To Örebro University

This paper presents a descriptive case study of a student-centered learning activity supported by generative AI. The activity, called the Programming Pair Workshop, focuses on peer learning and student interaction. The presentation describes the workshop format and the rationale behind it, based on an analysis of the assignment guidelines used by the Information Systems students for whom the activity is intended. In addition to the descriptive account of the learning activity, the paper shares experience-based teacher reflections and student perceptions. Key lessons learned highlight that the inclusion of generative AI lowers the threshold for peer-to-peer discussion and emphasizes the importance of clearly communicating the pedagogical rationale behind its implementation. Another interesting lesson is that the introduction of generative AI can also also have unintended negative effects on how students perceive a student-centered learning activity.

When end users have to prioritize between different rationalities in organisations there is a risk of non-compliance with information security policies. Thus, in order for information security managers to align information security with the organisations’ core work practices, they need to understand the competing rationalities. The Value-based compliance (VBC) analysis method has been suggested to this end, however it has proven to be complex and time-consuming. Computerized software may aid this type of analysis and make it more efficient and executable. The purpose of this paper is to elicit a set of requirements for computerized software that support analysis of competing rationalities in relation to end users’ compliance and non-compliance with information security policies. We employed a design science research approach, drawing on design knowledge on VBC and elicited 17 user stories. These requirements can direct future research efforts to develop computerized software in this area.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the instant digital transformation of regular, campus-based courses in higher education. Although this was an energy-consuming challenge, it was a familiar process to many universities. However, courses often include elements of skills training and internships. In many cases, these elements had to be re-planned or replaced. In other cases, it was possible to transform them to enable students to have internships by participating in workplace settings remotely. Consequently, universities have to evaluate and develop knowledge on student learning in this new setting. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate student perception of the development of generic skills during internships. This qualitative study has focused on comparing the views of two student groups: one group that did their internships digitally and one group that did the same course, but on site at a physical workplace. The data collected and analysed comprised self-evaluations from 61 Swedish university students on a course in information systems development. The material was processed using directive content analysis guided by a predefined set of IS graduate core competencies from theory. The results from the study indicate that students who did an online internship perceived their development of problem-solving skills as being both deeper and broader when compared to the other group. Although there were more similarities in terms of learning, it was possible to distinguish different ways of learning due to the different circumstances. However, the most obvious difference in the analysed material relates to skills in tolerating change. Students who did their internships on site tended to perceive changing conditions as problems and obstacles, while students in the other group expressed the same aspects as learning opportunities.

In this paper we present the results of a comparison on students’ perception of group workshops that traditionally have been conducted on campus, but due to the covid-19 pandemic had to be conducted online. The workshops studied in this paper are learning activities where students in groups of 4-5 collaborate to solve programming problems without the help of computers. The course context is an introductory programming course at the information systems department in a Swedish university. Under “normal” campus-based circumstances, course evaluations have shown these workshops to be the most appreciated and engaging elements in a flipped pedagogy, active learning-based course. The aim of the study is to investigate if student perception of the workshops and their outcome differs when the activity no longer is conducted on campus and face-to-face. A survey targeting different aspects of student perception of the workshops was conducted before and after the change from campus to online. The analysis shows that there is a statistically significant difference in regards to the student’s ability to achieve the course goals and the outcome of the workshops. However, there does not appear to be any difference in the student’s perception to get help and feedback from the teachers. Overall, the results show that the students are less pleased with the workshops and with their performance in the online workshops compared to when they are campus-based.

Den här avhandlingens ämne är elektroniska marknadsplatser och hur sådana bör utformas utifrån mindre leverantörers perspektiv. Med leverantörer avses här de säljande företag som använder marknadsplatser som mellanhand för att sälja varor och tjänster. I den situation som studerats används ofta denna kanal på begäran av kunden och dessutom via en marknadsplats vars utformning primärt är utformad utifrån kundens behov. Den kategori av marknadsplatser som har studerats har vidare inriktning mot inköp och försäljning mellan organisationer och företag.

En central utgångspunkt och viktig förutsättning för studiens berättigande är uppfattningen om att forskningen kring den här kategorin av elektroniska marknadsplatser visat ett oproportionerlig litet intresse för just leverantörernas situation i allmänhet och de mindre aktörerna i synnerhet. Detta trots att ett reellt kunskapsbehov existerar såväl inomvetenskapligt som i praktikfältet. Det problem som ligger bakom praktikfältets kunskapsbehov har dessutom aktualiserats och accentuerats i Sverige under avhandlingsarbetes absoluta slutfas. Detta genom förändrad lagstiftning som innebär att alla leverantörer till offentlig sektor har krav på sig att kunna kommunicera elektroniskt.

Den övergripande forskningsfråga som behandlas har formulerats som: ”Vilken utformning bör en elektronisk marknadsplats ha för att stödja mindre leverantörers ändamål?” och sedermera besvarats genom utveckling, presentation och tillämpning av en uppsättning utformningskriterier. Den övergripande forskningsstrategin har omfattat genomförande av en kvalitativ fallundersökning bestående av flera delstudier och praktikteori har utgjort ett centralt teoretiskt perspektiv. Undersökningens primära fall har varit den väletablerade skandinaviska marknadsplatsen Visma Proceedo och det praktiska genomförande har inneburit insamling och analys av data i form av intervjuer, dokument och demosystemtester.

