Design Science Research Research Articles

Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration in Action Design Research

Action Design Research (ADR) is a well-known research method within Design Science Research (DSR). An essential characteristic of the ADR method is the need for researcher-practitioner collaboration (RPC). While there is abundant research on RPC regarding information systems projects in general concerning explanatory and normative knowledge, there is very limited prescriptive knowledge on how to execute RPC in ADR projects. Successful collaboration in ADR projects is imperative since the development of socio-technical IT artefacts requires frequent interaction in organisational contexts. However, RPC can be hard to manage due to competing interests. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present prescriptive knowledge for how to manage RPC. We have analysed a collaborative ADR project consisting of several researchers and practitioners. Based on a grounded theory approach, we have developed theoretical models based on challenges identified in an ADR project. The models provide prescriptive knowledge regarding: shape the IT artefact based on organisational intervention, exploit the mutual dependency between developing design principles and IT artefacts, and contextualise and generalise learning. Each model involves logical relationships between: conditions for the challenges, actions taken to address the challenges and consequences of the actions taken. The guidelines were deducted from the models and consist of recommendations that could be considered in future ADR projects.

A conceptual framework for the government big data ecosystem (‘datagov.eco’)

The public sector, private firms, and civil society constantly create data of high volume, velocity, and veracity from diverse sources. This kind of data is known as big data. As in other industries, public administrations consider big data as the “new oil" and employ data-centric policies to transform data into knowledge, stimulate good governance, innovative digital services, transparency, and citizens' engagement in public policy. More and more public organizations understand the value created by exploiting internal and external data sources, delivering new capabilities, and fostering collaboration inside and outside of public administrations. Despite the broad interest in this ecosystem, we still lack a detailed and systematic view of it. In this paper, we attempt to describe the emerging Government Big Data Ecosystem as a socio-technical network of people, organizations, processes, technology, infrastructure, standards & policies, procedures, and resources. This ecosystem supports data functions such as data collection, integration, analysis, storage, sharing, use, protection, and archiving. Through these functions, value is created by promoting evidence-based policymaking, modern public services delivery, data-driven administration and open government, and boosting the data economy. Through a Design Science Research methodology, we propose a conceptual framework, which we call ‘datagov.eco’. We believe our ‘datagov.eco’ framework will provide insights and support to different stakeholders’ profiles, including administrators, consultants, data engineers, and data scientists.

Meta-organizing and responsibilization: Government strategies for community engagement and high-quality development in public–private megaprojects

Community engagement is essential for creating social value and fostering high-quality development in megaprojects. However, organizing such engagement within public-private partnerships is particularly complex in weak institutional contexts, such as those found in sub-Saharan Africa. Existing research often depoliticizes community engagement, overlooking the critical role of government. Additionally, empirical studies on this phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa remain scarce. In this study, we adopt a governmentality lens and a design science research method to identify meta-organizing and responsibilization as governmental strategies for organizing community engagement in weak institutional contexts, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa. Through an embedded case study of a megaproject in Nigeria, we develop two sets of design principles that form a transformational community engagement framework. Our findings have implications for community engagement practices in megaprojects within weak institutional contexts and contribute to mainstream external stakeholder engagement research.

Human-centered AI development in practice—insights from a multidisciplinary approach

Industry 5.0 will focus on human-centered digitalization and put people at the center of manufacturing. To achieve this, it is necessary to consider employees throughout the transformation process. For this purpose, a practical approach to human-centered AI integration based on the Design Science Research method is presented in this article. The main requirements of the approach were evaluated in interviews with ten pilot companies, especially SMEs. The practical procedure was then examined in more detail for three application examples. The results show that there is still a lack of a uniform approach regarding the involvement of employees. Information on AI projects often reach those affected only during implementation. Even though the interdisciplinary approach is understood as a feasible approach for holistic AI development and implementation, there is still a lack of practical guidelines for adopting this multi-perspective approach. This work provides an initial starting point for a practice-oriented approach to the introduction of human-centered AI.Practical Relevance: As a result of exponential digitalization and the associated in-depth use of partially to fully automated technologies such as AI, collaboration between humans and machines is becoming increasingly important. It is essential for companies to work according to human-centered approaches to consider motivation and satisfaction as well as aspects of data protection and personal protection for employees. The necessity for companies to adopt a human-centric and sustainable approach to digitalization will intensify in coming years. The work addresses the needs for operationalization of research findings for companies. Thus, the proposed guidelines can be understood as an approach to practical knowledge transfer from science to industry.

