Andrew van de Ven passed away but there are other scholars out there that push the idea of engaged scholarship further. One of these is  from Australia. He joins us to share his thoughts about whether papers or researchers should be relevant, why impact can be an intrinsic motivation, and why our research artifacts should not only be valid and reliable but also beautiful. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on .

Engagement, relevance, and beautiful artifacts

We venture into unknown territories. We team up with our friends Alex and Philipp from the German podcast “”, which comes out of the Vienna University of Economics and Business and is run by PhD students , , , and . If you understand German – or aspire to learn it – you should follow their podcast. Together, we discuss what makes a great or a good PhD student, whether PhD students need to create a researcher identity for themselves, and how academics can deal with envy. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on .

The Crossover

June is here and a new paper is out that argues that empirical patterns are publishable in our top journals. Really? Really. In this episode, Jan plays the interviewer and Nick is the interviewee in what is essentially a Q&amp;A session about computationally intensive theory construction, which Nick argues will be a key part of the future of information systems research. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on .

The one where Nick explains how to do computationally intensive theory construction

Our audiences may be full of jerks and we may fail all the time – but we still love being academics. Why is that? We feel it is time to talk about some of the good things we associate with this role in our society and why being an academic and spending your life in this profession might just be a truly wonderful thing after all. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on .

Why we love what we do

Resilience

Sometimes, we simply fail. Our hypotheses may not be supported. Our ability to access data might evaporate. We may fail to convince a review panel. We may not get that grant or that job position that we were after. How do we deal with such failure when it is so regular and eminent in our work? We are trying to figure that out and also try to find some words of wisdom to pass onto others. Thankfully, we have  on the show to help us out. Together, we conclude that resilience is key but different people have different ways to build resilience. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on .

Resilience is key

Surprise!  is back on the show, our first repeat guest. But only because we continue our recent philosophy of making impromptu changes to our planned recordings. This time we end up talking about presenting research and handling questions from the audience. Jan suggests some jerkiness can be a good thing while Nick things we should all play nice.  And Youngjin? He suggests both is fine. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on .

When your audience is full of jerks

Jan is in Sweden and the audio quality is not great. Meanwhile, Nick is busy and he needs a dose of project management expertise. We discuss how we manage our time and our projects and how we engage in collaborations. After Recker’s rules for humble-bragging failed to get much traction, we now give you the Berente rules for starting collaborations. As usual, the references to all readings we mention are listed on .

Getting things done

We wanted to talk about something else. But regardless, what matters is that we ended up here: what is positivism and interpretivism – and does that distinction even matter anymore to information systems research in the age of digital traces and computationally-intensive methods? And so this is how you end up with a debate about philosophy without any preparation whatsoever. As usual, the references to all the articles we mention are listed on .

Pragmatism, Baby!

Scholars read books. But to be able to read books, someone has to write them. And who does that anymore? We asked , an information systems and computer science researcher who wrote several successful books, to tell us about the role of books, the value of books, the publishing of books – and how we can get more people like him to become involved in business-oriented information systems research. As usual, the references to all the articles we mention are listed on .

No-one is writing books anymore

This IS research is back for a new season and Jan and Nick are eager to run their mouth again. This time, they chat about how we as a community measure and communicate research outcomes and success. Have we created a culture where we pursue click-bait research to improve our standing on some self-created ranking lists that count our productivity but not our scholarly contributions? Also, Jan admits that he has learned something from Nick – for the first time. As usual, the references to all the articles we mention are listed on .

Humblebragging and click-bait research

Professors Nick Berente from the University of Notre Dame and Jan Recker from the University of Hamburg talk about current and persistent topics in information systems research, a field that explores how digital technologies change business and society. You can find papers and other materials we discuss in each episode at http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.

It is award season and it is time to celebrate the highlights of 2021. We decided to hand out two awards, the Trailblazing Research Award, and the Innovative Research Approach Award, to recognize brilliant work done by our colleagues in 2021. Find out who got nominated and who won the awards in this final episode of this podcast before we take a small break. Happy new year everybody! In this episode, the intro and outro music were produced by . As usual, the references to all the articles we mention are listed on .

