Vom "Netz-Doktor" bis "Health 2.0" : welche Möglichkeiten das Internet chronisch Kranken bieten kann

Jeder fünfte Deutsche ist inzwischen bereits über 65 Jahre, und der demografische Wandel schreitet voran. Mit dem wachsenden Anteil Älterer nimmt auch die Zahl der chronisch Kranken stetig zu. Diese Patienten haben einen besonders hohen Bedarf an aktuellen medizinischen Informationen; das stellt neue Herausforderungen an alle Beteiligten im Gesundheitssystem. Unter dem Stichwort "Health 2.0" untersucht der Wirtschaftsinformatiker Christoph Rosenkranz, welche interaktiven Möglichkeiten das Internet den Betroffenen bisher schon bietet und was es darüber hinaus in Zukunft leisten sollte

The emergence of information systems: a communication-based theory

An information system is more than just the information technology; it is the system that emerges from the complex interactions and relationships between the information technology and the organization. However, what impact information technology has on an organization and how organizational structures and organizational change influence information technology remains an open question. We propose a theory to explain how communication structures emerge and adapt to environmental changes. We operationalize the interplay of information technology and organization as language communities whose members use and develop domain-specific languages for communication. Our theory is anchored in the philosophy of language. In developing it as an emergent perspective, we argue that information systems are self-organizing and that control of this ability is disseminated throughout the system itself, to the members of the language community. Information technology influences the dynamics of this adaptation process as a fundamental constraint leading to perturbations for the information system. We demonstrate how this view is separated from the entanglement in practice perspective and show that this understanding has far-reaching consequences for developing, managing, and examining information systems

Communication in organizations: the heart of information systems

We propose a theory characterizing information systems (IS) as language communities which use and develop domain-specific languages for communication. Our theory is anchored in Language Critique, a branch of philosophy of language. In developing our theory, we draw on Systems Theory and Cybernetics as a theoretical framework. "Organization" of a system is directly related to communication of its sub-systems. "Big systems" are self-organizing and the control of this ability is disseminated throughout the system itself. Therefore, the influence on changes of the system from its outside is limited. Operations intended to change an organization are restricted to indirect approaches. The creation of domain-specific languages by the system itself leads to advantageous communication costs compared to colloquial communication at the price of set-up costs for language communities. Furthermore, we demonstrate how our theoretical constructs help to describe and predict the behavior of IS. Finally, we discuss implications of our theory for further research and IS in general. Keywords: Language Critique, language communities, communication, self-organization, IS researc

The paradigm of design science research: a tool-supported literature review

In this paper, a review of the state of the art of theory associated with the young and quickly evolving Design Science Research (DSR) paradigm is presented. The core of the review consists of a structured literature search covering the senior scholars’ basket of eight from 1977 until the end of 2016, which resulted in data set of 196 sources. An iterative, selective coding of the title and abstracts revealed four major grounded clusters (138 papers). Three clusters (93 papers) were selected for co-citation analysis and augmented with additional forward and backward searches. The co-citation analysis affords an objective look at the current state of theory use in DSR and allows for the systematic identification of research opportunities. Altogether, the paper presents a multi-grounded DSR approach to literature reviews and contributes a reliable platform for further analysis and development of the DSR paradigm

Die Qualität von Organisationen : ein kommunikationsbasierter Messansatz

The goal of this research is to develop an understanding of what causes organizations and information systems to be “good” with regard to communication and coordination. This study (1) gives a theoretical explanation of how the processes of organizational adaptation work and (2) what is required for establishing and measuring the goodness of an organization with regard to communication and coordination. By leveraging concepts from cybernetics and philosophy of language, particularly the theoretical conceptualization of information systems as social systems and language communities, this research arrives at new insights. After discussing related work from systems theory, organization theory, cybernetics, and philosophy of language, a theoretical conceptualization of information systems as language communities is adopted. This provides the foundation for two exploratory field studies. Then a formal theory for explaining the adaptation of organizations via language and communication is presented. This includes measures for the goodness of organizations with regard to communication and coordination. Finally, propositions stemming from the theoretical model are tested using multiple case studies in six information system development projects in the financial services industry.Zielsetzung der hier vorgestellten Forschung ist es, ein Verständnis für die Güte von Organisationen und Informationssystemen im Hinblick auf Kommunikation und Koordination zu entwickeln. Diese Studie gibt (1) eine theoretische Erklärung zur Funktionsweise organisatorischer Anpassungsprozesse und (2) Handlungsanleitungen zur Messung der Güte einer Organisation im Hinblick auf Kommunikation und Koordination. Dies geschieht durch die Nutzung von Konzepten der Kybernetik und der Sprachphilosophie, insbesondere der Formalisierung von Informationssystemen als soziale Systeme und Sprachgemeinschaften. Nach der Diskussion bestehender Ansätze in der Systemtheorie, der Organisationstheorie, der Kybernetik und der Sprachphilosophie wird die Konzeptualisierung von Informationssystemen als Sprachgemeinschaften übernommen. Diese bildet die Grundlage für zwei explorative Feldstudien. Im Anschluss wird eine Theorie zur Erklärung der Anpassung von Organisationen durch Sprache und Kommunikation vorgestellt. Dies beinhaltet Maße für die Güte von Organisationen im Hinblick auf Kommunikation und Koordination. Schließlich werden anhand dieses theoretischen Modells Hypothesen aufgestellt und in einer multiplen Fallstudie in sechs Informationssystementwicklungsprojekten in der Finanzdienstleistungsindustrie überprüft

