The Information Systems Academic Discipline in Hong Kong

This paper looks to the history of the development of Information Systems in Hong Kong as a contextual base for examining the Information Systems discipline in Hong Kong. The historical analysis highlights the newness of Information Systems as an academic discipline in Hong Kong, dating back little more than 20 years. The study reports on data from eight of the ten universities in Hong Kong. All Information Systems groups in Hong Kong universities are shown to be located in business schools, with almost all groups having no separate Information Systems identity. Few Information Systems academics in Hong Kong are reported to have senior faculty positions. In keeping with the placement of Information Systems groups, and reflective of Hong Kong’s status as a world finance centre, Information Systems curricula are shown to have a level of consistency across the state, with a heavy business component. By contrast, the study reports diversity in Information Systems research topics and research methods. Although the data analysed suggests that that the Information Systems discipline is immature in Hong Kong, evidence of a strong turnaround in ICT in Hong Kong and the recent establishment of the Hong Kong Association for Information Systems suggest a basis for boosting the status of Information Systems as a discipline in Hong Kong universities.