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Highlights • The Covid-19 pandemic is a rare opportunity to examine some fundamental aspects of IM and IS research and practice. • There are at least three areas where the pandemic has impacted practice: information management, work practices and design of technologies. • The IS discipline has appropriate methods and theories to study the design of technologies and social interactions. • Concepts such as “social distancing” that has emerged in the pandemic need to be studied through philosophical premises. • The IM practices that emerge after the pandemic is over, will be shaped by how well we seize the opportunity to learn from the pandemic., In this opinion paper, I argue that the Covid-19 pandemic, as tragic and disastrous as it undoubtedly is, has also given us a rare opportunity to deeply examine the research and practice of information management in particular and information systems in general. To cope with the pandemic, we have retreated to the digital world and drastically changed the way we work. Yet these very practices can well shape the way we work in the post-pandemic world. Moreover, the pandemic is also a sharp lens through which we can study deep-rooted theoretical issues that otherwise would not have surfaced, or at least remained in the background. My call to the research community is to seize this rare opportunity.

In their insightful critique of Action Design Research, Hevner and Mullarkey (this issue) proposed an enhancement of ADR by juxtaposing concepts from a well cited framework of Design Science Resear...

Although Affordance Theory has become increasingly influential in the Information Systems (IS) literature, the exact process through which the affordances of IT are actualised is less studied. In t ...

The ideal of self-paced learning, which was introduced nearly 50 years ago by Keller in his Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), has not yet been widely adopted. In spite of its perceived promise of helping students to learn at the speed aligned to their individual backgrounds, motivation, and skills, PSI has been challenging to implement. University teaching practice with weekly plans means that instructors expect students to learn at the same pace. Against this backdrop, this paper reports experiences from deploying PSI in multiple offerings of an introductory programming course at a Scandinavian university over five years. These include variations, such as a buddy system, rightsizing modules, encouraging pacing, alternative targets, intermediate milestones, active coaching, and time management, all primarily aimed at overcoming a key concern associated with PSI, namely, procrastination. The lessons associated with each are described with a view to providing fellow instructors with strategies and options that they can consider for implementing PSI into introductory programming courses.

In their insightful critique of Action Design Research, Hevner and Mullarkey (this issue) proposed an enhancement of ADR by juxtaposing concepts from a well cited framework of Design Science Research (DSR) developed by Peffers et al. (2007). In this commentary, we argue that while we agree with some of their elaborations, such as unpacking the specific stages of ADR to make them more transparent and accessible and incorporating formalization of learning in every stage, we also disagree with Hevner and Mullarkey on two key areas. The first is depicting multiple different entry points to an ADR project, which goes against the essential spirit of ADR’s single entry point, problem formulation. More importantly, in juxtaposing the Peffers et al. framework of DSR on to ADR, they are combining two approaches that are epistemologically incommensurate. Peffers et al. take a deductive design approach while ADR employs principally an inductive epistemology by giving primacy to the guided emergence of the artifact. In spite of our disagreements, we conclude that both approaches are premised upon pragmatism where researchers are guided more by utility and usefulness rather than an abstract notion of truth. Our disagreements are essential characteristics of a healthy academic discourse.

While many theories have guided research Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), we are yet to construct a clear and coherent narrative that would help us answer the question of how ICT fosters development in underdeveloped communities. In this paper, we argue that one of the main reasons for this is that our holistic understanding of ICT4D is seldom grounded in theories to understand the core areas that define the field, namely, ICT, Development, and, ‘4’ which are the transformative processes that link the two. Through a brief literature review, we list theories that have informed ICT4D research in each of these areas. We present examples of theories, namely, Capability Approach, Affordances, and Actor-Network Theory together with Social Capital and illustrate how we have used them in our research. Building on this holistic perspective on theoretical foundation, we propose five agendas for ICT4D research. Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-03-26 (johcin)

We examine the relationship between information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) and local historically embedded institutions. We argue that, to understand the process of implementing IT artifacts, one needs to consider not only technical feasibility and economic viability but also institutional permissibility. We present a novel theoretical framework based on dialectics and institutional theory and apply it to a case study that contributes adialectics-centered framework illustrated with empirical data from the informal sector in Latin America. The analysis demonstrates the institutionalization of IT artifacts as a conflicted and contested process and that historical institutionsmay enable some forms of institutionalization while resisting others contrary to social norms. We examine the emergence of contradictions, active praxis, and the resulting outcomes before concluding that, for IT artifacts to contribute todevelopment, one must emphasize the embedded institutional arrangements and contestation that historically embedded institutions present. We conclude the paper by discussing the theoretical and practical implications.

