Ron Weber

Citation

The University Medal and a first-class honours degree in Commerce from the University of Queensland started Ron Weber’s career. Masters and doctoral studies at Minnesota preceded academic appointments at ANU, Queensland and Monash and visiting professorships at Minnesota, New York, British Columbia, Otago, Alberta and NTU Singapore. Ron Weber has had an outstanding career that has extended beyond accounting into information systems.  Ron has published 50 academic research papers, many in top tier journals in both disciplines, nine books and monographs and twelve book chapters. This contribution and impact in the academy is reflected with over 10,000 citations culminating in an outstanding H-index of 43. Twenty-six doctoral students, several of whom are now world-renowned scholars in the information systems field, have benefited from his supervision, as have 33 course-work masters and honours students. In 2017, two special issues of the Journal of Database Management were published to recognise some of the pioneering work Ron and his colleague Yair Wand had done in advancing theory in the field of information systems. As further acknowledgment of this seminal contribution, a major literature review was published in December 2017 in the top tier information systems journal MIS Quarterly that reviewed the literature motivated by their initial attempts to develop core theories. In the teaching field Ron’s outstanding contribution has been well recognised. In 2000 he received the most prestigious Prime Minister's Award as University Teacher of the Year, won the Australian Universities Teaching Committee Award in Business, Economics and Related Studies and was inaugural winner of the Outstanding Educator Award made by the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. In the early 1980s, Ron published a graduate textbook on EDP auditing, one of the first published on the topic. The book went through two revisions and was for some time a standard reference for the Information Systems Audit and Control Association's Certified Information Systems Auditor examination. In recognition of his contributions to the field of information systems auditing, the Association awarded Ron one of four Silver Jubilee Awards in 1994.  Ron Weber has served professional bodies in a range of positions. He was a Divisional Councillor of the Australian Society of Accountants, 1984-1988, and from 1996 to 1999 was a member of the National Education Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. From 1987 to 1989 he was Australian President, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand and in 1997 served as president of the Association for Information Systems. Ron has also held a multitude of editorial positions including The Accounting Review and Editor-in-Chief of MIS Quarterly. Ron Weber’s career at the University of Queensland from 1979 until 2002 includes part-time Tutor, Reader, Professor of Commerce, Professor of Information Systems, Associate Dean – Research and Acting Head of Department. Ron was subsequently Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, 2004-2012, and Pro-Vice Chancellor, Monash South Africa in 2013. Ron Weber was elected Fellow of the Association for Information Systems in 2000, awarded Life Membership of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand in 2002 and the Association for Information Systems in 2016. A Notable Contributions to the Accounting Literature was awarded by the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand in 2000. In November 2002 Ron Weber was elected to the highly prestigious position of Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

The Australian Accounting Hall of Fame honours Ron Weber as a scholar, theorist, educator and office-holder of the highest order. In doing so it acknowledges his extraordinary dual contributions to the disciplines of accounting and information systems.

Biography

Ron Weber’s career in academia started with the University Medal following completion of a 1st Class Honours degree in Commerce from the University of Queensland. Masters and doctoral studies at Minnesota preceded academic appointments at ANU, Queensland and Monash and visiting professorships at Minnesota, New York, British Columbia, Otago, Alberta and NTU Singapore. Presently Emeritus Professor at Monash University and Adjunct Professor in the Business School at the University of Queensland, Ron Weber has had an outstanding career that extends beyond accounting into information systems. He has made significant contributions to the academy and to both the accounting and information systems professions.

Ron has published nine books and monographs, 12 book chapters, 50 academic research papers including 17 A* and 15 A level papers. He has also published over 60 professional papers and conference proceedings, 15 of which deal with accounting and EDP auditing issues. His contribution and impact in the academy is reflected with over 10,000 citations of his published works culminating in a H-index of 43. In excess of $900,000 in research grants including three major ARC Discovery Grants and one Linkage Grant add to his achievements.

Twenty-six doctoral students, several of whom are now world-renowned scholars in the information systems field, have benefited greatly under his supervision, as have 33 course-work masters and honours students.

In 2017, two special issues of the Journal of Database Management were published to recognise some of the early work that Ron and his colleague Yair Wand had done in advancing theory in the field of information systems. In announcing the special issues, journal Editor-in-Chief, Keng Siau, noted:
The call for 'native' theories in information systems has been strong over the discipline's history (Straub 2012). One answer to this call has been the ontological theory (drawing on the ontology of Mario Bunge) Wand and Weber introduced to the field in three seminal papers (1990, 1993, 1995). This work established three views on information systems as representations of human perceptions of a domain of interest: the representation model, the state tracking model, and the good decomposition model. This stream of work has generated a great deal of interest, and produced many papers using Wand and Weber's models to evaluate important phenomena in information systems.

As an acknowledgment of this seminal contribution by Weber and Yair, a major literature review was published in December 2017 in the top tier information systems journal MIS Quarterly that reviews the literature that was motivated by their initial attempts to develop "core" theories in the information systems discipline.

In the teaching field Ron’s contribution is similarly outstanding. His contribution has been recognised with both University and national awards. He was the recipient of the most prestigious Prime Minister's Award as University Teacher of the Year in 2000. In the same year he won the Australian Universities Teaching Committee Award in Business, Economics and Related Studies and was the inaugural winner of the Outstanding Educator Award made by the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand.    In the early 1980s, Ron published a graduate textbook on EDP auditing. It was one of the first books published on the topic and subsequently went through two revisions. For a time, it was a standard reference for students sitting the Information Systems Audit and Control Association's Certified Information Systems Auditor examination. In recognition of his contributions to the field of information systems auditing, the Association awarded Ron one of four Silver Jubilee Awards that it gave worldwide in 1994.

Engagement in the wider professions of accounting and information systems is characterised by service in senior roles. Ron has served professional accounting bodies in a range of positions. He was a Divisional Councillor of the Australian Society of Accountants from 1984 to 1988, a member of the task force to review submissions on the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia's White Paper on Education for Chartered Accountants in the 21st Century in 1994, and from 1996 to 1999 was a member of the National Education Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. From 1987 to 1989 he was Australian President, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, and in 1997 served as president of the Association for Information Systems, the peak international association for information systems scholars. Besides professional service, Ron has held a multitude of editorial positions including The Accounting Review and Editor-in-Chief of MIS Quarterly, 2002-2004, the most prestigious journal in the information systems research sphere. Ron is the only non-U.S.A. person to have held this position.

Ron Weber’s career at the University of Queensland from 1979 until 2002 includes part-time Tutor, Reader, Professor of Commerce, Professor of Information Systems, Associate Dean – Research and Acting Head of Department. Ron was subsequently Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University between 2004-2012 and Pro-Vice Chancellor, Monash South Africa in 2013.

Ron Weber’s extraordinarily broad contribution to two disciplines over a lifetime of work is reflected in many awards. In addition to earlier mentioned recognition, he was awarded Life Membership of the Association for Information Systems in February 2016, elected to Life Membership of Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand in July 2002, the Association for Information Systems in December 2000 and acknowledged for his Notable Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award by the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand in July 2000.

In addition to these prestigious awards, Ron Weber was elected to the highly prestigious position of Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia on the 11th November 2002.