HumanEnerg Hotspot: Conceptual Design of an Agile Toolkit for Human Energy Reinforcement in Industry 5.0

PurposeDesign science research (DSR) is a structured approach for solving complex ill-structured problems in organizations through the development of an artefact followed by its validation. This paper aims to evaluate existing DSR methodology and propose specific accents to promote DSR for environmental, social and governance (ESG)-oriented operational excellence (OPEX) initiatives within organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis commentary paper is based on an abductive reasoning approach to evaluate and understand DSR and assess its effectiveness for developing solutions to typical ESG-oriented OPEX-based problems within organizations.FindingsExisting literature on DSR is reviewed, after which it is evaluated on its ability to contribute to the implementation of sustainable solutions for ESG-oriented OPEX-based problems. Based on the review, specific DSR methodological accents are proposed for the development of ESG-oriented OPEX-based solutions in organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThis conceptual paper contributes to the conceptual understanding of the applicability, limitations and contextual preconditions for applying DSR. This paper proposes an explicit and, in some ways, alternative view on DSR research for OPEX researchers to apply and further the body of knowledge on matters of sustainability (ESG) in operations management.Practical implicationsCurrently, there is limited understanding and application of the DSR methodology for OPEX-based problem-solving initiatives, as appears in the scant literature on DSR applied for the implementation of OPEX based initiatives for ESG purposes. This paper aims to challenge and provide accents for DSR applied to OPEX-related problems by means of a DSR framework and thereby promotes intervention-based studies among researchers.Originality/valueThe proposed step-by-step methodology contains novel elements and is expected to be of help for OPEX-oriented academicians and practitioners in implementing DSR methodology for practical related problems which need research interventions from academics from Higher Education Institutions.

Design science research (DSR) aims to generate knowledge about innovative solutions to real-world problems. Consequently, DSR needs to deal with the complexity related to problem and solution spaces involving sociotechnical phenomena that people perceive differently and are subject to constant change. This complexity poses challenges to sequential, process-based approaches—specifically, the existing DSR methodology. We designed a DSR methodology that extends existing approaches by adding a complementary organizing logic to address complexity. Based on the theory of hierarchical, multilevel systems, we suggest organizing DSR based on the concept of “echelons”—meaning decomposing DSR projects into smaller logically coherent self-contained parts—and suggest a set of five design echelons that imply a hierarchical organizing logic for DSR projects. The echeloned DSR (eDSR) methodology was developed in five iterations, involving seven design and evaluation episodes.

The Internet of Things (IoT) enables a new wave of immersive technologies ranging from Smart Cities and Smart Homes to wearable technologies and virtual reality applications informed by real-time data of their physical environments. Despite the growing interest in IoT applications in recent decades, we identified that only a few studies consider the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology for developing IT artifacts with hardware components, such as IoT applications. We explore the ontology and epistemology underpinning DSR methodology and propose including complex IoT artifacts into the traditional understanding of IT artifacts, dominated by virtual and conceptual artifacts. Based on these considerations, we propose evolutionary steps to the existing DSR methodology to better enable the creation of hardware-based IT artifacts in the Information Systems (IS) discipline in a rigorous and relevant manner. For this, we incorporate design approaches from other disciplines, such as engineering, i.e., explicit prototyping, into established DSR process models to create a purpose-built, lower-level, concrete process model for designing hardware-based IoT artifacts. This approach is demonstrated by developing a complex presence detection artifact, highlighting the unique challenges when working with hardware components in DSR.

