While some argue that innovation is inhibited by installed base, this paper suggests that it is critical to service innovation. In particular, the installed base of devices and infrastructure is an important element for improved diffusion and higher acceptance of services. It brings forward a nuanced view of installed base and reports a case study of Swedish National Road Administration's strategy for increasing safety on the roads with intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) services. Over time, they changed the strategy in order to employ existing installed base available.

This case study examines three different digital innovation projects within Auto Inc - a large European automaker. By using the competing values framework as a theoretical lens we explore how dynamic capabilities occur in a firm trying to meet increasing demands in originating and innovating from digitalization. In this digitalization process, our study indicates that established socio-technical congruences are being challenged. More so, we pinpoint the need for organizations to find ways to embrace new experimental learning processes in the era of digitalization. While such a change requires long-term commitment and vision, this study presents three informal enablers for such experimental processes these enablers are timing, persistence, and contacts. © 2015 IEEE.

This paper introduces intrafaces as a sociomaterial take on user interfaces. Intrafaces enables actions where humans and technology are entangled in the moment and are useful when developing experiences. It invites us to add to the traditional path of user interface design and change perspective on how we comprehend the world. The essence of intrafaces helps us understand how experiences emerge, how human and technology mangles to achieve an action. To design experiences one needs to: 1. consider human and technology as one in action, not as separate entities, and 2. focus on what activity these entities, the social and the technology, together accomplish, and 3. use the notion of agential cut to identify elements and relations involved in the experience. If using intrafaces when designing, the innovation span extends from only considering technology/materiality as the owner of user interfaces to thinking materiality and the social as a collective where intrafaces enable and form the experience.

In this paper, I examine design practices by contrasting the Cartesian view of separation with an ontological perspective and argue for a dynamic, multiple, and entangled world (namely, sociomateriality). In the digital era we live in, sociomateriality helps move design practices forward in order to embrace constant changes and re-configurations. The word interface manifests a worldview of separation. Researchers typically conceive an interface as belonging to an artifact; that is, the technology, the material. More so, [people] typically considers user interfaces as the layer that separates and connects the technology and the user, which enables interaction. I recognize the limitations of the well-established perspective of interface design and contrast two traditional HCI concepts (namely, usability and context) from a Cartesian versus a sociomaterial perspective. However, to embrace and capitalize on the emergent digital reality, we need a new vocabulary. I introduce helpful concepts that one can use when designing and talking about experiences, and I ground the concepts in a sociomaterial ontological perspective. The concepts and design approach presented in this paper invite and encourage researchers to focus on experiences as sociomaterial entanglements and re-configurations and not as separated social and material entities. By using Michel Serres’ (1980) term quasi-objects, I call attention to the complexity of sociomaterial entanglements that make up experiences and emphasize a holistic and inclusive design approach. In addition, introducing sociomaterial concepts, such as agential cuts and intra-actions, into the human-computer interaction domain invites researchers to think and act in new ways in the era of digitalized experiences. I examine the benefits of the sociomaterial design approach and present practical guidelines on how to approach experiential design with a sociomaterial take.

Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) aims to deal with the complex- ities of information technology (IT) solutions and to achieve more organizational agility. EAM is a holistic approach to IT architecture, but the results of the approach have been variable. An under-researched aspect of EAM is how different organizational units respond to the call for a holistic approach. In this study, we investigate how different stakeholders in a large governmental agency connected to three on-going projects and their response to EAM initiatives. With a qualitative approach, we identify three options of response to EAM initiatives: (1) active compliance with the EAM strategy, (2) loyal but passive response, and (3) rebel solutions. We argue for the need of a more nuanced repertoire of actions for dealing with EAM and show how these responses are useful for understanding and managing successful EAM.

Many large organizations have on-going Enterprise Architecture initiatives. Key aims include achieving more organizational agility, and to tidy up a messy portfolio of IT silo systems. A holistic approach to IT architecture has been an accepted strategy, but the results of these initiatives have been variable. An under-researched aspect is how different organizational units respond to the call for a holistic approach. In this study, we investigate how different stakeholders connected to three ongoing projects responded to the call for EA. With a qualitative approach, we identify three options of response to EA initiatives: (i) compliance with the EA strategy, (ii) loyal but isolated response, and (iii) rebel solutions. We argue for the need of a more nuanced repertoire of actions for dealing with EA, and show how these responses are useful for understanding and managing successful EA.

