Knowledge is a broad and abstract notion that has defined epistemological debate in western philosophy since the classical Greek era. In the past few years, however, there has been a growing interest in treating knowledge as a significant organizational resource. Consistent with the interest in organizational knowledge and knowledge management (KM), IS researchers have begun promoting a class of information systems, referred to as knowledge management systems (KMS). The objective of KMS is to support creation, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations. Knowledge and knowledge management are complex and multi-faceted concepts. Thus, effective development and implementation of KMS requires a foundation in several rich literatures.

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Review: Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and research issues

According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

Purpose: This paper discusses partial least squares path modeling (PLS), a powerful structural equation modeling technique for research on international marketing. While a significant body of research provides guidance for the use of covariance-based structural equation modeling (CBSEM) in international marketing, there are no subject-specific guidelines for the use of PLS so far.Methodology/approach: A literature review of the use of PLS in international marketing reveals the increasing application of this methodology.Findings: This paper reveals the strengths and weaknesses of PLS in the context of research on international marketing, and provides guidance for multi-group analysis.Originality/value of paper: The paper assists researchers in making well-grounded decisions regarding the application of PLS in certain research situations and provides specific implications for an appropriate application of the methodology.

The Use of Partial Least Squares Path Modeling in International Marketing

We will review some of the major results in random graphs and some of the more challenging open problems. We will cover algorithmic and structural questions. We will touch on newer models, including those related to the WWW.

Random graphs

The ability to detect and accurately estimate the strength of interaction effects are critical issues that are fundamental to social science research in general and IS research in particular. Within the IS discipline, a significant percentage of research has been devoted to examining the conditions and contexts under which relationships may vary, often under the general umbrella of contingency theory (cf. McKeen et al. 1994, Weill and Olson 1989). In our survey of such studies, the majority failed to either detect or provide an estimate of the effect size. In cases where effect sizes are estimated, the numbers are generally small. These results have led some researchers to question both the usefulness of contingency theory and the need to detect interaction effects (e.g., Weill and Olson 1989). This paper addresses this issue by providing a new latent variable modeling approach that can give more accurate estimates of interaction effects by accounting for the measurement error that attenuates the estimated relationships. The capacity of this approach at recovering true effects in comparison to summated regression is demonstrated in a Monte Carlo study that creates a simulated data set in which the underlying true effects are known. Analysis of a second, empirical data set is included to demonstrate the technique's use within IS theory. In this second analysis, substantial direct and interaction effects of enjoyment on electronic-mail adoption are shown to exist.

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A Partial Least Squares Latent Variable Modeling Approach for Measuring Interaction Effects: Results from a Monte Carlo Simulation Study and an Electronic-Mail Emotion/Adoption Study

The open source model of software development has become an attractive alternative to the traditional proprietary approach. However, the incomplete understanding of the phenomenon has continued to prompt researchers to investigate factors that could increase the use and popularity of open source software (OSS). While a key antecedent for OSS use highlighted in the previous literature is the software quality, we propose that effective online user support is also necessary to increase its popularity. As an understudied area, this paper seeks to understand the role of online user support networks in facilitating OSS use. Based on the network embeddedness theory, it suggests that properties of the user support network i.e., variation in structural and junctional embeddedness, measured as the in-degree and betweenness centralizations respectively, would affect OSS popularity in terms of the number of active users and downloads of the software. Testing on a sample of 176 OSS projects from Sourceforge.net, we showed that a negative quadratic relationship exists between the variation in structural embeddedness of the OSS user support network and the software popularity. Further, as hypothesized, the variation in junctional embeddedness was found to positively impact the OSS popularity. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed. We investigate why certain OSS are popular by employing a user support perspective.For this purpose, we built on the network embeddedness theory.There is variation in structural and junctional embeddedness of user support forum.Moderate variation in structural embeddedness allows for effective user support.High variation in junctional embeddedness allows for effective user support.

Uncovering the relationship between OSS user support networks and OSS popularity

Exploring the effects of some display and task factors on GSS user groups

When do sellers bifurcate from Electronic Multisided Platforms? The effects of customer demand, competitive intensity, and service differentiation

The global downturn in demand for IT skills has not left Singapore unscathed. While the demand for information systems graduates has not been as adversely affected as that for traditional computer science ones, there appears to be a drop in the entry quality of students seeking to do information systems degrees. While there appears to be some turnaround on the horizon, to better prepare for the future it is timely to examine the current state of IS as a discipline in Singapore and understand what might be the driving forces that shape it. Using Whitley’s theory of scientific change as a theoretical framework [1984a, 1984b], this case study seeks to explore the degree of professionalization and the maturity of IS as a discipline in Singapore through analysis of data gathered from in-depth interviews and secondary data sources. It is found that of the four constructs proposed by Whitley for determining if a discipline is a mature, distinct scientific one, the IS discipline in Singapore clearly satisfies three: the discipline has a high level of professionalization, strong scientific reputation, and well-established research competence and skills. While the IS researchers agree that the discipline has a common vocabulary with which to communicate with one another, they also agree that it is not unknown to the researchers outside the discipline and thus, in this aspect, the discipline only satisfies part of the fourth construct in Whitley’s theory.

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The Information Systems Academic Discipline in Singapore

Massive Open Online Courses allow numerous people from around the world to have access to knowledge that they otherwise have not. However, high student-to-instructor ratio in MOOCs restricts instructors’ ability to facilitate student learning by intervening in discussions forums, as they do in face-to-face classrooms. Instructors need automated guidance on when and how to intervene in discussion forums. Using a typology of pedagogical interventions derived from prior research, we annotate a large corpus of discussion forum contents to enable supervised machine learning to automatically identify interventions that promote student learning. Such machine learning models may allow building of dashboards to automatically prompt instructors on when and how to intervene in discussion forums. In the longer term, it may be possible to automate these interventions relieving instructors of this effort. Such automated approaches are essential for allowing good pedagogical practices to scale in the context of MOOC discussion forums.

Bernard C. Y. Tan

Papers

Uncovering the relationship between OSS user support networks and OSS popularity

Exploring the effects of some display and task factors on GSS user groups

When do sellers bifurcate from Electronic Multisided Platforms? The effects of customer demand, competitive intensity, and service differentiation

The Information Systems Academic Discipline in Singapore

Towards Feasible Instructor Intervention in MOOC Discussion Forums