Mini Tracks – Calls for Papers

ICT Issues as they Specifically Affect SMEs
The Metrics System: Evaluation Input Quality Issues
Management and Evaluation of Green IT Initiatives
Determinants of IT Adoption and Diffusion in Organisations

Evidence based approaches to Information Systems Evaluation

Mini track on ICT issues as they specifically affect SMEs
Track chair: Dr David Barnes, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

The contribution of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) sector to the social and economic life of Europe is now well-recognised. SMEs, including micro-business (with less than 10 employees) represent 99 % of all enterprises in the EU, provide around 65 million jobs and are significant contributors to entrepreneurship and innovation. The sector is subject to increased attention from researchers, consultants, governments and other policy makers.  In particular, the effective adoption and use of ICT in the SME sector is seen as vital to the future competitiveness of European industry and to the development of a knowledge-based economy.  In the past, much of the provision of hardware and software has been aimed at large businesses. SMEs have often felt themselves disadvantaged as they have limited expertise in selecting, implementing, using, and evaluating ICT solutions. However, many of the major suppliers of ICT goods and services are now seeking to address the distinctive needs of SMEs. 

This mini-track will provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to address ICT issues as they specifically affect SMEs. Topics may include, are not limited to:

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

David Barnes











Read the author guidelines

Mini track on The Metrics System: Evaluation Input Quality Issues
Track co-chairs: Prof. dr. Egon Berghout and Drs. Peter Schuurman, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

The methods available to IT organizations for evaluating their projects and operations are legion. A key issue in the application of every single one of these techniques is the quality of the input. By influencing this data and the process, the composers, as well as other stakeholders, can unconsciously or intentionally alter the trustworthiness of their evaluation. Therefore, the question arises, how do organizations perceive evaluation outputs and to what extent do these determine the management of information systems?

Topics may include, are not limited to:

§  Ex-post evaluation of the IT business case

§  Comparability of project documentation

§  Transparency in project portfolio management

§  Political issues in the evaluation of projects

• The role of evaluation methods in project decisions

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Egon Berghout


Peter Schuurman

Mini track on Management and Evaluation of Green IT Initiatives

Track co-chairs: Jonas Hedman and Stefan Henningsson, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

This mini track on Management and Evaluation of Green IT Initiatives focuses on the design, adoption and impact of IT, to accomplish more eco-friendly behavior of people, organisation and society.

The track builds on last years conference key note speech and panel discussion on Green IT and aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners who are interested in how IT can contribute to a more sustainable world.

The role of IT and IS in both contributing to the problem of climate change and solutions such as information systems to help us be more eco friendly, is novel to IT and IS research. Given the increasing global awareness about the long term effects of human and business activities on the environment and the rate of environmental deterioration, business, government and society are under increasing pressure to engage in ecologically sustainable practices.

In this context, the impact of IS/IT on and its role in ecological sustainability, under the headline of Green IT or sustainable IT, has emerged as one of the key IT management issues. This heralds three challenges for enterprise IT management. First, producers and users of IT resources (hardware and software) need to consider the green aspects of IT during its life cycle. Second, the existence of eco friendlier IT resources is not enough it has to diffused and adopted as well on individual level, organisational level and society level. Third, consequently, the impact of eco friendly IT resources must be measured at multiple levels.

We invite conceptual and empirical papers addressing design, adoption, and impact of Green IT from either a management and/or an evaluation perspective. The topics of the mini track include (but not limited to):

• Green IT design
• Adoption and diffusion of Green IT
• Management of Green IT initiatives
• Consequences and impact of Green IT
• Green IT evaluation and metrics
• Teaching Green IT

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Jonas Hedman


Stefan Henningsson

Mini track on Determinants of IT Adoption and Diffusion in Organisations

Track co-chairs: Dr Maria do Rosário Fraga Oliveira Martins and Tiago Oliveira, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal

Recent contributions to the literature have shown that ICT intensive organisations are more productive and that ICT adoption is important to promote economic growth. In these circumstances, a critical question arises: what are the factors that influence ICT adoption and diffusion at the organisation level?

This mini -track will be useful for academics and practitioners. For academics it is an excellent opportunity for finding the determinants of the new ICT and how these determinants affect the new ICT adoption. For practitioners seeking to help organisations become more effective in moving from a traditional channel to the new ICT by identifying the profile of early new ICT adopters, it provides a mechanism for self-evaluation.

Topics may include, are not limited to:

§  ICT adoptions in SMEs

§  Patterns of ICT adoption and diffusion

§  CRM and Business Solutions adoption and diffusion

§  Health ICT adoption and diffusion

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Maria Fraga O. Martins


Tiago Oliveira

Mini track on Evidence based approaches to Information Systems Evaluation

Track co-chairs: Ian Owens and Dr Graham Fletcher, Cranfield Defence Academy, UK

The Evidence-Based (EB) paradigm has been adopted by many different disciplines (for example, medicine, management, education, social work, policing and software engineering), and provides mechanisms for evaluating process and product innovation.  The EB approach is characterized by a rigor and relevance that is sometimes lacking in IS research.  Proponents of EB argue that this rigor and relevance is achieved through the use of meta analysis, emphasis on empirical research, and standardized protocols and metrics for conducting research and experiments.  They also argue this approach has demonstrated the ability to bridge the research/practice gap.  Despite the acceptance of EB by other disciplines the Information Systems community has been slow to adopt EB practice.  This sub panel seeks research that takes an evidence-based (EB) approach to information systems evaluation. This may take the form of systematic reviews that perform meta-analysis, examples of primary studies that conform to evidence based standards, discussion on EB protocols in Information systems or papers that evaluate EB as an approach.

Topics may include, are not limited to:

§  Evaluation of the evidence-based approach for information systems research

§  Primary research studies that conform to evidence-based standards

§  Discussions of evidence-based protocols in Information systems research

§  Systematic reviews of information systems research that performs meta-analysis

§  Any other papers which have evidence based practice as a theme in IS research.

We welcome Industry contributions.

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Ian Owens


Graham Fletcher

Publication opportunity
Papers presented at the conference will be published in the conference proceedings, subject to author registration. Selected papers will also be considered for publication in a special issue of the Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation. The latest issue is now available on the journal website.