“are We in Crisis?” an Assessment of Thirty Years of Introspection in Is

Numerous scholars claim that the field of IS is presently undergoing an identity crisis, which may have important consequences for the future. However, there exists little empirical evidence to assess whether this is true or not. This paper reviews the different introspective episodes in IS since its inception by analyzing the epistemological and methodological papers published in three main journals. The analysis indicates that the nature of the present episode is different than previous ones and resembles an identity crisis. The implications of this analysis for the field are discussed. 1 The authors would like to thank professor Henri Barki for his valuable comments and recommendations in the early stage of this work. Olivier Caya, (Ph. D. student) Faculty of Management McGill University & Université de Sherbrooke Alain Pinsonneault, Ph. D. Faculty of Management McGill University