[AISWorld] MISQ Special Issue on ICT and Societal Challenges

Fri Sep 20 05:31:13 EDT 2013

MIS Quarterly

Call for Papers

MISQ Special Issue on

*ICT and Societal Challenges*

*Special Issue Guest Editors*

* *

*Ann Majchrzak*, University of Southern California (majchrza at usc.edu)

*M. Lynne Markus*, Bentley University (mlmarkus at bentley.edu)

*Jonathan Wareham*, ESADE – Ramon Lull University (*
jonathan.wareham at esade.edu*)

Expressions of Interest: Open

Pre-ICIS Workshop To Discuss Paper Ideas (non-mandatory): December 14, 2013

Submission Deadline:  March 31, 2014

http://www.misq.org/skin/frontend/default/misq/pdf/CurrentCalls/ICTChallenges.pdf<https://amsprd0410.outlook.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=L9aqcmwl90-hCalrbjmo5DbclZVgidAIZJtsB7Z6d6DMrsxIICi_cVq4jJy0I2jDppdnZekftk4.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.misq.org%2fskin%2ffrontend%2fdefault%2fmisq%2fpdf%2fCurrentCalls%2fICTChallenges.pdf>

*Summary*

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been recognized as an
important catalyst for national progress and social transformation, an
insight that motivated early 20th century telecom regulations ensuring
universal access for all citizens. More recently, we have witnessed how
governments, nongovernmental organizations, and organic social movements
can use ICT to create increased participation, transparency, and
accountability for previously voiceless people in the developing nations of
the Middle East, Africa and Asia. But, as Rob Kling (Kling,
1996<file:///J:/MISQ%20Special%20Issue/MISQ-SI-Societal-Problems_V2%20September_12%202013.docx#_ENREF_1>
) reminded us, ICT’s consequences are not universally positive: ICT can
contribute to unemployment and increased economic disparity, as well as
labor and financial market instability and a host of other social problems.

The time has come to assess the evidence about ICT’s social consequences
and to develop better theories about the precise nature of the role of ICT
in complex social problems and the ecosystems that perpetuate the problems.
Towards this aim, we invite papers that examine the role of ICT in complex
social problems. This role may be:

·         Enabling -  augmenting, catalyzing, or supporting solutions for
complex social problems, or

·         Constraining – worsening existing social problems, creating new
problems, or diverting attention and resources from needed social change.

By complex social problems, we mean social challenges that are shaped by
dynamic and interdependent factors; that cannot be “solved” by simple
interventions; about which little evidence or agreement about effective
solutions exists; and that change unpredictably in response to policy
interventions, often beyond the political lifespans of policy makers
(Gardner 2011).  Solving these problems typically requires the support of
coalitions of political and financial advocates, execution by skilled and
pragmatic actors, and an enabling ICT infrastructure (Shen et al. 2007).
Examples include unemployment, financial exploitation, pollution and
climate change, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy, crime, corruption, and
addiction (Wareham and Sonne, 2008).

For this special issue, authors should examine the role of ICT in enabling
or inhibiting complex social problems and their solutions. This examination
should have particular characteristics.  First, we are particularly
interested in novel affordances and constraints of ICT (Gibson 1977; Leonardi,
2011<file:///J:/MISQ%20Special%20Issue/MISQ-SI-Societal-Problems_V2%20September_12%202013.docx#_ENREF_2>;
Majchrzak & Markus,
forthcoming<file:///J:/MISQ%20Special%20Issue/MISQ-SI-Societal-Problems_V2%20September_12%202013.docx#_ENREF_3>;
Zammuto et al 2007 ). Thus, the focus should not primarily be on the
features of ICT but rather on the uses of ICT that are *afforded *or *
constrained* by those features. Second, the social context of use within
the social problem, including the range of users and other stakeholders,
should be considered (Markus et al.
2002<file:///J:/MISQ%20Special%20Issue/MISQ-SI-Societal-Problems_V2%20September_12%202013.docx#_ENREF_4>
).  Third, we particularly encourage research with a focus expanded
beyonda simple 2-party system of service deliverer and recipient to
include
aspects of the social and institutional environments that affect the social
problem. The role of ICT in promoting participation, enabling new discourse
and discussion, and increasing transparency are all of interest in this
special issue, along with ICT’s role in problem creation or maintenance.
While no paper needs to take all these issues into account, too much
abstraction risks oversimplifying the affording and constraining roles of
ICT.

Theories and methodologies outside the traditional mainstream IS literature
are welcomed (as are insightful established theories). For example,
approaches not commonly seen include: systems dynamics modeling, simulation
studies, action research, chaos modeling techniques, meta-analysis,
event-based retrospectives, interpretive methods, and combinations of
qualitative and quantitative analysis at various levels of analysis.
Journalistic descriptions of ICT use in complex social problems, as well as
papers that present simple surveys of social service recipients, are
unlikely to provide convincing empirical evidence or sufficient insight
into the phenomenon’s complexity.  Quantitative work that delves deeply
into societal reactions to ICT is, however, very much encouraged. The gap
in the research on societal issues is not a methodological gap as we see it.
It is essentially a theoretical gap.

Papers will be evaluated using rigorous criteria associated with high
quality academic research, recognizing that we are encouraging scholars to
take risks in both the content and methods they use (Burrell and Toyama
2009).  Papers in this special issue will form a body of literature
concerning the role of ICT in complex social problems, consisting of both
theory and data.  Ideally, the papers will also describe how the
consideration of such complexity informs the broader domain of IS research.
Pure theory papers will be considered, provided that they demonstrate the
novelty of the theory in real-world applications.