Usability Evaluation of a VR French Learning App for Google Cardboard

The purpose of this research work is to investigate cost-effective immersive virtual reality (VR) for learning French language by designing, developing and evaluating Mission Maison, an affordable immersive VR application for Google Cardboard. The development was guided by Design Science Research principle and aligned with John Biggs’ constructive alignment theory to transform passive learning into engaging adventures through immersive environments, compelling stories and gamified quizzes that is accessible via smartphone. 29 Malaysian young adults participated in the usability and acceptance evaluation using the System Usability Scale (SUS) in a controlled environment. All the participants were briefed on the application's functionality and went through a tutorial on using Google Cardboard prior to using the VR application. The evaluation revealed a high usability and learnability of Mission Maison, with an average SUS score of 86.38. The evaluation results also indicated that Mission Maison was easy to use, well-integrated, engaging and with minimal learning curves, serving as strong support that cost-effective immersive VR has the potential of springboarding traditional language learning to provide enjoyable and engaging learning experiences. The research work contributes in terms of a new practical budget-friendly immersive VR French language learning application and insights into usability and acceptance by young adults in Malaysia, for broader accessibility and adoption in language education. The findings provide educators, policymakers, and technology developers with a scalable solution to integrate immersive VR instructional design into curricula with aims to enhance language learning experiences.

Blockchain-Enhanced Traceability Framework for Smart Farming with Integrated Ontology-Based Data Standardization

This paper introduces a new conceptual framework to enhance crop traceability within smart farming environments. The framework merges blockchain technology with ontology-based data standardization to address persistent challenges in traditional traceability systems, such as data fragmentation and inconsistencies. The primary goal is establishing a transparent, reliable, and efficient traceability process from farm to table. The methodology employed in this research follows the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM), involving iterative cycles of designing, building, and evaluating the proposed framework to ensure its effectiveness in real-world applications. The framework offers a promising solution to improve food safety, quality, regulatory compliance, and data-driven agricultural decision-making by capitalizing on blockchain's immutable and decentralized attributes and leveraging standardized data formats facilitated by ontologies. The proposed framework comprises three key components: ontology development, system integration, and blockchain implementation. Ontology development addresses data fragmentation and inconsistencies by providing a common language and structure for data exchange. Meanwhile, system integration ensures seamless data exchange among stakeholders, and blockchain implementation secures and verifies traceability records to maintain data integrity and trust. This integrated system is expected to foster trust and collaboration among all participants in the agricultural supply chain, thereby advancing the efficiency and sustainability of smart farming practices. Through continuous refinement and validation, this research aims to significantly contribute to the practical implementation of advanced traceability solutions in the agricultural sector, ensuring that these systems are robust, scalable, and adaptable to various farming contexts.

Design and evaluation of a blockchain‐based system for increasing customer engagement in circular economy

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to design, develop and evaluate a blockchain platform in the field of circular economy (CE). To achieve this aim, the research demonstrates the feasibility of designing a decentralised architecture and prototyping a distributed system to increase customer engagement in the transition toward CE. Building on previous research and leveraging on the design science research approach, the paper identifies the technical and managerial issues that must be addressed to adopt blockchain as an enabling technology in the CE domain. More in details, starting with the identification of circular sharing economy (CSE) processes, a conceptual framework was designed to evaluate how blockchain implementation has the potential to enhance the role of customers involved in CSE processes. As for the practical implications, the suggested conceptual framework reduces the knowledge gap between blockchain developers and corporate social responsibility specialists. To bridge the gap, it identifies future directions and practical guidelines for designing and implementing blockchain to support the digital and sustainable innovation of more circular firms and supply chains.

