Examining Drivers and Impacts of Informatization in Shanghai Manufacturing Firms

With careful theoretical development and empirical data examination, this paper investigates several key factors that influence the IT usage in Shanghai firms: technology resource, human resource and environment resource. On the basis of the resource-based view and the process model, the study imports government regulation policies, as well as e-government actions, as environmental resource to affect firms’ IT usage. By surveying 398 manufacturing firms in Shanghai and statistically analyzing the field data using structural equation modeling technique, the study contributes several insights to the IT usage in Chinese firms. First of all, this study sheds lights on the value creation process of firms’ informatization in Shanghai manufacturing industry and validates the route from IT investment to value realization. Second, the findings suggest that government promotion policies have significant impacts on manufacturing firms’ technology infrastructure and IT management decision. However, there is no evidence showing the government impact on firms’ IT usage level

IT Readiness, ICT Usage, and National Sustainability Development: Testing the Source-Position-Performance Framework

Utilizing the Source-Position-Performance (SPP) framework of competitive advantage and the literature on information technology (IT) and sustainability as the guiding theoretical lenses, we posit that the government and business IT readiness (i.e., sources of advantage) leads to differentiation in government and business ICT usage (i.e., positional advantage), which in turn affects the national sustainability (i.e., performance) in terms of economic, environmental, and social developments. Based on secondary data from 108 countries, our results generally supported the hypothesized model. Specifically, government and business IT readiness in a country appeared to be a significant enabler of government and business ICT usage respectively, which in turn led to enhancement of national sustainability development. Post hoc mediation analysis indicates that government ICT usage (1) fully mediated the effect of government IT readiness on environmental and social developments; and (2) partially mediated the effect of government IT readiness on economic development. On the other hand, business ICT usage (1) fully mediated the effect of business IT readiness on economic development; (2) did not mediate the effect of business IT readiness on environmental development; and (3) partially mediated the effect of business IT readiness on social development. Our findings contribute to the theoretical discourse on “IT and sustainability” by identifying the role of IT readiness among government and businesses in a country and provide indications to practice on enhancing its sustainability by increasing the levels of ICT usage among them

Organizational Dynamics of Technology-Based Innovation: Diversifying the Research Agenda

Abstract By analyzing survey data from 1,211 firms across 14 industries in Shanghai, this study examines factors that influence information technology usage in Chinese firms applying a technology-organization-environment framework and institutional theory

Adoption of cloud computing in higher education institutions in Nigeria

The study examines the adoption of cloud in the higher educational institution in Nigeria. The nine variable were used to examine the adoption of cloud computing in order to make a decision by HEIs management in Nigeria to see the usefulness to adopt cloud as well as the benefit and significance on cloud computing. The nine factors were examined in this study there are: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trailibility, top management, firm size, amount of information, pressure coercive and quality of internet connection. This study was adopted innovation diffusion theory. Technological, organizational environmental (TOE) and technology acceptance model to explain the adoption of cloud computing in HEIs in Nigeria. Quantitative method was used to collect data by distributing the questionnaire to 200 people from higher education institutions in Nigeria. The finding in this study was used smart (PLS) to analyze the date which seven variable were supported and the three were not support to explain the adoption of cloud computing in higher education in Nigeria. this study was carried out in the higher educational institutions in Nigeria to adopt cloud computing, this study is limit on generalize the findings. this study encourage the management in HEIs to make move on cloud computing to their education by a start from trailability to perceive the benefit on cloud computing.this study is contribute to the higher educational institutions to try to adopt cloud computing as new technology to transform and seeing what way to benefit to their educational system. This study recommends to the management to support and make the decision to adopt cloud computing without their support no cloud computing adoption

The countryside in urbanized Flanders: towards a flexible definition for a dynamic policy

The countryside, the rural area, the open space, … many definitions are used for rural Flanders. Everyone makes its own interpretation of the countryside, considering it as a place for living, working or recreating. The countryside is more than just a geographical area: it is an aggregate of physical, social, economic and cultural functions, strongly interrelated with each other. According to international and European definitions of rural areas there would be almost no rural area in Flanders. These international definitions are all developed to be used for analysis and policy within their specific context. They are not really applicable to Flanders because of the historical specificity of its spatial structure. Flanders is characterized by a giant urbanization pressure on its countryside while internationally rural depopulation is a point of interest. To date, for every single rural policy initiative – like the implementation of the European Rural Development Policy – Flanders used a specifically adapted definition, based on existing data or previously made delineations. To overcome this oversupply of definitions and delineations, the Flemish government funded a research project to obtain a clear and flexible definition of the Flemish countryside and a dynamic method to support Flemish rural policy aims. First, an analysis of the currently used definitions of the countryside in Flanders was made. It is clear that, depending on the perspective or the policy context, another definition of the countryside comes into view. The comparative study showed that, according to the used criteria, the area percentage of Flanders that is rural, varies between 9 and 93 per cent. Second, dynamic sets of criteria were developed, facilitating a flexible definition of the countryside, according to the policy aims concerned. This research part was focused on 6 policy themes, like ‘construction, maintenance and management of local (transport) infrastructures’ and ‘provision of (minimum) services (education, culture, health care, …)’. For each theme a dynamic set of criteria or indicators was constructed. These indicators make it possible to show where a policy theme manifests itself and/or where policy interventions are possible or needed. In this way every set of criteria makes up a new definition of rural Flanders. This method is dynamic; new data or insights can easily be incorporated and new criteria sets can be developed if other policy aims come into view. The developed method can contribute to a more region-oriented and theme-specific rural policy and funding mechanism

