The changing nature of user attitudes toward virtual world technology: A longitudinal study

Virtual world technologies have been utilized in gaming for a number of years but only recently have they been applied as a serious tool for business. Many business applications have been identified, including the use of virtual worlds for team collaboration, training, and education, but a question remains about whether users will accept the premise that virtual worlds represent useful environments for engaging in business functions. We address this question by examining user reactions to virtual worlds. The first study looks at attitudes of users of the virtual world Second Life during three time periods (i.e., before exposure to the environment, after an information session and discussion of Second Life, and after use of the environment). Two variables, user acceptance of virtual world technologies and user self-efficacy, were examined as the primary dependent measures. Results show that while self-efficacy increases over time, user acceptance decreases in a highly correlated pattern. A second study investigates the underlying causes of the observed pattern of user acceptance using a content analysis of written reflections of user experiences. Both studies paint a detailed picture of user intentions and some of the reasons these intentions developed after use. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for business managers and researchers.     

航空制造企业商业智能系统的设计

本文在分析某航空制造企业商业智能系统需求的基础上,利用数据挖掘技术建立构建了航空制造企业商业智能系统,提出航空制造企业商业智能系统的标准结构模型。     

User acceptance model of open source software

The development and implementation of open source software (OSS) is one of the most current topics within the academic, business and political environments. Traditionally, research in OSS has focused on identifying individual personal motives for participating in the development of an OSS project, analyzing specific OSS solutions, or the OSS movement, itself. Nevertheless, user acceptance towards this type of technology has received very little attention. For this reason, the main purpose of the current study is to identify the variables and factors that have a direct effect on individual attitude towards OSS adoption. Therefore, we have developed a technological acceptance model on behalf of the users towards a solution based on OSS. For this development, we have considered the technology acceptance model. Findings show that OSS is a viable solution for information management for organizations.     

实时商务智能的框架及其技术分析

当代商务智能技术的发展使得用户已不再满足于对历史性数据进行相关分析,越来越多的企业领导者要求进行实时数据的分析,从而作出实时的响应和决策.讨论了传统商务智能系统的一些缺陷,从而勾勒出一个未来面向实时的商务智能系统框架,同时对其相关技术进行了评价和分析.     

Business intelligence in enterprise computing environment

Business intelligence (BI) is the process of gathering correct information in the correct format at the correct time; and delivering the results for decision-making purposes, or have a positive impact on business operations, tactics, and strategy in the enterprises. This paper is intended as a brief review of BI in an enterprise computing environment, with an emphasis on the algorithms and methods. The review points out the challenges to the broad and deep deployment of business intelligence systems, and provide proposals to make business intelligence more effective.     

An elaboration likelihood model based longitudinal analysis of attitude change during the process of IT acceptance via education program

The principal objective of this study was to gain insight into attitude changes occurring during IT acceptance from the perspective of elaboration likelihood model (ELM). In particular, the primary target of this study was the process of IT acceptance through an education program. Although the Internet and computers are now quite ubiquitous, and thus many people can come to an acceptance of IT organically – including acceptance of such products as new released online services or software, some software – most notably programming languages and spreadsheets – may require education programs, and the efficacy of that education may determine the rate of acceptance. Thus, education programs for such IT may be regarded as not only teaching and training how to use the product from a technical standpoint, but also as a process by which program participants are persuaded to have a positive attitude towards accepting the new IT. This study adopted an ELM based longitudinal approach to capture the changes in the roles of persuasion routes and attitude during IT acceptance – in this case, the education program. To validate empirically the suggested model, junior students majoring in business administration, all of whom were taking an Excel class, were surveyed twice – just after mid-term and just after their final exam. These data were analysed via partial least-square method to deduce some possible implications. Our results supported all the hypotheses put forward.     

The importance of identification for the acceptance of consumer electronics on the example of the Wii

Research on information technology has focused mainly on the acceptance of work-related technology. During the last few years, the importance of information technology in private life has tremendously increased and therefore, the fit of models developed especially for working environments is decreasing. This article stresses two main points. First, important key constructs such as technology acceptance are defined, because a clear definition is still absent in literature. Second, a model integration of the Technology Acceptance Model and the need-based approach from user experience research is presented, which focuses on the explanation of technology acceptance of hedonic systems. A first empirical investigation of the integrated model on the example of the Nintendo Wii? closes this article. The results show that identification adds great explanatory strength to the model in case of hedonic systems and that a differentiation between usage modes is valuable for a better understanding of technology acceptance.     

