Background
and Key Motivation
It is hard not to notice that an
increasing number of cross-cultural studies in Information
Systems are being published in top mainstream MIS outlets in
the last few years. Davis and Martinsons presented an
informal analysis showing that trend in their editorial of a
special issue of IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
(Feb 2003) on Cultural Issues and IT Management. For
instance, there were about 150 publications in IS and culture
in the 1994-1997 period, whereas the period 1998-2001 had over
210. Earlier calls for “field maturation” seem to have
been heeded, resulting in studies not only relevant but also
rigorous. This is true notwithstanding the inherent
difficulties in performing high quality cross-cultural
research; funding, coordination and time delays are just some
of the key issues that come to mind.
However, this is just the
beginning. Cross-cultural studies could hold the key for
studies that not only develop new theory but also extend
current ones in so-called boundary situations, where some of
the unspoken premises leading to their creation are the
implicit workings of the North American or European
cultures. Therefore, there is a need to support such
endeavours in a broader way than currently available.
This SIG tries to address ways to partially institutionalize
some of this support to cross-cultural research in IS.
This is partially done with the
organization of the CCRIS meetings (Cross-Cultural Research in
IS Annual Meeting) concurrently with ICIS for the last eleven
years in a row. The objective of this meeting has been to
congregate researchers interested in the topic and to provide a
venue for discussion and presentation of not only finished
products but also research-in-progress. The availability
of a recognized, stable and well-known venue for meetings is
one of the benefits immediately available to SIGCCRIS.
Moreover, there is a need for a common vehicle where from
researchers may share their needs, questions and knowledge
throughout the year as well. A distribution list will be
implemented to simplify communication between the members of
the SIG. Plans also include a threaded discussion.
Please come back to this web site for more information.
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