MIS research directions: A survey of researchers' views

Several studies have addressed important issues for MIS Research, but until now no empirical studies have been conducted to asses how MIS researchers themselves view the relatively new field. This survey of 397 MIS researchers revealed preferences for research methods and current areas of concentration, current studies being conducted, publication history, and other factors of interest. It found the subjects' assessment of the quality of MIS research relatively low and that they feel there is an overemphasis on transient topics, rather than on topics of lasting significance. There is continuing evidence of fragmentation in the field. Few MIS researchers appear to rely on research frameworks. However, there is overall optimism that the quality of MIS research has been improving, and will continue to improve in the future. Implications for the future of MIS research are then discussed. © 1991, ACM. All rights reserved

Development of e-commerce in Croatia: a survey

The increasing popularity of e-commerce is apparent. This article addresses the main issues related to e-commerce and, in particular, presents the results of a large survey carried out in 116 Croatian companies. The objective of this survey was to investigate the current practices related to the development and implementation of e-commerce in Croatia. The results obtained indicate that the amount of investment in e-commerce projects is still very low in Croatian companies. Furthermore, it was discovered that although the potential benefits of e-commerce development were ranked very high by Croatian managers, it became apparent that the e-commerce projects were predominantly focused on the simple and static Web site development in the form of online catalogues. Furthermore, this research has revealed that the Croatian government's efforts to promote e-commerce are not producing desired results at organizational levels, and one of the contributing factors to this is relatively low awareness of top managers about the importance and potential benefits of e-commerce. The results of this study are likely to have wider implications both for the research and the practice of implementing e-commerce in the context of developing countries

A Paradigmatic and Methodological Examination of Information Systems Research from 1991 to 2001

The field of information systems (IS) has evolved for more than three decades. Although many schools of thought have emerged and even become well established, few historical analyses of research paradigms and methodologies have been undertaken. One of the rare exceptions is Orlikowski & Baroudi (1991). Yet, the IS research community has evolved substantially since 1991 in many aspects. A variety of journal outlets have emerged and become well established. More attention has been paid to paradigmatic and methodological issues. Political and professional contexts have also changed noticeably. Therefore, it should be an opportune time for the field to ask: ‘What changes are manifested in journal publications?’‘Is the field making progress regarding pluralism in IS research?’ ‘How will the field’s publications practices change in the future?’ The purpose of this paper is to investigate these questions and, in turn, reflect on the paradigmatic and methodological progress made since 1991. We examined 1893 articles published in eight major IS publication outlets between 1991 and 2001. Our findings suggest that the long-term endeavours of interpretivist researchers might need to continue because the paradigmatic progress appears somewhat inconsequential; positivist research still dominates 81% of published empirical research. In particular, US journals, as opposed to European journals, tend to be more positivist, quantitative, cross-sectional and survey oriented. With respect to research design, survey research is still the most widely used method (41%), although case studies have gained substantial recognition (36%). Further, the increase of qualitative research (30%), empirical studies (61%) and longitudinal cases (33%) at the expense of laboratory experiments (18%) might suggest that IS researchers have become more interested in obtaining scientific knowledge in real world settings. In summary, we suggest that the field has been dominated by the positivist paradigm, despite calls to the contrary. Indeed, if the field was to truly embrace pluralism, it would have to find ways to fundamentally change the publication practices of the journal system, including the current tenure and promotion system, which pose considerable obstacles for the acceptance of alternative paradigms