Global Information Management Research: Current Status and Future Directions

Abstract

A growing body of knowledge is being accumulated in the area of global information management (GIM). Research in this area has grown significantly in the 1990s. Not only are established IS journals publishing an increasing amount in this area, but there are now specific journals devoted to the major issues in the development, use, and management of global information systems. However, much of this research has been limited to isolated survey studies or case studies into particular aspects of GIM. This has resulted in a rather disjointed and ad hoc development of this literature that now needs some structure to further its development. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a framework for research into GIM. It hopes to set a future direction for research in this area by challenging IS researchers to consider studying a number of potentially productive subareas of GIM that the framework has identified as being unstudied or understudied. This research framework builds on the general IS framework of Ives, Hamilton, and Davis (1980) and surveys the GIM published literature between 1990 and 2000. The application of this literature to the Ives, Hamilton, and Davis framework indicates where much GIM research has been conducted and where further research needs to be done.