Managing strategic investments decisions : the impacts of their content, the effectiveness of decisions and a protocol for evaluation

The strategic potential of information technology (IT) is now well recognised, but strategic IT projects have high failure rates. The present study proposes the concept of the degree of IT intensity of SIDs and aims to answer the question of whether the degree of IT intensity matters in relation to the decision process, decision content, decision outcome and evaluation methods. Furthermore, critical factors which impact on the effectiveness of SIDs are explored, and a protocol is proposed by mapping the quantitative findings to state-of-art evaluation approaches. A structured questionnaire was developed, and empirical work was undertaken among Taiwanese manufacturers. Experts in two professional associations, the Chinese Association for Industrial Technology Advancement and the Chinese Productivity Centre, helped to identify organisations considered to be representative of the population. 270 organisations were selected and 94 responded. Of these, 80 were valid for further analysis. Several variables are found to be significantly correlated to IT intensity. The Hypotheses testing shows that interaction, the accuracy of information and strategic considerations are mediators in the linkage of IT involvement and the effectiveness of SIDs but the direct link from IT intensity to the effectiveness of SIDs proved to be weak. Consequently, the stepwise variable selecting procedure was employed to reveal the critical variables which impact significantly on the effectiveness of SIDs. The present study seeks to develop a protocol which addresses the practical aspect of SIDs and SITIDs in terms of rules and to integrate these rules to form a model for evaluation. Five major mechanisms of this model are discussed: the scanning mechanism, the strategic flexibility mechanism, the evaluation mechanism, the proactive mechanism, and the feedback mechanism

EXPLORING CALL CENTER ENABLED MECHANISMS FOR FIRM\u27S COMBINATIVE CAPABILITIES

The knowledge mechanisms of call centers have been emphasized by many pervious studies. Yet there is little empirical research that examines the call centers\u27 influence on firms\u27 combinative capabilities. To address this gap, this study examines call center enabled organizational mechanisms that contribute to the firms\u27 combinative capabilities. The study identifies differential effects from three types of combinative capabilities including system capabilities, coordination capabilities, and socialization capabilities. Through in-depth case studies of four Taiwanese call centers, this study finds seven organizational mechanisms including centralized information deployment and knowledge encapsulation, institution changing and foolproof, information hub and relationship management, decision making ladder, training center, network configuration, and job embeddedness . The findings provide practical implications to industry managers engaged in call center implementations from a combinative capabilities perspective. Future research directions are also discussed

The Organizational Context, Job Embeddedness, And Effectiveness Of Managing Knowledge Work Teams

The relationships between organizational context, job embeddedness, and knowledge work team effectiveness are examined in this paper. We proposed a research model and tested the model empirically based on a sample of 144 enterprises from the Taiwanese Information Service Industry. The results show that open-mindedness and organizational commitment are positively related to job embeddedness. Job embeddedness also has strong relationship with knowledge work team effectiveness. However, the link between job autonomy and job embeddedness is not significant

The Impacts Of Network Governance On The Erformance Of Ito: A Study Of Taiwanese Firms

Information technology outsourcing (ITO) has been a topic of great interest, one that organization researchers have studied extensively. Previous studies have suggested that ITO research has expanded from one organization and bilateral partnerships to a network form of organization that links multiple organizations and spans inter-organizational boundaries. Yet, little research has been conducted on the link between network governance and ITO performance as a way to understand an organization’s ITO efforts. This study proposes a model that employs several constructs: inter-organization coordination, contractual governance and relational governance, and technological hegemony. The model explores the mediating roles of these governance mechanisms and the moderating role of technological hegemony as it influences the IT manager’s perception of the performance of ITO. Empirical testing of the model is based on a sample of 191 companies from Taiwanese industries. The results support the mediating effect of relational governance and the moderating effect of technological hegemony. The implications of these findings for ITO management are discussed

Actualizing the affordance of mobile technology for classroom orchestration: A main path analysis of mobile learning

Ubiquitous and increasingly accessible, mobile technology enhanced learning in the learning process, referred to as classroom orchestration, is inspiring an increasing number of studies that examines mobile learning from various perspectives. Nonetheless, educators find themselves confronted by the ever-evolving features of mobile technology and challenges in implementation context. This study, therefore, surveys the research literature on mobile learning using main path analysis, and cites affordance actualization by Strong (Strong et al. 2014) as a theoretical lens to identify the research themes from results found in main paths, to develop a “mobile learning actualization” framework. This particular framework integrates several research themes, ranging from system features, educator and learner, the goal of mobile technology adoption, contextual implementation, to the outcome of mobile learning. These insights have proven constructive for educators to adapt mobile technology to a learning environment, thus successfully achieving classroom orchestration

The Technology Structure and Appropriation of Server-Based Computing: A Case Study of a Taiwanese High Tech Firm

IT usage is key issue in MIS research. However, a variety of models such as Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) have neglected the role of technology structure in studying IT usage. Alternatively, IT appropriation considers how IT is called into use in terms of IT technology structures. However, the practices of IT appropriation have not yet been convincingly demonstrated. This paper explores the issues of IT appropriation. Specifically, we conduct our study in the context of Server-Based Computing (SBC), due to its unique technology structures, where the issues of appropriation process of SBC becomes relevant and important. In this paper, the Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) provides a conceptual framework that helps to capture the appropriation process. Drawing on a Taiwanese case study, three perspectives of SBC appropriation process are examined including the faithfulness of appropriation, the attitudes toward use, and the consensus on appropriation. The case findings suggest that incremental change, identity development and interaction are of critical importance in the SBC appropriation process. Our findings contribute to the literature on IT infrastructure deployment, innovation and cooperative behavior, and the social perspective of information management. The implications and future research directions are also discussed

IT-Enabled Management Control Systems Transformations: Lessons Learned from SaveCom

Information technology (IT)-enabled organizational transformations are emphasized in a great deal of research. However, IT-enabled management control systems (MCS) transformations to facility management for steering an organization toward its strategic objectives have become relevant and important, yet underexplored. To address this gap, the present study illustrates how a business intelligence (BI) system enables the transformations of organizational MCS. Through an in-depth case study of a Taiwanese telecommunications company, the IT features, and their direct effects and induced effects to MCS are analyzed in terms of an organization’s belief systems, boundary systems, diagnostic control systems, and interactive control systems. The implications for the organizational MCS design of these effects are discussed

Evolving IT Organizational Identity as a Source of IT-enabled Enterprise Agility in China

Prior research has proposed that IT may hinder the attainment of enterprise agility; how to prevent this hindrance and further achieve IT-enabled enterprise agility remains unknown. Because IT organizational identity can be an important guidepost for eliminating the hindrance, the purpose of this paper is to explore how to achieve IT-enabled enterprise agility through an evolving IT organizational identity. By drawing upon recent thinking in the enterprise agility and organizational identity literature, this paper proposes a process model of IT organizational identity evolution to argue that the process of recreating an IT identity leads an enterprise to attain IT-enabled agility. In the present study, the case of China’s Haier Group is comprehensively analyzed based on the process model. Our study not only contributes to the knowledge of organizational identity and broader concepts of enterprise agility, but also provides useful means for practitioners to establish appropriate IT organizational identities over time