In-betweenness in ICT4D research: critically examining the role of the researcher

2022 | European Journal of Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Jimenez, Andrea; Abbott, Pamela; Dasuki, Salihu

Abstract: The ICT4D discipline has faced criticisms of an uneven production of knowledge t ... Expand

Abstract: The ICT4D discipline has faced criticisms of an uneven production of knowledge that reinforces a dichotomy between Global North-Western knowledge systems on the one side, and Global South-indigenous-Southern knowledge systems on the other. As a result, some ICT4D literature has examined the role of the researcher in reinforcing these biases and further exacerbating inequalities, thus highlighting the complex relationship between ICT4D researchers and the research process. Yet, most of this literature has focused on an insider/outsider researcher positionality. This paper explores the role of the researcher from the alternative position of in-betweenness, where researchers adopt more fluid and dynamic positions as reflexive spaces. To do this, we engage in a dialogical process of retrospective reflections based on ICT4D projects in Nigeria, Peru and West Africa. Through these cases, we identify how we experience in-betweenness in distinct ways: as liminal spaces, as performative spaces, and as spaces of disjuncture. We also examine how these forms of in-betweenness informed our research. We demonstrate that a researcher positionality of in-betweenness in ICT4D research can increase awareness of nuanced researcher roles and potentially avoid ethical dilemmas and reproducing biases. Collapse

Topics: information and communication technology for development innovation management open access accounting sensemaking

Methods: literature study qualitative interview theory development action research field study

A Postmodern Perspective on Socio-technical Design Science Research in Information Systems

2015 | DESRIST | Citations: 0

Authors: Drechsler, Andreas

Abstract: This paper presents a critical account of the current state of design science re ... Expand

Abstract: This paper presents a critical account of the current state of design science research (DSR) of socio-technical artifacts in the information systems discipline as viewed through a postmodern lens. The paper offers a novel perspective to reflect on DSR and socio-technical artifacts, especially in terms of their limitations and boundaries of application. To achieve this, I critically appraise the current state of DSR practices, based on postmodern researchers’ key stances. The findings offer new perspectives on artifact effects, their application contexts, artifact utility, artifact audiences, the roles of the languages in which artifacts are specified, the design researcher’s role in the DSR process, and the political dimension of artifact design and evaluation. Design science researchers working on all types of socio-technical artifacts can use this paper’s findings to reflect on their artifacts’ limitations and potential real-world consequences before, during, and after artifact design and instantiation, and to subsequently improve these artifacts. Collapse

Topics: IS discipline

Methods: design artifact testing design artifact design process design science

Theories: socio technical theory

The Question of Materiality: Mattering in the Network Society

2015 | European Conference On Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Hafermalz, Ella; Riemer, Kai

Abstract: While materiality is an important concept in IS research, there is little consen ... Expand

Abstract: While materiality is an important concept in IS research, there is little consensus as to how "materiality" ought to be understood. We find that the term is typically used, often implicitly, to mean "physicality" or the corporeal existence of objects. Grounded in a widely held "folk ontology" characteristic of modern Western thinking this view makes intuitive sense to us. It breaks down however when we consider typical entities of concern to IS researchers, such as software or information, or emerging phenomena in the network society, such as online social networks or virtual work. In response to unhelpful distinctions emerging from this view, such as between the “virtual” and “real” world, we put forward a relational view grounded in the emerging sociomateriality research orientation. This alternative position sees materiality not as a pre-given quality of entities but rather as an ongoing achievement of “mattering” situated in practice. We demonstrate with examples how this view enables IS researchers to grasp in more productive ways how materiality is achieved in an increasingly networked society. Collapse

Topics: knowledge representation remote work IT supported collaboration Facebook negotiation support system

Methods: ontological modelling case study theory development

Theories: sociomaterialism theory

Managing a Stormy Change in IT Outsourcing: Antenarrative Analysis of Integrating Knowledge via Improvisation

2014 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Alaranta, Maria; Alin, Pauli

