HICSS 57 Minitrack: IS for Social Good and Ills: Implications for Research, Practice, and Policy
Track: Organizational Systems and Technology
Minitrack Co-chairs: Jordana George, Amber Young, Sirkka Jarvenpaa
Submissions Due: June 15, 2023
Call for Papers: The objective of this minitrack is to foster a community of researchers who are interested in understanding how technology can be used for social impact, and in developing practical guidance for organizational, legal, and political leaders who are shaping policies and laws. We will consider three types of papers for this minitrack:
- Traditional research papers that make a theoretical contribution to knowledge about technology. These papers will be reviewed in a traditional manner. These papers will be considered for fast tracking to Information & Organization.
- Practice- or policy-oriented papers that describe an emergent innovation or law and the anticipated impacts of this innovation or law. These papers will clearly articulate practical or policy implications. They will be written in a way that makes a complex technology or law understandable to readers from a variety of backgrounds.
- Teaching cases that help educators and students think critically about the social impact of technology. These papers will include discussion questions to help students and educators think through the potential future impacts of technology.
- Methodology papers that highlight methods especially useful for research in IS societal impact. These papers may explore mixed methodology, new methods, or novel applications of methods that are currently underutilized in societal impact IS research.
In this minitrack, we seek to advance understanding of how technology design, development, implementation, and governance influence both positive and negative social impact. We want to understand how technology improves or worsens societal and organizational conditions. The following list of potential topics is not meant to be exhaustive:
Type 1 Papers: Traditional Research
- Technology and social good (e.g., emancipation, dignity, social justice, inclusion, empowerment, collective and connective action, activism, social movements, transparency).
- Technology and social ills (e.g., surveillance capitalism, excessive algorithmic management, privacy violations, oppressive work conditions for gig workers, digital divide, inequity, exclusion, terrorism, cybercrime, human trafficking, and strategic systems design that promotes technology addiction).
Type 2 Papers: Practice- or Policy- Oriented
- Descriptions and implications of innovations (e.g., vaccine passports, blockchain, big data, virtual reality, employee wearables and trackers, algorithmic management, smart homes).
- Descriptions and implications of policies and laws (e.g., PACT Act, remote work policies, PRO Act, algorithmic hiring policies, COPPA, UNESCO, gig worker policies, ADA, privacy policies).
Type 3 Papers: Teaching Cases
- Cases and discussion questions to help educators and students think critically about the positive and negative impacts of technology for diverse groups, organizations, or society.
Type 4 Papers: Methodology
- Novel use of methodologies or development of new methodologies that are particularly appropriate for research in IS societal impact. This may include novel methodology mixes, modifications to traditional methods, or new methods and research practice.
Mini track Co-Chairs:
Jordana J. George is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Information Systems in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Systems at Baylor University. She holds an MBA from Penn State University and an MFA from the University of California at Davis. A former manager with two decades in technology management roles, she researches the social impact of information systems. Her work has been published in the Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Operations Management, Information and Organization, Communications of the AIS, and Information Systems Management, among others. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the AIS and is a frequent contributor on Data Philanthropy topics at The Conference Board.
Amber G. Young is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. Her current research focuses on how information systems can be designed and used for social good. Dr. Young is on the editorial board of Information & Organization and is Guest Associate Editor of Information Systems Journal. Her research has been published in MIS Quarterly (x2), Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of the AIS, Information Systems Journal, Information & Organization, International Journal of Information Management, and Communications of the AIS.
Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa is the James Bayless/Rauscher Pierce Regents Chair in Business Administration at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, where she is the director of the Center for Business, Technology, and Law. During 2008-2012, she held the Finnish Distinguished Professorship at Aalto University School of Science and Technology. She has held visiting professorships in leading business schools in the U.S. and Asia. She is the co-editor in chief of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems. She has served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Association for Information Systems and as the senior editor of Organization Science, Information Systems Research, and MIS Quarterly. She is a recipient of three honorary doctoral degrees. In 2017, she was awarded the Association for Information Systems (AIS) LEO Award for Exceptional Lifetime Achievement in the field of information systems.