Reward-based Crowdfunding Success Prediction with Multimodal Data

As an increasing number of crowdfunding platforms recommend that entrepreneurs post multimodal data to improve data diversity and attract investors’ attention, it becomes necessary to study how functions of multimodal data take effect to predict fundraising outcomes (i.e., success or failure). There is a lack of research providing a comprehensive investigation of multimodal data in crowdfunding. Rooted in language and visual image metafunctional theories, we propose a framework to explore ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions of multimodal data. We empirically examine the effectiveness of each metafunction, each modality, and their combination in predicting fundraising outcomes. The empirical evaluation shows the predictive utility of any metafunctions and metafunction combinations. The results also demonstrate that adding data modalities can help to improve the prediction performance

Exploring Mechanisms in Tacit Knowledge Externalization: Preliminary Findings from Participatory Agricultural Innovation Practices in Ethiopia

Tacit knowledge is embedded in people’s experiences, expertise, know-how, skills, techniques, insights, judgments, actions or behaviors. This knowledge is a source of innovation that can provide dynamic responses to context specific problems. Effective exploitation and management of tacit knowledge is critical, but the subject of tacit knowledge in general and the process of its externalization and sharing in particular are still relatively unexplored and not fully understood. In addition, the agricultural sector has rarely been the topic of inquiry in research related to tacit knowledge elicitation and most previous studies focus on high tech industries and business organizations. This paper explored what mechanisms are being used to externalize tacit knowledge and what factors impact this process given the context of participatory agricultural research in Ethiopia. We applied a qualitative case study method using an in-depth semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis as data collection tool

Cognitive approach using SFL theory in capturing tacit knowledge in business intelligence

The complexity of Business Intelligence (BI) processes need to be explored in order to ensure BI system properly treats the tacit knowledge as part of data source in BI framework. Therefore, a new approach in handling tacit knowledge in BI system still needs to be developed. The library is an ideal place to gather tacit knowledge. It is a place full of explicit knowledge stored in various bookshelves. Nevertheless, tacit knowledge is very abundant in the head of the librarians. The explicit knowledge they gained from education in the field of libraries and information was not sufficient to deal with a complex and contextual work environment. Complexity comes from many interconnected affairs that connect librarians with the surrounding environment such as supra-organizations, employees, the physical environment, and library users. This knowledge is contextual because there are various types of libraries and there are different types of library users who demand different management. Since tacit knowledge hard to capture, we need to use all possible sources of externalization of tacit knowledge. The effort to capture this knowledge is done through a social process where the transfer of knowledge takes place from an expert to an interviewer. For this reason, it is important for the interview process to be based on SFL theory (Systemic Functional Linguistics)

Tacit knowledge for business intelligence framework using cognitive-based approach

Tacit knowledge becoming a key issue in business intelligence approach to knowledge systems. Capturing the tacit knowledge is not a straightforward task, since it consists of unstructured data and related to a variety of information that is not always accessible through traditional means. This work presents a systematic approach for capturing tacit knowledge to be used in a business intelligence framework. The approach is based on the theory of systematic functional linguistics, developed into interview protocols to be asked to tacit knowledge owners. The data transformed into cognitive maps to supply the data warehouse. The framework was tested on 23 librarians from several university libraries in West Java and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The algorithm starts with a content targeted interview to identify the list of problems faced by librarians. The problems were then converted into a questionnaire to identify qualities of the problems such as frequency, urgency, severity, and importance. From the questionnaire results, the best tacit knowledge performers were identified. They are respondents who can solve the problems, while the majority of the respondents are unable to solve them. The best performers were then subjected to grammar targeted interview to collect the solutions they made to the problems. The transcription of the interview results is then converted into cognitive maps that visualize the solutions. These cognitive maps are then stored in a data warehouse and ready to collect anytime for analytics purposes. The framework is validated through Power BI and reviewed by seven experts. Its applicability to other domains is justified as long as the domain, e.g., manufacturing, have experienced problems related to technical, managerial, and empirical problems faced by employees at work. This research contributes to the methods of capturing tacit knowledge using a cognitive-based approach, which important to ensure the continuity of business in various domains

Respondent Perceived Threat During the Information Systems Requirements Determination Process: Understanding and Mitigation

