Natural and design science perspective on the business value of IT

This paper provides a structured overview of selected articles concerning the research on the Business Value of IT. It aims to identify key themes within this field, as well as research gaps. As our guiding framework, we divided the literature to two categories reflecting the main approaches within IS business value research: First, papers that can be assigned to the Natural Sciences Paradigm dealing with the question of how and why IS/IT create value. Second, papers that are based on the Design Science Paradigm dealing with the actual realization and evaluation of the BVIT, which are the key subjects from a management point of view. In a third step, we identify research that combines both paradigms, since the combination of the two research paradigms would be valuable for both research streams.