Normative Perception of the Role of IS within the Organization: An Empirical Test of Measuring Student Learning

As we enter the 21st century, the organizational role of IS continues to expand and evolve at a dizzying pace. An understanding of and appreciation for that role is becoming mandatory for all managers and executives, not just IS professionals. This paper first determines a generally agreed upon high-level conceptualization of the strategic role IS plays in organizations. It then proceeds to develop and empirically test an instrument and technique (Structural Equation Modeling, or SEM) designed to measure college students\u27 normative perception of that role. The contributions are twofold. First, the instrument can be used to help evaluate how well future business managers and executives truly understand and recognize the value of IS to the organization. This has long-term implications for organizational productivity. Second, the approach can be used as an indicator of educational quality by assessing the extent to which a concept has crystallized within students (deep learning), as opposed to short-term retention and recall (surface learning). This has implications beyond the study of IS roles

Measuring Student Learning: An Empirical Solution with Implications for IS Education and Beyond

As we enter the twenty-first century, the organizational role of IS continues to expand and evolve at a dizzying pace. An understanding of and appreciation for that role is becoming mandatory for all managers and executives, not just IS professionals. This paper first determines a generally agreed upon high-level conceptualization of the strategic role IS plays in organizations. It then proceeds to develop and empirically test an instrument designed to measure college students' normative perception of that role. The contributions are twofold. First, the instrument can be used as an indicator of educational quality by assessing the extent to which a concept has crystallized within students (deep learning), as opposed to short-term retention and recall (surface learning). This has immediately applicable implications for designing MIS curricula and learning materials and, more widely, in e-Learning in general, where feedback loops allow interaction to be adjusted and refocused in process based on progress toward established goals like, in this case, the recognition of underlying principles. Second, the instrument can be used to help evaluate how well future business managers and executives truly understand and recognize the value of IS to the organization. This has long-term implications for organizational productivity

Variations in Information Security Cultures across Professions: A Qualitative Study

The importance of culture in helping explain and understand behavior is generally accepted. Scholars in the area of information security have argued that security culture is a key factor in safeguarding information assets. Scholars in the area of professional culture have argued that differences in cultures across professions must be accounted for, in correctly assessing the influence of culture. Combining these arguments, we suggest that differences in security cultures across professions need to be examined to fully comprehend the influences of security culture. The current study uses a qualitative approach to further the understanding of information security cultures across four professions: Information Systems, Accounting, Human Resources, and Marketing. The concept of security culture is articulated, and the security cultures of the four professions are characterized to demonstrate that there are significant variations in security culture across these professions. The study also shows that information security continues to be viewed as a technical problem, that even the most conservative and rule-compliant groups may violate security rules under performance pressure, and that awareness by itself is not sufficient to build a strong security culture

A Conjoint Approach to Understanding IT Application Services Outsourcing

The sourcing of application development is becoming increasingly complex. While much prior work has investigated sourcing in a homogeneous marketplace, sourcing choices have increased in complexity, with a myriad of choices ranging from insourcing to domestic outsourcing to engaging Application Service Providers (ASP) to offshoring . In this study, based upon four organizational theories (Transaction Cost, Resource-Based View, Resource-Dependence View, and the Knowledge-Based View of the Firm), we suggest 10 attributes that firms consider when deciding upon outsourcing of applications. We tested the attributes’ strength by performing conjoint analysis on data collected from 84 IS executives. We constructed profiles, which are combinations of attributes having different levels. Each executive responded to 18 such distinct profiles and selected corresponding outsourcing choices. Our results found that the three most significant drivers of an IT application service choice were cost, risk, and vendor capability. However, the importance of these drivers varied across the different sourcing options. Based upon this, we offer implications for decision-makers and researchers, along with directions for future research

The Information Technology Workforce: A Comparision Of Critical Skills Of Clients And Service Providers

In this article the authors explore similarities and differences in skill needs of IT service providers and the firms that providers service (clients). The results show that providers and clients are more similar than different with regard to desired skills. Client firms emphasize technical skills for new hires more than providers do despite saying that these are the skills they would outsource to providers. The results have implications for organizations’ recruiting and retention, for individuals’ career development, and for educational programs

IT Workforce Trends: Implications For IS Programs

Findings in an IT workforce study support the emphasis of business content espoused by IS curriculum guidelines. Business domain and project management skills are critical to keep in house while technical skills were cited as the top skills sourced. Paradoxically, technical skills are those cited for entry-level positions. We discuss the issues raised by these findings and recommend several approaches for IS programs to consider. IS programs must offer a functionally integrated curriculum and deliver it in an experiential business context. We provide several examples of innovative pedagogical approaches and industry alliances which demonstrate mechanisms to provide students with a stronger business orientation in applying IT. We recommend a more proactive approach to enrollment including better promotion of IS programs

The paradigm is dead, the paradigm is dead...long live the paradigm: the legacy of Burrell and Morgan

Most of the research in the field of Information Systems appears to be guided by one set of philosophical assumptions -- those of positivism. Such paradigm unity could prove problematic as it might stymie alternative conceptions of problems in the IS field. This paper inquires into whether the field does indeed embrace a solitary paradigm and if so, what its implications are. In so doing, the paper provides an overview of positivism, its paradigmatic grounding, why it became popular, and the obstacles to change. The paper looks at the possibility of paradigm pluralism particularly as it relates to pragmatism. The relationship between pragmatism and the call for more relevance in IS research is also explored. In its examination of these topics, the paper notes the rather surprising importance Burrell and Morgan's notion of paradigms has played in the conception of the field's philosophical discussions.Paradigms Pragmatism Paradigm wars Positivism Anti-positivism Epistemology

Dark Screen: An Exercise in Cyber Security

The digital age has transformed how organizations function. The production and delivery of essential goods and services is now highly dependent on the global information infrastructure: the complex and interconnected telecommunications networks and information systems owned and operated by a multitude of discrete organizations. Yet, this amorphous entity is beyond the control of individual organizations. This paper presents Dark Screen, a scenario-based exercise for identifying and assessing resources and capabilities useful in protecting the information infrastructure. One community¡¯s experience with Dark Screen offered three main observation: (1) there was a low level of awareness regarding information infrastructure interdependencies and vulnerabilities among the exercise participants, (2) the participating organizations had no process or mechanism for coordinating interorganizational responses to a cyber security incident, and (3) the communications channels for disseminating information before and during a cyber security incident were ill defined. In today¡¯s environment, organizations need to broaden their view of cyber security. The self-protection model, where each organization only deploys a perimeter defense around its own boundaries, is no longer adequate. The three recommendations for management from the Dark Screen exercise are: (1) view cyber security as a business issue, not a technology issue, (2) broaden your cyber security mindset to include the information infrastructure your organization depends on but does not control, and (3) join collaboration efforts to coordinate cyber security regionally, if not nationally