Defining MIS : An

Evolutionary Perspective

Outline• Introduction

• Background

• Methodology

• Analysis

• Limitations and Discussion

Introduction• Evolution of MIS - Amalgamation of Disciplines - Consistent changes to the pillars - Origins of MIS and Scholars

• Evolutionary approach.

Background• Errors of Inclusion and Exclusion (Benbasat and

Zmud 2003).

• Deviation from the IT Artifact (Orlikowski and Iacano 2001).

• Considerable diversity in topics (Vessey et al 2002).

Previous Years’ Work• Subdomain definitions

• Most have highlighted key researchers

• Other systematic examinations in recent years

Methodology• H-Index Analysis

o Publish or Perish and Google Scholaro 1970 - 2010

• Top Paper Analysiso Same data as H-Index Analysis

• Keyword and Topic Analysiso JMIS, MISQ and ISRo 1990 – 2010o Nine Pillars

H-Index Analysis• 297 Researchers

o 125 MIS researchers, as defined by Hsinchun Cheno 172 Reference Discipline researchers as defined by past projects and

our own research

• H-Index data from Google Scholar via Publish or Perish• Data entered into SQL database• Custom web application (Researcher Researcher) to

determine H-Index for five year time slices between 1970 and 2011

Researcher Researcher Demo

Paper Citation Analysis

• Same dataset used for h-index analysis• 74,253 unique papers• Extracted top 10 papers for each time slice

Keyword Analysis

• 1,765 papers from MISQ, JMIS, and ISR from ‘90 – ‘11

• 15,044 total Keywords• 5,699 unique keywords• 2,473 keywords after removing corrupt data,

generic terms and combining similar terms (e.g., HCI and CHI)

Keyword Analysis• Key Word Collection - Articles between 1990-2010.• Data Preparation• Classification (Round 1)• Pillar Adjustments• Classification (Round 2)• Cross Checking• Analysis

Pillars

Artificial Intelligence/Knowledge Management

Behavior and Psychology

Collaboration and Communication

Database and Data Management

Economics of Informatics

Finance and CommerceOrganizational Issues, Management

Issues, Decision SciencePolicy, Ethics, and Social IssuesSystems Analysis, Design, and

Development

Representative Keywords

Pillar Representative Keywords

Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Management, and Information Retrieval

artificial intelligence, content analysis, machine learning, knowledge management, search and retrieval, information quality, information

and knowledge visualization

Behavior and Psychologyacceptance and use, behavioral intentions, cognition and decision making, consumer/employee behaviors, group behaviors, human-

computer interaction, motivations, perceptions, trust

Collaboration and Communicationcollaboration, collective decision making, communication media,

computer-mediated communication, group performance, idea generation,

Database and Data Management Data management, data mining, data models, data processing, database performance, relational model, metadata

Economics of InformaticsBusiness Value of IT, economics of information systems, market

economics, information economy, information costs, information advantage

Finance and Commerce Auctions, e-commerce, electronic markets, buyer-seller relationships, B2B, B2C, mobile commerce, auction pricing

Organizational Issues, Management Issues, Decision Sciencesupply chain management, decision strategies, sustainability,

industrial management, firm innovation, organizational optimization, risk management

Policy, Ethics, and Social Issues Business ethics, IT controls, digital rights management, fraud, law, information privacy, societal impacts of IS

Systems Analysis, Design, and Developmentcomputer programming, software development, CASE tools, IS

project management, IS infrastructure, system analysis, requirements definition, system implementation

Limitations

Limitations - Journals

Limitations - Authors

VS

Limitations - Industry

Analysis & Results

Time Slice Results

1970 – 1974 At A Glance

Top MIS Publications Top Researchers by H-Index*• A program for research on management information systems

(Mason) - 1973, 629 Citations• Management information systems: appreciation and involvement

(Swanson) - 1974, 423 Citations• Operating systems (Madnick) - 1974, 221 Citations• Curriculum recommendations for undergraduate programs in

information systems (Cougar) - 1973, 136 Citations• An algorithm for the quadratic assignment problem

(Whinston) - 1970, 123 Citations• System analysis techniques (Cougar) - 1974, 104 Citations• Evolution of business system analysis techniques

