The State of Theoretical Diversity

Theory provides the medium for organizing and communicating knowledge that enables scientific collaboration. Review of five years of published work in two major IS journals, Management Information Systems Quarterly and Journal of Management Information Systems, describes the nature of this theoretical diversity in IS research. Two-hundred-seventy-three articles were evaluated for theoretical citations to identify the range of theories in Information Systems. Approximately half of the papers explicitly cited one of the 111 theories identified. Thirty of the theories were cited multiple times, representing 55% of the citations. The large number of theories used and the small number used more than once indicate that theoretical diversity clearly exists in information systems research. Based on the results, no theory emerged as a potential candidate for the role of grand/unified theory of information systems

Outsourcing and offshore : an analysis of the academic literature

Outsourcing and offshore are strategies adopted by businesses to manage their Information Sys­tems. There has been an increase in the volume of literature devoted to outsourcing and offshore during the past years. This paper provides a review of articles about outsourcing and offshore published in various journals. This list of journals was obtained by consulting the Journal Citation Report with an impact factor of over 3.0 in the last five years. This research was a survey with data collection from the following journals: Information & Management, Information Systems Journal, Information Systems Research, Journal of Information Technology, Journal of Management Information Systems and MIS Quarterly. The results obtained are: the majority of articles have two or three authors (83,9%); the majority of co-authors work in different universities (73,8%); the majority of the authors are associated with a USA-based uni­versity (54,5%). The result of this research assists in the identification of researchers and research gaps in this subject

Research Exchange - December 1, 2020 How to Navigate a Revise and Resubmit with Paul Pavlou and Wai Fong Boh

One of the most challenging aspects of publishing research is the revise and resubmit process. Join Paul Pavlou and Wai Fong Boh as they dive into the topics of engaging with the peer-review process with colleagues, gaining clarity from revision requests, creating workflow processes to address reviewer comments, and improving communication with editors. Paul A. Pavlou, a prominent researcher and expert on data analytics and digital business strategy, joined Bauer College as Dean and Cullen Distinguished Chair at the University of Houston in 2019. Pavlou previously served as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Research, Doctoral Programs, and Strategic Initiatives at the Fox School of Business at Temple University, where he was also the Milton F. Stauffer Professor and Co-Director of the university-wide Data Science Institute. In his administrative role at the Fox School, Pavlou was responsible for overseeing all research activities and centers, including the development and mentoring of research faculty and Ph.D. students. During his tenure, five of the school’s disciplines were among the Top 10 in the nation in terms of research productivity. Pavlou initiated and implemented a strategic plan to enhance the school’s research visibility and showcase the broader impact of research on academia, industry, practice, the classroom, and public policy and society. Wai Fong Boh is Professor of Information Systems at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. She is currently the Deputy Dean of Nanyang Business School (NBS), Head of the Division of Information Technology and Operations Division, and Director of Information Management Research Centre at NBS. She received her PhD from the Tepper School of Business at the Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests are in the areas of knowledge and innovation management and entrepreneurship. She has published in leading IS and management journals, including Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Association Information Systems, Research Policy, and Information & Organization. She has also won multiple awards, including an award for the Top Five IS Publications of the Year 2007. She is currently a Senior Editor of MIS Quarterly, and is currently on or has been previously on the editorial board of multiple journals, including Journal of Management Information Systems, Management Science, Information Systems Research, Organization Science, and Information & Organization

Information Systems Research Themes: A Seventeen-year Data-driven Temporal Analysis

Extending the research on our discipline’s identity, we examine how the major research themes have evolved in four top IS journals: Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR), Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), and Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS). By doing so, we answer Palvia, Daneshvar Kakhki, Ghoshal, Uppala, and Wang’s (2015) call to provide continuous updates to the research trends in IS due to the discipline’s dynamism. Second, building on Sidorov, Evangelopoulos, Valacich, and Ramakrishnan (2008) we examine temporal trends in prominent research streams over the last 17 years. We show that, as IS research evolves over time, certain themes appear to endure the test of time, while others peak and trough. More importantly, our analysis identifies new emergent themes that have begun to gain prominence in IS research community. Further, we break down our findings by journal and show the type of content that they may desire most. Our findings also allow the IS research community to discern the specific contributions and roles of our premier journals in the evolution of research themes over time

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Using SmartPLS Software: Analyzing Path Models Using Partial Least Squares (PLS) Based SEM

