The 2019 impact factor (announced end of June 2020) for ISJ is 4.188. This is the third best impact factor in the Basket of Eight IS Journals. See past ISJ impact factors and the Editor’s comment on impact factors here. The next impact factor (2020) will not be available until around mid June 2021.

Abstract

Western worldviews dominate the information systems (IS) literature, accepted and taken for granted as the natural way of doing things. While diversity in terms of gender and ethnicity has been studied in the IS field, there is scant research on the experiences of Indigenous information technology (IT) professionals. This study uses narrative inquiry to provide temporal, contextualised accounts of IT professional experiences from the Indigenous (M?ori) community in Aotearoa, New Zealand. These accounts demonstrate how participants actively draw from their culture to enact their professional activities. We identify three cultural elements that differentiate the practices of M?ori IT professionals from Western approaches that dominate the IS literature: whakapapa (genealogical connections), tikanga (customary traditions) and tino rangatiratanga (collective cultural determination). Further, we theorise how Indigenous IT professionals capitalise on the re?presentational power of digital artefacts as a vehicle for cultural re?affirmation to project their Indigenous identity in contemporary society. Our findings are useful for attempts to enhance Indigenous representation in the IT workforce and for designing systems and artefacts that are relevant to and inclusive for Indigenous communities.

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Information Systems Journal, EarlyView. Source

Abstract

Researchers and developers constantly seek novel ways to create engaging applications that are able to retain their users over the long term, make them desire to spend time using the application or go back to using it after a break. With this aim, video games can be an insightful source of inspiration, as they are specifically designed to maximise playing time, increase players’ intentions of playing during the day or enhance their willingness to replay. In a gaming context, ‘time’ is an important factor for engagement because game designers can design the game time to retain players in the game environment. Drawing on social practice theory, which is increasingly used in Information Systems (IS) research, I conducted an ethnographic study in World of Warcraft (WoW) to understand how various temporalities are produced within a video game and the effects that they have on players’ engagement. The findings show that game temporalities stem from the complex interaction between the design features of the game and the norms, routines and expectations that are part of the game practices. Moreover, these temporalities can engender temporal experiences that may stimulate engagement in various ways. The study contributes to IS literature by proposing a novel understanding of how time can be intentionally designed to sustain user engagement. Finally, it suggests that ‘time design’ in video games could inspire designs in broader IS contexts, such as in the gamification of online communities, crowdsourcing platforms and crowd working systems.

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Abstract

Establishing IT governance arrangements is a deeply political process, where relationships of power play a crucial role. While the importance of power relationships is widely acknowledged in IS literature, specific mechanisms whereby the consequences of power relationships affect IT governance arrangements are still under?researched. This study investigates the way power relationships are inscribed in the governance of digital identity systems in Denmark and the United Kingdom, where public and private actors are involved. Drawing on the theoretical lens of circuits of power, we contribute to research on the role of power in IT governance by identifying two distinct mechanisms of power inscription into IT governance: power cultivation and power limitation.

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Abstract

Digital platforms hold a central position in today’s world economy and are said to offer a great potential for the economies and societies in the global South. Yet, to date, the scholarly literature on digital platforms has largely concentrated on business while their developmental implications remain understudied. In part, this is because digital platforms are a challenging research object due to their lack of conceptual definition, their spread across different regions and industries, and their intertwined nature with institutions, actors and digital technologies. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the ongoing debate in information systems and ICT4D research to understand what digital platforms mean for development. To do so, we first define what digital platforms are and differentiate between transaction and innovation platforms, and explain their key characteristics in terms of purpose, research foundations, material properties and business models. We add the socio?technical context digital platforms operate and the linkages to developmental outcomes. We then conduct an extensive review to explore what current areas, developmental goals, tensions and issues emerge in the literature on platforms and development and identify relevant gaps in our knowledge. We later elaborate on six research questions to advance the studies on digital platforms for development: on indigenous innovation, digital platforms and institutions, on exacerbation of inequalities, on alternative forms of value, on the dark side of platforms and on the applicability of the platform typology for development.

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Abstract

This article responds to increasing discourses on digital social innovation (DSI) from the perspectives of women entrepreneurs. Using the individual differences theory of gender and information technology (IDTGIT), this research explores how digital technology is used by women entrepreneurs to create opportunities in response to the challenges associated with individual identity, individual influences, social influences and structural influences. We also extend the IDTGIT by exploring how technology is used by women entrepreneurs in their DSI ventures and how technology facilitates the social impact of such ventures. This paper draws on a qualitative study using interviews with 17 women entrepreneurs in Australia, and our findings indicate that individual identity, individual influences and social and structural influences play a significant role in inhibiting women entrepreneurs’ business ventures but technology helps to create opportunities for women entrepreneurs to address these factors. We also found that technology plays a role in helping women entrepreneurs to pursue social innovation in two different ways: through social innovation that is embodied by technology and social innovation that is enabled by technology. Our findings further indicate the social impact of DSI in the areas of education, employment, environment and climate, community development and progress and healthcare. The theoretical and practical implications of DSI for women entrepreneurs are provided.

