Paper accepted at 4th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST 09)

I have a paper accepted at the 4th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST 09). The paper, Towards a Knowledge Needs-Technology Fit Model for Knowledge Management Systems, is co-authored with Peter Baloh (University of Ljubljana). This paper is based on Peter’s dissertation. I continue to have the honor to serve as the chair of his dissertation committee.

Abstract
The goal of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to provide an illustrative example of design science research, from the crafting of a research question to the execution of the research. As such, it satisfies the academic reader and practitioner who will benefit from seeing how design science research guidelines, as proposed by Hevner et al. (2004), can be rigorously followed in a practically relevant setting. The second goal is to provide a methodological contribution to the design science area by arguing for the need to add an exploratory step in the ‘build’ phase of a new design science artifact. This paper thus adds to the Hevner et al. (2004) guidelines by explicitly calling for an exploratory empirical study before actually going into the evaluation phase of design science study.