This paper examines the adoption of software product line engineering to implement digital differentiation of physical products. The introduction of such software-based variety can typically be challenging for firms innovating within the realm of a manufacturing paradigm. In particular, the mutual dependency between the organization design and product design of new product developing firms may counteract attempts to induce change through software product line engineering. On the basis of innovation theory and the notion of isomorphism, the paper presents a case study of digital differentiation at one of the world’s largest automakers, GlobalCarCorp. Relating to the literatures of software product lines and product families, the contribution of the paper is a lens through which to understand the role of isomorphism in implementing digital differentiation in new product development. In addition, practical implications are derived from this in-depth study.

Digital technology offers new options for product-developing firms. However, to reap the benefits of digital technology, firms need to handle the tensions between these options and the institutionalized practices established over long periods of incremental innovation. We report on a twenty-month intensive case study of a global automaker’s efforts to innovate instrument clusters and explore the influencing role of established innovation practices. We develop a conceptual model for understanding how digital technology shapes, and is conditioned by, the dominant design of a product class. Our research contributes to the emerging literature of digital innovation and offers lessons learned for established firms dealing with the contradictory logics of digitized products. 

Prior literature has emphasized the challenges of appropriating digital innovation in terms of combining digital and physical components to produce novel goods and services. However, there is a lack of more detailed understanding of how actors draw on experience, careful judgment and learning to drive digital innovation processes towards a projected future vision. In this paper, we explore how actors at a large incumbent car-manufacturing firm engage with digital innovation as they grapple with complex user expectations through the lens of phronesis. On the basis of engaged scholarship and interviews with members of two research and development (R&D) teams, we pay attention to the particular capacities, here termed phronetic principles, that guide user centric development work. Based on this, we propose five principles of importance for understanding digital innovation process: 1) projecting visions, 2) value-based judgment, 3) attuning to particulars, 4) open-mindedness, and 5) perpetual learning.

This paper uses the Aristotelian concept of phronesis (practical wisdom) as a sensitizing device to explore digital materiality in relation to user experience. We studied a digital innovation called Prudence, and observed that it possesses material properties including sensitivity to particulars, interactive ability, open-mindedness, and future orientation, making it context-aware. These properties quintessentially enabled the solution to be 'phronetic', and attune to its user's flow of activities and routines, to deliver 'good' user experiences. The study provides an opportunity for extending and strengthening current and emergent theories on digital materiality by incorporating phronesis as a vital ingredient to understand experiential computing. It also highlights the importance of embracing value-rationality to attain the kind of user delight that goes beyond what can be pre-defined in a specification. Overall, the paper contributes to show the fruitfulness of appropriating the notion of phronesis into the field of digital innovation. © 2016 IEEE.

This paper uses the pre-renaissance philosopher Nicolas Cusanus (1401-1464) and his concepts of ratio (calculating rationality) and intellectus (a relation to not-knowing) to assist in understanding the differences between human and artificial intelligence. The intention is to contribute to the ongoing discussions and debate pertaining to AI implementation and use, arguing that philosophy can be of ample use when it comes to understanding different types of intelligence in the digital world. The presented conceptual framework outlines the human and the artificial intelligence in terms of their characteristics in relation to Cusa’s ratio and intellectus. This helps to apprehend the different forms of intelligence and, more specifically, their strengths and how they operate.

Using big data in organizations has the potential to improve innovation, accuracy, and efficiency. Big data is also connected with risks for both the organization and society at large. It is therefore vital to improve our understanding of the potential consequences of implementing and using big data. The researchers studied the Swedish Transport Administration to understand their attitude towards implementing big data to predict, for example, the need for road maintenance. The analysis identified four moral dilemmas that the organization deals with in connection to big data. The researchers discuss these dilemmas from the perspective of practical wisdom. Practical wisdom is manifested in context-dependent actions connected to open-mindedness, reflection and judgment. It can be summed up as “the reasonable thing to do” in a unique situation where “not-knowing” is a helpful resource when making wise decisions. This paper seeks to shed light on the importance of practical wisdom when implementing big data. Copyright © 2022, IGI Global.

Using big data in organizations has the potential to improve innovation, accuracy, and efficiency. Big data is also connected with risks for both the organization and society at large. It is therefore important to improve our understanding of potential consequences of implementing and using big data. We studied the Swedish Transport Administration to understand their attitude towards implementing big data for prediction of, for example, the need for road maintenance. The analysis identified four moral dilemmas that the organization deals with in connection to big data. We discuss these dilemmas from the perspective of practical wisdom. Practical wisdom is manifested in context-dependent actions connected to open-mindedness, reflection and judgment. It can be summed up as “the reasonable thing to do” in a unique situation where “not-knowing” is a helpful resource when making wise decisions. This paper seeks to shed light on the importance of practical wisdom when implementing big data.© 2021 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved. 

