Understanding SaaS adoption from the perspective of organizational users: A tripod readiness model

As an innovation that revolutionizes application delivery based on cloud-computing, software-as-a-service (SaaS) has seen a tremendous growth during the last few years. However, its diffusion is not evenly distributed: some organizational users are open to SaaS but others are still hesitant despite the huge cost saving it may bring. The behavioral impacts of SaaS are far-reaching and the new socio-technical phenomenon deserves a close look. Based on the literature review, this study proposes a tripod model of SaaS Readiness that suggests that organizational users need to get prepared from technological, organizational and environmental aspects for the adoption of SaaS. The empirical results support that all three aspects are important for SaaS adoption yet their influences vary across psychological and overt outcome variables.     

A survey on question answering technology from an information retrieval perspective

This article provides a comprehensive and comparative overview of question answering technology. It presents the question answering task from an information retrieval perspective and emphasises the importance of retrieval models, i.e., representations of queries and information documents, and retrieval functions which are used for estimating the relevance between a query and an answer candidate. The survey suggests a general question answering architecture that steadily increases the complexity of the representation level of questions and information objects. On the one hand, natural language queries are reduced to keyword-based searches, on the other hand, knowledge bases are queried with structured or logical queries obtained from the natural language questions, and answers are obtained through reasoning. We discuss different levels of processing yielding bag-of-words-based and more complex representations integrating part-of-speech tags, classification of the expected answer type, semantic roles, discourse analysis, translation into a SQL-like language and logical representations.     

Understanding factors influencing information communication technology adoption behavior: The moderators of information literacy and digital skills

Digital inequality is one of the most critical issues in the “information age”, few studies have examined the social inequality in information resources and digital use patterns. In the rural areas, such information communication technology (ICT) facilities could not guarantee that users can easily access information technology and overcome the so-called “digital divide.” This research aims to discover the psychological factors that influence information and communication technology (ICT) adoption behavior, as well as confirm whether “information literacy” and “digital skills” have moderator effects in the research model. Using a survey of 875 participants and a structural equation modeling approach, we find that task characteristics and social interaction improve media richness, media experience, and media technostress, which in turn enhance ICT adoption behavior. The proposed theoretical model shows that the impact of ICT adoption behavior is moderated by information literacy and digital skills. The findings of this research can offer guidelines for policy makers and educators who evaluate a community's ICT adoption behavior so as to provide proper access to ICT and promote its visibility by incorporating ICT in educational activities.     

Understanding information interactions in diffusion: an evolutionary game-theoretic perspective

Social networks are fundamental mediums for diffusion of information and contagions appear at some node of the network and get propagated over the edges. Prior researches mainly focus on each contagion spreading independently, regardless of multiple contagions’ interactions as they propagate at the same time. In the real world, simultaneous news and events usually have to compete for user’s attention to get propagated. In some other cases, they can cooperate with each other and achieve more influences.In this paper, an evolutionary game theoretic framework is proposed to model the interactions among multiple contagions. The basic idea is that different contagions in social networks are similar to the multiple organisms in a population, and the diffusion process is as organisms interact and then evolve from one state to another. This framework statistically learns the payoffs as contagions interacting with each other and builds the payoff matrix. Since learning payoffs for all pairs of contagions IS almost impossible (quadratic in the number of contagions), a contagion clustering method is proposed in order to decrease the number of parameters to fit, which makes our approach efficient and scalable. To verify the proposed framework, we conduct experiments by using real-world information spreading dataset of Digg. Experimental results show that the proposed game theoretic framework helps to comprehend the information diffusion process better and can predict users’ forwarding behaviors with more accuracy than the previous studies. The analyses of evolution dynamics of contagions and evolutionarily stable strategy reveal whether a contagion can be promoted or suppressed by others in the diffusion process.     

