IT Artifacts Research Articles

Motion Sensor–Based Fall Prevention for Senior Care: A Hidden Markov Model with Generative Adversarial Network Approach

Whereas modern medicine has enabled humans to live longer and more robust lives, recent years have seen a significant increase in chronic care costs. The prevention of threats to mobility is critical for chronic disease management. Researchers and physicians often analyze data from wearable motion sensor–based information systems (IS) to prevent falls. However, prior studies on fall prevention often achieve suboptimal performance because of their limited capacities in modeling data distributions. In this study, we adopt the computational design science paradigm to develop a novel fall prevention framework, which includes the hidden Markov model with generative adversarial network (HMM-GAN) that extracts temporal and sequential patterns from sensor signals and recognizes snippet states and a logistic regression that utilizes the snippet states and determines whether and when to trigger protective devices to prevent fall injuries. We evaluate the proposed framework against prevailing fall-prevention models and the HMM-GAN component against state-of-the-art sensor analytics models on large-scale data sets. Through an in-depth case study, we demonstrate how the proposed framework can lead to significantly reduced potentially catastrophic falls. Besides practical health information technology contributions, HMM-GAN offers methodological contributions to the IS knowledge base for scholars designing novel IT artifacts for healthcare applications.

Lawfulness by design – development and evaluation of lawful design patterns to consider legal requirements

ABSTRACT New political objectives, emerging regulatory regimes for the digital sphere, and higher penalties for violations have intensified the pressure to develop lawful IT artefacts. As the adaptation of existing IT artefacts to new regulations can be expensive and arduous, a more attractive approach would be to design IT artefacts lawfully from the beginning. A major challenge is that the law is generally technology-neutral, and lawful design requires legal expertise throughout the development, which is costly and time consuming due to communication challenges between legal experts and developers. One possible approach to proactively consider IT regulations in the systems development is design patterns that convey legal design knowledge and support developers in determining the appropriate design options. Consequently, we develop a framework for lawful design patterns and demonstrate their feasibility and advantages using the example of developing AI-based assistants and the regulation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Using the design pattern framework, we develop design patterns for lawful AI-based assistants and evaluate them using (a) an experimental approach to show the usefulness of the patterns for developers and (b) rely on a legal simulation study to holistically evaluate how design patterns contribute to lawful IT.

Designing for Trust in Blockchain Platforms

Trust is a crucial component for successful transactions regardless of whether they are executed in physical or virtual spaces. Blockchain technology is often discussed in the context of trust and referred to as a trust-free, trustless, or trustworthy technology. However, the question of how the trustworthiness of blockchain platforms should be demonstrated and proven to end users still remains open. While there may be some genuine trust in the blockchain technology itself, on an application level trust in an IT artifact needs to be established. In this article, we examine how trust-supporting design elements may be implemented to foster an end user's trust in a blockchain platform. We follow the design science paradigm and suggest a practically useful set of design elements that can help designers of blockchain platforms to build more trustworthy systems.

A spatial data integration and visualization approach for occupational health and safety risks management: Application to Algerian electricity and gas company

AbstractIn the safety 4.0 era, occupational health and safety (OHS) related data has become one of the most valuable assets for organizations. Risk Management in the OHS field is a data‐driven process. However, geospatial data has not been fully considered and few works have used visualization for decision‐making purposes. Our research was conducted using a design science research methodology. It is a methodology for creating and evaluating IT artifacts to solve identified organizational problems. We used Wang's safety intelligence framework and the recommendations of the ISO 45001 model from extant literature to inform the Design. While creating our artifact, we chose to make an inventory of occupational risk prevention practices in Algeria. A qualitative study using interviews with experts in the field consolidated the requirements for such a system. The key findings from the analysis of collected data state that the development of safety data‐driven decision‐making requires top management support and involvement, which is in line with previous studies. A second concern is the availability of spatial data. The designed artifact is an approach called spatial data integration and visualization approach for occupational health and safety management systems (SDIVA‐OHSMS). SDIVA‐OHSMS provides a practical approach for organizations in charge of OHS services to implement OHS data‐driven decision‐making solutions highlighting spatial and semantic dimensions. The evaluation was performed through a representative case study within the Algerian electricity and gas company (Sonelgaz), employing expert opinion and software implementation. As a result, experts concluded that such systems could provide a more comprehensive and accurate view of occupational health issues and guide further prevention policies.

