The Information Systems Artifact: A Conceptualization Based on General Systems Theory

Passionate debates regarding the defining characteristic of the “IT artifact” continue. Such debates, and also the lack of explicit consideration of the “information” element in the IT artifact, motivate us to propose a revised conception, drawing upon concepts from General Systems Theory (GST). Following a number of scholars, we name our reconceptualization as an IS artifact, which aims to provide a contemporary view of an IS that could accommodate the changing nature of both society and technology while at the same time maintain a clear definition of what we mean by an IS.