Information system success among manufacturing SMEs: case of developing countries

This research develops an integrated model of Information System (IS) success based on the DeLone and McLean (2003. The DeLone and McLean model of information systems success: A ten-year update. Journal of Management Information Systems, 19(4), 9–30) IS success model and the technology–organization–environment framework of the firm to provide small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the relative importance and knowledge of IS success. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to collect data from 316 Iranian and Malaysian manufacturing SMEs. Our findings show that the determinants of IS success among SMEs are not limited to the technological factors identified in the DeLone and McLean (2003) IS success model. We in effect found that IS success among SMEs is also determined by some key organizational and environmental determinants. We observed that the involvement of both top management and employees in different stages of IS implementation is important and IS success among SMEs requires internal and external support. The study contributes to the theory by extending and empirically testing the DeLone and McLean IS success model in a different setting than in previous studies. The study can serve as a basis for future research in this field through advancing the theoretical development in the area of IS success.     

Measuring and evaluating IS expectations and benefit success from B2B electronic trading: a new survey approach

This article demonstrates a survey approach for measuring and evaluating IS benefit success from business-to-business (B2B) electronic trading. This article is of significance in demonstrating practical benefit success mechanisms for evaluating complex IS projects. A new survey approach is used to help evaluate the IS benefit success for each participating organisation. Disconfirmation theory and the expectations paradigm are used to justify the overall approach taken. A central tenet of the overall evaluation approach has been the need for a combined evaluation of benefit success based on interpreting or diagnosing two outcomes: (a) the ‘realised benefit outcome’ (RBO), or the actual number of realised strategic and operational benefits a company has achieved, regardless of initial expectations, as well as (b) the ‘benefit state outcome’ (BSO), or the extent of benefit planning gap (BPG) experienced within each company relative to their original expectations. This article demonstrates in detail how to measure benefit success from survey data using a perceptual self-assessed rating instrument. The approach will be useful for other academics and practitioners in the development of usable IS benefits evaluation mechanisms.     

Desired Skills for Entry Level IS Positions: Identification and Assessment

The present study sheds light on what employers believe to be important hard skills and soft skills for entry-level information systems (IS) positions. Results from a survey of N = 73 U.S.-based and international employers suggest that soft skills are significantly more important than hard skills for entry-level IS positions. The most important hard skills are Microsoft Office, database/data warehouse/SQL, and knowledge of security, while the most important soft skills are willingness to learn, critical thinking, and attitude. Employer characteristics (e.g., industry, size, location) do not affect the importance of hard skills and soft skills. Findings of this study are discussed in light of previous research. Results of this study can help to guide universities in IS curriculum development.     

Key information management issues in Taiwan and the US

This work surveyed Taiwanese companies to identify their key issues confronting managers and developers of IS. A sample survey strategy was used with a questionnaire and interviews. The questionnaire was evaluated and pretested; it contained 38 key issues. 748 questionnaires were mailed out and there were 332 effective responses. The top 3 issues were found to be: top management support, communication between the IS department and users, and aligning MIS with business goals. Factor analysis was used to aggregate the issues into seven higher factors. The effects of the various variables on the rankings and ratings of the key issues were analyzed. The rankings were then compared with a 1988 survey in Taiwan; in addition, the results were compared with recent U.S. surveys.     

Information Systems at Utilities: An Issue of Value

Abstract

Although a variety of IS issues such as containing costs and developing systems that meet users’ needs should be addressed, a recent survey of utility executives reveals that the primary issue of importance for an organization is the overall financial value that the IS function provides. The survey also reveals the specific rankings of several strategic IS issues and the actions these executives would take to address these issues.     

Key issues in information systems management: A Delphi study in Slovenia

Formerly one of the Yugoslav republics, Slovenia declared its independence in June 1991. Together with Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, Slovenia belongs to the group of leading IS technology markets among the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. The Delphi technique was used by the authors to compile a list of the key issues in information systems (IS) management in Slovenia, to quantify them, and, through iterations, to strengthen consensus about their importance. The results are presented and compared with those obtained in similar studies in the USA. The findings indicate profound differences in IS management issues between Slovenia and the USA and these differences are believed to be largely applicable to other new Central and Eastern European democracies.     