A study on e-learning take-up intention from an innovation adoption perspective: A case in China

This research aims to examine, from an innovation adoption perspective, Chinese students’ intention of taking up e-learning degrees. A survey of Chinese students was conducted to reveal their perceptions concerning innovation attributes relevant to e-learning and their intentions of taking e-learning programmes provided by UK universities. Given the rapid development in e-learning and its potential impact on how learning takes place, this research argues that e-learning take-up represents adoption of an innovation in educational services, rather than just an IT technology. It therefore examined e-learning adoption using Rogers’s relational model of perceived innovation attributes. Rogers’s model was adapted to the e-learning context. A questionnaire survey was developed to collect data from a sample of Chinese students (n = 215). Prior to final analysis the dimensionality and validity of the implementation of Rogers relational model was assessed. Findings suggested that only perceived compatibility and trialability have significant influence on e-learning adoption intention.     

Factors affecting the adoption of information and communication technology in small and medium enterprises: a perspective from rural Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can play an important role in the national economy of developing countries. The adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) has enabled local SMEs to participate in the international market. However, little research has addressed issues related to SMEs adopting ICTs, especially in rural areas of Middle Eastern developing countries such as Saudi Arabia. Using the extended technology-organization-environment framework with personal innovativeness, this study examined the factors that influence the adoption of ICTs among SMEs in rural areas of Saudi Arabia. The study found that relative advantages, top management support, culture, regulatory environment, owner/manager innovativeness and ICT knowledge had a significant relationship with ICT adoption among SMEs in Saudi Arabia, whereas compatibility, complexity and a competitive environment had no significant relationship with ICT adoption. The findings of this study will potentially help SME managers/owners and the Saudi government in the successful adoption and diffusion of ICT in SMEs located in rural areas in Saudi Arabia.     

Understanding augmented reality adoption trade-offs in production environments from the perspective of future employees: A choice-based conjoint study

Information Systems and e-Business Management - The implementation of augmented reality (AR) systems in production environments is associated with a variety of advantages, such as productivity...     

The adoption of software measures: A technology acceptance model (TAM) perspective

The use of software measures for project management and software process improvement has been encouraged for many years. However, the low level of acceptance and use of software measures in practice has been a constant concern. In this paper we propose and test a model which explains and predicts the use of software measures. The model is based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and operationalizes the perceived usefulness construct according to the “desirable properties of software measures.” Our research provides guidance for software engineers in selecting among different software measures and for software metrics coordinators who are planning measurement programs.     

Understanding information technology acceptance by individual professionals: Toward an integrative view

Although information technology is becoming a vital part of the workplace of skilled professionals, it is unclear what factors contribute to its acceptance by them. Building upon and integrating the key findings of three closely related theoretical paradigms (the technology acceptance model, the theory of planned behavior, and innovation diffusion theory), we developed a more complete, coherent, and unified model and tested the resulting model in the context of PDA acceptance by healthcare professionals. Using LISREL, data collected from 222 physicians in the U.S. were tested against the model; it explained 57% of the physician's intention to accept an innovation, with good model fit. Our study produced useful insights into the factors that influence technology acceptance decisions by professionals and provided new ideas in the understanding of user acceptance of technology.     

Understanding collaborative resilience from continuous disruption: an actor-network perspective

People need help to recover after crises. With the help of information and communication technologies (ICTs), people can engage in resilience collaboratively. Specifically, they can develop new routines to access various infrastructures and meet their societal needs via ICTs. Therefore, the role of ICTs in supporting collaborative resilience needs further examination and clarification. In this study, we use actor-network theory (ANT) to understand collaborative resilience during and after a war, which is a specific kind of crisis that may last a long time. We revisit a published case to clarify how ICTs help people develop new routines so that their societal needs still can be met. We find that a number of issues suggested by ANT, such as problematisation and translation, contribute significantly to the process and outcomes of the case. We provide practical implications to present the essence of our findings. Overall, our study suggests that an ANT-informed understanding can help practitioners better understand the role of ICTs in supporting collaborative resilience.     

Information technology adoption: a review of the literature and classification

Universal Access in the Information Society - In the information systems (IS) domain, technology adoption has been one of the most extensively researched areas. Although in the last decade various...     

