The Slippery Slope of MIS Academia: A Discussion of the Quest for Relevance in Our Discipline

The MIS discipline faces the need to periodically re-establish its relevance to both academics and practitioners. Evolving technology forces our discipline to change at a rate far exceeding that of other business disciplines. In the workplace, rapidly evolving IT management issues and technologies have led corporations to manage technical employees differently than other employees. In academia, however, MIS faculty are faced with the same expectations as other business faculty. The current model of MIS as an academic discipline has many issues that make staying current and relevant very difficult. The result is that MIS research and teaching lag practice. One might argue that as the field matures, we are falling further behind. This paper is the outcome of a panel discussion held during the 2006 Americas Conference on Information Systems in Acapulco, Mexico. The panel discussed the assertions that MIS is on a “Slippery Slope” that threatens our existence as a business discipline and that our current model encourages irrelevance, both in research and in teaching. Panel members were asked to share their views on five questions relative to the Slippery Slope from their unique perspectives. Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 18, 2006), 657-675 658 The Slippery Slope Of MIS Academia: A Discussion Of The Quest For Relevance In Our Discipline by J. Benamati, M.A. Serva, D. Galletta, A. Harris and F. Niederman I. IS MIS ON A SLIPPERY SLOPE? As the demands of research and rapidly changing technology continue to overwhelm MIS faculty, the discipline faces a stark reality. MIS class sizes have dropped substantially. Although the economy may be partially to blame, the decrease is also likely attributable to a lack of relevance of course content and research. As standards for tenure and promotion continue to climb, MIS faculty struggle harder and harder to stay current with an ever-changing mix of technology. Time spent learning about new technology is not rewarded and comes at the expense of research, which is highly rewarded. MIS research is criticized as out of touch with the business world, yet faculty continue to be rewarded for publishing articles that only MIS faculty read. Concerns exist that MIS lags practice on both fronts. More importantly, as technology and its applications race ahead, the MIS discipline will fall further behind—hence, the “Slippery Slope.” These provocative statements framed a panel discussion at the 2006 Americas Conference on Information Systems conference in Acapulco, Mexico. The motivation of the panel was to open discussion of the MIS discipline’s inability (or unwillingness) to motivate relevance. This paper discusses the notion of an MIS Slippery Slope, outlines the panel and its participants, and summarizes what was discussed at the conference.