The Evolution of Research on Information Systems:

The development of the Information Systems (IS) literature in Management Science during the past fifty years reflects the inception, growth and maturation of several different research streams. The five research streams we identify incorporate different definitions of the managerial problems that relate to IS, the alternate theoretical perspectives and different methodological paradigms to study them, and the levels of the organization at which their primary results impact managerial practice. The decision support and design science research stream studies the application of computers in decision support, control, and managerial decision making. The value of information research stream reflects the early relationships that were established based on economic analysis of information as a commodity in the management of the firm. The human-computer systems design research stream emphasizes the cognitive basis for effective systems design. The IS organization and strategy research stream shifts in level of analysis away from the system user to the locus of value of the system investment. The economics of information systems and technology research stream emphasizes the application of theoretical perspectives and methods from analytical and empirical economics to managerial problems involving IS and information technologies (IT). Based on a discussion of these streams, we provide new perspectives on the IS literature’s core contributions to theoretical and managerial knowledge, and make some predictions about the road that lies ahead for IS researchers.