Design Science research

ABSTRACT In order to ascertain and measure dedicated aspects of social and technical systems 'maturity', a wide range of maturity assessment models have been developed by both, practitioners and academics over the past years. In spite of its broad proliferation, the concept has not been untroubled by criticism. Unnecessary bureaucracy, poor theoretical foundation, and the impression of a falsified certainty to achieve success are just a few examples for that. As there is still a significant lack of knowledge on how to design theoretically sound and widely accepted maturity assessment models, it is the aim of this paper to discuss the typical phases of maturity model development and application by taking a design science research perspective. Given that both, development and application are intimately connected, different decision parameters are identified that are relevant in respect to rigour and relevance of the maturity assessment model.

Social recommender systems utilize data regarding users' social relationships in filtering relevant information to users. To date, results show that incorporating social relationship data -beyond consumption profile similarity -is beneficial only in a very limited set of cases. The main conjecture of this study is that the inconclusive results are, at least to some extent, due to an under-specification of the nature of the social relations. To date, there exist no clear guidelines for using behavioral theory to guide systems design. Our primary objective is to propose a methodology for theory-driven design. We enhance Walls et al.'s (1992) IS Design Theory by introducing the notion of "applied behavioral theory," as a means of better linking theory and system design. Our second objective is to apply our theory-driven design methodology to social recommender systems, with the aim of improving prediction accuracy. A behavioral study found that some social relationships (e.g., competence, benevolence) are most likely to affect a recipient's advice-taking decision. We designed, developed, and tested a recommender system based on these principles, and found that the same types of relationships yield the best recommendation accuracy. This striking correspondence highlights the importance of behavioral theory in guiding system design. We discuss implications for design science and for research on recommender systems.

Design science (DS) approaches have been emerging in engineering, management and other disciplines operating at the interface between design research and the natural or social sciences. Research informed by DS is challenging because it involves “mixing oil with water”, using a famous phrase of Herbert Simon. A key challenge here is the dual role of theory: one can develop a “theory of” any empirical phenomenon to explain its characteristics and outcomes, or alternatively, develop a “theory for” generating this phenomenon, focused on solving problems and enlarging possibilities. To clearly distinguish these two perspectives, we talk about theorizing in relation to theory-of and framing related to theory-for. A state-of-the-art review of how DS is applied by management researchers results in two main findings. First, explicit (re)framing efforts appear to be highly instrumental in challenging a given theoretical paradigm and thereby reduce the risk of being constrained to it; these fi...

In recent years, social technology has changed the ways people collaborate and communicate. With the blurring boundaries between work and personal life, business software vendors have begun to deliberate on the possibilities for enhancing the rather rigid and impersonal structures in enterprise systems (ES) by integrating social features. In doing so, they frequently assume that business users share the same interaction patterns as private users. In this paper, we challenge this belief and explore the factors that stimulate business users to share information in ES environments. By means of a design experiment, we show different use scenarios and explore business users' attitudes toward open and unconditional information sharing in ES. Our results demonstrate that business users are less 'social' and that applying social features in ES is highly context dependent. Based on these findings, we offer recommendations for software vendors and researchers who are interested in the social enhancements of ES.

The high concentration and rapid increase in lung diseases caused by COVID-19 has suddenly led medical staff to face a lack of ventilators in emergency situations. In this context, many enthusiasts and/or designers all over the world have started to think about low cost and open-source solutions for emergency ventilators, with the aim of providing concrete aid. In a small amount of time, many different solutions have been proposed, most of which are based on the automatic compression of the auxiliary manual breathing unit (AMBU) bag. In particular, many different designs have been conceived for the AMBU compression mechanism, which contains the most critical parts to be designed. Here arises the aim of this work, i.e., to propose a methodological approach to support the creativity of designers involved in inventing increasingly sustainable and reliable low-cost compression mechanisms for AMBU-based ventilators. Accordingly, a conceptual framework is proposed, capable of collecting existing ideas and organizing the underpinning concepts, to provide stimuli for new idea generation and to keep track of (and possibly to share) the explored design space. Illustrative examples are provided in order to show how the proposal can be used in practice. In particular, a set of currently available solutions is schematically shown through the proposed graphical tools, and the generation of new illustrative solutions is presented. Additionally, it is shown how to represent further ideas (e.g., those coming from other teams) in the framework.