Enhancing medical radiation science education through a design science research methodology

Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) represent a topic of great relevance for Europe. Among the strategic sectors highly dependent on them, there is the automotive sector. Considering the disruptive time this industry is living in and the complexity of the lifecycles of its products, it is challenging for practitioners to manage the supply risk of CRMs. In this work, a novel criticality assessment tool tailored to car electronics is proposed. Contrary to the majority of existing tools, it was developed following a structured Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, ensuring its relevance for practitioners. General requirements for the tool were gathered through interviews with seven European automotive companies, covering different stages of the car electronics value chain. The tool has been designed in constant interaction with experts from industry and academic peers. It has been validated on nine different raw materials for a hypothetical large European company. To perform the validation, the main players worldwide on the value chains were mapped for the first time. Compared to the other criticality assessment tools, this one presents the supply chains of the company as the unit of analysis. This, on the one hand, ensures that the information provided by the tool is relevant for the single company. On the other hand, it supports companies in complying with the EU Critical Raw Materials Act requests. Novel indices filling the gaps between the emerging needs of the European automotive sector and the current state of the art of the literature have been developed and implemented.

Games with purposes beyond entertainment, the so-called serious games, have been useful tools in professional training, especially in engaging participants. However, their evaluation and, also, their adaptable characteristics to different scenarios, audiences and contexts remain challenges. This paper examines the application of serious games in professional training, their results and adaptable ways to achieve certain goals. Using the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, a framework was built to develop and evaluate serious games to improve user experience, learning outcomes, knowledge transfer to work situations, and the application of the skills practised in the game in real professional settings. At this stage, the investigation presents a framework regarding the triangulation of data collected from a systematic literature review, focus groups and interviews. Following the DSR methodology, the next steps of this investigation, listed at the end of the paper, are the demonstration of the framework in serious game development and the evaluation and validation of this artefact.

Purpose: The article presents the trajectory of change in ergonomic research, beginning with the pioneering 1857 publication by Wojciech Bogumił Jastrzębowski and continuing to the present day (2025). The aim is to trace the development of ergonomic theory and practice in the context of advanced information technologies characteristic of Industry 4.0 and 5.0. The study seeks to highlight how integrating ergonomics into modern industry has transformed the discipline and what future ergonomic approaches must entail. Design/methodology/approach: The objectives of the paper were achieved through a conceptual and historical analysis combined with elements of critical literature review and foresight. Rather than conducting empirical research, the authors trace the evolution of ergonomics from its origins in the 19th century to contemporary challenges associated with Industry 5.0. The approach is interdisciplinary, drawing from ergonomics, systems engineering, neurocognitive science, and social philosophy. The paper critically examines transformations in the human–technology relationship, forecasting the future role of ergonomics in increasingly automated and AI-driven environments. Findings: The analysis reveals that the nature of ergonomics must fundamentally change in response to new conditions of human interaction with intelligent technical systems using artificial intelligence. The study shows that contemporary ergonomics increasingly extends beyond traditional applications, evolving toward human-centered organizational design. Moreover, the integration of ergonomic thinking into the design of objects and workplaces enables the discipline to synergize with systems engineering, enhancing its strategic role within enterprises. Originality/value: This paper offers a unique historical-to-futuristic perspective on ergonomics, identifying its shift from a human-as-operator paradigm toward human-as-central agent within technological systems. The value of the article lies in its relevance to researchers, system engineers, and enterprise decision-makers seeking to understand and implement ergonomic policies in the era of smart industry and human-centric automation. Keywords: Human-centered design; Ergonomics; Industry 5.0; Ergonomic policy; Human machine interaction. Category of the paper: Viewpoint.

A design science research methodology and its application to accounting information systems research

An increase in the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the Internet of Things (IoT) in Facility Management (FM) induces a huge data stack. Even though these data bring opportunities such as cost savings, time savings, increase in user comfort, space optimization, energy savings, inventory management, etc., these data sources cannot be managed and manipulated effectively to increase efficiency at the FM stage. In addition to data management issues, FM practices, or developed solutions, need to be supported with the implementation of lean management philosophy to reveal organizational and managerial wastes. In the literature, some researchers performed studies about awareness about building information modeling (BIM)-FM, and FM-related data management problems in terms of lean philosophy. However, the comprehensive solution for effective FM has not been investigated with the application of lean management philosophy yet. Therefore, this study aims to develop an FM framework for healthcare facilities by considering lean management philosophy since more stable workflow, continuous improvement, and creating more value to customers will help to deliver a more acceptable solution for the FM industry. Within this context, the integration of BIM, Building Energy Performance Simulations, and Big Data Analytics are proposed as a solution. In the study, the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology was followed to develop the FM framework. Depending on the DSR methodology, two scenarios were used to investigate the issue in a real healthcare facility and develop the FM framework. The developed framework was evaluated by four experts, and the revisions of the proposed framework were realized.

