Martin Wiener

TU Dresden | TUD · Chair of Information Systems & Business Engineering

We explore how workers judge algorithmic control systems - organizational control systems based on advanced digital technologies used for automated direction, evaluation, and discipline of employees. Moving beyond the scope of previous research, which predominantly focused on isolated aspects of algorithmic control, such as specific control mechani...

Algorithmic control (AC) is an emerging phenomenon shaping the future of work. Besides its central role in many platform organizations, AC has been steadily making its way into non-platform organizations. While existing studies provide important insights into workers’ legitimacy judgments of individual AC forms, our understanding of how different c...

Online labor platforms (OLPs) use algorithms to manage their workers. Prior research has examined how OLP management shapes workers' attitudes, implicitly assuming that workers have the same preferences. However, research has largely neglected the role of (mis)fits between what workers need and what they receive from OLPs. Therefore, we conducted a...

Algorithmic control (AC) uses digital technologies and advanced algorithms to control workers and is rapidly becoming a central component of modern work environments. While previous research has explored the implications of AC by examining its specific forms, mechanisms, or functions, this research argues for a broader understanding of AC as socio-...

Over recent years, online labor platforms (OLPs) such as Uber or Deliveroo have become increasingly popular. One key facilitator of OLP's success is their usage of algorithmic control (AC), where managerial control is performed by algorithmic technologies. With AC, OLPs can exert tight control over workers, which triggers workers' motivation to dep...

With companies and other organizations increasingly striving to become (more) data-driven, there has been growing research interest in the notion of a data-driven organization (DDO). In existing literature, however, different understandings of such an organization emerged. The study at hand sets forth to synthesize the fragmented body of research t...

Millions of workers today do not have direct human supervisors but are controlled through IT systems, commonly referred to as algorithmic control (AC) systems. Due to such systems' high degree of automation, previous research often implicitly assumes that worker control through AC is applied uniformly across organizations. This study challenges thi...

Information systems (IS) projects represent key building blocks of large-scale digital transformation and innovation initiatives. As a result, IS projects have become increasingly ambitious in terms of both goals and scale, making it even more challenging for managers to exercise control over such projects. While prior research focused primarily on...

Organisations increasingly rely on algorithms to exert automated managerial control over workers, referred to as algorithmic control (AC). The use of AC is already commonplace with platform-based work in the gig economy, where independent workers are paid for completing a given task (or “gig”). The combination of independent work alongside intensiv...

Algorithmic control (AC) is an emerging phenomenon shaping the future of work. While AC is already well established in the platform economy, it is also gaining traction in traditional organizations. Given that AC represents a new phenomenon, it still suffers from a relatively immature conceptual basis. Here, an up-and-coming conceptual AC framework...

Organizations are increasingly initiating and expanding their digital transformation initiatives to become more data-driven. Given that such digital transformations are highly complex and idiosyncratic endeavors, organizations striving to become a data-driven organization (DDO) have many options on where to start. To better understand such transfor...

Organizations today leverage big data analytics combined with modern information and communication technology (ICT) to control workers in a largely automated manner. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as algorithmic control (AC). Research has shown that worker perceptions of AC applications can impact critical outcomes such as worker resistanc...

With the emergence of the Industrial Internet of Things, a growing number of manufacturing firms has started to adopt non-ownership business models (NOBMs). NOBM providers maintain ownership of offered machinery and sell only the machine use and/or performance as a service to their clients. While the adoption of NOBMs is found to be associated with...

Emerged from platform organizations, algorithmic management (AM) refers to a data-driven approach in which intelligent algorithms are employed to automate managerial functions. Given its organizational benefits (e.g., efficiency gains), AM is also increasingly used in other work contexts, including traditional organizations (with permanent employee...

Algorithmic control (AC) refers to organizations’ use of increasingly intelligent algorithms and related digital technology to steer worker behavior. While previous studies have identified and conceptualized various forms of AC in both platform and traditional work contexts, the presented conceptualizations lack measurability. This key shortcoming...

Companies increasingly rely on algorithmic management (AM) to efficiently control and coordinate workers, especially in the quick commerce sector, where workers are required to work particularly fast. AM often implies that workers face cognitive demands, such as behavioral constraints imposed by a tight management regime, or significant physical de...

