Research
Mission:
We are a dynamic research driven institute bringing together talented students, visionary industry leaders and academics who are working at the frontiers of their fields. Our mission is to respond to the needs of organizations and societies in regard to information and technology management, especially considering accountability. We provide an intellectually challenging environment and strive for relevant research and innovative education.
Research Aims:
The interdisciplinary Institute for Information Management and Control (IMC) focuses on expanding the role of Management Control and Accounting in Information Systems through state-of-the-art education and research, and regular outreach activities. In the foreseeable future economic climate, IT managers and academics will need to contemplate over the critical challenges of how to reduce, monitor and control operational IT risks within enterprises to achieve greater organisational transparency and provide environmental sustainability. Responsible IT governance and management is at the core of on-going debates arguing for wider accountability to all involved stakeholders including private and public organizations, and users and citizens. While the efficiency and the effectiveness of operations continue to be at the forefront of IT performance assessments, new dimensions including security, social and environmental impacts are demanding more attention in total responsibility approaches. Regulation is (re-)gaining grounds not only in specific industries (such as financial services) but also across sectors, e.g. with low carbon regulations driving transparency through carbon footprints. Research is needed that better allow organizations to re-act by re-evaluating their IT decision making and assessment approaches, change management systems, development processes and methods in an effort to improve control over their information and technologies. Special consideration should be attributed to the growing challenge of compliance driven changes, which may cause largely symbolic outcomes rather than substantial impacts on IS/IT security levels. In this context, IMC aims at developing an array of different ideas and initiatives in a globalized and digital world promoting Accountability within the discipline of Information Systems.
Publications:
Our dissemination strategy includes a wide mix of outlets and forums including international conferences, traditional and Open-Access based top journals and books.
Cooperations:
To ensure the international and professional character of its research the institute cooperates with various partners and organizations inside and outside WU. Collaborations are agreed both on the universitary level and with private organizations of industry and government. For a list of our partners please visit our partners area.
Our Projects:
In our projects we target the development of new theory, the introduction of innovative teaching and assessment methods in Higher Education, and the application of existing theory in new ways in a practical context together with our various industry partners.
Contributions to External Projects:
Some staff members are currently involved in the administration or conduct projects with our partners, e.g. the Forschungsinstitut für rechenintesive Methoden (FIRM), a research group at the WU providing huge calculation capacities through a grid computing system to solve computationally intense problems.
Conferences:
The Institute for Information Management and Control is regular co-organizing international conferences and other events as part of our outreach and community building activities. We recently organized and run a very successful edition of the International Conference on Information Resources Management (Conf-IRM) 2012 at WU in Vienna. We also regularly participate in the organization of large and prestigious global IS conferences such as the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) or the American Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), which are among the longest-standing continuously running scientific IS related conferences. Furthermore, we co-organize specialized or developmental conferences such as the Conference on ICT Management for Global Competitiveness and Economic Growth in Emerging Economics (ICTM), the IADIS Information Systems Conferences or the International Conference on Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems (CONFENIS).
Workshops:
The Institute for Information Management and Control is organizing workshops and other events as part of our outreach and community building activities. For more information please visit our workshops area.
The Sustainable Computing Lab:
The Institute is home to the Sustainable Computing Lab, an interdisciplinary research lab dedicated to exploring and advancing the multifaceted aspects of sustainability, human-compatibility, accountability, lawfulness, and ethicality in the realms of digital technologies, AI and digital transformation. Further details about the Sustainable Computing Lab and its groundbreaking work can be found at: