An affordance perspective of enterprise social media and organizational socialization

In response to the challenge of socializing new IT employees, some IT departments are exploring the incorporation of enterprise social media (hereinafter ESM) as an informal organizational socialization tool. Because this is a relatively new phenomenon, little is known about how ESM facilitate employee socialization. In order to contribute to our understanding of how ESM affects employee socialization, this paper invokes a case study to explore how one organization’s implementation of an ESM for its IT new hire program influenced the socialization process and outcomes. To delve deeply into how the ESM influences socialization, we draw upon technology affordance theory to uncover the various first and second-order affordances actualized by different actor groups and the various outcomes resulting from the affordances. We then identify five generative mechanisms – bureaucracy circumvention, executive perspective, personal development, name recognition, and morale booster – that explain how the actualization of different strands of affordances by various groups of users produces eight different outcomes. Our results provide insights into the different affordances made possible by ESM in the context of a new hire socialization program and how these affordances have repercussions beyond those experienced by the individuals using the ESM. The results have important implications for new hire socialization and technology affordance research.     

Information Technology and organizational innovation: Harmonious information technology affordance and courage-based actualization

Researchers and practitioners have long believed that information technology (IT) is a key tool for fostering innovation. However, there is a certain inconsistency in the literature, which makes it challenging for researchers to figure out exactly how and why IT plays such a pivotal, strategic organizational role. The motivation for this research is the multiple contradictory results reported by studies investigating the influence of information technology (IT) on organizational innovation. This study utilizes a fit-based perspective in an attempt to disentangle these contradictions. Using Venkatraman’s (1989) seminal paper on fit, we conceive of two critical fit-based concepts: harmonious IT affordance in an organization (HITA) and a subsequent fit between HITA and organizational courage. HITA reflects a covariance fit (coalignment) between the three major IT affordances in an organization—collaborative affordance, organizational memory affordance, and process management affordance. Organizational courage reflects the boldness (risk-taking ability) of the organization. Finally, HITA and organizational courage represent a matching fit (reflected as actualized HITA) that influences two kinds of innovation: exploratory and exploitative. Two studies, conducted in the US and Chinese contexts, provide support for this theory. The main contribution of the paper is in showing that IT can lead to innovation if (a) organizational IT affordances harmoniously coalign (as HITA); (b) and, organizational courage acts as a powerful contingency that actualizes HITA, and this actualized HITA influences innovation.     

区块链在数据完整性保护领域的研究与应用进展

数据作为一种现代信息社会不可或缺的新兴资源,从产生伊始就面临着被各方篡改的风险。遭到篡改的数据在可用性与真实性方面都会大打折扣。而区块链因其不可篡改、去中心化、防止单点故障的特性天然契合数据完整性保护的要求。首先,简述了区块链技术背景与数据保护的核心要求;其次,按照区块链类型将现有区块链数据完整性保护成果进行分类和介绍,并对各成果的优势与不足结合数据完整性保护进行总结;然后,将现有数据完整性保护技术分类并与区块链数据完整性保护技术进行比较,分析传统数据完整性保护技术的不足与区块链数据完整性保护技术的优势;最后,总结区块链数据完整性保护技术的不足之处,并给出解决思路。     

The critical success factors for ERP implementation: an organizational fit perspective

Since early 1990s, many firms around the world have shifted their information technology (IT) strategy from developing information systems in-house to purchasing application software such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. IT managers responsible for managing their organization’s ERP implementation view their ERP systems as their organizations’ most strategic computing platform. However, despite such strategic importance, ERP projects report an unusually high failure rate, sometimes jeopardizing the core operations of the implementing organization. This study explores the root of such high failure rate from an “organizational fit of ERP” perspective. Based on the relevant literature, we define the concept of organizational fit of ERP and examine its impact on ERP implementation, together with ERP implementation contingencies. The results from our field survey of 34 organizations show that ERP implementation success significantly depends on the organizational fit of ERP and certain implementation contingencies.     

区块链资产窃取攻击与防御技术综述

自中本聪提出比特币以来,区块链技术得到了跨越式发展,特别是在数字资产转移及电子货币支付方面。以太坊引入智能合约代码,使其具备了同步及保存智能合约程序执行状态,自动执行交易条件并消除对中介机构需求,Web3.0 开发者可利用以太坊提供的通用可编程区块链平台构建更加强大的去中心化应用。公链系统具备的特点,如无须中央节点控制、通过智能合约保障交互数据公开透明、用户数据由用户个人控制等,使得它在区块链技术发展的过程中吸引了更多的用户关注。然而,随着区块链技术的普及和应用,越来越多的用户将自己的数字资产存储在区块链上。由于缺少权威机构的监管及治理,以太坊等公链系统正逐步成为黑客窃取数字资产的媒介。黑客利用区块链实施诈骗及钓鱼攻击,盗取用户所持有的数字资产来获取利益。帮助读者建立区块链资产安全的概念,从源头防范利用区块链实施的资产窃取攻击。通过整理总结黑客利用区块链环境实施的资产窃取攻击方案,抽象并归纳威胁模型的研究方法,有效研究了各类攻击的特征及实施场景。通过深入分析典型攻击方法,比较不同攻击的优缺点,回答了攻击能够成功实施的根本原因。在防御技术方面,针对性结合攻击案例及攻击实施场景介绍了钓鱼检测、代币授权检测、代币锁定、去中心化代币所属权仲裁、智能合约漏洞检测、资产隔离、供应链攻击检测、签名数据合法性检测等防御方案。对于每一类防御方案,给出其实施的基本流程及方案,明确了各防护方案能够在哪类攻击场景下为用户资产安全提供防护。     

