On the Theoretical Justification of the Organisational Size Construct in Information Systems Research

A number of disciplines pursue research into organisations. This organisational research serves to improve knowledge regarding the interaction, behaviour and direction of humans and groups. Because Information Systems (IS) has drawn upon several of these disciplines for foundation, a number of research approaches exist for examining organisations within the IS domain. Organisational size, as a frequent research variable in the IS literature, has received considerable application but little critical examination. This paper examines the content and construct validity of the organisational size construct. Research papers published in six leading IS journals over an eleven year period were examined to determine the factors supporting the organisational size construct. The results show a large number of factors in scholarly use, the three most common factors being Organisational Resources, Organisational Levels and Economies of Scale. Additionally, many studies offer little or no supportive analysis or justification for their use of organisational size. The findings raise a number of issues that are out of the scope of this study: these issues merit further research.