Towards a Framework for the Industrial Recommissioning of Residual Energy (IRRE): How to Systematically Evaluate and Reclaim Waste Energy in Manufacturing

The extensive body of research dedicated to optimizing energy consumption and efficiency in the manufacturing sector demonstrates a significant and well-established legacy. Despite a peak of publications in this field over recent years, the subject of reusing residual energy is only infrequently discussed. Where authors target this topic, research is often exclusively directed towards specialized applications or industries. In this article, an initial attempt of approaching residual energy reclamation in industrial manufacturing in a structured and universal manner is made. By employing a systematic literature review and design science research, a universal tool chain for decomposing individual industrial manufacturing systems to successfully reclaim and reintegrate residual energy is developed. A comprehensive overview of technologies available for energy conversion in industrial scenarios and their corresponding efficiency ranges are presented in the form of a table, called the energy conversion overview (ECO) table. The main contribution poses a multistep sequential framework guiding through identifying, assessing, harnessing, reusing, and validating residual energy in manufacturing systems. As a universal tool, the Industrial Recommissioning of Residual Energy (IRRE) framework is empowering its adopters to systematically approach residual energy recovery in their individual context by a universal tool. The application of both tools is showcased in a case study from the large-aircraft carbon fiber manufacturing industry.

Research artifacts for human-oriented experiments in software engineering: An ACM badges-driven structure proposal

Context:The Open Science (OS) movement promotes the value of making public the research artifacts (datasets, analysis scripts, guidelines, etc.) used during empirical studies. OS is widely known in areas such as Medicine or Biology, where the process of sharing research artifacts is subject to strict protocols. Unfortunately, in Software Engineering (SE), this process is carried out in a non-systematic way, resulting in incomplete or inaccurate material shared by researchers, which hinders the reproducibility and replicability of empirical studies. Nevertheless, in recent years, it seems that the Empirical Software Engineering (ESE) community is embracing some of the proposed OS initiatives, such as the one proposed by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), which provides a badge system to evaluate the quality of a research artifact. This badge system has been adopted by several SE conferences as a method of assessing research artifacts. Aims:Focusing on human-oriented experiments (HOEs) in SE, whose research artifacts are more complex than those for computational experiments, this work applies Design Science Research (DSR) with a twofold purpose: (i) review the current status of HOEs research artifacts publication through evaluation of this practice in the most relevant ESE journals , and (ii) propose a structured outline for HOEs research artifacts driven by the aforementioned ACM badging policy. Method:Regarding the first purpose, we carried out a survey to analyze the current status of the publication of research artifacts considering relevant peer review journals and the quality of 106 research artifacts published in these journals with respect to the ACM badging policy. For the second purpose, an iterative process was carried out to review the content of 106 research artifacts research and their concordance with ACM badges, obtaining a structured scheme for HOEs research artifacts that has been validated through a detailed review of 12 research artifacts obtained from some of those of ACM badges in relevant SE conferences. In addition, we validated the proposal in the research artifacts of 2 of our own experiments. Results:Our survey reveals issues such as the 39,70% of journal studies making completely accessible their research artifacts; most of the analyzed research artifacts are incomplete; the most common repositories used in the ESE community to share the research artifacts are GitHub, institutional repositories, and Zenodo. On the other hand, the validated and structured research artifact outline consists of a list of ordered sections containing a set of artifacts, which can be mandatory or not to achieve a particular ACM badge. For its internal validation, several improvement iterations on the first release of the outline have been carried out based on the conference guidelines, the ACM badging policy, and other relevant proposals. Conclusions:Although the ESE community is making great efforts in standardization, review, and digital publishing related to OS, the availability and completeness of research artifacts can be improved. Our proposal for the elaboration of structured research artifact outline meets the requirements of HOEs in SE. Nevertheless, further research is needed not only to improve and externally validate it but also to disseminate its use among the research community.

