The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

IS Evaluation in the Fusion View : An Emergence Perspective

På svenska

Author

Summary, in English

Different theories have changed the way we address to technol-ogy. In the debate on the core of Information System (IS), El Sawy identi-fied three faces of IS views: connection, immersion, and fusion. El Sawy contends that it may be time for a natural shift of emphasis from the con-nection view to the immersion view to the fusion view as IT continues to morph and augment its capabilities. In the fusion view, IT and IS are fused within the business environment, such that business and IT and IS are in-distinguishable to standard time-space perception and form a unified fab-ric. There exist different traditional IS evaluation approaches, like experi-mental, pragmatic, constructivist, pluralist and realist IS evaluation re-search. These approaches evaluate IS when it is positioned either in the connection or immersion view. However, we believe that the fusion view will influence the way IS is evaluated. This paper uses the relational emer-gence theory, based on the philosophy of critical realism where emergence refers to an entity as a ‘whole’ whose parts are structured by the relations among each other. Emergent entities possess properties different from its individual parts’ properties. Considering the similarity to fusion concept, the emergence concept is used to theorize and operationalize the fusion view, as it lacks a theoretical grounding. Based on this, we present and discuss the implications for IS evaluation in terms of how to evaluate a process as well as the output of the process. The discussion on IS evalua-tion is illustrated through an empirical example, drawn on a research study within a police organization. This paper concludes that in the fusion view, the evaluation process shall embrace a holistic perspective. The focus of the evaluation process shall be the emergent entity which consist of IS,users, task and processes structured by means of relationships among each other. The properties exhibited by this emergent entity shall be evaluated.

Publishing year

2012

Language

English

Pages

41-46

Publication/Series

[Host publication title missing]

Document type

Conference paper

Publisher

Academic Conferences

Topic

  • Information Systems, Social aspects

Keywords

  • IS evaluation
  • fusion view
  • emergence

Conference name

European Conference on Information Management and Evaluation

Conference date

2012-09-13

Conference place

Cork, Ireland

Status

Published