Aims and scope

Information Technology & People has a longstanding reputation for publishing up to date, interesting, relevant and provocative research which opens up new directions for academic research. It is a source for emerging ideas which broadens the understanding of information technology and its relation to people. The journal retains an openness to multiple paradigms of research including most forms of mainstream empirical work. It has an ongoing tradition of being an outlet for international, qualitative and critical research in information systems and particularly welcomes cultural and geographic diversity in studies of new and old technologies. It looks for ways to better understand how people collectively conceptualize, invent, adapt, define and use technology, as well as how they are constrained by features of it.  We expect the focus of submissions to be on the specific role of technology in these areas rather than, for example, on brand consumption or human resource practices that happen to be supported by technologies.

Information technology pervades contemporary life, in the workplace, the marketplace and the home, as well as in national and regional economies. Institutional boundaries are shifting in response to dramatic new capabilities which are still unfolding at a rapid pace. Within the organization, information technology can now integrate all functional areas, as well as supplier and industry relationships worldwide.

Information Technology & People considers the significance of new social definitions of institutions, the social environment of production and technology implementation and on the human scale of social processes that are both the basis and the outcome of technological change.

With the launch of the AIS Transactions on Replication Research (http://aisel.aisnet.org/trr/), ITP will no longer accept papers which replicate existing studies for example, by applying them to a different technology or national context.  This includes replications of technology adoption (e.g. TAM (Technology Adoption Model) and UTAUT studies). Such papers should be directed to the Transactions instead.

Special Issue on Coding society. Programmatic encounters between information systems and social theory
提出日: 2026-01-16

Introduction 

This special issue aims to explore programmes as architectures of code that shape and are shaped by the social deployment of digital technologies. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory, it examines how programmes function not only within digital infrastructures but also as cultural forms, guiding distinctions, and interfaces between functional systems and organisations. Contributions will investigate how programmes structure inclusion and exclusion, organise social attention, reproduce stratified orders, and mediate between analogue and digital modes of communication. The special issue links these theoretical concerns to contemporary developments in artificial intelligence, platform infrastructures, and the programmability of social life. It invites interdisciplinary research that reflects critically on how programmes operate at the core of digital society—both as enabling scripts and as mechanisms of constraint. The issue will include contributions from the 2025 Luhmann Conference while remaining open to diverse methodologies and
paradigms that engage with the social dimensions of ICT.

Our special issue offers a novel contribution by reintroducing programmes as a foundational yet under-explored concept for understanding the social architectures of digital society. While the language of programming is ubiquitous in computing, this issue shifts attention to how programmes function as decision premises, moral codes, and interfaces between organisations and function systems. It is the first collection to bring together Luhmannian systems theory and contemporary ICT research around the guiding distinction of programme/code—linking classic theories of social order with current debates on artificial intelligence, platform governance, digital inclusion/exclusion, and algorithmic control. The issue will chart how programmes operate both within digital technologies and as technologies of social ordering. In doing so, it expands the conceptual vocabulary of socio-technical research and invites critical engagement with the often-invisible logics that shape digitally mediated societies. This interdisciplinary synthesis is original in scope, relevant in timing, and generative for future research.

The rise of algorithmic governance, platform infrastructures, and generative AI has redefined how societies organise attention, structure inclusion and exclusion, and reproduce institutional orders. Yet the underlying programmes—both technical and social—that mediate these transformations remain insufficiently theorised. Recent scholarship across digital sociology, systems theory, and information systems points to a growing interest in the architectures of code that underlie digital transformation. However, few studies explicitly link these developments to systemic theories of social order.

Our special issue responds to that gap. It builds on the Luhmann Conference 2025, themed “Programmes. Observed with social systems theory”, which has attracted a record number of submissions, signalling rising international interest in the topic. The issue also addresses mounting societal concerns about the opacity and pervasiveness of programme-driven decision-making in public administration, education, finance, and social media. By situating “programmes” at the intersection of digital technology and social theory, the issue speaks directly to current debates in socio-technical change.

Topics of Interest

    The role of programmes within, or at the interfaces of, different function systems.
    Theories as programmes and the digital transformability of analogue theories.
    Forms and functions of programmes before – digital – computation.
    Programmes from the periphery, that is, for example, from the global south or as expressed by sceptics of prevailing mainstream ideologies.
    Programmes as addresses and addressees in communication.
    Programmatic differences between an organised society and a society of organisations.
    Codes and meta-codes (such as inclusion versus exclusion), 8) Interrelation among diverse programmes.
    Ideologisations of programs – imposing hierarchy of relevance.
    Interventional programmes in, among others, politics, health, or education.

Key Dates

Opening date for manuscript submissions: 22 August 2025
Closing date for manuscript submissions: 16 January 2026

Special Issue on Crisis-driven Digital Transformation in the Public Sector
提出日: 2026-04-20

Introduction

This Special Issue (SI) seeks to advance critical perspectives in Information Systems research on crisis-driven digital transformation in the public sector. It responds to governments’ growing reliance on digital technologies for crisis management, which aims to enhance emergency response, streamline coordination, and improve situational awareness. With crises - such as geopolitical instability and climate related disasters – growing in frequency, intensity and persistence, they are no longer just disruptions but catalysts accelerating urgent and lasting transformations in public digitalization (Eom & Lee, 2022; Gangneux & Joss, 2022; Korte et al., 2023).

