A Model for Business-IT Alignment in Malaysian Public Universities

AbstractBusiness-IT alignment is defined as a stage where the mission, objective, and planning within business strategy is shared and supported by IT strategy. This definition is extended to cover the situation where business executive and IT executive comprehended and committed towards achieving the mission, objective, and plan for both business and IT. One important issue in business–IT alignment study is the absence of alignment. By identifying factors to achieve business-IT alignment, the problem on the absence of alignment could be addressed. Due to the complexity of business-IT alignment, there is possibility that successful alignment focuses on managing specific alignment dimension by investigating factors that encourage particular dimension. Past studies have shown the relationship between business-IT alignment and organisation performance. However, only few researchers tried to relate between the factors with organisational performance. Therefore, the aim of this research is to contribute to the formation of a theoretical model influencing alignment dimension that has impact on organisational performance. The model is important to provide empirical evidence that confirms the importance of categorizing factors into dimensions in achieving business-IT alignment and their influence on universities’ performance

Predictors of Millenials’ E-wallet Payment Behaviour in Post-Covid-19 in Malaysia

This study uncovered contributing factors that could determine millennials’ e-wallet payment behaviour in post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Malaysia. In this study, 256 millennial respondents from Labuan and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia were approached using an online questionnaire via Google Forms for effective data collection. This study used the ‘attitude, social influence and self-efficacy’ (ASE) model as a baseline theory to explain millennials’ e-wallet payment behaviour in post-Covid-19. The results revealed that attitude, social influence and self-efficacy were significant predictors of e-wallet behaviour. Besides, attitude also served as a significant mediating variable. The results obtained should be considered with caution. At least two limiting factors are acknowledged in terms of the limited geographical locations as well as confined variables used to explain the behaviour. Besides these constraints, future research might examine other theories to contrast the findings for improved contributions in e-wallet payment in Malaysia. The results obtained would be very pertinent for the development of an e-wallet policy in post-Covid-19 and new guidelines to boost adoption for payment purposes in Malaysia. This study presents a new perspective on the potential impacts of millennials' e-wallet behaviour in post-COVID-19 in Malaysia using the ASE model

Endoscopic Surveillance for Gastric Ulcers

Objective: Gastric ulcers (GUs) can be caused by a malignancy, and endoscopists are challenged with the question of how to rule out underlying malignancy. Although routine endoscopic surveillance is not advised, it is still overused. The purpose of this study was to explore the practice in our tertiary referral center during the last 3 years. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all inpatient and outpatient esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGDs) that were performed between November 2009 and November 2012 for GUs. Patients with GUs who normally would not undergo biopsy, such as patients who present with bleeding or had stigmata of high-risk bleeding, were excluded. Results: A total of 165 patients were diagnosed between November 2009 and November 2012 as having GUs on EGD. Fifty-two patients were excluded because they presented with bleeding or had GUs that had stigmata of high-risk bleeding. We reviewed the charts of 113 patients and endoscopic surveillance was recommended for 96 (85%). Of those 96 patients, 72 (64%) underwent repeat EGD. In those 72 patients, GU was still present in 9 patients and was completely healed or healing in 63 patients. Only 25 (22%) GUs were biopsied at initial EGD, 23 of which were benign and 2 were adenocarcinomas. No additional malignancy was found on surveillance EGD. Conclusions: EGD surveillance for GUs is a common practice, although the guidelines discourage such a practice. Our rate of endoscopic surveillance was significantly higher than reported previously (64% vs 25%). In our experience, such a high rate of surveillance did not reveal any additional gastric malignancy. Alternatively, the rate of biopsy of GUs at initial EGD is low (22%), which also reflects endoscopists' preference for endoscopic surveillance

Predicting aesthetic preferences: does the Big-Five matters?

User experience is imperative for the success of interactive products. User experience is notably affected by user preferences; the higher the preference, the better the user experience. The way users develop their preferences are closely related to personality traits. However, there is a void in understanding the association between personality traits and aesthetic dimensions that may potentially explain how users develop their preferences. This paper examines the relationship between the Big-Five personality traits (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) and the two dimensions of aesthetics (classical aesthetics, expressive aesthetics). Two hundred twenty participants completed the Big-Five questionnaire and rated their preference for each of the ten images of web pages on a 7- point Likert scale. Results show Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism were not significantly correlated with aesthetic dimensions. Only Agreeableness showed a significant correlation (although weakly) with both classical and expressive aesthetics. The finding conforms to literature that personality traits have influence on the preference of individual design features in lieu of aesthetic dimensions. In other words, personality traits are inapt predictor of aesthetic dimension. Therefore, more studies are needed to explore other factors that potentially help to predict aesthetic dimensions

