A Unified Statistical Framework for Evaluating Predictive Methods

Predictive analytics is an important part of the business intelligence and decision support systems literature and likely to grow in importance with the emergence of big data as a discipline. Despite their importance, the accuracy of predictive methods is often not assessed using statistical hypothesis tests. Furthermore, there is no commonly agreed upon standard as to which questions should be examined when evaluating predictive methods. We fill this gap by defining three questions that involve the overall and comparative predictive accuracy of the new method. We then present a unified statistical framework for evaluating predictive methods that can be used to address all three of these questions. The framework is particularly versatile and can be applied to most problems and datasets. In addition to these practical advantages over hypotheses tests used in previous literature, the framework has the theoretical advantage that it is not necessary to assume a normal distribution

Knowledge management model for the textile sector in Medellin, employing system dynamics

Este artículo evalúa la relación de causalidad entre la gestión del conocimiento y las capacidades de innovación tecnológica, y el efecto de esta relación sobre los resultados operacionales del sector textil en la ciudad de Medellín. Se empleó la metodología de dinámica de sistemas, con simulación de esce­narios para valorar las condiciones actuales de las organizaciones del sector en términos de acumulación de conocimiento y capacidades. La información se obtuvo mediante entrevistas a expertos y acceso a información especializada del sector. Se evidencia que una mejora de la relación entre la gestión del conocimiento e innovación tecnológica genera un incremento aproximado del 15% en los ingresos operacionales del sector. Asimismo, se encontró que a medida que las variables comunes de interés (Es­trategias organizacionales, canales de comunicación, formación, cultura, acciones de fortalecimiento en I+D), se acercan a los valores deseados, la acumulación de conocimiento y de capacidades de innovación tecnológica alcanzan los valores objetivos.This paper analyses the causal relation between knowledge management and technological innovation capacities and the effect of this relation over the operational results of the textile sector for the city of Medellin. In order to value the current state of the organizations in the sector in terms of knowledge ac­cumulation and capacities, a dynamic system methodology with scenario simulation for evaluating the actual conditions was used. The information was obtained through interviews with experts and access­ing specialized information on the sector. It is evidenced that an improvement in the relation between knowledge management and technological innovation generates and approximated increase of 15% over the operational revenue of the sector. Likewise, it was found that in the measure that common variables of interest (organizational strategies, communication channels, training, culture, actions for improving I + D) get closer to the desired values, the knowledge accumulation and the technical innovation capacities reach their goal values.Este artigo avalia a relação de causalidade entre a gestão do conhecimento e as capacidades de inovação tecnológica, e efeito desta relação sobre os resultados operacionais do setor têxtil na cidade de Medel­lín. Se empregou a metodologia de dinâmica de sistemas, com simulação de cenários para valorar as condições atuais das organizações do setor em termos de acumulação de conhecimento e capacidades. A informação se obteve mediante entrevistas a expertos e acesso a informação especializada do setor. Se evidencia que uma melhora da relação entre a gestão do conhecimento e inovação tecnológica gera um incremento aproximado de 15% nos ingressos operacionais do setor. Assim mesmo, se encontrou que a medida que as variáveis comuns de interesses (Estratégias organizacionais, canais de comunicação, formação, cultura, ações de fortalecimento em I+D), se aproximam aos valores desejados, a acumulação de conhecimento e de capacidades de inovação tecnológica alcançam os valores objetivos

Investigation of Job Satisfaction Dimensions of Health Care Knowledge Workers: Factor Analysis - Multivariate Approach

The investigation of the job satisfaction dimensions is crucial before further analysis such as testing the research hypotheses. The widely used approach includes Exploratory Factor Analysis with principal components analysis, unweighted least squares, generalized least squares, maximum likelihood, principal axis factoring, alpha factoring, and image factoring. The study focuses on investigation of the underlying dimensions of the job satisfaction of the knowledge workers in healthcare using multiple methods. The target sample of the research is the health care personnel including nurses, administrators, and doctors as the knowledge workers. Toward this end, a theory-based classical approaches are utilized. Healthcare employee’s job satisfaction is an important in the successful performance of institutions. A rich literature of academic studies has showed that personnel’s satisfaction is critical for the successful performance of organizations. The dimensions healthcare workers’ satisfaction as the knowledge workers were extracted by employing: (i) Exploratory Factor Analysis method, (ii) Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The sample of this study were collected via a survey from health care personnel as knowledge workers. There are 249 observations collected from healthcare workers. A set of 34 items are utilized to investigate the job satisfaction of the healthcare knowledge workers. The results of the factor analysis indicated that six underlying crucial factors are extracted: attitude of management, organizational support, job security, reward and pay, working conditions, attitude of colleagues

Visa trial of international trade: evidence from support vector machines and neural networks

