[AISWorld] Call for Proposals: QCA Workshop, AMCIS 2018

[YoungKi Park]

*Call for Proposals: QCA Workshop, AMCIS 2018 *
Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), New Orleans, USA

*Workshop Title: Set-Theoretic Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) for IS Research    *
*Time: August 16, 2018, 8:30AM - 12:00PM*
*Place:  (Hyatt Regency New Orleans)*

Organizers: YoungKi Park (George Washington University), James S. Denford (Royal Military College of Canada)

We are pleased to offer the second QCA workshop, titled as "Set-Theoretic Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) for IS Research.: The workshop is aimed at benefiting a variety of scholars ranging from those who have no previous exposure to QCA to those who have experience to share with other IS scholars.


Register at:  https://amcis2018.aisnet.org/ <https://amcis2018.aisnet.org/>


*Workshop Description *
Information and digital technologies have become tightly interconnected with organizational and environmental elements. This ?fusion? has created a complex system that often exhibits nonlinear, discontinuous change such that a small adjustment in IT systems can trigger drastic changes in other
elements, and eventually the whole socio-technical system can change radically and possibly shift to new equilibriums. In such complex dynamics, the role of IT can be better understood as an element of the whole system rather than as a separate independent variable. Notwithstanding such an increasing need for a holistic systemic perspective, there is still a paucity of IS research that investigates how information and digital technologies effectively work together with organizational and environmental elements to produce the expected outcomes either at the individual, group, organization, or ecosystem level.

Recently, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), a set-theoretic method to build a configurational theory, is drawing increasing attention of researchers to its capability to investigate the complex phenomena. QCA
developed by Charles Ragin (1987) integrates the strengths of both case-oriented qualitative methods and variable-oriented quantitative methods, and can be applicable for small, medium, or large data. This workshop will foster discussion about how QCA can help IS researchers build novel, richer theories.

The workshop will be divided into two parts: a set of short introductory seminars and a paper development workshop. The speakers for the seminars all have direct experience with set theoretic methods. Dr. Park and Dr. Denford have been using QCA extensively in their research for several years, and presented papers at premier conferences such as ICIS, AoM, AMCIS, ASAC, and HICSS and publications appeared at journals such as ISR, JMIS, JAIS, JSIS, and RSO. They also have been exposed themselves to new advancement in the methods by co-authoring papers with leading scholars for this method such as Peer Fiss (USC) at the strategic management discipline and also attending seminars specialized for QCA.

The overall structure of the workshop is as follows:

*Part 1 (8:30AM ? 10:30PM): A set of short introductory seminars *
- An Introduction to Set Theoretic Methods: by YoungKi Park and James S Denford
- Introduction of Crisp Set QCA: by James S. Denford
- Introduction of Fuzzy Set QCA: by YoungKi Park
- Boolean Theory Testing with QCA: by James S. Denford
- Topics for QCA ?When and How to Use: by YoungKi Park

*Part 2 (10:30PM ? 12:00 PM): Roundtable discussions of submitted proposals (proposal submission required)*

The second session of the workshop is about paper development. We encourage scholars to submit their work for discussion in a collaborative and constructive setting. Scholars with QCA expertise will help the researchers who do not have QCA expertise to apply it for their working papers.
Further, IS scholars who have been using QCA for their research will also be invited to discuss and develop further their working papers.

To attend part 2, we request you to submit a proposal for review by at least *July 30*. If you need to know acceptance decision before the date due to some reasons like travel schedule, you can request us to send
acceptance notice. We can review submitted proposals before the due date in such cases.


*Submission Guidelines: *
We recommend that your proposal may not exceed three single-spaced pages (excluding references). You may also add additional pages of figures, tables, graphs, etc. Specifically, please include the following: (1)
Research topic and conceptual framework; (2) Key research questions; (3) Short description of data and methods (if applicable); (4) Key findings (if applicable); (5) Challenges (the area on which you would like to focus discussion); (6) Three keywords that describe your proposal; and (7) Faculty + rank or Ph.D. student + year in program.

Please send proposals via email to YoungKi Park (ykpark at gwu.edu <mailto:ykpark at gwu.edu>) and James S. Denford (Jim.Denford at rmc.ca <mailto:Jim.Denford at rmc.ca>) by *July 30, 2018. *Also, feel free to have any questions via emails.


*Some example topics but not limited to: 
-        Empirical studies that applies set-theoretic QCA methods
-        IS theory building and/or testing with QCA
-        Methodological comparison of QCA with traditional methods
-        Benefits of using QCA in the IS research areas
-        Limitations and challenges of set-theoretic QCA methods in applying to IS research
-        Small, medium, and large N case QCA studies
-        QCA studies for multiple levels ? individual, team/group, organization, industry, country, population, field
-        Investigating the holistic aspects of complex systems with QCA
-        Building novel, richer IS theories with QCA
-        Revealing new aspects of extant IS theories with QCA
-        IT impact on organizational performance ? synergetic, complementary, substituting effects
-        Multifaceted, inconsistent roles of digital technologies such as enabling vs. inhibiting and core vs. peripheral roles
-        Multiple design solutions for new IT systems depending on organizational and environmental contexts
-        Investigating the complex dynamics of new IT systems development, digitization with QCA
-        IS relationships with organizational capabilities such as dynamiccapability, agility, ambidexterity, and absorptive capacity.
-        Design and governance aspects of IT, for example, IT governance, enterprise architecture design, IT outsourcing governance with QCA
-        Social network analysis with QCA
-        Configurational analysis for digital ecosystems, smart device ecosystems


YoungKi Park
George Washington University
ykpark at gwu.edu <mailto:ykpark at gwu.edu>

James S. Denford
Royal Military College of Canada
Jim.Denford at rmc.ca <mailto:Jim.Denford at rmc.ca>