Change as Crisis or Growth? Toward a Trans-disciplinary View of Information Systems as a Field of Study: A Response to Benbasat and Zmud\u27s Call for Returning to the IT Artifact

Benbasat and Zmud (2003) express concern that the research community in Information Systems is responsible for the ambiguity of the discipline\u27s central identity by underinvestigating phenomena intimately associated with IT-based systems and overestimating phenomena distantly associated with IT-based systems (p.183). Their related argument is that IS needs to focus on the core of the discipline to survive. I seriously contend this point of view. Questioning that we are at a crossroads in the Information Systems (IS) field, I argue that the field should become less disciplinary, and more trans-disciplinary in nature. I build my case by focusing on - and then questioning - underpinnings in their argument. These include: (1) their definitions of IS as a field; (2) the locus of our field in organizations; (3) the assumption that IS is a discipline; and (4) the lack of consideration given to the inter- and trans-national nature of IS as a field of study. Thus, the paper attempts to reposition Information Systems (IS) as quintessentially trans-disciplinary in nature. This case develops by considering how fields of study evolve over time. This evolution can be seen as either natural or as producing crisis. Next, I offer an alternative core to Benbasat\u27s and Zmud\u27s IT artifact. Following this, I present an appropriate locus of study for IS, one that offers a less constricting boundary than that of the organization, including societal and cross-cultural considerations. Finally, I question the very notion of discipline as applied to IS, and identify implications for the IS academy

Theory borrowing in IT-rich contexts : lessons from IS strategy research

While indigenous theorizing in information systems has clear merits, theory borrowing will not, and should not, be eschewed given its appeal and usefulness. In this article, we aim at increasing our understanding of modifying of borrowed theories in IT-rich contexts. We present a framework in which we discuss how two recontextualization approaches of specification and distinction help with increasing the IT-richness of borrowed constructs and relationships. In doing so, we use several illustrative examples from information systems strategy. The framework can be used by researchers as a tool to explore the multitude of ways in which a theory from another discipline can yield the understanding of IT phenomena

Post-Sales Support for On-line Product Sales: The Challenge Facing Small Global Firms

This article presents the case of a small French firm selling software products to businesses, both large and small, and the challenges it faces as it grows globally through electronic commerce. In particular, the post- sales service function is among the most pending issues. The case illustrates the need for the effective development and maintenance of virtual partnerships to handle various phases of the marketing cycle

AFFECT AND MATERIALITY IN ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS USAGE: SETTING THE STAGE FOR USER EXPERIENCE

Drawing on the fields of organisational theory, information systems and human-computer interaction, this paper proposes a novel perspective for studying information systems usage by individuals in organisations – in this case, in the back office of a major US-based accounting firm. By conceptualising usage as a holistic user experience – a situated and temporally emergent inseparable mesh of behaviour, bodily movements, perception, cognition and affect – the researcher can avoid misleading reductionism and the overly simplistic reasoning of technological or social determinism. To demonstrate empirically the value of this perspective, the paper focuses on the intertwining of two aspects commonly ignored in prior information systems literature – the affective and the material. Building on Pickering’s (1993) “mangle of practice”, and on the literatures on moods (Bless and Fiedler, 2006), identity (Ashforth and Mael, 1989) and sociomateriality (Orlikowski, 2010), the entanglement of human identity, affective states and enterprise systems materiality is examined, based on observational and interview data. The findings suggest that adopting this theoretical perspective facilitates understanding of the complex, situated nature of enterprise systems usage

More than a Footnote: The Perils of Multidisciplinary Research Collaboration

This paper considers the espoused reasons for the recent emphasis on multidisciplinary research, drawing on some of the literature on multi-functional networking and teamworking in industry. We critique the predominately prescriptive and overly simplistic accounts of multidisciplinary working in academia. Finally, we distinguish between interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research and consider the implications of our analysis in terms of encouraging the former, particularly in the Information Systems domain

Taxonomy of Web-Based Shopping Systems

This paper attempts to address a detailed understanding of the diffusion of WBSS, introducing a classification model of WBSS, analyzing the cases of four categories of WBSS, and providing a characteristics of the four types of WBSS. A model of four types of Web-based shopping systems is suggested: (1) general-direct-sales; (2) generalintermediary-sales; (3) specialized-direct-sales and (4) specialized-intermediary-sales. On the basis of these four categories of WBSS, the paper analyses the distinguishing characteristics of WBSS, which has implications for both theory and practice. We hope that this research will mark the starting point in on-going research towards many unresolved issues on Web-based shopping systems

A Discipline Divided: Globalization and Parochialism in Information Systems Research

This research note examines an apparent paradox in Information Systems (IS) research. This paradox relates to the parochial nature of much of the published IS research (both in terms of the chosen journal outlet and the literature cited), notwithstanding the global nature of the phenomena being investigated. It does so by reviewing author \u27nationality\u27 in four leading IS journals over a seven-year period (1994-2000), and by reviewing the \u27nationality\u27 of the literature cited by these authors. Two of the journals are published in the USA and two are published in Europe. Despite apparent recognition of increasing globalization in our field, brought about - in part at least - by information technology (IT), the data provide firm evidence that the IS discipline is marked by a distinct parochialism along national, or at least, regional lines. A reorientation appears to be required if leading IS journals are not to continue to be the unwitting mouthpieces of unwitting researchers, publishing the results of partial, culturally biased research. The findings also contain profound implications for published material based on citation analyses and on our understanding of what constitutes the appellation \u27international\u27 in our discipline

Electronic Commerce within Organizations: Lessons From Two Cases

This paper describes research concerning two companies that have been seeking to improve collaboration and communication internally across functional and departmental boundaries through the introduction of intranets. In one case, the development and introduction of the system lead to unintended, negative effects; in the other, there is preliminary evidence to suggest that the results have been much more positive. The experiences of the two companies help to reinforce lessons that have been known for some time – in relation, for example, to socio-technical systems and Information Systems (IS) failures (e.g. Bostrom & Heinen, 1977a,b). The fact that these two cases are contemporary and that there appears to be evidence that some of the lessons of the past have been forgotten or have remained unheard, suggests nonetheless that the comparison may be enlightening