ISCAP Proceedings: Abstract Presentation
Assessing the Impact and Sustainability of Information Systems Degree Programs
Manouchehr Tabatabaei
Georgia Southern University
Nancy Jacobs
Georgia Southern University
Thomas Case
Georgia Southern University
Abstract
Successful Information Systems (IS) degree programs prepare graduates to help organizations apply technologies to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness. When technologies and employers’ needs change, programs must respond or risk obsolescence. As successful IS degree programs have adapted to a continually changing landscape, IS education research has begun to explore factors related to the long-term success of these programs.
Program sustainability has been a research focus in fields such as public health and non-profit organizations since the 1990s, resulting in several promising models and assessment tools. Among these are the Sustainability Framework (SF) and its Program Sustainability Assessment Tool (PSAT), and the Impact Model (IM). The SF (Schell et al, 2013; Tabatabaei et al., 2025) identifies eight dimensions that equally contribute to program sustainability. The IM (Bischoff, 2015) is depicted as three overlapping dimensions (Identity, Constituents, Capacity) whose strategic integration drives a program’s resilience and enables it to have measurable impact.
Despite conceptual differences, SF and IM offer similar observations about program sustainability, and their dimensions can be cross mapped. However, the IM distinctly emphasizes program efficacy and integrative, data-driven, strategic decision-making. Within the IM, strong and resilient programs have efficacy, the ability to achieve mission-aligned results. Both efficacy and impact derive from Identify (an unwavering focus on success), Constituents (deep connections with program audiences, beneficiaries, and strategic partners), and Capacity (a robust business model for achieving mission by securing and strategically deploying financial, human, other resources).
The IM contends that efficacy and impact result from integrative, data-driven, strategic decision-making that encompasses the three dimensions. This decision-making requires a clear picture of what the program does, and how success and impact are measured. It also involves developing deliberate strategies for strengthening connections with constituents and a business model that guides resource acquisition and allocation, data collection and analysis, performance monitoring and accountability.
Case & Tabatabaei (2019) and Tabatabaei et al. (2025) proposed program sustainability models as a lens for understanding IS degree program resilience. Tabatabaei et al. drew on Truex et al.’s (2006) arguments that models from other disciplines can inform IS research to support investigating the applicability of the SF and PSAT to IS degree programs.
Pilot study results suggest that the IM may also be applicable to IS degree programs. An assessment instrument has been developed that includes items related to the IM’s three dimensions and other items about program characteristics, trends, results, and sustainability. Data is being collected via an online survey that solicits responses from IS degree program administrators and tenured IS faculty across the U.S.
The survey is part of a larger research stream focused on developing a sustainability framework and assessment tool customized to the unique characteristics of resilient and successful IS degree programs. Its results should shed light on whether data-driven strategic decision-making, efficacy, and impact are IS program sustainability determinants.
References
Bischoff, S. 2015. The Integrated Strategy for Success and Sustainability: The Impact Model. Conservation Impact and Nonprofit Impact, 1-10. Retrieved from https://conservationimpact-nonprofitimpact.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IntegratedStrategyforSuccessandSustainability.pdf
Case, T., and Tabatabaei, M. 2019. Built to Last? Applying a Program Sustainability Model to IS Degree Programs, Retrieved from https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2019/is_education/is_education/7/
Schell, S., Luke, D., Schooley, M., Elliott, M., Herbers, S., Mueller, N., & Bunger, A. 2013. Public Health Program Capacity for Sustainability: A New Framework. Implementation Science, 8(15). https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-8-15
Tabatabaei, M., Jacobs, N., & Case, T. 2025. Toward a Framework for Understanding Information Systems Degree Program Sustainability. Journal of Information Systems Education, 36(3), 287-303. https://doi.org/10.62273/CTIO9563
Truex, D., Holmstrom, J., & Keil, M. 2006. Theorizing in Information Systems Research: A Reflexive Analysis of the Adaptation of Theory in Information Systems Research. Journal of the Association of Information Systems, 7(12). Retrieved from https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1477&context=jais