A Critical Review of Decision Support Systems Foundational Articles

Abstract Decision Support Systems (DSS) is a mature field of study with an extensive conceptual and empirical literature. This research study provides a starting point for learning and reviewing the foundation literature of the field. Decision support and analytics researchers can benefit from revisiting the methodologies, identifying under-explored ideas, and hopefully identifying visionary concepts from thought leaders who established the DSS research stream. This article reports a systematic examination of the DSS foundational literature published in MIS Quarterly during its first fifteen years of publication -- 1977-1991. In addition to examining the relevance of these articles to current and future research, the findings of the study provide a reference point of DSS research categories. Articles were categorized in terms of theory, methods, concepts and perspectives about computerized decision support that enrich research and encourage future exploration

Does “Evaluating Journal Quality and the Association for Information Systems Senior Scholars Journal Basket…” Support the Basket with Bibliometric Measures?

We re-examine “Evaluating Journal Quality and the Association for Information Systems Senior Scholars Journal Basket…” by Lowry et al. (2013). They sought to use bibliometric methods to validate the Basket as the eight top quality journals that are “strictly speaking, IS journals” (Lowry et al., 2013, pp. 995, 997). They examined 21 journals out of 140 journals considered as possible IS journals. We also expand the sample to 73 of the 140 journals. Our sample includes a wider range of approaches to IS, although all were suggested by IS scholars in a survey by Lowry and colleagues. We also use the same sample of 21 journals in Lowry et al. with the same methods of analysis so far as possible. With the narrow sample, we replicate Lowry et al. as closely as we can, whereas with the broader sample we employ a conceptual replication. This latter replication also employs alternative methods. For example, we consider citations (a quality measure) and centrality (a relevance measure in this context) as distinct, rather than merging them as in Lowry et al. High centrality scores from the sample of 73 journals do not necessarily indicate close connections with IS. Therefore, we determine which journals are of high quality and closely connected with the Basket and with their sample. These results support the broad purpose of Lowry et al., finding a wider set of high quality and relevant journals than just MISQ and ISR, and find a wider set of relevant, top quality journals

Gender Differences in IS: A literature Review

Gender focused research has been published in IS journals since the mid-1990s. Gender focused research has been published in IS journals since the mid-1990s. In this paper, we conduct a literature review of this research stream by analyzing the academic, crossover, and practitioner IS literature that focuses on gender issues. Our search revealed 44 total gender focused IS journal articles, all of which are concerned with identifying and attempting to explain gender differences. These articles were analyzed and systematically grouped them into four main categories: IT workforce, behavioral, prescriptive/guidance, and education. These main categories were then split into subcategory clusters. We examined publication trends over time in regards to journal outlets, main categories, and the subcategories. As a result of this effort gaps in the gender literature are identified. Recommendations to guide future research efforts of both academicians and practitioners are provided

A systematic mapping study

Corte-Real, N., Ruivo, P., & Oliveira, T. (2014). The diffusion stages of business intelligence & analytics (BI&A):: A systematic mapping study. In Procedia Technology (Vol. 16, pp. 172-179). (Procedia Technology). DOI: 10.1016/j.protcy.2014.10.080Business intelligence & analytics (BI&A) has evolved to become a foundational cornerstone of enterprise decision support. Since the way BI&A is implemented and assimilated is quite different among organizations is important to approach BI&A literature by four selected diffusion stages (adoption, implementation, use and impacts of use). The diffusion stages assume a crucial importance to track the BI&A evolution in organizations and justify the investment made. The main focus of this paper is to evidence BI&A research on its several diffusion stages. It provides an updated bibliography of BI&A articles published in the IS journal and conferences during the period of 2000 and 2013. A total of 30 articles from 11 journals and 8 conferences are reviewed. This study contributes to the BI&A research in three ways. This is the first systematic mapping study focused on BI&A diffusion stages. It contributes to see how BI&A stages have been analyzed (theories used, data collection methods, analysis methods and publication source). Finally, it observes that little attention has been given to BI&A post-adoption stages and proposes future research line on this area.publishersversionpublishe

Railway Transportation of Dangerous Goods: a Bibliometric Aspect

The purpose of this paper is to research and define the promising worldwide scientific trends in the field of railway transportation of various dangerous goods. To obtain relevant empirical data, the authors reviewed the world literature on paper topic using Scopus and Web of Science citation bases. We determined that this research was focused on several major thematic areas: 1) automation and telematics systems; 2) navigation systems; 3) logistics; 4) energy; 5) locomotives; 6) freight cars; 7) materials; 8) rails; 9) impact on the environment and people. The article used mapping, ensuring a visual perspective for researchers and helping to understand general situations in specific subject areas of the research. This study provides useful information concerning the development of the field of research for the railway transportation of dangerous goods, identifying those academics (authors, countries and institutions) that have made the greatest contribution to its development and defining the priority research direction

An Analysis of Design Science Research Adoption in Doctoral Projects in Australia

Contribution in Information Systems (IS) research is a significant concern for authors, reviewers and editors. We argue that the criteria of novelty and utility are insufficient to evaluate the contribution of a research paper. We expand upon Kuhn’s disciplinary matrix of shared commitments to symbolic generalization, exemplars and model/theory as the background to which every contribution is oriented. Cogency or persuasiveness of research is the result of logic, dialectic, rhetoric, and social-institutional argumentation in relation to the disciplinary matrix. We use three examples of published research to illustrate how these elements can be combined to frame research as a contribution in relation to the wider IS field. Lastly we discuss the implications for IS when contribution is understood in relation to a disciplinary matrix

MOVING BEYOND IS IDENTITY: CONCEPTS AND DISCOURSES

The ongoing debate about the identity of the Information Systems (IS) discipline is examined from a new perspective. Two recent studies are contrasted to demonstrate the limits of retrospective analysis for defining the field of IS. A new model for IS research, based on concepts and discourses is suggested. Latent Semantic Analysis is proposed as an approach to identifying concepts which form transdisciplinary discourses. Conceptual mapping across disciplines may elucidate fruitful areas of research and a transdisciplinary approach to research may improve research salience and intellectual contributions. Such an approach may also weaken or dissolve the discipline as an applied business/organizational field focused on the information technology artifact. This has the long term effect of maintaining intellectual plasticity and relevance, while expanding the range of intellectual contributions available to IS researchers. Moving beyond IS identity will require rethinking institutional structures upon which the identity of IS is currently dependent