In Search of Information Systems (Grand) Challenges

The paper reports on the results of a Delphi study with 143 information systems (IS) academics that was designed to explore what IS academics perceive to be the grand challenges of the IS discipline. The results provide evidence that the scholarly IS discipline is still much concerned with itself, for instance, in terms of its identity, relevance, foundational theory, or methodological pluralism – suggesting that the old debate on IS identity is not yet overcome. It thus cannot be claimed that the study identifies the grand challenges of the discipline – still it becomes noticeable that the academic community sees potentials for the IS discipline to have societal impact. A total of 21 challenges are identified, of which six challenges are categorized as “meta challenges for further developing the IS discipline” and the remaining 15 challenges are categorized as “IS research challenges” pertaining to socio-technical systems, IS infrastructures, society and ecology, as well as social well-being and affectivity. We provide a ranking of all challenges according to their relevance, potential impact, and possible time frame of realization. The results have some important implications for IS as a discipline as well as its prospective future societal role. It is hoped that through our study we can contribute to the important debate on the challenges of the academic IS discipline.

[1]  Helmut Krcmar,et al.  Informationsmanagement - Zum Problembewußtsein deutscher DV-Leiter , 1990, Wirtschaftsinf..

[2]  Murray Turoff,et al.  The Delphi Method: Techniques and Applications , 1976 .

[3]  Leon A. Kappelman,et al.  Key Issues of IT Organizations and Their Leadership: The 2013 SIM IT Trends Study , 2013, MIS Q. Executive.

[4]  Diane M. Strong,et al.  Critical Realism and Affordances: Theorizing IT-Associated Organizational Change Processes , 2013, MIS Q..

[5]  Helmut Krcmar.  Information management—key issues ranked by German IS-managers (German) , 1990 .

[6]  Fred Niederman,et al.  Information Systems Management Issues for the 1990s , 1991, MIS Q..

[7]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Factors That Influence the Social Dimension of Alignment Between Business and Information Technology Objectives , 2000, MIS Q..

[8]  John C. Henderson,et al.  Strategic Alignment: Leveraging Information Technology for Transforming Organizations , 1993, IBM Syst. J..

[9]  James C. Wetherbe,et al.  Key Information Systems Issues for the 1980's , 1984, MIS Q..

[10]  B. Wheeler,et al.  Special Section on Grand Challenges in Neuroengineering , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[11]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  A Foundation for the Study of IT Effects: A New Look at DeSanctis and Poole's Concepts of Structural Features and Spirit , 2008, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[12]  Alan R. Hevner,et al.  POSITIONING AND PRESENTING DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT 1 , 2013 .

[13]  Gary H. Glover,et al.  Grand Challenges in Mapping the Human Brain: NSF Workshop Report , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[14]  Shirley Gregor,et al.  The Nature of Theory in Information Systems , 2006, MIS Q..

[15]  Heng-Li Yang,et al.  Key information management issues in Taiwan and the US , 1996, Inf. Manag..

[16]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  Why the old world cannot publish? Overcoming challenges in publishing high-impact IS research , 2007, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[17]  Michael Rosemann,et al.  Toward Improving the Relevance of Information Systems Research to Practice: The Role of Applicability Checks , 2008, MIS Q..

[18]  Susan J. Winter.  The rise of cyberinfrastructure and grand challenges for eCommerce , 2012, Inf. Syst. E Bus. Manag..

[19]  Stephen C. Hayne,et al.  A comparative analysis of critical issues facing Canadian information systems personnel: a national and global perspective , 2000, Inf. Manag..

[20]  Leon F. McGinnis,et al.  Special Issue on Grand Challenges for Discrete Event Logistics Systems , 2011, Comput. Ind..

[21]  Bin He.  Introduction to special section on grand challenges in engineering life sciences and medicine , 2013, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng..

[22]  Allen S. Lee.  Editor's comments: research in information systems: what we haven't learned , 2001 .

[23]  Patrick Delfmann,et al.  Business process compliance checking – applying and evaluating a generic pattern matching approach for conceptual models in the financial sector , 2014, Information Systems Frontiers.

[24]  Peter A Singer,et al.  Grand Challenges in Global Health: The Ethical, Social and Cultural Program , 2007, PLoS medicine.

[25]  Steve Elliot,et al.  Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Environmental Sustainability: A Resource Base and Framework for IT-Enabled Business Transformation , 2011, MIS Q..

[26]  Robin Milner,et al.  Grand Challenges for Computing Research , 2005, Comput. J..

