The Evolving Intellectual Diversity of the IS Discipline: Evidence from the Referent Disciplines

For over 20 years, researchers expressed their concern for the lack of theoretical development in the Information Systems discipline and the lack of a cumulative research tradition. The aim of this study is to investigate the intellectual structure of the IS discipline through an analysis of 993 mainstream research articles published in selected journals and proceedings during the previous decade (1991-2000). We explore the variety of researcher perspectives in the discipline, based on the theoretical frameworks adopted by these studies. This examination shows the relative mindshare of different theoretical frameworks and informs the self-reflection that is frequently undertaken in our discipline. The study generates categorizations to map theories to frameworks, which are then located in a three-dimensional ontology. The resulting mappings should help researchers understand the scope of past IS research and identify gaps in theoretical development

VALIDAÇÃO DE DECISOR, UM SISTEMA DE APOIO À DECISÃO MULTICRITERIAL PARA MAPEAR PROCESSOS DECISÓRIOS

In this work is presented and validated Decisor, a Decision Support System (DSS), that it has the double purpose of, to assist the decision makers in decisions with multicriterials characteristics and maping the process that the decision maker adopted to arrive at the choice of its final alternative.  For one better agreement of the decision process of the individuals is necessary to use an approach that involves the elements stimulus-organism-answer (S-O-A) of the process, going beyond the simple observation stimulus-answer (S-A). The mapping developed of the decision process consists in plus a tool auxiliary in the study of the decision making process and reveals useful in research where it is necessary to observe differences in the behavior of the decision makers. The results gotten with the validation of the system Decisor had disclosed aspects to improve in the interface and the procedures of use, in function of the difficulties found for the decision makers. Also it was verified that the experience of the decision makers with the thematic of the task has a positive impact on the evaluation of the usefulness, satisfaction and utility of the system.  The mapping of the decision making process, through the register of the computational accesses when use of Decisor, was reached with success, and revealed useful for the accomplishment of one varied gamma of relative analyses to the process.Neste trabalho apresenta-se e valida-se Decisor, um Sistema de Apoio à Decisão (SAD), que tem a dupla finalidade de, auxiliar os tomadores de decisão em decisões com características multicriteriais e de mapear o processo que o tomador de decisão adotou para chegar à escolha da sua alternativa final. Para um melhor entendimento do processo decisório dos indivíduos é necessário utilizar uma abordagem que envolva os elementos estímulo-organismo-resposta (E-O-R) do processo, indo além da simples observação estímulo-resposta (E-R). O mapeamento do processo decisório desenvolvido constitui-se em mais uma ferramenta auxiliar no estudo do processo decisório e mostra-se útil em pesquisas onde seja necessário observar diferenças no comportamento dos tomadores de decisão. Os resultados obtidos com a validação do sistema Decisor revelaram aspectos a melhorar na interface e nos procedimentos de uso, em função das dificuldades encontradas pelos tomadores de decisão. Também verificou-se que a experiência do tomador de decisão com a temática tem um impacto positivo sobre a avaliação da facilidade de uso, satisfação e utilidade do sistema. O mapeamento do processo decisório, através do registro dos acessos computacionais quando do uso de Decisor foi atingido com êxito, e mostrou-se útil para a realização de uma variada gama de análises relativas ao processo decisório