Machine intelligence, adaptive business intelligence, and natural intelligence [Research Frontier]

One of the key observations of the author was that machine intelligence might be defined as the capability of a system to adapt its behavior to meet desired goals in a range of environments. Interestingly, the three components of prediction, adaptation, and optimization constitute the core modules of adaptive business intelligence systems. Clearly, the future of the business intelligence industry lies in systems that can make decisions, rather than tools that produce detailed reports.     

Factors affecting the acceptance of information systems supporting emergency operations centres

Despite the recognition that information system acceptance is an important antecedent of effective emergency management, there has been comparatively very little research examining this aspect of technology acceptance. The current research responded to this gap in literature by adapting and integrating existing models of technology acceptance. This was done in order to examine how a range of technology acceptance factors could affect the acceptance of emergency operations centre information systems. Relationships between several of these factors were also examined. Questionnaire data from 383 end-users of four different emergency operations centre information systems were analysed using structural equation modelling. This analysis concluded that technology acceptance factors of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and information quality explained 65 percent of variance in symbolic adoption, which is a combination of mental acceptance and psychological attachment towards an information system. A number of moderating effects of age, gender, experience of use and domain experience were also identified. A mediating component, of performance expectancy, explained 49 percent of variance between facilitating conditions, information quality, effort expectancy, and resulting symbolic adoption. These findings highlight a need to re-focus technology acceptance research on both mediating and moderating effects and the importance of considering domain specific factors. Applied recommendations are also made, for successfully implementing relevant information systems.     

.Net Remoting在商业智能系统中的应用研究

针对传统商业智能存在移植性、集成性和可扩展性差等弱点,该文研究基于.Net Remoting的商业智能平台。在分析商业智能当前应用状况和商业智能体系结构的基础上,给出了整个系统比较完善的解决方案,构建了基于.Net Remoting服务的商业智能的应用平台,该平台可以将商业智能组件无缝集成到企业现有的系统中,增强了可理解性和可扩展性。     

Predicting consumer intention to use mobile service

Abstract. Advances in wireless technology have increased the number of people using mobile devices and accelerated the rapid development of mobile service (m-service) conducted with these devices. However, although many companies are today making considerable investments to take advantage of the new business possibilities offered by wireless technology, research on mobile commerce suggests potential consumers may not adopt these m-services in spite of their availability. Thus, there is a need for research to identify the factors that affect consumer intention to use m-services. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and Luarn & Lin's 2005 mobile banking acceptance model, the current research respecifies and validates an integrated model for predicting consumer intention to use m-service by adding one trust-related construct ('perceived credibility') and two resource-related constructs ('self-efficacy' and 'perceived financial resources') to the TAM's nomological structure and re-examining the relationships between the proposed constructs. Data collected from 258 users in Taiwan were tested against the research model using the structural equation modelling approach. The results strongly support the proposed model in predicting consumer intention to use m-service. Several implications for information technology/information system acceptance research and m-service management practices are discussed.     

Acceptance of online banking information systems: an empirical case in a developing economy

This paper proposes an extended model of technology acceptance to understand potential users’ acceptance of online banking information systems (OBIS). The proposed model integrates key constructs from information systems and e-commerce acceptance research streams into the theoretical frame of the technology acceptance model. The model was tested on a sample of 353 Internet banking users in Pakistan. Using structural equation modelling with Analysis of Moment Structures software, data analysis showed considerable support for the extended hypothesised model. The results suggested that, in order of importance: perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU) and trust explained 45.7% of the variance in intended acceptance behaviour. Trust and technological self-efficacy (TSE) predicted 28.1% of the variance in PU. While in PEOU 21.8% of the variance was predicted by TSE, accessibility and terminology clarity. This study produced valuable insights into the factors that influence acceptance of OBIS by intended users and offers new ideas in understanding the acceptance of technology, especially in developing countries.     

A financial expert system demonstration for business students

Expert systems is a rapidly developing application of artificial intelligence technology for the capture and dissemination of human knowledge. A number of very practical implementations of knowledge bases have been achieved, using program shells which are quite accessible by people other than programmers. Since college business students have a high probability of encountering expert systems in the workplace, it is appropriate that their curriculum expose them to this expanding arena. This paper presents an expert system demonstration designed to provide a hands-on educational environment for allowing students to explore the capabilities of artificial intelligence in business organizations.     

