Browsing by Author "Rossi, Matti, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland"

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    Digital Business Transformation Creates Hybrid Organizations with Ambidextrous Roles and Practices
    (Aalto University, 2017) Bekkhus, Riitta; Rossi, Matti, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland; Hallikainen, Petri, Dr., The University of Sydney Business School, Australia; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Digital business transformation (or digital transformation for short) is defined as the use of digital technologies to radically improve a company's performance (Fitzgerald et al., 2013). However, at present, digital transformation is not well understood, and many traditional companies struggle to gain transformational effects from new digital technologies. To truly drive value through digital transformation is to implement a new, successful digital business model. To succeed, traditional companies must learn to keep their existing business model productive (exploitative behaviour) and simultaneously introduce innovative services, products and practices into the new digital business model (explorative behaviour). Managing both business models simultaneously requires that companies learn to re-organize (that is, hybrid organize) their current organizational practices and roles. Therefore, the main objective of this dissertation is to contribute to the accumulating body of knowledge on digital transformation by exploring the following dissertation-level research question: "How should companies re-organize themselves (that is, hybrid organize their roles, practices and behaviour) during the digital business transformation, in order to behave both exploitatively (to assure productivity of the existing business model) and exploratively (to further develop the new digital business model)?" The answer to the dissertation-level question was constructed from the main findings of the three publications included in this dissertation. The answer includes a three-phase process model, which guides how firms should hybrid organize their roles, practices and behaviour during the digital transformation. The other main contributions of this dissertation are: (1) the chain-reaction model of digital business transformation, which illustrates how the deployment of new digital technologies affects firms' business models and organizational structures; and (2) the new dualistic CIO toolbox, which Chief Information Officers and other managers can use to motivate their IT organizations to behave both exploitatively and exploratively (that is, ambidextrously). Additionally, this dissertation provides the following key predictions for the near future. Firstly, hybrid organizing is likely to become a key task for organizations soon after they begin the digital transformation. Secondly, firms will probably start to use new steering practices to create experimental ambidextrous organizational environments. Thirdly, the new digital employees (i.e. the software robots) will take over rule-based routines - forcing firms to re-tailor their traditional organizational roles and working practices. To summarize, this dissertation helps to understand how digital transformation affects firms' business models, organizational structures and practices, as well as how hybrid organizing helps firms to succeed in their digital transformations.
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    Gamification - Motivations & Effects
    (Aalto University, 2015) Hamari, Juho; Tuunainen, Virpi, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Information Systems Science; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Rossi, Matti, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland
    The field of information systems has a sustained tradition of dividing systems into either utilitarian or hedonic systems, with the core idea that some systems are purely utilitarian in nature and some are self-purposeful. However, in recent years, information system design has been increasingly used for motivational purposes, that is, a hedonic or motivational system design is employed as a method for increasing the utility of systems and activities. Simply put, the core idea is that the more enjoyable or motivating a system or activity becomes, it can also become more utilitarian since the user is expected to be more willing to increase the amount and quality of related activities. The most popular conceptual development in this area has sparked wide-ranging interest towards this phenomenon, and has adopted the name 'GAMIFICATION'. This multi-disciplinary term arises from the general conception that game design, if anything, is an art of hedonic system design, since games are one of the pinnacle forms of self-purposeful systems. In other words, self-purposeful systems such as games are thought to be used for the sole purpose of non-utilitarian enjoyment that is derived from the actual use of the system, rather than from any concrete outcomes of that use. Therefore, the term gamification can be read as 'a process of making systems/activities more enjoyable and motivating, in order to support the utilitarian or otherwise beneficial outcomes of the system, service or activity. Although the idea of gamification has been enormously popular over the last couple years, there has remained a dearth of conceptually refined understanding of the phenomenon, as well as a gap in the empirical evidence offered to demonstrate its effectiveness. With these paucities in mind, this dissertation aims to address both the conceptual and empirical gap. From the conceptual perspective, this dissertation presents two studies in which gamification is linked to IS/marketing theory. The first study links marketing literature with observations drawn from actual games on how game developers use game mechanics in their services as means of marketing (Study 1 - Game design as marketing: How game mechanics create demand for virtual goods). The second conceptual study forms a definition of gamification, arrived at by triangulating theories taken from game studies, motivational psychology, service marketing and IS/HCI (Defining Gamification - A Service Marketing Perspective). To investigate the empirical gap, this dissertation presents two studies. The first empirical study investigates what (social) benefits and motivations drive the continued use of gamification services (Social motivations to use gamification: an empirical study of gamifying exercise). The second empirical study presents a 1.5 year long field experiment on the effects of gamification on user activity and retention (Transforming Homo Economicus into Homo Ludens: A Field Experiment on Gamification in a Utilitarian Peer-To-Peer Trading Service).
