An Analysis of the Conceptual Underpinnings of IS Research: The Quest for A New Ontology

경영정보학 연구의 인식론적 분석

This essay traverses the ontological space of IS research and identifies various misconceptions, biases, and conceptual peculiarities that inhabit the research. Three aspects of the IS ontology are examined: the conceptualization of the IT construct, demarcation of phenomena for investigation, and conceptual binding of the IT construct to other constructs. Various ontological issues are discussed including the transparency of the IT construct, the objectification of IT, and the causal primacy assigned to IT. The ontological purviews are further explored and their inadequacies are traced in the structurational explication of IS phenomena. At the end, some epistemological implications of the IS ontology are discussed and a two-tier theory structure is proposed for IS research.