3. Characterising academic information systems in Australia: developing and evaluating a theoretical framework

The study reported in this monograph aims to investigate the state of the information systems (IS) academic discipline in Australia from a historical and current perspective, collecting evidence across a range of dimensions. To maximise the strategic potential of the study, the results need to be capable of integration, so that the relationships within and across the dimensions and geographical units are understood. A meaningful theoretical framework will help relate the results of the different dimensions of the study to characterise the discipline in the region, and assist in empowering the Australian IS research community. This chapter reviewed literature on the development of disciplines, before deriving a theoretical framework for the broader study reported in this volume. The framework considered the current and past state of IS in Australian universities from the perspective of the development of a discipline. The components of the framework were derived and validated through a thematic analysis of the IS and non-IS literature. This chapter also presents brief vignettes of the development of two other related disciplines. The framework developed in this chapter, which has been guided partly by Whitley’s theory of scientific change, has been used elsewhere to analyse data collated from the Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory. The degree of variation in Australian IS as an indication of its ‘professionalisation’, the nature of its body of knowledge and its mechanisms of control will be used to frame the analysis. Information systems is acknowledged as a discipline that is subject to frequent change. Pragmatism is used as an example to test the framework’s capability of accommodating future changes in IS. Information systems scholars from three other world regions—North America, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia—have commented on the application of the framework to their own region. Research reported