Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Determinants of faculty research productivity in information systems: An empirical analysis of the impact of academic origin and academic affiliation

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This manuscript provides guidance to Deans and other academic decision makers in the hiring process and dispels the validity of a widely held assumption commonly used as a decision factor in the selection process. This paper investigates: (a) whether graduates of prestigious information systems (IS) doctoral programs (graduates with high-status academic origins) are more likely to be successful in their academic careers (as measured by research productivity) than graduates of less prestigious programs, (b) whether IS faculty who are employed by esteemed universities (faculty with high-status academic affiliations) are more productive researchers than IS faculty employed by lower-status institutions, and (c) examines faculty productivity in terms of Lotka’s Law [Lotka, 1926]. The findings indicate that in the IS field, productivity does not follow a Lotka distribution. Moreover, our study also shows that academic affiliation is a significant determinant of research productivity in terms of quantity (as measured by publication counts) and quality (as measured by citation counts). Contrary to common expectations, however, the analysis shows that the status of a faculty member’s academic origin is not a significant determinant of research productivity in the field of information systems. Therefore, continued reliance on academic pedigree as a primary criterion for hiring decisions may not be justified in the IS discipline.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allison, P. D., Stewart, J. A. (1974). Productivity differences among scientists: Evidence for accumulative advantage. American Sociological Review, 39: 596–606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, J. S., Sperry, T. (1994). Business school prestige — research versus teaching. Interfaces, 24(2): 13–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Association for Information Systems (2007). Journal Rankings. Retrieved from http://www.isworld.org/csaunders/rankings.htm December 2007.

