Making the developing world a better place with high‐impact IS research

Information Systems JournalVolume 29, Issue 4 p. 838-841 EDITORIALFree Access Making the developing world a better place with high-impact IS research Antonio Díaz Andrade, Corresponding Author Antonio Díaz Andrade antonio.diaz@aut.ac.nz orcid.org/0000-0001-9645-3941 Faculty of Business, Economics and Law-Business Information Systems Department, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand Correspondence Antonio Díaz Andrade, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law - Business Information Systems Department, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland New Zealand. Email: antonio.diaz@aut.ac.nzSearch for more papers by this authorAngsana A. Techatassanasoontorn, Angsana A. Techatassanasoontorn Faculty of Business, Economics and Law-Business Information Systems Department, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New ZealandSearch for more papers by this authorCarol Ou, Carol Ou Tilburg School of Economics and Management-Management Department, Tilburg University, Tilburg, NetherlandsSearch for more papers by this author Antonio Díaz Andrade, Corresponding Author Antonio Díaz Andrade antonio.diaz@aut.ac.nz orcid.org/0000-0001-9645-3941 Faculty of Business, Economics and Law-Business Information Systems Department, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand Correspondence Antonio Díaz Andrade, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law - Business Information Systems Department, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland New Zealand. Email: antonio.diaz@aut.ac.nzSearch for more papers by this authorAngsana A. Techatassanasoontorn, Angsana A. Techatassanasoontorn Faculty of Business, Economics and Law-Business Information Systems Department, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New ZealandSearch for more papers by this authorCarol Ou, Carol Ou Tilburg School of Economics and Management-Management Department, Tilburg University, Tilburg, NetherlandsSearch for more papers by this author First published: 29 May 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12252Citations: 4AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat The boundless potentials of digital technologies offer a promise to move us closer to make the world a better place for all. Despite this promise, decades of information systems (IS) research, particularly in information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), demonstrate a myriad of challenges that prevent us from realising the positive impacts of digital technologies. In cases where positive impacts are evidenced, it may not be clear to what extent and how digital technologies contribute to those outcomes. This special issue echoes the immense and rather precursory question Walsham (2001) formulated at the onset of the expansion of now ubiquitous digital technologies: “Are we making a better world with information technology?” (p. 251). In particular, this special issue is dedicated to understand the benefits digital technology initiatives can bring to billions of people in the less privileged parts of the world (often referred to as developing countries, the Global South, or, in a rather archaic fashion, as the Third World). It is a moral imperative for us, members of the IS community, to contribute to a theoretical understanding of the role digital technologies can play in making the world a better place. As we expressed in the call for papers of this special issue, the practical implications that IS research can bring to real organisational and societal problem situations and their stakeholders should be of prime concern to all researchers who desire to make the world a better place. IS researchers have been discussing the intertwined relationship between digital technologies and social problems for some time now. The inaugural meeting of the International Federation for Information Processing—Working Group 9.4 “Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries” held in New Delhi in 1988 marked the foundation of an academic community, which has been consolidated over the years. This gathering also paved the path for the creation of “sister” communities that congregate scholars, policy makers, and donors on a regular basis. Similarly, niche journals focusing on the examination of digitally enabled initiatives to address social issues in less privileged contexts have been around for long—eg, Information Technology for Development (since 1986), Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (since 2000), and Information Technologies and International Development (since 2003). Mainstream IS journals" special issues devoted to analyse the mechanisms by which digital technologies contribute to address pressing social issues in different contexts corroborate the growing interest in this topic. 1 Building on the Information Systems Journal's previous special issue on “Theorising development and technological change,” we believe that, in order to advance this area of research, we need to move beyond a technological deterministic focus with the assumption of a positive impact of digital technologies (Hayes, Miscione, Silva, & Westrup, 2013) by demonstrating actual positive impacts that they deliver. This special issue contributes to the intellectual conversations in this area. We are witnessing an increasing number of people accessing and benefiting from digital technologies worldwide accompanied by a continuous drop in the price of accessing technology, the widespread use of mobile devices, and technological advancements such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and big data analytics (ITU, 2018; World Bank, 2018). However, harnessing the potential of technology requires the ability for individuals to use digital technologies in a meaningful way (van Dijk, 2006) and responsible use by organisations, including governments (World Bank, 2018). We need to recognise that existing social and economic arrangements shape the way digital technologies can be used for collective action (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Neuman, & Robinson, 2001; Mansell, 2002). In the context of the developing world, these social and economic arrangements impose particular challenges that require local solutions, solutions that cannot be simply imported from the Global North (Avgerou & Walsham, 2000). Our call for papers for this special issue was an appeal to our colleagues in the less developed parts of the world to participate in this initiative. We believe that we have accomplished this goal with a relative degree of success. The call for papers attracted 19 submissions documenting successful experiences in the Global South. However, most of the authors of these works were based, at the time of the submission, in the Global North. We admit that we would have preferred to attract more submissions from authors based in the less developed parts of the world. This overrepresentation of Western-based researchers constitutes in its own right an invitation to reflect on how we can make the IS community truly global. Despite this imbalance in terms of location of authors, the articles published in this special issue offer theoretical insights extracted from exemplary illustrations of the use of digital technologies intended to make a difference to the lives of people in developing countries, thereby making the developing world a better place. All these articles present theoretical insights based on successful experiences in which digital technologies contributed to the achievement of specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as outlined by the United Nations (2019). The articles in this special issue demonstrate the contribution of digital technologies to the elimination of poverty (goal 1), decent work and economic growth (goal 8), the reduction of inequalities (goal 10), and the establishment of sustainable cities and communities (goal 11). The four research articles included in this special issue cover different geographical regions: Brazil, China, and Ghana. The papers presented here are both theoretically rich and highly relevant to practice. The different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches that the contributing authors to this special issue followed are beneficial to the IS academic community. Governments and funding agencies can also derive important lessons from the evidence that these articles present on how to bring about valuable impacts. Joia and Dos Santos (2019) discuss the financial inclusion of a riverine population of Marajó Island in the Brazilian Amazon via an ICT-equipped travelling bank branch installed on a vessel. Grounded on an extant digital inclusion model and capability approach, the authors develop a research model, namely the 2iD Model Adapted for Financial Inclusion (2iDf). This model is used to analyse the situation of access to the financial system by local people through a case study by means of document research, interviews, and observations. The analysis includes both static and dynamic dimensions of financial inclusion, in which the latter dimension is represented by the virtuous cycle of empowerment and participation. This research supports SDG 10—reducing inequalities by explaining how the innovative Agência Barco business model leverages on ICT in vessels to address the issues of insufficient public services available in remote and difficult-to-access locations in the Brazilian Amazon. This study also highlights the importance of basic financial education to make the population aware of the potential befits of financial inclusion. Karanasios and Slavova (2019) argue that “strategy as a practice” can be utilised by development actors within the Ghanaian agricultural sector to enact ICT in their daily outreach practices with small farmers. Such practices encompass employing contemporary technologies (eg, mobile SMS and voice technology, web portals, integrated voice response, and purpose-built digital technologies developed in-house), as well as legacy technologies (eg, radio, TV, and audio and video recordings) to deliver advisory (eg, fertiliser application, improved seeds, and soil fertility) and marketing (eg, international standards, grading and sorting, and prices) information services to these farmers. Via a rich empirical case study with 18 organisations, the authors identify the strategic priorities of development actors as well as the praxis of their work and group them into an activity system. The strategic balance of novelty of content as well as its mechanism of delivery is also examined. The enactment of ICT in the Ghanaian agricultural sector has promoted the inclusion of small farmers into global value chains and encouraged the practice of open-market principles. Karanasios and Slavova caution that the process of ICT initiatives to make an impact is gradual and accomplished over the long term, rather than radical with immediate results. This study supports SDG 11—sustainable cities and communities. Li, Du, Zhang, and Mao (2019) rely on activity theory to investigate the grand challenge of poverty alleviation in Longnan, a prefecture in one of the least-developed provinces in western China. The authors formulate a “theory of the solution” to unpack the market-based poverty alleviation activities by people from Longnan and the e-commerce development activities by the Longnan government. These joint efforts formed an effective local e-commerce ecosystem as a solution for poverty alleviation. This ecosystem involves consumers, producers, micro-entrepreneurs, employees, investors, and government. Based on the analysis of panel discussions, interviews, and observations conducted in two site visits, the authors highlight the role of the entire e-commerce ecosystem—instead of any particular technology—in