Agile development methods for developing web application in small software firms

Small software firms that involved with developing web application are lacked of well defined development process. Many development methods have been proposed for developing web application in these firms. However, these methods have some limitations.This paper aims to identify the agile development methods that are suitable for small development teams and determine the enhancements needed to get high quality web application.In order to achieve these objectives a comparative study was conducted on the suitable agile development methods that have been selected. Comparisons were made according to a set of criteria that include development process, project management, requirement, testing and design.The findings of this paper will be used as baseline for building a new measurable web application development methodology for small software firms

Employee Motivation and Acceptance of Human Resource Information System in Pakistan

In the context of modern HR practices and boom in information technology infrastructure, the environment of the workplace has changed to a great extent and systems have been made more effective by introducing new information system functions. Several organizations have now realized that the significance of implement technology in organization. In this study, we focus on how motivation and helps in ensuring the effectiveness of HRIS acceptance. Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a relatively new avenue and provides an opportunity for organizations to improve their HR department administratively and strategically participative in operating the organization. The study conducted a survey of 75 HR Managers from various organizations in Pakistan. The results indicate that motivation has significant impact on HRIS acceptance. The practical implications have also been provided in the paper. Keywords: Motivation, human resource information system acceptance, Pakista

Determinants of accounting information technology usage in Nigerian banking sector

Banks in Nigeria have increased their investment in the Information System (IS) as a fundamental e-banking tool, capable of yielding significant contributions to their financial income especially in cost efficiency. However, investment in Accounting Information Technology (AIT) is less effective due to many users complain of persistent systems failures, technical issues, lack of system stability, fraud and security challenges. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of AIT usage in the Nigerian banking sector. Specifically, the study examines the influence of system quality, information quality, service quality, internal control quality, training and top management support on AIT usage. It also investigates the moderating effect of an external consultant involvement on the relationship between the system quality and usage of AIT. A cross-sectional survey was employed for data collection. A questionnaire was distributed to 571 samples, and 257 valid responses were obtained from regional or branch managers, and account managers of the banks. Partial Least Square path modeling was used in analyzing the relationship between the determinants and AIT usage as well as the moderating effect of an external consultant involvement between system quality and AIT usage. The findings from the direct relationship reveals that system quality, information quality, and internal control quality has a significant positive relationship with AIT usage, but service quality, training, and top management support has insignificant negative relationship. Furthermore, the result of the moderating effect reveals that the external consultant involvement significantly moderates the relationship of the system quality, information quality, and service quality with AIT usage. The outcomes of this study provides another insight to the banks’ management with specific factors that they can leverage to improve the usage of the AIT thereby realizing the expected benefit of their investment

Identification of suitable web application development methods for small software firms

Many development methods have been proposed for developing web application in small software firms.However, these methods have some limitations.This paper aims to identify the suitable development methods for building high quality web application.In order to achieve this objective, a comparative study was conducted on several current development methods.Comparisons were made according to five criteria that include fitted to 10-50 size, simplicity, flexible to change, customer collaboration and quality assurance used measurement program(QAMP).The findings of this paper will be used as a baseline for building a new development methodology for small software firms that emphasize on monitoring

Harmonizing CMMI-DEV 1.2 and XP Method to Improve The Software Development Processes in Small Software Development Firms

