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International Conference on Design Science Research in Information System and Technology

DESRIST 2016: Tackling Society's Grand Challenges with Design Science pp 186–194Cite as

Information System Design Theory: A Lifecycle Perspective

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 9661))

Abstract

For Design Science Research (DSR) to gain wide credence as a research paradigm in Information Systems (IS), DSR must contribute to theory. “Theory cannot be improved until we improve the theorizing process, and we cannot improve the theorizing process until we describe it more explicitly, operate it more self-consciously, and decouple it from validation more deliberately” [2 p. 516]. With the aim of improved design science theorizing, we propose Information System Design Theory (ISDT) should be viewed and analyzed through the concept of ISDT lifecycle. The nature of this lifecycle distinguishes the ISDT from other types of theories in IS discipline. Each ISDT has one lifecycle which has several waves (versions) - the relation here is one to many. A wave of DSR is a special instance of independent DSR project which may produces new ISDT or refined existed ISDT. This paper attempts to contribute to theorizing in DSR. The concept of ISDT lifecycle will contribute and help researchers to identify and crystallize the position of their theorizing contributions in DSR. The lifecycle concept provide with traceability capability which allows researchers to anticipate future theorizing contributions. The ISDT lifecycle can utilized in teaching DSR especially for novice DSR researchers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Due to space limitation, the literature review is not presented in this paper.

  2. 2.

    Due to space limitation, these efforts are not discussed in this paper.

  3. 3.

    These advancements could have any form of contributions; this is out the scope of the current paper.

  4. 4.

    Regardless of which of DSR frameworks is followed by DSR researchers.

  5. 5.

    We assumed the resulting ISDT is scientifically evaluated which definitely affects interest in its adoption in practice.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Systems Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmad Alturki

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  1. Ahmad Alturki
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Correspondence to Ahmad Alturki .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, Canada

    Jeffrey Parsons

  2. University of Jyväskylöä, Jyväskylä yliopisto, Finland

    Tuure Tuunanen

  3. Curtain University, Bentley, Australia

    John Venable

  4. Innovation Value Institute, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co., Kildare, Ireland

    Brian Donnellan

  5. School of Computing, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland

    Markus Helfert

  6. Intel Labs Europe, Leixlip, Ireland

    Jim Kenneally

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Alturki, A. (2016). Information System Design Theory: A Lifecycle Perspective. In: Parsons, J., Tuunanen, T., Venable, J., Donnellan, B., Helfert, M., Kenneally, J. (eds) Tackling Society's Grand Challenges with Design Science. DESRIST 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9661. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39294-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39294-3_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39293-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39294-3

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