Edona Elshan

Intelligent agents (IAs) are permeating both business and society. However, interacting with IAs poses challenges moving beyond technological limitations towards the human-computer interface. Thus, the knowledgebase related to interaction with IAs has grown exponentially but remains segregated and impedes the advancement of the field. Therefore, we conduct a systematic literature review to integrate empirical knowledge on user interaction with IAs. This is the first paper to examine 107 Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction papers and identified 389 relationships between design elements and user acceptance of IAs. Along the independent and dependent variables of these relationships, we span a research space model encompassing empirical research on designing for IA user acceptance. Further we contribute to theory, by presenting a research agenda along the dimensions of the research space, which shall be useful to both researchers and practitioners. This complements the past and present knowledge on designing for IA user acceptance with potential pathways into the future of IAs.

Recent years have seen a growing adoption of Low Code Development Platforms (LCDPs) in organizations. The increasing affinity for technology development across all user groups, consumerization of development, and advancing digitalization are opening up a new target group for the low code movement. This change in software development allows bottom-up user innovators within a company to leverage their domain knowledge and quickly deploy much-needed digital services. However, a clear understanding of this paradigm of software development in organizations and the influence on end-user acceptance is still missing. In this paper, we present the results of an interview study conducted with 18 LCDP experts and discuss the implications of our findings, highlighting the role of LCDPs and context in bottom-up innovation as well as user-centricity. Our research contributes to the literature on LCDPs and offers valuable insights for organizations looking to leverage their workforce's innovative potential.

Although the idea of low code development is not new, the market for these oftentimes platform-based development approaches is exponentially growing. Especially factors such as increasing affinity for technology development across all user groups, consumerization of development, and advancing digitalization are opening a new target group for the low code movement. The broad application possibilities of low code, as well as the benefits, are therefore getting more important for businesses. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), low code constitutes a promising avenue to survive and succeed in the rapidly changing world. However, a clear understanding regarding the application of this paradigm of software development in SMEs is still missing. To provide a coherent understanding of the phenomenon low code in SMEs, we review extant literature and conduct interviews, identifying potential application domains and conceptualizing the benefits and challenges of low code from a holistic perspective.

Onboarding has always emphasized personal contact with new employees. Excellent onboarding can extend employee retention and improve loyalty. Even in a physical setting, the onboarding process is demanding for both the newcomer and the onboarding organization. Remote work, in contrast, has made this process even more challenging by forcing a rapid shift from offline to online onboarding practices. Organizations are adopting new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to support work processes, such as hiring processes or innovation facilitation, which could shape a new era of work practices. However, it has not been studied how AI applications can or should support onboarding. Therefore, our research conducts a literature review on current onboarding practices and uses expert interviews to evaluate AI's potential and pitfalls for each action. We contribute to the literature by presenting a holistic picture of onboarding practices and assessing potential application areas of AI in the onboarding process.

Innovation requires organizations to tap into the knowledge and creativity of teams. However, teams are confronted with massive amounts of data and information, necessitating a broad set of knowledge, methodologies, and approaches to solve problems and innovate. Consequently, team composition has become a critical challenge. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) may assist in addressing this challenge. As AI is permeating both business and private sectors, organizational teams may be augmented with AI team members. However, given the nascent nature of this phenomenon, little is known about the specific roles and requirements for such AI teammates. Within an interview study we discover common challenges in teams and identify recurring capability gaps of participants and behaviors that negatively impact the team's collective performance. Based on our findings, we propose requirements for AI-based teammates to address these gaps and support beneficial collaboration between humans and AI in teams.

Innovation is one of the most important antecedents of a company's competitive advantage and long-term survival. Prior research has alluded to teamwork being a primary driver of a firm's innovation capacity. Still, many firms struggle with providing an environment that supports innovation teams in working efficiently together. Thereby, a team's failure can be attributed to several factors, such as inefficient working methods or a lack of internal communication that leads to so-called innovation blockages. There are a number of approaches that are targeted at supporting teams to overcome innovation blockages, but they mainly focus on the collaboration process and rarely consider the needs and potentials of individual team members. In this paper, we argue that Conversational Agents (CAs) can efficiently support teams in overcoming innovation blockages by enhancing collaborative work practices and, specifically, by facilitating the contribution of each individual team member. To that end, we design a CA as a team facilitator that provides nudges to reduce innovation blocking actions according to requirements we systematically derived from scientific literature and practice. Based on a rigorous evaluation, we demonstrate the potential of CAs to reduce the frequency of innovation blockages. The research implications for the development and deployment of CAs as team facilitators are explored.

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), individuals are increasingly teaming up with AI-based systems to enhance their creative collaborative performance. When working with AI-based systems, several aspects of team dynamics need to be considered, which raises the question how humans’ approach and perceive their new teammates. In an experimental setting, we investigate the influence of social presence in a group ideation process with an AI-based teammate and examine its effects on the motivation to contribute. Our results show a multi-mediation model in which social presence indirectly influences whether human team members are motivated to contribute to a team with AI-based teammates, which is mediated by willingness to depend and team-oriented commitment.