The contingent role of dependency in predicting the intention to adopt B2B e-commerce

ABSTRACT

A review of existing Electronic Commerce adoption literature reveals that the prevailing theoretical frameworks implicitly assume that organizations are independent and have complete control over their decisions to adopt innovations. Given the fact that organizations are often constrained by and depend on their environment and exchange partners to survive, this paper proposes that Resource Dependency can either be a facilitator or inhibitor of the role of Technological, Organizational, and Environmental (TOE) motivating factors. Using 239 valid responses from supply chain managers in Jordan, the study found partial support for the role of Resource Dependency as a moderator. The findings provide insights on how Resource Dependency between partners drives different patterns of innovation acceptance among potential adopters, regardless of several technological and organizational motivations to innovate. The results suggest that predicting how innovation is diffused within a market needs a detailed understanding of the inter-dependence structure among the supply chain members.     

Effects of information technologies,department characteristics and individual roles on improving knowledge sharing visibility: a qualitative case study

Knowledge sharing visibility (KSV) is a critical environmental factor which can reduce social loafing in knowledge sharing (KS). This is especially true in ICT-based KS in learning organisations. As such, it is imperative that we better understand how to design technology enabled knowledge management systems (KMS) to support high KSV. This article examines the impact of knowledge management technology functions (e.g. tracking, knowledge storing) on KSV through qualitative analysis of 16 semi-structured interviews with participants in a Chinese company. Impact and implications of use for their existing KMS are examined. This article also examined the effects of department characteristics (i.e. group size and task characteristics) and individual roles (i.e. employee positions) on the IT–KSV relationship. Results encourage applied statistical, tracking, knowledge distribution and knowledge storing functions for monitoring explicit KS, and suggest integration of visualised knowledge maps with communication tools (e.g. Instant Messenger (IM)) to support visibility for implicit KS. Findings also suggest that KM technologies are more salient on improving KSV in large department with routine tasks, and that low-level employees may have more positive attitude on accepting communication tools on sharing knowledge. Extension to use of Web 2.0 technologies (e.g. weblogs) in KMS is also explored.     

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.     

四川餐饮业信息化人才状况调查与分析

四川餐饮业发展迅猛,为了解餐饮企业信息化发展情况,尤其是餐饮业信息化人才状况,课题组对四川餐饮企业进行了信息化抽样调查。调查涵盖餐饮企业信息化实施总体情况,包括信息化水平、运用效果以及餐饮企业对信息化的认识,调查侧重于餐饮企业现有信息化人才结构状况和需求期待,并对调查数据进行了科学和客观分析,旨在为信息化人才标准和培养模式探索提供依据、奠定基础。     

基于SaaS的IT资产管理系统研究

对SaaS服务模式及IT资产管理的现状进行了一定的研究,然后将SaaS应用模式结合IT资产管理得到基于SaaS的IT资产管理系统。对系统架构、功能、安全方案和商业模式进行探讨,提出了实现SaaS模式下的IT资产管理系统的系统方案,该方案的目标是实现SaaS第三级成熟度模型,考虑用基于Rabin密码体制的一次性口令身份认证方案,并且部署在软件服务平台上。     

符合动态演变特性的网格资源发现机制研究

近年来人们对如何提高网格资源发现效率做了大量的研究,但却忽略了适应网格资源动态演变特性的重要性.针对这一问题,结合小世界理论的网络特征,提出了一种新的基于P2P分布式结构化的网格资源发现机制.通过计算资源节点间属性相似度的方法,将网格资源分类组织在不同的虚拟组织中,结合P2P技术构建出两层覆盖式资源发现模型,并设计出相应的资源查找算法DSRD (distributed structure grid resource discovery).仿真实验结果表明,DSRD算法既能够适应资源的动态特性,同时又可有效地提高资源发现效率.     

Internal and contextual factors, knowledge processes and performance: From the Chinese provider’s perspective

This paper explores the influences of two internal factors, i.e. supplier team’s IT-based skills and communication with client’s team, and two contextual factors, i.e. supplier team’s understanding of client’s culture and collaboration with client’s team, on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services from the Chinese provider’s perspective. Knowledge processes are characterized by knowledge sharing, knowledge-based coordination and expertise management, and performance is measured by product success and personal satisfaction. Data have been collected in 13 companies in Xi’an Software Park, with 26 in-depth, semi-structured interviews held with top and middle managers, and 200 structured questionnaires distributed to knowledge workers who are involved in global sourcing projects. The results indicate that supplier team’s IT-based skills, communication with client’s team, cultural understanding of client’s culture and collaboration with client’s team are positively associated with knowledge process and performance. Also, knowledge sharing, knowledge-based coordination and expertise management are found to be crucial for those influential factors to function positively and contribute to the performance. The findings of this study suggest that the effects of key factors on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services appear to transcend the social and cultural differences; however, contextual factors seem to have more significant influences on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services.     

DEMATEL-based model to improve the performance in a matrix organization

Carrying out a design project for a high-tech facility requires a large amount of special knowledge in order to deal with the specific requirements from the client. Often the client forms a matrix organization, structured with several interrelated functional and project divisions to dictate the various requirements and needs. However, an ill-defined matrix organization is likely to result in late and inadequate decisions. This in turn may result in a poorly performing design. Identifying those divisions within the organization that perform poorly in the way they provide information for the project is critical. Therefore, this study proposes an innovative model to identify those divisions that may be responsible for the poor performance of the design project. The proposed model integrates the satisfied importance analysis (SIA) and the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory technique (DEMATEL). The SIA evaluates the performance of each division, while the DEMATEL captures the causal relationships among divisions to generate an influence-relations map. The proposed model is applied to a real-world high-tech facility design project in Taiwan to demonstrate the strengths of the model.     

基于IEC61131-3标准的电梯控制系统设计

IEC61131-3是工业控制系统编程语言的第一套国际标准。介绍了IEC61131-3国际标准的产生、发展和特点,从程序组织单位组成及内容、编程语言等方面详细地阐述了IEC61131-3的软件开发平台,讨论了使用该标准构建控制系统的语言模式。最后以电梯控制为例阐述了使用IEC61131-3控制系统的组态和编程步骤。通过运行证明,系统较好地模拟了电梯的实际运行过程,体现了IEC61131-3标准的特点和优势。     

基于BASH脚本的Unix 环境下多组件部署管理框架

利用Unix环境下广泛使用的bash/shell脚本语言,结合awk等内嵌功能命令,通过合理的文件目录组织和功能实现,构建成在Unix环境下基于BASH脚本的多组件部署及管理应用框架,支持安装、运行、日志、监视、备份、自动升级、清理、帮助等日常操作,所实现的框架具有良好的可操作性、可扩展性和兼容性,为Unix下多组件的部署提供了良好的应用基础.