A Study of Language-Action Perspective as a Theoretical Framework for Web Services

A science of services is contingent on descriptive and normative theoretical contributions. This dissertation investigates the appropriateness of the language-action framework as a theoretical source for web services, the technological component of a science of services.Web service supports interoperability among applications independent of their platform, through a set of standards. Current web service efforts are hindered by complexities created by the proliferation of standards which are sometimes competing and/or overlapping. These complexities undermine the usability of web services and therefore hinder widespread adoption. These complexities can be managed by developing boundaries for each web service aspect and new design methodologies and principles that are tailored towards web services. The Language-Action Perspective (LAP) is a candidate theoretical perspective for addressing these concerns because it follows the basic premise of web servicessupporting communication among disparate applications to achieve business goals.The central hypothesis of this dissertation is that the Language-Action Perspective (LAP) would be an appropriate theoretical framework for web services. This hypothesis is tested through three inter-dependent essays. The first essay investigates whether LAP constructs can describe and explain the web services architecture. Findings from this essay reveal a need for conversation mechanisms to guide interactions among web services. The second essay responds to this finding. The domain selected for this investigation is enterprise integration. This essay develops a mechanism for accessing design knowledge with LAP constructs. The outcome is translated into web service conversation specifications. As proof of concept, a research prototype that uses a LAP based mechanism to generate web service conversation specifications as integration solutions is also developed. The third essay assesses the contribution of LAP constructs for designing effective integration solutions. The contribution of LAP constructs were assessed by designing and carrying out a controlled experiment. The assessment shows that LAP based mechanism produces higher quality integration solutions and reduces designer effort required for developing solutions.Significant contributions from this dissertation include a LAP-inspired reference framework for web services (essay 1), a methodology and software artifact for designing enterprise integration solutions as conversations among web services (essay 2), and an evaluation of the relative effectiveness of LAP constructs for designing web service solutions (essay 3). Together they test the central hypothesisthe appropriateness of LAP as a theoretical framework for web services.