Design Research Guidelines for Mindful IT Innovations: The Case of RFID Innovation in Supply Chain Management

Design research is a promising research stream in the IS field, yet research output has been limited. Studies argue that this is due to the complexity of the design research methodology and that design research rarely incorporates the firm context into the design. We propose to include mindful IT innovation process into design research. The IT innovation process is a simple and easy to understand process model of IT innovation. Mindfulness on the other hand ensures that the design outcome resists IT trends, aligns IT with the firm context, fits IT with the existing system, and can ultimately lead to firm capabilities. We illustrate the proposed concept in the form of mindful design principles and instantiate the mindful design principles on a RFID innovation for a complete garment supply chain. The evaluation of the RFID innovation shows that significant benefits can be gained in an operational, tactical, and strategic sense.