A Review of Design Science Research in Information Systems: Concept, Process, Outcome, and Evaluation

Abstract

Design science research is a research paradigm focusing on problem-solving. It is increasingly accepted and adopted by Information Systems (IS) researchers as a legitimate research paradigm because of its capability in balancing research relevance and rigor. In the last fifteen years, many design science research has been published in top IS journals and has received a lot of attentions from IS researchers. However, current confusion and misunderstandings of DSR’s central ideas (e.g., definition, philosophical foundation, research outcomes, etc.) are obstructing it from having a more striking influence on the IS field. The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive and critical review of existing DSR literature. In total, 119 papers, published in top IS journals and conference proceedings, were included in the review. The results of this study portray a big picture of current DSR in IS field and build a comprehensive theoretical knowledge base in terms of DSR-related issues. This study also identifies many research issues which can be examined by future DSR.