Projects
No ongoing projects
Research groups
Areas of responsibility
Leif Skiftenes Flak is professor of Information Systems in the Department of Information Systems, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. He was chair of the same department from 2013 to 2018. After resigning as department chair, he was the Director of the multi-disciplinary research center CeDiT - Centre for Digital Transformation from 2018-2022. When he stepped down as director, CeDiT counted more than 30 faculty in permanent positions and 19 PhD students. On January 1st 2024, he starts his service as Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Agder.
Leif over 20 years of experience with research on information systems in general and digitalization in the public sector in particular. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Aalborg University, Denmark.
Flak´s work have been published in journals such as MIS Quarterly, Communications of the AIS, Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, Government Information Quarterly, Information Polity, eService Journal and Transforming Government: People, Process & Policy. Three of his publications have been honored with best paper awards.
Throughout his academic career, Leif has worked closely with practice. He regularly publishes chronicles and opinion articles in newspapers and practice-oriented outlets and is a popular speaker regionally and nationally in Norway.
He has extensive national and international project experience and has served on a variety of reference groups and expert committees in organizations such as the Ministry of Commerce and Fishery, the Norwegian Health Directorate, the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management and the Norwegian Auditor General. He is currently board member of Digin, Norway´s largest IT industry cluster.
Flak is also a co- founder and active board member of GoForIT—Norway ́s arena for knowledge development at the intersection between digitalization and sustainability. This network counts 12 academic institutions, around 40 IT companies (including global companies like Microsoft, IBM and Accenture) and a number of Labour Unions. GoForIT has grown exponentially over the past years and is currently in the process of onboarding public sector organizations.
Research
Selected publications
Engvall, T. S., Flak, L. S., & Sæbø, Ø. (2023). The role of digital technologies in global climate negotiations. Government Information Quarterly, 40(4), 101867.
Flak, L. S., Solli-Sæther, H., & Straub, D. W. (2022). A THEORY OF MULTI-REALIZATION OF IT VALUE: TOWARD CONSTRUCT CLARITY IN THE CO-DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE PLATFORMS. MIS Quarterly, 46(3).
Rose, J., Flak, L. S., & Sæbø, Ø. (2018). Stakeholder theory for the E-government context: Framing a value-oriented normative core. Government Information Quarterly, 35(3), 362-374.