Inductive Empiricism, Theory Specialization and Scientific Idealization in IS Theory Building

This paper distinguishes and discusses three strategies for theory building in Information Systems (IS) - inductive empiricism, theory specialization, and scientific idealization - and contrasts them in terms of three desiderata of theories - realism, generality, and precision - and the tradeoffs between them. Inductive empiricism, emphasizing realism and generality, represents the received view with the classic Grounded Theory Methodology as a prime example. This paper argues for openness to theory specialization in practical disciplines such as IS. Theory specialization implies sacrificing a generality of theories for their realism and precision. The distinctive attention of the paper lies in scientific idealization, sacrificing the realism of theories for their precision and generality. It has almost been completely omitted in the literature on IS theory building. The special focus of this paper lies in IT applications as a category of IT artifacts and in design-oriented theories that provide knowledge of how to design “better” IT applications. This paper illustrates its points using TAM/UTAUT research.

The role of the agency t ole of the agency to overcome alienation in social come alienation in social networking platforms: A self-reported phenomenological investigation

People are increasingly adhering to social networking platforms (SNP), and such adhesion is often thoughtless, which makes them alienate data, actions, and decisions to tech giants. The prevalence of the socio-psychological approach to alienation has led to the emergence of “victimism” or supremacism in society, phenomena that reinforce a tradition of emphasis on the role of the structure in defending the individual against external forces. Adopting a specific perspective for alienation of agency, i.e., the extent to which an individual is free to act and is responsible for her/his actions, this study discusses what happens when someone chooses to terminate her/his participation in a large SNP. This theoretical-empirical manuscript is grounded on the author’s phenomenological experience and his subjective perceptions regarding being out of the WhatsApp network (nowadays, the main SNP instance in the world). The findings offer initial evidence to validate the proposed IT artifact lifecycle conceptual model and suggest the metaphor "digital near-death experience” (DNDE) as suitable for characterizing the feelings of near-death experience in digital spacetime. Theoretical implications and a research agenda are also proposed.

SPDIAM: Methodology for Describing and Solving Spatial Problems in Territorial Planning

Spatial pattern (SP) helps to analyze the tasks and provisions that arise in the spatial planning and design disciplines examining a complex spatial system (CSS). The aim of this article is to present a territorial planning process and how SP description, identification, and application methodology (SPDIAM) can help to work with it using a CSS model. First, the quantitative spatial analysis methods and spatial network analysis tools that can be used to identify SP are compared with SPDIAM. Then, the main concepts of SPDIAM and created IT artefacts are explained. In the experiment section, the SP is identified using spatial metapatterns in different North American, European, and African cities and the correlation results of SP and statistics are calculated to show a medium to close relationship. Then, the territorial planning cycle and SPDIAM application use case using the data of Kaunas city (Lithuania) are presented. The results of SPDIAM can be used to associate the shape of the territory with the geographer models and Alexander patterns using the bottom-up modelling principle and allows us to standardize urban planning solutions.

Investigating a Work System Approach to Implement an Emergency Department Surge Management System: Case Study.

BackgroundEmergency department (ED) crowding is a global health care issue. eHealth systems have the potential to reduce crowding; however, the true benefits are seldom realized because the systems are not integrated into clinicians’ work. We sought a deep understanding of how an eHealth system implementation can be structured to truly integrate the system into the workflow.ObjectiveThe specific objectives of this study were to examine whether work system theory (WST) is a good approach to structure the implementation of an eHealth system by incorporating the entire work system, and not just the eHealth system, in the implementation framework; identify the role that specific elements of WST’s static framework and dynamic work system life cycle model play in the implementation; and demonstrate how WST can be applied in the health care setting to guide the implementation of an eHealth system.MethodsThrough a case study of an ED in a rural hospital, we used a mixed methods approach to examine the implementation of a surge management system through the lens of WST. We conducted 14 hours of observation in the ED; 20 interviews with clinicians, management, and members of the implementation team; and a survey of 23 clinicians; reviewed related documentation; and analyzed ED data to measure wait times. We used template analysis based on WST to structure our analysis of qualitative data and descriptive statistics for quantitative data.ResultsThe surge management system helped to reduce crowding in the ED, staff was satisfied with the implementation, and wait time improvements have been maintained for several years. Although study participants indicated changes to their workflow, 72% (13/18) of survey participants were satisfied with their use of the system, and 82% (14/17) indicated that it was integrated with their workflow. Examining the implementation through the lens of WST enabled us to identify the aspects of the implementation that made it so successful. By applying the WST static framework, we saw how the implementation team incorporated the elements of the ED work system, assessed their alignment, and designed interventions to address areas of misalignment. The dynamic work system life cycle model captured how planned and unplanned changes were managed throughout the iterative implementation cycle—83% (15/18) of participants indicated that there was sufficient management support for the changes and 80% (16/20) indicated the change served an important purpose.ConclusionsThe broad scope and holistic approach of WST is well suited to guide eHealth system implementations as it focuses efforts on the entire work system and not just the IT artifact. We broaden the focus of WST by applying it to the implementation of an ED surge management system. These findings will guide further studies and implementations of eHealth systems using WST.

Bystanders Join in Cyberbullying on Social Networking Sites: The Deindividuation and Moral Disengagement Perspectives

Bystanders Join in Cyberbullying on Social Networking Sites: The Deindividuation and Moral Disengagement Perspectives Cyberbullying on social networking sites escalates when bystanders join in the bullying. Bystanders’ joining-in behaviors reinforce the abuse, expose victims to a larger audience, and encourage further abuse by signaling their approval of the aggressive behavior. This study developed an integrative model that explains bystanders’ joining-in cyberbullying behaviors on SNSs to offer actionable insights into reducing such harmful behaviors. We tested the model using 1,179 responses using a scenario survey study. Our findings suggest that IT artifacts (including digital profile, search and privacy, relational ties, and network transparency) activated two key mechanisms that lead to cyberbullying joining-in behaviors: (i) the deindividuation experiences that attenuate self-identity and put salience on group/social identity, and (ii) the moral disengagement practices that permit the exercise of cognitive maneuvers to justify group-interested choices that do not align with social standard. The findings explain why people who do not know each other gang up to bully a target on social media. Platform owners who wish to discourage bystanders from joining in undesirable activities may consider regulating how users could share and access digital resources in a social network and should acknowledge the influence of social identity in igniting, driving, and prolonging harmful online group behaviors.

Exploring the Dynamics of Affordance Actualization – A Configurational View on Voice Assistants

Voice assistants’ (VAs) increasingly nuanced and natural communication opens up new opportunities for the experience of users, providing task assistance and automation possibilities, and also offer an easy interface to digital services and ecosystems. However, VAs face various problems, such as low adoption and satisfaction rates as well as other negative reactions from users. Companies, therefore, need to consider how individuals utilize VAs and what contributes to user satisfaction. Key for the design of VAs are their unique affordances and their agentic nature that distinguish these IT artifacts from non-agentic IS. A configurative and dynamic approach enables to shed light on the complex causalities underlying user outcomes with these novel systems. Consequently, we examine in this study how individuals actualize the affordances of VAs during the initial adoption stage. For this purpose, we draw on a diary study research design that examines affordance actualization processes with new VA users. We examine with a configurational approach, how the actualization of VA affordances contributes to the outcomes of VAs, i.e., in our case user satisfaction. The results of our diary study show distinct patterns of functional affordance configurations. In addition, we show that affordances unfold and evolve over time. The derived implications provide a configurative theoretical understanding for the role of VAs affordances for user satisfaction that provides practitioners useful guidance to actualize the potential of VAs.

Selected Topics on Business Informatics: Editorial Introduction to Issue 31 of CSIMQ

This thematic issue introduces two structured literature review articles as well as a couple of empirical ones. The authors of the literature reviews move into the broad field of assuring the quality of IT artifacts, focusing on different dimensions of the software engineering process. With the ever-increasing scale of computerization in more and more areas of life, insufficient emphasis on quality is not only associated with significant costs of bug-fixing. After all, considerable risks arise from the possibility of exploiting the vulnerabilities of the target product. In extreme cases, poor quality can lead to loss of health and life. Not surprisingly, academics and practitioners alike have been looking at this challenge for many years, and from numerous perspectives. The quality of IT artefacts also depends on the education of professionals and good understanding of application domains. The empirical papers concern educational issues regarding Enterprise Architecture and deepen our understanding of decentralized autonomous systems.

Directing Technology Addiction Research in Information Systems

In this second part of a series of articles to direct technology addiction research in the information systems discipline, we discuss the history, conceptualization, and measurement of technology addiction. We admit that it is possible to label the phenomenon as overuse or excessive use as long as it is defined and measured by the presence and the magnitude of the six core symptoms of behavioral addictions: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse. The advantage of this terminology is that it does not attribute one's problems to helplessness and does not pathologize the behavior, implying that it may possibly be corrected. Nevertheless, we posit that the term technology addiction is currently the most reasonable choice that may need to be adjusted as we learn more about this phenomenon and its potential similarities to and differences from established behavioral addictions. Dependence, obsessive/compulsive use, and pathological/problem use terms should not be used as synonyms for technology addiction as a form of mental disorder. Researchers should not include the name of the IT artifact as the subject of addiction (e.g., "Facebook addiction"). Instead, they should focus on the activity that is mediated through the IT artifact (e.g., "addiction to Facebook use").

