The sweet escape - A research agenda on escapism in information systems research

Abstract

Escapism is often defined as temporally getting away from unpleasant situations or thoughts. Since technology creates new opportunities to escape from something unpleasant, the interest in studying escapism has recently increased in information system (IS) research. However, despite growing interest on escapism, research is still in its very beginning stages. To explore IS phenomena more comprehensively this paper proposes a research agenda that highlights current shortcomings and the need to address these shortcomings. Thus, this paper provides a point of departure for future research on escapism and encourages IS-research to further investigate the effects of escapism in IS-related settings.