Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis dissertation examines the social history of medicine in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah, from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. It contends that race and class played disproportionate roles in the creation and evolution of Progressive Era health reforms. White middle-class residents embraced new scientific theories about physical health to bring about much needed programs in public sanitation and vaccination, hospital care, welfare services for the poor, and workplace safety legislation-all of which became necessary as Utah experienced increased immigration, industrialization, and urbanization at the turn of the century. Although these programs sometimes became embroiled in religious disputes between Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and non-Mormon "gentiles," after Utah statehood in 1896 and efforts by Mormons to Americanize, religious tension diminished to allow powerful whites to implement and unequally benefit from these programs. As a result, affluent Mormons and gentiles enjoyed increased opportunities to improve the cleanliness and health of their bodies, living and working spaces, and to claim membership in the upstanding white American middle-class. By virtue of their racial, ethnic, and socio-economic status, however, poor non-white immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and beyond suffered decreased opportunities to do the same. They experienced higher rates iv of contagious and infectious disease, accidents and injuries, poor living and working conditions, and accusations of their inability or unwillingness to assimilate into the healthy national mainstream. Yet they resisted inequality through a variety of means, including building hospitals, establishing mutual aid programs, practicing Western medicine, and embracing folk cures. Progressive middle-class whites observed, overlooked, or diminished the significance of these activities to grade and differentiate the laboring poor. White British miners seemed to be more committed to health and progress than did Greek, Italian, Chinese, and Mexican migrants, while Japanese residents appeared to be the cleanest, most American, and acceptable non-whites, until the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. After World War II, health inequality continued to drive many poor non-whites from Utah and allow middle-class whites to retain control over medicine, health, and power in the Salt Lake Valley

The CIO role expectations instrument: validation and model testing

The validation of IS instruments has not been given the attention that it deserves. This study uses component-based structural equation modelling (PLS/SEM) to investigate the psychometric properties and possible modelling of the CIO role expectations instrument based on data obtained from 174 Australian CIOs. Results show that the CIO role expectation instrument has exhibited solid validity and reliability indices despite some minor weaknesses. The results also demonstrate the possibility to model the constructs of this instrument in different null and hierarchical models, and the validity of this instrument to measure the CIO role in different types of industries not just the healthcare sector in which it was developed. The results provide support for CIO role theory on two central issues: (1) CIOs are fulfilling a configuration of roles not just one specific role (2) the CIO roles can be grouped into two major categories: supply side roles and demand side roles

Prudential regulatory risk governance of IT multi-sourcing strategies within the Australian banking sector

Banks employ different IT sourcing strategies to reduce IT costs. Australian banks are highly regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA). We selected the two largest Australian banks, Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to investigate the complexity of their IT multi-sourcing models and associated risks. We analysed public documents to reveal the IT sourcing trends from 2009 to 2013, and compared the alignment of the banks' risk frameworks with the APRA risk framework. Finally we reviewed APRA's risk management at the finance industry level and identified that neither risk management nor governance is performed and/or reported by APRA to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Therefore to ensure the cumulative effect of the banks' IT sourcing strategies are measured and reported at the industry level, it is recommended that APRA develops and implements an industry-level risk framework mirroring standard APS 115

An Empirical Assessment of the CIO Role Expectations Instrument Using PLS Path Modelling

The validation of information systems research instruments has not received the attention that it deserves. Based on data obtained from 174 Australian CIOs, we use component-based structural equation modelling (PLS/SEM) to investigate the psychometric properties and possible modeling of the highly regarded CIO role expectations instrument that Smaltz, Sambamurthy, and Agarwal (2006) have developed. Results show that the CIO role expectations instrument exhibits solid validity and reliability indices despite some minor weaknesses. The results also demonstrate the possibility to model the constructs of this instrument in different null and hierarchical models, and they provide further empirical support for the validity of this instrument to measure the CIO role in different countries and different types of industries beyond the U.S. healthcare sector in which Smaltz et al. developed it. The results provide support for CIO role theory on two central issues: CIOs are fulfilling a configuration of roles not just one specific role, and the CIO roles can be grouped into two major categories: supply (operational) side roles and demand (business) side roles

The CIO Role Expectations Instrument: Validation and Model Testing

The validation of IS instruments has not been given the attention that it deserves. This study uses component-based structural equation modelling (PLS/SEM) to investigate the psychometric properties and possible modelling of the CIO role expectations instrument based on data obtained from 174 Australian CIOs. Results show that the CIO role expectation instrument exhibit solid validity and reliability indices despite some minor weaknesses. The results also demonstrate the possibility to model the constructs of this instrument in different null and hierarchical models, and the validity of this instrument to measure the CIO role in different types of industries not just the healthcare sector in which it was developed. The results provide support for CIO role theory on two central issues: CIOs are fulfilling a configuration of roles not just one specific role; and the CIO roles can be grouped into two major categories: supply side roles and demand side roles

Do they read your research? An investigation of practitioners’ use of IT outsourcing and cloud sourcing research

Significant concerns have been raised in the Information Systems field about a research-practice gap and the limited impact of IS research on the practice world. We conducted interviews and a survey to shed light on the use of academic-generated knowledge by IT outsourcing (ITO) practitioners. We found academic research is the least used source of decision-making knowledge among ITO practitioners. Practitioners preferred to seek advice from their peers, IT vendors and consultants. The majority of practitioners were non-users of academic research. We found six factors that may influence the use of academic research by practitioners. Users of academic research perceived themselves as an audience for academic research and read research more frequently. Conversely, non users held perceptions about academic research that it was not timely, required too much time to read, was far from the real world and that it was not a commonly used knowledge source for practitioner