Cross-Fertilization of Knowledge: The Case of MIS and its Reference Disciplines

This study examines the characteristics of cross-fertilization of knowledge of MIS and its related disciplines. The examination is conducted from the perspective of two significantly different models of scientific development. These are the internalist model and the externalist model. Citation data is used to develop a cross-fertilization network of scientific disciplines. The patterns of knowledgesharing among the disciplines are studied. MIS and its reference disciplines are analyzed in terms of the degree to which they remain open to the ideas of other fields. Results indicate that the patterns of cross-fertilization vary greatly among these scientific fields. This suggests that no one model of scientific development serves to describe adequately MIS and its related disciplines. The status of MIS as a scientific discipline is discussed. The authors argue that the multifaceted nature of MIS should be re-conceptualized as progress from multiple directions.