Welcome to the Oscars

Jan and Nick are both fan boys of grounded theory so it is about time we talk to someone who knows more about it than we do. Thankfully,  agreed to join us. With her we talk about the procedures and outcomes of grounded theorizing, what sort of contributions we can build through this approach and whether IS scholars should build grand or substantive theories. But because Cathy has been around the block a long time, we also talk about our own community institutions and whether they need a reform. In short, we are being naughty. As usual, the readings we refer to are listed on .

Naughty grounded theory

We talk about the dominant research method in information systems, survey research. Can you believe that still one in five papers in our main journals are based on surveys? We think survey research is past its prime – or is it? We discuss what is so good and what is so difficult about it. We try to find a future in which survey is one key part of our method portfolio and how it can continue to stand as a cornerstone of our IS knowledge tradition. As usual, the readings we refer to are listed on .

Jan is a hipster and survey research is dead

Imagine there was a time where the  was struggling to fill its issues. Can’t believe it? Well so it was in the early 2000s says our guest, . With him, we continue our conversation about the history of the information systems field. Ron was around when a new digital technology called E-mail got introduced in a small cluster of U.S. universities in the 1980s. We discuss about the need for a core of the information systems field, theoretical progress in the field, how accessible or precise ideas have to be to create a following, and how academics can learn to develop passion and enjoy a balanced and sustainable career and life. Please excuse the audio issues – this conversation spanned US, Europe, and Australia. As usual, the readings we refer to are listed on .

When our journals were almost empty

So says at least , our guest today. He is the head of the Case mafia - or so at least Jan says - and the main referent of the infamous  number – or so at least Nick says. We pick Kalle’s brain a little bit to learn more about the origins of the information systems field and what is was really like in the 80s and 90s. We also talk about publishing in the old days and now, the debates in our field at that time and why they stopped, and what we can learn from the past that helps us advance as scholars in the future. As usual, the readings we refer to are listed on .

The IS field has no passion

We are joined by , a technology and ethics expert. We talk about who is responsible – and who is accountable – for what algorithms do. But as usual we drift off onto tangents: we talk about how to publish on technology and ethics, why emergent scholars focus more on these topics than before, what we can do to help them, and how we engage in normative writing. As usual, the readings we refer to are listed on .

Are designers of digital technologies responsible for them?

Jan’s voice is loud and clear but Nick comes up with the better phrases. Or does he? In this episode, Nick and Jan discuss the history and role of affordances theory in information systems. Are we actually contributing to this theory or are we just using it? Should we abandon it, just as we abandoned TAM? Or how can we move forward with affordances theory and what options does it allow pursuing for us as a field? Join us to find out. As usual, the readings we refer to are listed on .

Affordances is the new TAM

Jan received an invite to join a paper about a new technology he has no clue about. Of course, he joins the research project. Jan and Nick use the occasion to discuss a few questions: How do we actually theorize about new technologies? Why is this so important to us in comparison to other fields? And should we principally fill gaps or solve problems?

Theorizing about new technology? No problem!

We have the brilliant , , and  on the show and we talk about a lot of things. We talk about how they constructed their ethnography on , what they initially planned to do (AI in HR), how valuable digital seminars can be, and why Natalia refuses to upgrade her dropbox plan. Lebovitz, S., Levina, N., &amp; Lifshitz-Assaf, H. (2021). Is AI Ground Truth Really “True”? The Dangers of Training and Evaluating AI Tools Based on Experts’ Know-What. MIS Quarterly, 45(3), 1501-1525.

Is AI Ground Truth Really "True"?

We have a truly inter-disciplinary team as guests.  is a computer scientist,  is a business ethics expert, and  is a seasoned information systems researcher. They wrote a really special paper, an issues and opinions commentary about . We talk about their paper, how the different disciplines operate, and what it takes to publish conceptual papers.   Teodorescu, M., Morse, L., Awwad, Y., &amp; Kane, G. C. (2021). Failures of Fairness in Automation Require a Deeper Understanding of Human–ML Augmentation. MIS Quarterly, 45(3), 1483-1499.

Can AI be fair?

Professors Nick Berente from the University of Notre Dame and Jan Recker from the University of Hamburg talk about current and persistent topics in information systems research, a field that explores how digital technologies change business and society. <br><br>You can find papers and other materials we discuss in each episode at <a href="http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/</a>.

this IS research

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