---
_id: '65764'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'Information systems (IS) research is increasingly exploring the potential
    of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), such as large language models (LLMs).
    For design science research (DSR), such technologies foster entirely new vistas
    for the design of IT artifacts that make use of their generative capabilities,
    but also influence DSR methodology. This shift is much more profound than it has
    been discussed so far. To identify existing implications of GenAI for design-oriented
    research in IS, we report results from an integrative literature review of recent
    DSR publications in leading IS outlets. Thereby, we synthesize five major theoretical
    challenges that arise when using GenAI in DSR projects: (1) an obscure composition
    of the artifact, (2) an opaque contextualization of the LLM, (3) a fragile internal
    consistency of the artifact, (4) a rapid erosion of prescriptive knowledge, and
    (5) missing methodological guidance. We investigate these challenges and conceptualize
    a set of three guidelines that inform DSR in the rising era of GenAI. These guidelines
    support researchers in designing and justifying GenAI-related DSR processes and
    in precisely articulating the theoretical grounding of their design decisions
    and evaluation strategies.'
author:
- first_name: Philipp
  full_name: zur Heiden, Philipp
  id: '64394'
  last_name: zur Heiden
- first_name: Daniel
  full_name: Beverungen, Daniel
  id: '59677'
  last_name: Beverungen
- first_name: Christian
  full_name: Bartelheimer, Christian
  last_name: Bartelheimer
- first_name: Christoph
  full_name: Breidbach, Christoph
  last_name: Breidbach
citation:
  ama: 'zur Heiden P, Beverungen D, Bartelheimer C, Breidbach C. Design Science Research
    in an Era of Generative AI—Challenges and Theoretical Guidelines. In: <i>Lecture
    Notes in Computer Science</i>. Vol 16606.  Lecture Notes in Computer Science.
    Springer Nature Switzerland; 2026. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22">10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22</a>'
  apa: zur Heiden, P., Beverungen, D., Bartelheimer, C., &#38; Breidbach, C. (2026).
    Design Science Research in an Era of Generative AI—Challenges and Theoretical
    Guidelines. <i>Lecture Notes in Computer Science</i>, <i>16606</i>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22">https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22</a>
  bibtex: '@inproceedings{zur Heiden_Beverungen_Bartelheimer_Breidbach_2026, place={Cham},
    series={ Lecture Notes in Computer Science}, title={Design Science Research in an Era
    of Generative AI—Challenges and Theoretical Guidelines}, volume={16606}, DOI={<a
    href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22">10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22</a>},
    booktitle={Lecture Notes in Computer Science}, publisher={Springer Nature Switzerland},
    author={zur Heiden, Philipp and Beverungen, Daniel and Bartelheimer, Christian
    and Breidbach, Christoph}, year={2026}, collection={ Lecture Notes in Computer
    Science} }'
  chicago: 'Heiden, Philipp zur, Daniel Beverungen, Christian Bartelheimer, and Christoph
    Breidbach. “Design Science Research in an Era of Generative AI—Challenges and Theoretical
    Guidelines.” In <i>Lecture Notes in Computer Science</i>, Vol. 16606.  Lecture
    Notes in Computer Science. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2026. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22">https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22</a>.'
  ieee: 'P. zur Heiden, D. Beverungen, C. Bartelheimer, and C. Breidbach, “Design
    Science Research in an Era of Generative AI—Challenges and Theoretical Guidelines,”
    in <i>Lecture Notes in Computer Science</i>, Muenster, 2026, vol. 16606, doi:
    <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22">10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22</a>.'
  mla: zur Heiden, Philipp, et al. “Design Science Research in an Era of Generative
    AI—Challenges and Theoretical Guidelines.” <i>Lecture Notes in Computer Science</i>,
    vol. 16606, Springer Nature Switzerland, 2026, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22">10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22</a>.
  short: 'P. zur Heiden, D. Beverungen, C. Bartelheimer, C. Breidbach, in: Lecture
    Notes in Computer Science, Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham, 2026.'
conference:
  end_date: 2026-06-10
  location: Muenster
  name: DESRIST 2026
  start_date: 2026-06-08
date_created: 2026-06-03T09:20:18Z
date_updated: 2026-06-03T09:25:50Z
department:
- _id: '195'
doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22
intvolume: '     16606'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- url: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-28313-9_22
place: Cham
publication: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
publication_identifier:
  isbn:
  - '9783032283122'
  - '9783032283139'
  issn:
  - 0302-9743
  - 1611-3349
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
quality_controlled: '1'
series_title: ' Lecture Notes in Computer Science'
status: public
title: Design Science Research in an Era of Generative AI—Challenges and Theoretical
  Guidelines
type: conference
user_id: '59677'
volume: 16606
year: '2026'
...