Are We Discovering or Making Concepts? Performativity in Concept Defining

Marko Niemimaa; Markus Philipp Zimmer

Are We Discovering or Making Concepts? Performativity in Concept Defining

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Article in conference proceedings › Research › peer-review

Standard

Are We Discovering or Making Concepts? Performativity in Concept Defining. / Niemimaa, Marko; Zimmer, Markus Philipp.
PACIS 2022 proceedings. AIS eLibrary, 2022. 1853.

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Article in conference proceedings › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Niemimaa, M & Zimmer, MP 2022, Are We Discovering or Making Concepts? Performativity in Concept Defining. in PACIS 2022 proceedings., 1853, AIS eLibrary, Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems - PACIS 2022, Taipei and Sydney, Taiwan, Province of China, 05.07.22. <https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2022/97/>

APA

Niemimaa, M., & Zimmer, M. P. (2022). Are We Discovering or Making Concepts? Performativity in Concept Defining. In PACIS 2022 proceedings Article 1853 AIS eLibrary. https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2022/97/

Vancouver

Niemimaa M, Zimmer MP. Are We Discovering or Making Concepts? Performativity in Concept Defining. In PACIS 2022 proceedings. AIS eLibrary. 2022. 1853

Bibtex

@inbook{49d2d3e581ab4a5c8098582886ec6510,

title = "Are We Discovering or Making Concepts? Performativity in Concept Defining",

abstract = "Alongside the emergence of new technologies and management trends, new concepts such as Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity appear. Once introduced, scholars debate these concepts{\textquoteright} definitions. Often, a uniform definition remains elusive in these debates but several different - sometimes conflicting - definitions result. In this short paper, we take a philosophical perspective to concept defining and ask why is it that we end up in these situations where a plurality of definitions exists? We outline two perspectives to concept defining: 1) concept-discovery; and 2) concept-making. We argue that concept defining is largely ill-conceived as an activity of concept-discovery according to which concepts are mirrors of the outside world. In contrast, we argue that viewing concept defining as an act of concept-making will sensitize IS researchers on the practices and processes which make concepts and their ethical as well as political implications.",

keywords = "Business informatics, IS philosophy, concepts, definitions, Agential realism, performativity, representationalism, digital transformation, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence",

author = "Marko Niemimaa and Zimmer, {Markus Philipp}",

year = "2022",

month = jul,

language = "English",

booktitle = "PACIS 2022 proceedings",

publisher = "AIS eLibrary",

address = "United States",

note = "Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems - PACIS 2022 : AI-IS-ASIA (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS, IN PACIFIC ASIA), PACIS 2022 ; Conference date: 05-07-2022 Through 09-07-2022",

url = "https://pacis2022.aisconferences.org/",

}

RIS

TY - CHAP

T1 - Are We Discovering or Making Concepts? Performativity in Concept Defining

AU - Niemimaa, Marko

AU - Zimmer, Markus Philipp

PY - 2022/7

Y1 - 2022/7

N2 - Alongside the emergence of new technologies and management trends, new concepts such as Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity appear. Once introduced, scholars debate these concepts’ definitions. Often, a uniform definition remains elusive in these debates but several different - sometimes conflicting - definitions result. In this short paper, we take a philosophical perspective to concept defining and ask why is it that we end up in these situations where a plurality of definitions exists? We outline two perspectives to concept defining: 1) concept-discovery; and 2) concept-making. We argue that concept defining is largely ill-conceived as an activity of concept-discovery according to which concepts are mirrors of the outside world. In contrast, we argue that viewing concept defining as an act of concept-making will sensitize IS researchers on the practices and processes which make concepts and their ethical as well as political implications.

AB - Alongside the emergence of new technologies and management trends, new concepts such as Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity appear. Once introduced, scholars debate these concepts’ definitions. Often, a uniform definition remains elusive in these debates but several different - sometimes conflicting - definitions result. In this short paper, we take a philosophical perspective to concept defining and ask why is it that we end up in these situations where a plurality of definitions exists? We outline two perspectives to concept defining: 1) concept-discovery; and 2) concept-making. We argue that concept defining is largely ill-conceived as an activity of concept-discovery according to which concepts are mirrors of the outside world. In contrast, we argue that viewing concept defining as an act of concept-making will sensitize IS researchers on the practices and processes which make concepts and their ethical as well as political implications.

KW - Business informatics

KW - IS philosophy

KW - concepts

KW - definitions

KW - Agential realism

KW - performativity

KW - representationalism

KW - digital transformation

KW - cybersecurity

KW - artificial intelligence

UR - https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2022/97/

UR - https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2022/

M3 - Article in conference proceedings

BT - PACIS 2022 proceedings

PB - AIS eLibrary

T2 - Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems - PACIS 2022

Y2 - 5 July 2022 through 9 July 2022

ER -