On the Foundations of NeuroIS: Reflections on the Gmunden Retreat 2009

This article reflects on the discussions of the fifteen participants (co authors) of a retreat on the "Foundations of NeuroIS" that took place in Gmunden (Austria) in September 2009. In particular, this article offers initial answers to a set of research questions which are important for the foundations of NeuroIS, an emerging subfield within the IS discipline. The key questions discussed during the retreat that are addressed in this article are: (1) What is NeuroIS, and how does it relate to sister disciplines, such as neuroscience, neuroeconomics, and neuromarketing? (2) Which neuroscience tools are relevant for IS research? (3) What can IS researchers learn from the neuroscience literature, and what do we already know about brain activity? (4) What are possible IS research topics that can be examined with neuroscience tools, and what are some promising research areas for NeuroIS? (5) How can NeuroIS be established as a new subfield in the IS literature, and what are the current challenges for NeuroIS? The article concludes by offering the participants' outlook on the future of NeuroIS.