[AISWorld] IT Governance of the Internet of Things, Special Issue, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems

[Brian Donnellan]

Call for Papers: 
IT Governance of the Internet of Things
The Journal of Strategic Information Systems Special Issue

Guest Editors
Yolande Chan, Queen’s University, Canada 
Brian Donnellan, Maynooth University, Ireland 
Iris Junglas, Florida State University, USA 
Dai Senoo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

The Journal of Strategic Information Systems focuses on the strategic management, business and organizational issues associated with the introduction and utilization of information systems (IS), and considers these issues in a global context. We welcome papers from a wide range of disciplines. The special issue is open to a wide variety of existing research methodologies, but it also encourages innovation in research methodologies exploring digital entrepreneurship and digital innovation. Implications of findings for theory and practice are essential. The journal has previously explored how IT governance plays an important role in the successful introduction and utilization of IS (Joachim, Beimborn and Weitzel, 2013; Hadaya and Cassivi, 2012; Schwarz and Hirscheim, 2003) and now invites papers for a Special Issue on “IT Governance of the Internet of Things.”

We are witnessing a very significant event in the history of Information Systems. Billions of electronic nodes (“things”) are now linked to the Internet. Only a fraction of these “things” will be conventional computing devices, such as laptops, phones etc. Most nodes will be the result of recent and future innovations in sensor technology. These sensors will shape the environment we live in by analyzing, controlling, monitoring and optimizing our world. A shift that will transform our technical and socio-technical landscape is imminent. This shift will be as significant as the introduction of the PC and will integrate several technologies, including mobile communications, cloud computing and data analytics. We will inhabit a world of universal connectivity in which remote computers will have eyes, ears and even hands in the physical world. Our actions and interactions, at all times and everywhere, will be influenced by the Internet of Things (IoT), and our everyday world will be made more intelligent by the capabilities of computing power distributed and embedded into everyday objects connected by the Internet. Thus, we are witnessing the dawn of an era where we will live with an omnipresent IT accompaniment of our daily lives as an active user, as a passive beneficiary, or as a monitored (and even system-guided) individual. These technical breakthroughs have spawned a plethora of technical research domains from connected consumer electronics, automotive, health care and utilities to intelligent homes and buildings. 

But the Internet of Things also requires leadership, organizational  and governance structures. IT governance ensures delivery of the expected benefits of IT in a controlled manner to enhance the long-term success of the enterprise. Broadbent and Weill (2003) consider that “IT governance is about who is entitled to make major decisions, who has input and who is accountable for implementing those decisions. It is not synonymous with IT management. IT governance is about decision rights, whereas IT management is about making and implementing specific IT decisions.” Accordingly, Weill (2004, p. 3) defines IT governance as “specifying the framework for decision rights and accountabilities to encourage desirable behaviour in the use of IT.” 

We need to learn from our experiences with traditional IT governance challenges in order to tackle the emergent issues associated with the IoT phenomenon. In particular, we need to better understand how an independently managed decentralized multiple-root system can be successfully implemented, and how the establishment of new basic governance principles that include transparency and accountability, legitimacy of institutional bodies and ethics, factor into this new form of IT governance. To realize its potential, the Internet of Things will have to be governed effectively, and the IS research community will need to mobilize and respond to the challenge of developing effective governance theories, frameworks, models and processes. The goal of this special issue to address this research challenge. 

There is a broad range of exciting questions being evoked by the Internet of Things. 
Questions addressed by papers suitable for the special issue could include the following, but are by no means limited to: 
- How can our IS theories better account for governance in the IoT era?  
- How can our research methods be developed to enable a better understanding of governance of IoT?
- What are the critical institutional logics shaping the governance of IoT? What are the implications for our theories of organizations? 
- What are the new roles and responsibilities of IT organizations in the IoT era? 
- What are the data governance challenges that are emerging?
- How is IT strategy impacted by IoT?
- How will IoT impact the performance of the firm?
- What are the implications of IoT for privacy and security at the individual, organizational and societal level? 
- What new ethical models are needed with respect to governance of the IoT?
- How will theories of IT adoption and diffusion develop to take account of the IoT?
- What is the role of standards in the integration and inter-operability of innovative IoT technologies?
- What new methods and approaches are required for realizing and evaluating the benefits of IS in the context of IoT?
- What forms of IT governance are relevant for the complex stakeholder eco-systems that are characteristic of the IoT business landscape? 
- IoT based products and services need to be embedded within larger legacy systems system. How can IT governance models support the system integration challenge?
- What new forms of collaboration, open innovation and co-creation are emerging in the era of IoT?
- Cities are designing, coordinating and leading integrated “smart city projects” based on IoT technology. What are the IT governance challenges with respect to smart city initiatives?
- What new business models are being developed specifically to address the economic opportunities being created by the IoT?
-  How will IoT impact individual and group behaviour in the workplace? What are the implications for praxiological theory?
-  Are new pedagogical models and curricula needed in universities to effectively teach the governance of IoT to students?
- What role can IoT architectures play in providing standardized schema for IoT and promoting effective IT governance?
- How can enterprise architecture support governance of the IoT at the organizational level?

To be considered for publication, papers must be submitted electronically by October 31st, 2017. In line with JSIS convention, selected manuscripts will be sent out for blind review. Authors are instructed to follow the Guide for Authors, available at the journal’s website http://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-strategic-information-systems/‐.  
Please choose "Special Issue: IT Governance of the IoT” as the paper type in the online submission system.
Further enquiries about the special issue can be directed to Yolande Chan (ychan at queensu.ca), Brian Donnellan (brian.donnellan at nuim.ie), Iris Junglas (ijunglas at fsu.edu), or Dai Senoo (senoo.d.aa at m.titech.ac.jp). 

References:
Joachim N., Beimborn D., and Weitzel T. (2013). The influence of SOA governance mechanisms on IT flexibility and service reuse, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems,  22(1),  86-101.
Hadaya P., and Cassivi l., (2012). Joint collaborative planning as a governance mechanism to strengthen the chain of IT value co-creation, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 21(3), 182-200.
Schwarz, A., and Hirscheim, R. (2003). An extended platform logic perspective of IT governance: managing perceptions and activities of IT, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 12(2), 129-166.
Broadbent, M. and Weill, P. (1997). Management by Maxim: How business and IT managers can create IT infrastructures, Sloan Management Review, 38(3), 77.
Weill, P. (2004). Don’t just lead, govern: How top-performing firms govern IT, MIS Quarterly Executive, 3(1), 1-17.