Exploration into the intellectual structure of mobile information systems

The purposes of this research are two-fold: to explore the key content of the Mobile Information Systems (MobIS) field and to identify the intellectual structure within MobIS research. Although mobile technologies have developed at great speed, little research has focused on the macroscopic viewpoint to understand the core knowledge of MobIS and its intellectual structure. To fill this research gap, articles related to MobIS from the ISI Web of Knowledge database and their cited articles were collected, and then citation analysis and document co-citation analysis were applied, including factor analysis and cluster analysis. This research identified 75 highly-cited articles and yielded 6 core categories of knowledge in mobile information systems: (1) Technology Acceptance; (2) Mobile Commerce; (3) Technology Innovation; (4) Use of Mobile Technology; (5) Measurement and Evaluation of Information Technology; and (6) Information System Success. The findings demonstrate that the MobIS field is still young and evolving. The core knowledge categories will be useful for scholars from different disciplines to effectively understand the core concepts and their relevance in MobIS in order to uncover possible research directions and entry-points in this rapidly expanding research area. Practitioners can also discover trend lines for future development, as well as identify extended themes for integration into the current MobIS field. This will benefit both the maintenance of current framework and the development of new business opportunities.