Extending the two‐stage information systems continuance model: incorporating UTAUT predictors and the role of context

This study presents two extensions to the two‐stage expectation‐confirmation theory of information systems (IS) continuance. First, we expand the belief set from perceived usefulness in the original IS continuance model to include three additional predictors identified in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, namely effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions. Second, we ground the IS continuance model in the context of transactional systems that involve transmission of personal and sensitive information and include trust as a key contextual belief in the model. To test the expanded IS continuance model, we conducted a longitudinal field study of 3159 Hong Kong citizens across two electronic government (e‐government) technologies that enable citizens' access to government services. In general, the results support the expanded model that provides a rich understanding of the changes in the pre‐usage beliefs and attitudes through the emergent constructs of disconfirmation and satisfaction, ultimately influencing IS continuance intention. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the expanded model.     

Comparing e-Learning tools’ success: The case of instructor–student interactive vs. self-paced tools

e-Learning tools have profoundly transformed modern pedagogical approaches. Vendors provide different types of systems, such as self-paced (SP) and instructor–student interactive (ISI) e-Learning tools. Although both types of tools represent promising solutions to facilitate the learning process, it is important to theoretically identify a framework to evaluate the success of these tools and assess whether one type of tool is more effective than another. Toward this end, we (1) propose a model to evaluate e-Learning tools’ success by extending and contextualizing Seddon’s information systems (IS) success model for the e-Learning environment and (2) formulate four hypotheses to predict the differences in the success factors between SP and ISI tools. We test the model and hypotheses using data from 783 students across seven higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The results support the proposed e-Learning tool success model and three of the four hypotheses. ISI tools outperform SP tools in terms of system quality, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, and learning outcome.     

Senior managers’ perception on green information systems (IS) adoption and environmental performance: Results from a field survey

Based on a Belief-Action-Outcome framework, we produced a model that shows senior managers’ perception of both the antecedents to and the consequences of Green IS adoption by a firm. This conceptual model and its associated hypotheses were empirically tested using a dataset generated from a survey of 405 organizations. The results suggest that coercive pressure influences the attitude toward Green IS adoption while mimetic pressure does not. In addition, we found that there was a significant relationship between Green IS adoption, attitude, and consideration of future consequences. Finally, we found that only long term Green IS adoption was positively related to environmental performance.     

Information systems assimilation in Indian organizations: An examination of strategic and organizational imperatives

IT investment by organizations in India has increased significantly over the last 10 years, as Indian firms have deployed IS for modernizing and reengineering their processes. This paper analyzes, in an exploratory vein, organizational and strategic imperatives that have influenced IS assimilation and evolution of the IS application portfolio in Indian firms. It first identifies three categories of organizations with respect to IS assimilation, and describes strategic and organizational factors characteristic of each group. Next, it traces the evolution of the IS application portfolio in each of the studied firms and analyses accompanying changes in strategic and organizational factors. The paper builds on IS assimilation studies in organizations from developed societies, and describes issues unique to IS assimilation in Indian firms. It is based on data collected from case studies of IS deployment in nine Indian organizations.     

Tribute to Professor Edgar H. Sibley and his contributions to the IS discipline

Professor Edgar Henry Sibley (the Founding Editor of Information & Management, in short, I&M) passed away peacefully in Virginia, USA on January 12, 2020. As an eminent scholar in Information Systems (IS) and the Founding Editor of I&M, Professor Sibley has left a remarkable legacy to both the journal and the IS discipline. If the journal (I&M) could talk, it would tell the story of the passion, effort, untold amount of time, and incredible rigor Professor Sibley put into this journal. As the second and the current Editor-in-Chief of the journal, I took the liberty to invite three IS scholars, one from each region of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) community to speak about Professor Sibley’s contributions to the IS discipline. They are Professor Prashant Palvia from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, USA Professor Jose Benitez from Rennes School of Business, France and the University of Granada, Spain and Professor T.P. Liang from National Sun-Yat-Sen University, Taiwan. All three scholars had different and positive interactions and experiences with Professor Sibley and I&M that they are eager to share with us. We hope the whole IS community will join us to acknowledge and pay our heart-felt tribute to Professor Sibley´s many contributions to our discipline.     

