Measuring the business value of IT: simplify with caution

Firms should not use single performance or IT metrics, excluding the context, write Rajiv Sabherwal and Anand Jeyara

A PROCESS MODEL FOR THE CONTROL OF INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

A process model to portray the dynamics of Information Systems Development (ISD) is presented. The model, while primarily rooted in earlier process models, also incorporates two key contextual factors -- the perceived threat to users and the relative power of the users and the systems group -- from past factor studies. The model is then used to generate four scenarios across the ISD process. These are co-operative, user-dominated, MIS-dominate£4 and con/lict. The scenarios are illustrated with summaries from recent case studies in ISD. This indicates the effectiveness of the model. The paper concludes with suggestions for using the model to identify the relevant scenario and thereby improve the management of the ISD process

The Societal Impacts of Generative Artificial Intelligence: A Balanced Perspective

The discourse surrounding the societal impacts of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), exemplified by technologies like ChatGPT, often oscillates between extremes: utopian visions of unprecedented productivity and dystopian fears of humanity’s demise. This polarized perspective neglects the nuanced, pragmatic manifestation of GAI. In general, extreme views oversimplify the technology itself or its potential to address societal issues. The authors suggest a more balanced analysis, acknowledging that GAI’s impacts will unfold dynamically over time as diverse implementations interact with human stakeholders and contextual factors. While Big Tech firms dominate GAI’s supply, its demand is expected to evolve through experimentation and use cases. The authors argue that GAI’s societal impact depends on identifiable contingencies, emphasizing three broad factors: the balance between automation and augmentation, the congruence of physical and digital realities, and the retention of human bounded rationality. These contingencies represent trade-offs arising from GAI instantiations, shaped by technological advancements, stakeholder dynamics, and contextual factors, including societal responses and regulations. Predicting long-term societal effects remains challenging due to unforeseeable discontinuities in the technology’s trajectory. The authors anticipate a continuous interplay between GAI initiatives, technological advances, learning experiences, and societal responses, with outcomes depending on the above contingencies

The Bass Model of Diffusion: Recommendations for Use in Information Systems Research and Practice

The Bass Model (TBM), first introduced in 1969, has been used in several fields – including sociology, economics, marketing, and communication studies – to understand diffusion of products and innovations, but has received limited attention in information systems (IS) research and practice. TBM views diffusion as occurring through a combination of innovation (p) and imitation (q). Innovation and imitation describe the extents to which influences external to the population and influences internal to the population respectively affect diffusion. To encourage and enable greater use of TBM in IS research and practice, we describe an application process for using TBM and illustrate potential applications of TBM

Information Technology Impacts on Firm Performance: An Extension of Kohli and Devaraj (2003)

Despite the importance of investing in information technology, research on business value of information technology (BVIT) shows contradictory results, raising questions about the reasons for divergence. Kohli and Devaraj (2003) provided valuable insights into this issue based on a meta-analysis of 66 BVIT studies. This paper extends Kohli and Devaraj by examining the influences on BVIT through a meta-analysis of 303 studies published between 1990 and 2013. We found that BVIT increases when the study does not consider IT investment, does not use profitability measure of value, and employs primary data sources, fewer IT-related antecedents, and larger sample size. Considerations of IT alignment, IT adoption and use, and interorganizational IT strengthen the relationship between IT investment on BVIT, whereas the focus on environmental theories dampens the same relationship. However, the use of productivity measures of value, the number of dependent variables, the economic region, the consideration of IT assets and IT infrastructure or capability, and the consideration of IT sophistication do not affect BVIT. Finally, BVIT increases over time with IT progress. Implications for future research and practice are discussed

Beyond Enjoyment: A Cognitive-Emotional Perspective of Gamification

The success of gamified systems depends on their ability to engage players by eliciting both positive and negative emotions, but little guidance exists on creating emotional experiences through gamified design. This paper reviews work in psychology and neuroscience to highlight the interactive processes of cognition and emotion, and describes their relevance to gamification. Drawing on a model of the cognitive structure of emotions, and the mechanics-dynamics-emotions (MDE) framework for gamification, this paper advances a cognitive-emotional perspective of gamification and provides general propositions and directions for future research

Mobile Cloud-Computing Applications: A Privacy Cost-Benefit Model

The increasing use of mobile devices has been accompanied by the development of mobile cloud-computing applications (MCC apps) that are multi-platform applications sending the users’ data to the cloud. Despite the benefits of MCC apps, they raise privacy concerns because the users’ information is sent to remote locations where users lack direct control. This paper studies how individuals weigh the privacy costs and benefits of disclosing personal information to MCC apps and proposes a model. Analyses of data collected through an online survey with 439 responses provides insights into the predictors of disclosing personal information to MCC apps. The results show that the main inhibitor of disclosing personal information to MCC apps is perceived privacy concerns and the main enablers are perceived usefulness and trust. Moreover, perceived ease of use does not directly affect the disclosing of information to MCC apps. The paper’s theoretical and practical implications are discussed

The Impact of Facilitating Conditions on Anxiety, Attitude, Self-Efficacy, And Performance: Insights from an Empirical Study of iPad Adoption

Educational institutions across the world are increasingly adopting tablet personal computing devices in the classroom. However, prior literature has not established a consistent relationship between facilitating conditions, user-related constructs and technology utilization, and these aspects have received limited attention in the specific context of tablet devices in educational settings. Hence, this study examines how facilitating conditions influence computer anxiety, attitudes towards technology, computer self-efficacy and perceived ease of use, and the consequent impact on performance expectations. Using data collected from a school in Israel, this study concludes that facilitating conditions are significant determinants of computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, perceived ease of use and attitudes towards technology. As expected, performance expectancy is also influenced by technology attitude and partially by computer self-efficacy. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed