Search results

This paper aims to propose a framework for the evaluation of artefacts in Design Science and test it using an exemplar case of a knowledge management system (KMS) developed for an Australian refrigeration manufacturing company.

The research uses Design Science research methodology in a specific case study context. The artefact studied was developed using an ontology based on an engineering design conceptualisation and created using an ontology generator, Protégé. Research data for the evaluation of the framework were collected using a combination of document analysis, interviews, shadowing and observations.

The evaluation framework developed for the research and applied to the KMS specifically built for the company was shown to be useful in determining the efficacy and effectiveness of the research outcomes in terms of usefulness to the company engineers in the technical analysis of their work, and for the CEO and COO as part of their strategic planning for the company. The evaluation framework helped the researcher and the engineers as collaborators to demonstrate the extent of improvement in the design and build processes in the company.

Prior research in both Information System and Design Science has not provided a specific, generalizable, evaluation framework for system developers to use as a guide during the systems development process. This research proposes an evaluation framework which covers all broad aspects of evaluation and efficacy, accepting that evaluation frameworks must be flexible in enabling changes to accommodate variations in the types and purposes of artefacts developed.

The purpose of this study is to characterize construction management research at the interface of explanatory science and design science.

The dual nature of construction management research is analyzed by relating this field of research to natural science, design science and its interface. Research at the interface of explanatory science and design science is characterized by identifying studies published on this interface in high quality construction management journals.

Research at this interface should focus on technological rules developed through testing in practical contexts as in design science as well as grounding in the explanatory sciences. The nature of testing technological rules is highly similar to the replication logic recommended for comparative case studies.

Developing and testing technological rules combines the design science and the explanatory science mode of knowledge production in construction management research, while it also respects some of the methodological differences between the two modes.

Developing and testing technological rules is the common ground on which research in construction management practice and research can meet and reduce the relevance gap between science and the world of practice.

The knowledge of artefact design in design science research can have an important application in the improvement of decision support systems (DSS) development research. Recent DSS literature has identified a significant need to develop user-centric DSS method for greater relevance with respect to context of use. The purpose of this paper is to develop a collective DSS design artefact as method in a practical industry context.

Under the influence of goal-directed interaction design principles the study outlines the innovative DSS artefact based on design science methodology to deliver a cutting-edge decision support solution, which provides user-centric provisions through the use of design environment and ontology techniques.

The DSS artefact as collective information technology applications through the application of design science knowledge can effectively be designed to meet decision makers’ contextual needs in an agricultural industry context.

The study has limitations in that it was developed in a case study context and remains to be fully tested in a real business context. It is also assumed that the domain decisions can be parameterised and represented using a constraint programming language.

The paper concludes that the DSS artefact design and this development successfully overcomes some of the limitations of traditional DSS such as low-user uptake, system obsolescence, low returns on investment and a requirement for continual re-engineering effort.

The design artefact has the potential of increasing user uptake in an industry that has had relevancy problems with past DSS implementation and has experienced associated poor uptake.

The design science paradigm provides structural guidance throughout the defined process, helping ensure fidelity both to best industry knowledge and to changing user contexts.

The study aims to explore and develop a smart route planning system for the cross-docking delivery operations of a large supermarket chain using an action research (AR) approach and assessing through a design science research (DSR) lens.

This study took a problem-solving AR (PAR) approach toward the delivery operational issue of the case firm. The research process has accorded with the solution incubation and the refinement phases defined by a DSR framework. An intervention-based research framework for DSR is developed to assess the validity of this study as a DSR research and derive mid-range theories.

Dramatic operational and financial improvements were achieved for the case firm. Significant and unintended environmental and social benefits were also found. A design proposition (DP) and several mid-range theories are proposed as an extension of AR research to DSR research.

A problem-solving DSR research can be better assessed by the intervention-based DSR framework developed in this study. DSR studies should be encouraged for both practical and theoretical advancement purposes.

A challenging business problem-solving study can be tackled effectively through an industry/academic collaboration taking a PAR approach to deliver substantial values and organization transformational results.

Drivers and store associates are safer with smart delivery operations in the case firm.

There are still limited PAR design science case studies in the supply chain/logistics research literature. The research experience and findings gained from this study provide more insights toward how this type of research can be conducted and assessed.

Knowledge production in project studies is continuously challenged to combine scientific rigour and practical relevance, and a professional graduate programme in Project Management is a suitable environment for addressing this issue. This research aims to generate a framework of the Ecosystem of a University Research Centre in Project Studies (URC-PS) to enhance the benefits of research developed in a professional graduate programme.

The research was developed under the paradigm of Design Science and operationalised through a method of Design Science Research. The prescriptive approach was used to identify, design, develop, demonstrate, and evaluate the framework.

The framework comprises four macro-elements: Project Studies; Impact Generation Process; Circumstances, Governance and Management; and Context, broken into sixty elements. It provides a structure that is simultaneously holistic, integrative, and procedural. It also develops a perspective of knowledge co-creation between academics and practitioners in an engaged scholarship approach.