  • Athey, S., Plotnicki, J. (2000). An evaluation of research productivity in academic IT. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 3: 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. (1964). Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellas, M. L., Toutkoushian, R. K. (1999). Faculty time allocations and research productivity: Gender, race and family effects. The Review of Higher Education, 22(4): 367–390.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, J. M, Chanove, R. G., Fox, W. B. (1995). The review process and the fates of manuscripts submitted to AMJ. Academy of Management Journal, 38: 1219–1260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bharati P., Tarasewich, P. (2002). Global perceptions of journals publishing e-commerce research. Communications of the ACM, 45(5), 21–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bordons, M., Fernandez, M. T., Gomez, I. (2000). Advantages and limitations in the use of impact factor measures for the assessment of research performance in a peripheral country. Scientometrics, 53(2): 195–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cable, D. M., Murray, B. (1999). Tournaments versus sponsored mobility as determinants of job search success. Academy of Management Journal, 42(4): 439–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cartter, A. M. (1966). An Assessment of Quality in Graduate Education. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatman, J. A. (1989). Improving interactional organizational research: A model of person-organization fit. Academy of Management Review, 14: 333–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatman, J. A. (1991). Matching people and organizations: Selection and socialization in public accounting firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36: 459–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chua, C., Cao, L., Cousins, K., Straub, D. W. (2002). Measuring researcher-production in information systems. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 3: 145–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clemente, F., Sturgis, R. (1974). Quality of department of doctoral training and research productivity. Sociology of Education, 47: 287–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colman, A. M., Dhillon, D., Coulthard, B. (1995). A bibliometric evaluation of the research performance of British university politics departments: Publications in leading journals. Scientometrics, 32(1): 49–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crane, D. (1965). Scientists at major and minor universities: a study of productivity and recognition. American Sociological Review, 30(5): 699–714.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Aveni, R.A. (1996). A multiple-contingency, status-based approach to interorganizational mobility of faculty and input-output competition among top business schools. Organization Science, 7: 166–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, A. M. (1985). The money value of citations to single-authored and multiple-authored articles. Scientometrics, 8: 815–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doke, E. R., Luke, R. H. (1987). Perceived quality of CIS/MIS journals among faculty: publishing hierarchies. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 28(4): 30–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doke, E. R., Rebstock, S. E., Luke, R. H. (1995). Journal publishing preferences of CIS/MIS scholars: an empirical investigation. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 36(1): 49–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folger, J., Astin, H., Bayer, A. (1970). Human Resources and Higher Education. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler, A. R., Bushardt, S. C., Brooking, S. A. (1985). An analysis of the authorship of management-oriented journals: The relationship between school status, article type, publication outlet, and author academic position. The Journal of Business Communication, 22(3): 25–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, T. G. (2001). What’s an MIS paper worth? (An exploratory analysis). The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, 32(2): 14–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillenson, M. L., Stutz, J. (1991). Academic issues in MIS: Journals and books. MIS Quarterly, 15(4): 447–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B. (1992). Determinants of faculty pay: an agency theory perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 35: 921–955.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grover, V., Segars, A. H., Simon, S. J. (1992). An assessment of institutional research productivity in MIS. The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, 23(4): 5–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guan, J., Ma, N. (2004). A comparative study of research performance in computer science. Scientometrics, 61(3): 339–359.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Guimaraes, T. (1998). Assessing research productivity: important but neglected considerations. Decision Line, 18: 22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, B. M., Karisiddappa, C. R. (1996). Author productivity patterns in theoretical population genetics (1900–1980). Scientometrics, 36(1): 19–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, B. M., Kumar, S., Aggarwal, B. S. (1999). A comparison of productivity of male and female scientists of CSIR. Scientometrics, 45(2): 269–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, B. M., Kumar, S., Rousseau, R. (1998). Applicability of selected probability distributions to the number of authors per article in theoretical population genetics. Scientometrics, 42(3): 325–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagstrom, W. O. (1968). Departmental prestige and scientific productivity. Sociological Abstracts, 16(6): 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagstrom, W. O. (1971). Inputs, outputs, and the prestige of university science departments. Sociology of Education, 44: 375–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, S., Ives, B. (1983). The journal communication system for MIS research. The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, 14(2): 3–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hancock, T., Lane, J., Ray, R., Glennon, D. (1992). The ombudsman: factors influencing academic research productivity: A survey of management scientists. Interfaces, 22(5): 26–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardgrave, B. C., Walstrom, K. A. (1997). Forums for MIS scholars. Communications of the ACM, 40(11): 119–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henry, W. R., Burch, E. E. (1974). Institutional contributions to scholarly journals of business. Journal of Business, 47(1): 56–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, T. D. (1986). The publishing performance of U.S. Ph.D. programs in economics during the 1970s. Journal of Human Resources, 21:216–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holsapple, C. W., Johnson, L. E., Manakyan, H., Tanner, J. T. (1993). A citation analysis of business computing research journals. Information and Management, 25(5): 231–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holsapple, C. W., Johnson, L. E., Manakyan, H., Tanner, J. T. (1994). Business computing research journals: a normalized citation analysis. Journal of Management Information Systems, 11(1): 131–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu, Q., Gill, T. G. (2000). IS faculty research productivity: influential factors and implications. Information Resources Management Journal, 13(2): 15–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu, Q., Gill, T. G. (2002). An analysis of academic research productivity of information systems faculty. In: M. Khosrowpour (Ed.), Advanced Topics in Information Resources Management, (pp. 296–314). Hershey (PA): Idea Group Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Im, J. H., Hartman, S. (1997). The role of research in MIS faculty performance evaluation: an exploratory study. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 37(3): 37–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Im, K. S., Kim, K. Y., Kim, J. S. (1998). An assessment of individual and institutional research productivity in MIS. Decision Line, (December/January): 8–12.

