CVS: An Open Source Networked Solution for Collaborative Distributed Research Management?

Of late, “virtual organisations” and collaborative work have come to prominence, largely due to the advent of reliable high-speed networking technology. While distributed collaborative programming is popular in many contemporary developmental environments, problems are common

Subjective Value and Organisational Data and Information Sharing: A Model

The literature observes that, while there are ostensibly benefits to sharing of data and information, barriers to organisational data sharing appear significant. Managers may be understandably concerned that the sharing activity is adversely affecting their own organisations. This paper develops a model of data sharing based on the traditional system model, and proposes a theory of the sharing activity in organisations. The paper theorises that employees may engage in or oppose sharing based on the assessment of perceived benefits accruing to themselves from the activity. In particular, the paper highlights the contention that data sharing decreases as organisations grow, and also offers an explanation for why the sharing activity is so poorly undertaken in modern organisations

Factors Affecting Household Broadband Adoption in Australia

Broadband networking technology has grown in prominence, driven by increasing interest from researchers, organisations, the popular media and the public alike. Using a data set of more than 20,000 households, this study examines residential broadband adoption and growth over time. The study uses classification tree analysis, which allows for simple interpretive descriptions of the relationship between explanatory variables and adoption propensity without the need for strong distributional assumptions, a priori variable transformation or interaction specification. The study finds that broadband adopters typically live in a metropolitan centre and were also cable TV subscribers. Online banking, research and share trading were also significant drivers for uptake

Leisure Information Systems: The Purchasing Determinants of Video Game Consoles

The international market for home video game consoles is substantial and competition between manufacturers is heated. As an information system, the popularity of this technology merits further study, yet there is a dearth of published research in the area. This paper discusses a study into the purchasing determinants of video game consoles. The study conducted focus groups and a literature search in order to develop a research model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour. This research model was operationalised in a questionnaire survey of 210 adolescents. Analysis was conducted on the basis of level of adoption and gender. The analysis revealed that family and friends had a significant effect on the decision to purchase a game console. In contrast to much prior IS research, the ability to pirate console software was significant for adopters, but not non-adopters, nor between genders. Cost was not a significant adoption factor, however the console’s image had an effect in the analysis of gender

Predictive Analytics in Information Systems Research

This research essay highlights the need to integrate predictive analytics into information systems research and shows several concrete ways in which this goal can be accomplished. Predictive analytics include empirical methods (statistical and other) that generate data predictions as well as methods for assessing predictive power. Predictive analytics not only assist in creating practically useful models, they also play an important role alongside explanatory modeling in theory building and theory testing. We describe six roles for predictive analytics: new theory generation, measurement development, comparison of competing theories, improvement of existing models, relevance assessment, and assessment of the predictability of empirical phenomena. Despite the importance of predictive analytics, we find that they are rare in the empirical IS literature. Extant IS literature relies nearly exclusively on explanatory statistical modeling, where statistical inference is used to test and evaluate the explanatory power of underlying causal models, and predictive power is assumed to follow automatically from the explanatory model. However, explanatory power does not imply predictive power and thus predictive analytics are necessary for assessing predictive power and for building empirical models that predict well. To show that predictive analytics and explanatory statistical modeling are fundamentally disparate, we show that they are different in each step of the modeling process. These differences translate into different final models, so that a pure explanatory statistical model is best tuned for testing causal hypotheses and a pure predictive model is best in terms of predictive power. We convert a well-known explanatory paper on TAM to a predictive context to illustrate these differences and show how predictive analytics can add theoretical and practical value to IS research

The determinants of customer internet banking resistance and the role of mediating variables in Yemeni Universities