Embracing brain and behaviour: Designing programs of complementary neurophysiological and behavioural studies

AbstractNeuroIS—the methods and knowledge of neuroscience applied to the information systems (IS) domain—has become an established research field within the IS discipline. A key advantage of NeuroIS is its ability to provide insights into human cognition beyond those obtained using behavioural techniques alone. Nevertheless, in neuroscience, there is renewed interest in examining behaviour together with neurophysiological methods to better inform our understanding of neural processes. In this research opinion article, we argue that in the field of NeuroIS, there is an opportunity for hybrid programs of study that combine neurophysiological and behavioural methods in a complementary manner. We outline four strategies for designing complementary neurophysiological and behavioural experiments in a research program: (1) observe the relationship between neural processes and behavioural change; (2) combine neurophysiological and behavioural methods to enhance internal, external, and ecological validity; (3) extend, rather than replicate, experiments based on theory; and (4) use neurophysiological and behavioural experiments together to evaluate IT artefact design. By applying these strategies, researchers can more effectively design programs using complementary neurophysiological and behavioural methods, which, in turn, can help to provide richer insights into the phenomena under study as well as accelerate the advancement of IS knowledge.

Designing a Secure Blockchain-Based Supply Chain Management Framework

ABSTRACT Supply chain management (SCM) faces a critical security issue because of the asymmetry of information delivered to various parties in the ecosystem and the lack of corresponding supervision. In response, we propose the use of blockchain technology to address the SCM security issues and put forward a blockchain-based SCM framework. We apply design science paradigm to guide the blockchain-based SCM framework development and implementation of a proof-of-concept prototype. We use Hyperledger Fabric and Composer to develop the prototype artifact. Performance evaluation results issued from Hyperledger Caliper prove the superiority and robustness of the proposed blockchain-based framework in terms of security and efficiency requirements, and performance metrics including throughput and latency. Also, the evaluation results show that the IT artifact is stable, and the high stability can reduce the risks of system vulnerabilities and breakdown.

Attaining Individual Creativity and Performance in Multidisciplinary and Geographically Distributed IT Project Teams: The Role of Transactive Memory Systems

Contemporary IT project teams demand that individual members generate and implement novel ideas in response to the dynamic changes in IT and business requirements. Firms rely on multidisciplinary, geographically distributed IT project teams to gather the necessary talent, regardless of their locations, for developing novel IT artifacts. In this team context, individuals are expected to leverage dissimilar others’ expertise for creating ideas during idea generation (IG) and then implement their ideas during idea implementation (II), known as the IGII process. Although much has been done to explain individual creativity, the extant literature offers little theoretical understanding on how to address the double-edged effects of dispersions in both functional expertise (ExpDisp) and geographical locations (GeoDiss)—the two defining characteristics of multi-disciplinary, cross-locational IT project teams—on individual creativity and subsequent performance. Drawing on the IGII framework, we propose transactive memory systems (TMSs) as a plausible team-level solution to tackle the challenge. With a multi-wave multi-level dataset from 141 members and their supervisors from 35 IT project teams, we found that team-level TMS and GeoDiss interactively moderate individual-level IGII processes in multi-disciplinary geographically-distributed IT project teams during both II and IG, but in qualitatively different ways.

Cross-Lingual Cybersecurity Analytics in the International Dark Web with Adversarial Deep Representation Learning

International dark web platforms operating within multiple geopolitical regions and languages host a myriad of hacker assets such as malware, hacking tools, hacking tutorials, and malicious source code. Cybersecurity analytics organizations employ machine learning models trained on human-labeled data to automatically detect these assets and bolster their situational awareness. However, the lack of human-labeled training data is prohibitive when analyzing foreign-language dark web content. In this research note, we adopt the computational design science paradigm to develop a novel IT artifact for cross-lingual hacker asset detection (CLHAD). CLHAD automatically leverages the knowledge learned from English content to detect hacker assets in non-English dark web platforms. CLHAD encompasses a novel Adversarial deep representation learning (ADREL) method, which generates multilingual text representations using generative adversarial networks (GANs). Drawing upon the state of the art in cross-lingual knowledge transfer, ADREL is a novel approach to automatically extract transferable text representations and facilitate the analysis of multilingual content. We evaluate CLHAD on Russian, French, and Italian dark web platforms and demonstrate its practical utility in hacker asset profiling, and conduct a proof-of-concept case study. Our analysis suggests that cybersecurity managers may benefit more from focusing on Russian to identify sophisticated hacking assets. In contrast, financial hacker assets are scattered among several dominant dark web languages. Managerial insights for security managers are discussed at operational and strategic levels.

