ERIC EJ1064286: Characteristics of Information Systems and Business Informatics Study Programs

2011·0.54 MB·English

by  ERIC

InformaticsinEducation,2011,Vol.10,No.1,13–36 13
©2011VilniusUniversity
Characteristics of Information Systems and
Business Informatics Study Programs
MarkusHELFERT
SchoolofComputing,DublinCityUniversity
Glasnevin,Dublin9,Ireland
e-mail:[email protected]
Received:October2010
Abstract.OverthelastdecadethereisanintensivediscussionwithintheInformationSystems(IS)
andInformaticscommunityaboutthecharacteristicsandidentityofthediscipline.Simultaneously
withthediscussion,thereisanongoingdebateonessentialskillsandcapabilitiesofISandBusi-
nessInformaticsgraduatesaswellastheprofileofISprograms.Withthispaperwerecognizethe
need fordifferent ISperspectives resulting in diverse study profiles.We developed a framework
forstructuringinformationsystemsstudyprogramsandcharacterizedsomeofthedifferencesin
study programs. The results from this study are based on a survey and workshops with domain
exerts,bothfromacademiaandpractice.Thedescriptiveresultsfromthesurveyarepresented,and
showthediversityofstudyprograms,bothonmasterandbachelorlevel.AsanexampleforanIS
profilewesummarizeareferencestructureforBusinessInformaticsstudyprograms,whichaims
toprovideguidanceforcurriculumdevelopmentandtostimulatefurtherdebateonIScurriculum
development.
Keywords:informationsystems,businessinformatics,curriculum,studyprograms,studyprofile.
1. Introduction
WithintheInformationSystems(IS)disciplinethereisanextensiveandongoingdiscus-
sion about the core concepts and characteristics of the discipline. Due to the high con-
troversy of the discussion and the unclear direction of the IS discipline, the discussion
is often summarized as the “identity crises of IS”. In response to Benbasat and Zmud’s
(2003)contributionabouttheidentitycrisesofISmuchdebatehasbeenfocusedonwhat
constitutesISasadiscipline(HirschheimandKlein,2003).Theperspectivesofthedis-
ciplinerangefromatechnicalfocusedandintimatelyrelationbetweeninformationtech-
nology(IT)andinformationsystemsontheonehand(BenbasatandZmud,2003),toa
broadperspectiveof“systemsinorganizations”ontheother(Alter,2003).
ManycontributionshaveemphasizedthemultidisciplinarycharacterofIS,butmany
simultaneouslyhavestatedthelackofconcretetheoreticalfoundations,theoriesorcon-
ceptsthatareacceptedbythemajorityofISresearchers.ItisarguedthattheISdiscipline
is inherently pluralistic with a diversity in problems researched (Bakshi and Krishna,
2007). Although IT is generally accepted as a major element in IS (e.g., Benbasat and
Zmud, 2003; Orlikowski and Iacono, 2001), there are claims that IS is fundamentally
14 M.Helfert
rootedmoreinmanagementthanincomputingorIT(Dicksonetal.,1982).Recentde-
bates focused on whether IS is primarily linked and part of the business discipline or
if the IS discipline itself can complement other domains, like healthcare or public ad-
ministration.Thisongoingdiscussionreiteratesthekeyproblemofidentifyingthecore
concepts and themes of the IS discipline. In addition, regularly the research outputs of
theIScommunityarealsoquestionedbothbyacademiaandpractitioners,andfrequently
consideredlessrigorous,withlimitedrelevance.
Despitetheextensivedebateandmanyvaluablecontributionsoverthelastyears,obvi-
ouslythereisaneedtocontinuetheworkonclarifyingcoreconceptsofISasadiscipline.
It couldbe arguedthatthelack of aclear identityis duetothe relativelyimmaturityof
the discipline; however after more than four decades of research these arguments seem
tolosevalidity.Weacknowledgethatanongoingdiscussionaboutessentialfoundations
and concepts is required and, due to the dynamics of the discipline, periodical reviews
areessential.
