Gary Dickson Exemplar: Applying IRSS Psychology Discourse

In a recent Decision Sciences Journal on Innovative Education article, my colleagues and I used Involvement-Regimen-Self Management-Social (IRSS) network theory as defined by Boice [1992] to assess mentor and mentee experiences among under-represented Information Systems (IS) doctoral students and faculty [Payton, White and Mbarika 2005]. IRSS is defined as InvolvementRegimen-Self Management-Social activities intended to delineate and advise newly-minted doctorates into the professoriate. Boice’s framework fosters the establishment of professional support initiatives warranted for career progression and is critical as neophytes to the field attempt to balance the three pillars often characterizing academic life: teaching, research, and service. Though Boice [1992] centers his research in the context of actions and behaviors of newly-minted doctorates and others [Payton et al. 2005] examined those forthcoming to the professoriate, this article focuses on how Gary W. Dickson influenced my thinking about and applying IRSS in my academic career.