TEADASH: Implementing and Evaluating a Teacher-Facing Dashboard Using Design Science Research

The benefits of teacher-facing dashboards are incontestable, yet their evidence is finite in terms of long-term use, meaningful usability, and maturity level. Thus, this paper uses design science research and critical theory to design and develop TEADASH to support teachers in making decisions on teaching and learning. Three cycles of design science research and multiple small loops were implemented to develop the dashboard. The tool was then deployed and evaluated in real time with the authentic courses. Five courses from two Swedish universities were included in this study. The co-design with teachers is crucial to the applicability of this dashboard, while letting teachers use the tool during their courses is more important to help them to recognize the features they actually use and the tool’s usefulness for their teaching practices. TEADASH can address the prior matters, align with the learning design, and meet teachers’ needs. The technical and co-design aspects, as well as the advantages and challenges of applying TEADASH in practice, are also discussed here.

Simulation Model for a Sustainable Food Supply Chain in a Developing Country: A Case Study of the Banana Supply Chain in Malawi

Background: Sustainability in food supply chains is desired for production, logistics, and waste management. However, food supply chains (SCs) have complex systems that differ from other SCs. Managing such complexities is challenging for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to their heightened constraints, such as limited resources and inadequate awareness. Despite the challenges, there is fragmented research, understanding, and approaches to assist SMEs. SC designs need to be adapted so that SMEs can navigate the challenges and avert high wastage. The main objective of this research was to identify the practices influencing sustainable SC designs in a developing country and create a simulation model to illustrate the potential benefits and challenges of promoting sustainability in the banana SC in Malawi. Methods: Mixed-methods research was utilised, employing a literature review, participant interviews, observations, and survey data collected from 353 participants from three districts in Malawi to gain insight into the banana SC problem, establish objectives, and develop a simulation model complemented by design science research. Results: The research identified awareness, collaboration, efficiency, governance, knowledge sharing, and resilience as sustainability practices in the case study banana SC, thus forming a sustainability model. Simulation results showed improvements in key performance indicators like shelf-life, lead-time, quality, throughput, and waste through SC operation reorganisation. Conclusions: Sustainable models must be tailored to the specific challenges inherent in developing food supply chains in developing nations. The development of the models has significant managerial implications, notably enhancing strategic planning, operational efficiency, risk management, alignment of sustainability goals, performance monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and resource optimisation.

Augmented reality for enhanced documentation and anchor inspection reporting in conventional tunnelling

This study explores the feasibility of Augmented Reality (AR) technology for efficient quality inspection documentation on tunnel construction sites. Conventional tunnel construction relies heavily on paper-based documentation processes, leading to potential errors and increased documentation and site inspection time requirements. Introducing AR as a digital tool offers a promising solution to address these challenges. The paper identifies potential use of AR for tunnel inspection reports. The methodology involves Design Science Research, including prototype development and a case study in a tunnel environment. The findings of the case study show that the developed AR prototype facilitates quality management and speeds up documentation processes compared to the current paper-based solutions. Despite some input detection issues and current hardware limitations, the approach presents a promising and robust solution suitable for real-world environments.

An innovative integrated framework for multi-level production planning and control systems in construction

The construction industry is plagued by chronic inefficiencies, such as low productivity, significant waste, cost overruns, and schedule delays. One of the most critical contributors to these issues is fragmented and ineffective planning and control methods. This research aims to address these challenges by developing an innovative integrated multi-level framework for production planning and control that harmonizes various planning methods and control metrics across different schedule levels. Employing the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, this study systematically develops and evaluates an innovative framework that integrates internal and external project characteristics, utilizing the concept of "functionality" as a primary key for coherent integration. Furthermore, a multi-objective mathematical model is incorporated to clarify the framework's components and optimize the number of suggested planning methods and control metrics at each scheduling level, aiming to balance the functional requirements of project teams with the practicality of implementation.The application of the framework to a renovation case study demonstrates its practicality and strategic value, effectively addressing real-world project management challenges. Moreover, industry and academic evaluations highlight its potential to significantly improve construction project management practices.