Information systems (IS) projects are notoriously difficult to control, especially under conditions of uncertainty. This difficulty is particularly pronounced for senior IS managers, such as CIOs and IT Vice Presidents, who tend to have scarce time and limited project-related knowledge but are ultimately held accountable for IS project performance....

With companies and other organizations increasingly striving to become (more) data-driven, there has been growing research interest in the notion of a data-driven organization (DDO). In existing literature, however, it seems that different understandings of such an organization emerged. The study at hand sets forth to synthesize the fragmented body...

Manufacturing processes are characterized by an increasing complexity , making them susceptible to failures. An effective strategy to avoid such failures , or at least to minimize their impact, is data-driven failure management. However, for many small and medium sized manufacturers, this strategy is not feasible due to a paucity of relevant failur...

Existing information systems (IS) research on platform control has largely focused on examining how input control (i.e., the mechanisms used to control platform access) affects complementors' intentions and behaviours after their decision to join a digital platform. Yet, our understanding of how input control is perceived before this decision and h...

This study examines how the use of algorithmic control within gig economy platforms relates to the well-being and behavior of workers. Specifically, we explore how two different forms of algorithmic control—gatekeeping and guiding—correspond with (positive) challenge technostressors and (negative) threat technostressors experienced by Uber drivers....

Contact-tracing apps represent an algorithm-based technology with significant potential to help address the COVID-19 pandemic by facilitating swift case isolation. However, low adoption rates have prevented these apps from tapping their full potential. A key barrier to adoption has been citizens' uncertainty surrounding contact-tracing apps. In thi...

Digitalization confronts organizations with huge challenges and opportunities. With all economic and societal sectors being affected by emerging technologies, the digital economy is highly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Against this backdrop, this book reports on the best practices and lessons learned from organizations that succeeded...

This book presents a rich compilation of real-world cases on digitalization, aiming to share first-hand insights from renowned organizations and to make digitalization tangible. With all economic and societal sectors being challenged by emerging technologies, the digital economy is highly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. It confronts es...

Organizations increasingly rely on algorithms to exert automated managerial control over workers, referred to as algorithmic control (AC). The use of AC is already commonplace with platform-based work in the gig economy, where independent workers are paid for completing a given task (or ‘gig’). The combination of independent work alongside intensiv...

The 'smartification' of machines refers to the enhancement of physical machines with digital technologies and services and represents a recent and important trend in the mechanical engineering industry. Due to their significant business potential, smart machines and especially their design has received increasing attention in practice and research...

Contact-tracing apps are considered one of the core information technologies to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they need to be adopted broadly to be effective. In this study, we apply the concept of algorithmic transparency (AT) to contact-tracing apps and hypothesize that users prefer apps with a high level of disclosur...

Extant research on the control of IS development projects is largely oriented around control choices and enactments from the perspective of managers, thereby neglecting employees’ legitimacy perceptions. Little is known about how such perceptions affect employees’ intentions to comply with controls. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a facto...

Zusammenfassung Datengetriebene Geschäftsmodelle (DGGM) vereinen zwei zentrale Trends des digitalen Zeitalters: die steigende Bedeutung von („Big“-)Daten und den zunehmenden Fokus auf das Geschäftsmodell als zentrale Gestaltungsebene. Nichtsdestotrotz sind die konzeptuellen Grundlagen und spezifischen Eigenschaften entsprechender Geschäftsmodelle b...

Organizations increasingly rely on algorithmic control (AC), which leverages the capabilities of novel digital technologies and intelligent algorithms to automate control activities previously performed by human managers. Existing research points to a diverse set of worker reactions to AC. To explain these diverse reactions, our study focuses on gi...

The 'smartification' of physical products represents a key trend in the digital era. This trend also applies to the mechanical engineering industry, where companies have started to implement smart machines as cornerstones for the digitalization of their traditional business models. However, despite the significant business potential of smart machin...

This study examines how the use of algorithmic controls embedded in gig economy platforms impacts worker well-being and behavior. We draw on the information systems (IS) control and technostress literatures to explore how different modes of algorithmic control correspond with (positive) challenge technostressors and (negative) hindrance technostres...

https://www.misqresearchcurations.org/blog/2020/11/23/is-control-amp-governance

The rise of the gig economy has become a global phenomenon that encompasses various industries. Instead of hiring full-time employees, gig economy companies ‘outsource’ work via online platforms to freelance workers who are paid for completing a given task (‘gig’). While gig workers are often portrayed as independent contractors, gig firms leverage...