This SI is particularly interested in the intersection of crisis-driven technologies and everyday digital public services, also known as e-government or digital government (Meijer & Bekkers, 2015; Mergel et al., 2019). The SI aims to identify crisis-driven catalysts and challenges to established public digital transformation logics and examines how citizens and governments worldwide have responded. Moving beyond pandemic-focused disruptions, we explore how enduring crises continue to reshape public digital transformation.

To achieve this, we focus on three critical interfaces where crisis management technologies and public digital services converge:

    Citizen/User Experience - How diverse citizen group use crisis management technologies compared to everyday digital services.
    Technology Design and Development - How public digitalization evolves to accommodate crisis
    management needs and related technological advancement.
    Governance Logics and Practices - How institutional boundaries shift in response to emerging technological capabilities and crisis-driven public digital transformation.

To meet these aims, we invite contributions that 

    Empirically investigate digital crisis management technologies in public contexts, or the adaptation of digital government services during crisis,
    Develop new theories and concepts to understand technology design, development, use, and governance in crisis-driven digital transformation,
    Articulate the unique contribution of IS studies and its future research directions by fostering
    interdisciplinary dialogue between IS and related fields such as Human-Computer Interaction, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Welfare Studies, Policy Studies, and Science & Technology Studies.

Topics of Interest

This Special Issue explores how digital transformation reshapes public service provision in crisis contexts, focusing on user experiences, technology design and development, and governance dynamics. Below are the key themes: 

User/Citizen Perceptions and Experiences

    Patterns of technology use during crises, including how citizens combine different digital public services for crisis response.
    Citizens’ perceptions of crisis and non-crisis when using crisis management and e-government services.
    Challenges in crisis service delivery, such as accessibility, communication failures, exclusion from emergency systems, and wrongful accusations (e.g., fraud detection errors).

Technology Design and Development

    Design principles, resources, and capabilities for developing crisis management and digital government services.
    Comparisons of digital government design and development practices in routine vs. crisis contexts (e.g., siren systems, cybersecurity, adaptation of public services).
    Challenges in adapting e-government technologies for crisis scenarios, including but not limited to cybersecurity risks, system robustness, and operational reliability.

Governance Logics and Practices

    Decision-making and accountability structures in crisis management and digital government during crises.
    Cross-border, inter-agency, and cross-sector coordination (e.g., public-private) in delivering crisis-related digital services, addressing challenges such as legal discrepancies and resource allocation.
    Shifts in professional roles and institutional responsibilities as e-government adapts to crisis-driven demands.
    Scalability and institutional capacity of digital government and crisis management services, considering political, legal, and operational challenges.

Key Dates

Opening date for manuscript submissions: 3 November 2025 
Closing date for manuscript submissions: 20 April 2026

Special Issue on People, Robots and AI at Work
提出日: 2026-05-31

Introduction

The rapid development of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) seen today are quickly reshaping many work environments. While it’s tempting to think that this is a new phenomenon, throughout history technology has had an enormous impact not only our work environments but all aspects of our lives, including what it means to be a person. In the mid 19th century, when the steam machine constituted the cusp of technological invention, the analogy to the human heart and the mechanics of the body rose as prominent metaphors both associating and separating the living human from the dead machine (Ketabgian, 2011). In the 1950s, when the term artificial intelligence was first coined, it came from a view where rationality, reasoning, and problem solving constituted the most prominent signs of intelligence (Bruner et al. 2017). The shift towards the integrative view where intelligence to a larger degree is defined by emotional understanding, creativity, and cultural knowledge parallels the observation that these dynamic cognitive abilities turned out to be much harder to mechanize than the pure rational problem solving, separating the person from the machine. Previous research investigating the effects of automation and AI on worker well-being report both positive and negative results. Nazareno & Schiff (2021) find that increased use of automation and AI at workplaces appears be associated with reduced stress among workers, but also with negative effects on worker health and mixed effects on job satisfaction. A recent study by Giuntella et al. (2025) find no evidence of a sizeable negative impact of AI on workers’ well-being and mental health. As generative AI enters the realm of creativity and robots reach work domains far outside factory floors, our notion of meaningful human work and a good work life change again. In this call for papers, we invite critical investigations of how the introduction and use of automation, robotization, and AI affect the nature of human work, job tasks, and worker well-being along the dimensions of worker freedom, sense of meaning, cognitive load, external monitoring, and insecurity. Contributions may also concern how this technological development affects the organizational and social work environment, as well as the way work is led and organized.
List of Topic Areas

Contributions may include, but are not limited to:

    How are the worker well-being effected by different designs and uses of robots & AI?
    What emotions arise among employees as robots and AI take on creative and emotional work, including work tasks within e.g., culture and health care?
    How do robots & AI impact employee participation and worker influence, including physical and cognitive workload?
    How do work roles and division of labor change when processes are partly automated?
    How are worker engagement and motivation effected by automatized support and guidance?
    What worker competences and professional development are needed as robots and AI become increasingly prominent parts of the work environment?

Key Dates

Opening date for manuscript submissions: 17 December 2025
Closing date for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026