[27]  Cathy Urquhart,et al.  Using grounded theory method in information systems: the researcher as blank slate and other myths , 2013, J. Inf. Technol..

[28]  Vincent S. Lai,et al.  Managing international data communications , 2002, CACM.

[29]  R. Watson,et al.  Improving the Societal Effectiveness of IS Research: The Pursuit of Prescriptive Accuracy , 2014 .

[30]  Yuan-Ting Zhang,et al.  Grand Challenges in Interfacing Engineering With Life Sciences and Medicine , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[31]  Björn Niehaves,et al.  Exploring the Relationship between IT Consumerization and Job Performance: A Theoretical Framework for Future Research , 2014, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[32]  Yana Andonova.  Loyalty 3.0: How big data and gamification are revolutionizing customer and employee engagement , 2013 .

[33]  E. Turban,et al.  Management information systems issues of the 1990s in the Republic of China: An industry analysis , 1994 .

[34]  Maurice Landry,et al.  A disciplined methodological pluralism for mis research , 1992 .

[35]  P. Seixas.  The Community of Inquiry as a Basis for Knowledge and Learning: The Case of History , 1993 .

[36]  A. Horvath,et al.  Grand challenges for life-cycle assessment of biofuels. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[37]  Jerry N. Luftman,et al.  Key information technology and management issues 2012–2013: an international study , 2011, J. Inf. Technol..

[38]  David G. Schwartz,et al.  Research Commentary - The Disciplines of Information: Lessons from the History of the Discipline of Medicine , 2014, Inf. Syst. Res..

[39]  Richard T. Watson,et al.  Key issues in information systems management: an Australian perspective—1988 , 1989 .

[40]  Angelika Dimoka,et al.  On the Foundations of NeuroIS: Reflections on the Gmunden Retreat 2009 , 2010, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[41]  Peter Mertens,et al.  Memorandum on design-oriented information systems research , 2011, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[42]  Stefan Seidel,et al.  On emergence and forcing in information systems grounded theory studies: the case of Strauss and Corbin , 2013, J. Inf. Technol..

[43]  John Hughes,et al.  THE FUTURE OF THE WIRELESS APPLICATION PROTOCOL , 2002 .

[44]  C WetherbeJames,et al.  Key issues in information systems management , 1987 .

[45]  Daniel Robey,et al.  Research Commentary: Diversity in Information Systems Research: Threat, Promise, and Responsibility , 1996, Inf. Syst. Res..

[46]  Benno Schwikowski.  Algorithmic Challenges in Mass Spectrometry and Systems Biology , 2002, GI Jahrestagung.

[47]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  The Identity Crisis Within the IS Discipline: Defining and Communicating the Discipline's Core Properties , 2003, MIS Q..

[48]  Richard T. Watson,et al.  Communications of the Association for Information Systems Green Information Systems: Directives for the Is Discipline Recommended Citation Green Information Systems: Directives for the Is Discipline , 2022 .

[49]  Peter Mertens,et al.  Researching “Grand Challenges” , 2015, Bus. Inf. Syst. Eng..

[50]  James C. Wetherbe,et al.  Key Issues in Information Systems Management: 1994-95 SIM Delphi Results , 1996, MIS Q..

[51]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Research Commentary: Rethinking "Diversity" in Information Systems Research , 1996, Inf. Syst. Res..

[52]  Trevor T. Moores,et al.  Key issues in the management of information systems: A Hong Kong perspective , 1996, Inf. Manag..

[53]  Robert P. Bostrom,et al.  A Meta-Theory for Understanding Information Systems Within Sociotechnical Systems , 2009, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[54]  C. Peirce,et al.  The Fixation of Belief , 2011, Philosophy after Darwin.

[55]  Sujata K. Bhatia.  Global Grand Challenges for Engineering and International Development , 2013 .

[56]  Mike Chiasson,et al.  The Ends of Information Systems Research: A Pragmatic Framework , 2012, MIS Q..

[57]  James C. Wetherbe,et al.  Key issues in information systems management , 1987 .

[58]  Robert P. Bostrom,et al.  Mis problems and failures: a socio-technical perspective , 1977 .

[59]  Richard T. Watson,et al.  Information Systems and Environmentally Sustainable Development: Energy Informatics and New Directions for the IS Community , 2010, MIS Q..

[60]  Suzanne D. Pawlowski,et al.  The Delphi method as a research tool: an example, design considerations and applications , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[61]  Nigel Melville,et al.  Information Systems Innovation for Environmental Sustainability , 2010, MIS Q..