(Cougar) - 1973, 103 Citations• Fuzzy sets and social choice (Whinston) - 1973, 89 Citations• Job satisfaction: A study of computer specialists (Mumford) - 1972,

82 Citations

MIS Reference

Henry C. Lucas 9George Wright 7Enid Mumford 7Stuart Madnick 6J. Daniel Cougar 6

Herbert Simon 28Gerard Salton 17Donald Norman 14Allen Newell 13Roger Schank 13

Key Notes• MIS emerging as a discipline• Much research in Systems Analysis and

Design• Computer science and data research are hot

topics

Pillar Distribution

* H-Index reflects only papers written during this time period

1975 – 1979 At A Glance

Top MIS Publications Top Researchers by H-Index*• Chief executives define their own data needs.

(Rockart) - 1979, 1738 Citations• Individual differences and MIS success: A review of the empirical

literature (Zmud) - 1979, 610 Citations• Edge preserving smoothing (Nagao) - 1979, 397 Citations• Strategic planning for management information systems

(King) - 1978, 392 Citations• User attitudes and management information system use

(Robey) - 1979, 392 Citations• The dimensions of maintenance (Swanson) - 1976, 367 Citations• Computer systems in work design-the ETHICS method

(Mumford) - 1979, 360 Citations• Performance and the Use of an Information System

(Lucas) - 1975, 301 Citations• Characteristics of application software maintenance

(Swanson) - 1978, 293 Citations

MIS Reference

Andrew Whinston 14William R. King 13Henry C. Lucas 11Kenneth Kraemer 11Enid Mumford 10

Herbert Simon 33Donald Norman 19Roger Schank 19John McCarthy 18Peter Chen 15

Key Notes• Lucas and Mumford carry over as influential

researchers from 1970-1974• Herb Simon wins Nobel Prize in 1978• Still heavily computer science influenced

Pillar Distribution

* H-Index reflects only papers written during this time period

1980 – 1984 At A Glance

Top MIS Publications Top Researchers by H-Index*• The measurement of user information satisfaction

(Ives) - 1983, 1142 Citations• User involvement and MIS success: a review of research

(Ives) - 1984, 894 Citations• The information system as a competitive weapon

(Ives) - 1984, 679 Citations• Social analyses of computing: Theoretical perspectives in recent

empirical research (Kling) - 1980, 653 Citations• Software maintenance management

(Swanson) - 1980, 649 Citations• Query optimization in database systems

(Jarke) - 1984, 613 Citations• Strategies for information requirements determination

(Davis) - 1982, 561 Citations• The web of computing: Computer technology as social

organization (Kling) - 1982, 528 Citations

MIS Reference

Ronald Rice 15Rob Kling 14Robert Blanning 14Blake Ives 14William R. King 13Matthias Jarke 13

Herbert Simon 26David Clark 24Ward Whitt 24John McCarthy 21Peter Chen 21Donald Norman 21

Key Notes• Blake Ives authors the three most cited MIS

papers of the time period• William King’s second consecutive time

period to be in the top• This marks the beginning of a twenty year

run of Matthias Jarke and a fifteen year run of Ronald Rice as top researchers

Pillar Distribution

* H-Index reflects only papers written during this time period

1985 – 1989 At A Glance

Top MIS Publications Top Researchers by H-Index*• The case research strategy in studies of information systems

(Benbasat) - 1987, 2242 Citations• Measurement of business performance in strategy research: A

comparison of approaches (Venkatraman) - 1986, 1689 Citations• Information technology and organizational change: causal

structure in theory and research (Robey, markus) - 1988, 1365 Citations

• The concept of fit in strategy research: Toward verbal and statistical correspondence (Venkatraman) - 1989, 1270 Citations

• Validating instruments in MIS research (Straub) - 1989, 1131 Citations

• Management strategies for information technology (Earl) - 1989, 1026 Citations

• Toward a “critical mass” theory of interactive media (Markus) - 1987, 914 Citations

MIS Reference

Jay Nunamaker 21Kenneth Kraemer 18Matthias Jarke 17N. Venkatraman 17Ronald Rice 16

David Clark 39Herbert Simon 34John McCarthy 25Allen Newell 25Ward Whitt 21

Key Notes• Jay Nunamaker hits the list for a 10 year run

in the top five list (and remains in the top overall thereafter).