Experiential learning through games is becoming increasingly relevant as games exert an enormous influence on the imaginarium of newer generations. This paper details the use of a game-based learning process focusing on game-making in relation to ethical issues of digitalization for graduate education in digital service innovation. Within the context of a masters education, students from diverse knowledge backgrounds learned about and reflected upon ethical issues related to social media usage by playing, remixing and designing games using the Design Games Framework. This paper illustrates that game-making can enable non-designer students to work with ethical issues. There are good possibilities to explore ethics through designing tabletop games, and having diverse groups of participants can be advantageous. Using a qualitative approach based on observation and interviews, the paper contributes to the body of literature focusing on experiential learning through game-based approaches and to the consolidation of the Design Games Framework.

This paper sets out to present an ongoing pedagogical project where game design is used to let students both learn and reflect upon different perspectives of ethics relevant to the master program they are enrolled in. The paper explains the underlying logic behind the pedagogical process where students develop their own game and at the same time learn about different perspectives of ethics in relation to courses that they are currently taking. With an open and iterative method, we let the students explore, discuss and design a game that can be used by future students. By letting the students decide and lead the development we democratize the learning-process and engage them in a learning experience. More so, this approach to game design as a pedagogical tool to engage and democratize the learning experience is new and increasingly relevant for both students that play games on an everyday basis, but also students that are new to games. Also, it is a constant and dynamic process for both students and teachers. © 2022, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Although information systems research has brought the role of new practice creation in innovation processes to the fore, few studies focus on initial activities of digital innovation and how they eventually lead to institutional transformation. Using a framework of institutional enablers of digital innovation, this study analyses the role of new practice creation in digital innovation. The study is based on a 20-yearlong case study in the automotive industry and follows the emergence of User Experience (UX) practices in an automotive manufacturer. We do this study to understand how UX could develop from a marginal position scattered over the organization to the institutional core as the main logic of innovation. The study theorizes the role of organizational forms, digital institutional infrastructures, and digital institutional building blocks in the legitimization of new practices for organizational transformation. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Architectural theory of digital innovation contends that, to enhance physical products with digital capabilities, a layered modular architecture is required. This architecture hybridizes hierarchically arranged components of physical products with modules of digital functionality configured into layers. Despite considerable research adopting this architectural perspective on digital innovation, questions of how this hybrid architecture is accomplished organizationally and technologically lack both conceptual clarity and empirical illustration. Noting pervasive tensions that characterize digital innovation efforts and the contradictions between hierarchical and layered modular configurations, this paper seeks to answer the following research question: Given that the layered modular architecture needs to hybridize modular arrangements with opposing logics, how is it accomplished? Employing the concepts of digitalization, physical product hierarchy and digital control system to better theorize a product architecture’s movement from a modular to a layered modular architecture accompanied by organizational structures that enable this change, we abductively analyze the increasing digitization of a car’s Driver Information Module (DIM) over a 10 year period. We conclude by proposing three transformations through which the layered modular architecture is accomplished. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Digital innovation entails the combining of digital and physical components to produce novel products. The materiality of digital artifacts, particularly the separation between their material and immaterial features, which is expressed through a layered architecture, lays the foundation for the generative potential of digital innovation. Gaining an understanding of the work involved in creating such a layered architecture and tracing the shifts in the material sub-stratum as physical products are digitalized provides insight into the organizational implications of digital innovation. To this end, we study the digitalization of the automobile by focusing on the evolution of a car manufacturer’s instrument cluster or Driver Information Module (DIM) from 2005 onwards. Based on laddering interviews with 20 people involved in the development of three increasingly digitized DIMs, this paper traces the progressive dissociation between the material and non-material aspects of digitalized artifacts and the organizational implications of evolving a modular layered architecture. © (2013) by the AIS/ICIS Administrative Office All rights reserved.

In this study we are concerned with the ways digital components increasingly challenge preexisting work practices in traditional product development. By drawing on an in depth case study of an automakers attempt to respond to digital innovation, we explore digital innovation in a hardware regime. More specifically, we studied challenges connected to the specification process, and the difficulties of working with digital innovation in user interface design. Based upon our analyses of AutoInc, a world leading car manufacturer, we draw three overarching conclusions. First, specifying requirements for a digital material is in some ways a paradox. That is, the nature of digital innovation enforces agility both in terms of specification and use; it is, so to say, a volatile material. Second, we found that with two innovation regimes in one firm, different characteristic in forms of architecture, design and organizational structures need to coexist. This typically brings tensions between the urge for managerial control and the principles of openness. Last, this study indicates that fine-grained level of specifications may also force a shift in the locus of innovation. Thus, autonomy in the design process may be unintentionally narrowed.

