Australasian Conference on Information Systems Smyth , Gable and Pervan 2016 , Wollongong A SWOT Analysis of the IS Academic Discipline in Australia 1 A SWOT Analysis of the IS Academic Discipline in Australia

The study provides a review of changing perceptions of the Information Systems (IS) academic discipline in Australia across the ten year span from 2005 until 2015. The main source of data for this analysis is a series of annual surveys of Heads of Information Systems Departments across all Australian universities. The surveys incorporated questions regarding the perceived Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats pertaining at the time to the IS academic discipline in Australia. A review of the annual judgements, augmented by data from other sources, while revealing the inevitable changes of focus over time, brings to the fore a range of persistent and enduring issues demanding the attention of Australia’s IS academics. Collaborative Doctoral Consortia are proposed as effective mechanisms to exploit the strengths and opportunities and to redress weaknesses and threats identified.

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