The seminar will take place on Tuesday, February 3rd, from 12:00 to 13:00 (HG-06A37). You can find more information below. It has been organized by ABRI and the KIN Center for Digital Innovation.
This is a lunch seminar; please register your attendance by accepting/declining your emailed invitation by Friday, January 30th, at 10 AM at the latest (for catering).
Abstract
Consumer wearables enable self-governance practices that shape how users understand and manage themselves through data, producing subjectivities. These subjectivities embody identities characterized by moral dispositions: some users exhibit disciplined, health-promoting conduct, whereas others display compulsive data routines that undermine well-being. Although IS research recognizes that personal data digitalization has normative implications, the mechanisms by which self-governance practices morally form users into distinct subjectivities remain theoretically underspecified. Drawing on Vallor's virtue ethics, we model the recursive relationship between self-governance practices and moral dispositions, conceptualized as virtues and vices. Using this model, we analyze semi-structured interviews with 50 wearable users and identify three subjectivities, characterized by distinct dispositional configurations: Devotee, Challenger, and Calibrator. We theorize three mechanisms that drive moral formation: transfusion (importing external dispositions), transposition (cultivating new dispositions through device use), and transmutation (oscillating between a virtuous disposition and its vices of deficiency or excess). These mechanisms operate in a salience hierarchy (primary, secondary, tertiary) that differs across each subjectivity, explaining why self-governance practices persist or change. Our study contributes to IS research by showing how personal data digitalization has normative ramifications through three distinct mechanisms, how it co-constitutes subjectivities that embody morally laden identities, and why similar devices produce divergent engagement patterns and well-being outcomes. Practically, we propose interventions targeting each mechanism that challenge the ideology of continuous improvement embedded in wearables and show when stepping back from self-improvement better supports flourishing.
ABRI Lunch Seminar Andreas Eckhard 3 February 2026 12:00 - 13:00
About ABRI Lunch Seminar Andreas Eckhard
Starting date
- 3 February 2026
Time
- 12:00 - 13:00
Location
- VU Main Building
Address
- De Boelelaan 1105
- 1081 HV Amsterdam
Organised by
- ABRI and the KIN Center for Digital Innovation.
Language
- English
Short biography
Andreas Eckhardt is a Full Professor of Information Systems at the University of Innsbruck, a position he has held since 2020. Prior to this, he served as a Professor at GGS Heilbronn for over five years. He has held visiting professorships at both the University of Hong Kong and Washington State University. Andreas earned his Ph.D. in Information Systems (summa cum laude) from Goethe University Frankfurt and, before his academic career, worked as a project manager for DaimlerChrysler Taiwan in Taipei. His research focuses on the digital transformation of society and organizations. Specifically, he investigates the polarization and dissemination of misinformation on social media in the context of wars and conflicts, the influence of deepfakes on political opinion formation, the role of generative AI in cybersecurity, product marketing, and innovation development, as well as the future of organizations based on virtual, decentralized, and open forms of organizing.