Australian Computer Society: ACS Digital Library
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Charting diversity and change in IS publications: A tri-continental journal analysis
Get PDFThe past decade has seen enormous changes in the availability, use, and application of information systems. Information systems are no longer the preserve of business and the corporation but have become a routine part of everyday life. The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which the increased diversity in application and use of information systems in the past decade has been reflected in increased diversity of the publications of three key journals of three continents – North America, Europe, and Australasia. The paper contributes to the debate on research diversity in Information Systems in three ways. Firstly, it describes four key underpinning dimensions for understanding Information Systems (IS) research diversity in the information age. Secondly, it details the results of a content analysis which examines the trends in research and methodological diversity within the journals MIS Quarterly (MISQ), European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) and the Australasian Journal of Information Systems (AJIS) during the years 2001-2010. Finally, the paper reflects on diversity within these journals and discusses the findings in relation to both exogenous and endogenous pressures on the discipline more broadly
Beyond Normal Competencies: Understanding Organisation Designs to Develop and Sustain IT-Related Capabilities
Get PDFIt is apparent that IT resources are important for organisations. It is also clear that organisations unique competencies, their IT-related capabilities, leverage the IT resources uniquely to create and sustain competitive advantage. However, IT resources are dynamic, and evolve at an exponential rate. This means that organisations will need to sustain their competencies to leverage opportunities offered by new IT resources. Research on ways to sustain IT-related capabilities is limited and a deeper understanding of this situation is important. Amongst other factors, a possible reason for this lack of progress in this area could be due to the lack of validated measurement items of the theoretical constructs to conduct such studies. We suggest an environment in which organisations could build new and sustain their existing IT-related capabilities. We then report on the development of valid and reliable measures for this environment. The validated measures would be useful in extending our understanding on how firms could sustain their IT-related capabilities. This effort will provide a deeper understanding of how firms can secure sustainable IT-related business value from their acquired IT resources
Barriers and motivations affecting Information Systems usage by Hajj–Umrah religious tourism operators in Saudi Arabia
Get PDFHajj & Umrah religious tourism accounts for seven million visitors each year in Saudi Arabia. The government has recently taken initiatives to promote the use of Information Systems (IS) in the religious tourism industry, encouraging firms to adopt IS innovations like e-commerce and enforcing the use of the Makha’a information system in Umrah for external pilgrims and the Yosr information system in Hajj for internal pilgrims. This study outlines the motivations and challenges that affect the utilisation of various IS services in the Saudi religious tourism industry through a qualitative analysis of the views and perceptions of senior executives and owners of travel firms. The findings suggest that while government initiatives and industry competitiveness were two positive factors promoting IS use, there are some major barriers preventing private firms from fully utilising the advantages of information systems. These include external factors such as lack of support from the IT industry and access to IT resources as well as internal factors within an organisation such as lack of commitment or the need for professional IT expertise. The study finds that relative advantage is a critical contributor to IS utilisation which depends on information systems characteristics
Decision Making Model for Business Process Outsourcing of Enterprise Content Management
Get PDFBusiness process outsourcing (BPO) in enterprise content management (ECM) is a growing though immature market. BPO in ECM focuses on pursuing market transactions in the process of managing all types of content being used in organizations. However, inadequate sourcing decisions lead to organizational sensitive content exposure, high transaction cost, poor outsourcer performance, low flexibility. ECM BPO in general is rarely discussed in the literature and no discussion was found on decision making strategies in ECM BPO. In this paper, we present a decision making model for ECM BPO that will fill the literature gap and guide industry practitioners with ECM sourcing decision making strategies. Our proposed decision making model includes two parts. Part one is an ECM functional framework that shows what functionality component or functionality combinations can be outsourced. Part two is a decision making model that provides guidance for decision making in ECM BPO. We apply the model in two case studies, and the results indicate that the model can guide the sourcing decision making process for organizations, and determine the factors when considering sourcing alternatives in ECM
Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW): A Semiotic Theoretical and Empirical Exploration of the Hierarchy and its Quality Dimension
