The philosopher's corner: questioning assumptions in the information systems discipline

A healthy characteristic of any research field is a willingness to question its own assumptions. In this essay, I discuss Treiblmaier's proposal to question the epistemological and methodological assumptions of the Information Systems field. Treiblmaier's proposal is thoughtful and provocative and reflects his deep knowledge of the topic and his strong desire for an alternative epistemological and methodological future for our field. Drawing on Feyerabend, Treiblmaier recommends that IS researchers adopt epistemological anarchism, methodological anarchism, and "anything goes" as a guiding principle. I argue against all of these viewpoints. I argue that epistemological anarchism will not foster research progress, methodological anarchism will not lead to major new insights, and "anything goes" as a guiding principle will not benefit the field. Despite disagreeing with Treiblmaier's main recommendations, I highlight several points that I agree are important for the field to address

On Serendipity in Digital Futures

This paper draws attention to and speculates about the concept of serendipity in digital futures. By using a science fiction movie - I’m Your Man – we are looking into a future where humans might date humanoid robots and explore the plasticity of the concept of serendipity in an attempt to make sense of its moving from an originally genuine human concept to a concept comprising its digital imitation, digital serendipity. Going beyond a dystopian critique of digital serendipity as our contribution, we argue for, and present, a way to fathom serendipity in the world we (will) live in. A future that critically assesses and balances digital serendipity between on one hand demonizing the digital, imposing immense restrictions on human creativity, and negatively impacting human flourishing, and on the other side exalting and celebrating the digital for providing unexpected and unlimited possibilities for prospering

Against Theory: With Apologies to Feyerabend

This essay explores the fixation the field of information systems has with “theory” and my frustration with this focus, examining where this theory focus came from, why it has been so widely adopted, and how it has led to dysfunction. It also offers some recommended action items that the field can take to redirect its efforts in order to become more relevant, resilient, and resourceful. These actions include, broadening the aperture of what legitimate IS research should include, imploring journal editors to change the way “applied” research is handled, bringing back books as an accepted and valued publication outlet, and moving the field in the direction of engagement

Scholarly Commentaries on Hirschheim’s “Against Theory”

This paper presents seven scholarly commentaries on Hirschheim’s “Against Theory” essay published in this issue of the Journal of the Association for Information Systems. Each commentary is written by a renowned IS researcher. Following the individual commentaries is Hirschheim’s response to the commentaries. Each commentary provides an insightful exegesis on theory in its own right and, collectively, the commentaries and response provide thought-provoking reflections for researchers in IS and beyond

An Acceptable Cloud Computing Model for Public Sectors

Cloud computing enables information technology (IT) leaders to shift from passive business support to active value creators. However, social economic-communication barriers inhibit individual users from strategic use of the cloud. Grounded in the theory of technology acceptance, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies IT leaders in public sector organizations implement to utilize cloud computing. The participants included nine IT leaders from public sector organizations in Texas, USA. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, field notes, and publicly available artifacts documents. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis: five themes emerged (a) user-centric and data-driven cloud model; (b) multi-cloud, (c) visibility, (d) integrations, and (e) innovation and agility due to cloud. A key recommendation is for IT leaders to strategize for individual user behavior through the top-down approach. The implications for positive social change include the potential to improve civic services, civic engagement, collaborations between the public and government, policymaking, and added socioeconomic value