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The structure of the IS discipline reconsidered: Implications and reflections from a community of practice perspective

Authors:

Heinz K. Klein,

Rudy HirschheimAuthors Info & Claims

Information and Organization, Volume 18, Issue 4

Pages 280 - 302

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2008.05.001

Published: 01 October 2008 Publication History

Abstract

The motivation of this paper is to advance the recent discussion about the identity of the Information Systems field with a social analysis of its community structures. It seeks to shed new light on the reasons why the field continues to debate its identity and to voice concerns about its recognition by other disciplines. For that purpose the paper adapts selected concepts from the community of practice literature for improving our understanding of the ways in which the IS research community differentiates itself into diverse constituencies, called communities of practice and knowing (CoP&K), and how these interact in the field's complex processes of knowledge creation and dissemination. Our second purpose is to derive some tentative, actionable recommendations for the field from applying the concepts presented in the first part of the paper. The recommendations expand three fundamental ideas: (i) why a continuously updated history of the field could be an important contribution to support boundary spanning and identity formation; (ii) what the nature and role of fundamental criticism is for the IS research community and why it is necessary for the field's future to pay more institutional attention to it; and (iii) how to improve understanding and communication within each paradigm constituency across a broad subset of different CoP&K through building a shared sense of collective historical accomplishments. The conclusions summarize the principal results which follow from our examination of the field's community structures and insist that the CoP&K perspective concomitantly helps to better appreciate the underlying conditions from where the current IS disciplinary challenges have arisen; it also helps to suggest new priorities and possible strategies for dealing with these challenges.

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Cited By

Swain AGarza V(2022)Key Factors in Achieving Service Level Agreements (SLA) for Information Technology (IT) Incident ResolutionInformation Systems Frontiers10.1007/s10796-022-10266-525:2(819-834)Online publication date: 23-Mar-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10796-022-10266-5
Riedl RFischer TLéger PDavis F(2020)A Decade of NeuroIS ResearchACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems10.1145/3410977.341098051:3(13-54)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3410977.3410980
Sjöström J(2020)SISA News: Software to Support the Swedish Information Systems CommunityDesigning for Digital Transformation. Co-Creating Services with Citizens and Industry10.1007/978-3-030-64823-7_43(451-456)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-030-64823-7_43
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Index Terms

The structure of the IS discipline reconsidered: Implications and reflections from a community of practice perspective
1. Information systems
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Management of computing and information systems

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cover image Information and Organization

Information and Organization Volume 18, Issue 4

October, 2008

100 pages

ISSN:1471-7727

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Copyright © Elsevier Ltd © 2008.

Publisher

Pergamon Press, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 October 2008

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Cited By

Swain AGarza V(2022)Key Factors in Achieving Service Level Agreements (SLA) for Information Technology (IT) Incident ResolutionInformation Systems Frontiers10.1007/s10796-022-10266-525:2(819-834)Online publication date: 23-Mar-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10796-022-10266-5
Riedl RFischer TLéger PDavis F(2020)A Decade of NeuroIS ResearchACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems10.1145/3410977.341098051:3(13-54)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3410977.3410980
Sjöström J(2020)SISA News: Software to Support the Swedish Information Systems CommunityDesigning for Digital Transformation. Co-Creating Services with Citizens and Industry10.1007/978-3-030-64823-7_43(451-456)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-030-64823-7_43
Islind ASnis ULindroth TLundin JCerna KSteineck G(2019)The Virtual Clinic: Two-sided Affordances in Consultation PracticeComputer Supported Cooperative Work10.1007/s10606-019-09350-328:3-4(435-468)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10606-019-09350-3
Love JHirschheim RGeorge B(2014)Is the IS Crisis Real?ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems10.1145/2691517.269151945:4(8-29)Online publication date: 21-Nov-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2691517.2691519
Constantinides PChiasson MIntrona L(2012)The ends of information systems researchMIS Quarterly10.5555/2208955.220895736:1(1-20)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2208955.2208957
Su NWilensky HRedmiles D(2012)Doing Business with TheoryComputer Supported Cooperative Work10.1007/s10606-011-9139-x21:2-3(111-162)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10606-011-9139-x

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