What in Fact Is the Role of Stylized Facts in Fundamental Research of Business and Information Systems Engineering?

Abstract

In the discussion initiated by Winter on “What in fact is fundamental research in business and information systems engineering?” in issue 2/2009, Zelewski submitted the interesting proposal to use the concept of stylized facts as developed in economics in business and information systems engineering (BISE) in order to promote theory building within our discipline (Winter et al. 2009). Stylized facts constitute elements of knowledge in the form of generalized statements that describe the important characteristics and relationships in the context of a studied phenomenon and are widely supported empirically. For example, the empirically proven relationship between the longterm abstention from changing the employer in Japanese companies and a much larger salary increase compared to U.S. companies is a typical stylized fact in economics. When using stylized facts in the context of BISE, a number of interesting questions arise: What are the typical stylized facts within BISE? How can stylized facts be obtained systematically? What is the importance of stylized facts in design-oriented disciplines? Which role do stylized facts play in practice? What is the difference between technological rules and stylized facts? To what extent can we consider stylized facts to be “technological” knowledge about cause-effect-relationships that can be utilized for the construction of artifacts of information and communication technology? Which role do stylized facts play in empirical research? Which contribution can stylized facts make for building theories in BISE if a multiperspective research approach is assumed? Currently, only scattered experience exists in the application of stylized facts in BISE (Fettke et al. 2010; Houy et al. 2009, 2011). In order to achieve a broad perspective on the issue in the course of this discussion, well-known representatives from the field of business administration, the German-speaking BISE as well as from Information Systems Research were invited to comment on the topic. The following authors accepted our invitation to this discussion (in alphabetical order): Prof. Dr. Ulrich Frank, Chair of Information Systems and Enterprise Modelling, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Prof. Dr. Armin Heinzl, Chair of General Management and Information Systems, Mannheim University, Germany; Prof. Dr. Juhani Iivari, Department of Information Processing Science, Oulu University, Finland; Prof. Dr. Barbara E. Weisenberger, Chair of Controlling and Business Accounting, Justus-Liebig University of Giesen, Germany; Prof. Dr. Stephan Zelewski, Institute of Production and Industrial Information Management, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Within their contributions the authors highlight different facets of the generation and application of stylized facts that appear relevant and important for BISE. Barbara E. Weisenberger outlines the concept and the derivation of stylized facts based on a case study in the field of IT-based controlling systems. Thus, several empirical studies have shown that the “increasing flexibility of IT systems in accounting and control has a positive impact on management accounting and control”. The author argues that the concept contributes to aggregate and structure fragmented knowledge in a research area, with particular emphasis on revealing research gaps. At the same time she points out that the derivation of stylized facts is the result of comprehensive research endeavors. The contribution by Stephan Zelewski considers the concept of stylized facts in the tension between the more designoriented German-speaking BISE on the one hand and the more behavioristic Anglo-Saxon Information Systems Research on the other. He argues that stylized facts are not directly but indirectly fruitful for the design-oriented BISE: Accordingly, stylized facts form a “seed of crystallization” for the development and testing of theories with causal explanatory power, making it possible to “explain and verify prognoses regarding alleged effects of the recommended design measures”. Despite the attractiveness of the concept, the author also points to difficulties in the implementation in current science. Armin Heinzl identifies application areas for stylized facts in BISE, especially