Scholars @Bentley (Bentley University)
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Use and Non-Use of IT in the Workplace: Studies on Emotions, Identity and Technology
Get PDFAdoption, acceptance and, more recently, continued use of information technology (IT) in workplace contexts have been researched extensively over the last three decades. As acceptance and use of IT underlie its ability to fulfill expected business benefits, it is unsurprising that researchers have sustained a great interest in the topic. While there is a wealth of cumulative knowledge on adoption and the factors affecting adoption, much less is known about specific patterns of use – ranging from extensive and frequent use to complete non-use – and the reasons behind these patterns. Existing research on both use and non-use of IT has, until very recently, emphasized the technical, cognitive and social aspects that may influence human- technology interactions. This has left other aspects – such as emotions and self- identity – of the relationships between social actors and IT relatively unexplored. Accordingly, the goal of this research is to bring people – including their non- rational sides – back into Information Systems research, without black-boxing either the IT artifact or the user. Three studies are conducted to achieve this goal; each study focuses on a different aspect of the emotions-identity-IT relationship. Overall, the research contributes to a better theoretical understanding of how social actor emotions and identity influence how and why certain IT systems and specific features of IT systems are used in the workplace, while others are not. The research also contributes to the development of a novel theoretical framework for the study of IT use and non-use from a personalized perspective. From the practical point of view, the research provides novel insights into how to deal with managerially undesirable patterns of use and non-use of IT at work
Explorers, Detectives, Matchmakers, and Lion Tamers Understanding Jigsaw Puzzlers’ Techniques and Motivations
Get PDFWhy do people enjoy jigsaw puzzles, which—challenging and time-consuming as they are—might be considered more like work than play? The author investigates the motivations, preferences, and satisfactions of individuals working on jigsaw puzzles, and she explores how these elements of play relate to the procedures and strategies puzzlers use to assemble their jigsaws. She identifies four general approaches to completing these puzzles: the Explorer, Detective, Matchmaker, and Lion Tamer. She then describes how those who use these approaches differ in their openness to serendipity and flexibility, their attraction to the aesthetics of the puzzle picture, the degree of difficulty they embrace, and their relative interest in the process of puzzle assembly or in producing a finished puzzle. She concludes that the study of jigsaw puzzling helps us better understand leisure activities in general by allowing us more effectively to distinguish serious from casual leisure, explore the relationship of work to play, assess the importance of rules, investigate the relationship between product and process in play, and identify some of the intrinsic rewards that motivate play
Ties that Bind: A Network Perspective on University Spinouts
Get PDFResearch universities execute technology transfer initiatives to transition university inventions to marketplace innovations. This process requires ties to bridge the gap between two disparate networks: a university\u27s research community and a licensing corporate entity. One type of licensing corporate entity, and the focus of this research, is a newly formed university spinout. Utilizing a network lens, this study focuses on the ties between university inventors and spinout licensees and on the impact of various inter-organizational relationships on a spinout\u27s success. This thesis investigates the following research questions: 1. How, if at all, does variation in the nature of the tie between the university inventor(s) and a spinout impact the new firm\u27s ability to raise venture funding and what are the implications for network theory? 2. How, if at all, does a university inventor\u27s participation with a university spinout impact his/her research publication and invention productivity and what are the implications for academic productivity models? and 3. How, if at all, do early-stage spinout networks evolve prior to raising venture funding? Our research findings indicate that: 1. Early-stage venture investors view spinout ties to either the inventor or to their research network as outcome equivalent when making investment decisions. 2. The impact of inventor-spinout tie strength variation can only be properly interpreted within the context of the spinout\u27s overall ties to the university inventor\u27s research network. 3. Faculty involvement with university spinouts does not substantially impact their publishing productivity. 4. The involvement of faculty with physically proximate spinouts has a positive impact on their academic productivity. 5. The involvement of faculty with multiple spinouts simultaneously has a negative impact on their academic productivity. 6. Early-stage university spinout inter-organizational networks are not dense and their network dynamics are highly constrained. 7. Early-stage pre-VC funded networks establish strong ties with technical nodes. And 8. Venture capital funders geographically cluster around licensing universities. These findings contribute to network theory in the following ways. This thesis identifies the concept of outcome equivalence as a critical construct for comparison of tie impact in heterogeneous networks. It determines that effective tie strength is contingent upon the nature of the networks being bridged. It suggests that in complex networks scale and proximity can change the impact of moderating elements on productivity outcomes. Finally it identifies the highly constrained network dynamics of early-stage networks where change occurs sporadically during periods of punctuated equilibrium driven by node fitness improvements
Essays on Rethinking African Development: Contextual and Methodological Advances
Get PDFThis research study sets out to provide analytical answers to the questions of African development and inequality. We examine various aspects of development from the issue of inequality among African countries to unravelling the synergies among the MDG goals and finally to investigating the progress if any that African countries have made towards attaining the MDG goals.
