MAPPING IS CURRICULUM RESEARCH AREAS: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW FROM 2010 TO 2019

Research on IS curriculum addresses many important aspects related to IS curriculum planning: sharing of good curriculum planning practices, reviewing and recommending contents for IS curriculum, and identifying graduates’ competency needs. A bit surprisingly, however, there is no systematic literature review on IS curriculum research, increasing the possibility that knowledge does not accumulate, or reach intended beneficiaries. In this paper, we present results of a systematic literature review of IS curriculum research from 2010 to 2019. In total, 204 articles are downloaded from Scopus, AIS eLibrary, and ACM digital library. In addition to providing an overview of research demographics, we classify the articles first into three broad categories (planning process, curriculum contents, competency requirements), and secondly to more specific classes within each category. For IS curriculum researchers, the results assist in identifying prior research in different areas, thus promoting accumulation of research knowledge. For IS faculty, the paper provides an overview of IS curriculum related studies and a possibility to identify papers based on their immediate curriculum design needs and interests

The ACM/AIS IS2020 Competency Model for Undergraduate Programs in Information Systems: A Joint ACM/AIS Task Force Report

The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Association of Information Systems (AIS) along with the ISCAP EDSIG, recently released a joint taskforce report IS2020: A Competency Model for Undergraduate Programs in Information Systems. In this paper, the co-chairs of IS2020, the latest Information Systems curriculum guidelines, provide their insight on the problems presented with existing guidelines, illustrate the issue, and share their opinions that led to the release of these latest guidelines

IS2020 A Competency Model for Undergraduate Programs in Information Systems: The Joint ACM/AIS IS2020 Task Force

The IS2020 report is the latest in a series of model curricula recommendations and guidelines for undergraduate degrees in Information Systems (IS). The report builds on the foundations developed in previous model curricula reports to develop a major revision of the model curriculum with the inclusion of significant new characteristics. Specifically, the IS2020 report does not directly prescribe a degree structure that targets a specific context or environment. Rather, the IS2020 report provides guidance regarding the core content of the curriculum that should be present but also provides flexibility to customize curricula according to local institutional needs

Review: Disruptive Innovation & Information Technology – Charting a path

While it has been established that the Information technology (IT) capability of an organization contributes to its ability to innovate and respond to threats, very little has been done in understanding the significance, if any, of the role of IT in disruptive innovation (DI) scenarios. This paper systematically reviews prior research on the concept of DI in relation to IT. Importantly, this paper lays out a research agenda for the exploration of IT and IS research on the subject of DI. Topical questions are raised and calls are made for further studies to position the relevance of IT/IS to the maturing discussion of disruptive innovation. Concurrently, a general review of the evolution of the theory of disruptive innovation and its current status is also presented. A framework classifying disruptive innovation based on typology and definitions is demonstrated in tandem with ensuing questions on the role of information technology

Wicked yet Empowering - When IT Innovations are also Disruptive Innovations.

What happens when an IT innovation is also a disruptive innovation? This study explores this question by examining sample cases of advances in IT that have also been categorized as disruptive innovations. The study leads to a conceptual thesis that such occurrences result in a contrasting duality dimension of wicked challenges and empowerment opportunities for different actors. We advance a model for positioning an IT innovation with disruptive tendencies in an impact quadrant to access its relative position to different actors. We observe that in an era characterized by continuous rapid advancement in IT, the tendency for the emergence of disruptive IT innovations increases. We therefore conclude by highlighting trends in this direction and advance future research agenda that should open up an opportunity for IS research that could be both theoretically insightful as well as practically relevant

TOWARDS A UNIFIED VIEW OF INFORMATION SYSTEM (IS) CAPABILITY

Since the introduction of the concept of IS capability to IS research, it has been extensively used to explain various IS related studies - for instance: competitive advantage, firm performance, and agility among several others. This extensive use of the concept has resulted in several interpretations and diverse classifications. These discrepancies in combination with the extensive use of the concept put its fundamental logic at the danger of losing its meaning. Using a systematic literature review, this paper highlights the similarities, differences and fragmented knowledge groups and consequently provides a possibility to move towards a unified view of IS capability. To consolidate the fragmented classifications, the paper advances a four ellipse model from prior classification to vividly conceptualize the IS capability construct and hence provide an integrated platform for future research

Dynamic and emerging information systems strategy formulation and implementation

Early attempts to formulate information systems (IS) strategies concentrated on the analytical task of deriving IS strategies from business plans. The limitations of the static plans that often resulted from these formal studies were, however, soon discovered. The critics suggested informal and incremental planning to ensure flexibility, creativity and strategic thinking to comprise emergent strategies as well as planned strategies. In previous IS planning research, there appears to be a contradiction between the published planning methods and the generally held views about effective implementation of IS planning process. The explicit methods described in IS literature predominantly assume a comprehensive IS planning process. Despite the fact that many researchers consider incremental approaches to be more effective, methods that can be used to facilitate incremental IS planning are few, not detailed enough and not comprehensive

A DEAN, A SCHOLAR, A FRIEND - Texts in appreciation of Markus Granlund

In 2001, two promising and perhaps even future minded young researchers wrote a paper about the managerial impact of integrated information systems. The paper presented 11 predictions about the ways how increased automation of operations and reporting will change managerial work and decision making. In the current paper, approximately 16 years after the original paper was written, I shall revisit and test 5 predictions, by comparing them with the realities of contemporary university management. University management is selected, because both authors of the original paper have done considerable amounts of empirical data collection in this context. The key conclusions are, that all five predictions have already started to become reality in universities, but the original predictions had a slight positive bias: new technology does not only assist managers, it also brings additional challenges. This is, however, only one study carried out in one university and therefore more research is needed to validate its findings and conclusions. </p

Inter Organizational Evaluation of SISP; What New Criteria Are Needed?

During the three decades of research and practice, the image of Strategic Information Systems Planning has changed considerably. Flexibility, creativity, strategic thinking, and sharing of knowledge are seen as the new ways to both formulate and realize strategy. IT governance has provided a more flexible concept to discuss managerial efforts to align IT with business. But maybe the most important change has been left unattended, that is the introduction of information strategy in networks. Still, many organizations continue to use planning as a way to support their decisionmaking internally without co-operating with their business partners. Also the view of evaluating SISP effectiveness has matured. A recent research concluded six dimensions for evaluating the planning process and four criteria for evaluating its effectiveness. These studies are mainly quantitative and this paper qualitatively validates the same dimensions in a case study. Two inter organizational studies from literature add five new factors: competitive pressure, trading partner readiness, contractual level, financial agreements and certainty of implementation. This study used the internal dimensions and criteria as basis for conducting a qualitative evaluation of SISP in two case studies, one single organization case and one inter organizational case. The results of the first case confirm that these criteria provide a good basis for overall evaluation of SISP internally. In addition to the internal theory based evaluation, also an interorganizational exploration was done to explore the differences and the new evaluation criteria needed. The result is a conceptual interview framework to be tested in practice

Prescriptions for Information Systems Planning in a Turbulent Environment

Observers have offered prescriptions for IS planning in a turbulent business environment. The action research described here examined actual IS planning practices in two real-world organizations in such an environment. One organization adhered closely to many of the planning prescriptions and the other did not. Their experiences support the view that the analysis of the external environment and a continuous planning process are essential in such an environment. More importantly, they suggest that, in a turbulent environment, comprehensive IS planning (i.e., adherence to many prescriptions) is more effective than less rigorous planning. Such a conclusion may seem counterintuitive. Although the experiences facilitate the development of new prescriptions, they impugn some of the others