Entrepreneurship scholars are increasingly interested in conducting work at the interface of design and science. However, a consistent methodological framework for this type of work is missing. In this paper, we therefore develop such a framework. First, three examples of entrepreneurship scholarship at the design-science interface are outlined. From these examples, we infer two key characteristics of design science (DS). For one, research outputs not only include theoretical constructs and models, but also values, principles and practices. In addition, creative design and scientific validation are complementary and equivalent research activities in DS. Whereas design and validation are legitimate research approaches in their own right, we conclude that the interaction between the two can drive the continual renewal of the entrepreneurship field and unlock the potential of an inclusive body of knowledge that is both rigorous and relevant.

This paper presents an innovative Soft Design Science Methodology for improving information systems security using multi-layered security approach. The study applied Soft Design Science Methodology to address the problematic situation on how information systems security can be improved. In addition , Soft Design Science Methodology was compounded with mixed research methodology. This holistic approach helped for research methodology trian-gulation. The study assessed security requirements and developed a framework for improving information systems security. The study carried out maturity level assessment to determine security status quo in the education sector in Tanzania. The study identified security requirements gap (IT security controls , IT security measures) using ISO/IEC 21827: Systems Security Engineering Capability Maturity Model (SSE-CMM) with a rating scale of 0-5. The results of this study show that maturity level across security domain is 0.44 out of 5. The finding shows that the implementation of IT security controls and security measures for ensuring security goals are lacking or conducted in ad-hoc. Thus, for improving the security of information systems, organisations should implement security controls and security measures in each security domain (multi-layer security). This research provides a framework for enhancing information systems security during capturing, processing, storage and transmission of information. This research has several practical contributions. Firstly, it contributes to the body of knowledge of information systems security by providing a set of security requirements for ensuring information systems security. Secondly, it contributes empirical evidence on how information systems security can be improved. Thirdly, it contributes on the applica

Co-authored with Luk N. Van Wassenhove
Vehicles are important assets generating significant costs. Relief organizations frequently struggle to define the appropriate number of vehicles to support their operations. The high level of decentralization giving country offices the autonomy to decide on the size of their fleet complicates the issue. This study follows a design science approach in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We develop a prediction model to support UNHCR's fleet sizing problem. A stepwise linear regression approach is used to construct a model able to predict the number of vehicles required by each country office based on data from comparable countries. Three variables have the best predictive accuracy: the number of locations, small partners, and large partners working for UNHCR. We validate our findings with different regression methods and by applying our approach to another organization. Our model has provided UNHCR with valuable indications on how to help determine the appropriate number of vehicles in many countries. We develop three design propositions that show how our approach can be generalized to other humanitarian operations. These propositions offer insights on how to implement a fleet sizing decision process in highly decentralized humanitarian operations with limited information on optimal fleet sizes.

In order to measure dedicated aspects of 'maturity', a wide range of maturity models have been developed in the field of information systems by both, practitioners and academics over the past years. In spite of its broad proliferation, the concept has not been untroubled by criticism. Unnecessary bureaucracy, poor theoretical foundation, and the impression of a falsified certainty to achieve success are just a few examples for that. As there is still a significant lack of knowledge on how to design theoretically sound and widely accepted maturity models, it is the aim of this paper to open the discussion on the design decisions when developing these kinds of models. Based upon analogy and informed arguments we synthesize a generic but adjuvant framework that consists of five common design steps and eighteen decision parameters that may help practitioners as well as researchers in the development of maturity models.

In today's global, competitive economy, downtime has been identified as a key performance indicator for field service organisations. The emergence of an Internet of Things (IoT) has brought new enhancement possibilities to various industries such as the manufacturing and field service industry. This paper provides a vision and motivation for using IoT in Field Service Management (FSM) in order to address data quality and service delivery issues. The theory of information quality was used to undergird the research and a model for the optimisation of downtime management in the field service industry using the IoT is proposed. The model was used to drive the design of a "proof of concept" prototype, the KapCha prototype. The paper also includes a report on an empirical study of the application of the proposed IoT model in FSM. The experiment findings showed that the prototype reduced the round trip delay time for sending and receiving data and was scalable. As a result, access to quality information supporting advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence was provided. Therefore, service technicians can be alerted more quickly as soon as any potential technical problems occur. In turn improved diagnostics and more efficient decision making can be achieved. The model and the lessons learned provide valuable guidance to other researchers and fill the gap in research of empirical studies conducted on IoT implementations.