QCA and the harnessing of unstructured qualitative data

This paper proposes qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) as a novel method to harness unstructured data sets such as publicly available reports and news articles. It shows how QCA and conventional qualitative IS research can complement each other. In particular, it demonstrates how qualitative IS research can combine typical qualitative coding techniques with a specific type of QCA, namely crisp‐set QCA (csQCA). The paper illustrates how QCA offers qualitative IS research an innovative approach to explicate the combination of conditions associated with particular outcomes. Drawing on an empirical study of green IS, it showcases the potential of QCA to harness large unstructured qualitative material and generate deeper insights about emerging IS phenomena. The paper also highlights how QCA can contribute to the data collection and analysis stages of qualitative IS research.     

Assessing the impact of integrating business planning and IS planning

One of the key elements of strategic planning for information systems (IS) is the integration of IS planning (ISP) and business planning (BP). Although this issue has received significant attention in recent years, empirical research focusing specifically on it is still relatively sparse. Here, BP-ISP integration is considered in four ways (administrative, sequential, reciprocal, and full integration), reflecting various degrees of BP-ISP integration. The relationships between these and organizational impact (measured in terms of the extent of ISP problems and the extent of IS contributions to organizational performance) are investigated through the analysis of data gathered in a “matched pair” field survey of business planners and IS executives. The results empirically validate the importance of BP-ISP integration, since it was found to have a significant positive relationship with IS contributions to organization performance and a significant negative relationship to the extent of ISP problems.     

A paradigmatic and methodological examination of information systems research from 1991 to 2001

Abstract. The field of information systems (IS) has evolved for more than three decades. Although many schools of thought have emerged and even become well established, few historical analyses of research paradigms and methodologies have been undertaken. One of the rare exceptions is Orlikowski & Baroudi (1991). Yet, the IS research community has evolved substantially since 1991 in many aspects. A variety of journal outlets have emerged and become well established. More attention has been paid to paradigmatic and methodological issues. Political and professional contexts have also changed noticeably. Therefore, it should be an opportune time for the field to ask: ‘What changes are manifested in journal publications?’‘Is the field making progress regarding pluralism in IS research?’‘How will the field's publications practices change in the future?’ The purpose of this paper is to investigate these questions and, in turn, reflect on the paradigmatic and methodological progress made since 1991. We examined 1893 articles published in eight major IS publication outlets between 1991 and 2001. Our findings suggest that the long‐term endeavours of interpretivist researchers might need to continue because the paradigmatic progress appears somewhat inconsequential; positivist research still dominates 81% of published empirical research. In particular, US journals, as opposed to European journals, tend to be more positivist, quantitative, cross‐sectional and survey oriented. With respect to research design, survey research is still the most widely used method (41%), although case studies have gained substantial recognition (36%). Further, the increase of qualitative research (30%), empirical studies (61%) and longitudinal cases (33%) at the expense of laboratory experiments (18%) might suggest that IS researchers have become more interested in obtaining scientific knowledge in real world settings. In summary, we suggest that the field has been dominated by the positivist paradigm, despite calls to the contrary. Indeed, if the field was to truly embrace pluralism, it would have to find ways to fundamentally change the publication practices of the journal system, including the current tenure and promotion system, which pose considerable obstacles for the acceptance of alternative paradigms.     

The Future IS Organization in a Flat World

ABSTRACT

The business world is becoming increasingly “flat” with regard to access to global markets and a global workforce. New operational priorities are emerging that require new IS capabilities. The linkage between these operational shifts and the changes required by an IS organization to develop new IS capabilities for a flattening world are identified and discussed.     

