Intellectual Diversity in IS Research: Discipline-Based Conceptualization and an Illustration from Information Systems Research

Monideepa Tarafdar (), Guohou Shan (), Jason Bennett Thatcher () and Alok Gupta ()
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Monideepa Tarafdar: Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
Guohou Shan: Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
Jason Bennett Thatcher: Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
Alok Gupta: Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Information Systems Research, 2022, vol. 33, issue 4, 1490-1510

Abstract: This paper advances the understanding of the information systems (IS) discipline by developing a multidimensional conceptualization of the discipline’s intellectual diversity. It also provides an empirical analysis of the intellectual diversity exhibited by the full set of articles published in Information Systems Research ( ISR ) over the last 10 years. We categorize IS intellectual diversity into four intellectual dimensions of IS research—namely, domain-topic, level of phenomenon, type of contribution, and method—and highlight differences along these dimensions. We develop a framework for evaluating the ebb and flow of the topics, methods, and contributions of IS scholarship over time. Regarding ISR specifically, our study offers a glimpse of the IS intellectual diversity found in the research topics, methods, and contributions of papers published during 2012–2021. Our analysis shows a preponderance of econometric and modeling studies. It also shows that there is a substantial variety of topics, research questions, and methods. Based on these conceptual and empirical insights, we identify implications for intellectual diversity and inclusion in the broader IS discipline.

Keywords: IS intellectual diversity; IS discipline; intellectual diversity and inclusion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orisre:v:33:y:2022:i:4:p:1490-1510

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