An evaluation criterion for open source software projects: enhancement process effectiveness

Enhancement process is a key process in which open source software (OSS) project responds to user needs in terms of suggesting and implementing software features, thus the dimension of enhancement effectiveness corresponds nicely to adopters' concern about open source software. This study aims to construct a valid, reliable measurement model for the enhancement process effectiveness in an open source environment. We examine the validity and reliability of an initial list of indicators through two rounds of data collection and analysis from 240 and 750 OSS projects respectively, and come up with a measurement model for the effectiveness of enhancement process comprising four indicators. The implication of this measurement model for practitioners is explained through a numerical example followed by implications for research community.Griffith Sciences, School of Information and Communication TechnologyFull Tex

Dynamic capabilities and project characteristics contributing to the success of open source software projects

Nowadays, numerous organisations from different industries and sectors have adopted Open Source Software (OSS) applications, because OSS development has come to be known as a reliable alternative to proprietary software that has the ability to produce cheap software of high quality. However, despite the increasing adoption of OSS applications, most OSS projects are abandoned after a while and experience failure. The objective of this research, therefore, is to extract the factors that drive success in OSS projects by developing and testing a research model that examines the influences of project characteristics and capabilities on the success of OSS projects. To test the relationships hypothesised, I collected data from 1409 OSS projects in a longitudinal fashion (over a period of 16 months). Results derived from my analysis show the following: (1) the number of operating systems with which an OSS project is compatible, the number of spoken languages into which a project is translated, using the OSS community’s preferred programming languages and project age positively impact OSS project success; (2) OSS projects’ capabilities of defect-removal, functionality-enhancement and release management are positively associated with their success; (3) the three measures of OSS project success – namely, user interest, developer interest and development sustainability – are interrelated; (4) overall, project characteristics and project capabilities have more or less equal predictive value to explain user interest, whereas project capabilities have relatively stronger predictive value to explain developer interest than project characteristics; and (5) although few of the relationships proposed are found to change over time, the longitudinal part of this research explores a temporal persistence in the relationship between OSS project success and its determinants in this study (that is, project characteristics and capabilities). In addition to having significant implications for research and theory, this study has several implications for managers of OSS projects, corporations that are interested in adopting OSS products, potential OSS sponsors, the OSS developer community and OSS hosting portals

Three Decades of Research on Strategic Information System Plan Development

Strategic information system planning (SISP), including aligning business and IS/IT strategies, has been the conventional wisdom known for decades to academics and practitioners. Since the 1980s, many tools and models have been developed to facilitate strategic information system planning and implementation. These are development processes that define a set of steps for SISP or approaches that facilitate part of the SISP process. This article employs a systematic review approach and starts with a search of 2730 papers in nine top-ranked scientific databases. After an in-depth study of these papers, a final set of 85 studies is retrieved that focus directly on SISP development. We use this final set of papers to compare the steps proposed in different processes and the relevant approaches for each step. Additionally, an in-depth analysis of development processes has produced a generic seven-phase framework covering activities introduced in the literature. These seven phases are: initiation, business analysis, IS/IT analysis, strategy formulation, portfolio planning, implementation, and evaluation. The paper also classifies approaches that facilitate SISP and concludes with recommendations for practitioners and researchers

A Systematic Literature Review on Strategic Information Systems Planning: Insights from the Past Decade

Strategic information system planning (SISP) has been an important concern for top business and information systems (IS) managers. This paper employs a systematic literature review approach for 12 top ranking IS journals in the past 10 years in order to classify them based on their focus levels, research topics, and research methods. Our search resulted in 45 papers which are categorized into four focus groups, three context groups and six topic groups. The results indicate that most of the research focus to date has been on the alignment and development of plans. Researchers have paid more attention to the context as the focus of research, the firm as research context and the quantitative approach as research method. The results may be beneficial to show new researchers the current status and research gaps and for practitioners who want to ascertain valuable topics in the literature that help them with their business problems. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol5/iss2/4

An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for ERP System Selection: Case of a Petrochemical Company

As a comprehensive software solution, ERP seeks to integrate all departments and functions of a company into a single computer system that can satisfy all departments’ information needs. Nowadays, many companies have invested in the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. But, a large number of them have wasted millions of dollars as a consequence of failed ERP implementation and adoption. Some of the failures come back to the selection of inappropriate ERP systems. This paper seeks to propose a method for selecting appropriate ERP systems, to enable firms’ decision-makers to achieve an overall consensus by using a multicriteria decision making model

