A Method for Consortial Research

Design oriented research in information systems faces two major challenges: the effort to capture practitioners’ knowledge on one hand (relevance) and the evidence to fulfill scientific requirements (rigor). In practice, businesses employ at least a centuple of the resources which are available in research for the design and implementation of innovative solutions based on information technology. For the researcher, it is almost impossible just to oversee the state of practice, in addition to the scientific body of knowledge. Since based on a single case, the engagement of an individual company in a collaborative research environment, e.g. in action research, is not appropriate to develop an artifact. This paper takes up these challenges and proposes a research method that extends the state of the art in action and design science research by introducing consortia of research partner companies.