As the world changes, problems that businesses and society are facing are becoming more complex. Design, as a field that sits between business and society, as well as culture and technology, continues to progress and to mature as a profession. As a result, the concept of design (what design is and does) constantly changes, evolves and expands. In return, design today is being recognized as field whose primary purpose is to help businesses, communities, and individuals in new and innovative ways. Through a review of the current trends in the field of design, this chapter highlights why design thinking, which in the past has often been driven by tacit knowledge, intuition and personal preference, is now increasingly being enhanced with proficiency in cross-disciplinary, evidence-based research. This approach to design represents a willingness to look beyond the immediate concern of elementary project execution. Designers who are proficient in research methods that range from ethnography and case study development to human-centered design research and action research can be invaluable to any sector that seeks innovation. The use of evidence-based research capable of transcending disciplinary boundaries projects a greater sense of accountability and transparency and can creates more confidence in the work that designers produce.

" Is this the problem? " : the question that haunts many information systems (IS) researchers when they pursue work relevant to both practice and research. Nevertheless, a deliberate answer to this question requires more than simply asking the involved IS practitioners. Deliberately formulating problems requires a more substantial engagement with the different stakeholders, especially when their problems are ill structured and situated in complex organizational settings. On this basis, we present an engaged approach to formulating IS problems with, not for, IS practitioners. We have come to understand engaged problem formulation as joint researching and as the defining of contemporary and complex problems by researchers and those practitioners who experience and know these problems. We used this approach in investigating IS management in Danish municipalities. In this paper, we present the approach to formulating problems in an engaged way. We discuss it in relation to ideas and assumptions that underpin engaged scholarship, and we discuss the implications for IS action research, design science research, and mixed approaches.

Usability is an important quality characteristic of software products and systems. Different approaches for introducing usability activities into SW development have not yet been evaluated with respect to open source software (OSS). This paper tests the introduction of usability activities through four empirical case studies in the OSS development context. Case studies were carried out using four OSS projects that were not commercially supported. Empirical analysis suggests that usability specialists should become members of the OSS community, but, at the same time, should keep an objective view. The usability activities had substantially more impact when specialists introduced and carried them out as fellow members of the OSS community than as usability consultants from outside the community. The importance of management commitment for usability activities is discussed in the OSS context. The challenge of adapting usability and OSS development philosophies together should be researched further.

The integration of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) activities has gained importance over the last years. This paper presents an analysis of the GRC integration efforts in information technology departments of three large enterprises. Action design research is used to organize the research in order to assess IT GRC activities based on a model with five dimensions. By means of semi-structured interviews key findings concerning the status quo of the three IT GRC disciplines, their integration and their relation to GRC on the corporate level are identified and rated. Five key findings explain the main commonalities and differences observed.

As a subset of the Information systems (IS) discipline, Decision Support Systems (DSS) development research needs a broader conceptual lens in order to evaluate design qualities specific to DSS. This paper presents a development-oriented approach for evaluating DSS applications. Based on a design science mental model proposed by Peffers, Tuunanen, Rothenberger and Chatterjeea , our study outlines a new application area of this conceptual approach through a case demonstration of DSS development through various design checkpoints. To assess the proposed developmentoriented evaluation strategy the paper also describes a qualitative investigation that has been undertaken to assess the conceptual approach with target industry DSS users and developers. The findings suggest that this strategy is of use for improving the overall design qualities in every phase of DSS development, and could be useful for evaluating DSS design with target users and DSS designers within a socio-technical design context.

