IS Research: Where Is The Theory?

Researchers (Ngai and Gunasekan (2007); Clarke (1992)) locate the discipline of Information Systems (IS) between computer science and social sciences. A study by Li et al (2009) which found that theories drawn from Psychology and Sociology inform 49% of research papers supports the hybrid nature of IS. A dearth of home grown theory in the IS discipline has sparked debate in major journals including MISQ, Information Systems Research and Communications of the AIM. Novice researchers are confounded by a lack of indigenous theory within IS depending instead on theories lifted from various reference disciplines.

One of the main reasons for conducting any research is to increase the body of knowledge (Clarke, 2000). On this score alone IS has not fared well. Benbast (2008) argues that the propensity for cohorts to use dominant theories such as the Technology Acceptance Model (Davies, 1989) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (Rodger, 1990) has meant that resources that could have been applied to explore the unknown (new theory) went into confirmation of the known.

Any initiative to add to the IS body of knowledge may necessitate a shift back to the IT artefact as the epicentre for research (Orlikowski and Iacono, 2001).

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