Research Methodologies in Enterprise Engineering: Insights from a Workshop

Abstract

The research field of Enterprise Engineering (EE) takes an engineering perspective on the design and establishment of enterprises and their supportive (information) technologies. This requires insights in a broad range of aspects, such as human, cultural, organizational and political aspects of enterprises and their underlying processes. The multidisciplinary of EE also implies the need to consider it from differing (potentially contrasting)points of view. As a result, various research approaches and research methodologies are needed to expand and deepen the EE research field in terms of theories, models, methods, and other instruments for the analysis, design, implementation, evolution and governance of enterprises. In this paper, we present insights from a workshop about research methodologies in EE. Our study is based on our chair's experience of the App EER (Approaches for Enterprise Engineering Research) workshop. The workshop intended to provide a common platform for discussion and presentation of original work describing the usage of different approaches such as: design science, interpretivism, positivism, criticism, etc., for doing EE research. Moreover, we present the different research methodologies submitted by both academics and practitioners who shared their original insights concerning research approaches in EE. Accepted works are classified based on research affinities, followed by a discussion of research approaches criteria and relevance.