Showing papers presented at "Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems in 2004"

Toward An Understanding of the Behavioral Intention to Use Mobile Banking Services

Abstract: Although millions of dollars have been spend on building mobile banking systems, report on mobile banking systems has shown that potential users may not use the systems in spite of their availability. There is a need for research to identify the factors that determine users’ acceptance of mobile banking. According to the technology acceptance model (TAM), perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness constructs are believed to be fundamental in determining the acceptance and use of various IT. These beliefs, however, may not fully explain the user’s behavior toward the newly emerging mobile banking. Using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a theoretical framework, this study introduces “perceived credibility” as a new factor that reflects the user’s security and privacy concern in the acceptance of mobile banking, and examines the effect of computer self-efficacy on intention to use mobile banking. Data collected from 267 users in Taiwan were tested against the extended TAM using the structural equation modeling approach. The results strongly support the extended TAM in predicting users’ intention to adopt mobile banking systems, and demonstrate the significant effect of computer self-efficacy on behavioral intention through perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived credibility.

Critical Factors of ERP Adoption for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Empirical Study.

Abstract: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises SMEs play a vital and pervasive role in the current development of Taiwan's economy. Recently, the application of Enterprise Resource Planning ERP systems have enabled large enterprises to have direct contact with their clients via e-commerce technology, which has led to even fiercer competition among the SMEs. This study develops and tests a theoretical model including critical factors which influence ERP adoption in Taiwan's SMEs. Specifically, four dimensions, including CEO characteristics, innovative technology characteristics, organizational characteristics, and environmental characteristics, are empirically examined. The results of a mail survey indicate that the CEO's attitude towards information technology IT adoption, the CEO's IT knowledge, the employees' IT skills, business size, competitive pressure, cost, complexity, and compatibility are all important determinants in ERP adoption for SMEs. The authors' results are compared with research on IT adoption in SMEs based in Singapore and the United States, while implications of the results are also discussed.

Why do Shadow Systems Exist after an ERP Implementation? Lessons from a Case Study

Abstract: One of the main promises of an ERP implementation is the ‘full integration of a business’. Reports of shadow systems in post ERP implementations suggest that this is not always the case. Using an exploratory single case study method with grounded theory coding techniques this study investigates why shadow systems exist after an ERP implementation. This paper provides a theoretical framework which reveals that the causal factors found in the categories of technology, organization, business procedures and people all contribute to the phenomenon of shadow systems in an ERP context.

Integrating Multi-agent Negotiation to Resolve Constraints in Fulfilling Supply Chain Orders.

Abstract: As the order fulfillment process (OFP) in supply chains shifts to outsourcing paradigm, the OFP performance relies on the coordination among supply chain partners to reach executable and effective plans. The coordination of OFP among supply chain partners can be viewed as a distributed constraint satisfaction problem (DCSP). This study adds the multi-agent negotiation mechanism to enhance the existing methods to solve the DCSP, and then evaluates the integrated system’s performance through experimentation on the OFP in the context of the metal industry. The experimental results show that the integrated system outperforms the existing distributed constraint satisfaction algorithms in various demand patterns.

IT-supported business process outsourcing (BPO): The good, the bad and the ugly

Abstract: Outsourcing decisions are not, technically, irreversible. But in practical terms the organizational disruption and financial costs of bringing services back in house (“backsourcing”) mean that few organizations revert, even when quite dissatisfied with an arrangement. Instead, organizations typically seek to move to another outsourcing arrangement, that is sometimes less attractive than the original in-house delivery. Preliminary evidence from studies of business process outsourcing (BPO) experiences, like those into IT outsourcing’s success, suggests that only a minority of organizations report their BPO arrangements as satisfactory, implying that many are caught in this “can’t go back” bind. In this paper the authors examine two organizations contemplating the adoption of BPO, and consider their expectations and experiences in light of existing empirical literature. The paper concludes with a set of principles to assist organizations to avoid BPO failure.

Instant Messaging Acceptance and Use Among College Students

Abstract: The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model is used to study acceptance and usage of instant messaging among college students. This study validates the UTAUT model in a new environment which is not work related. The results show that functional capability (the presence of various functions in the application) has a direct effect on behavior intention as well as on performance and effort expectancies. The results also show that performance expectancy does not have the hypothesized effect on behavioral intention. This may be attributed to the non-work environment. As replacement, attitude becomes a significant factor on behavioral intention. Peer influence is also found to be an important factor. The model explains more than 60% of the variance in behavioral intention. With the identification of new important variables and relationships for instant messaging, companies of such products can adjust their focus accordingly.

A success model for Business Process Modeling: Findings from a Multiple Case study

Abstract: Business process modeling has gained widespread acceptance and is employed as a design and management technique for a wide variety of purposes While there has been much research on process modeling techniques and corresponding tools, there has been little empirical research into the important factors of effective process modeling, and the post-hoc evaluation of process modeling success This study is the first that attempts to identify process modeling success factors and measures This paper reports on the consolidated research findings of three case studies conducted in leading Australian organizations It reports on an empirically derived Process Modeling Success model with success factors and success measures of business process modeling

A Framework for Classifying the Operational Risks of Outsourcing - Integrating Risks from Systems, Processes, People and External Events within the Banking Industry

Abstract: Operational risk and outsourcing are two major topics on today's agenda of top executives, especially in the banking industry. This paper introduces a framework to classify operational risk in outsourcing in a way that generates quantifiable output for measurement purposes. The authors developed a matrix system that deploys a catalogue of sources of risk and a mutually exclusive yet exhaustive system of measurable impact areas. It is shown that this framework adds to the understanding of operational risk as its application enhances transparency through the transformation of often vague risk descriptions to quantifiable risk indicators. An overview of the current IS literature on risks in outsourcing combined with a critical assessments of deficiencies for transparent risk classification serves as a input for the classification process.

