How autonomy is used in information systems research: Status quo and prospective opportunities

Abstract

Autonomy is a pivotal concept that allows researchers to investigate important aspects such as job-related outcomes in Information Systems (IS) research. With the increase of mobile technologies, autonomy is increasingly gaining importance. Given the growing body of research in this area, this research presents the results of a systematic literature review. Our results show in detail how autonomy has been used and identifies fruitful avenues for future research. Specifically, we suggest that future research should contextualize autonomy to give it a central theoretical significance for IS research. Moreover, future research should also acknowledge the multidimensional facets of autonomy to enhance its explanatory power.