Get PDFWhat exactly is the difference between data and information? What is the difference between data quality and information quality; is there any difference between the two? And, what are knowledge and wisdom? Are there such things as knowledge quality and wisdom quality? As these primitives are the most basic axioms of information systems research, it is somewhat surprising that consensus on exact definitions seems to be lacking. This paper presents a theoretical and empirical exploration of the sometimes directly quoted, and often implied Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy and its quality dimension. We first review relevant literature from a range of perspectives and develop and contextualise a theoretical DIKW framework through semiotics. The literature review identifies definitional commonalities and divergences from a scholarly perspective; the theoretical discussion contextualises the terms and their relationships within a semiotic framework and proposes relevant definitions grounded in that framework. Next, rooted in Wittgenstein’s ordinary language philosophy, we analyse 20 online news articles for their uses of the terms and present the results of an online focus group discussion comprising 16 information systems experts. The empirical exploration identifies a range of definitional ambiguities from a practical perspective
Paradigmatic approaches used in enterprise resource planning systems research: A systematic literature review
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to determine the range of research paradigms employed in a smaller subset of Information Systems (IS) literature, namely Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. A systematic literature review based on papers that mentioned ERPs was drawn from eight of the most highly ranked journals according to their h-index. The findings indicate that the majority (96.6%) of the ERP research papers were conducted within a positivist research paradigm, which is a far higher proportion than is suggested by other research in the general IS literature (approximately 81%). This paper suggests that there is a strong case for ERP researchers to look at existing paradigm selection and how effectively their research relates to the ERP body of knowledge, especially in respect to the issues of importance to managers within organizations (notably social and change management issues). This research also identified areas where existing paradigm evaluation methods could be enhanced and refined in respect to non-positivist classifications
Factors affecting consumer's continued use of internet banking: Empirical Evidence from Australia
Get PDFThe goal of this study was to investigate the factors that influence consumers continued use of internet banking in Australia. Patterns of continued use of internet banking have been neglected as most of the existing studies focus on either consumer adoption or acceptance of internet banking. However, in comparison to new customer acquisition, measures of continued use of internet banking are important as it is related to a cost-effective marketing strategy aimed at retaining customers. The present study is a response to a gap in existing literature which requires the application of more integrated theory testing and the identification of factors that influence the continued use of internet banking in order of importance to consumers. The study sets out to develop a conceptual framework based on theoretical models related to the acceptance of technology and diffusion of innovations theory. The conceptual model developed encompasses technology, channel, social and value for money factors as predictors in the identification of influential factors for consumers and their continued use of internet banking. Data were collected using a cross-sectional mall intercept survey in the Western Sydney region, comprising a sample of 372 internet banking users. After testing the data for accuracy, exploratory factor analysis was performed for factor clarification on five key scales related to the use of internet banking service delivery based on technology, channel, social, value for money and continued use factors. The final components that emerged were employed in hierarchical multiple regression analyses to test the proposed framework. Value for money, channel and technology factors was found, in that order, to be influential in predicting consumers’ continued and frequent use of internet banking
Using Historical Methods in Information Systems: A Primer for Researchers
Get PDFThis article describes the use of historical methods in information systems research and provides a practical example of how this technique was used in a recent research project. Though the information systems researcher already has a rich cornucopia of research methods to choose from, historical research has the power to offer insights over and above those provided by other techniques. The researcher is forced to step away from a narrow focus on the research question in order to examine the “big picture”. This big picture approach means that recurring patterns are identified providing a broad set of findings that are applicable in many different settings. However the flip side is that historical research can have a lack of focus and does not always offer immediate answers to specific research questions.
This paper provides guidelines for the use of historical methods by information systems researchers by demonstrating how the seven step approach developed by Mason, McKenney and Copeland was applied to an historical research study which explored the relationship between ICTs and regional development in New Zealand between 1985 and 2005. This research reveals the value of historical research for information systems researchers by showing the effects of long term social trends on ICT use. It also highlights some of the pitfalls that potential users of historical research need to be aware of such as gaps in the data trail and the questionable credibility of some historic records