  • Jacobs, F., Hartgraves, A., Beard, L. (1986). Publication productivity of doctoral alumni: a time adjusted model. The Accounting Review, 61: 179–187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaskolka G, Beyer J. M., Trice, H. M. (1985). Measuring and predicting managerial success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 26: 189–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jauch, L. R., Glueck, W. F. (1975). Evaluation of university professors’ research performance. Management Science, 22(1): 66–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jolson, M. A. (1974). Criteria for promotion and tenure: a faculty view. Academy of Management Journal, 17(1): 149–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Cable, D. M., Boudreau, J. W., Bretz, R. D. (1995). An empirical investigation of the predictors of executive career success. Personnel Psychology, 48: 485–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., Tversky, A. (1982). Judgement under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katerattanakul, P., Han, B., Hong, S. (2003). Objective quality ranking of computing journals. Communications of the ACM, 46(10): 111–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Konrad, A., Pfeffer, J. (1990). Do you get what you deserve? Factors affecting the relationship between productivity and pay. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35: 258–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koong, K. S., Weistroffer, H. R. (1989). Faculty usage of management information systems journals: A survey. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 30(1): 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laband, D. N. (1986). A ranking of the top U.S. economics departments by research productivity of graduates. Journal of Economic Education, 17: 70–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lane, J., Ray, R., Glennon, D. (1990). Work profiles of research statisticians. The American Statistician, 44(1): 9–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen, K. R. (1998). The damocles sword of academic publishing: Sharper students or duller sword in the MIS field? Crossroads of the ACM, 5(2): 7 pages.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsen, K. R., Neely, M. P. (2003). Profiles of MIS doctoral candidates: Ideals and reality. The Database for Advances in Information Systems, 31(3): 64–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazarsfeld, P. F., Thielans, W. (1958). The Academic Mind. Glencoe (IL): The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lending, D., Wetherbe, J. C. (1992). Update on MIS research: a profile of leading journals and U.S. universities. The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, 23(3): 5–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, R. G., Bowers, W. P., Barnett, T., White, M. C. (1998). Research productivity of graduates in management: Effects of academic origin and academic affiliation. Academy of Management Journal, 41(6): 704–714.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotka, A. J. (1926). The frequency distribution of scientific productivity. Journal of the Washington Academy Of Sciences, 16(12): 317–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manis, J. G. (1951). Some academic influences upon publication productivity. Social Forces, 29 (March): 267–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzer, B. (1949). The productivity of social scientists. American Journal of Sociology, 55: 25–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, L. J., Taylor, B. W. (1980). A study of institutional publications in business-related academic journals, 1972–1978. Quarterly Review of Economics and Business, 20(1): 87–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mylonopoulos, N., Theoharakis, V. (2001). Global perceptions of IS Journals: Where is the best IS research published? Communications of the ACM, 44(9): 29–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nath, R., Jackson, W. M. (1991). Productivity of management information systems researchers: Does Lotka’s law apply? Information Processing and Management, 27(2/3): 203–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nord, J. H., Nord, G. D. (1989). MIS research: Journal status assessment and analysis. Information & Management, 29: 29–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nwagwu, W. (2006). A bibliometric analysis of productivity patterns of biomedical authors of Nigeria during 1967–2002. Scientometrics, 69(2): 259–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peffers, K., Tang, Y. (2003). Identifying and evaluating the universe of outlets for information systems research: ranking the journals. The Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application, 5(1): 63–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petry, G., Settle, J. (1988). A comprehensive analysis of worldwide scholarly productivity in selected US business journals. Quarterly Review of Economics and Business, 28(3): 88–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J. (1993). Barriers to the advance of organizational science: Paradigm development as a dependent variable. Academy of Management Review, 18: 599–620.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J., Ross, J. (1982). The effects of marriage and a working wife on occupational and wage attainment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27: 66–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phelan, T. J. (1999). A compendium of issues for citation analysis. Scientometrics, 45(1): 117–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Psacharopoulos, G. (1985). Returns to education: a further international update and implications. Journal of Human Resources, 20: 583–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radhakrishnan, T., Kernizan, R. (1979). Lotka’s Law and computer science literature. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, January: 52–54.

  • Rao, I. K. R. (1980). The distribution of scientific productivity and social change. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, March: 111–122.

