Electronic information sharing in local government authorities: Factors influencing the decision-making process

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in International Journal of Information Management. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V.Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are mainly characterised as information-intensive organisations. To satisfy their information requirements, effective information sharing within and among LGAs is necessary. Nevertheless, the dilemma of Inter-Organisational Information Sharing (IOIS) has been regarded as an inevitable issue for the public sector. Despite a decade of active research and practice, the field lacks a comprehensive framework to examine the factors influencing Electronic Information Sharing (EIS) among LGAs. The research presented in this paper contributes towards resolving this problem by developing a conceptual framework of factors influencing EIS in Government-to-Government (G2G) collaboration. By presenting this model, we attempt to clarify that EIS in LGAs is affected by a combination of environmental, organisational, business process, and technological factors and that it should not be scrutinised merely from a technical perspective. To validate the conceptual rationale, multiple case study based research strategy was selected. From an analysis of the empirical data from two case organisations, this paper exemplifies the importance (i.e. prioritisation) of these factors in influencing EIS by utilising the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. The intent herein is to offer LGA decision-makers with a systematic decision-making process in realising the importance (i.e. from most important to least important) of EIS influential factors. This systematic process will also assist LGA decision-makers in better interpreting EIS and its underlying problems. The research reported herein should be of interest to both academics and practitioners who are involved in IOIS, in general, and collaborative e-Government, in particular

An in-depth analysis of a TTO's objectives alignment within the university strategy: An ANP-based approach

[EN] This paper presents the application of the Analytic Network Process for the analysis of the contribution of the third mission action plans to the research transfer policies set by the University Governing Body. The model is applied to the case study of the Technology Transfer Offices (TTO) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain). The paper develops a rigorous decision-making tool that helps TTO managers analyse the effectiveness of TTO activities and their degree of alignment with the institution¿s objectives. This work considers TTO managers¿ qualitative information and value judgments about the activities performed.This work has been funded by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia PAID-06-2011/2042. The translation of this paper has been funded by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Aragonés-Beltrán, P.; Poveda Bautista, R.; Jiménez-Sáez, F. (2017). An in-depth analysis of a TTO's objectives alignment within the university strategy: An ANP-based approach. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management. 44:19-43. doi:10.1016/j.jengtecman.2017.03.002S19434

ИНСТРУМЕНТАРИЙ ВЫБОРА ТЕХНОЛОГИИ КАК ОБЪЕКТА ТРАНСФЕРА В УСЛОВИЯХ МНОГОКРИТЕРИАЛЬНОСТИ

The article analyzes the features of the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. There revealed the negative trends associated with the disproportionality of the sectoral structure of the business and the low enterprises’ innovative activity. The key measures of state support for entrepreneurship taken by the Government of the Russian Federation in the period 2020–2021 are considered. The expediency of stimulating small and medium-sized businesses to participate in the process of technology transfer is determined, based on which the main purpose of the study is formulated, associated with the formation of economic and mathematical tools for choosing a technology for further implementation in the practice of SMEs. The research substantiates the expediency of using the fuzzy-multiple simplified method of analysis of hierarchies by Saaty for choosing technological solutions from a finite number of available alternatives, taking into account the interests of small and medium-sized businesses. The proposed approach makes it possible to increase the degree of validity of management decisions by reducing the volume of metamathematical operations and reducing the impact of subjectivism.В статье проведен анализ особенностей развития малого и среднего предпринимательства (МСП) в условиях пандемии СOVID-19. Выявлены негативные тенденции, связанные с диспропорциональностью отраслевой структуры бизнеса и низкой инновационной активностью предприятий. Рассмотрены ключевые меры государственной поддержки предпринимательства, предпринятые Правительством Российской Федерации в период2020–2021 годов. Определена целесообразность стимулирования субъектов малого и среднего предпринимательства к участию в процессе трансферта технологий, на основании чего сформулирована основная цель исследования, связанная с формированием экономико-математического инструментария выбора технологии для дальнейшего внедрения в практику деятельности МСП. Обоснована целесообразность применения нечетко-множественного упрощенного метода анализа иерархий Саати при осуществлении выбора технологических решений из конечного числа имеющихся альтернатив с учетом интересов субъектов малого и среднего предпринимательства. Предложенный подход позволяет повысить степень обоснованности управленческих решений при сокращении объема метаматематических операций и снижении влияния субъективизма

Appropriate Sets of Criteria for Innovation Adoption of IS Security in Organizations

Determining sets of criteria and alternatives becoming main priorities is essential to guarantee the success of innovation adoption of Information System (IS) security. The goal of this research was to select and determine important entities as representation of each criterion for managers in making decisions of innovation adoption of IS security. This research applied Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) Framework, and Human-Organization-Technology-Fit (HOT-Fit) Model to map relative importance variables of criteria and alternatives. AHP Approach was applied for computation simulation to determine priorities of criteria and alternatives. Results show that a principal criterion is manpower of organizations. The eigen factor score is 4.398. Moreover, alternatives covering complexity, financial resources, intensity of competition, and CIO innovativeness have these respective eigen factors scores: 4.326, 9.307, 4.376, and 4.545

Implementing construction innovations

The need to gain a competitive advantage stimulates many construction organizations to exploit innovative products and processes. The high level of uncertainty associated with innovative construction leads many construction organizations to focus on the application of traditional construction processes and products. Implementing construction innovation often involves experimentation, iteration and refinement of activities that are reliant on volatile information. Although several decision support models have been developed to assess new technologies, innovation as an implementation process has received less attention. This paper presents several tools to assess the value of technological innovation. It also presents a conceptual model, which is currently being developed, that deals with the effectiveness of innovation implementation phase. The proposed model is a decision support tool that models different implementation scenarios. The model uses influence information, managerial and technological benefits to control the implementation phase

Investigating e-procurement barriers within six Saudi Arabian SMEs

Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Bedfordshire.This study aims to investigate factors affecting the adoption of e-procurement in Saudi Arabian SMEs. The study adopted the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model as a theoretical framework and foundation for the research to investigate current status and readiness, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, perceived critical success factors and perceived future organisational performance. Through an extensive literature review and detailed data analysis, the study extended the model to incorporate perceived cultural and external factors that were found to be necessary for the adoption of e-procurement in Saudi Arabian SMEs. Through case studies and AHP analysis, the proposed model elements were validated and prioritised in the Saudi Arabian context. Three different methods were adopted for data collection. First, an exploratory study was conducted to understand the current status of e-procurement and provide an overview of the factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement using the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model.Second, a detailed survey was conducted to find the relative importance of various factors related to each of the five elements of the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model. Third, detailed interviews were conducted across four selected SMEs to gain an insight into the factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement. The results of the exploratory study were helpful in identifying perceived factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement. Detailed survey analysis using AHP validated the theoretical framework and the relevance of the factors of the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model. However, some of the factors were found to be more important than in the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model, while others were less important. Results of the qualitative study (interviews) found additional factors that were relevant to each of the five elements of the GN model. They further suggested that “Current e-procurement activities” was an additional factor in the “current status and readiness” element and “Increased transparency” was an additional factor in the “perceived benefits” element. Similarly, the analysis of the qualitative results found two additional factors in the “perceived barriers” element (i.e. absence of e-procurement specific laws and regulations and lack of trust in the electronic transfer of funds), three additional critical success factors (i.e. cost-benefit analysis of the solution, technical maturity of the marketplace and user-friendliness of the solution) and two additional factors in perceived future organisational performance (i.e. strategic alliance and networking and knowledge management and data warehousing). Further, analysis of the qualitative findings revealed two additional elements (i.e. perceived external and perceived cultural factors). The study thus suggests that organisational culture, cultural inertia and business culture of the country are three important cultural factors that are perceived to affect the adoption of e-procurement, while government support, having one’s own postal addresses and delivery services, providing secure and trustworthy online payment options, low cost and high speed internet connection, suppliers’ willingness and readiness, pressure from competitors, policy and regulations are the seven important perceived external factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement in Saudi Arabian SMEs. The results of the qualitative data analysis led to the development of an extended Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model to incorporate perceived culture and perceived external factors. The study has significant implications in terms of further e-procurement research for SMEs in Saudi Arabia and also its adoption in the developing world in general

