[AISWorld] CfP: ECIS 2020 - Track "Rethinking IS Strategy and Governance in the Digital Age"

Thu Oct 10 04:10:59 EDT 2019

(Apologies for cross-postings of this announcement.)

****************************************************************************

CALL FOR PAPERS

28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2020)

Track: Rethinking IS Strategy and Governance in the Digital Age

June 15-17, 2020, Marrakech, Morocco (https://ecis2020.ma/ecis-2020-tracks/)

****************************************************************************

TRACK CHAIRS

Martin Wiener, Bentley University, USA, mwiener at bentley.edu (corresponding
track chair)

Nils Urbach, University of Bayreuth, Germany, nils.urbach at uni-bayreuth.de 

Ulrich Remus, University of Innsbruck, Austria, ulrich.remus at uibk.ac.at

DESCRIPTION

In the digital age, innovative technologies influence and change established
work processes, products, services, and business models by connecting
individuals, organizations, machines, and other ‘things’ in new ways, as
well as by enabling novel working, collaboration, and automation models
(Fitzgerald et al. 2014). To succeed in this highly competitive and dynamic
environment, organizations must unfold the potential of advanced digital
technologies in their business strategies, transform their work routines,
processes and structures, rethink their business models, as well as manage
and govern IT infrastructures that are central to their value propositions
(Legner et al. 2017). In short, pervasive digitalization has increased the
importance of information technology (IT) and transformed the demands placed
on organizations’ IT functions. Besides ensuring regular IT operations, IT
functions are increasingly required to proactively identify technological
innovations and to rapidly transfer them into marketable solutions – and
with that to directly contribute to their organization’s value proposition
(Urbach et al. 2017).

In this context, IS strategizing and governance represent key activities for
the effective deployment of IT resources and ultimately for value creation
through IT. The emergence of new digital technologies (e.g., artificial
intelligence [AI], big-data analytics, blockchain, cloud computing) and
infrastructures (e.g., digital platforms and ecosystems), novel
value-creation processes and work practices (e.g., IT consumerization,
human-robot collaboration, resource sharing) along with the availability of
unprecedented data volumes challenge existing conceptualizations and
theories related to IS strategy and governance (Markus 2017; Newell &
Marabelli 2015). For instance, while cloud services may make the IT artefact
seemingly disappear, the challenge of governing the design and use of such
services and associated IT resources has become even more acute (Schneider &
Sunyaev 2016). Digital business models and gig economy platforms that
revolve around resource sharing and/or complex product-service offerings not
only challenge organizational boundaries, but also established ideas about
ownership of resources, tasks, and outputs (Schor 2014). Similarly, while
AI-based algorithms can automate business processes, they also highlight the
need for data and process governance (Tarafdar et al. 2017). At the same
time, in organizations where more ‘traditional’ technologies and work
arrangements are still dominant, IS strategy and governance challenges
remain highly complex and important (Wiener et al. 2016).

The objectives of the proposed track are two-fold. First, from a scholarly
research perspective, the objective is to foster and promote novel concepts
and theories on IS strategy and governance, with a particular focus on the
manifold opportunities and challenges associated with the pervasive
digitalization of business and society. Second, the track aims at offering
insights that enable IS practitioners to leverage emerging digital
technologies, to respond to digitalization challenges, and ultimately, to
make effective use of available IT resources.

The track is open to all types of contributions — including research in
progress — studying IS strategy and governance topics from different
stakeholder perspectives, in different contexts and settings (e.g.,
for-profits and non-profits), at different levels of analysis (e.g.,
individual, project, program, corporate, network, ecosystem, and societal
level), and with different theoretical perspectives and methodological
approaches (e.g., conceptual and empirical studies). We particularly welcome
studies that address the conference theme “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
in a Digitizing World” by relating IS strategy and governance topics to
social challenges and opportunities emerging from the digital era.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Digital strategizing and strategy implementation (e.g., link to overall
business strategy, development of digital capabilities, sustainability of
digital strategies, translation of strategic objectives into governance
practices and structures)

• Strategic impact of emerging digital technologies (e.g., artificial
intelligence, blockchain, big-data analytics, cloud computing) on business
models, governance structures, and processes, etc.

• Governance of digital transformation and innovation processes (e.g., new
governance models for complex organizations, such as companies operating
with coexisting 'brick and mortar' and digital business models)

• Changing role of CIO function & New role of CDO function (e.g., ‘digital
race’ between CIO and CDO, structure and nature of business-IT
relationships)

• Data-driven leadership and control approaches (e.g., algorithmic
management of work processes, technology-mediated control)

• Governance of digital value-creation processes and networks (e.g., digital
platforms and ecosystems, Industry 4.0 and cyber-physical systems, IT
consumerization, IT-enabled product-service systems, resource sharing, etc.)

