Re-thinking the ontology of information

Information, though a core concept in Information System research, has been taken for granted by scholars for many years. Recent studies have attempted to shed light on this concept by classifying information theories and proposing new conceptualizations. However, there remains much discord on the nature of the information phenomenon, and whether a unified definition is achievable. By drawing on the tenets of Critical Realism and examining the philosophical and ontological assumptions of existing theories of information, we propose a stratified framework to explain the complexity of the information phenomenon. This framework provides opportunity for interdisciplinary work and can aid researchers to make better informed choices in terms of research questions and approaches when studying information or related phenomena.