Ubiquitous digitalisation has given rise to technology-mediated control (TMC), which employs digital technologies to support or even automate control functions commonly performed by managers. Still, it remains unclear how concepts and insights from traditional IS control research can be applied to TMC. Performing a content analysis and building on...

Managers choose and implement controls to promote employee behavior that contributes to IS development (ISD) project success. Still, ISD project failure rates remain high, suggesting that project controls employed are often not effective. In this regard, existing IS project control research commonly considers how managers configure controls (in ter...

The emergence of “big data” offers organizations unprecedented opportunities to gain and maintain competitive advantage. Trying to exploit the strategic business potential embedded in big data, many organizations have started to renovate their business models or develop new ones, giving rise to the phenomenon of big-data business models. Although b...

While IS development (ISD) projects are essential for deploying digital technologies in organisations, they are notoriously challenging to control and complete successfully. Prior ISD project control research mostly conceptualises control activities in terms of formal and informal control modes and frequently focuses on performance effects at the p...

While IS development (ISD) projects are essential for deploying digital technologies in organizations, they are notoriously challenging to control and complete successfully. Prior ISD project control research mostly conceptualizes control activities in terms of formal and informal control modes and frequently focuses on performance effects at the p...

This study explores the emerging topic of technology-mediated control (TMC), which refers to an organization’s using digital technologies to influence workers to behave in a manner consistent with organizational objectives. The popular press has discussed many mobile apps, digital sensors, software algorithms, and other technologies that support, o...

The emergence of ‘big data’ offers organizations unprecedented opportunities to gain and maintain competitive advantage. Trying to exploit the strategic business potential embedded in big data, many organizations have started to renovate their business models or develop new ones, giving rise to the phenomenon of big-data business models (BDBMs). Al...

In this research commentary, we argue that the current digital era compels a reconsideration and problematization of research on information systems (IS) project control. IS projects are key to the pursuit of digital innovation and transformation activities, and the control of IS projects is central to creating and capturing value from these activi...

The rise of the gig economy has become a global phenomenon that encompasses various industries. Instead of hiring full-time employees, gig economy companies ‘outsource’ work via online platforms to freelance workers who are paid for completing a given task (‘gig’). While gig workers are often portrayed as independent contractors, gig firms leverage...

This study draws on the idea that in information systems development (ISD) projects not all formal controls transmit consistently from project managers to team members. And even if team members understand enacted controls properly, there is no guarantee that they will agree with those, potentially leading to resistance behaviors and hindering proje...

Adding to the collective knowledge on how to craft effective IT outsourcing contracts, this study examines the effects of service level agreement (SLA)framing in terms of bonus versus penalty clauses on two important factors of outsourcing success: service providers' knowledge-sharing willingness and commitment (effort-related vs. affective). Resul...

The control of information systems (IS) projects is important for organizations seeking to realize the value‐creating capabilities of information technology (IT). However, their achievement has proven complex and has triggered research on the unique challenges related to IS project control. The existing research focuses primarily on the contextual...

This chapter describes the application of the Glaserian grounded-theory method to a longitudinal study of an information technology multi-sourcing arrangement at a global sporting goods company, adidas. Adidas established a multi-sourcing arrangement in which it delegated projects and services to three vendors who were simultaneously competing and...

In a nonownership business model (NOBM), a company maintains product ownership and sells only product performance to its customers. While NOBMs are not an entirely new phenomenon, the digital technologies-such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)-that facilitate the use of such BMs are relatively new. An increasing number of manufacturing co...

Situation faced: The case company, KAESER, is a leading manufacturer of compressed air systems and services with worldwide operations. The air compressor industry is characterized by high competition and has undergone significant changes over the last three decades. In response to shifting customer demands, KAESER started to transform and expand it...

This paper reports on the panel discussion that took place at the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) in Guimarães, Portugal, on 9 June, 2017. The discussion focused on three central questions: 1) “What does research impact mean for you?”, 2) “What is your approach to making an impact with your research?”, and 3) “What advice would yo...

Offshoring of information systems (IS) projects has become a widespread global practice. While prior research suggests that controlling, and communicating with, offshore vendors represent key managerial challenges, the topic of how control is communicated, or transmitted, from client to vendor has been widely neglected. Our study focuses on control...