Although internet banking has been widely adopted in developed countries, there is still a low percentage of internet banking adoption in Yemen, indicating a probable high resistance to internet banking. Hence, the objective of this research was to determine the direct predictors (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control (PBC), credibility, trust, compatibility, self-efficacy and government support) of customer resistance, attitude, subjective norm, PBC and credibility towards internet banking. Additionally, this study examined the mediating effects of attitude, subjective norm, PBC, and credibility on the relationship between predictors and customer resistance to internet-banking behavior using Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB). A quantitative research survey was used whereby 900 questionnaires were distributed randomly to University employees. 451questionnaires were returned, representing a 50% response rate. After screening, 372 useable data sets were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The study found five significant predictors of customer resistance (attitude, credibility, compatibility, selfefficacy, and government support); three significant factors predicting attitude (government support, subjective norm and PBC); two significant predictors of SN (government support and self-efficacy); two significant predictors of PBC (compatibility and self-efficacy); and three predictors of credibility (trust, government support and PBC). It was also found that attitude fully mediated the relationship between subjective norm and customer resistance as well as between PBC and customer resistance. Contrastingly, attitude was a partial mediator between the relationship of government support and customer resistance. Likewise, credibility is a full mediator on the relationship between trust and customer resistance; PBC and customer resistance. Credibility also partially mediated the relationship between government support and customer resistance. Finally, the study contributes empirically by validating DTBP as an effective underpinning theory in explaining the internet banking resistance and that government should enact more stringent laws and policies to control the internet banking in Yemen

An evaluation of the broadband ecosystem in Western Downs region (WDR)

There is a large body of research on broadband adoption and use at the macro and national level, however, there is limited research on rural and remote areas. This research provides an in-depth understanding of the broadband ecosystem in terms of supply (broadband infrastructure), and household demand (adoption and use) of broadband Internet and its impact (building and maintaining social capital) in the Western Downs Region (WDR) of Queensland, Australia. Using the broadband ecosystem as an overarching framework, three phases and a mixed methods approach was used to conduct an in-depth explanatory case study of the WDR. The first research phase collected publicly available archival (primarily quantitative) data and field data from testing of mobile networks to determine and evaluate the status (supply) of broadband infrastructure in the WDR (RQ1). The second research phase collected primarily qualitative information using semi-structured interviews to address research questions (RQ2 and RQ3). The third phase, using a survey, collected quantitative data to validate and test broadband adoption, use and impact components of the broadband ecosystem (RQ2 and RQ3, 13 hypotheses). Thereby, the second and third research phase determined the extent of adoption and use of broadband Internet services by households and its impact in helping to build and maintain social capital in rural communities in the WDR. The research findings show that there are limitations in broadband infrastructure in remote and outer regional locations. In these locations, most households rely on mobile broadband services which were clearly demonstrated to be patchy at best in most areas of the WDR. To a lesser extent in remote and outer regional locations affordability of mobile broadband is also an issue for households given the lower socio-economic status of much of rural Australia including the WDR. Furthermore, data quotas are much more expensive for mobile broadband and satellite broadband in comparison to wired broadband. Hence, there would also appear to be a digital divide, particularly between remote and outer regional locations of the WDR and inner regional and urban locations in Australia. The researcher also demonstrated that this reflects a similar situation in many other remote and outer regional locations in Australia. The findings indicate that most households have moved beyond the adoption phase to the use phase and indicate that hedonic outcomes, self-efficacy and number of years of Internet use are significant determinants of actual use of broadband. Conversely, perceived cost, prior knowledge and experience factors were found to be significant determinants of intention to adopt and use broadband services. However, utilitarian outcomes and purchase complexity had no significant impact on intention to adopt and use. The study also found that broadband Internet use has significant impact for rural communities in the WDR by helping to build and maintain social capital (bonding and bridging). This research has made several important contributions to knowledge, theory and practice. Firstly, this research adapted the Broadband Ecosystem framework to incorporate system quality and impact components of information systems success theory, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Model of Adoption of Technology in Household (MATH) technology adoption theories and two dimensions of social capital theory (bridging and bonding theory) which complement the overarching economic theory of supply and demand in this theoretical and conceptual model. Secondly, this research addressed an important gap in information systems research -the lack of empirical research on digital infrastructure. In this study, broadband infrastructure was included in a comprehensive evaluation of the broadband ecosystem in a rural setting, the WDR. Thirdly, by focusing on two units of analysis broadband infrastructure in a rural region and household adoption, and use and impact of broadband this study addresses important research problems from a societal and government policy perspectives. Fourthly, this research examined and validated the broadband ecosystem framework using mixed methods approach in a rural context. Finally, this research has made significant practical contributions which can inform government policy by identifying that availability, reliability and affordability shortcomings of broadband infrastructure in outer regional and remote regions is impacting household adoption, use and benefits of broadband services in rural Australia. Hence, future government policy needs to ensure that access to reliable and high speed broadband services is part of its Universal Service Obligation so that the current shortcomings in broadband infrastructure in rural Australia are prioritised and addressed. This study confirms that improved access and more effective use of broadband could help to address the digital divide that currently exists between rural and urban Australia and also help to build and maintain social capital in rural communities

