A consideration for researcher career retrospectives in information systems and organization studies

Abstract

This essay considers the researcher career retrospective (RCR) as an emerging publication genre in information systems (IS) and organization studies (OS). I assess two recent career texts, by/of Daniel Robey and John Van Maanen, as representative exemplars of this genre. I outline the genre, and identify resemblance between this and three genres of academic writing - namely career studies, IS history, and tribute. RCR fills an important niche within IS/OS publishing, and is especially needed in the Scandinavian IS research, in which it is currently absent. The 38 years of the IRIS conference, and 27 years of the SJIS journal, coincide with the careers of dozens of researchers. Reflection on these careers would provide much value for younger researchers and for the whole research community.