The value of information systems teaching and research in the knowledge society

Abstract

Governments and businesses are becoming ever more interested in the production and capitalisation of knowledge, so much so that the 'knowledge economy' is now regarded as the paradigm of economic progress. This has significant implications for teaching and research generally, and for the IS community in particular. This paper provides a brief analysis of general developments in higher education to provide a context for discussing the developments specific to IS. Stakeholder analysis is then used to identify the main responsibilities and pressures placed upon the IS academic community. Using the stakeholder analysis as a set of 'requirements' that the IS academic community must balance, several ways in which IS teaching and research can better contribute value to the various stakeholder groups are identified. Throughout the paper, several 'policy level' recommendations are made that could lead to the IS community being better able to manage the pressures exerted by different stakeholder groups and, consequently, being more able to address a broad range of commercial and social issues.