Evidence management system: toward a design theory for research practice communication platform

Abstract

The ultimate purpose is to promote evidence-based management. The immediate purpose is to capture, maintain, and deliver evidence that comes out of both management research and management practice. To do so, we offer an evidence management system design that is versatile to include humans and intelligent systems as its potential users. Our design theory proposes a platform to facilitate ongoing communication between researchers and practitioners as well as a trustworthy mechanism for delivering the evidence to its end user in real time. We take a theory driven approach to design an evidence management system. We use the theory of planned behavior as the framework for design guidance resulting in a design theory and empirical propositions. Our design comprises an evidence template, a wiki platform for bidirectional communication and a blockchain for ensuring trust. Valuation Insight: The paper proposes the design of a system that facilitates communication between researchers and practitioners to manage evidence resulting from research and provide a mechanism for delivering the information to end users and decision makers. The system would add value to production processes by assisting evidence-based management.