Communication, Digital Technology, and Organization CTO

Call for Papers

ACM SIGMIS Computers and People Research 2023

Preparing IT workforce for new organizational and societal challenges

For close to 60 years, ACM SIGMIS Computers and People Research (CPR) conference has engaged the academic and practitioner communities in understanding issues pertaining to the intersection of information technology (IT) and people. From its roots in the studies of the IT workforce, CPR has broadened its focus to investigate all aspects of this important and complex relationship.

Many business organizations and the organizing of work have been vastly challenged, and consequently changed, by the COVID-19 global pandemic, the broad social unrest of the last few years, and the growing cybersecurity concerns. As information technologies have penetrated our work and life, businesses and organizations have become more dependent on the use of information technologies as well as on the skills, knowledge and abilities of professionals working in the IT field, especially during the times of global health crisis and war. It is a critical time for us both from academia and industry to ponder and ask: How can we better prepare our IT workforce for new organizational and societal challenges?

SIGMIS CPR 2023 calls for attention and concerted research in three key areas, including: (1)-Re-Imagining IT Workforce Post the COVID-19 Global Pandemic; (2) Embracing and promoting the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the IS career ecosystem; and (3)-Safeguarding the security of IT systems in the times of global instability. The three areas with sample questions are described below. 

At the same time, papers on traditional IT workforce topics pertaining to personnel, training, workforce, and leadership are also most welcome.

(1)-Re-Imagining IT Workforce Post COVID-19 Global Pandemic 

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the social distancing norms and nationwide lockdowns, giving rise to new ways of work and life, such as the common practices of work-from-home (WFH) by the general workforce, including the IT workforce. This calls us to update our views about IT career and workforce development. Important questions such as: What challenges and opportunities arise for IT career and professional development in the computing and information technology fields during and post the COVID-19 pandemic? What will the future of IT profession and IT work look like?

(2) Embracing and promoting the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the IS career ecosystem

The recent editorial, "Are we doing enough? A threefold approach to continue our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion" authored by K.D. Joshi and published in The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, pointed to significant yet underexplored issues in the IS discipline: diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). 

As a conference dedicating to the development and education of IS workforce, ACMSIG CPR 2023 calls for more attention and efforts by IS education and IS Career through embracing and promoting DEI in the IS education and IS career ecosystems. A better understanding of DEI associated challenges and action plans would address questions such as, How can educational institutions improve the IT career's visibility among diverse student populations (i.e., students of different gender and ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, students from minority-serving institutions, etc.)? or What are the challenges and opportunities in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the IS education and career ecosystem?

(3)-Safeguarding the security of IT systems in the times of global instability

Last but not the least, in many parts of the world, organizations and managers increasingly experience a threat to the security and privacy of their technical systems and data resources. As a result, they have a higher expectation on IT professionals to help them prevent or solve problems of IT security such as data damage or loss, hacker protection, etc. As the threats to IT security have increasing rapidly, it is important to understand if our IT workforce is well educated and equipped to take on the challenging work of protecting organizational IT systems. Questions included but not limited to the following: What IT security and privacy issues are challenging business operations and organization work? or What are the essential, new skills, knowledge, and abilities (SKA) required of IT security professionals in local, national, and global work environments?

These and many more questions will need to be examined as we move towards a new normal way of work and life transformed by digital technologies in the times of global crises. What and how will IT workforce seek to adapt to in a changing world of social unrest will allow us to broaden and reimagine the role and meaning of IT profession in the challenging world full of unrest and unpredictability. 

Format of Submissions 

ACM SIGMIS CPR 2023 welcomes both completed papers and research-in-progress papers. All papers must be original, unpublished elsewhere, and submitted following the ACM guidelines available at 

https://www.acm.org/publications/gi-proceedings-current

• Completed papers may include conceptual papers, empirical papers, and industry case studies. They must not exceed 5,000 words including all text, figures, and tables. The abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from this page count. 
• Research-in-progress papers must not exceed 2,000 words including all text, figures, and tables. The abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from this page count. 
• Poster presentations must not exceed 500 words and should provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, research approach, findings to date (if any) and future project plans. 
• Ideas for interesting panels related to the conference theme should be submitted directly to the program chairs. 

Doctoral Consortium

A doctoral consortium will take place as in previous years in conjunction with the CPR 2023 conference. It is meant for students spanning those at an early stage in their doctoral program to those who are more advanced and are at the stage of writing their dissertation proposal, and who are conducting research on a topic related to the conference theme or to the broad focus of the CPR conference on understanding issues pertaining to the intersection of information technology and people. The purpose of the consortium is two-fold: 

1. provide feedback and guidance to students on their proposal while at a stage where feedback can be considered for future dissertation work 
2. provide mentoring and networking opportunities to students who wish to pursue careers as researchers at the intersection of information systems and people. 

Doctoral students must be nominated to the consortium by a faculty sponsor. Students nominated for the consortium should submit their package via https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sigmiscpr23. The application package includes a 10-page research proposal (including all text, figures, and references; double space to be reviewed by a panel of highly qualified senior faculty mentors, and the nomination letter from a faculty sponsor. The doctoral students selected to participate in the doctoral consortium will receive one round of written feedback on their proposal.

During the doctoral consortium, each student will have an opportunity to present their research ideas and receive further feedback in-person from experienced researchers and fellow consortium participants. The doctoral consortium will allow activities in plenary mode and intense workshop sessions in smaller groups. Accepted students may choose to publish the full proposal that was submitted for evaluation or an extended abstract of their proposal in the conference proceedings. Funding will be available to assist and registration fees to students selected for the doctoral consortium. 

Conference Committee

Conference Chairs

Indira R. Guzman (irguzman@cpp.edu), California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, USA

Sam Zaza (sam.zaza@mtsu.edu), Middle Tennessee State University, USA

Program Chairs

Nancy Deng (ndeng@csudh.edu), California State University, Dominguez Hills, USA

Deborah Armstrong (djarmstrong@business.fsu.edu), Florida State University, USA

Guillermo Rodriguez-Abitia (grodriguezabit@wm.edu), William & Mary, USA

Doctoral Consortium Chairs

Damien Joseph (adjoseph@ntu.edu.sg), Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Manuel Wiesche (Manuel.Wiesche@in.tum.de), TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Germany

Local Planning Chair

Ruth A. Guthrie (raguthrie@cpp.edu), California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, USA

Registration Chair

Tenace Setor (tsetor@richmond.edu) University of Richmond, Richmond, USA

Publicity Committee

Lea Reis (Muller) (lea.reis@uni-bamberg.de), University of Bamberg, Germany

Ruizhi Yu (ruizhi.yu@cgu.edu), Claremont Graduate University, USA

Conference Sponsors

The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems Journal, https://sigmis.org/the-data-base/

College of Business, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, https://www.cpp.edu/cba/

Prospect Press, Serving the IS Curriculum, https://www.prospectpressvt.com/