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Abstract

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a systematic way of designing, planning, and implementing process and technology changes to address the complexity of information system (IS) landscapes. EA is operationalized when architecture visions move towards realization through concrete projects. We report a case study on the dynamics of operationalizing EA in the Norwegian hospital sector by exploring different EA project trajectories. Our empirical context is an institutionally pluralistic setting where multiple logics coexist. We show that the distinct logic of EA is added to the institutional context and we find that tensions among existing medical, technical, and managerial logics and EA principles and assumptions emerge. We contribute to the under?researched topic of EA operationalization by suggesting a model that demonstrates how the meeting of multiple institutional logics can lead to varying degrees of differentiation or even disassociation from EA visions during decision?taking in projects. Furthermore, we advance extant research on IS projects’ implementation in institutionally pluralistic settings by providing an empirical account of actors’ interactions and project leadership arrangements that contribute to the persistence of coexisting logics in a dynamic equilibrium.

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Abstract

China is widely considered a world leader in e?commerce. In recent years, e?commerce in China has made significant progress and gone through rounds after rounds of innovations. Technological advancements have enabled the integration of online and offline channels, allowing consumers to choose their preferred shopping channel. Thus, competition and cooperation between online and offline channels have become important issues. Drawing on confirmation bias theory and the unique cultural lens (low uncertainty avoidance and a high level of cynicism) that exists in China, we conceptualize online prejudice and propose a model to analyse how it affects channel selection. A scenario?based survey, along with an explorative pre?study, was conducted to test our hypotheses. The results showed that prejudice toward the online channel does exist in China. Further, this online prejudice mediates the relationship between perceived uncertainty and channel selection. That is, uncertainty can induce consumers’ online prejudice, which in turn predicts their channel selection behaviour. Furthermore, the mediating effect of online prejudice is contingent upon product type (i.e., experience products vs. search products).

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Abstract

Reward?based crowdfunding platforms – in which campaigns exchange rewards for financial backing to develop a product or service – are one of the fastest?growing segments of the crowdfunding industry. We use an extension of social exchange theory (SET) called the resource theory of social exchange (RTSE) to examine resource exchanges through rewards on Kickstarter. A resource exchange occurs when a project backer and project creator exchange money (ie, financial backing) for a reward (eg, a thank you or a t?shirt). A project creator can develop a reward portfolio that contains various types of resources, which in the RTSE are categorised as love, status, information, money, goods and services. Our study provides a comprehensive examination of resource exchange on a major reward?based crowd funding platform, answering the call to investigate the effects of a key element of such platforms – rewards. We find that the types of resources project creators include in the reward portfolios they offer should be carefully considered. Specifically, our results indicate it is more beneficial to offer rewards that contain universal and concrete resources (eg, goods, services) than resources that are particularistic and symbolic (eg, love, status). However, the positive effect of offering universal and concrete resources as rewards is diminished as the fundraising goal is increased, which suggests that the optimal design of the reward portfolio is contingent on other characteristics of the campaign. Moreover, our findings reveal that while it is advantageous to offer more rewards, it is disadvantageous to offer too many different types of resources across those rewards. Overall, our study adds depth to the understanding of resource exchange in reward?based crowdfunding and provides practical insight into how to design reward portfolios.

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Abstract

Issues of power are often neglected in information systems (IS) studies and under?theorised in IS research. Systems development methods (SDMs) are commonly used in the IT industry to coordinate the activities between developers and clients. The role of power in the relationship between clients and systems developers remains an important topic of research in information systems development (ISD). Yet, despite the importance of understanding this relationship better, there has only been a limited number of studies exploring the role that an SDM can play in influencing this relationship. What is not widely acknowledged or researched is how different forms of power are inscribed in and enacted through an SDM. The aim of this paper is to advance our understanding of different forms of power—here, obtrusive and unobtrusive power—to show how ISD concepts provide structures during the enactment of an SDM and thereby influence relationships between developers and clients. We present qualitative results from an exploratory case study within an IT division of a large international bank and interpret the results using Clegg’s (1989) circuits of power (CoP). Our analysis shows that developers feel disempowered in relation to the client, with developers playing a cooperative but submissive role. Prior SDM enactment studies have either not encountered or not recognised cases where obtrusive and unobtrusive forms of power inscribed within the SDM directly determine the relationship between developers and the client. Our results are presented as a set of propositions explaining how obtrusive and unobtrusive power is inscribed in the SDM and the effect such inscription has on the enactment of the SDM.

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