International trade depends on networking, interaction and in-person meetings which stimulate cross-border travels. The countries are seeking policies to encourage inbound mobility to support bilateral trade, tourism, and foreign direct investments. Some nations have been implementing liberal visa regimes as an important part of facilitating policies in view of security concerns. Turkey has been among the nations introducing liberal visa policies to support trade in the last decade and recorded significant increases in the volumes of exports. In this paper, we employed machine learning methodologies, Support vector machines (SVM) and Neural networks (NN), to investigate the facilitating impact of liberal visa policies on bilateral trade, using the export data from Turkey for the period of 2000–2014. The research disentangled the variables that have the strongest impact on trade utilizing SVM and NN models and exhibited that visa policies have significant impacts on the bilateral trade. More relaxed visa policies are recommended for the countries in the pursuit of increasing exports

A review of studies on information systems and SMEs in high ranked IS journals (2000-2014)

This paper identifies novel approaches to future small and medium enterprise (SME) research from a review of articles, and then introduces the papers in this AJIS special section which evidence these approaches. More specifically, the paper makes an important contribution by reviewing 61 articles in high ranked IS journals (2000-2014) and introducing three new facets which are used to analyse research on SME adoption/use of IS (units of analysis, SME sizes and SME types) not considered in previous literature review studies. These facets provide thebasis for proposing various future research opportunities. The editorial then introduces the four papers in this special section covering the research theme on SMEs, and highlights the contributions they make using the three facets

A review of studies on information systems and SMEs in high ranked IS journals (2000-2014)

This paper identifies novel approaches to future small and medium enterprise (SME) research from a review of articles, and then introduces the papers in this AJIS special section which evidence these approaches. More specifically, the paper makes an important contribution by reviewing 61 articles in high ranked IS journals (2000-2014) and introducing three new facets which are used to analyse research on SME adoption/use of IS (units of analysis, SME sizes and SME types) not considered in previous literature review studies. These facets provide the basis for proposing various future research opportunities. The editorial then introduces the four papers in this special section covering the research theme on SMEs, and highlights the contributions they make using the three facets

A knowledge management performance measurement system for small and medium enterprises

An important step after the implementation of knowledge management (KM) is to evaluate its effectiveness and performance. Knowledge management performance measurement (KMPM) is necessary in order to achieve effective and successful KM. Comprehensive set of constructs and metrics for KMPM have yet to be developed. In addition, a KMPM system that applies these constructs and metrics is found lacking. It is more apparent in the case of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as most of the studies have focused on large organizations. Furthermore, as KM is characterized by an environment subject to uncertainties and fuzziness, there is a need to adopt a specific approach to address this issue. In this research, the focus is on the development of a KMPM system for the SMEs. A novel conceptual framework that categorized KM into three main aspects; knowledge resources, KM processes, and KM factors was used as a foundation for developing the system. New set of KMPM constructs and metrics were developed and tailored for the SMEs. Investigation of the developed constructs and metrics in terms of their applicability was carried out through a questionnaire survey. The constructs and metrics were validated through statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, where reliability analysis was conducted followed by validity analysis in terms of content, construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion validities. The analysis results indicated that the developed constructs and metrics were applicable, reliable, and valid. Following this, a fuzzy logic methodology was utilized as the evaluation mechanism for the KMPM system. MATLAB software was used to develop the fuzzy inference system and Simulink was used to design and develop the system’s layout and interface. Case studies were conducted in three small and medium sized consultancy companies to evaluate the developed system. From the evaluation, the evaluators commented that the system was comprehensive, userfriendly, and suitable for SMEs application. In essence, this research has developed new set of constructs and metrics as well as a KMPM system specifically designed for SMEs

The knowledge management in small and medium enterprises and the quality management approaches in service-oriented architecture

The thesis is organized into two different sections: the first one deals with the knowledge management (KM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the second one deals with the quality management approaches in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The first research topic arises from the awareness that knowledge fertilization is crucial for SMEs competitiveness and to improve network collaboration. Nevertheless, while there is an abundance of studies describing how large companies are successfully exploiting knowledge management practices, regarding SMEs the framework is still fragmented. The Ph.D. program has been aimed at publishing two journal articles: the first one is a literature review, which provides the state of art of KM in SMEs and the second one is an empirical paper, which addresses the research questions emerging from the analysis of the literature review. The research questions concern the barriers hindering the spread of KM practices in SMEs, the main knowledge management systems (KMSs) adopted by SMEs and the impact of the use of KM practices on SME performance; they were subsequently addressed through a field analysis conducted on a sample of SMEs, adopting fuzzy set theory as methodology. Therefore the first section of this thesis is structured as a collection of these two published articles. The second section deals with the quality management approaches in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), this research topic arises from the needs to investigate services quality techniques since there is a vast literature concerning the software quality metrics within an object-oriented environment, but this framework cannot be applied to SOA systems. This study attempted to fill this gap presenting the results of a literature review on this topic; the outcomes of the review provide a valuable understanding of the best researched areas and the areas of SOA quality which are poorly investigated. In order to give an answer to one of the retrieved research questions emerging from the analysis of the literature review and concerning the lack of case studies, an empirical analysis on SOA services performance has been carried out in an important telecommunications company by an efficiency analysis. Finally the work’ conclusions are presented which sum up both the knowledge management prospect that the SOA prospect