(Apologies for cross-postings of this announcement.)

 

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CALL FOR PAPERS

 

23rd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2015)

 

Track: Advancing Theories and Theorizing in IS Research

(http://ecis2015.eu/files/tracks/19AdvancingTheoriesandTheorizinginISResearch.pdf)

 

May 27-29, 2015, Münster, Germany (http://ecis2015.eu/)

 

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TRACK CHAIRS

 

Dorothy E. Leidner, Baylor University, Texas, USA, dorothy_leidner@baylor.edu

Benjamin Mueller, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, b.mueller@rug.nl (Corresponding track chair)

Nils Urbach, University of Bayreuth, Germany, nils.urbach@uni-bayreuth.de

 

 

DESCRIPTION

 

The generation of knowledge from data can likely be seen as one of the key contributions of any science. Consequently, scholars like Whetten (1989), Steinfield and Fulk (1990), and Blalock (1969) have emphasized the centrality of theories for any scientific endeavor – a thought widely reflected in many disciplines from natural to social sciences (Atmanspacher 2007). While this attention to theoretical work has been at the heart of the IS discipline for a long time (cf. Keen 1980), we believe that advanced theorizing in an increasingly networked society calls for a dedicated discussion on the evolution of existing methodological and conceptual approaches to theorizing. Particularly the growing connection of individuals and groups with other people and organizations forces us to pay attention to complexity and contingencies that create opportunities and challenges for the careful development of new theories.

 

Recently we have seen some of our reference disciplines turn towards reviving their own examination of theories and theoretical work and their role in producing high quality scholarly contributions (e.g., in management research). It is this rekindled interest that leads us to suggest that the IS discipline, too, should intensify its discussion of theory and theorizing above and beyond such landmark papers as Gregor's (2006) influential piece on the role of theory in IS research, Urquhart et al.'s (2010) guidelines for theory building, Weber's (2012) treatment of quality of theories and theorizing, or Straub's (2012) discussion on native IS theories.

 

This track is targeted towards picking up this debate. It provides a platform for the discussion and development of new approaches to theorizing as well as new methods to inform this theorizing. We also want to engage in a differentiated discussion on the nature and role of our theorizing in our discipline in order to advance our understanding of the "networked society."

 

We seek submissions that are innovative, novel, and significant in terms of advancing our discipline's ability to theorize phenomena in the networked society. We place particular emphasis on a submission's ability to highlight how it helps us as a discipline to better describe, explain, predict, and design these phenomena. The latter requires special considerations. Following the classic work of Simon (1981), artifacts have an inside and outside view and we encourage specific consideration of both. In methodological contributions, we encourage potential authors to elaborate on what in the phenomena we study can now be captured better and how and why the method suggested is able to do that. Authors of methodological pieces are encouraged to carefully reflect on issues of epistemology in their work. In theoretical pieces, we will look not only for novel ideas, but also for a careful integration with what is known already and how and why the new contribution advances existing nomological nets.

 

 

TOPICS OF INTEREST

 

Conceptual advances in theories for IS research

* New theories on phenomena of the networked society

* Significant advances or critiques of existing theories (e.g., innovative or substantially improved construct conceptualizations or meaningful extensions through additional constructs)

* Exploration of multi-level aspects extending existing theories

* Integration / synthesis of existing theories

* Detailed application of existing theories to inform design and action (e.g., formal verification, design theories, as well as exploring the interaction between technology artifact and humans)

* Reflections on theories-in-practice and what we can learn from their application

 

Methodological advances in theorizing about IS phenomena

* New or advanced methods for data collection with an emphasis on what kind of data they contribute beyond conventional methods as well as a discussion of how and why this advances our theorizing

* New or refined methods of data analysis (i.e., theorizing, theory building) with an emphasis on a comparison to established approaches and a discussion of how and why they advance our theorizing

* Strategies for inductive theorizing and the building of substantive theories grounded in an IS context

* The interplay of theory and design and how engaged forms of scholarly work help to advance our discipline theoretically

* A constructive critique of existing methods and an identification of impacts on and limits to current theorizing

 

The nature and role of theoretical contributions of IS research

* An analysis of the current state-of-the-art of the discipline's theorizing

* Reflections on what can be learned from reference disciplines

* Frameworks and typologies for theories and theoretical work in IS

 

 

SPONSORSHIP

 

Our track collaborates closely with the European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS). Based on the reviews and editorial recommendations, the authors of the best papers submitted to the track will be invited to participate in the EJIS paper development workshop immediately after the ECIS conference. There, authors will have the opportunity to further develop their papers for consideration as part of a planned EJIS special issue building upon the track.

 

 

IMPORTANT DATES

 

Paper Submission begins: October 6, 2014

Submission Deadline Date: November 28, 2014

Notification of Acceptance: End of February 2015

Final version of accepted papers due: March 31, 2015

Early Bird Registration closes: April 12, 2015

 

 

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

 

Frederik Ahlemann, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Andrew Burton-Jones, University of Queensland, Australia

Samir Chatterjee, Claremont Graduate University, California, USA

Yogesh Dwivedi, Swansea University, UK

Nik R. Hassan, University of Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota, USA

Dirk Hovorka, University of Sydney, Australia

Allen Lee, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia, USA

Sebastian Olbrich, Mercator School of Management, Germany

Suzanne Rivard, HEC Montreal, Québec, Canada

Suprateek Sarker, Washington State University, Washington, USA

Henk Sol, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Ron Thompson, Wake Forest University, North Carolina, USA

Ron Weber, Monash University, Australia