Can regional community web portals become sustainable? : the Albany GateWAy : a case study

Asking the question can regional and community web portals become sustainable? demands a foray into many different disciplines. Sociology, education, business, strategic and knowledge management, organisational theory, relationship management and current technological trends and capabilities are some of the areas on which community projects, such us the development of communities on-line, are founded

A framework for e-government success from the user’s perspective

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThis thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of e-government portal success by developing a e-government success framework from a user’s perspective. The proposed framework is underpinned by relevant theories, such as DeLone and McLean’s IS success model, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), self-efficacy theory and trust. The culture aspect has also been taken into consideration by adopting personal values theory introduced by Schwartz (1992). Three data collection methods were used. First, an exploratory study was carried to explore the main aspects and factors for understanding e-government systems success. Second, a Delphi study was conducted to investigate which of the ten value types are particularly relevant to success or have a significant impact. Third, a survey-based study was carried out to validate empirically the proposed theoretical framework. Results of the exploratory study helped to identify the potential success factors of e-government systems. The results of the Delphi study suggest that four of the ten values, namely self-direction, stimulation, security, and tradition, most likely affect e-government portal success. Structural equation modelling techniques were applied to test the research model using a large-scale survey. The findings of hypothesis testing suggested that e-government portal success (i.e. net benefit) was directly affected by actual use and user satisfaction and indirectly affect by a number of factors concerning system quality, service quality, information quality, perceived risk, and computer self-efficacy. By combining IS success model and TAM, this study found system quality, information quality and service quality affected the perceived ease of us, but service quality had no effect on perceived usefulness. However, perceived risk seemed to have no effect on attitudes towards using, but very small negative effect on perceived usefulness. Users’ computer skills was found to have no effect on perceived ease of use and very small effect on perceived usefulness. These indicate that risk and IT skills are playing less significant role in the context of e-government. The research findings confirmed that adoption was not equivalent to success, but it was the necessary precondition to success. In the personal values-attitude-behaviour model, the empirical evidence suggested that Conservation affects attitude towards use which, in turn, affects behavioural intention to re-use. Openness to change had no effect on attitude toward using. The findings provide important implications for e-government research and practice

Beyond the PDF: Transforming data-driven government publications through participatory information design

As data becomes a commodity to today's society, government bodies that publish data have the unique opportunity to become reliable sources for data as well as for insight into this data. Lately, open government data has become widely available through database interfaces and dashboards. In contrast, the interpretation of data is often still published in PDF reports that are hard to access and inconvenient to use. At the same time, a growing number of data visualization and design tools would allow for more advanced formats that match the expectations of today's users. The Master's thesis Beyond the PDF examines how a participatory information design approach can be applied to create more useful, useable, and meaningful data-driven government reports for a broad target audience. The thesis addresses two challenges: 1) The methodological challenge of defining a participatory information design approach; and 2) The applied challenge of developing a proposal for an online report format that addresses the needs of researchers, policymakers, journalists, and citizens alike. Following a research through design approach, the thesis constructs the participatory information design approach in theory and applies it in a design project, using the report Key Data on Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe as a case study. The project employs participatory field research methods to involve audiences in the design process, and design methods to create a design solution that meets their needs. Narrative design patterns, in particular, are examined and applied as a means to translate tacit audience needs into meaningful design artefacts. The outcomes from the design project address the applied challenge. They consist of a visual summary of the audiences' needs, tasks, and behaviors and a prototype of an online report portal that provides new tools and content formats to engage these audiences on multiple levels. Regarding the methodological challenge, the study demonstrates how participatory, information-focused, and designerly methods can be applied to further the dissemination of insight from government data

User Adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems in the Public Sector

The importance of aligning information technology and business strategies to exploit capabilities and change business practices has increased as firms strive for competitive advantage in a diverse and changing marketplace. Nevertheless, over 50% of firms implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems ranked expected process and value enhancements as inadequate, whereas only 13% indicated that implementations met their needs. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model formed the conceptual framework of this single case study. The study comprised a purposeful sampling of 8 business managers in Southeast Alabama working in related job roles and based on established eligibility criteria. Data collection involved semistructured interviews, casual observations, and document analysis. Through method triangulation and predetermined themes directly related to the UTAUT conceptual framework, 5 themes emerged: management endorsement, change management, training and education, dedicated resources, and governance. Results of this research may influence the elimination of key barriers central in the deployment and adoption of ERP systems by the public sector. The study\u27s implications for positive social change include the potential to enhance social and intellectual capital formation through recognizing strategies that mitigate employees\u27 gender and age variances during an ERP implementation