A qualitative study of information technology adoption: how ten organizations adopted Web-based training

Abstract.  Web-based training (WBT) has become prevalent in business organizations. This study used evidence from 10 organizations in Hong Kong to identify the significant factors that influenced their decision to adopt WBT. A qualitative field study was used. This study concluded the following three key factors significantly affect the adoption of WBT in Hong Kong: (1) the perceived benefits/costs of WBT, (2) organizational readiness, and (3) external pressures. The results and implications are discussed.     

Understanding e-Government project trajectories from an actor-network perspective

A number of models have been offered to help explain the trajectories of e-Government projects: their frequent failures and their rarer successes. Most, though, lack a sense of the political interaction of stakeholders that is fundamental to understanding the public sector. This paper draws on actor-network theory to provide a perspective that is used to explain the trajectory of an e-Government case study. This perspective is found to provide a valuable insight into the local and global actor-networks that surround e-Government projects. The mobilisation, interaction and disintegration of these networks underpins the course of such projects, and can itself be understood in relation to network actor power: not through a static conception of ‘power over’ others but through the dynamic-enacted concept of ‘power to’. As well as providing a research tool for analysis of e-Government project trajectories, the local/global networks approach also offers insights into e-Government leadership as a process of network formation and maintenance; and into the tensions between network stabilisation and design stabilisation.     

A knowledge-focused perspective on the diffusion and adoption of complex information technologies: the BPR example

This paper presents a knowledge‐focused perspective for the development of a model to explain the diffusion and adoption of complex integrating technologies. Business process re‐engineering (BPR) is used as the example to illustrate the model. However, while BPR is used to illustrate our argument, the model that is developed is relevant to understanding the innovation processes surrounding any complex IT‐based innovation. It is argued that the strength of this diffusion model is that it focuses not on the spread of particular technological artifacts (whether it is BPR or any other IT‐based innovation), but on the spread of the ideas and knowledge underpinning the technology. In particular, the model draws attention to the ways in which technology suppliers commodify knowledge and present ‘packaged’ solutions. This creates problems for potential users who need to unpack this knowledge and integrate it with existing organizational knowledge. The diffusion and adoption of innovations is thus seen as a process of integrating knowledge across disparate communities. Such knowledge integration, however, is difficult. This can help to explain the apparent contradiction between the limited success rate of BPR and its widespread diffusion among western firms.     

Social media and online health services: A health empowerment perspective to online health information

This study investigates how differences in the use of online health information and social media affect the use of online health services. We attempt to predict the extent to which the use of social media and online health information prompt individuals to use online health services. We draw upon a combination of sociology and communication studies and integrate relational maintenance assumptions regarding the quality of online social relationships to promote the importance of health empowerment factors–socio-demographic characteristics, internet attitudes and health status models to predict the likelihood of using online health services. The study’s sample consists of 1406 individuals using the Internet, including 633 individuals using the Internet and social media to look for health information. The study’s results provide evidence that (a) online health information empowers most of the examined individuals to use online health services; (b) among all social media only those that offer consulting have a significant effect on the likelihood of using online health services. The implications of these findings support that a conceptual integration of CMC and social media use theories along with health empowerment assumptions, is a promising theoretical framework to test the effectiveness of social media use in prompting use of online health services. The practical applications for health management are highlighted as well. Finding practical and affordable ways to support the use of social media and encourage access to online health information and use of online health services could improve health literacy and self-management of health at the individual level and increase the efficiency in the provision of health services at the institutional level.     