ObjectivesThe rate of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) booster vaccination in Indonesia remains relatively low, representing 15.33% of the overall vaccination target as of April 2022. The implementation of a reminder and recall system has been shown to be effective in increasing vaccination rates. In prior research, reminders and recalls were sent through traditional media, such as mail, and had not yet been integrated into modern media, such as smartphone applications and (in particular) contact tracing applications. Therefore, the present study was conducted to design a reminder and recall system for the PeduliLindungi contact tracing application.MethodsWe used the design science research (DSR) methodology with three iterations. The first iteration produced a low-fidelity prototype (or wireframe), and the next yielded a high-fidelity (clickable) prototype.ResultsThe final prototype included three main features: a reminder and recall mechanism, online registration for COVID-19 booster vaccination, and educational articles. The evaluation consisted of interviews in the first iteration, interviews and the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire in the second, and the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) in the third. The SUS value obtained in the second iteration was 71.6, indicating good (acceptable) results, while in the third iteration, the system usefulness, information quality, interface quality, and overall PSSUQ values were 2.456, 2.473, 2.230, and 2.397, respectively, indicating good quality of the resulting design.ConclusionsThis research contributes to two areas: implementation of a reminder and recall system in the PeduliLindungi contact tracing application and enhancement of contact tracing applications using DSR methodology.

Lithium-ion batteries are one of the most promising technologies in energy storage due to their high energy density and long service life. Despite this, this technology can present failures that reduce its useful life. For this reason, battery management projects are constantly developed in the industry, aiming to optimize and reduce battery degradation, mainly for applications in second-life cells. In this context, this work aimed to create a project with a transdisciplinary team for an intelligent lithium-ion battery manager for applications in energy storage solutions by combining the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and framework Scrum. The DSR methodology was applied to monitor the design of the intelligent manager. Conversely, Scrum was used for project management and control through weekly monitoring meetings and creating Sprints. Despite problems observed during the project, such as developer turnover, the project management was successful. It resulted in the presentation of the developed artefact at a conference and the publication of an article in an international journal. The combinations of both methodologies resulted in success and can be applied to other future product development projects and even for startups.

Purpose This study explores the interaction between operations management and information systems by applying the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology for intelligent early fault management. Prior research primarily addressed post-fault identification and classification but has struggled with catastrophic forgetting. Thus, this work proposes an innovative data-driven artifact that leverages a deep learning (DL)-based approach for early fault detection and future fault forecasting. Design/methodology/approach Following the DSR methodology, the work proposes an innovative data-driven artifact for early fault management. The proposed artifact extracts key features from industrial sensor data in real time using a Deep Sparse Autoencoder with a sparsity penalty. These features are then processed using an Exponentially Weighted Moving Average method for monitoring process variations, while a Transformer-based Neural Network forecasts potential faults. To mitigate catastrophic forgetting, the Elastic Weight Consolidation technique is applied during offline training to preserve previous patterns when new information becomes available. Findings The artifact enhances operational decision-making by generating early warning alerts and delivering actionable insights. Experimental evaluation using real-world sensor data validates that the proposed approach outperforms existing DL methods. Originality/value Unlike traditional approaches that are limited to fixed fault distributions, this work introduces novel design propositions for industrial fault management systems, enabling dynamic learning and continuous improvement with new data.