Kunskapsbidraget studien resulterat i består av fyra delar: en uppsättning utformningskriterier för elektroniska marknadsplatser, en kategorisering av mindre leverantörers ändamål, begreppsutveckling om s.k. marknadsplatspraktiker respektive ett antal praktikteoretiska utformningsprinciper. De två förstnämnda bidragen är riktade mot både praktikfältet och forskarsamhället med de två senare mer teoretiskt och inomvetenskapligt ämnade.

Utformningskriterierna består av sju preskriptiva utsagor vilka är ämnade att kunna användas som riktningsvisare vid marknadsplatsutformning. Kriterierna utgör därmed det egentliga svaret på den övergripande forskningsfrågan. Studiens identifiering och kategorisering av de mindre leverantörernas ändamål visar att leverantörerna använder marknadsplatsen för att tillmötesgå befintliga kunders önskemål och krav. Vidare visar analysen två huvudkategorier vilka utgör centrala förutsättningar för de mindre leverantörernas aktivitet på den här typen av elektronisk marknadsplats: dels möjligheten till kontroll: att kunna granska och påverka sin egen information och dels behovet av matchning: överensstämmelse mellan marknadsplatsaktiviteten och den övriga (egna) verksamheten.

I syfte att betrakta, analysera och förstå det studerade fenomenet presenterar avhandlingen också de två praktikteoretiska begreppen marknadsplatspraktik respektive försäljningspraktik. Intressenter för detta bidrag finns primärt bland forskare med intresse praktikteori och interorganisatoriska företeelser som elektroniska marknadsplatser.

På vägen mot de tillämpningsspecifika utformningskriterierna har avhandlingsarbetet emellertid också inneburit teoriutveckling på ett betydligt mer generiskt plan. Resultatet är att en till karaktären deskriptiv praktikteoretisk modell har utökats med en uppsättning designprinciper. Principerna är resultat av en teoretisk syntes av informationssystemteori, sociotekniska designprinciper och praktikteori. Då principerna och tillämpningen av dem presenteras åtskilt från varandra är det möjligt för andra att tillämpa, testa och vidareutveckla dem helt bortom undersökningens fall och studieområde.

The aim of this dissertation is to identify what constitutes a desirable design for electronic marketplaces from the perspective of small and medium-sized suppliers. The specific marketplace category under study is business-oriented marketplaces, which are marketplaces that mediate commercial transactions between organizations (in a so-called business-to-business setting). An important justification for the study is the fact that research has shown a disproportionately small interest in studying the issue from this perspective, despite there being both scientific and practical needs for greater knowledge in this area. That is to say, there are a number of important and unanswered questions regarding marketplace suppliers in general and the situation of small suppliers in specific.

The overarching research question is: “What kind of electronic marketplace design is preferable in order to support the needs of small suppliers” and this question has been answered through the development, presentation and application of a set of seven design criteria. The research project was comprised of several sub-studies and characterized by a qualitative approach. Practice theory has been used as the central theoretical perspective of the study. The object of study in the primary case was the Scandinavian marketplace Proceedo and the practical work undertaken involved collecting and analyzing data in the form of interviews, documents and system tests.

The study’s contribution to knowledge is made up of four parts: a set of criteria for electronic marketplace design, a conceptualization of marketplace practices, a categorization of SME supplier needs and finally a suggested set of generic design principles for work practices. The design criteria are presented as seven prescriptive statements that may be used to aid practical marketplace design. The set of criteria therefore also directly answers the overarching research question. For the purposes of observing, analyzing and understanding the phenomenon of electronic marketplaces, this study also presents the two concepts of marketplace practice and sales practice.

When it came to the resulting categorization of supplier needs, the study found that the primary need was for compliance with customer desires and demands. Furthermore, the analysis also revealed two main areas within electronic marketplace interaction in which SME suppliers have particular needs. The first concerns business information – suppliers need to be able to examine and change their own business information. The second relates to business harmonization – there is a need for marketplace activities to harmonize with the regular business activities of suppliers. The study has also resulted in a contribution on a more theoretical and abstract level. It has produced a presentation of a prescriptive extension of an existing work practice model. The extension is a set of generic design principles that stem from the information systems domain and socio-technical theory.

The aim of the paper is to explore a possible theoretical foundation for the `work system approach'. The concept of work systems has been suggested as the core object of study in the field of information systems. The scope of the work system approach is determined by pragmatic relevance and high comprehensibility, with the goal of being applicable for professionals in both IT and business as well as IS researchers. This approach has, however, been criticized for having theoretical shortcomings. In this paper, a theoretical foundation is suggested and explored by relating it to work practice theory and its roots in socio-instrumental pragmatism. The results show that it is both possible and fruitful to ground the work system approach theoretically in socio-instrumental actions.

The scope of this paper is to „infuse‟ the so called work sys-tem approach (WSA) with a suggested theoretical basis. WSA is a ge-neric approach for understanding information systems in organizations with its aim set on high relevance. By relating the, so called, work practice approach the endeavor of the paper is to elaborate on actions as a theoretical and more rigorous basis for WSA. The results from this elaboration are then used to dispute some lines of criticism that has been raised against WSA. The study can be characterized as ex-plorative and the results points out a direction that states that further cross fertilization between the two approaches would be fruitful.

This paper addresses the possible impact of Web Services in an electronic marketplace setting. The concept of Web Services suggests decentralisation and a business setting relying on automatic transactions. After outlining a Web Service scenario the paper elaborates on the implications on a ‘traditional’ third party situation of electronic commerce transactions. This is illustrated by applying the concept of Web Services to data from a conducted electronic marketplace case study. The conclusion regards a proposition that there still is a need for a trusted third party who acts as a guarantor for the involved actors’ reliability.