneously enabling and coercive. I offer an unconventional reading of Marx as a way to make sense of this ambivalence. Collapse

Topics: cross cultural research organization structure decision making software developer

Methods: literature study qualitative interview design science capability maturity model theory development

Theories: self construal theory Marxist theory

Managing as designing: ‘opportunity knocks’ for the IS field?

2010 | European Journal of Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Wastell, David

Abstract: In response to anxieties about our discipline's decline, this opinion piece ‘loo ... Expand

Abstract: In response to anxieties about our discipline's decline, this opinion piece ‘looks to the future’, arguing a strong prospectus for the IS field, based on its direct relevance to general management practice. The thesis set out is inspired by the recent upsurge in interest in ‘managing as designing’. Reformulating management as design, I argue that we have a formidable knowledge-base of tools, theories and critique relevant to any manager, not just the MIS-inclined specialist. A case study of yet another failed information system (in U.K. children's services) is presented to show just how uniquely relevant our discipline is, in the workplace of today. Other pertinent issues are explored, such as synergies with the growing vogue for evidence-based management. The paper concludes by considering implications for research, including the need for a less exclusive approach to publishing and dissemination emphasising the need to make our work more accessible to lay practitioners. Collapse

Topics: knowledge base IT job computer system open source

Methods: case study qualitative interview design methodology design science literature sample