• Many of the top papers discuss research and academic issues

Pillar Distribution

* H-Index reflects only papers written during this time period

1990 – 1994 At A Glance

Top MIS Publications Top Researchers by H-Index*• Information systems success: the quest for the dependent variable

(Mclean) – 1992, 3908 Citations• Process innovation: reengineering work through information

technology (Davenport) – 1993, 3370 Citations• Development of an instrument to measure the perceptions of

adopting an information technology innovation (Benbasat) – 1991, 2780 Citations

• The duality of technology: Rethinking the concept of technology in organizations (Orlikowski) – 1992, 2527 Citations

• Strategic alignment: Leveraging information technology for transforming organizations (Henderson, Venkatraman) – 1993, 1881 Citations

• Information technology implementation research: a technological diffusion approach (Zmud) – 1990, 1511 Citations

• Electronic meeting systems (Dennis, Nunamaker, George, Vogel, Valacich) – 1991, 1483 Citations

MIS Reference

Jay Nunamaker 26Ronald Rice 25Jonathan Grudin 23Alan R. Dennis 23N. Venkawtraman 20Matthias Jarke 20

Magid Igbaria 38David Clark 35Ward Whitt 33Jakob Nielsen 32Herbert Simon 30John McCarthy 30Peter Chen 30

Key Notes• Nunamaker on top with 60 publications• Electronic Meeting Systems – UA• Increasing focus on communication and

collaboration• First year the research team has keyword

data for topic analysis

Pillar Distribution

* H-Index reflects only papers written during this time period

AI (17%)

Behavioral (14%)

Communication (10%)Database (4%)

Econometrics (8%)Commerce (2%)

Operations (18%)

Policy (7%)

Systems Analysisand Design (19%)

1995 – 1999 At A Glance

Top MIS Publications Top Researchers by H-Index*• Putting the enterprise into the enterprise system

(Davenport) - 1998, 2504 Citations• Communication and trust in global virtual teams

(Leidner, Jarvenpaa) - 1998, 1909 Citations• Sucessful knowledge management projects

(Davenport) - 1999, 1886 Citations• Consumer Trust in an Internet Store: A Cross-Cultural Validation

(Jarvenpaa) - 1999, 1603 Citations• Perspective making and perspective taking in communities of

knowing (Boland) - 1995, 1416 Citations• Paradox lost? Firm-level evidence on the returns to information

systems spending (Hitt) - 1996, 1399 Citations• Information technology adoption across time: a cross-sectional

comparison of pre-adoption and post-adoption beliefs (Karahanna, Straub) - 1999, 1355 Citations

MIS Reference

Andrew Whinston 30Varun Grover 29Hsinchun Chen 26Matthias Jarke 21Micahel J. Shaw 21Tosiyasu Kunii 21Thomas Davenport 21

David Clark 47John McCarthy 43Peter Chen 43Magid Igbaria 36Herbert Simon 33

Key Notes• Hsinchun Chen moves into the top MIS

researchers list for a 17+ year run• Herb Simon’s last year in the top list

(Simon passes away in 2001)• Rise in e-commerce related research• Four top papers published by Thomas

Davenport and Srikka Jarvenpaa

Pillar Distribution

* H-Index reflects only papers written during this time period

AI (13%) -4%

Behavioral (13%) -1%Communication (13%) +3%

Database (3%) -1%Econometrics (9%) +1%Commerce (4%) + 2%Operations (18%)

Policy (9%) +2%

Systems Analysisand Design (18%) -1%

2000 – 2004 At A Glance

Top MIS Publications Top Researchers by H-Index*• User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view

(Davis, Venkatesh) - 2003, 3944 Citations• Review: Knowledge management and knowledge management

systems: Conceptual foundations and research issues (Leidner, Alavi) - 2001, 3456 Citations

• A theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model: Four longitudinal field studies (Venkatesh) - 2000, 3305 Citations

• Information technology and business process redesign (Davenport) - 2003, 2416 Citations

• Design science in information systems research (Hevner, Ram) - 2004, 2214 Citations

• The DeLone and McLean model of information systems success: A ten-year update (Mclean) - 2003, 1984 Citations

• Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence* (Hitt) - 2002, 1653 Citations

MIS Reference

Hsinchun Chen 37Zahir Irani 28Kalle Lyytinen 26Andrew Whinston 25Gary Klein 25David Gefen 25