Analysis of Research in Healthcare Data Analytics

The main aim of this paper is to provide a deep analysis on the research field of healthcare data analytics., as well as highlighting some of guidelines and gaps in previous studies. This study has focused on searching relevant papers about healthcare analytics by searching in seven popular databases such as google scholar and springer using specific keywords, in order to understand the healthcare topic and conduct our literature review. The paper has listed some data analytics tools and techniques that have been used to improve healthcare performance in many areas such as: medical operations, reports, decision making, and prediction and prevention system. Moreover, the systematic review has showed an interesting demographic of fields of publication, research approaches, as well as outlined some of the possible reasons and issues associated with healthcare data analytics, based on geographical distribution theme

Utilising Capability Approach for Adoption of Assistive Technologies among Seniors: Conceptual Model

In this paper we argue that the existing adoption theories lack a sufficient level of attention to the context of the everyday lives of seniors and as such have been incapable of successful explaining adoption concepts specifically related to seniors. The study highlights the concept of empowerment and relates it to assistive technologies that may assist in training and improving the functional abilities of the elderly with respect to their capabilities to undertake daily activities e.g. driving. The paper looks at empowering capabilities and utilises the capability approach to explain the constructs involved in the adoption technologies among seniors. In order to clarify the proposed constructs and the utilisation of the capability approach, the article presents an exemplar in adopting Xbox Kinect video games that combine physical, visual and cognitive abilities and can be used to help seniors to improve their driving. The paper is research in progress and invites experts to collect in-depth empirical evidence for the proposed model

Analysis of Research in Adoption of Assistive Technologies for Aged Care

The main objective of this study is to provide detailed analysis on the research conducted in the area of adoption for assistive technologies in aged care. The article analyses the studies and concludes with avenues, guidelines and gaps for research in this area. This study has conducted a systematic search on eight popular academic databases and identified relevant papers published. The paper identifies potential technologies that have been utilised to address seniors’ daily life difficulties in three areas: independent living, social isolation, dementia and medication taking. The article presents the theoretical lenses used for studying the adoption of these technologies in aged care. In addition to that, the systematic review has come up with interesting demographics on research approaches, and fields of publication for the research in this area. The paper outlines that the Australian research in adoption of assistive technologies for aged care has been over focused on healthcare domain and has largely ignored information system outlets. The possible reasons and potential directions for this issue have been discussed

Exploring the Impacts of Implementing Block Mode of Teaching in Higher Education

The tertiary sector is one of the most competitive industries that makes significant contributions to countries’ economies. Due to rapid changes in society, universities are urged to make suitable changes to attract students. One of the innovations some universities have adopted is changing their teaching mode to facilitate the learning process and attract students who find it more suitable for their learning style. The block model of teaching (BMT), a relatively new teaching mode in the higher education industry, has demonstrated great potential for increasing students’ performance. This study employs a case study method and collects data from five institutes that have implemented BMT, namely: Salford University, Colorado College, Heriot-Watt University, Victoria University, and Quest University. The thematic analysis of the collected data has led to the proposal of a taxonomy comprising 14 positive impacts and seven negative impacts of implementing BMT, grouped into eight categories. Implications of the findings for studies and practitioners are also provided herein

A Systematic Review on Search Engine Advertising

The innovation of Search Engine Advertising (SEA) was first introduced in 1998. It soon became a very popular tool among practitioners for promoting their websites on the Web and turned into a billion dollar revenue source for search engines. In parallel with its rapid growth in use, SEA attracted the attention of academic researchers resulting in a large number of publications on the topic of SEA. However, no comprehensive review of this accumulated body of knowledge is currently available. This shortcoming has motivated us to conduct a systematic review of SEA literature. Herewith, we searched for and collected 101 papers on the topic of SEA, published in 72 journals from different disciplines and analyzed them to answer the research questions for this study. We have identified the historical development of SEA literature, predominant journals in the publication of SEA research, active reference disciplines as well as the main researchers in the field of SEA. Moreover, we have classified SEA literature into four categories and 10 research topics. We also uncovered a number of gaps in SEA literature and provided future research direction accordingly. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol7/iss3/2