Digital Transformation for Crisis Volunteerism : A study in the aftermath of the Swedish Forest Fires Crisis in 2018

Abstract

In the summer of 2018, Sweden was taken by surprise and engulfed by forest fires on an unprecedented scale. Various forms of crisis volunteerism (CV) proved essential in the large scale response that ensued. Previous information systems (IS) research gives insights, both theoretically and practically, on the potential of IS and digitalisation to enhance and support crisis response. However, the forest fires demonstrated that CV practices and practitioners in Sweden have practically no such support. CV is, in other words, an essential part of the crisis response system, but unsupported by dedicated digitalisation. The aim of this thesis is therefore to understand what is required to enable a digital transformation (DT) that will significantly improve CV practice and the overall crisis response system.Sweden is not unique in this respect. From an international perspective, IS research devotes much attention to the area of crisis response. However, this is most commonly done using the perspective and needs of crisis management stakeholders as a departing point. Also, despite research on and the availability of IS solutions, the degree of practical implementation would appear to be low. This thesis is therefore also based on the perceived knowledge gap that the lack of IS and digitalisation supporting CV is, in part, a result of the lack of research focus on volunteer stakeholders and the CV practice itself. Another gap noted is the lack of knowledge regarding the real-world practice of CV which contributes to undermining the development and use of IS solutions for CV.This thesis, therefore, provides a much needed holistic understanding of real-world CV. This understanding moves the perspective of volunteer stakeholders to the forefront without losing the perspective of crisis management. This has been done via an empirical study in the aftermath of the Swedish forest fires crisis as well as via studies of international IS literature on crisis response and CV. This has resulted in a unique holistic and comprehensive model that relates to the complexity, dynamics and emergence involved in CV practice. Via this model it is possible to relate specific parts or aspects of CV practice, to the whole practice area and continue modelling attributes in greater detail, as required, depending on DT or IS design needs.Underlying the focus in this thesis lies a mild critique of previous IS research with more reductionist approaches, whereby the relevance of broader contextual understandings has been downplayed. The thesis This work, Digital Transformation: A Study in the Aftermath of the Swedish Forest Fires Crisis in 2018, is written by Maria Murphy, Linköping University. She presents this work as her licentiate thesis in Information Systems,

Hur expanderar vi konceptet civila insatspersoner: Att hantera organisatoriska och IT-relaterade hinder

“…Att referera till teknikanvändning som ett centralt element är naturligtvis återkommande i forskningslitteratur om digitalisering och digital transformation (Vial, 2019). IT ses vanligtvis som en möjliggörare i olika sammanhang och fokus är då på de förmågor man kan realisera genom teknikanvändning (Murphy, 2021;Carcary et al, 2016). I den här studien fokuserar vi i stället på hindren för digitaliserad co-production och CIP-initiativen och söker föreslå vägar att komma framåt.…”