THE role of the technology acceptance model in information systems research: a case study

Explaining the factors that lead to use and acceptance of information technology (IT), both at individual and organizational levels, has been the focus of information systems (IS) researchers since 1970s. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is known as such an explanatory model and has increasingly gained recognition due to its focus on theories of human behaviour. Although this model has faced with some criticism in terms of not being able to fully explain the social-technical acceptance of technology, it is still known as one of the best IS methodologies that contributes greatly to explaining it. This paper discusses, describes and explains TAM as one of the well-known information system research methodologies and attempts to demonstrate how this model can be applied in practice in IS research projects. TAM is widely used in different areas of IS studies such as e-commerce, e-business, multimedia and mobile commerce. This paper shows how TAM can be applied in an IS research project by referring to a case study conducted in the area of mobile banking in the UK. This paper aims to contribute to IS research by providing an informed criticism of TAM as well as a clear proposal on how to use it

Investigating information systems with mixed-methods research

Mixed-methods research, which comprises both quantitative and qualitative components, is widely perceived as a means to resolve the inherent limitations of traditional single method designs and is thus expected to yield richer and more holistic findings. Despite such distinctive benefits and continuous advocacy from Information Systems (IS) researchers, the use of mixed-methods approach in the IS field has not been high. This paper discusses some of the key reasons that led to this low application rate of mixed-methods design in the IS field, ranging from misunderstanding the term with multiple-methods research to practical difficulties for design and implementation. Two previous IS studies are used as examples to illustrate the discussion. The paper concludes by recommending that in order to apply mixed-methods design successfully, IS researchers need to plan and consider thoroughly how the quantitative and qualitative components (i.e. from data collection to data analysis to reporting of findings) can be genuinely integrated together and supplement one another, in relation to the predefined research questions and the specific research contexts

Green ICT: A Strategy for Sustainable Development of China's Electronic Information Industry

Under the national strategy of “let informatization drive industrialization, and let industrialization promote informatization”, China’s electronic information industry (also referred to as the ICT industry) has achieved continuous and dramatic development during the last three decades. It has now become one of the most essential pillar industries for China’s national economy. However, severe pollution issues and environmental challenges emerge at different stages throughout the lifecycle of ICT products (e.g. desktop PCs, laptops, monitors, and TVs), from their design, development, and manufacturing to use and to disposal. Evidence shows that much effort has been put to increase industrial profit margin, improve indigenous innovation, and overcome the negative effects of the 2008 financial crisis on China’s electronic information industry. Nevertheless, environmental issues have traditionally received less attention from industrial manufacturers and users of ICT products (e.g. CEOs, managers and employees of companies, and individual citizens). China is still in its infant stage in building up a green ICT industry. This paper discusses and highlights the importance and impacts of current environmental challenges faced by the electronic information industry. Subsequently, it proposes the implementation of Green ICT as a key strategy to ensure environment friendly use of ICT equipments, as well as to maintain sustainable development of China’s ICT industry in the long term

Information systems evaluation methodologies

Due to the prevalent use of Information Systems (IS) in modern organisations nowadays, evaluation research in this field is becoming more and more important. In light of this, a set of rigorous methodologies were developed and used by IS researchers and practitioners to evaluate the increasingly complex IS implementation used. Moreover, different types of IS and different focusing perspectives of the evaluation require the selection and use of different evaluation approaches and methodologies. This paper aims to identify, explore, investigate and discuss the various key methodologies that can be used in IS evaluation from different perspectives, namely in nature (e.g. summative vs. formative evaluation) and in strategy (e.g. goal-based, goal-free and criteria-based evaluation). The paper concludes that evaluation methodologies should be selected depending on the nature of the IS and the specific goals and objectives of the evaluation. Nonetheless, it is also proposed that formative criteria-based evaluation and summative criteria-based evaluation are currently among the most and more widely used in IS research. The authors suggest that the combines used of one or more of these approaches can be applied at different stages of the IS life cycle in order to generate more rigorous and reliable evaluation outcomes

Cloud ERP: a new dilemma to modern organisations?

