INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION
SYSTEMS – THEORIES 1
Silvia Masiero
University of Oslo, Department of Informatics
silvima@ifi.uio.no
25 August 2021
IN5210 – Information Systems
Overview
Introductions
IS: what sort of science is it?
IS: main research themes
IS: theoretical perspectives
Ongoing debates!
Who am I?
Dr Silvia Masiero
Research interests: information & communication
technology for development (ICT4D), ICT use for
emergency management, digital platforms for
socio-economic development
Email: silvima@ifi.uio.no
Information Systems (IS):
What sort of science is it?
Information Systems
(from Avgerou, 2000)
The academic field of Information Systems (IS) is
concerned with a large range of questions regarding the
development, use and implications of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) in organisations.
Substantial evolution of the field over time!
But…
Issue-oriented rather than theory-driven – defined by
its objects of interest rather that its theories
As a result, the field of IS is not always well
understood by academics and professionals in other
fields, even in fields related to IS, such as Operational
Research, Management, or Psychology.
Therefore, we will introduce the field through a brief
history, its core objects of interest, and the
theoretical approaches that prevail in it.
The IS field
(from Avgerou, 2000)
The IS field has its origins in the applied computer
science studies of the 1960s, aimed at systematising the
design of data processing applications in organisations.
Origins: in 1972, the American Computer Society (ACM)
published a curriculum for a two-year Masters degree on
computing in a business context. In 1974, the
International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)
built a curriculum on design of computer based
information systems.
Other landmarks: two major research journals (MIS
Quarterly 1977, Information Systems Research 1987), 1st
International Conference on Information Systems (1980)
…IS today!
(from Sørensen, 2016)
From the mainframe to platforms: an evolving range of topics
Geographical focus expanded (from North America to Europe
and – increasingly - Asia, Latin America and Africa)
…what sort of science is it?
«Social study of technology» (Land & Hirschheim, 1987)
The field has broadened in scope, to study the efforts
organisations make to respond to the challenge of
continuous innovation in ICTs. (Avgerou, 2000)
How did employees respond to the introduction of
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)?
What organisational power shifts does a new Decision
Support System (DSS) imply?
How does a digital health platform affect a government’s
ability to address the needs of vulnerable users?
…all these are IS questions!
So…
…not the technology alone, but its participation to, and
impact on, organisations and society, is the centre of
attention in IS research.
What thematic areas does IS engage?
IS: Research Objects
IS Research Objects
(from Avgerou, 2000)
Five main thematic areas of IS research:
Applications of IT to support organisational functioning
The process of systems development
Information systems management
The organisational value of information systems
The societal impact of information systems
Theme 1: Applications of IT to Support
Organisational Functioning
In the early 1970s, data processing applications for
"commercial organisations" emerged as a distinct area
of computing. Over time these have included database
technology, decision support systems (DSS), expert
systems, electronic data interchange (EDI), multimedia
systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP).
Main question: how to combine technical components
to form a useful application?
Theme 2: The Process of Systems
Development
Focus: methodical practices
for developing reliable and
effective systems in cost-
efficient, beneficial ways
Tension between an
engineering and a social
intervention perspective
Today: studies of systems
development in the context
of global infrastructures
(Sørensen, 2016)
Theme 3: Information Systems
Management
In the days of the mainframe a centralised
department (usually EDP, from Electronic Data
Processing) was the ‘natural’ way to organise
expertise and control investment
The diffusion of ever more powerful computing and
software packages raised questions on diverse ways of
managing IS, regarding especially: (a) centralised vs.
decentralised architectures; (b) intra-organisational
power distributions in IS management
These concerns are alive and well for present-day
objects of IS research! (e.g. platform architectures)
Theme 4: The Organisational Value of
Information Systems
Over time, organisations became aware of the
significance of effects of a non-straightforward
economic nature, such as organisational structure
or the morale of the employees who have to cope
with new information procedures.