基于区块链的数字作品交易系统的研究

随着5G时代的来临,互联网应用在人类社会的方方面面已根深蒂固,而人们所拥有的数字作品也越来越多。为了解决传统的数字作品管理与交易系统存在信任依赖度高、透明度低、维护成本较高,无法完全保障数字作品的安全、无法确保著作人自身的利益等问题,通过对比特币电子现金系统的特点以及区块链技术的发展进行研究与总结,提出了一种利用区块链技术的去中心化、共识机制和链式存储等特点的方法,同时使用基于深度学习的自动定价模型,设计出一种基于区块链的数字作品自动定价与交易系统。实验结果证明,通过该系统能够在保护数字作品安全的同时,解决恶意交易、损害著作人利益等问题;可以实现用户之间的直接交易,保证数字作品完全由著作人自治。     

Information disclosure and blockchain technology adoption strategy for competing platforms

A key strategic decision for platforms such as Amazon, JD.com, and eBay is the extent to which they provide information to consumers because product information plays an important role in consumers’ purchasing decisions. Considering that consumers may doubt the disclosed information, these platforms may have the incentive to implement blockchain technology to authenticate their disclosed information and, therefore, eliminate consumer distrust. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to investigate the optimal information disclosure and equilibrium blockchain adoption strategy for competing platforms and analyse how the consumers’ beliefs and blockchain cost will affect the equilibrium results. Our results show that the equilibrium blockchain adoption strategy is a threshold-structured policy. To be specific, there are two critical values of blockchain cost. If the blockchain cost is larger than the upper threshold, then neither of the platforms has the incentive to apply blockchain technology, and the market is full of unverified information; however, if the blockchain cost is less than the lower threshold, both platforms prefer to apply blockchain technology, and the amount of authenticated information is larger than that of unverified information in the nonblockchain case. Finally, if the blockchain cost is between the two bounds, then a mixed strategy becomes the equilibrium; that is, one platform adopts the blockchain technology, while the other does not. In this case, the amount of authenticated information may be larger than that of unverified information, but the platform that ignores using blockchains is also better off with this new technology. We make several extensions, and the results show that our main conclusions remain unchanged, which indicates that the conclusions can be generalized.     

Ideal patterns of strategic alignment and business performance

Strategic alignment or “fit” is a notion that is deemed crucial in understanding how organizations can translate their deployment of information technology (IT) into actual increases in performance. While previous theoretical and methodological works have provided foundations for identifying the dimensions and performance impacts of the strategic alignment between IT, strategy, and structure, few attempts have been made to test the proposed theory empirically and operationalize fit systemically. Based on a gestalt perspective of fit and theory-based ideal coalignment patterns, an operational model of strategic alignment is proposed and empirically validated through a mail survey of 110 small firms. Using cluster analysis, it was found that low-performance firms exhibited a conflictual coalignment pattern of business strategy, business structure, IT strategy, and IT structure that distinguished them from other firms.     

The competitive impact of information technology: can commodity IT contribute to competitive performance?

Despite polarizing arguments on the strategic potential of information technology (IT), academic research has yet to demonstrate clearly that information systems initiatives can lead to sustained competitive performance (CP). We investigate this question using data from 165 hotels affiliated with two brands of an international lodging chain. We study the effect of successful use and unreliability of an incremental IT-enabled self-service channel on overall CP. We find that the effect of the incremental service channel depends on the firm’s organizational resources. We also show that different organizations experience significantly different use and unreliability rates. Further, we find that the positive association between the use of an IT-enabled self-service channel and CP endures over a 2-year period, despite competitors’ widespread adoption of the technology enabling the incremental service channel (self-service kiosks). Our findings corroborate research on the strategic role of IT resources when appropriately coupled with complementary resources. They lead us to question the notion that IT is a strategic commodity. Indeed, the findings suggest that IT-dependent strategic initiatives have the potential to generate sustained CP, even when the technology that enables them appears ‘simple’. These findings suggest the need for a theoretical explanation of the complementarities and interaction among the elements of IT-dependent strategic initiatives.     

Alignment within the software development unit: Assessing structural and relational dimensions between developers and testers

Just as business-IT alignment has received significant focus as a strategic concern in the IS literature, it is also important to consider internal alignment between the diverse subunits within the IT organization. This study investigates alignment between developers and testers in software development to understand alignment within the IT unit. Prior evidence of tension between these sub-groups (and others as well) suggests that all is not necessarily well within the IT organization. Misalignment within the IT unit can certainly make it difficult for the IT unit to add strategic value to the organization. This study is an important initial step in investigating IT subunit alignment which can inform future research focusing on the alignment of other IT subunits such as architecture, operations, and customer-support. Using theoretical concepts from strategic business-IT alignment, we test a research model through a survey of professional software developers and testers. Results suggest that relational but not structural dimensions influence IT subunit alignment.