The Digital Persona and Trust Bank: A Privacy Management Framework

Recently, the government of India embarked on an ambitious project of designing and deploying the Integrated National Agricultural Resources Information System (INARIS) data warehouse for the agricultural sector. The system’s purpose is to support macro level planning. This paper presents some of the challenges faced in designing the data warehouse, specifically dimensional and deployment challenges of the warehouse. We also present some early user evaluations of the warehouse. Governmental data warehouse implementations are rare, especially at the national level. Furthermore, the motivations are significantly different from private sectors. Designing the INARIS agricultural data warehouse posed unique and significant challenges because, traditionally, the collection and dissemination of information are localized

Supply chain disruption propagation: a systemic risk and normal accident theory perspective

When a disruption occurs in a firm, its effects are often felt throughout the supply chain. As supply chains expand globally and companies pursue velocity and efficiency, the probability of disruptions propagating throughout a chain grows. In this paper, we employ a qualitative, grounded theory case study approach to help understand what drives supply chain disruption propagation and to provide theoretical insights into this emerging area. For a more complete perspective, we study three interconnected tiers in seven unique supply chains. Each supply chain triad consists of (1) a focal firm (a manufacturer), (2) a supplier to the focal firm and (3) a customer of the focal firm allowing us to gain perspective from three levels in multiple supply chains. Three aggregate dimensions are defined which help explain the propagation of supply chain disruptions: the nature of the disruption, structure and dependence, and managerial decision-making. Within these dimensions, six themes are identified giving an increased level of granularity into disruption propagation: correlation of risk, compounding effects, cyclical linkages, counterparty risk, herding and misaligned incentives. Organisations should consider these themes and their interactions to effectively deal with supply chain disruptions

The economic impact of public beta testing: the power of word-of-mouth

The advent of the Internet has brought many fundamental changes to the way business is conducted. Among others, a growing number of software firms are relying on public beta testing to improve the quality of their products before release. While the benefits resulting from improved software reliability have been widely recognized, the influences of public beta testers on the diffusion of a new software product have not been documented. Through their word-of-mouth effect, public beta testers can speed up the diffusion of a software product after release, and hence increase the time-discounted revenue per adopter. In this research, we take into consideration both the reliability-side and the diffusion-side of the benefits, and develop methodologies to help firms decide the optimal number of public beta testers and the optimal duration of public beta testing. Numerical results show the firm’s profit can increase substantially by taking advantage of the world-of-mouth of public beta testers. This benefit is more significant if firms recruit beta testers from those who can benefit from a software product but cannot afford it

Privacy Concerns regarding Wearable IoT Devices: How it is Influenced by GDPR?

Internet of Things (IoT) devices have implications for health and fitness. Fitness wearables can promote healthy behavior and improve an individual’s overall health and quality of life. Even though fitness wearables have various benefits, privacy concerns regarding the data collected remain as a major barrier to adoption of fitness wearables. Intrinsic factors like disposition to value privacy and extrinsic factors like privacy policies and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can influence users’ privacy concerns. This research uses experimental design to understand how these factors influence privacy concerns. The results suggest that GDPR reduces the average privacy concerns of users. The study also shows that higher perception of effectiveness of privacy policy reduces the perception of privacy risks and increases the perception of privacy control. This study illustrates the effect of users’ perceptions on factors like privacy policy, privacy control and GDPR on mitigating privacy concerns

A Brief History of the Midwest Association for Information Systems: 2005-2020

The Midwest Association for Information Systems (MWAIS), founded in 2005, was recognized as an outstanding chapter of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) for all five years of the award (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018). MWAIS continues to grow and serve academics in the Midwest and the surrounding region through annual conferences, meetings and receptions at national and international conferences, and through its journal, Journal of the Midwest Association for Information Systems (JMWAIS). This article briefly describes the impetus and actors instrumental in the creation of the association and the current state of MWAIS, its conferences, and the journal

An evidence-based management framework for business analytics

It is said that knowledge is power, yet often, decision makers ignore information that ought to be considered. The phenomenon known as Semmelweis reflex occurs when new knowledge is rejected because it contradicts established norms. The goal of evidence-based management (EBMgt) is to help overcome Semmelweis reflex by integrating evaluated external evidence with stakeholder preference, practitioner experiences, and context. This evaluated external evidence is the product of scientific research. In this paper, we demonstrate an EBMgt business analytics model that uses computer simulation to provide scientific evidence to help decision makers evaluate equipment replacement problems, specifically the parallel machine replacement problem. The business analytics application is demonstrated in the form of a fleet management problem for a state transportation agency. The resulting analysis uses real-world data allowing decision makers to unfreeze their current system, move to a new state, and re-freeze a new system

Influencing organizational commitment through office redesign

Prior research on the effects of office redesign on work-related outcomes has been largely atheoretical and yielded mixed and conflicting findings. Expanding on individual reactions to office design changes as specified by social interference theory, we propose that office redesign affects organizational commitment and this relationship is mediated by employee perceptions of the broader work environment. This conceptual model is tested using 121 financial services employees who experience office redesign and 136 who do not. Results indicate that perceptions of innovation and collaboration mediate the effects of office redesign over and above negative personal reactions such that affective organizational commitment is enhanced among those experiencing reconfigured offices. Findings provide support for an expanded rendition of social interference theory that provides for favorable (as well as unfavorable) employee reactions to office redesign. Such a theoretical explanation is asserted to increase understanding of how the physical environment influences employee attitudes

Creating Offshore-ready IT Professionals: A global perspective and strong collaborative skills are needed

Outsourcing of IT functions has become a widespread corporate practice, which has naturally led to concerns among IT works about how this affects their jobs. The issue is complex, and many companies are bringing their IT functions back inhouse. In light of this complexity, what skills do IT workers need to be com-petitive? We address this question first by reviewing the literature and then by examining two corporate case studies that have dealt with outsourcing issues. Based on this view of outsourcing, we discuss the skills that can provide a com-petitive advantage in the current environment

Software Implementation using Hardware-Based Verification for Secure Content Delivery

This paper presents a novel method for secure message transmission – the Software Implementation using Hardware-Based Verification for Secure Content Delivery (SIHBVSCD) method. This method incorporates a two-tier security protocol which allows messages to be verified at both the user level (coming from a particular user) and hardware level (originating from a particular machine) providing protection from espionage and/or clandestine manipulation of information. SIHBVSCD securely sets up a one-time symmetric key used for transmission, offering advantages over both the high theft/loss likelihood of smartcards and the inability of hardware-based verification for machines that do not contain hardware capable of remote attestation

Supply Chain Network Robustness Against Disruptions: Topological Analysis, Measurement, and Optimization

This paper focuses on understanding the robustness of a supply network in the face of a disruption. We propose a decision support system for analyzing the robustness of supply chain networks against disruptions using topological analysis, performance measurement relevant to a supply chain context and an optimization for increasing supply network performance. The topology of a supply chain network has considerable implications for its robustness in the presence of disruptions. The system allows decision makers to evaluate topologies of their supply chain networks in a variety of disruption scenarios, thereby proactively managing the supply chain network to understand vulnerabilities of the network before a disruption occurs. Our system calculates performance measurements for a supply chain network in the face of disruptions and provides both topological metrics (through network analysis) and operational metrics (through an optimization model). Through an example application, we evaluate the impact of random and targeted disruptions on the robustness of a supply chain network