Abstract: Changes in information-technology outsourcing (ITO) are often challenging. Criti ... Expand

Abstract: Changes in information-technology outsourcing (ITO) are often challenging. Critical to success is integrating knowledge efficiently between the client and vendor. Some of these changes are novel and unpredictable, “stormy” events where past knowledge offers little guidance, and existing practices lose value. Improvisation has been suggested as a complementary means for such situations. However, both the literature on improvisation and the practices identified in the existing ITO literature suggest a need for shared understanding. We present an empirical account of a stormy ITO change that was triggered when the client acquired a business and post-acquisition IT integration was needed. The client’s and the vendor’s story plots point to opposite directions and reveal a lack of shared understanding. Nevertheless, improvisation helped to integrate knowledge and complete the project. We draw on the metaphor of trading zones to understand these findings. Our future research will extend improvisation theory to stormy ITO contexts. Collapse

Topics: system integration outsourcing database system

Methods: qualitative interview case study group interview field study theory development

MOBILE PRACTICES AND THE INCREASING INDIVIDUATION OF WORKPLACE

2014 | European Conference On Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Davis, Loni

Abstract: An increasing portion of the contemporary workforce is using mobile devices to c ... Expand

Abstract: An increasing portion of the contemporary workforce is using mobile devices to create new kinds of work-space flows characterized by emergence, liquidity, and the blurring of all kinds of boundaries. This changes the traditional notion of the term workplace. The study reported on in this paper focused on how people enact and make sense of new work space boundaries enabled by their mobile practices. A unique method of data collection—the use of cultural probes—was adapted to an online format to facilitate participant reflection and documentation of mobile practices. Coupled with in-depth interviews, this methodology enabled the thick description of how individuals enacted spatial, temporal, and psychosocial boundaries of workplace through their mobile practices. Findings show that the growing reality of workplace for many is that it is becoming less a singular place dedicated to work performed in a predictable frame of time and evolving more towards an idiosyncratic space that takes on the spatial and temporal requirements of the individual worker—the overarching claim being the increasing individuation of workplace enabled by mobile devices. Collapse

Topics: mobile system remote work IT supported collaboration tablet smartphone

Methods: qualitative interview cultural probe personal interview literature study

The Historical Research Method and Information Systems Research

2014 | Journal of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 43

Authors: Porra, Jaana; Hirschheim, Rudy; Parks, Michael S.

Abstract: In this paper, we review the premises and practice of the historical method in o ... Expand

Abstract: In this paper, we review the premises and practice of the historical method in order to understand how it can be applied to studying information systems (IS) related phenomena. We first examine the philosophical and methodological foundations of the method. For this purpose, we introduce a four-tiered research framework, which consists of (1) the paradigmatic or meta-theoretic assumptions that guide historical research, (2) pragmatism as an overarching approach or a way of doing historical research, (3) the historical method as the guiding principles for producing history, and (4) a review of some central techniques IS historians have applied in historical research. For point four, we review how McKenney et al. (1997) and Porra et al. (2005, 2006) applied Mason et al.'s (1997ab) seven steps of doing IS history. Finally, we compare the historical method with other methods applied in the IS field today: We compare the historical method with the longitudinal case study, case study, field study, and ethnography. Collapse

Topics: knowledge representation website Chief Information Officer systems analysis

Methods: archival research case study ethnography field study longitudinal case study

Theories: theory of change

Everyday power struggles: living in an IOIS project

2013 | European Journal of Information Systems | Citations: 36

Authors: Hekkala, Riitta; Urquhart, Cathy

Abstract: The broad aim of this interpretive study was to investigate the lived experience ... Expand

