-------- Forwarded Message --------
Dear Colleagues,
This is the third call for chapters for the "Advancing IS
Theories" volume
launched at the last ICIS in San Francisco. Leslie Willcocks and I
are
collecting chapters for a multi-volume Springer series on the same
topic.
We already have commitment from authors for chapters in these
volumes and
looking for more. Because many are busy getting their submissions
to ICIS
ready, so we are moving the deadline to Sunday, May 19th.
Please read details below for content and schedule deadlines.
Theories and the Process of theorizing in IS schedule
Submit first draft May 19,
2019
Submit final draft after review June 31, 2019
Expected published by: Aug 31, 2019
Sincerely
Nik R. Hassan and Leslie Willcocks
Edited Series: Advancing Information Systems Theories
The title of this planned Springer series of volumes on
information systems
(IS): “Advancing Information Systems Theories” is phrased in such
way to
emphasize its intended goal. The focus of this series of volumes
is on
“information systems (IS) theories” not just “theories in IS.” In
the
context of the IS field, the phrasing implies significant
differences. It
is well known that the IS field has been debating the nature and
role of
theories for some time with intense debates regarding whether or
not a
theoretical core is necessary (King & Lyytinen, 2004; Lyytinen
& King,
2004; Lyytinen & King, 2006; Weber, 2006), disagreements
concerning whether
or not the field can speak of native theories (Grover, et al.,
2012;
Straub, 2012), and what constitutes IS theory and the role of
theories in
IS (Avison & Malaurent, 2014; Bichler, et al., 2016; Gregor,
2014;
Holmström & Truex, 2011; Lee, 2014; Markus, 2014). What is not
up for
debate is how the field undertakes its research using theories
from its
“reference disciplines.” By borrowing from these reference
disciplines “the
theories and methods of these disciplines serve to set the
standards by
which the quality and maturity of IS research should be measured”
(Baskerville & Myers, 2002, p. 1). Whether it is the theory of
reasoned
action (TRA) or its derivative, the theory of planned behavior,
from social
psychology, resource based view (RBV) and absorptive capacity
theory from
strategic management, game theory and transaction cost theory
(TCT) from
Economics, innovation diffusion theory (IDT) from communications,
or social
cognitive theory and activity theory from psychology, the IS field
has
consistently borrowed (Lim, et al., 2013), often uncritically
(Hassan,
2011; Markus & Saunders, 2007) to legitimize its research. The
goal of this
series of volume is to advance IS research beyond this form of
borrowed
legitimization and derivative research towards fresh and original
research
that naturally comes from its own theories – information system
theories.
It is inconceivable for a field so relevant to the era of the
hyper-connected society, disruptive technologies, Big Data, social
media
and "fake news" to not be brimming with its own theories.
To move the field forward, the foundations surrounding theory have
to be
unambiguously clear, for how can theory be advanced if theory
itself is
misunderstood? Any advancement of theory has to begin with some
form of
agreement with regard to IS theories from thought leaders of the
IS
community. Although much progress has been made (Gregor, 2006;
Gregor &
Jones, 2007; Hassan, 2014; Hassan & Lowry, 2015; Mueller &
Urbach, 2013;
Weber, 2012), many questions remain unanswered. The major
questions that
will be addressed include: What can we agree on with regard to
theories?
What constitutes theories and what doesn’t? Why do we need
theories? Why
bother with theories? How can one go about developing theories?
What does
an IS theory look like? The answers to these kinds of questions
will be
discussed in this series of volumes on “Advancing IS Theories.”
For purely demonstrative purposes, a tentative list of chapters
and topics
are provided below along with the names of authors who have either
submitted abstracts to the editors or had presented at the Special
Interest
Group on Philosophy of IS (SIGPHIL@ICIS) workshop on “Advancing IS
Theories” in San Francisco, on December 13-14, 2018. These authors
have yet
to submit their full chapters, which will in turn be reviewed, and
we
expect more chapters to be reviewed and added to all three
volumes. We
expect these works to trigger other works of even higher quality
that will
eventually find their way into our top journals and help advance
the field
forward.
*Advancing Information Systems Theories-Theories and the Process
of
theorizing in IS*
The first volume addresses what theories are and why bother with
theories.
Included in this volume is the process of theorizing itself
because the
process cannot be divorced from the product of that process. As
Weick
(1995) argues, the process of theorizing is what will help
illuminate what
theories are.