Accepted version of an article published in the journal: Government Information Quarterly. Also available from the publisher at: http//dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2010.10.005 Conventionally, e-Participation initiatives are considered to be successful only if users use these services. While the growing body of e-Participation literature has listed and studied challenges and barriers to achieving this end, conceptual clarity on why such projects are considered as failures is yet to be achieved. We argue that this is due to the inadequate understanding of the complex stakeholder dynamics of an e-Participation project. In this paper, we seek to address this knowledge gap by proposing that using Stakeholder theory complemented by Genre theory provides an interpretive lens to understand the complexities in the development and use of e-Participation projects. To illustrate our proposed lens, we apply it to analyze an e-Participation project in Norway at its development and use phases. Our findings indicate that a key factor that influences success of e-Participation initiatives is high saliency of at least one stakeholder group at various phases of the initiatives. The saliency of stakeholders changes over the life of a project and hence the salient stakeholder also varies. Consequently, it is not essential for the same stakeholder group to be salient throughout, only that some stakeholder remains salient. Our interpretive lens also extends the discourse on Stakeholder Theory where in traditional Management literature, it is meant as a tool to identify stakeholders groups to which management or owner of an organization should pay attention. We show that it is also useful to identify which stakeholder groups will act to protect their interests. Based on our findings, we propose insights into studying and developing e-Participation projects.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can play a crucial role in meeting multifaceted developmental challenges such as providing access to quality health care in developing countries. Init ...

There is considerable debate in the information systems literature on how systems development methods (SDMs) are used in practice. On one side are those who take the position that these methods are not used at all. The other side posits that SDMs are used but not in the manner intended by the method developers. In practice, SDMs are adapted and modified to meet project exigencies, which results in unique methods-in-use in each project. We subscribe to the latter view and extend the argument by proposing that SDM modifications happen due to mismatches between the paradigmatic values inherent in the SDM, the method users and the organizational context. Further, planned modifications themselves result in shifts of paradigmatic values inherent in the SDM. To examine our contention, we conduct a case study in which we trace an SDM from its development to its deployment and use in an organization. We show where the mismatches occurred and provide explanations for the mismatches. Our results indicate that paradigm differences explain most of the mismatches, and different factors contribute to the paradigm drifts simultaneously, even towards diverging orientations. We conclude that the true value of an SDM, in addition to its tool and technique use, is a basis for examining and self-reflecting about paradigmatic values. This is an essential part of learning to develop systems.

Commitment to an information system (IS) development project is essential for system success. However, some projects exhibit escalation of commitment, i.e. allocation of additional resources to a failing course of action. This paper describes two simulated longitudinal experiments examining the effects of project, psychological, social, and structural factors during four stages of an IS project. The results support escalation in IS projects. Moreover, project factors and psychological factors, but not structural factors, seem to aid escalation. Project, psychological, and social factors also have different effects during various stages.

Research on training has traditionally viewed errors made by trainees as detrimental to learning. A great deal of effort has been devoted to finding effective ways of preventing errors from occurring during training. Recently, some researchers have adopted a different perspective: that errors may provide a learning opportunity for trainees. What has been investigated less is the specific mechanism through which errors can foster learning. The objective of our research was to investigate and possibly reconcile these differing viewpoints by examining the error recovery process. We found that, in some situations, errors enhance learning when the trainee adopts an error recovery process that emphasizes the goal structure of the task. We suggest several ways of coaching trainees in training sessions to adopt such error recovery strategies.

This study concerns the quality of seven commercial project management software packages in allocating resources. Since the methods employed in these packages are proprietary, the quality is measured in terms of the deviation from an upper bound of the minimum makespan. As benchmark instances, a set of problems generated under a factorial design is used. Statistical tests are performed to investigate the impact of the problem parameters and to detect significant differences in quality among the packages.