Toward an understanding of the behavioral intention to use mobile banking

Although millions of dollars have been spent on building mobile banking systems, reports on mobile banking show that potential users may not be using the systems, despite their availability. Thus, research is needed to identify the factors determining users' acceptance of mobile banking. While there has been considerable research on the technology acceptance model (TAM) that predicts whether individuals will accept and voluntarily use information systems, limitations of the TAM include the omission of an important trust-based construct in the context of electronic/mobile commerce, and the assumption that there are no barriers preventing an individual from using an IS if he or she chooses to do so. Based on literature relating to the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the TAM, this study extends the applicability of the TAM in a mobile banking context, by adding one trust-based construct (“perceived credibility”) and two resource-based constructs (“perceived self-efficacy” and “perceived financial cost”) to the model, while paying careful attention to the placing of these constructs in the TAM's existing nomological structure. Data collected from 180 users in Taiwan were tested against the extended TAM, using the structural equation modeling approach. The results strongly support the extended TAM in predicting users' intentions to adopt mobile banking. Several implications for IT/IS acceptance research and mobile banking management practices are discussed.     

How information-sharing values influence the use of information systems: An investigation in the business intelligence systems context

Although the constituents of information systems (IS) success and their relationships have been well documented in the business value of information technology (IT) and strategic IS literature, our understanding of how information-sharing values affect the relationships among IS success dimensions is limited. In response, we conduct a quantitative study of 146 medium and large firms that have implemented a business intelligence system in their operations. Our results highlight that in the business intelligence systems context information-sharing values are not directly linked to IT-enabled information use, yet they act as significant moderators of information systems success dimensions relationships.     

Task complexity and different decision criteria for online service acceptance: A comparison of two e-government compliance service domains

Inspired by ever evolving information technologies and the myriad of successful business cases that reap the benefit of new technologies, many governments around the world have jumped on the bandwagon of electronic government (e-Gov). However, there has been little academic research regarding the types and conditions of e-Gov services that are acceptable to the public. This paper synthesizes a model of e-Gov compliance services acceptance by critically integrating prior research along with the distinctive characteristics of the online government services context. The study posits that different levels of task complexity involved in various e-Gov compliance processes can lead citizens to use different decision criteria and empirically examines the differing acceptance decision patterns of potential e-Government service users in two compliance service domains. The results reveal that citizens do adopt different decision criteria for different levels of task complexity, suggesting that functional usefulness of e-Gov services becomes a more important criterion for online services that involve difficult tasks. In contrast, the service provider's competence in online operations becomes a more important factor for simple tasks. Several other findings and future research directions are also discussed.     

基于SQL Server 2005的企业商业智能模型研究

分析了目前企业在信息化中异构信息系统的问题,提出了基于SQL Server 2005的商业智能模型在企业中的应用。构建了基于SQL Server 2005的企业商业智能模型体系结构,从而为消除企业的信息孤岛,保障信息安全,提供了企业决策的信息化,并以实例,详细论述了企业商业智能模型。     

基于Agent的商务智能模型研究

针对传统的商务智能系统存在的被动性和集成困难的缺点,提出一个基于Agent的商务智能模型,可利用Agent建立和维护数据仓库,并进行数据挖掘.给出了其主动监控商务环境原理,以及对推理规则的定义,从中找到决策支持信息,最后结合了一个出版管理系统的应用进行了实践.     

Performance evaluation of an intelligent video surveillance system – A case study

Intelligent video surveillance (IVS) technology is on the cusp of moving from early adopters to general acceptance in several markets such as security and business intelligence. This transition has been made possible by embedding computer vision technologies directly into video devices such as cameras, encoders, routers, DVRs, NVRs, and other video management and storage hardware. For this technology to be successful, it is crucial that IVS systems can be deployed easily, without requiring computer vision expertise to customize them for every installation; and that the systems work robustly in a wide range of environments. One of the key enablers to achieve this goal is proper testing. This paper discusses some of the major challenges involved and provides a case study for addressing the problem. One of the key concepts is utilizing fuzzy evaluation to handle boundary conditions.     

商业智能解决方案的研究与应用

信息技术在企业的广泛应用产生了大量的数据,这些数据中包含了对各级别的企业决策者极具价值的信息,但各个业务系统产生的分散、孤立的数据很少能被用于决策分析。要想有效地利用各种应用系统蕴藏的数据来提升企业决策水平,获得更大的竞争优势,实施企业商业智能战略是至关重要的。通过商业智能关键技术的研究给出了一个商业智能较为完整的解决方案,并结合项目实践,重点研究了商业智能在航运企业中的应用。最后给出了某航运企业商业智能系统的应用实例。商业智能关键技术若推广于军用舰艇管理,则具有重大的国防意义。