The IS Core-IV: IS Research: A Third Way

Abstract

Historically, the IS community found little difficulty in producing rigorous research, but its relevance for the practitioner community is frequently questioned. While agreeing with the need for a sharper focus for IS research, this paper suggests that past problems with relevance can be avoided by engaging the academic and practitioner communities in setting a research agenda using an "open source" approach. Such an approach would assure that academic researchers remain focused on relevant issues in a fast-moving field, and offers an opportunity to draw the academic and practitioner communities closer together for their mutual benefit.