TAXONOMY DEVELOPMENT IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS: DEVELOPING A TAXONOMY OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS

Robert Nickerson (1) , Jan Muntermann (2) , Upkar Varshney (3) , Henri Isaac (4)

1 CEB - Center for Electronic Business
2 Goethe University Frankfurt
3 Georgia State University
4 DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management

The complexity of the information systems field often lends itself to classification schemes, or taxonomies, which provide ways to understand the similarities and differences among objects under study. Developing a taxonomy, however, is a complex process that is often done in an ad hoc way. This research-in-progress paper uses the design science paradigm to develop a systematic method for taxonomy development in information systems. The method we propose uses an indicator or operational level model that combines both empirical to deductive and deductive to empirical approaches. We evaluate this method by using it to develop a taxonomy of mobile applications, which we have chosen because of their ever-increasing number and variety. The resulting taxonomy contains seven dimensions with fifteen characteristics. We demonstrate the usefulness of this taxonomy by analyzing a range of current and proposed mobile applications. From the results of this analysis we identify combinations of characteristics where applications are missing and thus are candidates for new and potentially useful applications.

Cette recherche en cours s'intéresse au développement d'une taxonomie en système d'information en s'appuyant sur les "design sciences". La méthode de taxonomie proposée est ensuite appliquée au domaine des applications mobiles. Elle dégage sept dimensions et quinze caractéristiques.

Mots clés: taxonomie; application mobile

Mots clés: taxonomy; design science; mobile application

Domaines: Gestion et management

Robert Nickerson, Jan Muntermann, Upkar Varshney, Henri Isaac. TAXONOMY DEVELOPMENT IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS: DEVELOPING A TAXONOMY OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS. 2009. ⟨halshs-00375103⟩