Understanding the shift: contextual determinants of classic and alternative servitisation trajectories

PurposeWhile servitization has been recognised for its potential to augment organizational revenue and fortify competitive advantage, the exploration of alternative servitization trajectories to the classical servitization model has been little explored in literature. Recent literature introduces the “service paradox” and presents different trajectories to the classical model, but it does not explain why a company chooses one trajectory instead of another. Therefore, this study aims to provide a model that, based on the contextual factors present, recommends which servitization trajectory the company should choose.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a combination of design science research (DSR) and context, intervention, mechanisms and outcomes (CIMO) to propose the model. An initial contextual factors list was created based on the literature, refined by the company’s employees and evaluated in three selected initiatives in the focal company. Furthermore, based on the understanding of the CIMO logic elements, four design propositions were elaborated to summarize the main findings of the study.FindingsThe study has demonstrated that the choice of a servitisation trajectory is intricately tied to a multitude of contextual factors, prompting organisations to deviate from conventional models towards alternative paths. Furthermore, the research sheds light on the underlying mechanisms and contextual drivers that shape servitisation decisions within the context of a consumer goods manufacturer. The analysis underscores the pivotal role of market dynamics and strategic adaptability in shaping servitisation strategies, underscoring the importance of customized approaches that cater to the distinct circumstances of each organisations.Originality/valueThe research contributes to both theory and practice by offering profound insights into the complex nature of servitisation, advocating for continuous adaptation and strategic alignment with market demands. For practitioners and decision-makers, the study provides valuable guidance on enhancing service offerings and navigating the complexities of servitisation within specific sectors, fostering a culture of learning and adaptation to drive sustainable growth.

Co-designing a motivational interviewing training platform to enhance oncology healthcare professional communication

BackgroundOncology healthcare professionals (HCPs) using motivational interviewing may motivate and support patients with chronic illness to adhere to medications. Research of online motivational interviewing training focusing on medication adherence in cancer is limited. ObjectiveCo-design, develop, and preliminarily evaluate a motivational interviewing training platform (MITP) for oncology HCPs focused on medication adherence. MethodsWe used co-design and design science research methodology to develop and test the MITP in two phases: 1) program co-design and development and 2) interactive platform design and development. ResultsHCPs expressed a high demand for a practical and tailored motivational interviewing training. MITP is an online three-hour training comprising education, roleplay videos, and formative assessments. MITP was reported to be acceptable, usable, and useful by users. InnovationThis study used a novel approach combining co-design and design science research methodology, and digital media to develop a flexible and acceptable online motivational interviewing training focused on medication adherence in cancer. Discussion and conclusionApplied rigorous methodology ensured the MITP was developed to address knowledge gaps and the needs of oncology HCPs for supporting patient adherence, and to be usable and useful. Study findings may inform future research on online motivational interviewing training and its potential impact on medication adherence.

Sustainable purchasing supply management assessment in construction supply chains: a design science research approach

Purpose In response to multiple disruptions, the purchasing supply management (PSM) function in construction supply chain management (CSCM) has gained prominence due to stakeholder pressures, dynamic market conditions and the need to adhere to complex sustainability, safety and health regulations and standards. However, there is a noticeable absence of empirical research on measuring and mitigating PSM vulnerabilities, especially considering the distinct challenges faced by large engineer-to-order project-oriented manufacturers. To address these issues, the purpose of this study is to develop and test a novel method to assist companies in construction supply chains in assessing and managing risks associated with sustainable procuring and sourcing materials. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in the literature gaps on construction PSM and a real case supply chain, the research uses the design science research (DSR) approach to develop an integrated method for assessing PSM strategies in this sector. The method integrates three essential purchasing dimensions: supply risks, profit impact and sustainability risks of materials, supported by nine subdimensions. Empirical validation took place within a multinational European construction company based in Denmark. Findings Findings from the supplier–buyer relationships confirmed that the developed method allows for the identification of the key components that significantly impact supplier–buyer relationships, profitability and sustainability. The research further suggests that construction supply chain managers and purchasing practitioners can use the proposed method to evaluate PSM, thus enabling them to make more informed decisions. Practical implications Through the utilization of the proposed artifact, construction companies can take a more proactive approach to address PSM uncertainties, thereby enhancing their competitiveness in dynamic construction supply chains. Originality/value The research contributes to bridging the theory and practice, providing valuable assistance for construction companies assessing and managing the PSM and supply risks within global construction value chains. This paper provides original insights for the CSCM, aiding in adopting competitive PSM strategies to improve overall supply chain performance.

