Complex dynamics and empirical evidence

Standard macroeconomics, based on a reductionist approach centered on the representative agent, is badly equipped to explain the empirical evidence where heterogeneity and industrial dynamics are the rule. In this paper we show that a simple agent-based model of heterogeneous financially fragile agents is able to replicate a large number of scaling type stylized facts with a remarkable degree of statistical precision.     

Effects of ICT-enabled social capital on inter-organizational relationships and performance: empirical evidence from an emerging economy

ABSTRACT

Social capital is an influential concept in understanding why and how some firms do better in inter-organizational relationships (IORs). It is an important factor in developing relationships of trust, making the basis for better collaboration among individuals, groups, and organizations. This paper presents findings from an empirical study of the effect of multiple dimensions of Social Capital and the moderating role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on inter-bank strategic collaboration in Sri Lanka, a developing context. The theoretical model is validated using partial least squares-based structural equation modeling based on survey and secondary data. The findings suggest that there is a strong positive combined effect of social capital and ICT toward inter-firm strategic alliances. The results contribute to both social capital theory and theories of ICT for development. It will also contribute to a more holistic perspective that incorporates social, technical, and organizational aspects for building effective strategies.     

Facilitating the implementation of customer-based inter-organizational systems: an empirical analysis of innovation and support factors

Abstract. Inter-organizational systems, which represent the majority of competitive information systems, have received increasing attention from researchers. This study focuses on the implementation of customer-based inter-organizational systems (CIOS). A model is constructed and tested, based on literature in IS implementation and organizational innovation. Data from 73 organizations who have implemented such systems are gathered through a questionnaire. Two classes of independent variables, innovation factors and support factors, are examined for their influence on CIOS implementation success. While no innovation factors emerge as important, support factors, such as customer training and top management support, are found to significantly facilitate successful implementation of such systems. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The effect of business ties and government ties on new IT venture growth: an empirical examination in China

The advancement of information technology in the past three decades is tremendous, and much of the advancement can be attributed to numerous new IT ventures that invent and commercialize a variety of information technologies. But new IT venture growth has not been sufficiently addressed by IS/IT researchers. In this research, we synthesized the literature on entrepreneurship, strategy, and management to develop a model linking business ties and government ties to new IT venture growth, while considering the effect of two contextual factors, firm size and legitimacy. We then collected empirical data from new IT ventures in China (N = 457). Regression analyses showed that both business ties and government ties positively affect new IT venture growth, and their effect is moderated by firm size and legitimacy. These insights contribute to both the literature and practices.     

The configuration of inter-organizational relations

Based on recent literature on the impact of inter-organizational information systems (IOS) on industrial organization, this paper proposes a framework for research into the interdependencies between IOS and coordination strategy. The elements of the framework are: (1) market structure; (2) governance forms; (3) relationship dimensions and (4) enterprise resources. It is suggested that these four elements at the same time affect and are affected by coordination strategy which focuses on inter-organizational relations. The research proposition is that inter-organizational arrangements have to be interpreted as complex, multi-layer configurations of organizational parameters. The composition and flexible adaptation of these configurations – rather than the selection of one efficient governance form – and the related design of IOS are the major tasks of coordination strategy. The design parameters are related to the elements of the framework: (1) the position of the enterprise in inter-organizational relations, be it a network, groups of networks or markets; (2) combinations of governance forms with different partners; (3) combinations of governance forms within a given network of relations referring to the different layers in inter-organizational relations, namely the institutional, operational and technical layers and (4) combinations of (inter-) organizational arrangements for the use and development of resources. EUROSELECT, a horizontal network of European grocery wholesalers, is used as an example to illustrate how different contingencies affect the inter-organizational design and why the complex configuration of relations is chosen.     

The consideration of organizational issues during the systems development process: an empirical analysis

The lack of consideration of organizational issues in systems development can lead to project failure. A review of the literature and a pre-test survey suggested classifying organizational issues into five categories and examining how these are considered by IT managers. A postal survey with responses from 64 senior IT specialists over a cross section of industry and commerce showed that there is a general awareness of the importance of organizational issues but there was little consensus on how they should be addressed in the development process. These IT managers were consistent in spending most effort on the issues perceived as most important from the list of 14 issue provided, but there was considerable variation in which specific issues they rated most important. In general those organizational issues with a 'technical' aspect were given more prominence than those which are less tangible, but which may be more critical to a system's success.     

The strategic value of IT-enabled self-organised collectives during crises

There is a promising body of work pertaining to the strategic value of IT-enabled self-organised collectives in times of crisis. This area is of significant theoretical and practical importance. Yet, we still have little systematic knowledge about precisely how self-organised collectives contribute during crises and how the value of their contributions might be leveraged strategically. To address this, we develop a model to demonstrate four dimensions across which self-organised collectives create strategic value: (i) information sharing value; (ii) collective resource-mobilisation value; (iii) network value; and (iv) generative value. In doing so, we reveal more about the specific capabilities of self-organised collectives, and we use these insights to develop implications for theory. We conclude by outlining an agenda to encourage and accelerate future research on the role of IT-enabled self-organised collectives during crises.     

