Three Research Essays on the Effects of Culture Across IT Diffusion Within Social Networks, Organizations, and Hospitals

This dissertation focuses on two research streams: IT diffusion and culture, and each can be examined in various contexts. Specifically, this study investigates IT diffusion through online social network use, knowledge sharing towards the general organizational information systems, and hospital information systems usage. In terms of culture, espoused national cultural values, IT occupational subculture, and organizational cultural variables are examined in the following essays. Essay1: Espoused National Cultural Values and Online Social Network Use: Towards an Extension of UTAUT Prior research has developed a number of models for examining the acceptance and use of technology. This paper extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) beyond the established demographic and contextual variables. Building upon research from social psychology and technology adoption, our proposed model incorporated three constructs into UTAUT: information privacy concerns, hedonic motivation, and relationship expectancy. Motivated by research where individual differences were shown to moderate the relationships of the UTAUT model, this paper investigated the effect of espoused national culture values on social network adoption. Integrating these findings into UTAUT, we formulated a model to examine the individual use of social network sites. Using data from 379 respondents, the model explained over seventy percent of the variance in intentions to use online social networks. Overall, all hypotheses were supported. The findings from this research generated both theoretical and practical implications. Essay2: Development and Testing of a Scale to Measure the Effect of IT Occupational Subculture on Knowledge Sharing within Organization Personnel Based on an existing conceptual framework in culture, this study developed a scale to measure IT occupational subculture. The relationship between the occupational subculture of information technology personnel and knowledge sharing in organizations was investigated. It was suggested that knowledge sharing among IT personnel and business end-users was positively affected by some elements of IT occupational subculture. Overtime, IT occupational subculture is positively affected by knowledge sharing among IT personnel and business end-users. Drawing upon cross-cultural psychology, the study presented one possible approach through which occupational subculture manifests at the organizational level of analysis and impacts the knowledge sharing process. In doing so, behaviors related to knowledge sharing and IT diffusion at the organizational level were better understood beyond the limitations of previous IT diffusion studies. Essay3: Differentiating Eustress from Distress: An Examination of Stress Associated with HIS Use across Organizational Culture An interesting but not yet investigated research issue is why some users complain that they are tired of using information systems while some other users actively embrace the use of such systems in their daily routine, and that this taste and associated behavior varies from person to person. Based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, a framework was developed to explore the antecedents of distress (negative stress) and eustress (positive stress). This study was based within the context of using hospital information systems (HIS) and we investigated two different psychological processes that played a role in the development of HIS-use strain and motivation. Additionally, espoused organizational cultural values were found to be antecedents of perceived HIS-enabled job resources (literacy support, technical support provision, technology involvement facilitation, and innovation support). While HIS-enabled job resources were positively related to eustress, HIS-enabled job demands (HIS-complexity, HIS-overload, and HIS-uncertainty) were positively related to distress. Furthermore, HIS-enabled job resource (literacy support) was found to buffer the intensity and outcome of HIS-enabled use demands - distress

Reflecting on the usability of research on culture in designing interaction

The concept of culture has been attractive to producers of interactive\ud systems who are willing to design useful and relevant solutions to users\ud increasingly located in culturally diverse contexts. Despite a substantial body of\ud research on culture and technology, interaction designers have not always been\ud able to apply these research outputs to effectively define requirements for\ud culturally diverse users. This paper frames this issue as one of understanding of\ud the different paradigms underpinning the cultural models being applied to\ud interface development and research. Drawing on different social science theories,\ud the authors discuss top-down and bottom-up perspectives in the study of users‟\ud cultural differences and discuss the extent to which each provides usable design\ud knowledge. The case is made for combining bottom-up and top-down perspectives\ud into a sociotechnical approach that can produce knowledge useful and usable by\ud interaction designers. This is illustrated with a case study about the design of\ud interactive systems for farmers in rural Kenya

Culture and IS: A criticism of predefined cultural archetypes studies

Although there are many different models of national culture, most IS research has tended to rely almost solely on Hofstede’s cultural model (Keil et al., 2000; Straub, 1994; Tan et al., 1995; Watson et al., 1994; Myers and Tan, 2002; Kirkman et al. 2006).). This is perhaps not surprising, given that Hofstede’s typology of culture has been one of the most popular in many different fields of management (Myers and Tan, 2002). Although, this paper focuses on Hofstede’s model of national culture, but many of the criticisms of Hofstede’s model apply equally well to most of the other predefined cultural models. This paper provides a criticism of predefined cultural archetypes and highlight some recommendations for researchers in the filed of culture and IS discipline

T-government for benefit realisation

This paper proposes a model for t-Government and highlights the research agenda needed to increase understanding of transformational government and the processes involved in furthering the agenda of the t-Government. In particular, both an operational and a conceptual model for the effective involvement of citizens and businesses in government functioning have been proposed. This will help to define an agenda for t-Government research that emerges from national UK strategy and policy for e-Government. The main threads of t- Government encompass: (1) A citizen-centric delivery of public services or e-inclusion, (2) A shared services culture to maximize value added to clients, (3) The effective delivery and management of resources and skills within government or professionalism. All three threads should be addressed principally from the perspectives of delivery, evaluation and participation in view of benefit realisation as envisioned by Government strategic planning and policy directives (CabinetOffice, 2005). The management of change dimension of these phenomena have been included in the research agenda. In particular, research is needed to reshape the discourse towards emphasising a citizen centric approach that defines, develops, and benefits from public service. Decision makers in Government will need models of Governance that fulfil transformational objectives. They will also need models of benefits realisation within a strategic Governance framework. It has been argued that t-Government research should be addressing these relative voids