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    The Impact of Technology on the Strategic Management of a Knowledge-Intensive Project Organization: Action Design Research of a Competence Management System
    (Aalto University, 2017) Niemi, Erkka; Rossi, Matti, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    The combination of digitalization and globalization will have a dramatic impact on organizations and the way people work. Demographic upheavals and societal changes, as well as the inevitable focus on environmental issues, will amplify the effect of these trends. As a result, business executives around the world will face new challenges with business models on one hand and organizational practices on the other hand. There is now a great opportunity for information systems and human resources scientists and practitioners to work together in order to improve understanding of how technology can be utilized to make organizations more effective and inspiring. The “future of work” is already affecting strategic management, HR organizations, and technology in practice. As a result, this has created many exciting research opportunities, identified by scholars looking at human resource information systems, human resource management, enterprise systems, competence management systems, knowledge management, information management, agile software development, or design science. In this action design research I build on top of existing design science research on competence management systems and aim at 1) gaining more understanding about the organizational and technological aspects of enterprise systems design, especially regarding competence development, and 2) increasing understanding of the design of competence management as a strategic capability. In this action design research project we participated in the design, development, and evaluation of a particular organizational instantiation and a management system instantiation that both address important, previously unsolved problems. This study contributes to the existing body of scientific knowledge on information systems. The theoretical contribution is the improved design principles for competence management systems. The practical contribution of the study builds upon the guidance provided to system designers and managers through several frameworks, IT artifacts, and management practices for information systems design processes. In conclusion, this research provides new evidence of how action design research can lead to significant business benefits by integrating theory and practice in a real business context.
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    Openness of Innovation in Services and Software - Essays on Service Innovations, Open Source, and Hybrid Licensing Models
    (Aalto University, 2015) Riepula, Mikko; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Rossi, Matti, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland
    Open Innovation—and Open Source as its particular manifestation in the software industry—have recently been touted as cornerstones of competitiveness for firms in the new service economy and of value added by public institutions involved in the gathering, processing and publishing of information. Although the basic concepts are by no means new, a considerable surge in research literature has occurred over the past decade around the keywords of open source, open innovation, value co-creation and both innovation in general and service innovation in particular. Putting breakthrough inventions aside, I consider what exactly open innovation means: What qualifies as an innovation and how is it different from the plain old product or service development? Is open inherently better than closed, and what exactly is the difference between the two? What middle ground is there, if any? Services growing in importance, is open innovation in (software) services different from (open) innovation in software products? Besides, is there any real difference between software services and software products? Particularly, what is the role of customers in that extended open community around the firm? What is the value that they see vs. the value that the firm sees? In the four research publications in Part II of this dissertation, I am addressing these questions in more detail in various contexts: both from a purely software development and software business perspective and from a more general service development and innovation perspective. The four publications have more specific research questions and detailed implications, in addition to contributing to the general themes outlined above. They elaborate on the following topics: Different perspectives to value co-creation in services and the customer/supplier value construct; Roles of customers in service innovation activities in standardised services with transactional intent; The effect of adoption of open-source tools within a commercial for-profit organisation on the organisational structure itself; and Hybrid open-closed software licensing model as a platform for reverting from commoditised product business to higher-value customer relationships. Beyond the theoretical and practical contributions of the publications in Part II, Part I of this dissertation offers a robust definition of innovation in general as well as a more defendable view of the nature of services vs. goods. In addition it clarifies what the term product means in relation to both services and goods as well as in the software industry—a topic that often causes confusion among academics and practitioners.
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    Untangling the Application of Text-mining Methods in Information Systems Domain
    (Aalto University, 2019) Upreti, Bikesh Raj; Rossi, Matti, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland; Tieto ja palvelujohtamisen laitos; Department of Information and Service Management; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Malo, Pekka, Assoc. Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland
    The advent of digitalization has brought a massive proliferation of unstructured data, producing vast repositories of textual data, from various sources, such as Web sites, academic publications, news articles, blog posts, e-mail, corporate communication platforms, reports, and social media feeds. This proliferation coupled with the upsurge in mobile and Web technologies alongside ever-improving connectivity has led to various digital platforms and applications rapidly achieving mass-market penetration. With the production of textual and other forms of unstructured data certain to continue at unprecedented rates for the foreseeable future, this availability on massive scale presents both opportunities and challenges that researchers and practitioners must address. Ability to utilize text data on a large scale not only provides better coverage in terms of sample size but also opens opportunities to build a deeper understanding of phenomena that otherwise are simply unobservable, "hidden in the noise.'' However, as the world races towards high-volume production, distribution, and consumption of digital text, information systems (IS) researchers are proving slow to start reaping the potential of analyzing textual data. There is an urgent need for methods and techniques that can meet the challenge of analyzing vast bodies of textual data. In an effort to demonstrate potential application of text-mining methods in information systems research, the dissertation presents essays that address large-scale text-based datasets' use in literature analysis and studies of system-specific behavioral outcomes. The first essay deals with identifying the research themes presented in a large body of publications on cloud computing, and the second essay demonstrates the machine-based classification of papers in leading information-systems journals. Of the behavior-focused pieces, the third essay utilizes user-generated content to illustrate system-driven viewing outcomes in the context of binge watching of television shows, and the final essay examines a large volume of content connected with a business-to-business Web portal, reporting on a study of browsing-device-linked differences in interest in marketing material. In addition to the individual essays, the dissertation contributes to the scholarly discussion of text-mining research issues in three important ways. Firstly, it presents a conceptual framework that aids in revealing the fundamentals of text-mining research in terms of two dimensions: research objective and level of text analysis. Secondly, the four essays provide concrete demonstrations of various suitable applications of text-mining. Finally, the dissertation examines the implications of the work, highlighting specific issues and challenges pertaining to text-mining research. The findings and implications of this work should benefit IS researchers and practitioners striving to exploit large volume of textual data.