IS Research Theoretical Foundation: Theories Used and the Future Path

Résumé En

The way a scientific field applies theories shapes its intellectual structure and determines its development and survival as a discipline. Information Systems (IS) with its multidimensional nature and innovatory essence has a different contingence with its original theories, which are basically rooted in a diverse spectrum of fields. This research is designed to investigate which theories have been deployed in different IS research streams in the last decade, and by analyzing the perceived gap, how it might be changed in the future. To this aim, a data-driven method for analyzing the published papers’ cited references in the top two IS journals is designed and implemented. This study is directed based on the co-citation network analysis, text analysis, and investigation of the highly cited references in MISQ and ISR from 2009 to 2018. The analysis of the top-cited references co-citation network revealed six distinct clusters representing the research areas in our field including IS Value, IS Research, E-commerce, IS in Organization, Social Network Analysis, and IS Usage. Further, text analysis and interpretations disclosed the main and the dominant theoretical foundation in each cluster and their linkages. By examining the relationships between the clusters and their theories, the eminent theoretical gap in E-commerce cluster is distinguished. Subsequently, some fact-based hypotheses about what would be changed in this cluster in the future are represented. Considering a wider timespan, including data from basket of 8 journals and deeply analyzing all clusters, this study could be continued.