According to the guest editors, Rajeev Sharma, Sunil Mithas, and Atreyi Kankanhalli, "The potential of information systems (IS) to improve decision-making and organizational performance has been recognized since the early days of IS research. Research and practitioner interest in this area has been re-invigorated by recent advances in business analytics and business intelligence (BAI) technologies. BAI systems promise to deliver quantum gains by transforming organizational decision-making processes. This is similar to the promise of enterprise systems, which delivered quantum improvements in performance by transforming business processes. Spending on these technologies is expected to exceed $50 billion in the next few years."

The call for papers further states "Indeed, after business process transformation, transforming decision-making processes may be the next frontier for IS. However, despite a long-standing research tradition investigating the role of IS in decision-making, including those at the strategic and board level, there is little understanding of how BAI systems may transform decision-making processes, generate improvements in organizational performance, and serve as a source of competitive advantage.

The theoretical issues raised in the study of BAI systems parallel those investigated in the research on enterprise systems, and also go beyond those previously examined. Research into enterprise systems has highlighted the roles of organizational transformation, process integration, structural change and management support, among others, in capturing benefits from enterprise systems. Adding further complexity, BAI systems involve boundedly rational decision-makers, and decision-making and resource allocation processes embedded in highly institutionalized organizational contexts. The organizational issues in transforming decision-making processes may be different and even more complex than those involved in transforming business processes.

We solicit papers for this Special Issue that advance the above research agenda. A number of theoretical perspectives may fruitfully inform this stream of research, including, but not limited to dynamic capabilities, configuration theory, organizational transformation, structural contingency theory, structuration theory, institutional theory, organizational culture, managerial decision-making, group decision-making, resource-based theory, IS implementation theory, organizational performance and competitive advantage. We welcome both qualitative and quantitative research papers. We also welcome theoretical papers that have a clear relevance to managerial practice.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Role of IS in managerial search for problems and solutions

• Role of information in managerial decision-making and strategy formulation

• Organizational systems for actioning managerial decisions

• Transformation of decision-making processes, resource allocation processes and organizational structures

• Role of IS-enabled decision-making processes in organizational performance

• Impact of BAI systems on decision-making cycle times, competitive response cycle times, quality of decisions, competitive actions and competitive advantage

• Change management for BAI systems

• BAI systems and organizational strategy

• Sectoral studies (e.g. retail, health care, government etc.) of use of BAI systems

Special Issue Guest Editors

Rajeev Sharma, University of Wollongong (rajeev@uow.edu.au)

Sunil Mithas, University of Maryland

Atreyi Kankanhalli, National University of Singapore

Key Dates and Submission Guidelines

• Papers may be submitted to the special issue any time before February 1, 2012.

• Submit using the EJIS online paper submission system (Select the “TDM” Special Issue during submission) at http://ejis.msubmit.net/cgi-bin/main.plex.

• Papers should be no longer than 8000 words. Follow the EJIS formatting guidelines at http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ejis/author_instructions.html. The guest editors will screen all submissions before sending papers out for review.