Reforming Juvenile Justice Systems: Beyond Treatment

Evaluates the role of youth development and cultural competence in the Reclaiming Futures initiative to improve substance abuse interventions as part of juvenile justice reform. Explores issues of evidence-based approaches to funding promising practices

On the Myth of a General National Culture. Making Visible Specific Cultural Characteristics of Learners in Different\ud Educational Contexts

The concept of a few values that can characteristically explain all units of culture (Schneider, 1968, pp.1-2) within any national context generally sounds promising. In order to take design-oriented decisions on culture-specific research questions, such characteristic values, particularly if already determined for many countries, would allow a massive reduction of effort. However, we were unsure if the contexts of academic and professional education allowed the adoption of such values without loosing the characteristic information, which are crucial for designing context sensitive e-Learning contents. In both educational scenarios we investigated the subcultures ‘faculty’, ‘university’, ‘enterprise’, and ‘nation’. In this paper, we exemplarily discuss our study’s results regarding one selected topic\ud from our questionnaire, i.e. the ‘role of the lecturer’. Actually, we found major differences between the investigated scenarios. Thus, we came to the conclusion\ud that in our context, adapting, e. g. Hofstede’s national values, would not lead to a learning design that takes the context-specific cultural differences into consideration

Situated cultural approach versu predefined cultural archetypes models

Within the last 20 years, the practical relevance of researching cultural issues, and especially comparing phenomena across cultures, was questioned (Ferraro, 1990). However, the importance of cultural issues is becoming increasingly evident in many applied disciplines; these include the management of information technology (IT) (Davison and Martinsons, 2003). A normative literature review has been carried out in this paper to provide IS researchers with the milestones of studying culture in IS discipline. Although there are many different models of national culture, most IS research has tended to rely almost solely on Hofstede’s cultural model (Keil et al., 2000; Straub, 1994; Tan et al., 1995; Watson et al., 1994; Myers and Tan, 2002; Kirkman et al. 2006).). In this paper, the author provides a criticism of predefined cultural archetypes models and highlight the problems of using such approach in studying culture within IS discipline. The author demonstrates a comprehensive framework of situated culture approach to study culture within IS discipline, as alternative approach to avoid the criticism of predefined cultural archetypes models. This is achieved via an articulation of Structuration Theory. The author argues that using a practice lens for studying the use of technology by Orlikowski (2000), contributes to identifying the mediated shared structures between actors through understanding the actions of the actors within IS phenomena. Then, using a Structurational analysis approach by Walsham (2002) contributes to identifying the cultural dimensions that are embedded in the identified mediated shared structures

Police Knowledge Exchange: Summary Report

[Executive Summary] This report draws on research commissioned by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and the Home Office to investigate cultural aspects of knowledge sharing across the police service. The research reviews literature and police perceptions to identify the enablers and barriers to effective knowledge exchange and sharing within and between police forces and police partners, including the public. Data were collected from 11 police forces; 42 in-depth interviews/focus groups and 47 survey responses. The literature-guided analysis identified four core research themes: who, why, what and how we share. Detailed findings are presented in the full report; this summary report presents the core research findings. Recommendations from this study will inform the next phase of activity for the Board. The research identified that cross-force, cross-organisation, national and international sharing relies on a culture supporting individuals who have an independent and reflective sharing approach. A key enabler to police sharing is that, regardless of police rank and role, they all have a strong collaborative nature, through a deep motivation to share, that benefits the wider social community. This collaborative nature is driven by processes that reveal reciprocal benefit and safe sharing, as well as how to effectively ‘get the job done’ and foster professional learning. A key barrier to police sharing is a strong hierarchical culture that does not encourage the independent nature of sharing. Whilst police officers and staff act independently within the confines of their prescribed roles, they rarely independently share beyond this. This hierarchical culture means that innovations in sharing are often initiated or approved top-down and tied to leadership. Hierarchical structures are seen to support a competitive culture combining concepts of risk aversion and blame. The hierarchical culture is also perceived as providing poor clarity on what is of value to share and how to effectively share. There are two key recommendations to overcome this barrier: one long-term and one short-term. Long-term: ‘Become independent sharers’ by changing the nature and culture of the police to encourage this independent nature, so that specific sharing barriers are effectively solved by individuals. Professionalising the police and working collaboratively with academia are steps towards this long-term goal. Short-term: ‘Guide and authorise independent sharing’ by using the hierarchy to scaffold/support and direct police towards effective and approved sharing approaches. This will show the police, through the hierarchy, how and why this independent sharing nature is safe, effective and valued

Cultural universality versus particularity within e-CRM systems: a special case of information systems

Cultural factors are often identified as a crucial influence on the success or failure of Information Systems in general and Electronic Customer Relationship Management Systems (eCRM) in particular. Several researchers have suggested ways in which management can accommodate these factors or solve the problem they pose. This paper attempts to go one step beyond management measures and ask whether there is a theoretical foundation on which one can base the mutual influence of culture on eCRM. There is a lack of pervious literature on the impact of culture differences on eCRM systems. A normative literature review on the impact of culture on different types of Information Systems has been done to explore different cultural factors that might influence eCRM systems as an application of Information Systems. The authors highlight the cultures factors in macro and micro level that have been investigated in the literature of Information systems. At the macro level, it is necessary to consider the differences at a national level. The differentiating characteristics will include: organizational structures, function and process oriented views, supervisory control mechanisms etc. Micro level considerations will be at the individual level and will include human responses to organizational change, cultural acceptability of different organizational structures etc. The authors propose a framework of cultural concerns for management of eCRM systems within multinational environment organizations. This framework will be tested in future research and will be modified according to the results