Christian Bartelheimer, University of Göttingen

Daniel Beverungen, Paderborn University

Sara Hofmann, University of Agder

Lysanne Lessard, University of Ottawa

Digital transformation continues to reshape how organizations create, deliver, and capture value. At the same time, service has become a crucial lens for understanding contemporary information systems (IS) phenomena. Value is co-created across organizational boundaries, enacted through digital technologies, and embedded in networks, platforms, and ecosystems. The Topical Collection on Digital Transformation & Service at Electronic Markets seeks to advance theoretically grounded and relevant IS research at the intersection of digital transformation and service.

We invite submissions that foreground service and digital transformation as they are established, debated, and further developed within the IS discipline, and in particular in Electronic Markets. Submitted articles should demonstrate a clear engagement with core IS literature to identify a well-defined research gap that matters for practice and theory, and articulate a convincing contribution to recent IS conversations. We are particularly interested in papers that move beyond broad claims about the consequences of digital transformation and instead examine how information technology (IT) artifacts ought to be designed and how they can be applied to foster value co-creation.

A central expectation of this Topical Collection is that submissions 'white-box' the role of IT artifacts. We seek papers that explicate how IT artifacts shape and are shaped by the digital transformation of organizations, for instance by enabling or transforming customer relations, value propositions, and service exchange. Studies may focus on (smart) service systems or ecosystems at varied levels, including communities, organizations, inter-organizational arrangements, platforms, data spaces, and society. In contrast, we do not seek papers that treat information systems as 'black boxes' or limit their analysis to summative business implications without theorizing the underlying structures, mechanisms, and affordances of IT artifacts through which these implications emerge. Manuscripts presenting IT artifacts that use or expand large language models or other large-scale artificial intelligence technologies must also be unpacked and contextualized, and presented in a way that is theoretically anchored and generates contributions at the intersection of digital transformation, service, and information systems.

We invite contributions from various epistemological positions and methodological traditions common in the IS discipline. Suitable submissions may include (action) design science, conceptual papers, qualitative studies, including case studies and Delphi studies, quantitative research, including experiments, surveys, and data-driven studies, and mixed-methods work. Literature reviews are also welcome, provided that they deliver strong theoretical implications and develop a forward-looking research agenda that reaches considerably beyond reporting the current state of research.

We particularly encourage submissions that investigate the role of digital technologies in real-world service scenarios. Studies that focus on inter-organizational contexts such as service networks, digital platforms, data spaces, or business ecosystems are especially relevant, as they touch on core topics of Electronic Markets. Submissions may examine established organizations, start-ups, public-sector organizations, communities, or other actor constellations in which digital technologies enable, constrain, or transform service exchange and value co-creation.

Potential topics

• Digital transformation and service in information systems
• Design and application of IT artifacts to foster value co-creation
• Smart service systems and ecosystems at multiple levels (communities, organizations, inter-organizational arrangements, platforms, data spaces, and society)
• Customer relations, value propositions, and service exchange enabled by digital technologies
• Role of digital technologies in real-world service scenarios
• Inter-organizational contexts such as service networks, digital platforms, data spaces, and business ecosystems
• Digital transformation in established organizations, start-ups, public-sector organizations, and communities
• IT artifacts using or expanding large language models and other large-scale artificial intelligence technologies
• Generative AI and digital responsibility in service contexts

Timeline

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