The Digital Divide: Current and Future Research Directions

The digital divide refers to the separation between those who have access to digital information and communications technology (ICT) and those who do not. Many believe that universal access to ICT would bring about a global community of interaction, commerce, and learning resulting in higher standards of living and improved social welfare. However, the digital divide threatens this outcome, leading many public policy makers to debate the best way to bridge the divide. Much of the research on the digital divide focuses on first order effects regarding who has access to the technology, but some work addresses the second order effects of inequality in the ability to use the technology among those who do have access. In this paper, we examine both first and second order effects of the digital divide at three levels of analysis ? the individual level, the organizational level, and the global level. At each level, we survey the existing research noting the theoretical perspective taken in the work, the research methodology employed, and the key results that were obtained. We then suggest a series of research questions at each level of analysis to guide researchers seeking to further examine the digital divide and how it impacts citizens, managers, and economies

Planning and Sprinting: Use of a Hybrid Project Management Methodology within a CIS Capstone Course

An increasing number of information systems projects in industry are managed using hybrid project management methodologies, but this shift in project management methods is not fully represented in our CIS curriculums. CIS capstone courses often include an applied project that is managed with traditional project management methods (plan first, execute second). While agile methods (adapt to change through iterations) are making inroads, little research has been conducted on using a hybrid of these two project management methods in a capstone course. In this paper, we explain the hybrid project management methods we used in four sections of an undergraduate CIS Capstone course during the Fall and Spring of the 2011-2012 academic year. We also present the results of an end-of-term student satisfaction and critical success factor survey. We find that overall satisfaction with the hybrid approach is high among our sample. We also find that more client involvement and a pragmatic approach to initial project planning are areas for future improvement. The results of our experience and survey provide lessons learned and best practices for those who wish to provide students with applied experience that combines waterfall (traditional) and Scrum (agile) project management techniques in their own courses

Digital Transformation Through Internet of Things Services

Internet of Things (IoT) have been disrupting industries through shifting novel services, and business models. Organizations should also redesign their business service models to navigate this disruption. A holistic understanding of digital transformation through IoT requires the cooperation of multiple disciplines ranging from engineering to economics. This paper utilizes a conceptual model to develop an analytical framework to investigate a number of pricing strategies enabled by different business models. Our findings demonstrate that the Internet of Things phenomenon has the potential to disrupt the way we do business by connecting markets and enabling new business models

Consumer Adoption of Net-Enabled Infomediaries: Theoretical Explanations and an Empirical Test

The emergence of infomediaries ?which allow online consumers to search for, and provide comparisons among, many online retailers ?is a prominent trend in e-commerce. However, little research has been done on consumer reactions to this new e-commerce tool. To explain why and how online shoppers adopt a new infomediary website, this study proposes a conceptual model with insights obtained from literatures on the technology acceptance model (TAM), the economics of intermediation, and transaction cost analysis (TCA). Infomediaries provide powerful search capabilities to online shoppers to provide them with a list of potential retailers (efficiency benefits), and then provide information to aid in selecting from this list of retailers (effectiveness benefits). Accordingly, the proposed model posits that infomediaries offer two major types of utilitarian benefits to online customers: namely, perceived efficiency and perceived effectiveness. In addition, the model predicts that one\u27s willingness to adopt an infomediary is a function of his/her evaluation of the two types of utilitarian benefits of using the infomediary, which are in turn determined by the subjective interpretation of his/her e-commerce transaction environment. The model was tested using data collected from an online questionnaire administered to 367 online shoppers. Online shoppers?intention to use the infomediary was found to be a function of the two types of utilitarian benefits and perceived ease of use. In addition, our findings suggest that online shoppers who are low on asset specificity (e.g., consumers who have not made a high transaction-specific investment toward a specific online retailer) and who also are high on uncertainty (e.g., consumers who believe that online retailers in general are opportunistic) tend to appreciate the benefits of using an infomediary more than other online shoppers