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Joon-Sang Baek

Yonsei University · Business, Management and Accounting

About the Lab

Professor Joon-Sang Baek's research lab specializes in human-centered design for social impact, focusing on participatory design, sustainable service systems, and cross-cultural collaboration in technology development. The lab explores how information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be co-designed with diverse stakeholders—especially marginalized or vulnerable populations—to address complex societal challenges such as healthcare access, agricultural sustainability, and energy system transformation. Central to the lab’s work is the development of innovative methodologies, such as need network analysis and value exchange frameworks, to support equitable and sustainable innovation in multi-actor contexts.

participatory designsustainable service systemstechnology acceptanceco-design methodologysocial innovation

Research Overview

Papers
60
Total Citations
429
Papers (5y)
22
Primary Field
Business, Management and Accounting

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
22total
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
75total
20222023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
1
Article|65 citations·2015
A socio-technical approach to design for community resilience: A framework for analysis and design goal forming
Joon Sang Baek, Anna Meroni, Ezio Manzini
SJR Q1Design StudiesOA
Management of Technology and InnovationBusiness, Management and Accounting
2
Article|53 citations·2016
Interdisciplinarity in design education: understanding the undergraduate student experience
James Self, Joon Sang Baek
SJR Q1International Journal of Technology and Design Education
Information Systems and ManagementDecision Sciences
3
Article|46 citations·2017
A sociotechnical framework for the design of collaborative services
Joon Sang Baek, Sojung Kim, Yoonyee Pahk, Ezio Manzini
SJR Q1Design Studies
MarketingBusiness, Management and Accounting
4
Article|39 citations·2008
A participatory design approach to information architecture design for children
Joon Sang Baek, Kun-Pyo Lee
SJR Q1CoDesignOA

A design process that involves the participation of children should effectively elicit the needs of child users by considering characteristics such as their age-appropriate levels of cognitive ability, shyness, language skills, and motor-sensory capabilities. Since the 1960s, a variety of methods and guidelines have emerged specialising in children. Participatory design deals with the problem of enabling users to participate in the design process and with the task of generating ideas by means of

Human-Computer InteractionComputer Science
5
Article|35 citations·2021
Acceptance of an Informational Antituberculosis Chatbot Among Korean Adults: Mixed Methods Research
Agnes Jihae Kim, Jisun Yang, Yihyun Jang, Joon Sang Baek
SJR Q1JMIR mhealth and uhealthOA

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly infectious disease. Negative perceptions and insufficient knowledge have made its eradication difficult. Recently, mobile health care interventions, such as an anti-TB chatbot developed by the research team, have emerged in support of TB eradication programs. However, before the anti-TB chatbot is deployed, it is important to understand the factors that predict its acceptance by the population. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the acceptance of an a

Artificial IntelligenceComputer Science
6
Article|17 citations·2019
The Effect of Cultural Differences on a Distant Collaboration for Social Innovation: A Case Study of Designing for Precision Farming in Myanmar and South Korea
Joon Sang Baek, Soyoung Kim, Taiei Harimoto
SJR Q1Design and Culture

This paper explores the impacts of the ways in which cultural differences were encountered and negotiated during a collaboration between a Myanmar social enterprise and a South Korean university to design a soil sensor that enables farmers to more accurately measure soil qualities such as moisture, nutrient content, acidity, and temperature, thereby increasing productivity through irrigating and applying inputs more efficiently. Precision-farming technologies are expected to improve agricultural

Business and International ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting
7
Article|16 citations·2010
Sustainable Collaborative Services on the Digital Platform: Definition and Application
Joon Sang Baek, Ezio Manzini, Francesca Rizzo
Proceedings of DRSOA

Information communication technologies (ICT) have emerged as an enabling solution that facilitates grassroots social innovations. Among them are collaborative services in which the final users collaborate to provide solutions to their unmet social needs. These alternative solutions aggregate to result in radical innovations towards a sustainable society (Meroni ed., 2006). Examples of collaborative services on the digital platform include Hitchhikers, a service created by hitchhikers to connect

Strategy and ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting
8
Article|12 citations·2017
COVALENT, a method for co-designing value exchange in community-centred design
Yoonyee Pahk, James Self, Joon Sang Baek
SJR Q1CoDesign

