ICTs in an Ageing Society: An Overview of Emerging Research Streams

Because of the paramount demographic changes involving the western world, the so-called “Information Society” is going to be also an “Ageing Society”. Severe problems are emerging, involving for example the pension system, the healthcare system, or the labor market. Of course, ICTs and IS are called to action in this scenario. How are the researchers addressing the issue of the technological needs in an ageing world? To answer this question, a systematic Literature Survey was conducted, during which 419 papers and books were identified and analyzed in their disciplinary approaches and main outcomes. What came out is that whilst the issue of the technological needs of our ageing society is quite thoroughly investigated from other disciplinary fields, such as Medicine or Engineering or Human–Computer Interaction studies, it is quite overlooked by Organizational Studies. A new brief Research Agenda, identifying some possible new Research Questions about this topic for Information Systems/Organizational Studies researchers, is the outcome of this work.