Work routines as an object of resistance during information systems implementations: theoretical foundation and empirical evidence

When implementing new information systems, organizations often face resistance behavior from employees who avoid or underutilize the system. We analyze the extent to which such user resistance behavior is explained by users’ perceptions of the technology compared with their perceptions of work routines. We developed a research model based on work system theory and evaluated it using a study (N=106) of a human resources information system implementation in one organization. The results show that work routines are an object of resistance during IS implementations. We identify perceived usefulness and perceived ease of executing work routines as perceptions of work routines during an IS implementation that have a strong influence on user resistance behavior. In addition, our results show that the perceived ease of executing the work routines mediates the impact of perceived ease of use on user resistance behavior. In practice, our findings imply that interventions during IT implementations should focus on both the new technology and changing work routines.     

The use of computational fluid dynamics in TsAGI experimental works

The paper describes methods to calculate the flow around an aircraft model in a wind tunnel. It formulates special boundary conditions to achieve the necessary flow parameters in the control section, as well as to simulate some features of wind tunnel walls, for example, perforation. In order to accelerate the numerical solution convergence, a method for implicit smoothing is suggested allowing the calculation duration to be reduced several times. The cases of practical use of this methodology are given. It is shown that in the conditions of the TsAGI subsonic wind tunnel, it is possible to simulate the effect on the model from the elements of the structure that are missing in this tunnel, for example, the running track. A mathematical model of the European Transonic Windtunnel (ETW) with slotted walls is presented. It is shown that the flow in the reentry affects the main flow in the test section of this tunnel. Data on the effect of the model support in the TsAGI wind tunnel T-128 are given. The peniche height used in the half-model tests has been justified. The conclusion is made that the mathematical model of the wind tunnel is an obligatory part in experimental studies.     

How to facilitate inter-organizational knowledge sharing: The impact of trust

In this era of the network economy, inter-organizational knowledge sharing is one key driving force required to streamline value chain activities and maximize operational benefits. Knowledge sharing can be realized when the involved business partners successfully develop trust and build long-term partnerships. In this study, a model of knowledge sharing across the supply chain is constructed. Factors such as shared goals, social relational embeddedness, and influence strategy are investigated to determine whether they act as major driving forces to develop inter-organizational trust among the various supply chain members. The survey is based on 226 managers located in major industrial parks in Taiwan; the results suggest that trust is enforced when organizations develop shared goals, form social relational embeddedness, and initiate influence strategies. In addition, inter-organizational trust leads to better inter-organizational collaboration and knowledge sharing. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.     

Beyond adaptive security coping behaviors: Theory and empirical evidence

Extant research seldom focuses on maladaptive security coping behaviors. Applying the extended parallel process model, this study has developed a research model to reveal the processes underlying users’ adaptive and maladaptive security coping behaviors. The model is empirically examined along with alternative models. Results show that perceived coping efficacy is the most influencing factor promoting adaptive coping behaviors and deterring maladaptive coping behaviors. Fear plays a mediating role in the threat appraisal process and leads to adaptive and maladaptive coping behaviors. Trust in the Internet as the contextual factor influences the threat and coping appraisal processes and adaptive coping behaviors.     

Coupling multibody dynamics and computational fluid dynamics on 8192 processor cores

This paper describes a method for the fully resolved simulation of particle laden flows. For this purpose, we discuss the parallelization of large scale coupled fluid structure interaction with up to 37 million geometrically modeled moving objects incorporated in the flow. The simulation is performed using a 3D lattice Boltzmann solver for the fluid flow and a so-called rigid body physics engine for the treatment of the objects. The numerical algorithms and the parallelization are discussed in detail. Furthermore, performance results are presented for test cases on up to 8192 processor cores running on an SGI Altix supercomputer. The approach enables a detailed simulation of large scale particulate flows that are relevant for many industrial applications.     

Developing the aggregate empirical side of computational social choice

The aggregate empirical side of computational social choice has received relatively little attention. This paper provides a progress report on our on-going research project on statistical characterizations of the outcomes of vote-casting processes. We describe a statistical model that is capable of generating voting situations for three-candidate elections that have a distribution very similar to that of observed voting situations. We show that our simulated voting situations can provide interesting insights into the question of which voting rule is most likely to identify the best candidate.     