In this paper we explore mirroring challenges when an incumbent firm endeavor digital innovation. More specifically, we describe how AutoInc, organized according to the physical vehicle it produces, is challenged when an “over the air” software service is developed and implemented. Using the mirroring hypothesis as a point of departure to understand existing and emerging innovation networks, we recognize anarchistic actions. The analysis reveals the emergence of anarchic actions and how they challenge well-established federative innovation networks within the organization. With continued focus on technology, the project and organization disregarded necessary social structure development, which resulted in reduced capabilities to utilize the digitalized service. This qualitative paper also illustrates how the mirroring hypothesis, although originating from product innovation literature, can be used to understand digitalization dynamics. To the end, the analysis shows that the digital product innovation classification structure may need additional tuning.

This conceptual paper aims to explore judgment in the context of automated decision-making systems (ADS). To achieve this, we adopt a modern version of Aristotle’s notion of phronesis to understand judgment. We delineate seven elements of judgment which provide insights into what humans are better at, and what AI is better at in relation to automated decision-making. These elements are sources of knowledge that guide action including not-knowing, emotions, sensory perception, experience, intuition, episteme, and techne. Our analysis suggests that most of these attributes are not transferable to AI systems, because judgment in human decision-making requires the integration of all which involves considering the contextual and affective resources of phronesis, and the competence to make value judgments. The paper contributes to unpack human judgment capacities and what needs to be cultivated to achieve ‘good’ AI systems that serves humanity as well as guiding future information systems researchers to explore human-AI judgment further.

In this paper, we report on a panel discussion at the 2023 European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2023) held in Kristiansand, Norway. This panel discussed what role human flourishing plays in information systems (IS) research and what information systems researchers can do to promote it in increasingly digitalized societies. We believe that we, as IS researchers, are able to develop new and valuable insights regarding the challenges and opportunities of digital technologies and how this can be ameliorated into hope for a world where humans can live well. Hence, the panelists discussed and debated their perspectives on human flourishing and how information systems (IS) researchers can take the lead as well as become more sensitive to the ways we study human flourishing in the world. We use their rich discussion to develop four pathways for exploring the impact of digital technologies on human flourishing and offer an agenda for future research.

Studies of HMI development at Volvo Car Group show that making HMI visible and tangible, establishing areas for cross-organizational collaboration, and reinventing the organization and its processes have all enabled it to better respond to the challenges of digitalization. The team focused on two changes made in the development process over the past. First, new software simulation tools were rapidly introduced, shifting the nature of development. Second, a new HMI laboratory was implemented that enabled intensified early testing and joint discussions across the organization. To enable well-founded decisions during the development process, a range of new simulation and prototyping tools were introduced. With the tools came opportunities and a drive to experiment and explore during the development process . For an interface to be road-ready, developing and evaluating interfaces from a desk do not suffice. The need for a new HMI test facility, including a driving simulator, became apparent. With the new tools, iterative design processes and higher user involvement became further embedded in the organization. While these changes allowed for new ways of working and innovating, they also resulted in more engaged developers who enjoyed their work. Department named Digital User Experience (DUX) was created. It approached car development solely from an enduser perspective, with the ambition of bringing some balance to the technology-minded organization.

This paper examines the development and the end-user experience of a digital driver information module, with the aim to research the adoption of user experience practice in a large industry organization and the influence of the practice on the end-user experience. Eight developers from the automotive company were interviewed, as well as eight end-users. The module was the first all-digital driver information module for the company. A number of organizational and procedural changes were required to deliver a novel user experience, such as hiring new competences and employing new simulation and development tools. For the end-users, the experience of the digital user interface played a significant role in creating pleasure of use and emotional bonds to the car. The results highlight the benefits for large organizations to adopt to flexible user experience development practices, such as cross-organizational cooperation, iterative prototyping and rapid user testing. © 2016 ACM.

Developing autonomous vehicles is technically complex and up to now research has focused on technical improvement and operative safety. As the level of automation increases the role of the driver will change; from controlling every movement of the vehicle into becoming an operator/passenger. Little is known about how this new context will affect the social experiences with and within the vehicle. This workshop focuses on three different kinds of social experience and socializing, namely; between other road users and the autonomous car, the social activities taking place within the autonomous car, and lastly the relationship between the car and the operator. The workshop aims at exploring possible practices, research and design directions of autonomous vehicles in relation to these social experiences. A human-centered design approach is the core of the workshop, with playful field excursions and ideation sessions. © 2016 ACM.