Special Topic Forum: Virtual Worlds in the Business Enterprise

http://decisionsciencesjournal.org/FullText.cfm?id=54

A virtual world (VW) is a computer-based 3D environment where users interact via visual representations of themselves known as avatars. Users can meet and interact with other people and with the content of the virtual world. While VW platforms vary in their features and functionality, in general, avatars can communicate using text or voice chat and gestures. Some virtual world platforms require a desktop client download (e.g., Linden Lab’s Second Life), others bring 3D VWs to the web browser (e.g., Google’s Lively), and some deploy 2D flash-based environments. Early business efforts to use VWs focused on external consumer marketing and branding activities.  Recent press and industry reports suggest that businesses are now exploring application of VWs for inter- and intraorganizational uses. This interest is entirely consistent with the rise of geographically distributed and culturally diverse enterprises. Enterprise-based uses for VW environments include team collaboration, community building, training and development, new hire on-boarding, research, and various events.  Enterprises are also beginning to use VW technologies to communicate and collaborate with external partners and customers.

While VWs open new and exciting possibilities for business enterprises, they remain largely uncharted territory. Are VWs just another medium?  How should companies integrate VW technology into their prior and current investments in a variety of communication technologies (e.g., wikis, unified messaging, audio/video/web-conferencing, telepresence systems etc.)?  There is a need for research that examines the value and fit of VWs for business enterprise application. This is the major motivation underlying this STF in the Decision Sciences journal. 

Topics of interest for this special issue on the use of virtual worlds in the business enterprise include, but are not limited to:

• The integration of VWs with business applications and/or processes (e.g., innovation management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, human resource management).
• How and under what scenarios VWs facilitate meaningful collaboration and improved productivity.
• Best practices to help guide enterprise adoption of VWs, including consideration of alternative VW platforms (e.g., browser, client, or flash-based).
• How business enterprises can demonstrate ROI in VW technologies.
• Insights drawn from specific studies of VWs in the workplace such as training, on-boarding, and collaboration.
• How VWs augment more traditional channels of communication (e.g., web, face-to-face etc.).
• The intersection of Web 2.0 and 3D VWs and implications for the creation of formal and informal organizational learning and social networks.
• Management of VWs presence including issues related to privacy/security/firewalls and related legal concerns.
• How VWs are related to emergent trends such as social networking, online economies, virtual businesses and online culture and the impact on business enterprise.

Building on the editorial mission of Decision Sciences, this STF seeks manuscripts utilizing diverse research approaches such as empirical and/or analytical research methods. Articles published in this STF must meet Decision Sciences high standards of research rigor and originality, while embracing managerial relevance, not only in the research problem studied, but also in their impact on enhanced decision making. STFs consist of a collection of three to five articles that are published in a regular issue along with other peer-reviewed articles. 

Manuscript preparation and submission instructions can be found on the journal’s web site at http://decisionsciencesjournal.org/Help/Author/author_Guidelines.cfm. In the cover letter, please indicate that your submission is for the STF.  The deadline for submissions is May 15, 2009.

Associate Editor Team
Given the interdisciplinary nature of Decision Sciences, the Associate Editor Team has expertise in technology and innovation, collaborative decision-making, and product and service development.  It is the goal of this STF to foster interdisciplinary knowledge and publish high impact interdisciplinary research that can impact future research in multiple domains.
 

Anne P. Massey, Decision Sciences Associate Editor, is the Dean’s Research Professor and Professor of Information Systems in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Massey’s research focuses on team and organizational knowledge-intensive processes and performance, collaborative technologies, and the adoption of emerging technologies such as virtual worlds. Her research has appeared in leading journals including Decision Sciences, MIS Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and the Journal of Management Information Systems, among others. She is also an Associate Editor for Information Systems Research.
 

Mitzi M. Montoya is a Professor in the College of Management at North Carolina State University.  She received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University.  Her research focuses on innovation processes and strategies and the role of technology as an enabler of decision making.  Her publications have appeared in Decision Sciences, Management Science, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Academy of Management Journal, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among others.  Mitzi is a member of the American Marketing Association and Product Development and Management Association.