The framework provides a more thorough understanding of the ecosystem university management to the research centre itself, to engaged academics, and to external actors, which allows them to discuss, plan, execute, and evaluate the co-creation of knowledge in Project Studies.

The framework contributes to Organisational Knowledge Creation Theory by including and discussing outcomes and impacts from co-created knowledge in a URC-Project Studies environment. It also explores the concept of “Ba” in its proposal for structuring, organising, and operationalising the “Ba”.

In contrast to the behavioural paradigm of IS research, design science seeks to develop a body of practically‐oriented knowledge which will directly aid the design, implementation, and use of information technologies and systems. Design science, however, remains a minority practice. The purpose of this paper is to argue the case for its more widespread adoption, especially so in research on innovation.

To this end, the authors report an example of design science in action. Two experiments are reported, both concerning the design of the user interface for domestic heating systems. Of note is the use of a medium‐fidelity laboratory simulation (“microworld”) in this work.

Two specific substantive findings results. First that ecologically designed feedback, embodying a strong mapping between task goals and system status, produces superior task performance. Second, that predictive decision aids provide clear benefits over other forms of user support, such as advisory systems.

Whilst arguing the general case for design science, the study shows that there are formidable barriers to its wider promulgation. These include the challenges of constructing realistic meta‐artefacts, compounded by the complex, modal and uncertain nature of design theory itself. The practical value of the microworld paradigm is also confirmed.

Although research in this field has largely addressed the workplace, here the paper addresses the domestic realm. Further novelty derives from the use of the microworld approach. The argument that design science should draw more on the proven methods of “good design” (e.g. prototyping, user participation) in terms of its own praxis is also noteworthy.

This chapter outlines a design-science perspective of entrepreneurship. It zooms in on the junction between present and future to distinguish entrepreneurship as a natural and as an artificial phenomenon. While the current study of entrepreneurship speaks to the former, it has been silent on the latter. The chapter discusses design as a distinct mode of research, opportunity as a design artifact, and the generative power of recursive action to make the case for problematizing entrepreneurial action as a focus of research. It then defines its research questions, discusses the logic and process for addressing them, and outlines the nature of research outputs.

The purpose of this paper is to create a value-based facilities management (FM) workplace by integrating lean principles, lean concepts, and specifically visual management technologies to improve efficiency, transparency, and value in the built environment.

The original research methodology used design science research framework with an action research (AR) approach. The chosen qualitative research methods included questionnaires, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, and participatory observation in action.

The facilities asset management department needs to align itself more strategically with organization leadership by understanding core business values, mission, and vision. It is essential they become a partner in creating a value-based contribution to the organizations bottom line and strategic plan. This can be established by embracing lean principles, concepts, and visual technologies, strategically linking the FM and asset management department to the organization holistically. The research acknowledged that a lean visual workplace management system could be introduced in facilities asset management with success. The findings suggest that change management should form part of the lean journey.

The original research was limited in scope to one UK university estates and property services department’s lean journey and their third party outsourced FM service provider.

By using the visual workplace management system to integrate lean and visual management technologies in FM asset management systems value-based FM services and recognition from the C-suite will be achieved. Additionally, a new design science framework with an AR approach was developed as a research method

This study aims to make sense of global warming. Using the concept of design science (as distinct from explanatory science) and by drawing on recent debates in management and organization studies, the study considers whether the principal mission of human resource development (HRD) research should be to design and develop actionable knowledge that practitioners in organizations can use to solve their pressing field problems. By way of illustration, it poses the question of whether HRD research, in terms of design science principles, can offer solutions to one of the most pressing problems confronting humanity, i.e. global warming.

The study does this from the perspective of dual process theories of human cognition in discussing the arguments presented by various researchers that experiential/intuitive modes of sensemaking are more likely to mobilize effective pro-environmental behaviours than are the traditional rational/analytical modes of sensemaking employed in many HRD and educational interventions and programmes.

An inference that may be drawn is that HRD research may be better positioned not as an academic discipline nor as subordinate or superordinate to human resource management, but rather as an emergent solution-oriented “design science”.

The study uses design science perspective for HRD.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for designing sustainable telemedicine information systems in developing countries.

Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. Primary data were collected from two hospitals in Uganda using a self‐administered questionnaire and an interview guide. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze survey data, while content analysis method was used to analyze interview responses. The framework was developed based on Hevner et al.'s design science framework.

The key requirements for designing sustainable telemedicine information systems in developing countries were identified as the need for speed, ease of use and affordability.

This study was theoretical in nature. Although primary data were used, the researchers were unable to carry out a series of practical tests of this framework with prototype systems on a cross‐section of users.

Design and sustainability of telemedicine information systems is still a big challenge to most developing countries, despite its wide usage in the developed countries. While various telemedicine frameworks exist, not much has been done to adequately address the issue of design for sustainability. This paper proposes an appropriate framework that will guide telemedicine information systems designers on designing telemedicine systems that are sustainable in local conditions of developing countries.

The main contribution of this paper is in the area of information systems design for sustainability, from a developing country perspective. The paper also extends on the constructs of design science research theory and shows how they can be applied in information systems design and evaluation.