Applications of the Viable Systems Model in IS Research -- A Comprehensive Overview and Analysis

The interwovenness of information technology and organizational structures suggests an understanding of organizations as systems of high complexity. The Viable Systems model (VSM), grounded on cybernetic principles, is a popular approach enabling researchers to assess the complexity of organizations heavily relying on information systems (IS). Although IS scholars have increasingly applied the VSM in recent years, the different studies lack a common ground in terms of a systematic approach. By conducting a concept-driven systematic literature review, we investigate the state of the art of IS research applying VSM in a real-world setting. We analyze and systematically compare the identified studies to direct future research on applications of the VSM. We identify a set of VSM specific benefits. While the VSM provides an innovative perspective to common IS topics, its application mostly lacks a rigorous evaluation and fails to exhaustively derive the identified benefits.