[AISWorld] Deadline is approaching- CFP Special Issue on Enterprise Systems & Gamification at Systems Journal

[Moutaz Haddara]

Dear Colleagues,
We cordially invite you to submit your original research to our Enterprise Systems & Gamification special Issue at the open access Systems journal http://www.mdpi.com/journal/systems). The Systems journal is published by the MDPI organization based in Basel, Switzerland, and is indexed by several databases and indexing services including Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics). For a complete list of indexes please visit  http://www.mdpi.com/journal/systems/indexing.

Special Issue Guest Editors:
Ahmed Elragal, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
Moutaz Haddara, Kristiania University College, Norway and TIAS Business School for Business & Society, Netherlands.

Important Dates:
Submission deadline: 31st of October, 2018

Guest editors’ constructive rejection: November 30th, 2018

First review completed: December 15th, 2018

Revised manuscript due: December 31st, 2018

Second review completed: January 15th, 2019

Revised manuscript due: January 31st, 2019

Publication date: March 2019

Call for Contributions
This Special Issue seeks to attract researchers’ work presenting novel approaches to inquiry into the technical, operational, economical, and social impact of gamification emerging technologies with regards to their connection to and impact on enterprise systems. The special issue is open to all types of research methodologies and especially encourages a diversity of theoretical and empirical approaches.
Basically, we are looking for theoretically well-defined research problems, which are relevant the topics intertwined in this Special Issue, with the objective to advance a theory, methods, or open the door for future knowledge to unfold. With that being explained, we differentiate between interesting and important research problems using the scholarly, as well as the utility. As a result, we expect manuscripts to be able to demonstrate scholarly value and in the meantime illustration of how the research contributes to businesses and the society in general.
* Note: submissions need to show the link to the two subject areas: enterprise systems & gamification, in whichever article/topic submitted to this SI.

Special issue details
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are fully integrated applications covering key functional areas, including finance, procurement, supply chain, sales and marketing, and human resources. ERP systems are critical to IT departments at the companies implementing them. ERP implementation projects may vary in size, scope, methodology, context , and structure. The implementation process is challenging and requires a systematic and careful management and monitoring. While ERP systems represent a lucrative market, statistics show that a considerably large number of projects witnessed failures in meeting their allocated budgets and projected schedules! Failures could lead to bankruptcy in some cases, e.g., FoxMeyer Drugs' Bankruptcy.
ERP implementation projects are characterized by latency and setbacks due to delivery failures, and budget and time overruns. The implementation project is a complex scenario whereby tri-party relationship—vendor, partner, beneficiary (and sometimes management consulting as fourth player)—goes on for long periods, e.g., months or years, in order to implement the system.
Research shows that, quite often, employees are not engaged in ERP implementations. Gamification could potentially turn this trend around and motivate employees through techniques using gaming scenarios and leaderboards. Gamification can be defined as the adoption of game mechanics into serious settings. Hence, implementing ERP system is a promising area where gamification could be highly utilized. For example, in a gamified accounts payable (AP) module, voucher entry users could be given invoice entry objectives in terms of quantity and quality. Scores for all clerks across locations are shared on a leaderboard. A gamified ERP has the potentials to exhibit better data entry, as well as lesser errors.

SI Topics and Areas of Interest (not limited to):

  *   The Gap: ERP systems—just as other apps—have the potential to provide reward mechanisms in the forms of points, scores, badges, progress bars, expert designation, leaderboard rankings or other visual enticements which could demonstrate accomplishments or permit redemption for financial and/or non-financial incentives. Gamification has been increasingly used in association with sales, training, and testing domains. However, gamification has not been yet fully explored and investigated in the context of enterprise systems implementations.
·         The proven success of gamification at organizations, of changeable sizes and industries, signifies that it would be a viable option for those implementing enterprise systems. Accordingly, there exists a need for a theoretical framework, case studies, prototypical implementation and longitudinal studies exploring the topic.

  *   Future Research: Research is required to provide answers to questions such as: “how could gamification enhance the lifecycle of enterprise systems’ implementation hence enable organizations to become more efficient and attain higher ROI?”. Related research questions may include:
·         Which lifecycle phases of enterprise systems’ implementations are most likely to benefit the most from gamification?
·         What are those potential benefits associated with the corresponding lifecycle phases?
·         How gamification could support those lifecycle phases?
·         How to measure and realize the anticipated added value of gamification to enterprise systems?
·         How to gamify enterprise systems modules and associated business scenarios in order to enhance user experience and achieve higher adoption rates?

For more information about the special issue and the topics, please visit http://www.mdpi.com/journal/systems/special_issues/Enterprise_Systems_Gamification
Looking forward to receive your research.
Regards,
Moutaz


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Moutaz Haddara
Program Director- Master of IS in Digital Business Systems
Department of Technology
Kristiania University College, Oslo, Norway
Adjunct Professor
TIAS School for Business & Society, Utrecht, Netherlands
SP Jain School for Global Management, Dubai-Singapore-Sydney
Member of the Advisory Council- EMEA Region
Microsoft Dynamics Academic Alliance Program
moutaz.haddara at Kristiania.no<mailto:moutaz.haddara at westerdals.no>