A Study on the Scientific Status of MIS

경영정보학의 학문적 위상에 관한 연구

The inability of the management information systems (MIS) field to progress as a scientific discipline has been attributed to the lack of systematic research and a cumulative tradition, an identity crisis, and the poverty of scientism. While research on the status of MIS is very important in order to enhance the field as a scientific discipline, few have investigated this issue. Following Thomas Kuhn's idea of paradigm, this paper studies other fields to investigate when they progressed, when they did not, and why. After research paradigm was broken down into technology-push and demand-pull types, a model on the science life cycle was developed in an effort to explain the path how a science has progressed. A test of this model in the fields of physics and chemistry with an old historial background reveals that the scientific progress in the area of demand-pull is more desirable if this progress turns out to be in the right direction. An application of the model to the MIS field shows that the research paradigm in this field is mainly of technology-push. In order to shift this paradigm toward the demand-pull area, this paper suggests the research on the relationship among MIS subfields and the adoption of appropriate reference disciplines.