Knowledge sharing for sustainable development: A mixed-method study of an international civil engineering consultancy

Sustainable development (SD) is a pressing global issue that is becoming increasingly prominent on clients and governing bodies agendas. In order to survive, organisations are seeking ways to negate their detrimental environmental impacts. This is no easy feat: SD is both complex and dynamic. To be successful, organisations need to leverage and expand their most valuable asset – knowledge. Civil engineering plays a significant role in SD – it shapes our environment and governs our interaction with it. However, extant research asserts that civil engineering related disciplines have been slow to adopt SD oriented practices; a possible result of their complex and fragmented organisational environments. The literature suggests that effective knowledge sharing (KS) can overcome these barriers, thus driving enhanced SD performance. Consequently, this research aims to investigate how the civil engineering sector can improve its intra-organisational sharing of SD knowledge, using an international civil engineering consultancy as an exemplar. Whilst there has been much research surrounding KS and SD there has been limited research that has investigated KS for SD, thus this thesis contributes to this limited body of knowledge. Mixed-method research was used to address the abovementioned aim. An increasingly popular approach, it is widely believed to generate greater value through complementary integration of quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. This approach lends itself also to the ethnographic inclinations of the reported research: the author was embedded within the case organisation, and sought a rich and reliable understanding of the study phenomena. An initial set of semi-structured interviews suggested that the case organisation’s members exhibit positive attitudes towards KS and SD, yet are often constrained by a number of common KS barriers, namely: a lack of organisation slack (i.e. time); a silo mentality; and poor SD ICT systems. These socio-cultural and technical barriers were subsequently investigated and contested using social network analysis techniques and an intranet acceptance model. A number of observations are made on the relationships between the findings from the research activities. It is believed the organisation often exhibits a reactive approach to KS for SD, which is deemed undesirable. This signals the need for greater senior management support to cultivate a culture where KS for SD is the norm and is integrated with work practices. A series of recommendations are provided to help the case organisation understand how such change could be cultivated. Several implications follow from this work. The mixed-method approach revealed a number of contradictions between the findings of each research activity. It is therefore postulated that mixed-method designs can provide a richer understanding, thus reducing misconceptions of KS phenomena. Following from this, the research contends that it may be too easy for researchers to identify with ubiquitous KS barriers as the reported research suggests that these may be perceived rather than actual. The research also reinforces the need for senior management support. These individuals govern the systems in which organisational members operate and thus have the ability to enhance KS for SD. Finally, the research demonstrates that SD ICT systems have little impact unless they are embedded in receptive contexts. Thus, an action research approach to KS system development is advocated to ensure systems are shaped to meet user expectations and drive desired KS behaviours. This research is presented in five peer-reviewed articles.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

An Investigation into the Adoption, Implementation and Utilisation of Campus Portals: A Comparative Case Study of Saudi and U.K. Universities.

Enterprise Information Portals (EIPs) have become crucial components in contemporary organisations, including universities. Campus portals (CPs) have found their way into the academic environment and universities are increasingly implementing these technologies. While there are many studies concerning EIPs in organisations, there are few studies that touch this issue in the academic environment. This study investigates factors affecting the adoption, implementation and utilisation of CPs from the implementers’ and users’ perspectives. It adopts a comparative approach based on multiple case studies in some Saudi and UK universities. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and documentation, which was analysed using hermeneutics and other qualitative data analysis techniques. Findings show that adoption and implementation of CPs are affected by factors including: technological, organisational, environmental, financial, innovation and user-related factors. Results from the users perspective reveal that although CPs are perceived to be useful in terms of accessing information and services, there are many concerns related to system, content and service quality. Moreover, the study has identified two main gaps between users and the implementers: a communication gap and an expectations gap. Consequently, users complained about a lack of user involvement and poor communication. Findings are interpreted using elements from institutional theory. Development of CPs is affected by many institutional factors such as coercive, mimetic, normative and competitive pressures. Furthermore, the introduction of CPs could lead to a clash of institutional logics among various stakeholders. Institutional arguments are likely to arise between portal teams and other campus constituents such as service providers and users. This study has three major contributions. First, it used institutional theory to investigate CPs adoption and implementation. As a result, it extends the line of research on the use of this theory to study IS in organisations. Second, it responds to calls from other IS researchers to study portals by conducting in-depth field investigation using qualitative research. Third, it addresses issues related to the development of bilingual portals in universities.Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabi

A strategic perspective on the emergence and evolution of e-Banking in Saudi Arabia

The aim of the thesis is to look at the emergence and evolution of e-banking in Saudi Arabia, with particular emphasis on the processes of how banks implement e-banking to build their capabilities and create new value strategies. The research process focuses on understanding (1) how banks implement e-banking to build their capabilities as well as to create new value strategies, (2) how e-banking capabilities have been built, and (3) the role played by e-banking in shaping the strategic direction of banks. This requires understanding of a variety of aspects (i) the value created by e-banking products and services within different banks, (ii) the process of e-banking development within the different banks, (iii) how banks approach e-banking products and services, and (iv) how the banks align the demand and supply factors surrounding e-banking products and servicesThe theoretical approach blends inputs from different disciplines relevant to understand and deal with the subject matter of this thesis, including value creation and capability-building literature, technology implementation literature, with particular emphasis on the processes of implementing network technologies and e-businesses, as well as literature on process approaches. The methodological approach makes use of the case study strategy (Yin 2003) as research strategy, a multiple-case embedded design, as research design strategy, and three sources of evidence: (1) a survey distributed to all Saudi Arabian banks, (2) semi-structured interviews, and (3) archival records of e-banking transactions. The main fieldwork is longitudinal and takes place during three rounds: SeptemberOctober 2003, December 2003-March 2004, and December 2005-January 2006.The thesis investigates the emergence and evolution of e-banking at six Saudi Arabian banks: Samba Financial Group (Samba), AlRajhi Bank (AlRajhi), Saudi Investment Bank (Saib), Saudi Hollandi Bank (Hollandi), National Commercial Bank (AlAhli), and Riyad Bank (Riyad). This is followed by an investigation of the emergence and evolution of electronic securities trading systems at the Saudi Capital Market (i. e., Tadawul), providing an external view of the emergence and evolution of ebanking in Saudi Arabia.The analysis of the empirical material implements the theoretical propositions strategy via utilisation of the "sociotechnical constituencies" approach (Molina 1990; 1993) and its associated analytical tools of the "diamond of alignment" (Molina 1995), "alignment web" (Molina 2003) and "dynamic strategy mapping" (DSM) (Molina 2005). The aim is not only to use the approach to reveal how banks build their e-banking capabilities and create new value strategies, but also to test critically the applicability of the "sociotechnical constituencies" approach and its associated analytical tools for understanding e-banking value creation and capability-building strategies.The overall result of the investigation conducted by this thesis suggests that the Saudi Arabian ebanking' constituency-building process shows distinctive processes of sociotechnical alignment by each one of the specific Saudi banks' e-banking constituencies in the study. In addition, the use of Molina's "alignment web" to assess the state of each of the specific e-banking constituency-building processes helps identify the areas of strengths and weaknesses in these processes of sociotechnical alignment. The distinctiveness of development by each sociotechnical constituency is also highlighted by the application of the Molina's "dynamic strategy mapping" (DSM), showing that each constituency has its own combination of strategic ingredients.Although this thesis demonstrates strengths in the areas of logic replication, narrative writing, and validating procedure, in future studies it would be interesting to enhance its theoretical background, chronological structure, and quantitative assessment. This thesis contributes to providing a rich insight into the emergence and evolution of e-banking in Saudi Arabia, particularly at six of eleven Saudi banks as well as the technological systems of the Saudi Capital Market. Such contribution may be used to inform the future alignment strategy pursued by each the Saudi Arabian e-banking constituencies

Complex city systems : how cities are using technological systems to transform and compete in a global knowledge based economy

Imperial Users onl