To whom is the technology beneficial?
For example: which new information flows has
email enabled? What about employees whose
working practices have been disrupted by the
introduction of new systems, such as ERP?
Theme 5: The Societal Impact of
Information Systems
Explores impacts of ICTs
beyond the organisation, and
on society at large – including
contexts of human and
economic vulnerability (ICT
for Development – ICT4D)
For example: which impacts
does a digital health platform
have on healthcare systems in
developing nations? How is
such a platform governed?
To recap…
Five main thematic areas of IS research:
Applications of IT to support organisational functioning
The process of systems development
Information systems management
The organisational value of information systems
The societal impact of information systems
…all characterised by evolving research objects!
IS: Theoretical Underpinnings
What’s a Theory?
Theoretical
Epistemology Methodology Methods
perspective
Structuring elements of social research
(Crotty, 1998)
Structuring Elements of Social
Research (Crotty, 1998)
Epistemology: our assumptions about knowledge and how
it can be obtained
Theoretical perspective: the philosophical stance
informing the methodology and providing context for
the process and grounding its logic and criteria
Methodology: the plan of action, process or design lying
behind the choice and use of particular methods
Methods: the techniques or procedures used to gather
and analyse data
IS Theoretical Perspectives
(from Avgerou, 2000)
Multiple theoretical perspectives in IS research – an issue-
oriented field, whose diversity of theoretical visions
increased through the 1980s and 1990s
Four perspectives can be seen as dominant:
Systems theory
Organisational rationalism
Structuration theory
Critical theory
Systems Theory
Systems theory is a perspective that addresses issues of
interrelations within a ‘whole’: the ‘whole’ of interest is
the organisation, considered as ‘purposeful system’
Challenges the principles of classical science to break
down problems into as many separate parts as possible,
trying to discover one-way causality between them
For example: Ackoff (1971) on the relationship between
a systems and its parts, and its implications for the study
of modern organisations
Organisational Rationalism
A perspective centred on identification of the principles
of deploying the resources of organisations in order to
survive and excel in the market economy
“With its origins in the work of Max Weber, Taylor and
Fayol, organisational rationalism emerged as the theory
committed to improving organisational efficiency. It is a
rather mixed bag of general approaches to social
phenomena in organisations and specialised research
fields, such as decision making theory, management
theory, administration science, industrial and
organisational psychology.” (Avgerou, 2000)
For example: Keen (1981) on decision support systems as
means to increasing managerial productivity
Structuration Theory
The socio-technical tradition of IS research and
practice has maintained the complementarity between
technology and the social context
Structuration theory reinforces this position: uses
concepts of structure and agency to theorise the
relation between the technical and the social
For example: Orlikowski (1992) proposes a view of
“duality of technology” that balances its organisational
properties (structure) with its human aspects (agency)
Critical Theory
Critical research combines the different, but interlinked
purposes of theorisation and transformation of a status
quo characterised by socially oppressive conditions.
Its theoretical intent is that of generating social critique,
where “the restrictive and alienating conditions of the
status quo are brought to light” (Myers, 1997)
For example: Trauth & Howcroft (2006) critical theory
study of women in the US IT industry - engages under-
representation of women in the industry (theorisation)
and interventions to increase it (transformation)
Ongoing Debates!
(An introduction…)
Transcending the mainframe heritage (Sørensen, 2016):
digitalisation leading to new object of interest in IS
New theoretical approaches: from the four-pronged
paradigm (Avgerou, 2000) to the emergence of localised
approaches and indigenous theories
Thematic & geographic boundaries of the IS field: (how)
have these evolved over time?
To Recap…
We have introduced the field of Information Systems (IS)
as centred on the participation of information and
communication technology to, and impact on,
organisations and society
We have discussed five main thematic areas of interest
in IS research, and four main theoretical perspectives on
which IS research is based
This equips us to deal with the methodologies and
methods of IS research!
THANK YOU!