Introduction: Why theories? (Hassan, Gregor & Willcocks)
1
Theoretical and practical contributions in IS (Agerfalk)
20
Causality in IS theorizing (Markus and Rowe)
40
Theorizing the digital experience
(Kreps) 60
The art of crafting theory (Rivard)
80
IS theorizing as discursive practice (Hassan, Mathiassen &
Lowry)
100
Philosophical and methodological approaches to concept analysis
(Wynn)
120
Theorizing design science (Sjöström)
140
IS theorizing in strategy (Galliers, Moeini, Simeonova, Wilson)
160
Pluralist theory building (Mathiassen)
180
......
*Advancing Information Systems Theories-The Products of Theorizing
in IS*
The second volume concerns efforts that approach theories – what
Weick
(1995) calls “interim struggles.” This volume comes out of the
realization
that the process of theorizing can be long and arduous and like
all great
things, will not be built in a day, much less in an edited volume.
So,
although they may not be called theories with a capital “T,” they
nevertheless approximate theory and should not be dismissed. They
may be
called “principles,” “propositions,” “models,” “paradigms,”
“concepts,”
“frameworks” or what have you. They are the products of theorizing
and are
precursors to strong theory, and as long as they are fresh and
original,
they go a long way in advancing IS theories.
Introduction: The products of IS theorizing (Hassan, Mathiassen
& Lowry)
1
Against paradigms? Reevaluating IS paradigms (Hassan &
Mingers)
20
Theories and kernel philosophies (Haj-Bolouri)
40
Design principles in design science (Gregor and Hevner)
60
From models to theories of IS success (DeLone, McLean and Petter).
80
IS Concepts: Declaring IS to the world
100
Mapping an IS research framework
120
Models and contexts of discovery in IS
160
IS constructs and variables
160
A collection of IS propositions
180
........
*Advancing Information System Theories: Information Systems
Theories*
The third volume intends to showcase the IS theories themselves
and what
they might look like if one were to stumble upon them in the dark.
Discussions on advancing existing IS theories such as media
richness theory
(MRT), media synchronicity theory (MST) and other theories
developed within
the IS field can be included in this volume. Purely based on the
name of
the field of study – Information Systems – and its history and
origins, one
would expect that some form of information theory or systems
theory would
qualify as an IS theory. Or, since systems relate to technology,
some kind
of theory of technology would be an imperative for the IS field.
Or, the
combination of information in the form of signs and with human
cognitive
processing as in semiotics, would qualify as an IS theory. We
expect to see
some of these theories in this volume. Thus far, theories related
to
information, systems, or technology have not made headlines within
the IS
field, and reference discipline theories from psychology, social
psychology, communications, management and economics dominate and
consume
most of the energy of our best and brightest. If the struggles in
existing
journals are any indication, this third volume may be the riskiest
of the
three. However, that is the point pushing this effort in the form
of a
multi-volume book so as to collect as many works that even if they
appear
to be speculative, they represent original thinking at the highest
quality
of scholarship.
The shape of IS theories (Hassan, Gregor & Willcocks)
1
Indigenous IS theories (Grover & Lyytinen)
20
Against theory? A history of IS theories (Hirschheim and Hassan)
40
System theory foundations for IS theories
60
IS theories of technology
80
IS theories in sociomateriality (Cecez-Kecmanovic)
100
IS theories and semiotics (Mingers & Willcocks)
120
The shape of IS process theories (Niederman)
140
Mertonian middle-range theories in IS (Hassan and Lowry)
160
Information theories in the IS field (McKinney)
180
Systemic Complexity theory (Hassan)
200
.........
Publishing Schedule and DeadlinesThis multi-volume text will be
published
on a rolling schedule. Each volume will be given its own
submission, review
and publishing schedule. To start, the schedule below refers only
to the
first volume. However, authors can submit earlier for later
volumes to
allow for simultaneous review and enable the editors to organize
the
submitted chapters into appropriate volumes based on their
content. Please
submit all full chapter drafts to both Nik R. Hassan
(
nhassan@d.umn.edu)
and Leslie Willcocks (
willcockslp@aol.com) before the date
specified below.
Authors may be asked to review chapters from other authors in
their
requested volume or other volumes. We also welcome abstracts,
suggestions
and expressions of interest for chapters in all volumes.
Theories and the Process of theorizing in IS schedule
Submit first draft May 19,
2019
Submit final draft after review June 31, 2019
Expected published by: Aug 31, 2019
References
Avison, D., & Malaurent, J. (2014). Is theory king?:
Questioning the theory
fetish in information systems. Journal of Information Technology,
29(4),
327-336.