Design Science Research (DSR) has many risks. Researchers inexperienced in DSR, especially early career researchers (ECRs) and research students (e.g. PhD students) risk inefficient projects (with delays, rework, etc.) at best and research project failure at worst if they do not manage and treat DSR risks in a proactive manner. The DSR literature, such as the Risk Management Framework for Design Science Research (RMF4DSR), provides advice for identifying risks, but provides few suggestions for specific treatments for the kinds of risks that potentially plague DSR. This paper describes the development of a new purposeful artefact (TRiDS: Treatments for Risks in Design Science) to address this lack of suggestions for treatment of DSR risks. The paper describes how the purposeful artefact was developed (following a DSR methodology), what literature it draws upon to inspire its various components, the functional requirements identified for TRiDS, and how TRiDS is structured and why. The paper also documents the TRiDS purposeful artefact in detail, including four main components: (1) an extended set of risk checklists (extended from RMF4DSR), (2) a set of 47 specific suggestions for treating known risks in DSR, (3) a classification of the treatments identified into 14 different categories, and (4) a look-up table for identifying candidate treatments based on a risk in the extended risk checklists. The treatment suggestions and guidance in TRiDS serve as a supplement to RMF4DSR by helping DSR researchers to identify treatments appropriate for a particular DSR project (or program) and thereby to improve DSR project efficiency and the probability of DSR project success.

Purpose– Literature-identified website benchmarking (WB) approaches are generally time consuming, survey based, with little agreement on what and how to measure website components. The purpose of this paper is to establish a theoretical approach to WB. A comprehensive design science research methodology (DSRM) artifact facilitates the evaluation of the website against the universal set of benchmark components. This knowledge allows managers to gauge/reposition their websites.Design/methodology/approach– DSRM establishes a website analysis method (WAM) artifact. Across six activities (problem identification, solution objective, artifact design/development, artifact demonstration, artifact evaluation, results communication), the WAM artifact solves the DSRM-identified WB problem.Findings– The WAM artifact uses 230 differentiated components, allowing managers to understand in-depth and at-level WB. Typological website components deliver interpretable WB scores. Website comparisons are made at domain (aesthetic, marketing, technical) and/or functional levels.Research limitations/implications– New/emergent components (and occasionally new functions) are included (and redundant components removed) as upgrades to the DSRM WAM artifact’s three domains and 28 functions. Such modifications help keep latest benchmarking comparisons (and/or website upgrades) optimized.Practical implications– This DSRM study employs a dichotomous present/absent component approach, allowing the WAM artifact’s measures to be software programmed, and merged at three different levels, delivering a useful WB tool for corporates.Originality/value– DSRM identifies the benchmarking problem. Rough-cut set-theory and mutual-exclusivity of components allow the causal-summing of typological website components into an objective WAM artifact WB solution. This new, comprehensive, objective-measurement approach to WB thus offers comparative, competitive, and website behavioral implications for corporates.

As augmented reality (AR) and gamification design artifacts for education proliferate in the mobile and wearable device market, multiple frameworks have been developed to implement AR and gamification. However, there is currently no explicit guidance on designing and conducting a human-centered evaluation activity beyond suggesting possible methods that could be used for evaluation. This study focuses on human-centered design evaluation pattern for gamified AR using Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) to support educators and developers in constructing immersive AR games. Specifically, we present an evaluation pattern for a location-based educational indigenous experience that can be used as a case study to support the design of augmented (or mixed) reality interfaces, gamification implementations, and location-based services. This is achieved through the evaluation of three design iterations obtained in the development cycle of the solution. The holistic analysis of all iterations showed that the evaluation process could be reused, evolved, and its complexity reduced. Furthermore, the pattern is compatible with formative and summative evaluation and the technical or human-oriented types of evaluation. This approach provides a method to inform the evaluation of gamified AR apps. At the same time, it will enable a more approachable evaluation process to support educators, designers, and developers.