Communications of the Association for Information Systems
Volume 44, Issue 1, 2019, Pages 874-891

ICT-enabled refugee integration: A research agenda (Article) (Open Access)

AbuJarour S.* , Wiesche M. , Andrade A.D. , Fedorowicz J. , Krasnova H. , Olbrich S. , Tan C.-W. , Urquhart C. , Venkatesh V.
  • a The department of Business Information Systems, University of Potsdam, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Germany
  • b Technische Universität München (TUM), Munich, Germany
  • c The Business Information Systems Department, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
  • d Information and Process Management, Bentley University, United States
  • e University of Potsdam, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Berlin, Germany
  • f The European Business School (EBS), Östrich-Winkel, Germany
  • g The Department of IT Management, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
  • h Operations, Technology, Events and Hospitality Management, The Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
  • i The Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, United States

Abstract

The recent phenomenon that has become known as the European refugee crisis is, in reality, a global problem. Accordingly, issues regarding refugee integration have become a central debate topic worldwide. In this paper, we examine how refugees use information and communication technology (ICT) in different regions across the world to understand how ICT supports their desperate journey to safety, their stay in temporary settlement camps, and their post-settlement inclusion in host countries. We conducted a series of interviews with Syrian refugees in Berlin, Germany, to collect preliminary insights. Then, we organized panel discussions at two key information systems conferences (ICIS 2016 and ECIS 2017) that involved participants from various countries. The panel discussions revealed seven key research themes: accessibility to information, availability of education and linguistic resources, admissibility to labor markets and entrepreneurship opportunities, communicability with home country, connectedness with local population, interactivity with host government, and volunteer coordination. We discuss how ICT might help to address issues related to each theme, present research questions relevant to each theme, and supply an illustration of how ICT has been employed to address an aspect of each theme. Insights gathered lead to theoretical implications and future opportunities for research in the information systems field, practical implications for different stakeholders interested in refugee integration to consider, and social implications related to refugee crisis that we cannot ignore. © 2019 by the Association for Information Systems.

Author Keywords

ICT Refugees Social inclusion Integration

Index Keywords

Research questions Information use Social implication Accessibility to informations Information Systems Local populations Linguistic resources Economic and social effects social inclusion Information and Communication Technologies integration Refugees
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85073717357&doi=10.17705%2f1CAIS.04440&partnerID=40&md5=dbf10a3d94b26b337fbd77e68e43ba5b
DOI: 10.17705/1CAIS.04440
ISSN: 15293181
Original Language: English