addressing poverty. Local government plays an instrumental role in developing and maintaining such ecosystem, when it cannot be readily self-organised at the grassroots level. The authors conclude that governments need to take proper actions to ensure the inclusiveness of e-commerce ecosystems in order to effectively alleviate poverty. In this way, this study supports SDG 1—no poverty. E-commerce has been recognised as a means for economic development that can lift people out of poverty. The study by Cui, Pan, and Cui (2019) draws on resource orchestration to explain the process of community capability development for e-commerce in two Chinese rural villages in Shandong and Zhejiang provinces. In contrast to having a powerful actor (eg, companies and government agencies) driving the capability development process, community capability development emphasises the coordination among rural citizens to form a cluster of online vendors within their region. Although the two villages share a similar outcome of a successful development of e-commerce community capabilities, they embarked on different journeys; one followed a government-supported process (eg, tax reduction, development funds, and the establishment of a supplier market) while the other followed a self-orchestrated process by leveraging on the help of proactive lead individuals in the village. Notwithstanding the positive impacts of these e-commerce development initiatives to lift rural citizens out of poverty, the authors recognise the unintended negative consequences of intense competition and outmigration that may jeopardise the future development of e-commerce community capability. This study supports two sustainable development goals: SDG 1—no poverty and SDG 8—decent work and economic growth. The publication of this special issue is the culmination of a long journey. We cannot conclude this editorial without recognising the work of those who made the publication of this special issue possible. We would like to express our appreciation to our colleagues who agreed to serve as associate editors of this special issue: Ahmed Imran, Alexandre Graeml, Christoph Schneider, David Xu, Devinder Thapa, Julian Bass, Kevin Kuan, M. N. Ravishankar, Øystein Sæbø, Petter Nielsen, Shan Ling Pan, and Wallace Chigona. Likewise, we thank the anonymous reviewers who contributed their time and knowledge to this initiative. Special thanks go to Robert Davison, who in his capacity as editor-in-chief supported this special issue all the way through. REFERENCES Avgerou, C., & Walsham, G. (2000). Information Technology in Context: Studies from the Perspective of Developing Countries. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. Cui, M., Pan, S. L., & Cui, L. (2019). Developing collective capability for e-commerce development in rural China: A resource orchestration perspective. Information Systems Journal, 29(4), 953– 988. DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Neuman, W. R., & Robinson, J. P. (2001). Social implications of the Internet. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 307– 336. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.307 Hayes, N., Miscione, G., Silva, L., & Westrup, C. (2013). Editorial: Theorising development and technological change. Information Systems Journal, 23(4), 281– 285. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12014 ITU. (2018). Measuring the Information Society Report – Volume 1 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2019 from https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/publications/misr2018/MISR-2018-Vol-1-E.pdf. Geneva, Switzerland: International Telecommunication Union. Joia, L. A., & dos Santos, R. P. (2019). ICT-equipped bank boat and the financial inclusion of the riverine population of Marajó Island in the Brazilian Amazon. Information Systems Journal, 29(4), 842– 887. Karanasios, S., & Slavova, M. (2019). How do development actors do “ICT for Development”? A strategy-as-practice perspective on emerging practices in Ghanaian agriculture. Information Systems Journal, 29(4), 888– 913. Li, L., Du, K., Zhang, W., & Mao, J.-Y. (2019). Poverty alleviation through government-led e-commerce development in rural China: An activity theory perspective. Information Systems Journal, 29(4), 914– 952. Mansell, R. (2002). From digital divides to digital entitlements in knowledge societies. Current Sociology, 50(3), 407– 426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392102050003007 United Nations. (2019). Sustainable development goals – Knowledge platform. Retrieved May 1 2019 from http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org. van Dijk, J. A. G. M. (2006). Digital divide research, achievements and shortcomings. Poetics, 34(4-5), 221– 235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2006.05.004 Walsham, G. (2001). Making a world of difference: IT in a global context. Chichester, UK: Wiley. World Bank (2018). Information and communications for development 2018: data-driven development. Washington DC: World Bank, Retrieved May 11 2019 from. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/30437, https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1325-2 1 Among the most recent ones are Management Information Systems Quarterly's special issue on “Societal challenges” (2015), Journal of Information Technology's on “Growth in ICT uptake in developing countries: new users, new uses, new challenges” (2016) and Journal of the Association for Information Systems' on “Information and communication technology for development (ICT4D): The next grand challenge for IS research” (2018). Citing Literature Volume29, Issue4Special Issue: Combined Special issues on ‘Critical Perspectives on Information Systems and Openness: Emerging Discourses, Meanings, Models and Implications’ and ‘Making the Developing World a Better Place with High-Impact IS Research’July 2019Pages 838-841 ReferencesRelatedInformation