Exploring the software engineering component in MIS research

he academic study of management information systems (MIS) is a recent addition to most universities. Because of its arrival, because of the youth of business schools compared to other colleges in universities, and because of the insecurity and uncertainty that marks youth, its study is accompanied by introspective smdies and commentaries about what MIS is and what it should accomplish. As recently as 1980, a founder of the field, Peter Keen, wrote, " At present, MIS research is a theme rather than a substantive field , Perhaps MIS is only a theme , Perhaps MIS will eventually be absorbed into other more clearly-defined disciplines, such as accounting ([141, p. 3. " During the 1980s MlS emerged as a scientific field, although a fragmented and pluralistic one. Davis [6] lists the MIS important reference disciplines as computer science, behavioral science, decision science, organizations and management, organizational functions, management accounting, and microeconomics. Culnan and Swanson [3] simplify this list to three components: computer science, management science, and organization science. We can safely characterize the field of MIS as