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Simulation-Based Research in Information Systems

Epistemic Implications and a Review of the Status Quo

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Abstract

Simulations provide a useful methodological approach for studying the behavior of complex socio-technical information systems (IS), in which humans and IT artifacts interact to process information. However, the use of simulations is relatively new in IS research and the current presence and impact of simulation-based studies is still limited. Furthermore, simulation-based research is quite different from other approaches, making it difficult to position and evaluate it adequately. Therefore, this paper first analyses the epistemic particularities of simulation-based IS research. Based on this analysis, a structured literature review of the status quo of simulation-based IS research was conducted, to understand how IS scholars currently employ simulation. A comparison of the epistemic particularities of simulation-based research with its status quo in IS literature allows to critically examine epistemic inferences in the respective research process. The results provide guidance for prospective simulation-based IS research through discussing the theory-based derivation of simulation models, as well as different simulation techniques, validation techniques, and simulation uses.

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Notes

  1. An earlier version of this literature review was previously presented at the 36th International Conference on Information Systems (Beese et al. 2015). In the paper at hand we not only significantly extend the literature review and use a completely different coding approach, but also focus on the additional insights that follow from the discussion of the epistemic particularities of simulation-based IS research.

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  1. Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedbergstrasse 8, 9000, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Jannis Beese, M. Kazem Haki, Stephan Aier & Robert Winter

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  1. Jannis Beese
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Beese, J., Haki, M.K., Aier, S. et al. Simulation-Based Research in Information Systems. Bus Inf Syst Eng 61, 503–521 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0529-1

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