The limits in the overall foundation of IS and lack of clear concepts have serious
implicationsforISdepartmentsandindividualresearchersaswellasthedisciplineasa
whole.Forinstance,thelackofadistinctidentityresultsinanimpreciseresearchagenda
thatdistractstheattentionfrominvestigatingcriticalresearchquestions.Thisinturnre-
duces the ability to make significant contributions to the body of knowledge in IS. Re-
searchersandISdepartmentsareforcedtoarguecontinuouslyaboutthevalue,rigorand
relevancy of their research. This in turn affects the capacity of the discipline to acquire
adequate funding, resourcing and furthermore to design attractive study programs. IS
researchers face increasing difficulties to compete for research funding, combined with
a general decline in collaborative research activity with industry. The continuation and
indeed its acceleration of the crisis is clearly visible, that despite the increasing impor-
tanceofITingeneral,atthesametimeIScoursesaredisappearing,significantresearch
activitiesledbyISresearchersarerarelyappearingandevenISdepartmentsareatrisk.
SimultaneouslywiththediscussionabouttheidentityoftheISdiscipline,thereisan
ongoing debate on essential skills and capabilities of IS graduates and the profile of IS
courses.Thereareargumentsthatcomputinggraduatesarebetterqualifiedfortechnical
orientedjobs,withISgraduatesoftenlackingessentialtechnicalandprogrammingcapa-
bilities.Atthesametime,ISgraduatesfinditdifficulttocompetewiththehighnumber
of business graduates. The debate along the IS curriculum and course development is
echoedindiscussionsinnumerousISdepartmentsandamongfaculty.Schoolswithtra-
ditional computing degree programs are incorporating business aspects and developing
variationsinmanyoftheirITprograms(Laundryetal.,2003).Atthesametime,business
schoolsareextendingtheirprogramportfolioandareofferingvarioustypesofmanage-
mentinformationsystemscoursesandcourseswithacomputingandITelement.Many
attempts have been made to develop frameworks for information systems (e.g., Bacon
andFitzgerald,2001)andtoprovidereferencesforcurricula.However,asyet,universi-
ties and academics are facing the challenge of deciding the direction and content of IS
studyprograms.
Foranareawithamultidisciplinarycharacterweacceptthatdifferentprogramswith
an emphasis of selected aspects of IS are essential and necessary (e.g., Benbasat and
CharacteristicsofInformationSystemsandBusinessInformaticsStudyPrograms 15
Zmud, 2003; DeSanctis, 2003; Galliers, 2003; Klein and Hirschheim, 2003; Lyytinen
and King, 2004; Orlikowski and Lacono, 2001; Robey, 2003; Straub, 2003). However,
asfrequentdiscussionsamongISfacultyaboutthecoreelementsandsubjectsofISde-
grees indicate, there is a certain level of uncertainty within the discipline. Among IS
academics, there are various views on the aim and the profile of IS study programs. It
is argued, that IS degrees should provide a broad business and real world perspective,
stronganalyticalandcriticalthinkingskills,interpersonalcommunicationandteamskills
aswellascoreknowledgeofIS.Theseskillsshouldbecombinedwithasolidmethod-
ological foundation in design and implementation of information technology solutions
that enhance organizational performance (Disterer et al., 2003; Gorgone et al. 2002a).
Furthermore,manyacademicsandpractitionerswithintheISdisciplineargueforasolid
knowledge and practice in software engineering, programming and computing technol-
ogy.Followingsomedebates,asforinstanceonthemailinglist“ISWorld”,itseemsthat
theIScurriculumshouldincludemany(ifnotall)relatedsubjectsrangingfrombusiness
andinformationsystemstrategytomanagementandmarketing,organizationalconcepts,
modelling and information systems architecture, programming, mathematics, statistics
andoperationsresearchaswellascomputing,networkingandInformationandCommu-
nicationTechnologies(ICT).Inaddition,thecomplaintsoftenreportedonaregularbasis
frompractitionersarethatuniversityeducatorsdonotpreparetheirstudentsadequately
forthedemandsoftherealprofessionalcareerfocusedworld.
