Disciplinary Perspectives on Information Management

Abstract

This paper addresses the need for a coherent conceptual framework for information management. The paper discusses the field of information management as represented by existing analyses of author affiliations, and a distinction is introduced between information management at institutional level and information management at conceptual level. Conceptual frameworks should be founded on concepts.One of the challenges of developing a framework is to delimit the area of inquiry. Is information management a discipline in its own right, or is information management several disciplines? Little research has examined information management in a disciplinary perspective. It is argued that an exploration of the components of a discipline is important as a foundation for development of a conceptual framework for information management.The paper concludes by suggesting that information management has three different underlying concepts: Information Management1: information management at institutional level. Information Management2: content-oriented information management, rooted in information science and Information Management3: technology-oriented information management, rooted in information systems. A coherent conceptual framework that incorporates disciplinary perspectives may provide a new theoretical understanding that helps us conceptualize the identity of information management.