This research is broken down into three main studies: measuring inequality of opportunity, examining the synergies between the Millennium development goals at a particular point in time and lastly assessing the progress that has been made towards attaining the MDG goals in Africa. There are five main objectives of this research. First, to provide a detailed exploration and analysis of development in Africa. Second, to estimate and measure the inequality of opportunity for children in African countries. Third, to analytically answer the question of linkages of the MDGs and in so doing identify the goals that can be prioritized by African countries. Fourth, to assess the progress that African countries have made towards attaining the MDG goals. Finally, provide policy recommendations that would enhance growth and development in Africa.
This research study applies novel methodologies to the study of African development by employing methodologies such as Kohonen maps and directed acyclic graphs. We expand an existing Human Opportunity Index (HOI), developed by Barros et al and which has only been applied to Latin America and the Caribbean, to the African continent. We identify the existence of linkages between the Millennium Development Goals at particular points in time through the use of directed acyclic graphs and structural equation modelling. The linkages identified allow us to highlight select MDG goals that can be prioritized by African countries. Focusing on these select goals would in turn have a cascading effect on other goals. We are able to identify substantial differences within Africa which separate the northern and southern regions from the central, eastern and western regions patterns in development within Africa. Finally, we propose a one dimensional Kohonen map to obtain a ranking of African countries with regard to MDG progress and achievement
Could Human Genome Sciences have become Standard Oil?
Get PDFHuman Genome Sciences (HGS) was not a company with normal ambitions. At its inception, HGS aspired to dominate not only the field of genomic science, but also emerging markets for regenerative medicines designed to meet the needs of ageing populations. Fred Ledley asks whether HGS could have become the Standard Oil of our generation
Helping Undergraduate Students Learn from Each Other: A Pedagogical Process for in-Class Collaborative Research Projects
Get PDFPrevious research has shown that experiential, active, and collaborative teaching techniques help undergraduate students learn and develop critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills that can help them in future study or work place roles. At the same time, universities are seeking ways to increase the number of students who get training and experience doing original research while undergraduates. This paper reports on a process for a collaborative in-class original research project which can help instructors achieve these goals. This paper first briefly reviews the relevant literature and then describes the course and the collaborative project. The value of the project in facilitating student learning is assessed by a discussion of student work, student evaluations, and student responses to a pedagogical survey. The strengths and weaknesses of the project and ways an instructor could modify it to meet specific goals are also discussed
Public safety networks – examining mimetic, complexity, and legacy effects on interorganizational collaborations
Get PDFThe purpose of this dissertation is to examine information systems-enabled interorganizational collaborations called public safety networks – their proliferation, information systems architecture, and technology evolution. These networks face immense pressures from member organizations, external stakeholders, and environmental contingencies. This dissertation investigates the role of three effects on these networks - the effect of peers in network proliferation, the effect of environmental and organizational complexity on their information systems, and the effect of legacy systems on capability scale and scope. Better understanding the conditions associated with network proliferation will assist decision-makers in assessing appropriate partnering opportunities. Better understanding the nature of the information systems supporting these networks will assist designers to build capabilities that more closely align with network requirements. Better understanding the limitations introduced by aging information systems and the means of overcoming those limitations will assist network leadership in providing network members with information system capabilities that remains responsive to organizational changes in scale and scope. This dissertation includes findings from three separate studies of public safety networks. Study one involves regression analysis of various state-level factors and finds peer-effects help predict network proliferation. The findings extend public administration knowledge on peer-influenced institutional practices by providing evidence for the role of inter-state mobility in predicting public safety-related outcomes. Study two involves decision tree analysis of survey data on information technology architecture components and finds that employing a complexity lens provides a useful perspective for examining the types of architectures that currently existing in the public safety domain. The findings extend information infrastructure knowledge by illustrating the value of taking a complexity perspective and by specifying a taxonomy of information systems architecture configurations in the public safety domain. Study three involves a case study analysis of legacy system effects that tests the effectiveness of bootstrapping and adaptiveness design principles in overcoming these effects. Conceptual observations and empirical findings extend information infrastructure knowledge by specifying the legacy effect, by demonstrating how and why bootstrapping and adaptiveness overcome legacy effects, and by highlighting the significant role that positive network effects and flexible standards play in balancing the tensions faced by networked organizations