Επίδραση του οικονομικού και κοινωνικού περιβάλλοντος στη διάχυση των τεχνολογιών πληροφορικής και επικοινωνιών

Στην παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή, μελετάται η επίδραση του οικονομικού και κοινωνικού περιβάλλοντος στη διάχυση των τεχνολογιών πληροφορικής και επικοινωνιών (ΤΠΕ). Αρχικά, παρουσιάζεται ένα θεωρητικό πλαίσιο για την ανάπτυξη επιχειρηματικών σχεδίων εκμετάλλευσης οπτικών δικτύων, μαζί με μία ανάλυση πληθυσμιακών περιορισμών που αναφέρεται στην Ελλάδα. Στη συνέχεια εξετάζεται η πορεία της διείσδυσης των ευρυζωνικών υπηρεσιών σε Ευρωπαϊκές χώρες και για το λίγο αυτό αναπτύσσεται ένα μέτρο προσέγγισης της διαδικασίας σύγκλισης των χωρών που συμμετέχουν στην ανάλυση. Μέσα από μία μη-παραμετρική ανάλυση μεταξύ ευρυζωνικής διείσδυσης και κοινωνικο-οικονομικών παραμέτρων προκύπτει ότι η επίδραση των παραμέτρων εξαρτάται από το επίπεδο της ευρυζωνικότητας. Επιπλέον, εισάγεται μία νέα μετρική, η «αξιοποίηση του δυναμικού των δικτύων επικοινωνιών», συναρτήσει δημόσιων πρακτικών για την ενίσχυση των νέων τεχνολογιών και εκτιμάται η επίδραση της μετρικής αυτής σε μία σειρά κοινωνικό-οικονομικών παραμέτρων. Ακολούθως, αναπτύσσεται ένας νέος δείκτης, ο βαθμός της ωριμότητας των τεχνολογιών πληροφορικής και επικοινωνιών. Μέσα από τον υπολογισμό του δείκτη προκύπτει μία κατάταξη για τις αναπτυγμένες και αναπτυσσόμενες χώρες, αναδεικνύοντας τις βέλτιστες πρακτικές. Τέλος, πραγματοποιείται μία αιτιακή ανάλυση μεταξύ του οικονομικού επιπέδου και του επιπέδου διείσδυσης της ευρυζωνικότητας σε ένα μεγάλο αριθμό χωρώνIn this PhD thesis, the impact of economic and social environment on the diffusion of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) is studied. Initially, a theoretical framework for developing business plans operating optical networks is developed, along with an analysis of population restrictions regarding Greece. Then broadband diffusion process in Europe is examined and suggested an approach to measure the digital convergence of countries participating in the analysis. Through a non-parametric analysis between broadband penetration and socio-economic parameters, it is shown that the impact of the influential parameters depends on the level of broadband penetration. Furthermore, a new metric, the “Utilization of Communications Network Potential” (UCNP) versus public practices aimed at enhancing new technologies is proposed. The impact of UCNP is examined in a series of socio-economic parameters. Next, a new index is introduced i.e. the “Maturity Level of ICT” (IMLI). The calculation of this index allows the ranking of countries on the basis of their economic status, highlighting best practices. Finally, a causal analysis between the economic status and the level of broadband penetration is performed in many countries