Requirements determination is a critical driver in a successful software development process. Despite decades of research prescribing various software development methodologies, intended to aid in achieving an eventual convergence between the user’s mental models and an informationally equivalent representation that is codified within an information system, we can still attribute many of the deficiencies in software development projects to the improper or ineffective execution of the requirements determination process. This study draws on the user resistance, software development, and psychology literature to discuss how perceived threats by potential users and key respondents can result in sub-optimization of a proposed information system via reduction in the quality of their responses during the requirements gathering phase. A laboratory experiment was carried out to explore the sources and effects of various threat perceptions and the effectiveness of techniques intended to detect and mitigate such perceptions of threat. The results confirm that perception of threat does lead to a degradation in response quality, with perceived adaptability fully mediating the relationship. The findings on whether interviewer reassurance has a moderating effect on the relationship between threat and perceived adaptability had interesting results, which are discussed

CLUSTERING SAFETY KNOWLEDGE WORKERS AND AUTOMATION OF INCIDENT REPORTING IN MALAYSIA

In spite of efforts by organizations to maintain safe working environments, occupational hazards abound: lives get maimed and lost regularly. However, research has linked incident reporting with a decrease in such unfavourable safety outcomes. Yet, there are many incident reporting procedures, and the literature is silent on which procedure is linked with more favourable safety outcomes. Further, literature has also claimed that there is safety knowledge embedded in the persons and artifacts - including incident reports - of an organization, yet there is paucity of research on how safety knowledge flows from incident reports. Therefore, it was the aim of this study to explore safety knowledge from incident reporting processes, to generate a taxonomy of incident procedures and to determine the automation of incident reporting process. A mixed-method sequential approach integrating a qualitative approach and survey method of quantitative approach was adopte

CLUSTERING SAFETY KNOWLEDGE WORKERS AND AUTOMATION OF INCIDENT REPORTING IN MALAYSIA

In spite of efforts by organizations to maintain safe working environments, occupational hazards abound: lives get maimed and lost regularly. However, research has linked incident reporting with a decrease in such unfavourable safety outcomes. Yet, there are many incident reporting procedures, and the literature is silent on which procedure is linked with more favourable safety outcomes. Further, literature has also claimed that there is safety knowledge embedded in the persons and artifacts - including incident reports - of an organization, yet there is paucity of research on how safety knowledge flows from incident reports. Therefore, it was the aim of this study to explore safety knowledge from incident reporting processes, to generate a taxonomy of incident procedures and to determine the automation of incident reporting process. A mixed-method sequential approach integrating a qualitative approach and survey method of quantitative approach was adopte

Implementing ERPII in customer facing organisations, an investigation of critical success factors

There has been a growing trend for customer facing organisations (CFOs) to turn to highly demanding information systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) in order to improve their interaction with customers. ERPII has the specific capabilities to deliver extended enterprise opportunities; however there have been widespread accounts of implementation failure leading to costly delays and even on occasion, bankruptcy. There is a lack of research available to business practitioners in terms of how to deliver a successful implementation in these situations and this research aims to address this issue. To achieve this, research has been undertaken using critical success factor (CSF) analysis. A case study was undertaken comprising of a project team placement within an ERPII implementation environment and follow-up interviews with the project team members were undertaken. In addition, a third piece of empirical research was undertaken consisting of interviews with consultant practitioners of supplier organisations. This research shows that CFOs implementing ERPII require specific CSFs to be addressed at different points within the implementation lifecycle. ‘Critical pathway steps’ have been recommended which emphasise the importance of post implementation training

Enhancing student engagement in information systems education – a longitudinal case study from a Sino-Foreign university