The literature in health information systems and medical informatics reports contradictory findings with regard to acceptance, routinization behavior, and use of technology in healthcare. A possible reason for that is the deficiency of certain studies to adequately conceptualize health professionals as «users» of technology. From a pragmatic view, many clinical systems suffer from a lack of usercentricity, which often provokes a certain level of resistance or negative attitude toward technology among health professionals. Clinical user profiles may be a first step in assisting researchers and practitioners in designing more user-centered systems as well as more precise usability and adoption studies. By means of an exploratory cluster analysis based on the answers of an online survey with 108 health professionals, three different user profiles were identified: the «delegator», the «allrounder», and the «supporter». It is expected that the presented alternative view on users of health information systems may allow scientists to improve the explanatory power of value assessments and usability studies as well as designers to better adapt their solutions to the context and interests of health professionals.

Implementing and maintaining Business Information Security (BIS) is cumbersome. Frameworks and models are used to implement BIS, but these are perceived as complex and hard to maintain. Most companies still use spreadsheets to design, direct and monitor their information security improvement plans. Regulators too use spreadsheets for supervision. This paper reflects on ten years of Design Science Research (DSR) on BIS and describes the design and engineering of an artefact which can emancipate boards from silo-based spreadsheet management and improve their visibility, control and assurance via an integrated dash-boarding and reporting tool. Three cases are presented to illustrate the way the artefact, of which the realisation is called the Securimeter, works. The paper concludes with an in-depth comparison study acknowledging 91% of the core BIS requirements being present in the artefact.

Demographic change and continuously increasing spending on public health have intensified the public debate as well as deliberations on the development and deployment of new assistive technologies for health, independent living, and well-being for senior citizens. Other than large-scale, policy-driven health initiatives that envision ambitious and risky " grand designs " , in this paper we illustrate the case of a grassroots-like project which used Action Design Research (ADR) as guiding research paradigm to produce a low-cost, yet effective, monitoring system for people with mild cognitive impairments or dementia. Besides a description of meta-requirements and solution components, we also identify general implications for future research. In particular, we explain how an ADR-inspired approach to social innovation could be a useful alternative to large-scale, policy-driven health initiatives to increase the time-to-market of new solutions, pre-test new use cases, and to enhance accessibility and affordability of assistive technologies for the local community.

Near Field Communication (NFC), as one of the emerging and promising technological developments, provides means to short range contactless communication for mobile phones and other devices alike. NFC has become an attractive design science research area for many academicians due to its exploding growth and its promising applications and related services. A better understanding of the current status of NFC research is necessary to maintain the advancement of knowledge in NFC research and to identify the gap between theory and practice. In this paper, we present a literature review on NFC. To facilitate the analysis of the literature, we propose a research framework and organize the NFC literature into four major categories (theory and development, applications and services, infrastructure, ecosystem). We contend that due to the nature of NFC (industry high stakes, multidisciplinary research, artifacts development), the design science research paradigm serves an appropriate ground to ...

Designing products implies to deal with a series of issues affecting their entire life cycle, which are often solved by exploiting the benefits offered by modular architectures. Nevertheless, although several studies have been performed on this argument, understanding 'when' and 'how' to adopt modularity still remains a non-trivial task, especially in the early design stages. Indeed, different modularity types can be found in literature, but it is unclear whether they can be linked to specific categories of design problems or not. Attempting to fill this gap, the paper proposes an investigation strategy to highlight the relationship between modular solutions and design problems. An illustrative application of the proposal on a sample of products is presented together with the achieved results. They show that the proposed investigation approach potentially allows to highlight preferred modular solutions for specific problem categories. Moreover, a new set of unambiguous definitions of the modularity types is presented to clearly identify interfaces and interactions among modules.

The Q-method has been utilized over time in various areas, including information systems. In this study, we used a systematic mapping to illustrate how the Q-method was applied within Information Systems (IS) community and proposing towards the integration of Q-method into the Design Sciences Research (DSR) process as a tool for future research DSR-based IS studies. In this mapping study, we collected peer-reviewed journals from Basket-of-Eight journals and the digital library of the Association for Information Systems (AIS). Then we grouped the publications according to the process of DSR, and different variables for preparing Q-method from IS publications. We found that the potential of the Q-methodology can be used to support each main research stage of DSR processes and can serve as the useful tool to evaluate a system in the IS topic of system analysis and design

Everywhere in the world governments consider the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to drive improvements in service delivery with wide ranging e-government initiatives. The health sector in particular faces the twin challenge of growing populations requiring services and dwindling resources in the face of reduced funding. Yet developments in ICT present an opportunity to streamline service offering in a way that maxim-ises the available meagre resources. These e-Health initiatives require the input and the support of the public that health institutions serve. Design thinking has over the last twenty years developed into a " design paradigm " that can assist service providers to craft solutions to problems that take into account the needs and views of stakeholders involved. Using a design science research approach underpinned by a pragmatist philosophy, this study develops a model for consolidating empathy input in a design thinking process. The model was iteratively tested in a healthcare setting focusing on the provision of postnatal care services in a developing environment setting.

The large information flow creates new artifacts and professional demands related to design, management and production of information. The purpose of this article is to show some subject intersections connected by the information, and also to make room for the discussion about the Design Science Research applicability in projects and subjects related to the informational artifacts and scientific knowledge production. This exploratory and bibliographic research uses theoretical contributions from Information Science, Information Design, Information Systems and from Design Science Research. The bibliographic
surveys focused on the interdisciplinary relationship between the fields allowed a better comprehension of the potential cooperation of the areas in a project or a subject related to the Information Design, as it allows a glimpse of the Design Science Research application in scientific and practical proceedings.

The definition of design research in the realm of architectural lighting revolves around what research is, and where it belongs in design education and practice. The premise is that design research functions as a development of practice, rather than as a distraction to it. This article explores the role of design research in evolving innovative approaches towards design and the implementation of best practice. It reviews literature to identify different approaches to design research, and develops a relevant knowledge base framework by defragmenting and building upon existing bodies of frameworks. Finally, it demonstrates practical applications of this defragmented framework by analysing architectural lighting projects, which are used as case studies.

The aim of design science research (DSR) in information systems is the user-centred creation of IT-artifacts with regard to specific social environments. For culture research in the field, which is necessary for a proper localization of IT-artifacts, models and research approaches from social sciences usually are adopted. Descriptive dimension-based culture models most commonly are applied for this purpose, which assume culture being a national phenomenon and tend to reduce it to basic values. Such models are useful for investigations in behavioural culture research because it aims to isolate, describe and explain culture-specific attitudes and characteristics within a selected society. In contrast , with the necessity to deduce concrete decisions for artifact-design, research results from DSR need to go beyond this aim. As hypothesis, this contribution generally questions the applicability of such generic culture dimensions' models for DSR and focuses on their theoretical foundation, which goes back to Hofstede's conceptual Onion Model of Culture. The herein applied literature-based analysis confirms the hypothesis. Consequently, an alternative conceptual culture model is being introduced and discussed as theoretical foundation for culture research in DSR.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are an important economic factor in many countries. In the European Union, they represent the majority of companies, provide two thirds of all jobs, and drive a lot of innovation. This makes them attractive for perpetrators of fraud; limited resources in terms of money, staff, and IT knowledge make them vulnerable. This research deals with the question of how to minimize fraud as a specific risk to SMEs. In concrete terms, it sets out how a framework should look and establishes the guidance that should be given in the context of fraud prevention. This study is set up as a design science research project with the aim of producing a concrete framework as a solution and contributing artifact. Previous research shows that there is a gap in academic research regarding fraud prevention concepts tailored to SMEs. This assumption seems valid as an integrative literature review revealed only a few appropriate papers plus a great deal of non-academic or semi-academic literature. In particular, information systems research is underrepresented in this area. Existing SME-related fraud prevention frameworks concentrate more on internal related fraud risks rather than on fraud committed by external parties, such as cybercrime. This suggests that a comprehensive fraud prevention concept is missing for SMEs and is worthy of being developed, especially considering that any enterprise is a socio-technical system. Keeping in mind that such a framework must be generic enough to cover different fraud risks and company situations while also giving concrete advice, this research applies domain-specific modeling principles to find the best notation and style of presentation. This work-in-progress paper proposes a preliminary architectural model for a new fraud prevention concept suitable for SMEs.