Early vs. late adoption of radical information technology innovations across software development organizations: an extension of the disruptive information technology innovation model

This paper extends the disruptive information technology innovation model (DITIM) by exploring the impact of adoption timing on innovation outcomes within software development organizations during a disruptive innovation cycle. The DITIM suggests that radical changes in computing platforms result in pervasive and radical innovations in software development organizations across three innovation types: base technologies adopted, services produced and processes adopted. Upstream attributes (amount and radicalness) of the base innovations impact effects in‐kind downstream (a.k.a., strong order effects) on services and processes. Extending these tenets of the DITIM, we posit that during disruptive information technology (IT) innovation, the temporal stage of innovation activity (early vs. late) by software development organizations will significantly impact four innovation characteristics: (1) adoption rate of radical IT innovations, (2) strong order effects on downstream innovations related to the amount of innovation, (3) perceived radicalness of innovations and (4) strong order effects on downstream innovations related to the amount of perceived radicalness of innovation. We examine these impacts by reanalysing a cross‐sectional study of 121 software development organizations that adopted internet computing as reported in the original data analysis of the DITIM. By splitting the data into early and late adopter groups, our moderation analysis shows significant differences between early and late adopting groups in each of the four hypothesized impacts. Specifically, the adoption rate of radical IT innovations, strong order effects on the amount of innovation, perceived radicalness of innovations and strong order effects on perceived radicalness were each found to differ between early and late adopters. However, it is also important to consider innovation type as three significant effects were in the opposite direction for process innovations. These findings suggest that IT‐innovation scholars and practitioners should carefully consider innovation timing and type when studying or managing radical IT innovation.     

A multi-level, multi-theory perspective of information technology implementation

Abstract.  Much of information technology (IT) implementation research has focused on individuals' acceptance of IT by examining their behaviour when faced with new IT and the antecedents of these behaviours. As they are frequently undertaken within a project framework, IT implementations also entail the application of project management practices in order to be successful. Based on the premise that antecedents of lower level theories are frequently determined by the outcomes of a higher level theory, the present paper illustrates how organizational-level decisions, examined from the perspective of economics theories, can help explain the antecedents of project risk management at the project and individual levels. To do so, the paper describes an IT implementation effort which went through three phases; the first two of which were abandoned versions of the same project. An organizational-level analysis of the case from an economics perspective and its project-level analysis from a risk management perspective show how organizational-level decisions influenced the antecedents at the project and individual levels, providing a more complete understanding of the IT implementation in question, an understanding which neither a theory approach nor a level perspective could provide on its own.     

Understanding post‐adoption IS usage stages: an empirical assessment of self‐service information systems

Organisations have invested in self‐service information systems (IS) to provide a direct interface for service delivery. Enriching the usage of these systems can provide organisations with immense benefits. However, limited research has been directed towards understanding post‐adoption IS usage behaviour in general and specifically in the context of self‐service IS. This study proposes post‐adoption IS usage behaviour as a broader concept constituting feature level usage of IS, integration of IS in the work system and exploration of new uses of IS. We evaluate how the new conceptualisation can be used to classify users at different stages of self‐service IS usage. Further, we examine user perceptions that differentiate among the users situated at different self‐service IS usage stages. Data were collected in the context of a self‐service Web‐based IS to validate the post‐adoption IS usage constructs and to examine the proposed thesis. The newly developed conceptual structure and measures for post‐adoption IS usage behaviour exhibit strong psychometric properties. The analysis shows three distinct post‐adoption IS usage stages and highlights that usefulness, user‐initiated learning, ease of use, satisfaction and voluntariness of use differentiate users at the different stages of post‐adoption IS usage. The results show that these variables aggregate into value confirmation and learning orientation as two higher‐level concepts. Further, we evaluate the predictive efficacy of the research model in classifying users into different post‐adoption self‐service IS usage stages. Implications are drawn for future research.     

Factors affecting the adoption of electronic signature: Executives' perspective of hospital information department

The healthcare industry is experiencing a major transformation towards e-healthcare, which delivers and enhances related information through the Internet among healthcare stakeholders and makes the electronic signature (e-signature) more and more important. This paper uses a mature framework, Technology–Organization–Environment (TEO), in information system discipline to identify factors that affect hospitals in adopting e-signature. A survey was conducted on regional hospitals and medical centers in Taiwan to verify the validity of the research framework. The results show that TEO framework is useful in distinguishing hospitals as adopters and non-adopters of e-signature. Based on the research findings, implications and limitations are discussed.