For almost two decades, on-premise ERP has been adopted very prevalently in the industry. Accompanied with the emergence of cloud computing technologies in the late 2000s, there is an increasing trend for companies to migrate their hitherto internal ERP applications and databases into the cloud. Such ERP resources re-migration, which can offer a range of opportunities to user companies, is also associated with new challenges. The study reported in this paper aimed to explore potential benefits and barriers associated with the adoption of cloud ERPs. A set of in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 ERP and cloud consultants. The findings, derived from a thematic analysis, identified that whilst the economic and technical benefits promised by cloud vendors are attractive, the success of cloud ERP adoption can be affected by critical challenges related to diverse organisational factors as well as with current legal and technical complexity in the cloud environment

Interrelated Barriers and Risks Affecting ERP Post-Implementation in China

The research reported in this paper aimed to identify and explore potential barriers and risks that can affect successful exploitation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in Chinese companies. A barrier and risk ontology was established from a critical literature review process. In order to examine this theoretical model, the study employed a deductive research design based on a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. The survey received 84 responses from 42 Chinese firms. The findings identified that organizational barriers are often the main triggers of other ERP barriers and risks, including the system ones. The study thus concluded and suggested that Chinese companies need to pay substantial attention to the organizational barriers identified, since properly managing this type of obstacle may potentially help them to mitigate and remove other ERP challenges and risks and thus ensuring long-term success in ERP post-adoption

Why ERP post-implementation fails? Lessons learned from a failure case in China

When thousands of Chinese companies have implemented ERP systems as a means of optimising business processes and improving management efficiency, how to realise the full benefits promised by these systems and achieve continuous ERP success emerges to be the real challenge faced by practitioners. This paper reports on an empirical study that aimed to examine and explore factors that can affect ERP performance and even trigger ERP post-implementation failure in the Chinese context. The research took a Chinese manufacturing firm, which recently failed in ERP exploitation, as a case study. It adopted an inductive research design supported by in-depth interviews and participative observation as the main methods of data collection. The findings identified that ERP exploitation failure in the case company was not just caused by technical pitfalls of the system, but more importantly was also attributed to critical problems related to top management, IT professional and system users. By drawing on the findings of the case study, the researchers identified a list of key lessons and recommendations that are valuable for helping Chinese companies to play more successfully in ERP usage and exploitation

Exploring Cultural Impact on Long-Term Utilization of Enterprise Systems

Culture has been increasingly recognized as a key determinant of IS and ERP success. By drawing on theoretical antecedents in previous IS and culture studies, this paper examines and analyzes cultural impact on ERP utilization in China. The study involved 25 semi-structured interviews in two Chinese companies. The findings identified that China's cultural features of high power distance, low uncertainty avoidance and collectivism, can originate a set of crucial ERP barriers and problems, which are located in diverse management and organizational areas in Chinese companies. The study suggested that, in order to address these cultural obstacles and thus ensure long-term ERP success, Chinese enterprises need to substantially change their traditional business procedures, staff attitudes, and management behaviour. Given that many cultural factors are not unique to a country, the findings of this study should have applicability beyond China

A discussion of barriers to successful exploitation of ERP systems in China

The research presented in this paper aims at identifying, assessing and discussing potential social, cultural, organisational and system barriers to successful exploitation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOE). In spite of the urgent need for research in this area, there is a scarcity of studies focusing on ERP post-implementation, in contrast with an over abundance of studies focusing on implementation and project management aspects. The need for the research thus emerged from the growing awareness in the field that there is a lack of studies addressing the organisational exploitation of ERPs after the implementation stage. The study adopted a deductive research design based on a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. This survey was preceded by a Political, Economic, Social and Technological (PEST) analysis and a set of Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analyses that enabled the researchers to narrow the scope of the study and identify an appropriate industry sector and region, namely the Electronic and Telecommunication Manufacturing Sector in the Guangdong province. The questionnaire design was based on a theoretical ontology of barriers drawn from a systematic literature review process. The questionnaire was sent to the operational managers and the information technology (IT) managers of 118 SOEs in China, from which 42 valid and usable responses were received and analysed. The findings identified that ICT system-related barriers are currently perceived by respondents as more crucial to ERP post-implementation. In contrast, due to China’s rapid economic development, continuous reforms and fluid nature of organisational environments, cultural and organisational ERP barriers were assigned a lower priority by the SOEs studied. As a result of this analysis, this paper presents and discusses 25 ERP exploitation barriers, from which 9 barriers were considered critical. The study also explored and identified 15 correlations between the barriers identified

Risks in enterprise cloud computing: the perspective of IT experts

Cloud computing has become an increasingly prevalent topic in recent years. However, migrating hitherto internal IT data and applications to the cloud is associated with a wide range of risks and challenges. The study reported in this paper aims to explore potential risks that organisations may encounter during cloud computing adoption, as well as to assess and prioritise these risks, from the perspective of IT practitioners and consultants. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to a group of 295 highly experienced IT professionals involved in developing and implementing cloud based solutions, of which 39 (13.2%) responses were collected and analysed. The findings identified a set of 39 cloud computing risks, which concentrated around diverse operational, organisational, technical, and legal areas. The most critical top 10 risks perceived by IT experts were found to be caused by current legal and technical complexity and deficiencies associated with cloud computing, as well as by a lack of preparation and planning of user companies