Opportunities with Multi-Layer Weave Structures in Woven E-textile Design

Most textiles in day-to-day use are products of weaving. The versatility of this manufacturing technique, which readily supports a multi-layered structure, inclusion of several yarn types, malleability, and other valuable characteristics, has attracted attention from HCI researchers intrigued by its potential to expand the interaction capabilities of e-textiles. Research nonetheless has barely scratched the surface of the wealth of weaving techniques and woven structures available. Therefore, a design-research project anchored in practice investigated how touch-sensitive e-textiles’ capabilities might be enriched via advanced multi-layer weaving techniques. The research process, which drew inspiration from literature both on textile design and on woven e-textiles, produced 25 distinct e-textile samples. Results from evaluating the structural properties, electrical capabilities, and overall utility of each point to numerous unexplored opportunities from woven multi-layer e-textiles. Even holding potential for entirely new forms of interaction, these represent promising starting points for in-depth investigation.

Watt’s Next? Leveraging Process Flexibility for Power Cost Optimization

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources poses major challenges for balancing increasingly weather-dependent power supply and demand. Although demand-side energy flexibility, offered particularly by industrial companies, is seen as a promising and necessary approach to address these challenges and realize benefits for companies, its implementation is not yet common practice. Often facing highly complex process landscapes and operational systems, process mining provides significant potential to increase transparency of actual process flows and to discover or reflect existing dependencies and interrelationships of activities, instances or resources. It facilitates the implementation of energy flexibility measures and enables the realization of monetary benefits associated with flexible process operation. This paper contributes to the successful integration of energy flexibility into process operations by presenting a design science research artifact called PM4Flex. This is a prescriptive process monitoring approach that uses linear programming to generate recommendations for pending process flows optimized under fluctuating power prices by utilizing established energy flexibility measures. Thereby, event logs and corresponding company- as well as process-specific constraints are considered. PM4Flex is demonstrated and evaluated based on its implementation as a software prototype, its application to exemplary data from two real-world processes exhibiting power cost savings of up to 75% compared to the original execution, and based on semi-structured expert interviews. PM4Flex provides new design knowledge at the interface of prescriptive process monitoring and the energy domain providing decision support to optimize industrial energy procurement costs.

Augmented Reality Applied to Identify Aromatic Herbs Using Mobile Devices

Correctly identifying and classifying food is decisive in food safety. The food sector is constantly evolving, and one of the technologies that stands out is augmented reality (AR). During practical studies at Companhia de Entreposto e Armazéns Gerais de São Paulo (CEAGESP), responsible for the largest food storage in South America, difficulties were identified in classifying aromatic herbs due to the large number of species. The project aimed to create an innovative AR application called ARomaticLens to solve the challenges associated with identifying and classifying aromatic herbs using the design science research (DSR) methodology. The research was divided into five stages according to the DSR methodology, from surveying the problem situation at CEAGESP to validating the application through practical tests and an experience questionnaire carried out by CEAGESP specialists. The result of the study presented 100% accuracy in identifying the 18 types of aromatic herbs studied when associated with the application’s local database without the use of an Internet connection, in addition to a score of 8 on a scale of 0 to 10 in terms of the usability of the interface as rated by users. The advantage of the applied method is that the app can be used offline.

Ontology-Driven Automated Reasoning About Property Crimes

AbstractThe classification of police reports according to the typification of the criminal act described in them is not an easy task. The reports are written in natural language and often present missing, imprecise, or even inconsistent information, or lack sufficient details to make a clear decision. Focusing on property crimes, the aim of this work is to assist judges in this classification process by automatically extracting information from police reports and producing a list of possible classifications of crimes accompanied by a degree of confidence in each of them. The work follows the design science research methodology, developing a tool as an artifact. The proposal uses information extraction techniques to obtain the data from the reports, guided by an ontology developed for the Spanish legal system on property crimes. Probabilistic inference mechanisms are used to select the set of articles of the law that could apply to a given case, even when the evidence does not allow an unambiguous identification. The proposal has been empirically validated in a real environment with judges and prosecutors. The results show that the proposal is feasible and usable, and could be effective in assisting judges to classify property crime reports.