Offshoring of information systems (IS) projects has become a widespread global practice. While prior research suggests that controlling, and communicating with, offshore vendors represent key managerial challenges, the topic of how control is communicated, or transmitted, from client to vendor has been widely neglected. Our study focuses on control...

Purpose: Existing studies of information systems development (ISD) control commonly examine controller-centric considerations, such as the antecedents and performance impacts of control mode choices. In contrast, little is known about the controllee-centric factors that may influence the effectiveness of control activities. Drawing on institutional...

Since the emergence of the Internet, many brick-and-mortar companies from various industries have established an online business model (BM) alongside their traditional offline BM. Despite the increasing coexistence of online and offline BMs within a single company, however, most prior research has focused on studying online and offline BMs in isola...

The control of information systems (IS) projects is an important pursuit for organizations that are seeking to realize the value-creating capabilities of IT. Realizing this goal, however, has proven to be a complex undertaking that has engendered research illustrating unique challenges of IS project control. Extant research in this domain has focus...

The business model (BM) concept has gained increasing attention and popularity in both practice and research. In this context, the term "digital BM" emerged as a real buzzword, even though there still seems to be little consensus on what this term actually means and how it can be conceptualized. For example, most existing conceptualizations do not...

ICT-related overload, or the emotional and cognitive state that occurs when individuals are unable to efficiently retrieve and process information delivered by, or associated with, ICT, is an epiphenomenon. While prior research tends to ascribe this phenomenon to the amount of information delivered, this study presents and provides significant empi...

In the IS literature, as well as in related literature in contributing disciplines, control is broadly defined as any attempt to align individual behaviors with organizational objectives (e.g., Kirsch 1997). A frequent argument for the importance of control activities is that such activities are needed to regulate or adjust the behaviors of employe...

Purpose: Innovation intermediaries have become key actors in open innovation (OI) contexts. Research has improved the understanding of the managerial challenges inherent to intermediation in situations in which problems are rather well defined. Yet, in some OI situations, the relevant actor networks may not be known, there may be no clear common in...

Objective: Hospitals report cards (HRC) are publicly available Internet websites that provide patients with quality-related information on hospitals and enable hospital comparisons. We aim to identify factors that explain the (intended) use of HRC, including differences between current users and non-users. Methods: Drawing on UTAUT (Unified Theory...

Most previous research on ISD project control conceptualizes control activities in terms of control modes and focuses on performance effects at the project level. This seems to oversimplify the way controls ‘work’ by neglecting the multidimensionality of control activities and their effects at the individual level. In this paper, we adopt an expand...

Purpose: In the magazine publishing industry, viable online business models are still rare to absent. To prepare for the 'digital future' and safeguard their long-term survival, many publishers are currently in the process of transforming their online business model. Against this backdrop, this study aims to develop a deeper understanding of (1) ho...

The control of information systems (IS) projects is a key activity for deployment of information technology (IT) resources and ultimately for value creation through IT. For the last 20 years, research on IS project control has grown to cover a wide range of aspects and issues, including control modes, amounts, and portfolios, control in internal an...

In traditional IT outsourcing and multisourcing arrangements, clients isolate vendor tasks, resulting in modular sourcing structures. But this approach can stifle vendor competition, result in vendor lock-in and hinder organizational flexibility. This article describes how adidas adopted a new type of multisourcing strategy, which embraces vendor o...

As the amount of digital data available reaches mind-boggling proportions, individuals often resort to multitasking to deal with the volumes of information delivered or exacerbated by information and communication technologies (ICT) such as the web, mobile telephony, email, social media, and other Internet technologies. In this paper we explore whe...

In virtually every information systems (IS) project, control is exercised on multiple hierarchical project levels. For example, senior managers exercise control over project team leaders, who in turn exercise control over distinct groups of project team members. Most prior studies have exclusively focused on one specific controller-controllee dyad....

Existing IS project control research primarily draws on agency theory to conceptualize control, relating control closely to aligning behaviors of self-interested controllees with organizational objectives. Recent studies in neighboring disciplines, however, suggest that the agency view of control is too narrow to fully understand control activities...

As firms increasingly engage in interorganizational information systems (IS) projects, including IS offshoring projects, the challenge for client firms of effectively exercising control across organizational boundaries becomes critical. Although the importance of informal controls (clan and self-control) in this context has been recognized, prior r...