Training in information technology (IT) tools has traditionally been defined in terms of skills. Consequently, training methods and approaches have focused almost exclusively on ensuring that a trainee acquires the skills required to use an IT tool, and in a specific domain. With the advent and increasing use of enterprise-wide IT architectures, such as client/server, integrated processes such as workflow systems and integrated packages such as SAP, this narrow view of training will prove to be inadequate in preparing the workforce of the future. To train such a workforce, we propose a re-conceptualization of training based on a hierarchy of knowledge levels that a trainee will need. We then use this hierarchy to propose an integrated framework that can be used to develop a comprehensive training strategy. We offer directions for research that are needed to use our model to develop effective training strategies.

Published version of a chapter from the book M. Janssen, H. Scholl, M. Wimmer & F. Bannister (Eds.), Electronic Government : Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014. Also available on SpringerLink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44426-9_24 Public procurement of Information Systems is a highly complex process. Not surprisingly, systems often fail to meet the needs for which they were procured. One of the main causes of this is the contradictions between goals of different stakeholders. Identifying and understanding these conflicts and contradictions are essential to develop strategies to improve the procurement process. In this paper, we present a case study where we examined the procurement process of a system carried out by a public entity in Norway. Using dialectic theory and stakeholder theory as interpreting lenses, we identified a number of conflicts and contradictions. Some of the contradictions resulted from conflicting and divergent goals of the various stakeholders across groups but also within groups, while others resulted from differing goals of policies and regulations.

Corruption is arguably one of the main hindrances to development. In their effort to combat corruption, governments in developing countries turn to information technology to enhance transparency in decision making. However, implementation of an information system in this context is not straightforward. Premised upon institutional theory, this interpretive case study traces the role of institutional actors in the institutionalization of an eProcurement system in Indonesian local government. It draws on different streams of research on institutional work to develop an interpretive lens to understand what institutional actors do to steer the institutionalization process. It identifies a set of institutional work carried out by them in disrupting the old institution, and, creating and maintaining the new one. The findings give a better understanding of the institutionalization process. It provides a fine-grained conceptualization of forms of institutional work, and its constituent dimensions. Godkänd; 2014; 20140113 (mausei); Konferensartikel i tidskrift

Teaching cases can be instrumental in developing skills of critical analysis, problem solving and strategic thinking in students, especially in specific contexts such as Information Systems (IS). While cases are widely used in the curricula of graduate and undergraduate programs in developed countries, there is a lack of teaching cases set in developing countries, particularly in the area of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). In this paper, we address this gap by telling the story of the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP) and its effort to connect villages in remote areas of Nepal to the outside world. Despite lack of access to proper equipment, lack of technical competence and the difficult terrain in the Himalayan mountains, Mahabir Pun, the initiator of NWNP, succeeded in bringing Internet access to these villages, contributing to improvements in education, health services and income generating activities. The case describes the development of NWNP from inception until today, the stakeholders involved, services provided, current challenges and ideas for future improvements. Furthermore the case illustrates the importance of the champion, the process of committing important stakeholders, the importance of contextual understanding, and the challenges while scaling up from pilot projects to wider implementations in the context of developing countries. Validerad; 2014; 20131231 (devtha)

PurposeWhile institutional theory is used widely in the information system (IS) literature to study implementation of systems, the actual process of institutionalization has received less attention. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in the literature by using three concepts drawn from the theory, namely, institutional isomorphism, institutional logic and institutional entrepreneurship, and the interplay between them to explore the role of the dominant institutional entrepreneur in the institutionalization of a public system, as an instance of e‐government initiatives.Design/methodology/approachIn an interpretive case study, this study examined the institutionalization process of an e‐procurement system over a four‐year period (2007‐2011) in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta.FindingsThis study reveals that different institutional isomorphism mechanisms emerge during the process and institutional logics evolve over time. More interestingly, it uncovers the dominant role of an institutional entrepreneur, the city's mayor, who mobilized resources and support to drive the institutionalization process. At the beginning stage, institutionalization is best described as a process of instilling values, cultivated by the mayor, followed by a process of creating reality through a typification process, whereby the e‐procurement system is embedded in the existing practices and institutionalized.Research limitations/implicationsAs an interpretive study, the findings are generalized to theoretical concepts rather than the population. The interrelationship between the three concepts of institutional theory represents plausible rather than deterministic links. It also offers practical insights, such as e‐procurement implementation strategy.Originality/valueThis paper goes beyond simply using institutional theory as an interpretive lens by examining the interrelationship between the mechanisms of institutionalization. It shows that the main catalyst of the institutionalization process is the institutional entrepreneur who managed the institutional isomorphism and was instrumental in changing the institutional logic. It also presents lessons from a successful case where corrupt practices were highly institutionalized at the beginning but were decreased through the system.

