A MODEL FOR EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF OPERATIONAL LEVEL INFORMATION HANDLING ACTIVITIES

This paper describes a modeling framework that will allow a manager to simulate and evaluate the performance of alternative designs of an operational level information handling process. Performance is measured in terms of the quality of the OutputS of the process, the total flow time through the process, and the human resource time required to produce an output. The two major design options represented in the model are capabilities of computerized information systems used, and characteristics of quality control mechanisms within the information handling process. Based on the field study, we elaborate on why the problem of designing information flows in an office is difficult and we describe some of the complexities that need to be considered in a performance evaluation model. This paper presents a summary of the methodology for representing an information handling process, and an example of how the methodology can be used to address a design problem at the field site

Extending the Technology Acceptance Model

We extend the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) using elements from a Task-Technology Fit Model (TTF). We test our integrated IT utilization model using path analysis. Our results provide a model with more explanatory power, which should lead to a better understanding of choices about using software

Editors’ Introduction to the Special Section on Patient-centered e-Health: Research Opportunities and Challenges

We initiated the CAIS Special Section on Patient-Centered e-Health (PCEH) to provide support for the PCEH discipline, which has recently emerged to meet the practical need of supporting patients in managing their health. Because there are significant challenges in designing, developing, and using PCEH applications, there are many opportunities for IS researchers to study familiar topics, but in the very different healthcare delivery context. As an emerging discipline, PCEH is struggling with reconciling ambiguous definitions across studies, defining the discipline boundaries (how they overlap and are distinct from related research areas), and developing the exemplary research studies that can guide future research. Thus, the goal of this Special Section, as far as possible, is to gather a set of research articles that will move the PCEH discipline forward by providing resources and examples to support future PCEH research that is theory-based, is focused, and can build a cumulative literature and research tradition. In this Introduction to the CAIS Special Section, we argue that IS researchers are especially well-equipped to undertake PCEH research and thereby overcome the many challenges unique to PCEH study. We discuss the challenges in the emerging PCEH discipline and present approaches that IS researchers might take to meet these challenges and produce the exemplary studies needed to further the discipline. Our arguments and observations are supported by the fourteen articles that make up the Special Section. These fourteen articles represent four areas of emerging PCEH research, namely PCEH and the Healthcare Delivery Context; Models of Acceptance, Use, and/or Outcomes; Patient-centered Design Research; and Assessment of PCEH websites

Examining Multiple Dimensions of Task Technology Fit

Investigating the fit of an information technology to a user’s task, known as task-technology fit (TTF), is a frequent focus of HCI/MIS research. In such research, “fit as moderation”, one of Venkatraman’s (1989) six conceptualizations of fit, is common. This conceptualization assumes two variables, e.g., task and technology, and an outcome variable. Task and technology, however, have multiple dimensions that should be considered when investigating fit. We examine three methods HCI/MIS researchers have used for augmenting the fit as moderation conceptualization for multiple dimensions. We propose and test a new method involving a single PLS model capturing the multiple dimensions of fit, which is more consistent with Venkatraman’s (1989) original conceptualization and statistical model for fit as moderation than those currently in the literature. Our method as compared against one method in the literature, using a separate model for each dimension, works at least as well

Integrating Enterprise Decision-Making Modules into Undergraduate Management and Industrial Engineering Curricula

This paper describes a framework we have developed for teaching enterprise decision-making using Enterprise Decision-Making Modules linked together through a common case scenario. Each module is situated in an organizational process, e.g., the supply chain and order fulfillment process, and involves students in hands-on decision-making using an Enterprise System (ES) to provide an integrated, process-oriented, data-rich environment typical of modern organizations. Our framework differs from other approaches to integrating ES into curricula because it is designed to teach students to work in an integrated process-oriented environment without changing to an integrated process-oriented curriculum and because it introduces decision-making modules across management and engineering curricula while minimizing the ES knowledge required of faculty and the classroom time devoted to ES skills. The paper also describes our Oracle-based technical infrastructure, the project plan and management, as well as our methods for assessing student learning. It reports results from our successful pilot study testing the feasibility of this approach with two decision-making modules in two classes, and also describes Phase 2 of the project, currently underway, which involves additional faculty and modules and tests student understanding of working in an integrated, data-rich environment

