Abstract
Researchers benefit considerably from understanding the developments in their field, especially in a relatively young field like MIS. The difficulties of identity and maturity in MIS field are exacerbated by rapidly changing technology and by the eclectic, inter-disciplinary nature of the field. To help clarify the nature of the MIS field and its developments, a stream of studies has examined the emerging pattern of research activities in the field (Culnan (1986), Culnan and Swanson (1986), Farhoomand (1987), Hamilton and Ives (1982), Vogel and Wetherbe (1984), Gorla (1989)). Most of these studies concur that MIS field of research has not made very significant progress as a scientific discipline, and is devoid of unique body of knowledge. At the present stage of the field’s development these previous studies provide the opportunity for self-examination which should propel research more directly. Most of the studies assessing the maturity of MIS field considered articles published in 80’s. As there is little research with recent MIS articles, we intend to evaluate MIS research field using MIS articles published during 1986 – 1995. In this research, we use three desirable characteristics a mature field should demonstrate: number of references per MIS article, immediacy factor of citations, and proportion of references to other disciplines.
Recommended Citation
Gorla, Narasimhaiah and Paulraj, Antony, "On the Maturity of the MIS Research Field" (1999). AMCIS 1999 Proceedings. 218.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis1999/218