Most software development organizations are small firms, and they have realized the need to manage and improve their software development and management activities. Traditional Software Process Improvement (SPI) models and standards are not realistic for these firms because of high cost, limited resources and strict project deadlines. Therefore, these firms need a lightweight software development method and an appropriate SPI model to manage and improve their software development and management processes. This study aims to construct a suitable software development process improvement framework for Small Software Development Firms (SSDFs) based on eXtreme Programming (XP) method and Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development Version 1.2 (CMMI-Dev1.2) model. Four stages are involved in developing the framework: (1) aligning XP practices to the specific goals of CMMI-Dev1.2 Key Process Areas (KPAs); (2) developing the proposed software development process improvement framework based on extending XP method by adapting the Extension-Based Approach (EBA), CMMI-Dev1.2, and generic elements of the SPI framework; (3) verifying the compatibility of the proposed framework to the KPAs of CMMI-Dev1.2 by using focus group method coupled with Delphi technique; and (4) validating the modified framework by using CMMI-Dev1.2 questionnaire as a main item to validate the suitability of the modified framework for SSDFs, and conducting two case studies to validate the applicability and effectiveness of this framework for these firms. The result of aligning XP practices to the KPAs of CMMI-Dev1.2 shows that twelve KPAs are largely supported by XP practices, eight KPAs are partially supported by XP practices, and two KPAs are not-supported by XP practices. The main contributions of this study are: software development process improvement framework for SSDFs, elicit better understanding of how to construct the framework, and quality improvement of the software development processes. There are possible avenues for extending this research to fulfil the missing specific practices of several KPAs, examining other agile practices and using CMMI-Dev1.3 to improve the framework, and conducting more case studie

Barriers to the Adoption of Digitalization in the Construction Industry: Perspectives of Owners, Consultants, and Contractors

Construction organizations are moving toward adopting digitalization in response to Industry 4.0. However, the slow adoption of digitalization has been observed. This study aimed to assess the level of digitalization adoption and evaluate the barriers to adopting digitalization in the Jordanian construction industry by all project parties in the public and private sectors. The study targets were achieved through a structured questionnaire using SPSS software for analysis through the following statistical tests: Normality test, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H, and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Most respondents used software at the design stage, and less than half did not use any software during the finishing stage. Regarding the barriers, twenty barriers to adopting digitalization were identified and grouped into five factors according to their importance: barriers related to the nature and system of the construction company, barriers related to the project parties, financial barriers, barriers related to system characteristics, and barriers related to construction project characteristics. Decision-makers should take the necessary measures to overcome such barriers depending on their importance. Previous studies have focused on the contractor's adoption of digitalization while neglecting other parties. This contributed to the full adoption of digitalization from the contractor side, with a noticeable delay from other project parties. This study focused on revealing the most critical barriers to adopting digitalization in the Jordanian construction industry from all project parties' perspectives based on their ranks. Furthermore, the study recommends effective strategies to overcome barriers as an update of past research

Predicting intention to adopt B2B electronic commerce in Jordan: The moderating role of trust and dependency

Business to Business Electronic Commerce (B2B EC) has great potentials to extend firms’ competency and efficiency. As such, Jordan has an objective to increase the diffusion of this technology. Despite extensive government efforts, the adoption of B2B EC is still limited. Consequently, there have been extensive efforts to better understand the phenomena. Yet, documented findings regarding the determinants of the adoption are not altogether consistent. To provide more insight, this study developed a research model utilizing the Technological, Organizational, and Environmental (TOE) framework to identify the determinants of the firms’ propensity to adopt B2B EC. Since B2B EC is an inter-organizational phenomenon supporting transactions of partnerships, this study emphasizes the context of partnership characteristics. Grounded on inter-organizational theories, this study hypothesized that partnership characteristics, namely trust and dependency, moderate the role of TOE motivating factors. Moreover, given that B2B EC is used on both sides of the buyer/seller relationship, this study examined the differences and similarities in the perception of the marketing and purchasing departments regarding the determinants of the B2B EC adoption. A total of 798 questionnaires were self administrated to marketing and purchasing managers in 462 firms that have large registered capital in Jordan. In total, 114 marketing and 125 purchasing managers participated in this study. Marketing and purchasing responses were analyzed separately using the Partial Least Squares approach. The result revealed that the marketing and purchasing departments do have different views regarding the determinants of the adoption, specifically in terms of the role of Relative Advantage and Competition Pressure. Moreover, the results showed that the moderating role of trust was less pronounced. Meanwhile, the moderating role of dependency was partially supported particularly in the purchasing perspective. These findings have demonstrated how dependence asymmetries between trading partners may change the adoption motivations. They further explain the importance of considering the views of the business partner for the adoption to be done successfully