Track Co-Chairs
Saima Qutab, University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand
Xiaohua “Awa” Zhu, University of Tennessee, USA
Han-fen Hu, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
Shengnan Yang, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Track Description
As information systems (IS) become deeply embedded in global economic, political, and social infrastructures, cultural dynamics increasingly shape how information systems are designed, governed, and contested across borders. While cultural factors were once central to IS studies, their prominence has faded in recent years, often reduced to comparative variables or contextual modifiers. However, this shift reveals not a diminishing importance, but rather an opportunity to reframe culture as a constitutive force that structures legitimacy, accountability, and value alignment in sociotechnical systems. These cross-cultural complexities in IS are not merely differences in user practices, but are structural tensions between cultural systems, institutional logics, transitional collaboration and platform ecosystem governance regimes (Engert et al., 2025).
Cross-border digital systems increasingly face governance challenges as they navigate incompatible regulatory regimes, institutional misalignments, and fragmented governance infrastructures (Thompson et al., 2020). As digital infrastructures scale globally from enterprise systems and AI-driven platforms to social media and e-commerce, these developments raise complex governance challenges about platform governance, including data sovereignty, content moderation, and the harmonisation of privacy standards across jurisdictions (Chen et al., 2015; Gupta et al., 2023; Hsu et al., 2015; Merhi, 2021; Zhang et al., 2018).
At the moment, IS researchers find themselves navigating a tension between two opposing influences and objectives. On one hand, Information Systems (IS) discipline must engage on a global scale to effectively tackle complex cultural and societal issues, yet on the other hand it remains crucial to continue conducting localized research to amplify marginalized voices and address the existing imbalance in IS theory, which often overlooks the culturally rich heritage of non-Western countries (Mettler, 2025; Sedera et al., 2025).
Transnational collaboration, whether in the form of global virtual teams or international partnerships, demands new approaches to managing cultural differences in communication, decision-making, and knowledge sharing (Cramton & Hinds, 2014; Gupta et al., 2022). Comparative research is essential to uncover how information systems are adopted, adapted, and resisted in different national and organisational cultures, revealing universal patterns and context-specific nuances. Furthermore, the rapid pace of technological innovation, such as the deployment of AI, blockchain, and cloud computing, amplifies the need for frameworks to anticipate and address cross-cultural ethical dilemmas, digital divides, and geopolitical tensions (Currie et al., 2024). The stakes of cultural misalignment in IS design and governance are growing, underscoring the need for culturally intelligent frameworks. By critically examining these issues, cross-cultural IS research can provide actionable insights for organisations seeking to innovate responsibly, govern platforms fairly, and foster globally inclusive digital ecosystems.
This track invites research that examines how information systems operate across institutional, national, and governance boundaries, where technical architectures, cultural logics, norms and regulatory frameworks often diverge. For example, platform companies may design systems with a global user base in mind, but encounter resistance or adaptation as they interface with local regulations, labour practices, and cultural expectations. This friction is not simply a matter of different user preferences; it reflects deeper structural tensions between the governance regimes of platforms, often shaped by North American or European market logics, and the institutional arrangements and cultural systems of the regions in which they operate.
We invite contributions exploring the interplay between technology and culture in global business, platform governance, and transnational collaboration, as well as comparative studies highlighting commonalities and differences across contexts. By fostering dialogue among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers, this track aims to extend the discussion on how information systems can be designed, governed, and utilised by engaging with culture not merely as a contextual difference, but as a structuring logic that configures how systems acquire meaning, legitimacy, and institutional support across contexts. Such a perspective enables us to better address the cross-cultural frictions and synergies, whether in the design of global digital products, the management of transnational virtual teams, or the configuration of cross-border data flows and governance regimes.
This track contributes to the ACIS 2025 theme: “The State of the Information Systems Discipline: Challenges and Opportunities”, by examining the global plurality of IS practices and the cultural negotiations required to sustain them in an era of digital interdependence.
Suggested Topics (not limited to):
- Comparative studies of IS adoption and implementation across national cultures
- Transnational digital transformation strategies and cultural adaptation
- Algorithmic governance and cultural legitimacy in multinational contexts
- Digital diplomacy, cross-border platform regulation, and data sovereignty
- Cross-cultural tensions in global virtual teamwork and remote work environments. Global-local design challenges in AI, platforms, and enterprise systems
- Knowledge flows and cultural encoding in transnational IS projects
- The role of culture in digital transformation initiatives in multinational organisations
- Global platform ecosystems: local contestation and cultural co-option
- Managing culture in global IT sourcing, outsourcing, and offshoring
- Cultural considerations in cybersecurity, data ethics, and digital trust
- Design and evaluation of culturally adaptable IS solutions
- The role of IS in mediating institutional logic across jurisdictions
- Emerging digital practices in regional blocs (e.g., EU, ASEAN, AU)
- Intercultural user experience (UX) research in global digital services
- Cross-cultural affordances and constraints in digital innovation
- Global virtual teams: collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing across cultures
- Cross-border data privacy, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance
- Cultural adaptation in enterprise software and digital platforms
- The impact of language, identity, and power dynamics in international IS projects
- Strategies for managing cultural risk and conflict in global IT outsourcing
- Digital platforms for international education, e-government, or cross-cultural healthcare delivery
- The influence of cultural intelligence and intercultural competence on IS project outcomes
- Methodological innovations for cross-cultural IS research (e.g., multi-country surveys, ethnography)
- Case studies of successful (or failed) cross-cultural IS implementations
- The role of IS in supporting global sustainability, digital diplomacy, and international development
- Ethical challenges and responsible innovation in cross-cultural digital environments