Addressingtheneedforguidanceanddirection,severalreferencecurriculawerede-
velopedandareunderconstantrevisions(Topietal.,2007).Someoftheprominentrefer-
encecurricularelatedtoinformationsystemsincludetheIS2002:CurriculumGuidelines
forUndergraduateDegreeProgramsinInformationSystems(Gorgoneetal.,2002a,Gor-
goneetal.,2002b)andtheMSIS2000:ModelCurriculumandGuidelinesforGraduate
DegreeProgramsinInformationSystems(Gorgoneetal.,2000).
In order to contribute to debates on IS curricula, with this paper we recognize the
needfordifferentISperspectivesresultsindiversestudyprofiles.Thispaperpresentsa
study investigating the profile of IS and contribute a reference structure for a Business
Informatics (BI) study programs, as one example for an IS profile. Complementing the
reference curricula such as IS2002 and MISI2000, objective of this paper is to provide
guidelinesforthefacultyinuniversitiestodesignIS.Theresultspresentedinthisarticle
are centred on a survey conducted between 2007 and 2008 among academics teaching
ISandBIprograms.Inparallelandsubsequenttothesurvey,theresultsarereflectedby
experiencesmadeduringaseriesofmeetingsandpaneldiscussionsamongISexpertsat
theEuropeanConferenceofISduring2007to2009.
Theremainderofthisarticleisstructuredasfollows:InSection2wereviewselected
IS curricula. In Section 3 we present our IS evaluation framework and study design,
followedbyanalyzingandpresentingourresultsinSection4.Beforewesummarizeand
concludeourworkinSection6,wepresentanexampleofanISprofilerelatedtoBusiness
InformaticsthatwasdevelopedduringanEuropeancurriculumdevelopmentproject.
16 M.Helfert
2. RelatedWork–SelectedISCurricula
Asmentionedabovethereareseveralreferencecurriculapresent,andthustheworkpre-
sentedinthisarticlecanbuildonalmost30yearsofexperienceinIScurriculumdevelop-
ment.OurworkcombinestwomostprominentundergraduateandgraduateIScurricula
which are extended by one important European based referred reference curriculum in
BI:
• themodelcurriculumandguidelinesforgraduatedegreeprogramsininformation
systems(MSIS2000)(Gorgoneetal.,2000);
• the most recent version of the information systems undergraduate model curricu-
lum(IS2002)(Gorgoneetal.,2002a)and
• therecommendationforbusinessinformaticsatuniversities(BIrecommendation)
(GesellschaftfürInformatik,2003).
The model curricula MSIS2000 and the IS2002 are frequently mentioned in many
discussionsandare themostcomprehensiveIS referencecurricula.Thecurriculaaccu-
mulate long experience in IS curriculum development and provide a coherent structure
forastudyprogramininformationsystems.Thecurriculaaredetaileddescriptionofref-
erence study programs and contents, which explicitly combine three major disciplines:
computerscience,softwareengineering,andinformationsystems.Historicallythemodel
curricula are primarily based on the educational system and degree structures common
totheUSAandCanada,andassuchthecurriculaaresometimescriticizedwithlimited
acceptance,useandadaptabilityoutsideofNorthAmerica.Nonetheless,duetotheirrel-
evanceandlevelofdetail,themodelcurriculaarerelevantandappropriateforourstudy,
inordertobuildourstudyandevaluationframework.