Deborah Estrin 73David Clark 46Peter Chen 45John McCarthy 38Amit Sheth 34

Key Notes• H. Chen, Irani, and Whinston all remain in

top five• Sudha Ram from UA publishes a top papers• H. Chen and Estrin are very productive• Significant research in e-commerce

Pillar Distribution

* H-Index reflects only papers written during this time period

AI (12%) -1%

Behavioral (20%) +7%

Database (3%)

Econometrics (11%) +2%Commerce (8%) + 4%Operations (15%) -3%Policy (6%) -3%

Systems Analysisand Design (14%) -4%

Communication (12%) -1%

2005 – 2011 At A Glance

Top MIS Publications Top Researchers by H-Index*• Toward the next generation of recommender systems: A survey of

the state-of-the-art and possible extensions (Tuzhilin) - 2005, 2013 Citations

• Using technology and constituting structures: A practice lens for studying technology in organizations (Orlikowski) - 2008, 1779 Citations

• Desperately seeking the 'IT'in IT research: A call to theorizing the IT artifact (Orlikowski) - 2006, 1203 Citations

• 14 IT-enabled Business Transformation: From Automation to Business Scope Redefinition (Venkatraman) - 2005, 926 Citations

• Behavioral intention formation in knowledge sharing: Examining the roles of extrinsic motivators, social-psychological forces, and organizational climate (Zmud) - 2005, 778 Citations

• Information Technology For Management (Leidner, Mclean) - 2008, 778 Citations

MIS Reference

Hsinchun Chen 25E. W. T. Ngai 22Robert Kauffman 20Zahir Irani 19Kenneth Kraemer 19Izak Benbasat 19

Peter Chen 38Amit Sheth 31John McCarthy 29Deborah Estrin 28David Clark 25

Key Notes• Hsinchun Chen remains top MIS researcher• W. Orlikowski has two highly cited papers• Considerable shake up amongst MIS

researchers• Reference researchers fairly stable

Pillar Distribution

* H-Index reflects only papers written during this time period

AI (16%) +4%

Behavioral (16%) -4%

Database (2%) -1% Econometrics (13%) +2%Commerce (13%) + 5%Operations (13%) -2%Policy (10%) +4%

Systems Analysisand Design (11%) -3%

Communication (7%) -5%

Results Over Time

Top Authors by h-index

Hsinchun Chen 57Andrew B. Whinston 56Ronald E. Rice 55Izak Benbasat 54Jay Nunamaker 51

Herbert Simon 103Deborah Estrin 92John McCarthy 89David Clark 88Peter Chen 82

MIS Reference Disciplines

MIS Authors

70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 00-04 2005-110

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Hsinchun Chen Andrew Whinston Ronald Rice Izak Benbasat Jay Nunamaker

Reference Authors

70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 00-04 2005-110

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Herbert Simon Deborah Estrin John McCarthy David Clark Peter Chen

Trends Over Time

90-92 93-95 96-98 99-01 2002-04 2005-07 2008-100

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

AIBehaveCommDataEconCommercOpsPolicySA&D

Trends Over Time

90-92 93-95 96-98 99-01 2002-04 2005-07 2008-100

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

EconCommercOpsSA&D

Trends Over Time

90-92 93-95 96-98 99-01 2002-04 2005-07 2008-100

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

AI

Behave

Comm

Data

Policy

Pillar Trends Over Time

90-92 93-95 96-98 99-01 2002-04 2005-07 2008-100%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

SA&DPolicyOpsCommercEconDataCommBehaveAI

17%

14%

10%

4%8%

2%

18%

7%

19%

90-94

AIBehaveCommDataEconCommerceOpsPolicSA&D

16%

16%

7%

2%13%

13%

13%

10%

11%

2005-11

AIBehaveCommDataEconCommerceOpsPolicSA&D

90-94 05-11 Change

AI 17 16 -1

Behavioral 14 16 +2

Communication

10 7 -3

Database 4 2 -2

Econometrics

8 13 +5

Commerce 2 13 +11

Operations 18 13 -5

Policy 7 10 +3

SA&D 19 11 -8

Discussion

Evolution of MIS

Evolving Definition of MIS

Focus on the IT? Focus on information?

The Future of MIS