Possible topics for the special issue include, but are not limited to:

·         Affordances and constraints of ICT that create or worsen complex
social problems

·         Ethical dilemmas in the development and deployment of ICT

·         Applications of ICT for managing or disrupting the tensions,
contradictions and paradox in complex social problems

·         Applications of ICT to promote citizen participation or
democratization

·         ICT’s role in social or economic exploitation and marginalization

·         ICT-enabled business models for social entrepreneurship and
social problems

·         Societal, behavioral, and economic consequences of ICT use

·         How ICT-enabled platforms help NGOs complete social missions

·         Responsible innovation with ICT and implications for IS design
science

·         National ICT policies and how they shape the societal environment
for ICT acceptance and diffusion and international levels.

A pre-ICIS 2013 (Milan) workshop on ICT and Societal Challenges will be
held on December 14, 2013 12-5 pm at Bocconi University. This will be* *an
opportunity for all interested colleagues—regardless of their intentions to
submit to the MISQ Special Issue—to discuss ideas for social, behavioral,
and economic research on ICT’s role in societal challenges and the
implications for IS design science.

People interested in participating in the pre-ICIS 2013 workshop should
submit a short (2 page maximum) position statement or an abstract
describing your research interests to M. Lynne Markus (mlmarkus at bentley.edu)
by 25 November, 2013.
http://www.misq.org/skin/frontend/default/misq/pdf/CurrentCalls/ICTChallengesWorkshop.pdf<https://amsprd0410.outlook.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=L9aqcmwl90-hCalrbjmo5DbclZVgidAIZJtsB7Z6d6DMrsxIICi_cVq4jJy0I2jDppdnZekftk4.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.misq.org%2fskin%2ffrontend%2fdefault%2fmisq%2fpdf%2fCurrentCalls%2fICTChallengesWorkshop.pdf>

* *

*Special Issue Editorial Board *

Esteve Almirall, ESADE, Ramon Llull University

Chrisanthi Avgerou, London School of Economics

Anita Bhappu, University of Arizona

Michael Barrett, Cambridge University

Anita Blanchard, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Donald R. Chand, Bentley University

Pei-yu Chen, Temple University

Cecil Chua, University of Auckland

Robert Davison, City University of Hong Kong

Marina Fiedler, Universität Passau

Chris Foreman, Georgia Institute of Technology

Seymour Goodman, Georgia Institute of Technology

D.P. Goyal, Management Development Institute

Hans van der Heijden, University of London

Tom Horan, Claremont Graduate University

Najmul Huda, Tallinn Technical University

Sherif Kamel, American University, Cairo

Lynnette Kvasny, Pennsylvania State University

Karen Loch, Georgia State University

Carleen Maitland, Pennsylvania State University

Nigel Melville, Michigan University

Nazmun Nahar, University of Jyväskylä

Bonnie Nardi, University of California, Irvine

Barrie Nault, University of Calgary

Felix Tan, Auckland University of Technology

Kentaro Toyama, University of California, Berkeley

Eileen Trauth, Pennsylvania State University

Richard Watson, University of Georgia

Stephanie Watts, Boston University

Peter Wolcott, University of Nebraska at Omaha

*Special Issue Domain or Academic Advisors *

* *

Erik Brynjolfsson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Peter Corbett, iStrategy Labs

Ilari Patrick Lindy, The World Bank

Robert Puentes, The Brookings Institution

Wayan Vota, Gateway

*References*

Burrell, J. and Toyama, K. (2009) What constitutes good ICTD research?
*Information
Technologies and International Development*, 5(3):82-94

Gardner, R. (2011) Comprehensive Community Initiatives: Promising
Directions for “Wicked” Problems?  *Horizons*.  Policy Research Institute.

Gibson, J. L. (1977) A Theory of Affordances. In R. Shaw and J. Bransford
(Eds.) *Perceiving, Acting and Knowing: Toward an Ecological Psychology*,
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. pp. 67-82.

Kling, Rob (Ed.). (1996).* Computerization and Controversy: Value Conflicts
and Social Choices* (2nd ed.): Morgan Kaufmann.

Leonardi, Paul M. (2011). When Flexible Routines Meet Flexible
Technologies: Affordance, Constraint, and the Imbrication of Human and
Material Agencies. *MIS Quarterly*, 35(1), 147-167.

Majchrzak, Ann, & Markus, M. Lynne (Eds.). (Forthcoming). Technology
Affordances and Constraints Theory (of MIS).  In E. Kessler (Ed) *Encylopedia
of Management Theory*. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Markus, M. Lynne, Majchrzak, Ann, & Gasser, Les (2002). A Design Theory for
Systems that Support Emergent Knowledge Processes. *MIS Quarterly*, 26(3),
179-213.

Shen, Y, Straub, D., Trauth E. “Public ICT Policy Initiatives and
Deployment: Theories, Stakeholders, Success Factors, and Regulatory Tools,”
in *Managing Global Information Technology: Strategies and Challenges*,
edited by Prashant Palvia, Shailendra Palvia, and Al Harris, Marietta, GA
USA: Ivy League Publishing, 2007, 151-166.

Wareham, J. and Sonne, T.  (2008) “Harnessing the power of autism spectrum
disorder,” *Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization*, 3(1),
11-27.

Zammuto, R.F., Griffith, T.L., Majchrzak, A., Dougherty, D.J., Faraj, S.
(2007) Information Technology and the Changing Fabric of Organization.
 *Organization
Science,* 18(5), 749-762.

*Jonathan Wareham*
Vice Dean & Professor
ESADE - Ramon Llull University
Barcelona, Spain
*Personal Web Page* <http://is.esade.edu/faculty/wareham/default.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aisnet.org/pipermail/aisworld_lists.aisnet.org/attachments/20130920/c475f047/attachment.htm>