Vive les differences? Developing a profile of European information systems research as a basis for international comparisons

Abstract

The information systems (IS) community is truly international, yet there is often a sense that different elements of the community have different profiles in terms of their research and publication expectations. This paper contributes to this discussion by developing a profile of European IS research that can be used as a basis for international comparisons. It reflects on European research on IS as presented during the first 10 years of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). Based on an analysis of all papers published in the ECIS proceedings during the period 1993–2002, the paper presents the key characteristics of the ECIS conferences, together with a profile of European IS research activity as presented at ECIS. In particular, it highlights the key references and sources used by researchers presenting papers at ECIS. It articulates the research areas presented at ECIS and explores the claim that European IS draws more on social theories than elsewhere. Its contribution in presenting a profile of European research in the IS field lies in identifying particular characteristics of the European style of research that can be compared to that undertaken in other parts of the world.

Keywords:

• European Conference on Information Systems
• European information systems research topics
• citations

An earlier version of this paper was given as a plenary presentation at the 10th ECIS held in Gdansk, Poland, 6–8 June 2002 under the title ‘An Anatomy of European Information Systems Research ECIS 1993–ECIS 2002: Some Initial Findings’ (Galliers & Whitley, 2002).

An earlier version of this paper was given as a plenary presentation at the 10th ECIS held in Gdansk, Poland, 6–8 June 2002 under the title ‘An Anatomy of European Information Systems Research ECIS 1993–ECIS 2002: Some Initial Findings’ (Galliers & Whitley, 2002).

Acknowledgements

We are particularly grateful to Tayo Adewole, Dimitris Anagnostopoulos, Jennifer Asante, Alexandra Galligan, JP Grillo, Ade Ibironke, Stefan Jones, Deepak Khurana, Lukeman Lawal, Artemis Nestori, Kingsley Nudo, Emma Peel, Oraib Toukan and Gizem Yagiz who between them entered over 1600 paper institution links and 28,000 paper citation links. We also specially thank Derek Hyland for his work on the research themes data. Sven Carlsson, Torkil Clemmensen, Mike Gallivan, Ray Paul, and Richard Vidgen all gave helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert D Galliers

About the authors

Robert D Galliers was appointed as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs of Bentley College in 2002. Bob Galliers was previously Professor of Information Systems and Research Director in the Department of Information Systems at the LSE. He retains his connection with the LSE as a Visiting Professor. Before joining LSE, he served as Lucas Professor of Business Management Systems and Dean of Warwick Business School, U.K., and earlier as Foundation Professor and Head of the School of Information Systems at Curtin University in Australia. Galliers is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and a fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), the Association for Information Systems (FAIS) and the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). He has served as President of the AIS and as co-chair of the 2002 ICIS. He has held visiting professorships at INSEAD, France, University of St Gallen, Switzerland, the City University of Hong Kong, the Institute for Advanced Management Studies, Belgium, National University of Singapore, Hong Polytechnic University and Bond University, Australia. He is a member of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Tilburg University, The Netherlands, the Board of Advisors of Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University, Sweden, and the International Scientific Committee of Euromed Marseille, France. He has published widely in many of the leading international journals on IS and has also co-authored a number of books, the most recent being: Exploring Information Systems Research Approaches (Routledge, 2007), three editions of the best seller, Strategic Information Management (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1994, 1999, 2003), Rethinking Management Information Systems (Oxford University Press, 1999) and IT and Organizational Transformation (Wiley, 1998). He holds an AB degree with honours in Economics from Harvard University, an M.A. with distinction in Management Systems from Lancaster University, and a Ph.D. in IS from the LSE. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by Turku School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland in 1995. His research focuses in the main on IS strategy and the management of change associated with the adoption and appropriation of ICT-based systems within and between organisations.

Edgar A Whitley

Edgar Whitley is a Reader in IS at the LSE and Political Science. He has a B.Sc. (Econ) Computing and a Ph.D. in IS, both from the LSE. He is co-editor for the journal Information Technology & People and an associate editor for the journal Management Information Systems Quarterly. He was one of the co-editors of the recent EJIS special issue of personal reflections on Claudio Ciborra's life and work (EJIS14(5), 2005). His work explores the application of social theory to IS with recent papers exploring concepts of interpretative flexibility, ontological radicalism around the IT artefact, regulation of technologies and identity management. He was the research co-ordinator for the LSE's Identity Project see http://identityproject.lse.ac.uk/default.htm