Baskerville, R. L., & Myers, M. D. (2002). Information systems
as a
reference discipline. MIS Quarterly, 26(1), 1-14.
Bichler, M., Frank, U., Avison, D., Malaurent, J., Fettke, P.,
Hovorka, D.,
. . . Thalheim, B. (2016). Theories in Business and Information
Systems
Engineering. Business Information Systems Engineering, 58(4),
291-319.
Gregor, S. (2006). The nature of theory in information systems.
MIS
Quarterly, 30(3), 611-642.
Gregor, S. (2014). Theory – Still king but needing a revolution!
Journal of
Information Technology, 29(4), 337-340.
Gregor, S., & Jones, D. (2007). The anatomy of a design
theory. Journal of
the AIS, 8(5), 312-335.
Grover, V., Lyytinen, K., & Weber, R. (2012). Panel on Native
IS Theories.
Paper presented at the Special Interest Group on Philosophy and
Epistemology in IS (SIGPHIL) Workshop on IS Theory: State of the
Art,
Orlando, FL, Dec 16-19.
Hassan, N. R. (2011). Is information systems a discipline?
Foucauldian and
Toulminian insights. European Journal of Information Systems,
20(4),
456-476.
Hassan, N. R. (2014). Useful Products in Theorizing for
Information
Systems. Paper presented at the International Conference for
Information
Systems (ICIS), Dec 14-17, Auckland, NZ.
Hassan, N. R., & Lowry, P. B. (2015). Seeking Middle-Range
Theories in
Information Systems Research. Paper presented at the International
Conference for Information Systems (ICIS), Dec 13-16, Fort Worth,
TX.
Holmström, J., & Truex, D. (2011). Dropping your tools:
Exploring when and
how theories can serve as blinders in IS research. Communications
of the
Association for Information Systems, 28(1), 283-294, Article 219.
King, J. L., & Lyytinen, K. (2004). Reach and grasp. MIS
Quarterly, 28(4),
539-552.
Lee, A. S. (2014). Theory is king? But first, what is theory?
Journal of
Information Technology, 29(4), 350-352.
Lim, S., Saldanha, T. J. V., Malladi, S., & Melville, N. P.
(2013).
Theories used in information systems research: Insights from
complex
network analysis. Journal of Information Technology Theory and
Application,
14(2), 5-46.
Lyytinen, K., & King, J. L. (2004). Nothing at the center?
Academic
legitimacy in the information systems field. Journal of the
Association for
Information Systems, 5(6), 220-246.
Lyytinen, K., & King, J. L. (2006). The theoretical core and
academic
legitimacy: A response to professor Weber. Journal of the
Association for
Information Systems, 7(11), 714-721.
Markus, M. L. (2014). Maybe not the king, but an invaluable
subordinate: a
commentary on Avison and Malaurent’s advocacy of ‘theory light’ IS
research. Journal of Information Technology, 29(4), 341-345.
Markus, M. L., & Saunders, C. S. (2007). Editorial comments:
Looking for a
few good concepts...and theories...for the information systems
field. MIS
Quarterly, 31(1), iii-vi.
Mueller, B., & Urbach, N. (2013). The why, what, and how of
theories in IS
research. Paper presented at the International Conference on
Information
Systems (ICIS 2013), Dec 15-18, Milan, Italy.
Straub, D. (2012). Editorial: Does MIS have native theories. MIS
Quarterly,
36(2), iii-xii.
Weber, R. (2006). Reach and grasp in the debate over the IS core:
an empty
hand? Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 7(10),
703-713.
Weber, R. (2012). Evaluating and developing theories in the
information
systems discipline. Journal of the AIS, 13(1), 1-30.
Weick, K. E. (1995). What theory is not, theorizing Is.
Administrative
Science Quarterly, 40(3), 385-390.
--
Nik Rushdi Hassan, PhD and Assoc. Professor of MIS
Head, Dept of Management Studies
Labovitz School of Business and Economics
University of Minnesota Duluth
1318 Kirby Drive, LSBE 385A
Duluth MN 55812
Office Phone: (218) 726-7453
Fax: (218) 726-7578
Home Page: www.d.umn.edu/~nhassan
Email: nhassan@d.umn.edu
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nikrushdi/
_______________________________________________
AISWorld mailing list
AISWorld@lists.aisnet.org