Abstract: The broad aim of this interpretive study was to investigate the lived experiences of inter-organisational information system (IOIS) project members who worked in a 3-year-long IOIS project. The study presents an original longitudinal study of project member experiences. In this paper, we have described and analysed one core category, project power, which was derived from a grounded theory (GT) study. This study extends existing theories about power in organisational contexts, in particular the everyday use of power in projects. The paper shows how GT can be used to gain significant insights into a case study, and also generate new concepts. This paper gives detailed insights into the power issues as they played out in a complex IOIS project. This IOIS project spanned four user organisations, two suppliers, one national organisation, a research organisation and a government Ministry. One key finding is that, given the complexity of the project management structures in an IOIS project such as this, project members often resorted to formal authority as a means of getting things done, in the absence of informal links between organisations. The project history also had major ramifications on the use of power in this project. Collapse

Topics: decision making IT project armed conflict resistance to change organizational change

Methods: qualitative coding theory development literature study qualitative interview longitudinal research

Americas Conference on Information Systems AMCIS2012 Seattle Interpretivism in IS – a Postmodernist (or Postpositivist?) Knowledge Theory

2012 | Americas Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Kroeze, Jan H

Abstract: This paper explores the association between postmodernism and interpretivism. Th ... Expand

Abstract: This paper explores the association between postmodernism and interpretivism. The paper’s objective is to show that the interpretivist research paradigm shows very clear postmodernist traits. After defining the two concepts the paper attempts to answer the research question whether interpretivism is a typical postmodernist approach to Information Systems science and research. The paper is conceptual, using a philosophical-logical approach. It makes a contribution to the discipline of Information Systems by taking the reflection on the continuum of positivism-interpretivism-critical research a level deeper by connecting interpretivism with the broader, encompassing paradigm of postmodernism. Collapse

Theories: information systems theory

CHARTING CHANGES IN THE DISCIPLINE: A TRI-CONTINENTAL ANALYSIS

2011 | European Conference On Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Keller, Susan; Coulthard, Darryl

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe and chart three key and underpinning di ... Expand

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe and chart three key and underpinning dimensions of Information Systems (IS) research in three ‘flagship’ journals of three continents, over a period of nine years. The dimensions are: research domain, research paradigm, and research setting and they comprise respectively, ‘the what’, ‘the how’, and ‘the where’ of research. The paper contributes to the debate on research diversity in Information Systems in three ways. Firstly, it provides a view of ‘research domain’ that is at a semantically higher level than previous schemas examining the ‘what’ of research. This view reveals deep structural trends within the IS literature. Secondly, it details the results of a content analysis which examined research domain, research paradigm, and research setting within the journals MIS Quarterly (MISQ), European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) and the Australasian Journal of Information Systems (AJIS) during the years 2001-2009. Lastly, the study compares the publication trends across the three continents and identifies an emerging, if tentative convergence across the Atlantic and to some extent in Australia. The paper suggests some reasons for this convergence and some avenues to explore it. Collapse

Topics: accounting information system use IS discipline technological change

Methods: qualitative coding qualitative content analysis mixed method laboratory experiment descriptive statistic

Ethical Information Systems Development: A Baumanian Postmodernist Perspective

2009 | Journal of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 28

Authors: Chatterjee, Sutirtha; Sarker, Suprateek; Fuller, Mark

Abstract: The paper offers a critique of traditional methodical approaches to Information ... Expand

Abstract: The paper offers a critique of traditional methodical approaches to Information Systems Development (ISD), arguing that a number of assumptions (for example, universality and rationality) underlying these approaches lead to incomplete ontological and epistemological considerations, and thereby contribute to IS failures in many cases. The paper proposes that ethical analysis undertaken in conjunction with traditional ISD approaches may be a way to address some of the limitations experienced during traditional ISD. Drawing upon ideas from postmodern ethics formulated by Zygmunt Bauman, the paper argues that increased focus on the moral responsibility of key ISD players (such as the team of analysts) may improve the ISD process. Finally, this paper suggests how, consistent with the postmodern stance, such moral responsibility can be implemented in the context of ISD. The paper concludes with the contributions and future implications of this research. Collapse

Topics: systems development IT workforce IS failure systems implementation information system use

Methods: case study

Theories: stakeholder theory ethical theory procedural justice theory