Information systems as an academic discipline : Looking back, looking forward, and ensuring the future

In an organization of any size, there is an organization function responsible for the technology, activities and personnel to support its technology-enabled work systems and the information and communication needs of the organization. There is an academic discipline that teaches those who build, acquire, operate and maintain the systems and those who use the systems. Both the organization function and the academic discipline have developed over a period of 55 years (but primarily in the last 40 years). There have been two fundamental forces driving the formation of a new organization function and the new technology-enabled systems in organizations. One is the availability of powerful computer and communications technology; the other is the desire of organizations to use the capabilities in organization work. The result has been revolutionary as new capabilities and new affordances have been applied to the activities of organizations. A new academic discipline has emerged. This period of rapid innovation in organizations has resulted in successes, challenges, failures, and surprises. I have been a participant and an observer of this period of change. The paper will survey key developments (from my perspective) that have brought us to the present conditions in use of information and communications technology in organizations and the current status of the academic discipline. I will note the role of IFIP TC8 (Information Systems). It has been important in several key developments, but not in all of them. I will identify some of my observations about the value added by TC8.The past and the future of information systems: 1976-2006 and beyondRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Information systems as an academic discipline : Looking back, looking forward, and ensuring the future

In an organization of any size, there is an organization function responsible for the technology, activities and personnel to support its technology-enabled work systems and the information and communication needs of the organization. There is an academic discipline that teaches those who build, acquire, operate and maintain the systems and those who use the systems. Both the organization function and the academic discipline have developed over a period of 55 years (but primarily in the last 40 years). There have been two fundamental forces driving the formation of a new organization function and the new technology-enabled systems in organizations. One is the availability of powerful computer and communications technology; the other is the desire of organizations to use the capabilities in organization work. The result has been revolutionary as new capabilities and new affordances have been applied to the activities of organizations. A new academic discipline has emerged. This period of rapid innovation in organizations has resulted in successes, challenges, failures, and surprises. I have been a participant and an observer of this period of change. The paper will survey key developments (from my perspective) that have brought us to the present conditions in use of information and communications technology in organizations and the current status of the academic discipline. I will note the role of IFIP TC8 (Information Systems). It has been important in several key developments, but not in all of them. I will identify some of my observations about the value added by TC8.The past and the future of information systems: 1976-2006 and beyondRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Different Paths of Development of Two Information Systems Communities: A Comparative Study Based on Peer Interviews

Information Systems (IS) is not a homogeneous discipline. Rather, it is comprised of various communities that are characterized by different perspectives and methods. With regard to the ongoing discussion about the profile of the discipline, this is a remarkable phenomenon. More specifically, it recommends analyzing the characteristic features of the various IS communities and explaining the diverse paths of development they took. Furthermore, it implies the question whether—and how—the current diversity could be overcome in order to foster a more focused competition as well as a more coherent presentation of research results on an international scale. This article contributes to such an investigation. It is focused on a comparison of the international English-speaking community predominantly (in particular in its early days) shaped by North-American IS researchers, which plays a leading role in the international scene, and the IS discipline in German-speaking countries (”Wirtschaftsinformatik” or WI, in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland), which constitutes the largest IS community outside North America that maintains its own approach. The focus of this article is mainly on describing the communities’ characteristics as the outcome of a social construction that is chiefly influenced by those individuals who participated in this construction. Against this background, eight scholars from North America and six scholars from German-speaking countries were interviewed at length. All were chosen as witnesses of and important contributors to the development of their discipline. As a result of this reconstruction, the article presents a rich picture of the communities’ history and characteristics as experienced and reported by the interviewees. The results obtained from this project indicate that neither of the two conceptions (IS or WI) can serve as an ideal model. Instead, a more intensive international exchange among the various research communities, including the Scandinavian and British scholars, should contribute to further develop the field into a more mature and satisfactory state

Identifying Key Determinants of Service Provider Effectiveness and the Impact it has on Outsourced Security Success

The purpose of this research was to identify key determinants of service provider effectiveness and how it impacts outsourced security success. As environments have become more robust and dynamic, many organizations have made the decision to leverage external security expertise and have outsourced many of their information technology security functions to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs). Information Systems Outsourcing, at its core, is when a customer chooses to outsource certain information technology functions or services to a service provider and engages in a legally binding agreement. While legal contracts govern many aspects of an outsourcing arrangement, it cannot serve as the sole source of determining the outcome of a project. Organizations are viewing outsourcing success as an attainment of net benefits achieved through the use of a service provider. The effectiveness of the service provider has an impact on a company’s ability to meet business objectives and adhere to service level agreements. Many empirical studies have focused on outsourcing success, but few have focused on service provider effectiveness, which can serve as a catalyst to outsourcing success. For this research, Agency Theory (AT) was proposed as a foundation for developing the research model which included key areas of focus in information asymmetry, the outsourcing contract, moral hazard, trust, service provider effectiveness, and security outsourcing success. Agency Theory helped uncover several hypotheses deemed germane to service provider effectiveness and provided insight into helping understand the principal-agent paradigm that exists with security outsourcing. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Partial Least Squares-Structured Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were used with SmartPLS to analyze the data and provided clarity and validation for the research model and helped uncover key determinants of service provider effectiveness. The statistical results showed support for information asymmetry, contract, and trust, all of which were mediated through service provider effectiveness. The results also showed that service provider effectiveness is directly correlated to increasing security outsourcing success. This concluded that the research model showed significant results to support 4 of the 5 hypotheses proposed and helped uncover key findings on how security outsourcing success can be impacted. This research served as an original contribution to information security while viewing outsourcing success from the perspective of the client, security services, and customer expectations