1. Introduction
The CFP for this special issue emphasises the strategic nature of Information Systems (IS) and calls for the re-invigoration
of the Strategic Information Systems (SIS) research agenda. In this paper we examine the way in which SIS research has
engaged with changes in the IS field over the past decades before moving on to examine whether the present is a pivotal
moment for the trajectory of SIS research. We then speculate on what challenges the future might bring and how the SIS
research domain should prepare itself to address these.
Our direct contribution to the call is the identification of the following four priorities for change in the domain as it moves
from the present to the future: conceptualisation of the SIS Domain as a Complex Adaptive System for the co-evolution of
Physical and Social Technologies; the adoption of the network paradigm; access to a science of networks; and adoption of
Complexity Science as an articulation device within SIS and across disciplines. In the process of doing this we also make
two other contributions to the SIS literature:
First, our examination of the past is through the analysis of the SIS research trajectory as evidenced by SIS publications in
MIS Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR) and the Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS). There already
exists a cumulative literature base of reviews tracking the evolution of the content of SIS research, and the emergence of
dominant themes over the years. The purpose of our analysis is complementary and distinct: it is to develop a meta-level
systemic perspective of the dimensions of change in the SIS domain as it accommodates the changes in IS research and