Addressing Enrollment Declines Through International Partnerhips

The enrollment declines in information systems (IS) related fields over the past several years has led to research that has examined the causes of it and a variety of possible approaches to reverse this trend. With the recent economic downturn resulting in cuts in education budgets, the need to increase enrollments in IS has become critical for many departments in this field. The objective of this research is to discuss how international partnerships can be utilized as an additional means to improve enrollments, which is an approach that has not been addressed before in the literature. The author illustrates the opportunities possible with international partnerships through a case involving an IS department located in the Southeastern United States and multiple universities in Asia. This research then highlights strategies to establish a successful international partnership followed by some concluding remarks

Implementing a SOA Using Scrum: Achieving Improved Productivity using Service Trees

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is spreading widely today in a variety of development environments. Many organizations pursing a SOA, however, are unaware of the impact that this approach has on their development methodology and implementation strategies, which may be inappropriate and inefficient. Some issues caused by an inappropriately managed SOA implementation include dependency conflicts, inefficient time utilization, and ineffective utilization of resources resulting in a backlog of tasks. The individuality of services creates a gap that makes service implementation a relevant topic to pursue which can be addressed through the granular development of these services. Consequently, this research-in-progress examines SOA-based services development by focusing on service generation and proposing the concept of service trees whose branches serve as nodes of SOA-based services. Further, implementing the tree’s branches utilizing the scrum development methodology produces an approach where multiple services can be developed in parallel, offering a means to improve the productivity of a SOA implementation

LEAPing forward: A Case Study Employing High Impact Practices in Undergraduate Education

In support of a major curriculum association initiative adopted by a large Midwestern business college, faculty adopted a hands-on community service-based project in an undergraduate business project management course. The project was developed in order to incorporate the specific High-Impact Educational Practice (HIP) of service or community-based learning, as defined by the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative. This research describes (1) how the project management faculty revised the course to incorporate service and community-based learning, (2) related student activities, (3) preliminary results, and (4) next steps

The Impact of Culture on Global Information Security Regulations

The balance between individual privacy and information and security assurance (ISA) regulations is a fluid debate that has many different facets. The objective of this early research is to examine the impact that culture has on ISA regulations. In particular, we examine how internationally accepted ISA policies are adopted in disparate cultures. Multiple interviews were conducted in Thailand with individuals with requisite knowledge on how Internet security was applied in their country. A discussion of these findings is presented, categorized by national culture dimensions and illustrated with examples, followed by some concluding remarks

Panel: Service-Learning in Information Systems Education

This panel discussion will explore service-learning in Information Systems (IS) education. Service-learning or community-based learning is a High Impact Practice promoted through the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative. Service-learning or community-based learning, as defined by LEAP, is a teaching approach that combines community service with formal classroom instruction, enabling students to apply course topics in a real-world environment and to reflect on their experiences within the classroom. Topics that will be addressed include reasons for introducing service learning experiences into the IS curriculum, challenges with implementing service-learning projects in IS courses, and critical success factors. Faculty belonging to institutions that have or are in the process of adopting the LEAP initiative as well as individuals that have an interest in incorporating real-world projects in the classroom are encouraged to attend

Open Source Backlash: Software Usage in a Mandatory Context

When management mandates the use of a particular technology, that decision may be met with resistance. Potential resistance may be mitigated by both understanding the process of change (e.g., Cotter, 1996; Lewin, 1951) as well as better managing changes through tactics such as enlisting support from top management, gaining greater stakeholder involvement, and establishing stern consequences for non-compliance. Despite these efforts, wholehearted acceptance of a mandated technology by management may never be realized. The objective of this research-in-progress is to examine whether mandates evolve over time and posit the factors that influence mandates as a way to identify additional means to address potential resistance. Evidence of possible influences is identified through interview results from Thailand and plans for future research are discussed

Expanding Mindshift Learning

This research-in-progress builds upon the mindshift learning theory by pursing a further understanding of why individuals have difficulties transitioning to new technologies. The theory is expanded by incorporating the circumstance when multiple shifts in mindset are needed as a result of the introduction of a new technology – a necessary contribution since information technology innovations are often accompanied by complementary organizational innovations. This is achieved by bridging the mindshift learning theory with the innovation literature and proposing a technology mindshift matrix consisting of two variables; degree of newness and degree of change. By incorporating the degree of change, the extent that a new technology impacts services and/or development processes, we expand the learning component of the theory. Research hypotheses are identified and a methodology is proposed to evaluate them. There are several implications that this research has for both practitioners and researchers. A pilot study will commence in the spring of 2008

Does XBRL adoption reduce information asymmetry?

This paper examines whether or not XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) adoption reduces information asymmetry in a stock market context. Student t-tests and multiple regression analysis were employed to examine the effect of XBRL adoption on information asymmetry in the capital market. A significant and negative association exists between XBRL adoption and information asymmetry, which implies that the adoption of XBRL may lead to the reduction of the information asymmetry in the Korean stock market. In addition, the effect of XBRL adoption on reducing information asymmetry is stronger for large-sized companies than for medium-sized and small-sized companies. Based on these findings, the demand for XBRL-enabled applications and services in the capital market is expected to grow while governments should promote XBRL adoption for business reporting.XBRL Information asymmetry Corporate disclosure Firm size Korean stock market

Journal of Information Technology Management A Publication of the Association of Management SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE ADOPTION: KEY FACTORS AND APPROACHES

ABSTRACT Organizations across many industries have moved or in the process of moving towards a service-oriented IT architecture. This article explores the challenges and impacts that organizations are facing in the process of adopting a serviceoriented architecture with Web services. While some adoption issues are relevant for any organization, others depend on the industry and type of organization. The results of multiple case studies suggest that differences in the business environment need to be considered in the decision of when and how to move to a service-oriented architecture with Web services