Information Systems

Information Systems (IS) & Digital Innovation research examines digital technologies and their impacts. While digital technology is central to the phenomena studied, research in the IS field explores diverse topics, including behavioural, organizational and societal issues as they interact with digital technology. The IS field is multi-disciplinary in nature and draws on theories and methods both unique to IS research and from other related fields in both business (e.g., strategy, organizational theory, organizational behaviour) and foundational disciplines (e.g., philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, computer science, and statistics).

The doctoral program in IS provides rigorous and comprehensive training and preparation for future scholars. Our graduates complete necessary course work, research and teaching training and may engage in grant proposal writing and publishing of their work so that they can begin their academic career with the tools and foundation necessary to succeed. Three of our PhD graduates have received the prestigious ICIS Dissertation Award – the highest award given to recent PhD graduates.

IS PhD students take courses in Research Methods, Statistics, and IS Special Fields. The IS Special Fields courses encompass core topics (including IS foundational theories and research methods, design, adoption, implementation of technology, decision making processes, organizational and industry impacts), latest research themes in the IS field, along with other diverse topics reflecting various sub-fields of IS research. Students also have elective choices (offered by other area groups in the school such as Strategy or Organizational Behaviour, and/or other graduate faculties in the university such as Sociology, Computer Science or Statistics). Other aspects of the program are tailored to fit the student's own research, teaching and professional interests.

PhD Student Opportunities

The Information Systems (IS) group examines diverse managerial and behavioural research questions. We have particular strengths and specialization in qualitative, ethnographic and grounded theory methodologies while also pursuing and publishing research involving quantitative methods such as surveys, experiments and econometric models. Faculty members in the IS group are interested in supervising PhD students and welcome applications from qualified candidates interested in different topics, including, but not limited to: 

• Digital transformation, strategy and alignment, platforms, IT-enabled organizational change, digital entrepreneurship, IT leadership
• Global IT management, sourcing, buyer-supplier relationship, international strategy, emerging markets
• Digital capability development, virtual teams, open source communities, design thinking and innovation
• Social dynamics of technology, social change, social interactions
• Focused topics and industry focus, including healthcare information systems, competitive advantage of neurodiversity

The following are examples of some specific projects of IS faculty members.

Professor Robert Austin’s research examines topics including the following.

1. Managing businesses characterized by extreme uncertainty (e.g., video games, movies, fashion items)
2. Talent management in digital organizations
3. Using digital technologies to enhance creative and innovative capabilities
4. Designer-driven innovation in creative industries
5. Digital platforms and organizational transformation

Professor Isam Faik’s research examines topics including the following.

1. Digital platforms and organizational transformation
2. Digital technologies and societal change
3. Effect of digital transformation on marginalized communities
4. Online social movements
5. Virtual teams and online communities

Professor Nicole Haggerty’s research crosses many subfields of IS including issues in IS development (learning and agile); project management (charters, adaptive PM practices) and implementation (configurations of routine/technologies) to achieve value. This research is focussed in healthcare, principally hospital settings with some work in long term care settings. Professor Haggerty is interested in working with new students in projects that would be related. She is currently working with a group of doctoral students (with 2 recently completed 2021) in the domain of health information systems exploring several inter-related issues:

1. Microdynamics of IT-enabled Change in Hospitals (SSHRC 2020, $107,266) (qualitative, longitudinal field study)
2. Generating Actionable Insights from OneChart (Industry grant 2021, $100,000)
   • Involves 4 inter-related projects with PhD students and post-docs to study Learning from Implementation; Optimizing Workflows post Clinical documentation; Developing Effective Clinical Documentation Education and Training for Clinicians; Path to Value Creation from Digital Transformation in Hospitals (action research, qualitative, quantitative)
3. Systems Design and Operational Integrity in Long Term Care (SSHRC, 2021, $51,156)
4. Health Information Systems for Surveillance of Infectious Diseases: An Evaluation Model (international research in Nigeria and Liberia)

Professor Ting Li’s research explores the intersection of digital technologies and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on two emerging areas within digital entrepreneurship: (1) identifying the factors that contribute to the success and failure of AI startups, and understanding how ecosystem stakeholders can better support them; and (2) empowering the transition from validation to scaling for digital startups. Methodologically, she employs a diverse range of data collection and analysis techniques, including survey-based experiments, case studies, content analysis, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Dr. Li currently holds two active grants to support her research:

Professor Derrick Neufeld's research examines how digital technologies affect individuals, teams, organizations, and society. His current research interests include: 

1. AI accountability and algorithmic authority
2. Cybercrime and organizational cybersecurity
3. Online trust, cooperation, and technology-mediated communication
4. Virtual teams, remote work, and remote leadership
5. Open-source collaboration and digital organizing

Professor Yasser Rahrovani’s research examines topics including the following:

1. Creativity, innovation, and serendipity: How organizations cultivate emergence and turn unexpected discoveries into valuable novelty.
2. A sociotechnical view of AI: How designers, users, technologies, data, and organizational contexts jointly shape AI outcomes.
3. Digital drifting and adaptation: How people learn and act as technologies, goals, knowledge, and contexts drift.
4. AI-Enabled organizational transformation: How AI reshapes work, expertise, roles, authority, and organizational boundaries.
5. Governance, values, and responsible innovation: How organizations navigate AI's unintended consequences, competing values, and ethical tensions.

Professor Ning Su’s research examines topics including the following:

1. Design for grand societal challenges
2. Culture, cognition, diversity, and technology
3. Global value-chain sourcing policies and strategies
4. Digital innovation, including 3D printing, cloud, AI, AR, VR, data science