An empirical analysis of a maturity model to assess information system success: a firm-level perspective

This research investigates the relationship between IS investment and IS success and the moderating effects of IS maturity. We find the moderating role of IS maturity between IS investment and IS success with a contingency perspective. As administering a group survey of about 300 business executives across multiple industries, the results of this study indicate that IS investment is a critical antecedent of IS success, and IS maturity has a positive moderating effect on this relationship. The implication of the findings implies that global companies should consider the maturity of their IS management: as a crucial factor in maximising the effectiveness of IS investment.     

Critical IS professional activities and skills/knowledge: A perspective of IS managers

This study utilized the activity competency model to investigate the perceived importance of critical professional activities and skills/knowledge required by three levels of information system (IS) managers. Our findings indicated that the perceived importance of critical IS professional activities were significantly different among the management levels, but not significantly different for various industry types. Carrying a critical IS activity out involves the use of a number of different skills and/or knowledge. A portfolio of the professional activities and the needed skills/knowledge at each management level are identified. The results of this study have implications for IS professional development and training. They can also serve as a guideline for recruiting the right IS managers and developing IS curriculums.     

Towards an integrated measurement of IS project performance: The project performance scorecard

Determining the contribution of information system (IS) projects is a difficult endeavour. This research presents a framework for evaluating and measuring IS project performance that seek to address this problem while moving away from the reliance on the traditional assessment method (time, cost, specifications). When IS projects fail or succeed is difficult to determine what conditions enabled the outcome. However, if we are to develop a higher level of IS project management competence we need frameworks that can help in assessing IS project outcomes while critically reflecting and learning from IS project management practices. The Project Performance Scorecard (PPS) recommended here is one framework that can help to advance our understanding IS project management and evaluation approaches. This framework integrates concepts from existing models of IS success, the Balanced Scorecard and project management practices. A case study approach is used to illustrate the use of the PPS, and offers insights into how it can be useful in assessing the performance of IS projects.

On Semismooth Newton’s Methods for Total Variation Minimization

In [2], Chambolle proposed an algorithm for minimizing the total variation of an image. In this short note, based on the theory on semismooth operators, we study semismooth Newton’s methods for total variation minimization. The convergence and numerical results are also presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. The research of this author is supported in part by Hong Kong Research Grants Council Grant Nos. 7035/04P and 7035/05P, and HKBU FRGs. The research of this author is supported in part by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong. This work was started while the author was visiting Department of Applied Mathematics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The research of this author is supported in part by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme and the National Science Foundation of China (No. 60572114). Michael Ng is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Hong Kong Baptist University. As an applied mathematician, Michael’s main research areas include Bioinformatics, Data Mining, Operations Research and Scientific Computing. Michael has published and edited 5 books, published more than 140 journal papers. He is the principal editor of the Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, and the associate editor of SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing. Liqun Qi received his B.S. in Computational Mathematics at Tsinghua University in 1968, his M.S, and Ph.D. degree in Computer Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 and 1984, respectively. Professor Qi has taught in Tsinghua University, China, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, University of New South Wales, Australia, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is now Chair Professor of Applied Mathematics at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Professor Qi has published more than 140 research papers in international journals. He established the superlinear and quadratic convergence theory of the generalized Newton method, and played a principal role in the development of reformulation methods in optimization. Professor Qi’s research work has been cited by the researchers around the world. According to the authoritative citation database ISIHighlyCited.com, he is one of the world’s most highly cited 300 mathematicians during the period from 1981 to 1999. Yu-Fei Yang received the B.Sc., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from Hunan University, P. R. China, in 1987, 1994 and 1999, respectively. From 1999 to 2001, he stayed at the University of New South Wales, Australia as visiting fellow. From 2002 to 2005, he held research associate and postdoctoral fellowship positions at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is currently professor in the College of Mathematics and Econometrics, at Hunan University, P. R. China. His research interests includes optimization theory and methods, and partial differential equations with applications to image analysis. Yu-Mei Huang received her M.Sc. in Computer science from Lanzhou University in 2000. She is now pursuing her doctoral studies in computational mathematics in Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research interests are in image processing and numerical linear algebra.