The ecological system of innovation: A new architectural framework for a functional evidence-based platform for science and innovation policy

Models on innovation, for the most part, do not include a comprehensive and end-to-end view. Most innovation policy attention seems to be focused on the capacity to innovate and on input factors such as R&D investment, scientific institutions, human resources and capital. Such inputs frequently serve as proxies for innovativeness and are correlated with intermediate outputs such as patent counts and outcomes such as GDP per capita. While this kind of analysis is generally indicative of innovative behaviour, it is less useful in terms of discriminating causality and what drives successful strategy or public policy interventions. This situation has led to the developing of new frameworks for the innovation system led by National Science and Technology Policy Centres across the globe. These new models of innovation are variously referred to as the National Innovation Ecosystem. There is, however, a fundamental question that needs to be answered: what elements should an innovation policy include, and how should such policies be implemented? This paper attempts to answer this question.Innovation; Delphi Method; Balanced Scorecard; Quadruple Helix Theory; Analytic Hierarchy Process; Ecological System of Innovation, Framework, Systems Dynamics

A Decision Support System for Investment Evaluation in Information Systems / Information Technology in Public Administration Organisations

Mestrado em Gestão de Sistemas de Informaçãoinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Two-Staged SEM-AHP Technique for Understanding and Prioritizing Mobile Financial Services Perspective Adoption

The development of wireless and mobile technologies has offered a remarkable business opportunity for mobile financial services (MFS). This research focuses on predicting and prioritizing MFS perspective adoption through multi-dimensional consumers’ trust and perceived risk factors concurrently, which concepts found scant in the literature. An integrated technique based on survey questionnaire was suggested whereby the theoretical model was tested employing structural equation modeling (SEM), and the SEM output generated were utilized as inputs for analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to rank MFS perspective. Several antecedents of trust and perceived risk were identified and confirmed. However, perceived time risk has no statistically significant influence on aggregate perceived risk. The findings indicated that dispositional trust and perceived privacy risk impact consumers more than do other precursors of trust and perceived risk respectively. Consumers rely on these two factors probably because they are quite related to consumer personality trait and relevant to services provided. Mobile money transfer is the preferable MFS perspective used in Togo followed by mobile payment, and mobile banking correspondingly based on AHP result. The outcomes underscore that MFS managers require adopting and build trust-risk base in strategically crucial information system when formulating strategies to attract the ever-larger consumer. This study as well offered an innovative new approach to comprehend MFS adoption perspective through the benchmark methodology provided. Keywords: Mobile financial services adoption, SEM (Structural Equation Modeling), AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), Multi-analytic approach, Trust, Perceived risk, User behavio

Stakeholders' perceptions of agronomic iodine biofortification : a SWOT-AHP analysis in Northern Uganda

Agronomic biofortification (i.e., the application of fertilizer to elevate micronutrient concentrations in staple crops) is a recent strategy recommended for controlling Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDDs). However, its success inevitably depends on stakeholders' appreciation and acceptance of it. By taking Northern Uganda as a case, this study aimed to capture and compare the perceptions of seven key stakeholder groups with respect to agronomic iodine biofortification. Therefore, we employed a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis in combination with an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Findings show that stakeholders (n = 56) are generally positive about agronomic iodine biofortification in Uganda, as its strengths and opportunities outweighed weaknesses and threats. Cultural acceptance and effectiveness are considered the most important strengths while the high IDD prevalence rate and the availability of iodine deficient soils are key opportunities for further developing agronomic iodine biofortification. Environmental concerns about synthetic fertilizers as well as the time needed to supply iodine were considered crucial weaknesses. The limited use of fertilizer in Uganda was the main threat. While this study provides insight into important issues and priorities for iodine biofortification technology in Uganda, including differences in stakeholder views, the application of the SWOT-AHP method will guide future researchers and health planners conducting stakeholder analysis in similar domains