Potato is the most popular root crop and plays a crucial role in human nutrition worldwide. However, farmers in Sri Lanka face many challenges throughout at different stages of potato production. This study intends to provide context-specific actionable information using the Packages of Practice (PoP) model through an ICT-based mobile platform. To investigate farmers’ challenges, a field survey was conducted in major potato growing Districts in Sri Lanka. Primary data were obtained using a pre-tested structured questionnaire, formal and informal discussions from 100 potato farmers selected by purposive sampling technique. Low farmgate prices (37%), pest and disease attacks (32%) and high cost of farm inputs (20%) were the major challenges identified in the study area. These challenges were mainly due to the non-adoption of proper agronomic practices, lack of complete information at the right time, scarcity and low-quality agro-technology, etc. Further, identified decision support factors required for each stage in the farming life cycle for better cultivation. The PoP model was designed concerning the farmer context using Design Science Research methodology. Then the designed PoP was verified and validated by the experts in the domain. The ontological crop knowledge base was used to represent the PoP. Finally, knowledge in the PoP model is fed through a mobile application and then according to user requests, information is acquired from the knowledge base. The designed PoP will be modified based on the updated information/knowledge and user satisfaction/feedback. The proposed information flow will be continued cyclically. A mobile-based information system was taken as an effective tool to speed up the process of knowledge sharing among farmers by providing real-time information, promised to overcome common challenges faced by the potato farmers and achieve long-term sustainability in production.

Maintaining a healthy life requires improving lifestyle. Health promotion actions are important, focusing on changing personal health behaviours. Technological solutions such as mobile health (mHealth) applications might be a promising way to motivate people in encouraging health behaviour change.

The goal of this research is to develop an integrative modelling technique that is easy enough to be used by most business users with little training, but robust and structured enough to be used in subsequent Information Systems Development (ISD) modelling. This technique attempts to bridge the current gap between modelling on a business level and modelling on a technical level. The overall research methodology is design science research, embedding a grounded approach, to develop an integrative modelling technique. The resultant artefact is applied to a case study to test its applicability and suitability, and the results are evaluated. The results show that the proposed integrative modelling technique that is based on a better understanding of the fundamental entities in business and ISD modelling and their properties, attributes and relationships, can be used as a method to model business situations easily and expressively. By overcoming the divide between business and ISD modelling, the technique also advances informal, mostly textual, business modelling. The paper makes a methodological contribution by establishing a new technique that integrates business analysis with ISD, as well as demonstrating how a single case study could serve as an exemplar of a theory.

A new taxonomy for design tools: This paper addresses the question of what design tools are, how they work and how they can be used for architectural design. By surveying the body of research published over the last ten years, we now can formulate new answers regarding the initial questions, and propose a new taxonomy for design tools.
Please note: A further developed version of this text, with an expanded matrix, is included in the new edition of: Gänshirt, Christian (2020): Tools for Ideas - Introduction to Architectural Design. Birkhäuser: Basel, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035622089

Essence Framework (EF) aims at addressing the core problems of software engineering (SE) and its practices. As a relatively new framework, one important issue for EF has been mapping software practices to its conceptual domain. Although there are several works describing systematic procedures, a review of literature cannot suggest a study using a formal method. The study is conducted according to the guidelines of Design Science Research (DSR) Method. The research contribution is classified as an " application of a new solution (the formal method) to a new problem (mapping software practices to EF). The formal method employs an algorithm based on Concept Algebra and it is applied in a Scrum case study. The results are promising and they differ from the ones exist in the current EF related literature.

In the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in India, the number of engineering institutions grew from under 10 to over 500 from 1978 to 2008. This resulted in a severe shortage of good quality teachers and therefore poor quality of graduating students. In India, the employability of engineering graduates is 25%. Considering the scale and wickedness of the problem, the lead author and her team worked on designing innovative and radical solutions to this problem during the last eight years. We restrict our research focus to those colleges who responded to our call for partnership in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and to the center, EnhanceEdu, we created at IIIT (International Institute of Information Technology) at Hyderabad. We present the EnhanceEdu design story using a new pragmatic approach called Design Story Research (DeStoRe) which has its basis in Design Science Research. An overarching design story frames past, present and future work of an entity, seeing possibilities for radical innovation.

The goal of this project is to develop and utilize a microfluidic device to isolate and enrich tumor cells circulating in peripheral blood. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been used as biomarkers for cancer diagnostics and prognosis. However, the rarity of these cells (roughly 1 in a billion) poses a technological challenge to sort and concentrate them. CTCs hold potential sources for early detection, characterization, monitoring of cancers, and development of personalized treatment. The project is currently funded by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).