In our work we refer to the IS 2002 model curriculum as the most prominent ver-
sionforanundergraduateIScurriculum;althoughthecurrentversioniscurrentlyunder
review by a joint ACM/AIS task force (Topi et al., 2007). The IS 2002 includes de-
tailed course descriptions and prescriptive advice on how to offer an IS undergraduate
degreeprogram.Onamasterlevel,theMSIS2000modelcurriculumwaspublishedby
ACM and AIS as a guideline for master degree programs in information systems. The
curriculum is designed to accommodate students from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Itconsidersasetofinterrelatedbuildingblocksincludingfoundationalskills,coresub-
jects,integrationsubjects,andcareertracks.Emphasizingoncareerdevelopmentskills,
thecurriculumincludes:oral,written,andpresentationskills;peopleandbusinessskills;
ethicsandprofessionalism.
Thetwoleveleducationalstructuresunderlyingthecurriculaprovedtobeofadvan-
tageforourstudy,asdrivenbythesocalled“BolognaAgreement”manyEuropeanuni-
versitiesarerestructuringtheirstudyprogramstowardsa2-phasecurriculumwithBach-
elorandMasterDegrees.
Thethirdcurriculaweused,therecommendationforBusinessInformatics(BI),isis-
suedbytheGermanSocietyforInformaticsandtheAssociationofUniversityProfessors
of Management,Germany.Itis aimedatprovidingcommondirectionsfor educationin
businessinformaticsatuniversities.IncontrasttotheMSIScurriculum,whichprovides
CharacteristicsofInformationSystemsandBusinessInformaticsStudyPrograms 17
a detailed recommendation for a curriculum, the BI recommendation is intended as a
guidelineandisfocusedonkeyqualificationsandcoresubjectstobetaught.
3. StudyDesignandISEvaluationFramework
Theworkpresentedinthisarticlerepresentsresultsfromasurveyandastudythatwas
conductedbetween2007and2009.Aninitialsurveyin2007wassubsequentlyfollowed
bymeetingsandinterviewswithdomainexpertsinordertoinvestigatetheperceptionof
academicsinIS.Complementingourresultswewereinvolvedinamajorcurriculumde-
velopmentprojectinEurope.Theworkpresentedinthisarticleissubsequenttoanearlier
study,inwhichweinvestigateddifferencesbetweenISandBIstudyprograms(Helfert,
2008).InordertoavailoftherichexperienceinIScurricula,weamalgamatedthethree
prominent curriculum guidelines described above and developed an evaluation frame-
work.Inordertoclustersubjectsandtomatchtheconsolidatedlistoftaughtsubjects,we
customized the initial framework in an iterative process involving expert opinion from
10 academics from different countries. The framework was also discussed and refined
atinternationalconferences(e.g.,Helfert,2007;HelfertandDuncan,2006,Helfertand
Duncan,2007).
ThestructurefollowstheproposedcurriculumbuildingblocksintheMSIScurricu-
lum. However, in order to accommodate particular subjects taught in some study pro-
grams,weaddedsubjectblocksofmathematicsandlogic,structuralscience,legislation,
andeconomics,andbusinessengineering.Wealsoincludedtaughtbusinesssubjects,for
example logistics, procurement, and supply chain management. The list of career elec-
tives and domain specific subjects presented here illustrates no more than some of the
possibletopics.ThefinalframeworkispresentedinTable1.
Based on the framework and the principle building blocks we designed a question-
naire (see Appendix B) comprising of five main questions. With the first question par-
ticipantscanoptionallyprovidename,emailandinstitutionaldetails.Questiontwoasks
about the levels of degree programs offered by the university (e.g., Bachelor or Master
programs). Question 3 provides some insight into the responsibilities for the program,
as well as the numberof semesters for completionand the number of students enrolled
intheprogram.Question4aimedtoenquireaboutthegeneraldirectionoftheprogram,
whether a reference curriculum was used in the design of the program, the main focus
andtheprerequisites.
