Abstract
A growing set of organizational practices points to the emergence of a new type of normative logic embedded in system design – one that departs from optimizing revenue or efficiency in the immediate transaction and instead prioritizes customer well-being. Importantly, profit maximization is not abandoned but deferred to the longer term, for example through customer retention or lifetime value. Examples include Amazon prompting customers when they attempt to repurchase a book and Netflix canceling unused subscriptions. We conceptualize these practices as transactional benevolence, a class of system-embedded practices that instantiate this normative logic in digital systems. Drawing on illustrative real-world and prospective cases, we identify three forms of transactional benevolence: service discontinuation, service reversion, and service expansion. Each form rests on a distinct sociomaterial configuration that supports its recognition and enactment within transactional systems. These insights inform the development of paired meta-requirements specifying the digital capabilities organizations must develop to enable transactional benevolence. In doing so, we offer design-relevant knowledge for future artefact development and evaluation. By theorizing benevolence as a class of system-embedded practice enabled by digital capabilities this study extends IS scholarship on digital transactions and benevolence. It also outlines a research agenda on designing well-being-oriented departures from immediate transaction-level optimization.
DOI
10.17705/1jais.01003
Recommended Citation
Ostern, Nadine Kathrin; Rosemann, Michael; Bandara, Wasana; and Voss, Marleen, "Transactional Benevolence: Embedding Normative Logic in System Design" (2026). JAIS Preprints (Forthcoming). 247.
DOI: 10.17705/1jais.01003
Available at:
https://aisel.aisnet.org/jais_preprints/247