Search results

To explore the value and the case for designing antifragile socio-technical information systems (IS) in an era of big data, moving beyond traditional notions of IS design towards systems that can leverage uncertainty for gains.

A design science research (DSR) approach was adopted, comprising four stages, including problem identification and solutions definition, conceptual artifact or socio-technical system design, preliminary evaluation, and communication and knowledge capture.

A conceptual socio-technical artifact that identifies antecedents to antifragile IS design. When operationalised, the antecedents may produce the desired antifragile outcome. The antecedents are categorised as value propositions, design decisions and system capabilities.

This research is conceptual in nature, applied and evaluated in a single big data analytics case study in Facebook-Cambridge Analytica. Future research should empirically validate across a range of real-world big data contexts, beyond the presented case study.

Uncertainty generally results in socio-technical system failures, impacting individuals, organisations and communities. Conversely, antifragile IS can respond favourably to the shocks and stressors brought forth by periods of elevated uncertainty.

Antifragile IS can drive socio-technical systems to respond favourably to uncertainty and stressors. Typically, these socio-technical systems are large, complex structures, with increased connectivity and the requirement to generate, process, analyse and use large datasets. When these systems fail, it affects individuals, organisations and communities.

Existing IS design methodologies and frameworks largely ignore antifragility as a possible designable outcome. Extant research is limited to abstract architectural design, and approaches based on the proposition of principles. This research contributes to knowledge of antifragile IS design, by deriving a conceptual artifact or socio-technical system based on antecedent-outcome relationships that leverage uncertainty towards performance gains.

This paper aims to identify and appropriately respond to any socio-technical gaps within organisational information and cybersecurity practices. This culminates in the equal emphasis of both the social, technical and environmental factors affecting security practices.

The socio-technical systems theory was used to develop a conceptual process model for analysing organisational practices in terms of their social, technical and environmental influence. The conceptual process model was then applied to specifically analyse some selected information and cybersecurity frameworks. The outcome of this exercise culminated in the design of a socio-technical systems cybersecurity framework that can be applied to any new or existing information and cybersecurity solutions in the organisation. A framework parameter to help continuously monitor the mutual alignment of the social, technical and environmental dimensions of the socio-technical systems cybersecurity framework was also introduced.

The results indicate a positive application of the socio-technical systems theory to the information and cybersecurity domain. In particular, the application of the conceptual process model is able to successfully categorise the selected information and cybersecurity practices into either social, technical or environmental practices. However, the validation of the socio-technical systems cybersecurity framework requires time and continuous monitoring in a real-life environment.

This research is beneficial to chief security officers, risk managers, information technology managers, security professionals and academics. They will gain more knowledge and understanding about the need to highlight the equal importance of both the social, technical and environmental dimensions of information and cybersecurity. Further, the less emphasised dimension is posited to open an equal but mutual security vulnerability gap as the more emphasised dimension. Both dimensions must, therefore, equally and jointly be emphasised for optimal security performance in the organisation.

The application of socio-technical systems theory to the information and cybersecurity domain has not received much attention. In this regard, the research adds value to the information and cybersecurity studies where too much emphasis is placed on security software and hardware capabilities.

This paper sets out to report on research by the authors into the development and application of four extensions to Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety (LoRV) that increase its utility in the arena of unplanned changes in hegemonic control of designed complex socio‐technical systems/digital eco‐systems in the built environment that are structurally dynamic or emergent.

Research on which the paper is based focused on exploration of classical systems approaches to the design of complex socio‐technical systems in which ownership, power, control and management of structure and benefit generation and distribution are distributed, dynamic and multi‐constituent. Support for development of these four extensions to Ashby's Law comes from observation of four decades of socio‐technical systems development along with critical thinking that combined systems analysis theories with theories and findings from fields of hegemonic analysis, design research, management, management information systems, behaviour in organisations and sociology.

The paper outlines application of four new extensions to LoRV in relation to unplanned changes in distributions of power, ownership, control, benefit generation and benefit distribution in complex socio‐technical systems/digital eco‐systems in the built environment that are emergent or have changing structures. Three of these extensions have been outlined earlier in relation to the design of learning object‐based e‐learning systems. The fourth extension builds on these via application of Coasian analysis. The paper also describes a suite of five guidelines to assist with the design of complex socio‐technical systems derived from the four extensions to Ashby.

The four extensions of Ashby's Law that underpin the design guidelines in this paper are deduced from observation and critical analysis rather than being “proven” empirically. They are derived from observation of the behaviour of real‐world complex systems together with critical analytical thinking that integrated theory and research findings from a range of disciplines where each informs understanding of hegemonic aspects of emergent complex socio‐technical systems involving multiple, changing constituencies, and evolving system structures.