A Theory of Clinic-EHR Affordance Actualization

To build theory about how to achieve expected benefits from a system implementation, we conducted a longitudinal study of the implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) system at a multi-site clinic using grounded theory methods and a critical realist perspective. We developed a mid-level process theory of how clinics actualize affordances arising from the implementation of an EHR. In so doing we complement the work of Markus and Silver (2008) in their application of Gibson’s Affordance Theory to the understanding of IT effects on organizations. Specifically, we replace the DeSanctis and Poole (1994) concept of appropriation with a new concept, actualization, and show how the individual level journeys of users as they actualize affordances as perceived from their various personal perspectives result in the organizational level outcomes. In building this mid-level theory, we identify the central affordances pertaining to the clinic-EHR relation and in so doing, provide an example of how to define affordances and how to conduct empirical studies using an Affordance Theory lens. Our theory should prove useful to practitioners implementing such systems

Characterizing the Performance and Behaviors of Runners Using Twitter

Running is a popular physical activity that improves physical and mental wellbeing. Unfortunately, up-to- date information about runners’ performance and psychological wellbeing is limited. Many questions remain unanswered, such as how far and how fast runners typically run, their preferred running times and frequencies, how long new runners persist before dropping out, and what factors cause runners to quit. Without hard data, establishing patterns of runner behavior and mitigating the challenges they face are difficult. Collecting data manually from large numbers of runners for research studies is costly and time consuming. Emerging Social Networking Services (SNS) and fitness tracking devices make tracking and sharing personal physical activity information easier than before. By monitoring the tweets of a runner group on Twitter (SNS) over a 3-month period, we collected 929,825 messages (tweets), in which runners used Nike+ fitness trackers while running. We found that (1) fitness trackers were most popular in North America (2) one third of runners dropped out after one run (3) Over 95% of runners ran for at least 10 minutes per session (4) less than 2% of runners consistently ran for at least 150 minutes a week, which is the level of physical activity recommended by the CDC (5) 5K was the most popular distance

Healthcare IT Adoption under Different Government Models: Debating the HITECH Impacts

Governments around the world are investing in healthcare as they attempt to increase access to care and the quality of care, while simultaneously lowering the costs of providing care. Many of these investments are in healthcare IT (HIT). The IT software industry is preparing for intensive competition for their HIT packages and workers in response to government and private industry investments. Yet different national healthcare models have produced widely differing healthcare outcomes and HIT adoption rates, with the U.S. performing poorly on both. The objective of this panel is to provide insights based on HIT research conducted in multiple healthcare contexts under different national government models, and then to engage the panel audience in debating the prospects for success of three IT-enabled healthcare delivery reforms being government-funded in the U.S. over the next 5 years. Our larger goal is to provide a forum for information sharing that will motivate other IS researchers across the global IS research community to contribute to the design of solutions and the capturing of best practices that will address some of the key goals of IT-enabled healthcare reform: improved access and quality, and decreased costs

A Theory of Organization-EHR Affordance Actualization

While organizations implement information technology (IT) to effect change, current theories of IT-associated organizational change pay insufficient attention to the change goals, the role of IT in organizational change, and the multilevel nature of change processes. We take a fresh look at IT-associated organizational change using grounded theory methods. Our longitudinal study of an electronic health record (EHR) system implementation in a multi-site medical group found user behaviors that did not fit well with existing theories. Instead, we found that they fit better with the concept of affordances from ecological psychology. In developing our affordance-based theory of IT-associated organizational change from our field data, we discovered three gaps in the affordance literature; namely, the lack of theory for (1) the process of actualizing an affordance’s potential, (2) affordances in an organizational context, and (3) bundles of interrelated affordances. This paper extends the theory of affordances to handle these three gaps and, in doing so, develops a mid-range theory for EHR-associated organizational change in a healthcare organization. While the resulting theory is specific to EHR implementations, it offers a template for other mid-range affordance-actualization theories and a more general affordance-actualization lens. Our affordance-actualization lens considers the materiality of the IT artifact, the non-deterministic process by which IT leads to organizational effects, the multilevel nature of IT-associated change processes, and the intentionality of managers and users as agents of change, and thus addresses important criteria for theories of IT effects in organizations. The paper also provides practical guidance for implementing EHR systems and other organizational systems