Information Technology Platforms: Definition and Research Directions

The concept of an information technology (IT) related platform is broad and covers phenomena ranging from the operating system Linux to the Internet. Such platforms are of increasing importance to innovation and value creation across many facets of industry and daily life. There is, however, a lack of common understanding in both research and industry about what is mean by the term platform when related to IT. This lack of consensus is detrimental to research and knowledge development. Thus, the aims of this study are to: (i) provide a sound definition of the IT-platform concept by identifying its distinguishing dimensions; and (ii) identify important current research directions for the IT-platform concept. To achieve these aims a systematic literature review was undertaken with 133 relevant articles taken from major information systems journals, conferences, and business publications. The study contributes by providing a sound base for future research into IT-platforms.Comment: Research-in-progress ISBN# 978-0-646-95337-3 Presented at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2015 (arXiv:1605.01032

The Nature of Theory in Information Systems

The aim of this research essay is to examine the structural nature of theory in Information Systems. Despite the importance of theory, questions relating to its form and structure are neglected in comparison with questions relating to epistemology. The essay addresses issues of causality, explanation, prediction, and generalization that underlie an understanding of theory. A taxonomy is proposed that classifies information systems theories with respect to the manner in which four central goals are addressed: analysis, explanation, prediction, and prescription. Five interrelated types of theory are distinguished: (1) theory for analyzing, (2) theory for explaining, (3) theory for predicting, (4) theory for explaining and predicting, and (5) theory for design and action. Examples illustrate the nature of each theory type. The applicability of the taxonomy is demonstrated by classifying a sample of journal articles. The paper contributes by showing that multiple views of theory exist and by exposing the assumptions underlying different viewpoints. In addition, it is suggested that the type of theory under development can influence the choice of an epistemological approach. Support is given for the legitimacy and value of each theory type. The building of integrated bodies of theory that encompass all theory types is advocated

Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Journal Publishing

The aim of this opinion piece is to examine the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to academic journal publishing. The work discusses approaches to AI with particular attention to recent developments with generative AI. Consensus is noted around eight normative themes for principles for responsible AI and their associated risks. A framework from Shneiderman (2022) for human-centered AI is employed to consider journal publishing practices that can address the principles of responsible AI at different levels. The resultant AI principled governance matrix (AI-PGM) for journal publishing shows how countermeasures for risks can be employed at the levels of the author-researcher team, the organization, the industry, and by government regulation. The AI-PGM allows a structured approach to responsible AI and may be modified as developments with AI unfold. It shows how the whole publishing ecosystem should be considered when looking at the responsible use of AI—not just journal policy itself

A Design Research Journey

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The Dangers of Dance for the Information Systems Discipline

Neil McBride (2018) asks if information systems (IS) is a science. He perceives several problems with current research practice and attitudes in information systems and proposes that we should treat it as a discipline in the humanities akin to dance studies. However, his proposal does not recognize that IS deals with both technology and humans. Further, he does not consider the different views of science and that one can view information systems as a science of the artificial in which one develops actionable knowledge in accordance with available evidence and uses scientific techniques in part. Failure to apply well-founded knowledge in building and applying technology can have significant adverse societal consequences, and professionals would see it as unethical. Since these considerations scarcely apply to dance studies, it appears a poor model for information systems

Online Government Advice: How to Succeed

Online advisory services have become ubiquitous and are playing a more vital role in people's lives. From online loan terms exploration to health care eligibility self-assessment, various services are delivered to clients through online advisory tools. Government agencies in particular are offering such services to the public. Due to increased awareness that government service delivery should be "citizencentric", this study assesses the impact of providing online advisory systems to assist the public. Building on insights from practice and literature, the study utilizes an experiment to empirically examine the key role that effective online advisory tools play in generating a sense of empowerment for the general public. The results of the study reveal that optimized explanation features that suit the cognitive processes of users and the resultant process transparency are pivotal in differentiating the winners from the losers in the online government advisory services arena. Furthermore, having effective online advisory tools empowers individuals, giving them a better sense of control over their future assessment outcome and better perceived power relationships with the government agency to which they are beholden. Finally, this service process leads to improved perceptions of the government agencies' service provider image

Eight Obstacles to Overcome in the Theory Testing Genre

Theory testing work is popular in information systems (IS), with many studies using questionnaires, experiments, or other methods to gather quantitative data and test hypotheses with statistical techniques. This editorial note highlights some of the obstacles that theory testing researchers face, and assists authors so that their papers will not be rejected outright on submission, nor slowed unnecessarily in the review process. In particular, we identify three obstacles relating to theorizing and five related to methods. We provide guidance on how authors can deal with each obstacle, and include examples of studies that have successfully addressed the obstacle. We hope that our editorial will encourage authors to take better note of these obstacles and to give further consideration to avoiding them when they plan and conduct their research studies

Puzzles and Perspectives in Electronic Market Theory ) Reflections on Adoption of a B2B Electronic Market in the Australian Beef Cattle Industry )

In recent years there has been a growing theoretical pluralism in electronic markets (EM) literature. On the one hand, this pluralism encourages the discovery of novel aspects of EMs, but on the other hand there is a danger of excessive theoretic "balkanisation " and it becomes easy to lose sight of the ways in which the various school of thoughts are related to each other. The problem is that different schools of thoughts tend to focus only single sides of the investigated phenomenon and are not on "speaking terms " because of their different logic and vocabularies. The purpose of this paper is to identify theoretic views in EM theory in order to classify the different schools of thoughts in EM theory and making their underlying assumptions explicit. The outcome of this research is a framework of perspectives in EM theory which can be helpful for both understanding as well changing the EM reality. Based on a detailed case study of an EM in the Australian beef market and a theoretical review of EM literature, this framework is developed. It distinguishes four views based on two analytical dimensions: (1) the relative emphasis on the deterministic versus the voluntaristic assumption about human behavior and (2) micro versus meso level analysis and the nature of change. These four views are: the coordination system view, the strategic choice view, the ecological natural selection view and network action view. This framework is used to explore and reflect on the striking, often contradicting findings of the case study. Key words: electronic markets (EM), interorganisational systems, views in electronic market theory