Micro-randomized trials in Information Systems research: An experimental method for advancing knowledge about our dynamic and digitalized world

Abstract

The increasing ubiquity of individualized digital devices expands the scope of Information Systems (IS) research and offers novel opportunities for investigating and influencing individuals’ intentions, cognitions, and behavior. Based on these technological advancements, behavioral science researchers have started to develop experimental methods that allow for rigorously investigating dynamic phenomena in our digitalized world. We introduce an experimental design, called a micro-randomized trial (MRT), and propose that it is widely applicable in IS research for examining complex and dynamic IS research phenomena. MRTs allow for analyzing causalities and testing theories with dynamic components by considering how time-varying personal and contextual factors influence an experimental treatment’s efficacy over time. The resulting insights can be leveraged to refine theories, improve IS design, influence users’ cognitions and intentions, and steer user behavior. This paper motivates the relevance of the MRT experimental design for IS research, equips interested IS researchers with the required knowledge to conduct MRTs, and demonstrates how MRTs can be deployed to advance IS knowledge by achieving research goals that until now, given the standard IS method assortment, could not be properly addressed.