It is challenging to design for mutually beneficial relationships in a multi-actor service system when these actors have diverse and conflicting interests, and lack usable methods and tools that support the design process. This study introduces a novel method for co-designing value exchange (COVALENT). COVALENT integrates the value analysis model, co-design strategy and service design tools, to support the conceptualisation of reciprocal value exchanges based on the analysis of and matching betw

MarketingBusiness, Management and Accounting
9
Article|10 citations·2022
Network Analysis of Complex Stakeholder Needs for Service Ecosystem Sustainability: A Case Study of South Korean ESCO Industry
Joon Sang Baek, Tracy Bhamra
SJR Q1She jiOA

Despite the increasing complexity of problems and growing demand for stakeholder collaboration in the design for sustainability, there is a lack of methodology for understanding complex stakeholder needs and their relationships. This study proposes the need network analysis, a process of investigating the need structures based on need mapping and network analysis. We demonstrate its effectiveness in an empirical study to diagnose the energy service companies in South Korea. Based on the surveys

MarketingBusiness, Management and Accounting
10
Article|8 citations·2021
A Relational Approach to the Design for Peer Support
Yoonyee Pahk, Joon Sang Baek
SJR Q2International Journal of Environmental Research and Public HealthOA

Peer-support services enhance mental wellbeing and increase the knowledge and capabilities of self-help groups in various settings. To ensure that these services foster peer-support relationships as intended, it is necessary to design and assess them from a relational perspective. This study presents a relational framework for peer-support design and its application to two existing peer-support services for solitary seniors in Seoul and Ulsan. The framework aims to support the analysis and conce

General Health ProfessionsHealth Professions
11
Article|6 citations·2009
Designing collaborative services on the digital platform
Joon Sang Baek, Ezio Manzini

This paper is based on an on-going doctoral research on service design for social innovation and sustainability. It introduces the notion of collaborative service and discusses its two dimensions in relation to ICT (information communication technologies). Case studies of collaborative service on the digital platform were conducted to identify the role of ICT in developing and diffusing collaborative service and a part of the result is introduced.

Management of Technology and InnovationBusiness, Management and Accounting
12
Article|5 citations·2010
Clinical Implication of Sputum Cxcl13 in Children With Asthma
Joon Sang Baek, Bong Seok Choi, Y. Lee, Yunji Park, H. Lee, K. Kim, Myung Hyun Sohn, K. Kim
SJR Q1Journal of Allergy and Clinical ImmunologyOA
PhysiologyMedicine
13
Article|4 citations·2025
Enhancing child–nature interactions through design: An empirical study of the emotions, perspectives and experiences of nature among South Korea's urban Generation Alpha children
Jaeyoung Myung, Min Choe, Joon Sang Baek
SJR Q1People and NatureOA

Abstract Urban Generation Alpha faces challenges in forming nature connection because of limited access to green spaces and high digital media exposure. Although childhood experiences with nature are crucial for developing a sense of nature connection, there is a limited theoretical and methodological foundation for child–nature interaction design specifically geared towards fostering a sense of nature connection. To address this gap, this study aimed to understand how urban Generation Alpha in

Health, Toxicology and MutagenesisEnvironmental Science
14
Article|4 citations·2012
A socio-technical Framework for Collaborative Services
Joon Sang Baek, Ezio Manzini
Proceedings of DRSOA
Information SystemsComputer Science
15
Article|4 citations·2019
Nature-Inspired Design for Self-Organized Social Systems: A Tool for Collaborative Communities
Sumin Lee, Joon Sang Baek
Proceedings of the ... International Conference on Engineering DesignOA

Abstract This research was motivated by the need to design for self-organized and sustained collaborative communities. A collaborative community is defined as a group of people who are bound by a sense of community and fulfil their unmet needs through collaboration (Baek, Meroni, & Manzini, 2015). A community with limited resources and premature organisational structure and therefore experience an unbalanced workload is fragile. If the community fails to distribute workloads fairly within an

Mechanical EngineeringEngineering

Research Areas

MarketingManagement of Technology and InnovationInformation SystemsGeneral Health ProfessionsPhysiologyHuman-Computer Interaction

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