Action design research: integration of method support

PurposeAction design research (ADR) has become widely accepted as a prominent research method within information systems when managing design-oriented research projects. One purpose of the ADR method is to provide methodological guidance for the building of IT artefacts. However, several scholars have reported a lack of guidance of method support at the micro level. This article aims to complement the macro level of the ADR method by integrating prescriptive method support at the micro level.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach including direct content analysis. An empirical ADR project was analysed in order to identify method support that could be integrated into the ADR method.FindingsMethod support at the micro level was identified for all the stages of the ADR method. The method support consists of procedural support, guiding concepts, and various techniques for the documentation of project tasks stated in the ADR method.Research limitations/implicationsThe contribution to theory consists of aspects concerning the integration of macro and micro levels: relationships between normative and prescriptive support, continuous focus shifts, and method completeness.Practical implicationsThe contribution to practice consists of explicit suggestions for method support that could be integrated into the ADR method.Originality/valueThis study extends previously provided knowledge by offering empirical evidence concerning theoretical constructions consisting of explicit relationships between ADR tasks and integrated method support, and elaboration on the integration of macro and micro levels.

Build it, and they will come...Or will they?

ABSTRACT In 2017, the European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) published an article titled ‘Stimulating dialog between information systems research and practice’. The genesis of this piece centred on the need for IS research to make practicable research insights accessible to practitioners and to provide a means for practitioners to ‘hear and be heard’. The resulting IT artefact – Science2Practice (now rebranded as AIS InPractice (AIP)) – presented a forum for researchers to have their academic publications summarised and published in practitioner ready insights. Almost 5 years on, this research looks to explore how the initiative supports its primary mission of communicating research to, and associated dialog with, practitioners through adopting a primary data collection via a systems investigation of the AIP website. The findings reveal a somewhat underwhelming artefact with opportunities missed to engage practitioners. Future research opportunities that could reinvigorate the AIP initiative are discussed.

Delivering evidence-based management services: rising to the challenge using design science

ABSTRACT Evidence-based management (EBMgt) concerns making complex managerial decisions by combining the decision maker’s knowledge and experience with scientific knowledge. A major obstacle to this practice is the lack of support. In this paper, we employ design science to develop an ensemble of conceptual, information and IT artefacts that support EBMgt. The approach is instantiated and validated in a case study using a combination of methods, including proof of concept, laboratory experiment, satisfaction survey, and focus groups. The proposed approach turns EBMgt into a repeatable practice, supported by reusable tools, and brings some degree of automation to the process. To our knowledge, EBMgt services have not yet been realised in a concrete manner, and not with concrete empirical results. Therefore, this study provides a first-of-a-kind demonstration and assessment of the viability of EBMgt services.

PsyCredit: An interpretable deep learning-based credit assessment approach facilitated by psychometric natural language processing

With the prosperity of the social web, individuals’ social media information alleviates the information asymmetry between individuals and online financial institutions, e.g., online lending and has been applied to predict their credit scores. Most existing studies use semantic or sentiment-related information excavated from their textual postings to construct credit evaluation models. However, despite the essential role of borrowers' personalities on their financial decisions, psychological factors, which can also be mined from their personally written text, receive less attention in current literature. It is challenging to apply extant psychometric approaches for online credit assessment tasks. Specifically, under the chaotic social media environment, social media postings published by the borrowers may not be composed by themselves, and therefore their real psychological statuses are difficult to be uncovered through existing approaches. To solve this problem, guided by the design science methodology and grounded on the Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, we propose a novel IT artifact, named as PsyCredit, which is a deep learning-based online risk assessment framework driven by a novel psychometric approach. Unlike traditional deep learning approaches, which is a black box, results given by PsyCredit are interpretable by leveraging the Layer-wise Relevance Propagation technique, for the sake of high usability. Based on a dataset from a real-world P2P lending company, our experiments verify that, by leveraging the proposed psychometric approach, the credit risk assessment performance gets promotion successfully.