A Socio‑technical Approach to Designing and Evaluating Industry Oriented Applications

Abstract

Over the past few years many views have emerged that maximize the utilization of design research in Information Systems (IS) application development. A recent insightful debate in the IS community has suggested two major design views in IS research: a) a pragmatic technical artifact orientation, and b) a theory‑grounded user and meta‑artifact focus. The first (pragmatic design‑based) view focuses on explicit knowledge and on a step‑by‑step methodology for innovative artifact design and building. The second (theory‑grounded) view more broadly emphasizes meta‑artifact design in IS development and a more prescriptive guidance approach that is grounded in design research. The debate between these two views leads to the question: which method is more suitable for Decision Support System (DSS) design? In extending the debate on design views in IS research, this paper evaluates a DSS application through both the utility of the pragmatic and the socio‑technical design research views. This helps create a methodological foundation for industry‑oriented DSS design and evaluation. The findings suggest that both positions have merit, but the latter view of design science is more suitable for industry‑oriented DSS design.