• Governance of novel work practices (e.g., agile software development,
human-robot interaction and collaboration) and sourcing models (e.g.,
crowdsourcing, multi-sourcing, open-sourcing, and back-sourcing)

• Information security governance (e.g., cybersecurity frameworks,
standards, and policies for critical infrastructures)

• Dark side of digital strategies/governance, including ethical issues as
well as undesired ecological, economic, and socio-emotional side-effects
(e.g., technostress)

• Critical reflections on IS strategy and governance in the digital age
(e.g., truly ‘new’ features and challenges of digitalization, links to
traditional research streams)

• Novel theoretical perspectives and research approaches that broaden, or
challenge, our understanding of IS strategy and governance in the digital
age

REFERENCES

• Fitzgerald, M., Kruschwitz, N., Bonnet, D., & Welch, M. (2014) “Embracing
Digital Technology: A New Strategic Imperative,” MIT Sloan Management
Review, 55(2), 1-12.

• Legner, C., Eymann, T., Hess, T., Matt, C., Böhmann, T., Drews, P.,
Maedche, A., Urbach, N., & Ahlemann F. (2017) “Digitalization: Opportunity
and Challenge for the Business and Information Systems Engineering
Community,” Business & Information Systems Engineering, 59(4), 301-308.

• Markus, M. L. (2017) “Datification, Organizational Strategy, and IS
Research: What’s the Score?” Journal of Strategic Information Systems,
26(3), 233-241.

• Newell, S., & Marabelli, M. (2015) "Strategic Opportunities (and
Challenges) of Algorithmic Decision-Making: A Call for Action on the
Long-Term Societal Effects of ‘Datification’,” Journal of Strategic
Information Systems, 24(1), 3-14.

• Schneider, S., & Sunyaev, A. (2016) “Determinant Factors of Cloud-Sourcing
Decisions: Reflecting on the IT Outsourcing Literature in the Era of Cloud
Computing,” Journal of Information Technology, 31(1), 1-31.

• Schor, J. (2014) “Debating the Sharing Economy,” Journal of
Self-Governance and Management Economics, 4(3), 1-13.

• Tarafdar, M., Beath, C., & Ross, J. (2017) “Enterprise Cognitive Computing
Applications: Opportunities and Challenges,” IT Professional, 19(4), 2-8.

• Urbach, N., Drews, P., & Ross, J. (2017) “Digital Business Transformation
and the Changing Role of the IT Function,” MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(2),
ii-iv.

• Wiener, M., Mähring, M., Remus, U., & Saunders, C. (2016) “Control
Configuration and Control Enactment in Information Systems Projects: Review
and Expanded Theoretical Framework,” MIS Quarterly, 40(3), 741-774.

PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITIES

Authors of excellent papers will be invited to submit a revised/extended
version of their paper to the Information Systems Journal (ISJ). For further
information on the ISJ, please go to:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652575. Track chairs would be
happy to work with the authors to guide them for ISJ submission.

IMPORTANT DATES

Paper Submission Deadline: November 29, 2019

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Frederik Ahlemann, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Daniel Beimborn, University of Bamberg, Germany

Edward W. N. Bernroider, Vienna University of Economics and Business,
Austria    

Arne Buchwald, EBS Business School, Germany

Bendik Bygstad, University of Oslo, Norway

Suranjan Chakraborty, Towson University, USA

Alec W. Cram, Bentley University, USA

Andreas Drechsler, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Paul Drews, University of Lüneburg, Germany

Robert Gregory, University of Virginia, USA

Stefan   Henningsson, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Thomas Huber,  ESSEC Business School, France

Robert Keller, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Oliver Krancher, IT University of Copenhagen, Germany

Thomas Kude, ESSEC Business School, France

Christine Legner, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Magnus Mähring, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden

Marco Marabelli, Bentley University, USA

Jeffrey  Proudfoot, Bentley University, USA

Christoph Rosenkranz, University of Cologne, Germany

Harminder Singh, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

Susanne Strahringer, TU Dresden, Germany

Till Winkler, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Ruilin Zhu, Lancaster University, UK

Angelika Zimmermann, Loughborough University, UK

Thank you for your interest in rethinking IS strategy and governance in the
digital age. We are looking forward to your contributions and seeing you in
Marrakech!