A STEP TOWARDS A THEORY OF MODELING AND DECISION MAKING - DESIGN OF AN INDUCTIVE EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION Kjell Ellingsen, Bodø Graduate School of Business Eystein Mathisen, Bodø Graduate School of Business Abstract This paper presents a framework and a design for further work towards theory development in the field of business modeling and mental models. First, we discuss the concepts of theory and theorizing before we go into the description of the other key terms that will be used in inductive research. Then, a selection of literature deemed relevant to the issue is reviewed, and finally we present the chosen research paradigm, design, and methodological approach. In the section describing further work we propose to use the health care sector as the application domain for empirical data collection. Keywords: Theory, theorizing, mental models, visualizing, business modeling, decision making. 1 INTRODUCTION The work presented in this paper has originated from two problem areas. The first is related to the recognition that customer organizations often lack insight into their own needs in connection with the procurement of IT-based information systems (Mathisen, Ellingsen, & Fallmyr, 2009). The second concerns the importance of the decision maker’s contextual understanding for the quality of the actions he/she chooses (Ellingsen & Mathisen, 2011). Common to these starting points is that they primarily focus on ensuring that the actors have relevant and current mental models as a basis for the decisions and action choices they face. In addition to supplying the decision maker with updated information, providing the basis for the development of mental models is the main task of the information systems within the organization. Previous work has pointed to the need to identify what effect graphics business models may have on the development of individual mental models and coordination between members of these groups or teams. This article is intended as a first step in such a follow-up work and the main purpose is to lay the groundwork for further research. The aim is primarily to provide a contribution to the development of relevant theory in this field, a theoretical design which can then form the basis for testing through specific projects. The article will first elaborate on the problem statement and present the research goals. Secondly, we will describe key concepts for future work. In particular, we discuss the concepts of theory and theorizing, together with a clarification of the terminology around business models, visualization, decision making and mental models. 2 PROBLEM DESCRIPTION Our premise is that the primary mission of an information system (IS) is to ensure that current information is available for the various decision-makers in an organization. For a successful implementation of an IS it will be essential that a custom development methodology is used, that one has relevant technology insight and, not the least, that the stakeholders have a thorough understanding of the business that the system will operate within. Considerable attention has been devoted to system development methodologies during the past two or three decades, both in education and in practice. As specialists in the field, it has also been the system