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Design Theory for Dynamic Complexity in Information Infrastructures: The Case of Building Internet

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Enacting Research Methods in Information Systems

Abstract

Increased processing power and higher transmission and storage capacity have made it possible to build increasingly integrated and versatile Information Technology (IT) solutions whose complexity has grown dramatically (BCS/RAE, 2004; Hanseth and Ciborra, 2007; Kallinikos, 2007). Complexity can be defined here as the dramatic increase in the number and heterogeneity of included components, relations, and their dynamic and unexpected interactions in IT solutions. Unfortunately, software engineering principles and design methodologies have not scaled up creating a demand for new approaches to better cope with this increased complexity (BCS/RAE, 2004). The growth in complexity has brought to researchers’ attention novel mechanisms to cope with it like architectures, modularity or standards (Parnas, 1972; Schmidt and Werle, 1998; Baldwin and Clark, 2000). Another, more recent stream of research has adopted a more holistic, socio-technical and evolutionary approach putting the growth in the combined social and technical complexity at the center of an empirical scrutiny (see, e.g., Edwards et al., 2007). These scholars view these complex systems as new types of IT artifacts and denote them with a generic label of Information Infrastructures (IIs). So far, empirical studies have garnered significant insights into the evolution of IIs of varying scale, functionality and scope including Internet (Abbate, 1999; Tuomi, 2002), electronic market places and EDI networks (Damsgaard and Lyytinen, 2001; Wigand et al., 2006), wireless service infrastructures (Funk, 2002; Yoo et al., 2005) or ERP systems (Ciborra et al., 2000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway

    Ole Hanseth

  2. Department of Information Systems, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, USA

    Kalle Lyytinen

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  1. Ole Hanseth
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  1. London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    Leslie P. Willcocks

  2. Oxford University, Oxford, UK

    Chris Sauer

  3. University of Missouri-St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, USA

    Mary C. Lacity

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Hanseth, O., Lyytinen, K. (2016). Design Theory for Dynamic Complexity in Information Infrastructures: The Case of Building Internet. In: Willcocks, L.P., Sauer, C., Lacity, M.C. (eds) Enacting Research Methods in Information Systems. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29272-4_4

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