Information Systems collaborations as boundary spanning: initial survey in a sample of Journals

Information-systems (IS) has become a 'broad church' that includes academics and practitioners in several areas of theory and application. Although collaborations among these and other groups are hailed as a wealthy sign, it is not clear yet though how collaborations are really contributing to firm up, maintain or expand the boundaries of IS as a relevant discipline. We assess the extent to which activities of collaboration in IS have contributed to its development by contextualizing the notion of boundary spanning (BS) from two perspectives, one which privileges the creation and/or accumulation of knowledge; and other which privileges the gaining of jurisdiction over a set of problems. Results of a pilot survey involving four journals and implications for the future development of collaborations are reported. Results indicate that BS is still seen as a process of knowledge accumulation and with it a view of IS as in continuous process of expansion. Further research is needed to study in more depth the dynamics of IS.