The Utility of Information Security Training and Education on Cybersecurity Incidents: An empirical evidence

As recent cyber-attacks have been increasing exponentially, the importance of security training for employees also has become growing ever than before. In addition, it is suggested that security training and education be an effective method for discerning cyber-attacks within academia and industries. Despite the importance and the necessity of the training, prior study did not investigate the quantitative utility of security training in an organizational level. Due to the absence of referential studies, many firms are having troubles in making decisions with respect to arranging optimal security training programs with limited security budgets. The main objective of this study is to find out a relationship between cybersecurity training and the number of incidents of organizations. Thus, this study quantified the effectiveness of security training on security incidents as the first study. This research examined the relationship among three main factors; education time, education participants, and outsourcing with numbers of cybersecurity incidents. 7089 firm level data is analyzed through Poisson regression method. Based on analysis results, we found that the negative relationship between security trainings and the occurrence of cybersecurity incidents. This study sheds light on the role of security training and education by suggesting its positive association with reducing the number of incidents in organizations from the quantitative perspective. The result of this study can be used as a referential guide for information security training decision-making procedure in organizations.

     

The multigene families of guanine nucleotide-binding proteins: Evolutionary and computational analysis

The multigene families of guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) regulate numerous cell functions including transmembrane signal transduction and oncogenesis. These gene families have been intensively studied in a wide variety of eukaryotic systems, resulting in rich substrate for computational analysis in an evolutionary and developmental context. Signal transducing GTP-binding proteins are often considered in three general categories: (1) the heterotrimeric G proteins—e.g. G_s and G_i, the stimulatory and inhibitory regulators of adenylyl cyclase that transmit signals from transmembrane receptors to intracellular effectors and contain distinctive 40 kDa α subunits; (2) the family of smaller (∼20 kDa) monomeric proteins related to the oncogene product ras, including rab, rac, ypt, and sec4; and (3) the ADP-ribosylation factors (ARFs). Analysis of these multigene G protein families present instructive examples of the increasing sophistication in computational sequence analysis that will be necessary to keep pace with the expanding number of gene families that will be characterized in the course of the Human Genome Project. Convenient computational analysis is critical to multiple phases of the current work: (1) to design PCR primers for effective cross-species amplification; (2) to analyze the gene structures of sequence obtained; (3) to identify functional domains in protein coding exons and in untranslated regions (UTRs); and (4) to discern evolutionary relationships between cloned sequences.     

Tweeting during food crises: A psychosocial analysis of threat coping expressions in Spain,during the 2011 European EHEC outbreak

Food crises imply responses that are not what people and organisations would normally do, if one or more threats (health, economic, etc.) were not present. At an individual level, this motivates individuals to implement coping strategies aimed at adaptation to the threat that has been presented, as well as the reduction of stressful experiences. In this regard, microblogging channels such as Twitter emerge as a valuable resource to access individuals' expressions of coping. Accordingly, Twitter expressions are generally more natural, spontaneous and heterogeneous — in cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions — than expressions found on other types of social media (e.g. blogs). Moreover, as a social media channel, it provides access not only to an individual but also to a social level of analysis, i.e. a psychosocial media analysis. To show the potential in this regard, our study analysed Twitter messages produced by individuals during the 2011 EHEC/Escherichia coli bacteria outbreak in Europe, due to contaminated food products. This involved more than 3100 cases of bloody diarrhoea and 850 of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), and 53 confirmed deaths across the EU. Based on data collected in Spain, the country initially thought to be the source of the outbreak, an initial quantitative analysis considered 11,411 tweets, of which 2099 were further analysed through a qualitative content analysis. This aimed at identifying (1) the ways of coping expressed during the crisis; and (2) how uncertainty about the contaminated product, expressed through hazard notifications, influenced the former. Results revealed coping expressions as being dynamic, flexible and social, with a predominance of accommodation, information seeking and opposition (e.g. anger) strategies. The latter were more likely during a period of uncertainty, with the opposite being true for strategies relying on the identification of the contaminated product (e.g. avoid consumption/purchase). Implications for food crisis communication and monitoring systems are discussed.     

The effectiveness of synchronous computer-mediated communication for solving hidden-profile problems: Further empirical evidence

We experimentally compared the effectiveness of face-to-face (FTF) and synchronous computer-mediated communication when using a chat tool in solving hidden-profile business problems. In such problems, information critical to its solution is dispersed among team members and they must share it to solve the problem. Unlike prior research using hidden-profile tasks, our study used a real-world business-oriented task, established real rather than ad hoc teams, and imposed a time constraint on them. Hypotheses derived from media richness theory were found to be supported, with the results revealing that computer-mediated teams using the chat tool were less successful in exchanging and processing information than FTF teams and were thus less successful at solving the hidden-profile problem. The results also showed that, when operating under a time constraint, FTF was preferred over computer-mediated communication due to the relative immediacy of feedback and multiplicity of cues available in the FTF setting, as media richness theory predicted.