Non-Technical Individual Skills are Weakly Connected to the Maturity of Agile Practices

Context: Existing knowledge in agile software development suggests that individual competency (e.g. skills) is a critical success factor for agile projects. While assuming that technical skills are important for every kind of software development project, many researchers suggest that non-technical individual skills are especially important in agile software development. Objective: In this paper, we investigate whether non-technical individual skills can predict the use of agile practices. Method: Through creating a set of multiple linear regression models using a total of 113 participants from agile teams in six software development organizations from The Netherlands and Brazil, we analyzed the predictive power of non-technical individual skills in relation to agile practices. Results: The results show that there is surprisingly low power in using non-technical individual skills to predict (i.e. explain variance in) the mature use of agile practices in software development. Conclusions: Therefore, we conclude that looking at non-technical individual skills is not the optimal level of analysis when trying to understand, and explain, the mature use of agile practices in the software development context. We argue that it is more important to focus on the non-technical skills as a team-level capacity instead of assuring that all individuals possess such skills when understanding the use of the agile practices.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

Ethics and taxation : a cross-national comparison of UK and Turkish firms

This paper investigates responses to tax related ethical issues facing busines

The Relationship between Quality Performance and Employee Innovation for Total Quality Management Practices in Academic Libraries

The study examined the relationship between quality performance and employee innovation for total quality management in academic libraries. The study focused on academic libraries in Ghana. Relevant literature was reviewed on TQM practices, employee innovation, and quality performance.  The study adopted a descriptive survey design and a quantitative approach. The research protocol was a questionnaire. The study sampled 213 and retrieved 208 responses representing 97.6% of the valid sample size for the study. The study established that employee innovation and quality performance are critical components for TQM practices in academic libraries. The correlation analysis established that employee innovation had a significant relationship with total quality management while quality performance also demonstrated a significant positive relationship with total quality management. The study revealed that employee innovation and quality performance are significant components for TQM practices in academic libraries.  The study serves as a new source of documented information for academic libraries regarding TQM practices. Also, the study is a pillar for enriching the existing literature on employee innovation and quality performance as critical success factors for TQM implementation in academic libraries.The study examined the relationship between quality performance and employee innovation for total quality management in academic libraries. The study focused on academic libraries in Ghana. Relevant literature was reviewed on TQM practices, employee innovation and quality performance.  The study adopted a descriptive survey design and quantitative approach. The research protocol was a questionnaire. The study sampled 213 and retrieved 208 responses representing 95.3% of the valid sample size for the study. Partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) software was used to analyzed the data collected. In terms of the measurement of the model adopted for the study the convergent, discriminant validity was computed. Again, to establish connection between the variables of the study, the hypothetical statements were tested. All the three hypothetical statements tested showed a significant relationship.  Study established that employee innovation and quality performance are critical components for TQM practices in academic libraries. The correlation analysis established that employee innovation had significant relationship with total quality management while quality performance also demonstrated a significant positive relationship with total quality management. The study revealed that employee innovation and quality performance are significant components for TQM practices in academic libraries.  The study serves as a new source of documented information for academic libraries regarding TQM practices. Also, the study is a pillar for enriching the existing literature on employee innovation and quality performance as critical success factors for TQM implementation in academic libraries

Cocriação, valor de uso, satisfação e custos de troca como antecedentes da retenção de clientes no ensino superior

Purpose – The research aimed to propose and validate a Theoretical Model to understand how the relationship between customers (service users) and service providers might result in customer retention in the higher education context.Design/methodology/approach – The research was implemented through a survey applied to 301 students of a Higher Education Institution, and the data were analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).Findings – The results indicate that value co-creation impacts customer satisfaction and value-in-use, customer satisfaction impacts switching costs and customer retention, and switching costs impact customer retention. However, value-in-use did not significantly impact customer retention, opposing to the expected results.Originality/value – There is no consensus on which constructs effectively are the antecedents of customer retention for the most diverse types of services. For this reason, this research aimed to validate a Theoretical Model that contemplates the constructs of value co-creation, value-in-use, customer satisfaction, and switching costs as antecedents of customer retention in the higher education context.Objetivo – A pesquisa teve como objetivo propor e validar um Modelo Teórico, com o intuito de compreender como a relação entre clientes (usuários do serviço) e prestadores de serviços pode resultar na retenção de clientes, no contexto do ensino superior.Design / metodologia / abordagem – A pesquisa foi implementada através de uma pesquisa do tipo survey aplicada a 301 alunos de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior sendo que os dados foram analisados por meio da MEE – Modelagem de Equações Estruturais.Resultados – Os resultados indicaram que a cocriação de valor impacta na satisfação de clientes e no valor de uso, que a satisfação de clientes impacta nos custos de troca e na retenção de clientes e que os custos de troca impactam na retenção de clientes. Porém, o valor de uso não apresentou impacto significativo na retenção de clientes, contrariando os resultados esperados.Originalidade / valor – Não há um consenso de quais construtos são antecedentes efetivos da retenção de clientes para os mais diversos tipos de serviços. Para suprir esta lacuna, a pesquisa teve como foco validar um Modelo Teórico que contempla os construtos cocriação, valor de uso, construto este ainda pouco investigado, satisfação de clientes e custos de troca como antecedentes da retenção de clientes (alunos) no contexto do ensino superior

Assessing job performance in brazilian digital government : the role of knowledge management systemsuse and social capital

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementDiante dos desafios do governo digital, esta pesquisa busca compreender os propulsores do desempenho laboral e organizacional na administração pública brasileira. Foi criado modelo de pósadoção para avaliar o desempenho da administração pública mediante a utilização de sistemas de gestão do conhecimento (KMS), com base nos conceitos de satisfação do usuário, uso enxuto de sistemas (duração, frequência e intensidade), capital social, e liderança transformacional. Após revisão de literatura sobre as teorias de liderança transformacional e capital social, foi analisado o impacto destes fatores contextuais no ambiente governamental de uma agência pública brasileira (Ministério do Meio Ambiente). Utilizando-se de abordagem empírica, a pesquisa recolheu dados de 295 funcionários públicos, após questionário on-line, e obteve como resultados que o desempenho individual no trabalho, usando KMS, afeta positivamente o desempenho da organização, sendo também impactado por fatores como intensidade do uso de KMS, satisfação do usuário e capital social. A satisfação do individuo impacta o desempenho individual, sendo afetada pela frequência e intensidade do uso do KMS, assim como pelo capital social, que desempenha relevante papel no desempenho individual e organizacional, ampliando o relacionamento entre a satisfação do usuário e o desempenho individual, vez que apresenta efeito moderador. O desempenho organizacional é influenciado pela liderança transformacional, responsável por moderar as conexões entre a performance individual e institucional. A pesquisa fornece informações relevantes para a literatura em sistemas de gestão do conhecimento, de forma a conectar o uso de KMS com a satisfação e o desempenho, elucidando a importância do capital social para o alcance de melhores resultados em ambientes governamentais.Faced with the challenges of digital government, this research seeks to clarify the drivers of individual and organizational performance in the Brazilian public administration. A post-adoption model was developed to evaluate the performance of public administration with knowledge management systems (KMS), given the concepts of user satisfaction, lean system use (duration, frequency and intensity), social capital, and transformational leadership. After literature review on theories of transformational leadership and social capital, the impact of these contextual factors on the government environment of a Brazilian public agency (Ministry of the Environment) was verified. Using an empirical approach, the survey collected data from 295 public officials, using online questionnaire, obtained as results that the individual performance at work, using KMS, positively affects the organizational performance, being also impacted by factors such as intensity of the KMS use, user satisfaction and social capital. User satisfaction impacts individual performance, being affected by the frequency and intensity of KMS use, as well as by social capital, which plays a relevant role in individual and organizational performances, amplifying the relationship between user satisfaction and individual performance, given its moderating effect. Organizational performance is influenced by transformational leadership, responsible for moderating the connections among individual and institutional performance. The research provided relevant information to the literature on KMS, to connect system use, satisfaction and performance, elucidating the importance of social capital to achieve better results in government contexts

Growth and social entrepreneurs: the challenge of conciliating economic and social values

AbstractPurpose – This research aimed to describe the phenomenon of the growth of enterprises in the vision of socialentrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approach –This is a qualitative study developed joining eight social entrepreneurs infour organizations, two cooperatives and two associations. Data were obtained in semi structured interviews.Data were analyzed with interpretativist and the classical content analysis.Findings – The main findings indicated the growth phenomenon presented in five categories: growthintentions, growth meanings, support of other organizations and participation in networks, strategies anddifficulties. The results of the research have shown that the growth for the social entrepreneurs is a collectivephenomenon, characterized by search of economic value and empowerment.Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of the research was study only two types oforganizations, one garbage cooperative and two association.Practical implications – The results can help managers of social incubators and stakeholders because it wasevidenced the efforts and difficulties that social entrepreneurs face to survive and to search growth.Social implications – Our findings may contribute to the formulation of public policies oriented to socialentrepreneurs.Originality/value – This paper presents the first theoretical contribution about the growth in a specificcontext, the context of social entrepreneurs &nbsp

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history