Leveraging Design Science Research In Network Science: A Methodological Synthesis

Network Science is gaining popularity across a wide range of disciplines. This study investigates how design science research (DSR) can help in building and applying network science theories and artifacts. We are motivated by the potential of both fields (DSR and Network Science) to address a variety of real-world problems. By researching information systems literature at the intersection of network science and DSR, we discovered that there is a striking gap pertaining to the use of inductive approaches of DSR for improving design outcomes of network science. The existing research is confined to deductive approaches of DSR for advancing network science from problem identification to artifact creation to evaluation. As such, this study underscores the need for holistic exploration of the synergies of DSR with network science to address major societal and business problems.