This ‘hands-on’ workshop will demonstrate how to obtain and use sophisticated, but (currently) free, visual software for assessing the measurement and structural model characteristics of path-based SEM quantitative models using a partial least squares (PLS) approach. The workshop will be presented as a teaching aid for faculty, doctoral students, and for other researchers who are engaged in SEM modeling. The workshop will demonstrate how to use the features of SmartPLS software. SmartPLS, developed at the University of Hamburg (Germany), is (currently) a freeware application for (graphical) path modeling with latent variables using the PLS approach. Currently, there are more than 10,000 registered SmartPLS users worldwide. As opposed to covariance-based SEM approaches (exemplified by software such as LISREL or EQS), the PLS method has been documented as possibly more appropriate for a majority of SEM studies and data sets typically used by researchers. PLS has different requirements for sample size, missing data and data distribution characteristics (e.g. normality, skewness, kurtosis, etc.). Numerous research articles reporting PLSbased SEM analyses have been published in leading MIS journals, including MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and Journal of Management Information Systems, among others

Assessment Of Statistical Power In Contemporary Accounting Information Systems Research

The purpose of this study is to provide a current, representative assessment of statistical power in accounting information systems (AIS) research. This study empirically investigates whether the statistical power of extant AIS research has been strong enough to detect important relationships that may exist. A power analysis of 45 articles from the most recent, complete five years (1996-2000) of Journal of Information Systems and Journal of Management Information Systems shows that, on the average, 56 percent of empirical studies do not have high power levels. This suggests that, on average across all effect sizes, more than half the time AIS researchers risk not being able to detect significant effects when, in fact, they exist. This risk increases greatly as the effect size decreases. Current findings suggest the need for more statistical power planning in AIS research designs. Statistical power is important to AIS research because it increases the probability of making correct decisions about empirical studies. Without adequate statistical power, AIS research may fail to identify statistically significant results and viable research streams might be abandoned prematurely. Statistical power will also become increasingly important as empirical studies in AIS study relatively smaller effects

The Effects of the Quantification of Faculty Productivity: Perspectives from the Design Science Research Community

In recent years, efforts to assess faculty research productivity have focused more on the measurable quantification of academic outcomes. For benchmarking academic performance, researchers have developed different ranking and rating lists that define so-called high-quality research. While many scholars in IS consider lists such as the Senior Scholar’s basket (SSB) to provide good guidance, others who belong to less-mainstream groups in the IS discipline could perceive these lists as constraining. Thus, we analyzed the perceived impact of the SSB on information systems (IS) academics working in design science research (DSR) and, in particular, how it has affected their research behavior. We found the DSR community felt a strong normative influence from the SSB. We conducted a content analysis of the SSB and found evidence that some of its journals have come to accept DSR more. We note the emergence of papers in the SSB that outline the role of theory in DSR and describe DSR methodologies, which indicates that the DSR community has rallied to describe what to expect from a DSR manuscript to the broader IS community and to guide the DSR community on how to organize papers for publication in the SSB

Information systems evaluation: Mini-track introduction

abreast of technological innovations. Yet, companies are becoming more aware that a competitive advantage can not be achieved, or even maintained by utilizing the latest technology. Indeed, it is becoming more apparent that a strategic competitive advantage will not be achieved through embraced technology alone but, in the way companies approach the evaluation, management and exploitation of their human, organizational and technology based assets and infrastructure. In support of this, Sohal et al. (2001) reported the results of a large-scale survey that demonstrated the limited Information Technology (IT) enabled business benefits resulting in service and manufacturing sectors. The survey highlighted that many of the benefits achieved through adopting IT/IS were limited to improvements in productivity and cost alone. Clearly, such results are surprising given the emphasis the normative literature has placed on the strategic benefits achievable from IT/IS. As a result of the far reaching conclusions reported by Sohal et al. (2001), many organisational have begun to question the scope and depth of those IT-enabled business benefits that are not achieved by those companies proactively adopting IT/IS

The Role of Boards in Reviewing Information Technology Governance (ITG) as Part of Organizational Control Environment Assessments

IT Governance (ITG) is an important topic as US companies must now monitor ITG under the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) (Hoffmann, 2003). Trites (2003) indicates that directors are responsible for strategic planning, internal control structures and business risk. The control environment is defined in Australian Auditing Standard AUS 402 to mean "the overall attitude, awareness and actions of management regarding internal control and its importance to the entity". This paper contributes to the knowledge of ITG by forming an integrated ITG Literature (IIL) which links prior research to four key dimensions of ITG. The paper presents a review of literature on ITG performance measurement systems which assess the ability of organizations to achieve these four ITG dimensions. A revised ITG Dimensions Model offered for consideration. The final contribution of the paper is to propose critical issues Boards should consider as part of their assessment of organizational control environments