  • Rebne, D. S., Davidson, N. B. (1992). Understanding patterns of publishing activity in academic research occupations. Decision Sciences, 23(4): 944–956.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reskin, B. (1977). Scientific productivity and the reward structure of science. American Sociological Review, 42: 491–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum, J. E. (1984). Career Mobility in a Corporate Hierarchy. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, B., Rousseau, R. (2000). LOTKA: A program to fit a power law distribution to observed frequency data. Cybermetrics, 4(1). Retrieved from http://www.cindoc.csic.es/cybermetrics/articles/v4ilp4.html, December 2007.

  • Salancik, G., Pfeffer, J. (1978). A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23: 224–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, B. (1987). The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40: 437–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, B., Goldstein, H. W., Smith, D. B. (1995). The ASA framework: An update. Personnel Psychology, 48: 747–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Senter, R. (1986). A causal model of productivity in research faculty. Scientometrics, 10(5): 307–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shim, J. P., English, J. B., Yoon, J. (1991). An examination of articles in the eight leading management information systems journals. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 25(3): 211–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegfried, J. J. (1972). The publishing of economic papers and its impact on graduate faculty ratings, 1960–1969. Journal of Economic Literature, 10 (March): 31–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solari, A., Magri, M. (2002). A new approach to the SCI Journal Citations Reports, a system for evaluating scientific journals. Scientometrics, 47(3): 605–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Somit, A., Tanenhaus, J. (1964). American Political Science: A Profile of a Discipline. New York: Atherton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trieschmann, J. S., Dennis, A. R., Northcraft, G. B., Niemi, A.W. (2000). Serving multiple constituencies in business schools: M.B.A. program versus research performance. Academy of Management Journal, 43(6): 1130–1141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. News and World Report. (2002). Exclusive business rankings: specialties. Special Issue: Graduate Schools, 131(11): 24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Useem, M., Karabel, J. (1986). Pathways to top corporate management. American Sociological Review, 51: 184–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, D. R., Wetherbe, J. C. (1984). MIS research: a profile of leading journals and universities. The Database for advances in Information Systems, 16(1): 3–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voos, H. (1974). Lotka and information Science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, July–August: 270–272.

  • Walczak, S. (1999). A re-evaluation of information systems publication forums. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 40(1): 88–97.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Walstrom, K. A., Hardgrave, B. C. (2001). Forums for information systems scholars: III. Information & Management, 39: 117–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walstrom, K. A., Hardgrave, B. C., Wilson, R. L. (1995). Forums for management information systems scholars. Communications of the ACM, 38(3): 93–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitely, W., Dougherty, T. W., Dreher, G. F. (1991). Relationship of career mentoring and socioeconomic origin to managers’ and professionals’ early career progress. Academy of Management Journal, 34: 331–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitman, M. E., Hendrickson, A. R., Townsend, A. M. (1999). Academic rewards for teaching, research and service: data and discourse. Information Systems Research, 10(2): 99–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, W. W. (1987). Institutional propensities to publish in academic journals of business administration: 1979–1984. Quarterly Review of Economics and Business, 27(1): 77–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zipf, G. K. (1935). The Psychobiology of Language, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zivney, T., Bertin, W. (1992). Publish or perish: What the competition is really doing. The Journal of Finance, 47: 295–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management & Information Systems, Mississippi State University, P.O. Box 9581, Mississippi State, MS, USA

    Rebecca Long

  2. Department of Management, University of Mississippi, Tupelo, MS, USA

    Aleta Crawford

  3. Department of Management & Information Systems, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA

    Michael White & Kimberly Davis

Authors
  1. Rebecca Long
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aleta Crawford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Michael White
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kimberly Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Long.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Long, R., Crawford, A., White, M. et al. Determinants of faculty research productivity in information systems: An empirical analysis of the impact of academic origin and academic affiliation. Scientometrics 78, 231–260 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1990-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1990-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation