Bichler, Martin

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BISE – PROFILEInterview with Ritu Agarwal on “InformationSystems – Research, Teaching, and CommunityDevelopment”Ritu Agarwal is a Professor, and the Robert H. Smith Dean’s Chair of Information Systems, atthe University of Maryland, College Park. She founded, and is the Director of the Center forHealth Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS). CHIDS, established in 2005, was the firstresearch center within a business school to study the use and application of informationtechnology in healthcare. She assumed several editorial roles in top-tier journals and is nowthe Editor-in-Chief of the INFORMS Information Systems Research (ISR) journal.Her current research is focused on understanding how information technology can be usedto alleviate cost and quality challenges in healthcare, and with identifying mechanismsthrough which IT can be successfully incorporated into healthcare routines. Among severalother topics, she also studies privacy issues and other impediments and vulnerabilities in adigital society.DOI 10.1007/s12599-013-0254-8Ritu AgarwalProfessor and Robert H. SmithDean’s Chair of InformationSystems Decision, Operationsand Information TechnologiesDepartmentRobert H. Smith School of BusinessUniversity of MarylandCollege Park, MD 20742USABISE: Information Systems (IS) is of-ten described as interdisciplinary anddifferent areas of IS research intersectwith computer science, economics, oper-ations research, organizational behavior,and strategic management, for example.What is distinct about research done inInterview byProf. Dr. Martin Bichler ()Decision Sciences & SystemsDepartment of InformaticsTU MünchenMunichGermanybichler@in.tum.dePublished online: 2013-02-20This article is also available in Ger-man in print and via http://www.wirtschaftsinformatik.de: Bichler M(2013) Interview mit Ritu Agarwalzum Thema “Information Systems –Forschung, Lehre, und Community-Entwicklung”. WIRTSCHAFTSINFOR-MATIK. doi: 10.1007/s11576-013-0354-6.© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden2013IS relative to these other fields, and wheredo you see the role of IS and its contribu-tions? When would the topic of a paperqualify for ISR rather for a journal in anyof these other disciplines?Agarwal: I have always maintained thatthe power of IS research derives from itsmultidisciplinary nature. More than anyother “functional” discipline, to the ex-tent that information systems touch ev-ery aspect of individual, organizational,and societal activities, arguably IS re-searchers have the broadest perspectiveon the role and effects of informationsystems and technologies as comparedwith scholars in other fields. While it iscertainly true that we may draw uponother disciplines for theoretical lensesand phenomenon framing, IS researchersare uniquely equipped with a deep andnuanced understanding of the underly-ing technology that researchers in otherdisciplines such as economics, strategy,organizational behavior, and operationsmanagement may lack. Likewise, IS re-searchers have a deeper understanding ofthe social and economic outcomes of ISand IT that computer scientists may beless interested in. Thus, the distinctivecontribution of IS is to weave togethera more complex perspective on whateverresearch problem is being addressed thanany of the disciplines alone.I should point out that it is entirelyfeasible that an IS paper (such as onethat studies the effects of social mediaon consumer purchase decisions) is asmuch of interest to IS researchers as itis to Marketing scholars. I see no reasonwhy such research is not appropriate forboth Marketing and IS journals as it likelyprovided insights relevant to scholarshipin both disciplines. Similarly, a study onBusiness & Information Systems Engineering 2|2013 103BISE – PROFILEinformation integration through sharedvirtual spaces among supply chain part-ners would be interesting to both IS andOM scholars. Where the researcher ulti-mately decides to submit the work mightchange the positioning of the paper at themargin, but the core question being ad-dressed is of interest broadly to multiplescholarly communities. I always encour-age IS researchers to also submit theirwork to the top journals in the disciplinetheir research intersects with the most.Such cross-pollination is healthy for thefield and expands our impact and reach.BISE: Given the interdisciplinary na-ture of research in IS, there is also a broadset of research methods that is nowa-days being used ranging from analyticalmodeling to algorithm design, lab exper-iments and field studies. While this holdsto some extent also for other areas in themanagement sciences, it raises the ques-tions of which methods should be taughtin graduate programs.Agarwal: It is virtually impossible (al-though I have seen a few rare exceptions!)for doctoral programs to train students inevery possible methodological and ana-lytical approach in any deep or substan-tive way. Students need to be exposed tothe range of available methods as partof any researcher’s arsenal, but ultimatelyeach doctoral program has a special “fla-vor” or strength that is typically definedby the faculty who are part of the pro-gram. We train our students in depthin the approaches that reflect the par-ticular orientation of the graduate pro-gram, while making them aware of othertechniques they may want to explore atsome point in their academic progres-sion and development. So, for example,it is easy to look at ten different pro-grams and quickly identify what researchskills you would expect students gradu-ating from those programs to have. Mypersonal view on this matter is that grad-uate students need to become mastersof whatever their chosen methodologyis and receive as much formal, in-depthtraining on that, as opposed to under-standing a very broad range of methodsat only a very surface level.BISE: Information technology is stilldeveloping rapidly. The importance ofthese technological changes for researchvaries across different research questions.But, how important is it to have informa-tion technology and engineering classesas part of IS curricula? This has an im-pact on the types of jobs IS students willapply for.Agarwal: First, let me note that thereare many varieties of IS students with sig-nificant variation in the academic unitsin which IS programs are housed, andthe job markets that these students com-pete in. As a basic principle, I believewe cannot give a student a degree ordiploma in information systems with-out providing them with an understand-ing of information technology and theprocess of system construction (i.e., en-gineering). Of course the level of em-phasis and the depth in these classesdiffers by type of degree and academicunit. So, for example, undergraduate stu-dents may get hired for their technicalskills, thereby requiring more in-depthstudy of technology and systems develop-ment and integration. Equally, employersmight seek students who understand theinterplay between technology and orga-nization and would serve as consultantsor business analysts. The level and depthof technical training this latter groupneeds is likely less than the former. MBAstudents are generally not recruited forpure system development roles and willneed to have knowledge and skills relatedto implementation, change management,and the role of IT in different areas of thebusiness.The short answer to your question isthat this is a co-evolutionary process: themarket drives what skills we provide ourstudents (e.g., analytics and big data arebecoming important to businesses so weshould incorporate those technical skillsinto our curricula), and as technologiesevolve, so do the market needs! Our roleas educators is to define the core set ofskills that all IS students need to have(that I believe should include basics oftechnology and systems design princi-ples), and adapt our specialized offeringsto be responsive to technology advances.BISE: Parts of the European IS com-munity follow an engineering traditionin their research, which is well in linewith the design science movement in ISresearch. This includes the design of in-novative IS artifacts and their evaluation.There has been a debate that such typesof research are harder to publish in toptier journals compared to research addingto the descriptive and explanatory base ofthe IS literature. How do you see the roleof engineering in IS?Agarwal: I suspect this concern issomewhat urban legend now! I see top-tier journals in IS increasingly publish(and receive as submissions) researchthat is grounded in design science con-cepts. While I agree that a study describ-ing only the design of an innovative ISartifact is likely to not make it throughthe review process in a top-tier journal,certainly one that includes an evaluationand evidence of the superiority of thedesign, or that generalizes the design tocore principles with broader applicabil-ity could fit quite well with the missionof the top journals. Reviewers ultimatelyare looking for evidence of the “scien-tific method” that of course varies in itsdetail across research genres, as well asa substantive contribution to knowledge.They also want to be persuaded aboutthe “interestingness” of the problem. It isincumbent upon the authors to explainin a compelling fashion what contribu-tions their work makes to the study ofinformation systems.BISE: IS is a relatively young field. Howdo you see the development of the IS dis-cipline over time? More specifically, if youlook at the type of work published inISR and other top journals in the recentyears, which trends and topics do you seeemerge?Agarwal: Broadly, I see three majortrends. One, I think as a community wehave become increasingly more sophis-ticated methodologically. I observe thelevel of rigor that reviewers are demand-ing going up over time, which is a pos-itive development for the field. Researchdesigns and data sets that would havepassed muster a decade ago are unlikelyto make it successfully through the re-view cycle today. Two, the breadth of re-search topics that IS researchers study hasof course expanded, as you alluded to in-directly in the first question. While this isclosely related to the striking innovationthat continues to occur in technology, italso signals that IS researchers are pay-ing attention to timely and relevant phe-nomena. I see many papers being submit-ted addressing emerging (and in some in-stances, enduring) developments such aselectronic markets, open innovation, so-cial media, the transformation of work,healthcare, security and privacy, etc. Fi-nally, going back again to your originalquestion, IS research is becoming moremultidisciplinary, with IS scholars collab-orating with those from other disciplines.For example ISR commissioned a specialissue on Social Media that had a leadingresearcher from Marketing, David Godes,as one of the guest editors.BISE: The editorial boards and also theauthors of top-tier IS journals such as ISR104 Business & Information Systems Engineering 2|2013BISE – PROFILEare largely from US universities. What arereasons for the lower presence of Asian orEuropean scholars?Agarwal: As EIC I have valiantly at-tempted to engage faculty from all acrossthe globe with the journal! At ISR, wehave Senior Editors and Associate Editorsfrom Asia and Europe, but your pointis well taken. Clearly a majority of theeditorial board comes from the US uni-versities. I do not know of any systemicreason why this is the case. I know thatjournal editors are continuously seekingqualified individuals for appointments tothe editorial board. I would simply sug-gest that scholars in Asia and Europeproactively reach out to editors, or se-nior scholars like you nominate others toserve on the board. Inviting editors to talkabout their journals at various meetingsmay also be helpful to raise awarenessabout the nuances of the journal (I madebrief presentations at the European Con-ference on Information Systems (ECIS)and Mediterranean Conference on Infor-mation Systems (MCIS) that I think werehelpful for European colleagues.)BISE: There is no simple standardrecipe for top-tier journal publications.However, which advice would you giveyoung IS researchers, who want to pub-lish their work in top-tier journals.Agarwal: This is a question that I getasked a lot! I wish I had a simple an-swer but as you say, there is no stan-dard recipe. I have tried to synthesizemy thoughts and recommendations onthis topic in the December 2012 Edi-torial of ISR. Essentially the editorialoutlines what criteria editors and review-ers typically use when they evaluate apaper for a top-tier journal, and whatauthors can do to increase their chancesof success. I summarize the criteria asF.I.R.S.T.: fit, interestingness, rigor, story,and theory (in no particular order!). Ialso point out the F.E.O.’s (frequentlyencountered omissions) that frustratereviewers and may result in a recommen-dation rejection. The editorial is availablehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.1120.0458.I always urge potential authors to readseveral papers published in the journalprior to submitting their own work to geta detailed understanding of the journal’sstandards and style of discourse.BISE: You have worked on a numberof different research areas in your career.Much of your recent research is devotedto IT in health care. This is a topic manycolleagues in Europe are interested in aswell. Where do you see the research chal-lenges for IS scholars in this area in thecoming years?Agarwal: Yes, it is true that after a quar-ter of a century in academia, when I lookback, I find that my research interestshave evolved over the years. But I seethat as inevitable and a very importantpart of the intellectual development of ascholar, at least for me personally. Oneline of study opens up many interestingand exciting questions and it is a privi-lege to have the freedom to explore newdomains.My interest in healthcare arose from adesire to do something with my scholar-ship that may have broader policy valueand impact. I believe the IS researchcommunity has a lot to offer researchersin the medical and health informaticsfields, and also to policy makers. We havebeen studying the challenges and oppor-tunities of IS and IT in other sectorsfor decades and have developed a cor-pus of important insights. Healthcare hassome unique and distinctive characteris-tics (not the least of which are the conse-quences of life and death), but the digi-tal transformation of healthcare also hasseveral points of intersection with whatwe have observed in other sectors. Ourwork has been theoretically grounded,which is different from the research thatcomes out from the medical commu-nity that tends to be much more phe-nomenon and data driven. The range ofquestions that need to be asked and an-swered in healthcare and IT is remarkableand offers the IS research communityrich opportunities for future work.What do I see as the challenges? First,domain knowledge, i.e., a deep under-standing of the healthcare context is es-sential. This is not part of the typical IStraining so we need to team with individ-uals who have this knowledge, and alsoexpand our own understanding throughfieldwork and observation. I have spentcountless hours in health delivery set-tings and interacting with clinicians andother healthcare workers! Second, schol-ars have to be prepared for the challengefrom reviewers (in the IS journals, not inhealthcare publications) that the researchis not generalizable across settings. WhileI don’t believe this is strictly true, it isimportant for authors to make the casefor the broader implications of the work.Third, there is an abundance and yet apaucity of data. As you well know, privacyis a significant concern with health data,and gaining access to this is a frequentchallenge. Fourth, the healthcare settingis so complex that it is difficult to isolatethe importance of management, organi-zation, and technology factors on healthoutcomes relative to other complementssuch as biomedical innovation. But thisalso presents a striking opportunity todo really meaningful work that can helpidentify the precise economic and socialvalue that information technology cancreate in healthcare!BISE: Prof. Agarwal, we thank you verymuch for this interview.Business & Information Systems Engineering 2|2013 105

Interview with Ritu Agarwal on “Information Systems – Research, Teaching, and Community Development”

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Interview with Ritu Agarwal on “Information Systems – Research, Teaching, and Community Development”

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