Embracing contrarian thinking: value-reflexive research for a better world

Scientific progress relies on contrarian thinking that questions assumptions shaping how scholars frame, study, or theorize phenomena. Unexamined, such assumptions perpetuate the same views, practices, and explanations, building entrenched research trajectories that limit scholarly debate on understanding the world. If we are interested in a healthy Information Systems (IS) discipline that contributes to a better world, we require precisely this openness to different understandings of the world. Therefore, for this special issue, we invited original submissions that embrace contrarian thinking and engage in value-reflexivity when investigating and theorizing about digital phenomena. In this editorial, we synthesize previous work to define contrarian thinking and link it to value-reflexivity. We then present how the special issue articles embrace such thinking through value-reflexivity. Our contribution to IS research is twofold: first, we illustrate the importance of such thinking for triggering and upholding vigorous debate on phenomena, research methods, and theory; second, we invite and encourage scholars to embrace contrarian thinking through value-reflexivity. By bringing contrarian thinking through value-reflexivity into explicit consideration, we hope to foster the boldness required for new, and even radical ideas for IS research to thrive and contribute to a better world.