Information Systems Development as a Social Process: A Structurational Model

Prior research has shown that social interactions are important in order to understand the phenomena involved in information systems development. However, most traditional research largely ignores these issues. DeSanctis and Poole (1994) made an important contribution to the study of social dynamics in information systems research with their Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST). Although the concepts have found broad acceptance for the study of information technology (IT) uses and effects, AST has not been widely used for studying the process of designing IT artifacts and developing information systems. In this paper we transfer AST to studying information systems development as a social process. We build on Markus and Silver\u27s (2008) redefinition of AST’s core concepts ‘structural features’ and ‘spirit’ as technical objects, functional affordances, and symbolic expressions, and we extend them with relational concepts for agents and activities that we derive from social construction of technology (SCOT) studies. The result is an AST-based model that describes the information systems development process. We illustrate and discuss how researchers might use these concepts to generate hypotheses in studies of information systems development processes

A Model for Understanding Success of Virtual Community Management Teams

Virtual communities enable people with common interests to interact with each other. Until today, research has mostly focused on the aspects of social interaction, usability and success factors for virtual communities. But due to the link between effective coordination of management teams and success of virtual communities, virtual community management becomes of great importance for both research and practice. Therefore, the imperative of this research is to develop an understanding of what drives management teams of successful virtual communities. Drawing on existing literature, we identify relevant theories and use a previous exploratory case study in order to provide a theoretical explanation of the variables and factors that affect the success of virtual community management teams. Furthermore, we provide first suggestions for measurement instruments in order to subsequently test our proposed model using empirical, quantitative methods

Rethinking the Concept of IT Use

The information systems (IS) community has developed many theories, approaches, and models that identify conditions and determinants of successful IT use. However, each model in the IS literature has evolved to address specific aspects and dimensions. This has led to conflicting results concerning the impact of IT use. Consequently, while a rich body of knowledge has emerged, with prominent models such as the Technology Acceptance Model or the IS Success Model, the complexity of defining a suitable multi-dimensional construct for IT use has largely been neglected. In this paper, we develop a new causal model of IT use. Based on Adaptive Structuration Theory, we argue for the multi-dimensionality of IT use and thoroughly derive its components. Moreover, we introduce two new concepts into studies of successful IT use: functional affordance and symbolic expression. Both establish a relation between the IT system in investigation and its users. In doing so, we provide a novel, synthesized approach for investigating IT use in the context of the IS Success Model and the framework of Adaptive Structuration Theory

INCREASING THE WILLINGNESS TO COLLABORATE ONLINE: AN ANALYSIS OF SENTIMENT-DRIVEN INTERACTIONS IN PEER CONTENT PRODUCTION

We investigate mechanisms that trigger collaborative work behavior in online peer communities. We regard the collaboration among Wikipedia editors as a social process influenced by specific communication practices. We analyze and quantify the way Wikipedia editors communicate their feedback and support towards each others’ work in form of sentiments and opinions, and explore to what extent this influences online trust among them. We show that peer content production in Wikipedia is influenced by sharing sentiments during discussions among editors. At the global level, sharing sentiments positively influences the level of online trust. We also find a significant difference in the amount of online trust among editors who share mainly positive or mainly negative sentiments. We further suggest that providing and receiving especially supportive feedback expressed in form of positive sentiments and opinions may be beneficial in terms of virtual teamwork

THE IMPACT OF ADVISORY SERVICES ON CLIENTS AND VENDORS IN IT OUTSOURCING ENGAGEMENTS

Information technology outsourcing (ITO) continues to be an important market and research topic in 2016. The client-vendor relationship has been identified as one of the key driver to foster successful outsourcing engagements. But another stakeholder besides client and vendor that presumably highly influences this relationship is neglected in ITO research so far: the advisor. This research-in-progress paper propose to investigate how and why advisory services impact the relationship of clients and vendors and the project success in ITO engagements. To answer our research question, we build on principal-agent theory and social exchange theory as our theoretical lenses to explain the impact of advisory services on the client-vendor relationship. We develop our preliminary research model with three hypotheses and introduce our research design using a case study-based, mixed-method approach. Our planned outcome is a model explaining the role of advisors for improving ITO success. We conclude with an outlook about our next steps and the study’s planned contributions