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PurposeThis paper aims to provide a comprehensive framework of a situated culture approach to studying culture within the IS discipline.Design/methodology/approachThis is achieved via an articulation of structuration theory and the provision of an approach to study cross‐cultural phenomena within the IS discipline. The paper proposes two main components of a structuration theory based analysis model which is proposed as a way to study culture within IS discipline. First, the paper presents ideas behind the practice lens for studying the use of technology, as proposed by Orlikowski. Second, the paper presents a structurational analysis approach as detailed by Walsham. The paper argues that using a practice lens contributes to identifying the mediated shared structures between actors through understanding the actions of the actors within the phenomena. Then, using a structurational analysis approach contributes to identifying the cultural dimensions that are embedded in the identified mediated shared structures.FindingsThis paper contributes to cultural studies within the IS discipline and provides a framework for researchers aiming to investigate cultural influences for different phenomena within IS.Originality/valueCultural anthropology seeks to understand the similarities and differences among groups of people in the contemporary world. Although there are many different models of national culture, most IS research has tended to rely almost solely on Hofstede's cultural model. However, Hofstede's cultural model been criticised, and using structurational analysis will provide researchers within cultural studies in the IS discipline with a more broad perspective for the phenomena.

AbstractArtificial intelligence (AI) can be seen to be at an inflexion point in India, a country which is keen to adopt and exploit new technologies, but needs to carefully consider how they do this. AI is usually deployed with good intentions, to unlock value and create opportunities for the people; however it does not come without its challenges. There are a set of ethical–social issues associated with AI, which include concerns around privacy, data protection, job displacement, historical bias and discrimination. Through a series of focus groups with knowledgeable people embedded in India and its culture, this research explores the ethical–societal changes and challenges that India now faces. Further, it investigates whether the principles and practices of responsible research and innovation (RRI) might provide a framework to help identify and deal with these issues. The results show that the areas in which RRI could offer scope to improve this outlook include education, policy and governance, legislation and regulation, and innovation and industry practices. Some significant challenges described by participants included: the lack of awareness of AI by the public as well as policy makers; India's access and implementation of Western datasets, resulting in a lack of diversity, exacerbation of existing power asymmetries, increase in social inequality and the creation of bias; the potential replacement of jobs by AI. One option was to look at a hybrid approach, a mix of AI and humans, with expansion and upskilling of the current workforce. In terms of strategy, there seems to be a gap between the rhetoric of the government and what is seen on the ground, and therefore going forward there needs to be a much greater engagement with a wider audience of stakeholders.

Part 5: Social Media and Social Network Analysis ; International audience ; Social media are often regarded as a set of new communication practices which are likely, if deployed effectively, to make public sector organisations more responsive to the various stakeholders with whom they interact. In this context, responsiveness is usually approached as an administrative function of establishing additional channels of information and responding faster to citizen queries. Notwithstanding the importance of these objectives, this study aims to reconceptualise the relationship between social media and government responsiveness. Drawing on current literature and the case of the Food Standards Agency in the UK, the study identifies new dimensions of social media responsiveness. The findings of this study can provide useful insights both for researchers in the area and those in the process of developing social media strategies in government.

This paper argues that responsible innovation discourses must consider the changing nature of digital innovation, if they are to stand a chance of steering the development of technology towards democratically-acceptable ends. It explores the extent to which foundational narratives of Responsible (Research and) Innovation (RRI) consider problematic features of metatechnologies - defined here as "core information technologies upon which others are based, and whose use vastly expands the degrees of freedom with which humans can act in the social and material worlds" - and implications for responsible innovation discourse in the digital age. The study finds that references underpinning paradigmatic RRI accounts include digital and metatechnology examples, albeit briefly in some cases, somewhat reinforcing the validity of seminal RRI accounts in the context of new and emerging digital technologies with metatechnological attributes. The need for additional reflection on the problematic implications of digital technologies for RRI is identified, for example with respect to distributed development, and recombinant and network-level effects. The paper concludes that the continuing value of RRI as a discourse to society will depend on researchers' and practitioners' awareness of the potential of these technologies for cascading, downstream innovation.

The extensive disruption to and digital transformation of travel administration across borders largely due to COVID-19 mean that digital vaccine passports are being developed to resume international travel and kick-start the global economy. Currently, a wide range of actors are using a variety of different approaches and technologies to develop such a system. This paper considers the techno-ethical issues raised by the digital nature of vaccine passports and the application of leading-edge technologies such as blockchain in developing and deploying them. We briefly analyse four of the most advanced systems – IBM's Digital Health Passport "Common Pass," the International Air Transport Association's Travel Pass, the Linux Foundation Public Health's COVID-19 Credentials Initiative and the Vaccination Credential Initiative (Microsoft and Oracle) – and then consider the approach being taken for the EU Digital COVID Certificate. Each of these raises a range of issues, particularly relating to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the need for standards and due diligence in the application of innovative technologies (eg blockchain) that will directly challenge policymakers when attempting to regulate within the network of networks.