The main question of the questionnaire is question 5, in which we used a constant-
sumallocationforthevarioussubjects.Therespondentshadtoallocateanddistribute100
pointsto20subjects.AsoutlinedinFig.1,forourwebbasedsurveyweprogrammeda
constant-sumquestiontypeusing“sliderbars”.Thequestionrepresentsbuildingblocks
andtopicspresentedintheframeworkabovesummarizing20topicsthatrepresentcom-
monaspectstaughtinbusinessinformaticsandinformationsystemsdegrees.Participants
are asked to indicate the relative importance of the topics by distributing 100 available
pointsamongthesliders.
18 M.Helfert
Table1
Frameworkforinformationsystemsstudyprograms
Fundamentals Businessand Information Integrationand Domain-specific
inInformatics Economics Systems Enterprise careerelectives
Engineering (representative)
Informationand Accountingand Fundamentalsof Business Academiaand
Communication Financing InformationSystems Engineeringand Research
Technology (typesofIS,IS Information Biochemistryand
Marketing,
(Hardware, industry, System MolecularBiology
Production,
Software, ISrelevant Architecture Consulting
Procurement,
Networksand legalframeworks, ConsumerHealth
Logistics, Integrating
Communication ManagementandIS) Information
SupplyChain Information
Technology) Customer
Management Principlesof System
Relationship
Programming Business Functions,
Organization, Management
andAlgorithms, InformationSystems Processes
human DataWarehousing
DataandObject (principlesof andData
resourcesand DecisionMaking
Structures functionaland
corporate Integrating E-Government
processorientation
Mathematics management Information Electronic
andindustry
and Logic (Analy- System Commerce
sis, Legislationand solutions) Technologies Electronic
linearAlgebra, Economics DataEngineering andSystems Publishing
Numeric,Logic) (Datamodelingand Environmental
management, management
Structural knowledge Financingand
Science engineeringand Banking
(Decisiontheory business Healthcare
andmethodsfor intelligence) Information
strategic HumanFactors
decisionmaking Systemand Insurance
(e.g.,riskanalysis), Software Management
statisticsand Engineering Knowledge
quantitative (analysis,modeling Management
modelsand anddesign) LibraryServices
methods, Multimedia
ManagingData
operations Technologies
Communicationand
research, ResearchLibraries
Networking
computational Techniquesof
modelingand Information IT-consulting
simulation) Management Technology
(Information, Management
Knowledgeand
People,Projectand
Change
Management,
IS/ITPolicyand
Strategy,Ethicsand
Privacy)
CharacteristicsofInformationSystemsandBusinessInformaticsStudyPrograms 19
Fig.1.FrameworktoevaluatetopicsinBusinessInformatics.
Thesurveywasprovidedbymeansofanonline(webbased)questionnaire.Usinga
contactlistfromourpreviousstudy(Helfert,2007)containing165relevantcontacts,an
invitation to participate in our survey was sent out directly to academics and program
coordinators involved in business informatics and information systems programs in the
UK,IrelandandtheGerman-speakingarea.WeexplicitlyfocusedonEuropeancontacts
inordertocomplementtheoftenNorthAmericanperspectiveinIScurriculumdevelop-
ment.Howeverinordertoextendourdatasample,wealsodistributedanemailinviting
forparticipationtotheemaildistributionlistson“ISWorld”andtotheGermanBusiness
Informatics community(“WI List”). We describedthe survey and its objectivesas well
ascontextwithintheinvitationletterandonthesurveywebpage.Thesurveywascarried
outinMarchandApril2007,withasubsequentdataanalysisphase.
4. ResultsandAnalysis
Subsequent to the data collection we carried out a descriptive data analysis. In order to
describetheresultsinthissectionwefirstillustratethebroadercontextinwhichISde-
greesareoffered,beforewemoveontoacloserexaminationofthecontentofthedegree
programs.Intotalwereceived81responsesofwhichtwooftheresponsesindicatedthat
they do not offer any related study program and two responses was incomplete. Subse-
quently we excluded the responses from the further analysis resulting in 77 valid and
completeresponses.Allowingformultidegreeofferings,72respondentsindicatedtoof-
20 M.Helfert
Fig.2.Overviewstudyprograms.