A design method is derived comprising five design guidelines for use in pre‐design and design of complex socio‐technical systems/digital eco‐systems in the built environment.

The paper describes the application of four new extensions to LoRV that extend the analytical role of Ashby's Law in diagnosis of changes in power relations and unintended design outcomes from changes in the generation and control of variety in complex, multi‐layered and hierarchical socio‐technical systems that have multiple stakeholders and constituencies. From these, a suite of five new design guidelines is proposed.

Digitalization in precision agriculture incorporates state-of-the-art digital technologies. The transformation requires manufacturers to launch digital platforms and services. As a result, innovation ecosystems emerge. In turn, digital technologies introduce novelty into innovation processes. This socio-technical transition is critical to understanding Digital Service Innovation (DSI). Thus, it is necessary for a micro-founded analysis that biographizes the socio-technical assemblages between routines, artifacts and humans that emerge from DSI processes. Against this backdrop, this study aims to examine the co-production processes and the configuration of digital servitization ecosystems based on Routine Dynamics and Sociomateriality views and the DSI perspective.

The study builds on multiple in-depth case studies, including three precision agriculture machinery and services ecosystems. For each ecosystem, the biography of the co-production process of the technological solution that integrates different actors and artifacts as a sociomaterial assemblage is reconstructed. The qualitative data consist of in-depth interviews with managers in the case companies and stakeholders in each ecosystem. Three ecosystems were surveyed. Documentary information from websites and technical documents on the products and services were systematized and incorporated into the analysis as a form of triangulation.

The analysis of ecosystem biographies evidences that DSI processes involve co-production between routines, actors and artifacts. This co-production implies moving from technology transfer relationships to the co-production of technological solutions oriented to digital servitization. New actors, digital artifacts and changes in user practices emerge as translators of DSI processes toward digital servitization. Thus, the emergence of technological solutions must be understood as socio-technical assemblages. The firms develop digital artifacts that allow the DSI process. The role of digital service platforms and users is critical in co-production. Digital artifacts based on algorithmic technologies perform automation and augmentation routines.

The study provides a complementary viewpoint between DSI approaches and the literature on Routine Dynamics and Sociomateriality. It explains in a micro-founded perspective, and based on biographies of the emergence of DSI ecosystems, how the relationship between digital artifacts, human practices and routines become dynamic in the co-production of Technological Solutions. This perspective proposes that DSI processes are based on the co-production of socio-technical assemblages. Thus, sociomateriality is at the center of analyzing the role of artifacts and the networks of relationships they perform and configure with humans, generating strategies, organizational practices and heterogeneous routine dynamics.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a literature review, which aimed to identify previous studies evaluating cryptolaundering from a systems thinking perspective. The aim of this paper is to first confirm that cryptolaundering systems can indeed be defined as complex socio-technical systems and second to present the findings from a systematic review of the literature to determine the extent to which previous research has adopted a systems thinking perspective.

The study involved a SLR of studies published in the peer-reviewed literature between 2009 and 2018. Rasmussen’s risk management framework (Rasmussen, 1997) was used to evaluate the extent to which a systems thinking perspective had been adopted.

The cryptolaundering process is considered to be a complex socio-technical system. The review demonstrates that no previous studies have defined cryptolaundering as a complex socio-technical system or used systems thinking framework approach to evaluate how criminals, regulatory bodies or law enforcement entities understand processes and assess risk within cryptolaundering systems. It is argued that using such an approach to the cryptolaundering process would likely improve assessing criminal risk analyses of cryptolaundering and assist law enforcement and regulatory bodies with understanding risk management during the laundering of cryptocurrencies.

Future assessments of cryptolaundering using socio-technical system analytical processes may afford law enforcement and regulatory bodies the opportunity to improve intervention techniques and identify gaps in regulations and enforcement.

This paper aims to examine organizational information systems based on Web 2.0 technology as socio-technical systems that involve interacting relationships among actors, structure, tasks and technology. Alignment within the relationships may facilitate increased technology use; however, gaps in alignment may impede technology use and result in poor performance or system failure. The technology examined is an organizational wiki used for collaborative knowledge management.

Results of a survey administered to employees of an organization providing cloud computing services are presented. The research model depicts the socio-technical component relationships and their influence on use of the wiki. Hierarchical latent variable modelling is used to operationalize the six main constructs. Hypotheses propose that as alignment of a relationship increases, wiki use increases. The partial least squares (PLS) method is used to examine the hypotheses.

Based on the results, increased perceptions of alignment among technology and structure increase wiki use. Further analysis indicates that low usage may be linked to gaps in alignment. Many respondents with lower usage scores also indicated “low alignment” among actor-task, actor-technology, and task-structure.

