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Action design research (ADR) has become widely accepted as a prominent research method within information systems when managing design-oriented research projects. One purpose of the ADR method is to provide methodological guidance for the building of IT artefacts. However, several scholars have reported a lack of guidance of method support at the micro level. This article aims to complement the macro level of the ADR method by integrating prescriptive method support at the micro level.

A qualitative approach including direct content analysis. An empirical ADR project was analysed in order to identify method support that could be integrated into the ADR method.

Method support at the micro level was identified for all the stages of the ADR method. The method support consists of procedural support, guiding concepts, and various techniques for the documentation of project tasks stated in the ADR method.

The contribution to theory consists of aspects concerning the integration of macro and micro levels: relationships between normative and prescriptive support, continuous focus shifts, and method completeness.

The contribution to practice consists of explicit suggestions for method support that could be integrated into the ADR method.

This study extends previously provided knowledge by offering empirical evidence concerning theoretical constructions consisting of explicit relationships between ADR tasks and integrated method support, and elaboration on the integration of macro and micro levels.

IT service management (ITSM) is a discipline for management and maintenance of IT-systems and is claimed to play a critical role in supporting and satisfying business requirements. However, from a customer perspective, ITSM is considered as being costly and the outcome is not always satisfactory. Measurements used to monitor and evaluate ITSM-processes are mainly suggested from a service provider perspective. The purpose of this paper is to suggest measurements for ITSM based on a customer perspective that can be used for improving questionnaires.

The SERVQUAL scale has been used as a base for suggesting customer-oriented measurements for the ITSM-field. The gathered qualitative empirical data consisted of customer feedback, in questionnaires, to five IT service providers in Sweden. Based on these empirical data, the SERVQUAL scale has been modified according to ITSM-specific customer requirements. The service providers represent the sectors: car construction, forest management, IT consultants, public sector and logistics.

The paper demonstrates three types of findings: confirmation of original SERVQUAL determinants that could be reused in the ITSM-field, modification of attributes of the SERVQUAL determinants to better fit in the ITSM-field, and development of new categories and new attributes. Moreover, the analysis of SERVQUAL in relation to the empirical data revealed that the SERVQUAL's original conceptual structure needed to be improved. The authors have added a third hierarchical level that supports a conceptual understanding.

The knowledge contribution consists of a developed SERVQUAL, adjusted to fit the ITSM-field, and a suggested new conceptual structure of SERVQUAL consisting of three concepts: determinant, category and attribute.