Track II: Recent Developments in Inductive Research Methods; International audience; In this paper, we present Grounded Analytic Research (GAR) as a method to build theory by synthesizing empirical findings from multiple studies that has been conducted by a single researcher. GAR incorporates concepts from grounded theory, analytic research and systematic literature review. The method was applied in a doctoral dissertation work to build the theoretical concept of Demand Sustainability of public Internet access in the context of bridging the digital divide. We describe GAR and compare it with existing theory building methods that are similar to it in epistemology and ontology.

Users of information technology form mental models that reflect' their understanding and knowledge of an information system. These models affect the proficiency with which they use these systems. In this paper, we draw upon assimilation theory of learning to propose and test a two-stage model of mental model development. We examined the effects of two types of training method, namely conceptual model and procedural, and two levels of nature of interaction, namely novel and simple tasks, on end-users' proficiency in forming accurate mental models of an electronic mail system. Our results indicate that the actual mental models of the system formed by the users predict learning success instead of the type of training provided. Subjects who formed mental models that were conceptual in nature performed significantly better than those who formed mental models that were procedural. Main effects for nature of interaction were not significant. However, we observed a significant interaction effect between the models formed by the users and the nature of their interaction with the system. Our findings suggest that end-user performance is enhanced through training methods that provide good conceptual models but only if users form conceptual mental models and retain them.

Design aids can improve the quality of systems developed by end-users and non-expert designers. This paper reports a study undertaken to establish the concept validation of a design aid that is based on feedback to improve the quality of conceptual and logical relational databases. We describe the design of SERFER (Simulated ER based FEedback system for R elational databases) and test its effectiveness in a laboratory experiment using the "hidden operator" method. The results show that feedback can help users detect and correct certain types of database design errors in modeling ternary relationships. However, no improvement seems possible in the case of unary relationships. The experiment could not determine whether errors can be corrected in modeling binary relationships, since the subjects were reasonably adept and rarely committed serious errors in this case.

Published version of an article from the journal: The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. Also available from the publisher: http://www.ejisdc.org/Ojs2/index.php/ejisdc/article/viewFile/826/371 While there has been a rapid growth in e-Government initiatives in developing countries, whether it has led to providing effective government services to the citizens has remained a question of concern. Evidence suggests that this objective is far from being met. The main hurdle has been that an overwhelming part of the citizens in these countries do not have the capability to either access government information physically or to use it effectively even when they can access it. In this paper, the conjecture is made that linking citizens to government in developing countries require an intermediary. Based on prior articulations of this concept, this paper develops the entity Intermediary and explicates its role in the government to citizen interaction process12.

The search for factors that influence user behavior has remained an important theme for both the academic and practitioner Information Systems Communities. In this paper we examine relevant user behaviors in the phase after adoption and investigate two factors that are expected to influence such behaviors, namely User Involvement (UI) and Personal Innovativeness in IT (PIIT). We conduct a field study to examine how these factors influence postadoption behavior and how they are interrelated. Building on theoretical premises and prior empirical findings, we propose and test two alternative models of the relationship between these factors. Our results reveal that the best explanation of post-adoption behavior is provided by the model where UI and PIIT independently influence post-adoption behavior. Our findings have important implications for research and practice. 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Published version of a chapter published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 4656, 13-22. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74444-3_2 The emerging research area of e-Government is gradually moving towards a level of maturity on the back of increasingly rigorous empirical research. Yet, there has been little theoretical progress and a cumulative tradition is not emerging. We argue that a principle reason for this is a lack of shared understanding about basic concepts and entities amongst scholars in the field. Specifically, the entities that form the bedrock of e-Government research, such as “Government” and “Citizen” are conceptualized at a very general level of abstractions and treated as homogenous groups. We argue that existing models and frameworks fail to see the vast differences that exist between categories of these entities. Without a finer grained conceptualization, comparison of findings across different research studies is not possible and thus transfer of knowledge between different projects is difficult. This is a fundamental obstacle in developing a cumulative tradition. Based on an examination of the literature, we propose categories of “Government” and “Citizen” at a finer grain and discuss implications for both practice and research that stems from our conceptualization.