The sample size is rather small; however, results may give an indication as to the appropriateness of dimensions chosen to represent the alignment relationships. Socio-technical systems theory (STS) is often utilized in qualitative studies. This paper introduces a measurement instrument designed to evaluate STS through quantitative analysis.

User acceptance and change management continue to be important topics for both researchers and practitioners. The model proposed here provides measures that may reveal predictive indicators for increased information system use. Alternatively, practitioners may be able to utilize a diagnostic tool as presented here to assess underlying factors that may be impeding effective technology utilization.

The paper presents a diagnostic tool that may help management to better uncover misaligned relationships leading to underutilization of technology. Practical advice and guidelines are provided allowing for a plan to rectify the situation and improve technology usage and performance outcomes.

This paper aims to present a preliminary exploration of the intersections between the accounting and information systems (IS) disciplines. Using the illustrative example of the COVIDSafe app, released by the Australian federal government in response to the “wicked problem” of COVID-19, we demonstrate the value of interdisciplinarity to broaden the boundaries of accounting beyond a technical orientation to encompass social and moral considerations.

We apply a high-level view of socio-technical theory derived from the IS discipline by using a close-reading method of publicly available media and federal government sources related to the COVIDSafe app collected between April 2020 and April 2021. This theoretical lens allows for an enhanced understanding of the technical, environmental/regulatory, and social subsystems relating to accounting and accountability while supporting interdisciplinary reflection.

Addressing complex and wicked problems in accounting requires interdisciplinary approaches, whereby the accounting discipline must move beyond its technical origins. Dialogue between the accounting and IS disciplines is necessary to gain a deeper appreciation of the social, technical and moral implications of accounting in context.

Viewing accounting beyond a technical practice through collaboration between accounting and IS offers a theorisation to consider the multi-dimensional nature of complex societal challenges. This theorisation can support the advancement of our practice and research meaningfully toward a view of accounting that centres on ideas of the public interest and the betterment of society. There remains much scope for progressing this dialogue, and we commend other scholars to engage in interdisciplinary work on the boundaries of accounting.

This study illustrates opportunities for accounting and IS approaches to solving “grand challenges”. Further, the study answers multiple calls for interdisciplinary discourse in accounting scholarship by contributing a socio-technical framing toward addressing complex challenges in our calculative era by initiating a dialogue that moves beyond accounting's traditional technical practice or the “accounting information systems” context.

This paper aims to explain transitions in a socio-technical system characterized by non-economic entities that influence economic activity, i.e. embeddedness and coalitions. The selected socio-technical system is an Indian electric network with an interventionist policy. Its embeddedness and coalitions drive the transition. The insights from such analysis expand socio-technical transition theory and provide valuable insights to practitioners in their policymaking.

The authors need to observe the effects of non-economic institutions in their setting. Moreover, in India, the regional policies influence decision-making; therefore, selected two Indian states. The two Indian states, along with their non-economic entities, provided diverse analytic and heuristic views.

The findings show that coalitions, with their embeddedness in the absence of any mediating policy systems, act as external pressures and influence innovation and the socio-technical system’s transition trajectory. Their coalitions’ embeddedness follows a shaping, not selection logic. Thereby influence innovations in cumulating as stable designs. Such an approach provides benefits in the short-term but not in the long-term.

The study selected two states and examined two of the four trajectories. By considering other states, the authors can obtain more renewable energy investments and further insights into the transformational trajectory.

The study highlights the coalition dynamics specific to the Indian electric power network and its transition trajectories. The non-economic entities influenced transition trajectories, innovation and policymaking of the socio-technical system.

The study expands the socio-technical transition theory by including embeddedness. The embeddedness brings a shaping logic instead of a selection logic.

The concepts of joint optimization and socio‐technical systems have been in the literature for over 40 years. However, efforts to operationalize these concepts for managerial practice have not progressed at the same pace as the theory on joint optimization has advanced. This paper represents an effort to turn the theoretical concept of joint optimization into managerial practice by introducing the concept of system equivalence. In this paper system equivalence (the level at which all three systems (social, technical, and environmental) are mutually equivalent in value (is described to indicate how it should be used. This paper then discusses the usefulness of this concept for managerial practice.

Discusses how most organizations use formal methods which are purely objective and rational to evaluate system projects. Such methods are incapable of capturing the social aspects of system projects and as such are not appropriate. Inappropriate evaluation mechanisms and criteria have caused the detrimental effects of organizational bias to flourish, thereby defeating the purposes of project evaluation. Organizations, either knowingly or unknowingly, are judging instead of evaluating projects with the intention to punish or reward the project teams and so encourage biasing effects. Contends that an effective project evaluation should adopt a socio‐technical approach to reflect the socio‐technical nature of information systems. Describes and illustrates managerial guidelines on socio‐technical approach to project evaluation capable of accounting and controlling for the obvious effects of organizational bias.