The commercialisation of computing artefacts and technological entrepreneurship in university incubation program

There is a general agreement in terms of the execution processes to support inventions of prototypes and products which begins from prototyping to the actual market. However, the mechanism and process to translate the academics research from university to the industry are questionable since the success of commercialisation of computing research artefacts is disputed. This article attempts to investigate the commercialization mechanism and processes for these artefacts from universities. The investigation is carried out in selected university incubations as a case study research. Resource-based and capability perspective are adapted to investigate the selected cases in the university technology commercialization initiatives. The outcomes of this article are expected to offer a commercialisation model of computing artefacts among academics

Ontology-based recommender system for a learning sequence in programming languages

The same learning process in educational systems could be boring and time consuming for some learners. This problem arises from the lack of personalized learning sequence for learners with different knowledge level. Recommender systems play an important role in assisting the learners to find suitable learning materials and personalized learning sequence. Use of ontology for knowledge representation in knowledge-based recommender systems would facilitate sharing, reuse and common terminology. Since programming concepts have logical relationships among together so, traditional education systems are more stressful and very time-consuming. This paper aims to propose an ontology-based recommender system to present a Personalized Learning Sequence in Programming (PLSP) domain which is depended to learner's knowledge level. A recommender module and, the knowledge base module are integrated together in the proposed framework. The recommender module as the main module in the framework, has three stages which is working based on semantic rules and ontology representation. Evaluation of the system was carried out by comparing the non-recommender system (web-based search) using 32 ICT respondents. Results demonstrate that the participants who used the proposed system spent 1119 seconds to find the suitable learning path in comparison to those who used a non-recommender system (3480 seconds) in the same learning material. It means that learners who follow learning path with PLSP, are more suitable for them. Furthermore, the average mean value of usability test is 4.47, (5 maximum scale) which indicates that the system proved to be useful, was easy to use, and satisfied the users

Retail data warehousing notable development process determinants

For close to 25 years, the retailing industry has devoted a great deal of effort investigating the subject of how adequately to develop Retailing Data Warehousing Systems (RDWS) in their organisations. The advantages are attained when satisfactory capabilities are made within their organisations. Reviews of RDWS research have disclosed that there are enormous amounts of determinants available in the literature; however, the retailers accountable for those drives cannot suppose that the primary development forces of the system in developed nations are opulent in their regions. In response to these lapses, this study aims to assess the favourable and unfavourable effects impacting the development leadership in developing regions. Five stages of RDWS development timeframe were utilised to answer the proposed research questions, “How do these retailers go about developing the warehousing system in their company?” The sampling method employed in choosing the subjects was based on purposive sampling procedure, and the theoretical framework explained here meets the principles of functional ability submitted by previous researchers

Developing covid-19 web and mobile web situation reporting applications for the state health authority

If Malaysia ends up entering the subsequent COVID-19 outbreak, many hospitals will no longer support the victims conveniently. There will be numerous victims around, and these hospitals will not have enough human resources. Exceptional ICT-based communication backbone should also be in place to fully recommend these hospitals day-to-day operations. For this reason, COVID-19 situational reporting web and mobile web applications were developed to assist the health professionals in the State of Sabah in doing their job with a high level of assurance. Several real-time technologies were put together as the foundation in developing these applications. This work-in-progress paper presents the design and development techniques employed in rapidly developing the COVID-19 situational reporting web and mobile web applications for State Health Authority of Sabah

The process of validating public information systems framework

This paper presents the process of creating and validating public sector information systems (PSIS) development framework. Three development methodologies were put together to increase the validity of the proposed framework, i.e., 1) methodologies for data gathering, 2) procedures for framework development and 3) methodologies for validating the framework created. Exploratory investigations with UK local councils were organised, reflecting several approaches to PSIS development. Based on the findings, a PSIS development framework is presented

Dissecting user requirements in developing information systems for the government agencies in less-developed regions

Deciding on the need requirements of the users is one of the most challenging, and yet essential parts of the development of an information system (IS), particularly in the government agencies. Despite the rising significance of IS in the government agencies, only a limited effort has been made to identify the consequence of user needs, particularly less-developed regions. Most research efforts are found in developed or developing nations. This article presents the initial findings of an IS user needs of a leading government agency in the State of Sabah, Borneo