Successful IT-Intensive Interorganizational Relationships: the role of governance
Get PDFThe purpose of this dissertation is to understand the role of governance in successful information technology-intensive interorganizational relationships (IT-IORs). The importance of IT in IT-IORs means that in addition to the challenges associated with managing organizational relationships there are also challenges that come with IT that crosses organizational boundaries. This dissertation explores these challenges and the relationship between technology and governance in three essays. Governance is broadly defined as organizational design—the structure and formal and informal coordination mechanisms that are used for achieving direction, control and coordination. Central to each essay is the concept of fit —from its roots in contingency theory to its future potential in focusing on the interaction between organizations and the promise of IT. The findings in Essay 1 suggest there is still value in using the early conceptualizations of fit. The fit as matching perspective enables a better understanding of the importance of good governance on performance by detangling formal coordination mechanisms, contingencies and IT-IOR success. Essay 2 provides empirical evidence that configurational thinking, based on the fit as gestalts view of fit, has much promise and that the novel Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) method is one way of exploring this complex view of fit using configurations of structure and formal and informal coordination mechanisms. Essay 3 contributes to evolving views of fit in IS research by empirically examining instances of the affordances and constraints—the potential—of technology as well as specific examples of actualization through organizational design changes in a single organization over its 40+ year lifespan. In general, the dissertation suggests that fit is achieved, and organizational success realized, when the potential of IT and the design of an organization are aligned
Three interdisciplinary studies on IT outsourcing
Get PDFThis dissertation provides interdisciplinary insights into the role of client\u27s internal collaborative experience in managing communication during a complex outsourced project, building a quality client-vendor relationship and ultimately achieving success in the project. Each of the three studies in this dissertation identifies a gap in existing scholarship and proposes an interdisciplinary research agenda.
The first essay advances the development of the public sector IT outsourcing (ITO) inquiry by consolidating the existing research into an analytical framework and validating a part of the framework with rich qualitative data collected from collaborative initiatives of public safety agencies ( Public Safety Networks , or PSN). The unique collaborative nature of the PSNs is further used to explore the hypothesized connection between the communication within an outsourcing client and the client\u27s communication with the vendor.
This connection is further investigated in the second essay. The proposed theoretical model makes a unique contribution to the literature by linking different types of communication in an outsourcing organization. Development of a measurement instrument using the boundary spanning conceptual approach and validation of this instrument with survey-based data make an important contribution to the methodology of boundary spanning research.
The third study draws on auditing and IS literature and proposes that communication tools used during an outsourced project also fulfill internal control functions, such as risk assessment and performance monitoring. The usefulness of various tools for different control purposes, as well as the effect of project complexity and contractual specifications, is tested with field data collected through an online survey instrument.
Findings from the three dissertation essays confirm the connection between internal communication in a client organization and its outsourcing behavior. Different tools and practices are found to be better suited for different purposes, depending on a number of factors such as a project\u27s complexity, project phase and contractual specification of a particular communication practice. Data analysis confirms the argument of the previous boundary spanning literature that conscious enactment of communication and control practices is critically important for their effectiveness. Finally, this work supports the theoretical premise that pre-project communication practices contribute to the quality of project related communication
Coyote Use, Migration Duration and Remittances
Get PDFThe migration of Mexican immigrants to the U.S. is one of the largest bilateral migration flows in the world and remittances from these immigrants represent a crucial source of income for Mexican households. As the United States tightens controls on illegal migration, this may impact both migration durations and remittances. Tighter borders increase crossing costs, often because migrants need to pay smugglers (coyotes). Using data from the Mexican Migration Project, we find that higher crossing costs increase the probability of remitting, the remittance rate and the duration of stay as undocumented workers pay off the crossing debt. If immigrants did not incur these crossing debts then more of their earnings could be spent in the United States or by their households in Mexico on productive activities and durations in the U.S. might be lessened at the margin. This suggests some potential gain to both the U.S. and Mexican economies through expanding guest worker programs and consequently reducing the hiring of coyotes