This doctoral thesis describes five years of research on an undergraduate accounting information systems module at the China campus of Nottingham University Business School. The central research question is ‘How can small group interactions be designed to improve student engagement in information systems education?’. To this end, an interpretive philosophical paradigm is adopted to address three research questions which are explored in distinct phases: In the first phase a grounded approach is taken to address the question - What influences engagement in small group interactions? The second phase takes the themes identified in the first phase and addresses the question - What strategies might be adopted to address these influences? In the third and final phase, a longitudinal study is conducted, in which the strategies identified in the second phase are then applied, in 3 cycles of action research, addressing the question – How, why and what would be good practice in implementing such strategies? This research finds 36 themes that influence engagement in small group interactions, strategies are then identified to address those themes and those within the scope of control of the researcher are tested. This research confirms that the findings in the extant literature relating to mainland Chinese undergraduate student engagement, in Western undergraduate programmes overseas, also apply to such programmes conducted in the mainland Chinese context. In addition a sense of student empowerment over influencing pedagogy to suit preference in terms of classroom environment, interaction timing, second language use, and tutor focus is found. Among the strategies tested, a problem-based group project, set within a familiar context and informed by an evidence-based design approach, which values the opinion and experience of the student as designer of the proposed problem solution, was found to be the most effective in promoting early engagement in the desired learning process. This study supports the argument that case study approaches, where those studies are set in unfamiliar contexts, may not be best suited for undergraduate programmes due to their inherent contextual uncertainties. This research finds that, through adopting an evidence-based approach to research for such group projects, student evaluation of their own experience and insights changes positively, enabling more rounded and reflective critical argument and decision-making. This work may be seen to contribute to fill gaps both in evidence from practice and in the body of ‘scientific’ evidence in respect of the following contexts, such gaps having been identified by the cited authors as follows: Theoretical contributions 1. Research into the area of Chinese student engagement in Western educational settings e.g. Li and Campbell (2008). 2. Qualitative research methods in general and the adaptation of western approaches to the Chinese context e.g. Watkins-Mathys (2007). 3. Literature relating to evidence-based design in teaching and learning e.g. Groccia and Buskist (2011), Rousseau and Mc Carthy (2007), Wastell (2011) and Ahmadi et al. (2012). 4. Literature relating to alignment of the expectation gap between tutors and students in cross-cultural settings e.g. Zhou et al. (2008). 5. Literature relating to evidence-based design in information systems and accounting literature e.g. Marr (2009), Baskerville (2011), Wastell (2011). Practical contributions 6. The call for case studies that “lionise” evidence-based design and avoid the contextual challenges of [case study] approaches e.g. Starkey and Tempest (2009) and Wastell (2011). 7. Further evidence from the process of adapting British teaching and learning practices for use in the Chinese undergraduate context (Zhou et al., 2008). 8. Further evidence to inform both student/staff induction processes and the body of research on the design of teaching and learning practices at NUBS in China e.g. Waters (2007)

Enhancing student engagement in information systems education – a longitudinal case study from a Sino-Foreign university

This doctoral thesis describes five years of research on an undergraduate accounting information systems module at the China campus of Nottingham University Business School. The central research question is ‘How can small group interactions be designed to improve student engagement in information systems education?’. To this end, an interpretive philosophical paradigm is adopted to address three research questions which are explored in distinct phases: In the first phase a grounded approach is taken to address the question - What influences engagement in small group interactions? The second phase takes the themes identified in the first phase and addresses the question - What strategies might be adopted to address these influences? In the third and final phase, a longitudinal study is conducted, in which the strategies identified in the second phase are then applied, in 3 cycles of action research, addressing the question – How, why and what would be good practice in implementing such strategies? This research finds 36 themes that influence engagement in small group interactions, strategies are then identified to address those themes and those within the scope of control of the researcher are tested. This research confirms that the findings in the extant literature relating to mainland Chinese undergraduate student engagement, in Western undergraduate programmes overseas, also apply to such programmes conducted in the mainland Chinese context. In addition a sense of student empowerment over influencing pedagogy to suit preference in terms of classroom environment, interaction timing, second language use, and tutor focus is found. Among the strategies tested, a problem-based group project, set within a familiar context and informed by an evidence-based design approach, which values the opinion and experience of the student as designer of the proposed problem solution, was found to be the most effective in promoting early engagement in the desired learning process. This study supports the argument that case study approaches, where those studies are set in unfamiliar contexts, may not be best suited for undergraduate programmes due to their inherent contextual uncertainties. This research finds that, through adopting an evidence-based approach to research for such group projects, student evaluation of their own experience and insights changes positively, enabling more rounded and reflective critical argument and decision-making. This work may be seen to contribute to fill gaps both in evidence from practice and in the body of ‘scientific’ evidence in respect of the following contexts, such gaps having been identified by the cited authors as follows: Theoretical contributions 1. Research into the area of Chinese student engagement in Western educational settings e.g. Li and Campbell (2008). 2. Qualitative research methods in general and the adaptation of western approaches to the Chinese context e.g. Watkins-Mathys (2007). 3. Literature relating to evidence-based design in teaching and learning e.g. Groccia and Buskist (2011), Rousseau and Mc Carthy (2007), Wastell (2011) and Ahmadi et al. (2012). 4. Literature relating to alignment of the expectation gap between tutors and students in cross-cultural settings e.g. Zhou et al. (2008). 5. Literature relating to evidence-based design in information systems and accounting literature e.g. Marr (2009), Baskerville (2011), Wastell (2011). Practical contributions 6. The call for case studies that “lionise” evidence-based design and avoid the contextual challenges of [case study] approaches e.g. Starkey and Tempest (2009) and Wastell (2011). 7. Further evidence from the process of adapting British teaching and learning practices for use in the Chinese undergraduate context (Zhou et al., 2008). 8. Further evidence to inform both student/staff induction processes and the body of research on the design of teaching and learning practices at NUBS in China e.g. Waters (2007)