Contextual factors, knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services: An investigation in China

Copyright @ 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Reuse of this article has been approved by the publisher.In this paper, the authors explore the influences of two major contextual factors—supplier team members’ cultural understanding and trust relationship—on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services. The authors discuss a joint investigation conducted by a cross-cultural research team in China. Cultural understanding is measured by individualism with guanxi and mianzi, two Chinese cultural concepts, and trust relationship is measured by adjusting trust, a notion reflecting the uniqueness of the Chinese people. Knowledge processes are characterized by knowledge sharing. Performance is measured by the outcomes of global sourcing, which is represented by product success and personal satisfaction. Data are collected in 13 companies in Xi’an Software Park, with 200 structured questionnaires distributed to knowledge workers. The results of quantitative data analysis indicate that cultural understanding influences trust relationship greatly, as well as knowledge sharing and performance in global sourcing of IT services. Trust relationship significantly impacts knowledge sharing, whereas trust relationship and knowledge sharing have no impact on performance. This study suggests that special aspects of the Chinese context have significant direct impacts on knowledge processes while no direct and immediate impacts on performance in global sourcing of IT services.National Natural Science Foundation of China, Program for Humanity and Social Science Research, Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University in China and Brunel University's Research Development Fund

Antecedents of Continuance Intention of RFID Technology in Western Australian Farms

In literature, adoption and continuance of an innovation have been considered as discrete events and discussed in separate models. This study argues that these are interrelated and continuous processes. The objective of this study is to investigate the adoption and continuance behaviour of a technological innovation in a single framework taking Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as the context. Applying the quantitative research approach, this study finds that external environment, the technology itself, and the organization factors influence RFID adoption whereas the continuance of RFID technology is dependent on confirmation and satisfaction from using the technology. Moreover, confirmation is the immediate next stage of adoption where the adopters justify their adoption decision and take required actions and/or adjustments. Data were analysed using Partial Least Square (PLS)- based Structured Equation Modelling (SEM) tool. The discussion and implications on the findings are discussed in detail

Information Systems Outsourcing Adoption

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de InformaçãoInformation systems outsourcing (ISO) is the management of information systems operations performed by an external organization. It has an enormous potential and capability to improve business processes and technological innovations for companies. However, the adoption rates of ISO are still lower than expected. It is therefore desirable to make more efforts to identify determinants of ISO adoption. Based on the combination of a technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, we develop a conceptual model to study the determinants of the ISO adoption. Data collected from 261 firms in Portugal were used to test the proposed research model. Based on logistic regression we find five contextual factors (relative advantage, firm size, top management support, perceived benefits, and competitive pressure) to be determinants of ISO adoption. Among them, perceived benefits was found to be the most significant driver, followed by competitive pressure. Overall, these results indicate that the adoption of ISO is affected mainly by the organizational context, compared to the remaining contexts proposed (technology, environment, and individual leader characteristics). These findings are particularly useful for managers, suppliers, and academics, since they provide important insights when focusing mostly on the organizational field

Transferring Collective Knowledge: Collective and Fragmented Teaching and Learning in the Chinese Auto Industry

Collective knowledge, consisting of tacit group-embedded knowledge, is a key element of organizational capabilities. This study undertakes a multiple-case study of the transfer of collective knowledge, guided by a set of tentative constructs and propositions derived from organizational learning theory. By focusing on the group-embeddedness dimension of collective knowledge, we direct our attention to the source and recipient communities. We identify two sets of strategic choices concerning the transfer of collective knowledge: collective vs. fragmented teaching, and collective vs. fragmented learning. The empirical context of this study is international R&D capability transfer in the Chinese auto industry. From the case evidence, we find the expected benefits of collective teaching and collective learning, and also discover additional benefits of these two strategies, including the creation of a bridge network communication infrastructure. The study disclosed other conditions underlying the choice of strategies of transferring collective knowledge, including transfer effort and the level of group-embeddedness of the knowledge to be taught or re-embedded. The paper provides a group-level perspective in understanding organizational capabilities, as well as a set of refined constructs and propositions concerning strategic choices of transferring collective knowledge. The study also provides a rich description of the best practices and lessons learned in transferring organizational capabilities.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39804/3/wp420.pd