Table2
Degree–facultyallocation
Bachelor Master
Business 60.0% 36.8%
Computing 30.0% 26.3%
IS/BusinessInformatics 10.0% 36.8%
feraBachelorDegree,54aMaster,25aDiplomaand10anotherdegree(mostlyPhD).
ThedistributionandoverlapbetweendegreeprogramscanbeobservedinFig.2.
On closer examination, the diploma courses are offered in continental Europe and
areequivalenttoaMasterqualification.ThereforewecombineMasterandDiplomainto
one category (N = 57) for the subsequent analyses. As stated in the questionnaire, we
only considered the highest degree for allocating topics, resulting that we had N = 20
respondentsforBachelorlevel.
RegardingtheFacultytowhichtheprogramsbelong,weobservethefollowingdata
(Table2).36.6percentofrespondentswhoofferedaMasterdegreehavetheirownIS/BI
department, in contrast to only 10 percent of Bachelor degrees, indicating that many
bachelordegreesareofferedwithinabroaderbusinessandcomputingdepartment.This
underpins our earlier discussion, that computing and business departments often offer
variationsofISdegrees.
5. NumberofStudentsandStudyDuration
Regardingthenumberofstudentsenrolledweobservedthefollowingresult.Threeuni-
versitiesstatedthattheyenrolled500ormorestudents(oneuniversityfromChinawith
CharacteristicsofInformationSystemsandBusinessInformaticsStudyPrograms 21
2000students,oneuniversityfromtheUSAwith800,andoneuniversityfromSlovenia
with500students).Thesestudentnumbers differ significant,comparedwithotherUni-
versitieswithaminimumof10studentsandaMeanof119students(StandardDev.256).
Therefore we decided not to consider the 3 universities when analyzing the enrolment
numbersinthefollowing.5Universitiesdidnotprovideanyfiguresregardingenrolment,
thusweconsidered69validresponsesregardingthenumberofstudentsenrolledinthe
program,asdemonstratedintheTable3andFig.3.
Regardingthefuturetrendofstudentnumbers,40percentexpectstabilityinthenum-
berofstudents,whereas30percentexpecteitheranincreaseordecreaseinthenumbers
(Table4).
Thedurationofthestudyprograms(Fig.4)differfrombachelordegreewithamean
of6.94semesters(standarddev.1.589)to5.76(standarddev.2.38)semestersonamaster
level. The relative high duration on a Master level might be the result of integrated or
interlinkedcoursesbetweenbachelorandmasterlevel.
Table3
Studentnumbers
Bachelor Master Overall
Mean 53.61 85.0 76.81
Std.deviation 39.677 82.31 74.619
N 18 51 69
Fig.3.Numberofstudentsenrolledinprograms.
22 M.Helfert
Table4
Futuretrendofstudentnumbers
Bachelor Master Overall
Stable 45.0% 38.6% 40.3%
Increasing 30.0% 29.8% 29.9%
Decreasing 25.0% 31.6% 29.9%
Fig.4.Durationofstudyprograms.
6. CurriculaDevelopmentandContent
When analyzing the general design of the study programs and curricula development,
only30percentusedtheMSIS&IS2002asorientationtodeveloptheirstudyprograms.
MostUniversitiesadaptedsimilarstudyprogramsorusedindustrydemandsandexpertise
withinthedepartmentoruniversityasguidelinestodevelopastudyprogram(Table5).
InordertoconfirmourinitialcategorizationinTable1,weconductedafactoranal-
ysis.Thebestresultidentified6factors,howeverwithdifferentaccentuationofsubjects
(seeTableA1inAppendixA)andthuswereinconclusive.Forthisreasonwedecidednot
to cluster topics accordingly and to analyze the content of the study programs in detail
alongeachindividualsubject.
Table5
Studyprogramguidance
Similar MSIS&IS2002 Industry Expertise
45.5% 29.9% 66.2% 87.0%