The Supply and Demand of Information System Doctorates: Past, Present, and Future

This paper reports on a survey of North American IS programs and secondary data assessing the supply and demand of Information Systems (IS) doctorates. The data document a large and growing lack of supply to meet current and future demand. Demographic factors—including the number of university students, their selection of majors, and retirements among IS faculty—favor a probable scenario for continuing strong demand for IS faculty in the longer term. We argue that the severe imbalance will continue if the current state of the economy and businesses’ need for technically-savvy managers continues. Implications and recommendations are presented for ensuring the long-term health of the IS discipline in addressing this imbalance.