Overview of Information Systems Research in China: An Empirical Study

The study aims to develop an overview of information systems (IS) research in China in recent years and to identify the similarities and the differences between North American and Chinese IS research from four perspectives: reference discipline, research topics, research methods, and unit/level of analysis. A total of 604 research papers published in 18 leading Chinese academic journals from 1999 to 2003 were identified and reviewed. A categorization approach developed in previous studies was adopted to classify the IS research. The results show: 1) IS itself represented the major reference discipline used as the theoretical basis for the studies, and IS research in China does not demonstrate reliance on a single theory; 2) IS researchers in China have been clearly focused on organizational and system/software issues; 3) Non-Empirical Study was dominant in the field of IS research in China; 4) the majority of studies were conducted at the organization and system level. Group/team and individual level issues were not studied extensively.