Reassessing critical success factors for ERP adoption - a case study

Abstract: This paper reports a reevaluation of existing research on critical success factors in the adoption of ERP systems in organizations. The paper reports an in-depth case study of an ERP adoption and implementation process reporting specifically on the CSFs which had an impact. These factors are compared to those identified in the existing literature and show that whilst the key factors like the role of project champions are confirmed, there was less evidence of a range of factors influencing decisions involved with the adoption of the ERP.

Overview of Information Systems Research in China: An Empirical Study

Abstract: The study aims to develop an overview of information systems (IS) research in China in recent years and to identify the similarities and the differences between North American and Chinese IS research from four perspectives: reference discipline, research topics, research methods, and unit/level of analysis. A total of 604 research papers published in 18 leading Chinese academic journals from 1999 to 2003 were identified and reviewed. A categorization approach developed in previous studies was adopted to classify the IS research. The results show: 1) IS itself represented the major reference discipline used as the theoretical basis for the studies, and IS research in China does not demonstrate reliance on a single theory; 2) IS researchers in China have been clearly focused on organizational and system/software issues; 3) Non-Empirical Study was dominant in the field of IS research in China; 4) the majority of studies were conducted at the organization and system level. Group/team and individual level issues were not studied extensively.

Enterprise Systems Benefits: How Should They Be Assessed

Abstract: This paper proposes key points for the timing and scope of enterprise systems benefit assessment. Enterprise systems (ES) such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems support a wide range of enterprise processes influencing organizational management in various areas. Due to the complexity of the system design the learning curve is long, and with constant changes in technology and business needs the functionality and use of these systems are changing continuously throughout their lifetime. Assessing the benefits of enterprise-wide information systems, therefore, requires a longitudinal view on multi-dimensional aspects. The available methods of IS assessment can assist a good understanding of enterprise-wide system benefits of certain parts or for certain periods of time, but cannot address them in holistic and longitudinal terms. This study distinguishes ES from traditional information systems and forms propositions about ES benefit assessment. Through longitudinal case studies of four medium-sized Australian utility companies, this study suggests that the benefits from ES are likely to be realized at different rates for different core processes in each of the five dimensions, i.e. operational, managerial, strategic, IT infrastructure and organizational. It is hoped that the benefit differences between dimensions, different time periods and core processes will clarify conflicting perceptions of ES success, with the finding that the time point of the assessment and the range of ES benefit assessments can strongly affect the evaluation results.

Factors Influencing Tax-Payer Information Usage Behavior: Test of An Integrated Model.

Abstract: This study explores the key factors of the electronic tax filing system (EFS) from the behavioral perspectives of the end users. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study examines the antecedents of information technology usage and proposes an integrated model for the empirical examination of the users’ behavioral intentions for using EFS. The results show that perceived behavior control most significantly affects the end users’ intentions for the EFS usage. In addition, users’ overall satisfactions, specifically those explained by ease of use of the EFS also influence their intention to adopt the EFS. Discussions and policy recommendations for promoting the EFS are provided according to the empirical results.

Physicians' Behavior Intentions Regarding the Use of Mobile Technology: An Exploratory Study

Abstract: This study aims to explore physicians’ willingness to accept new technology in the form of a mobile medical information system. The study focuses on the effects of temporal and spatial working behavior. A research model built up on previous research into the adoption of an information system, mainly TAM and UTAUT, is proposed and empirically tested, using data collected from 134 physicians working in the health-care sector in Finland. The results suggest that our proposed model could explain about 61% of the variance in physicians’ intentions to use the mobile system. Spatial working behavior has the potential to moderate the relationships between physicians’ beliefs and their intention to use mobile technology, in this case the mobile medical information system. Temporal working behavior as an important external variable does affect physicians’ beliefs of the mobile system, exerting a negative impact on their perceived usefulness of the system. It is too soon to examine the effects of temporal and spatial working behavior on individual adoption of technology; further validation of our findings is necessary in other contexts.

Aligning Adoption Theory with Agile System Development Methodologies

Abstract: []: Studies show that many software developers are reluctant, for a variety of reasons, to employ system development methodologies (SDMs) in the course of building their applications. The proponents of Agile methodologies suggest that many of the factors that have inhibited the use of SDMs to date have largely been addressed in the underlying principles of Agile methods. Using adoption theory as a basis to inform, this papers contextualises the results of a preliminary study into the adoption process of an early adopter of Extreme Programming (XP). The case study undertaken provides further insights into the factors that have thus far inhibited the use of SDMs and describes the potential for the more widespread adoption and diffusion of Agile methodologies, as a relatively new systems development approach.

An Empirical Study on the Integrated Performance Model for the Effect of Information Technology Investment.

Abstract: The business value of IT has been the focus of the academic and practical field in recent years, along with the massive IT investment. Unfortunately, those studies have not been able to demonstrate the strong alignment between the IT investment and performance. The impact of IT investment on performance is an important research topic that needs to consider the role of key contextual factors and intermediate factors. This study develops an integrated model for IT investment, with the mediating effect of production/coordination performance towards firm performance. In addition, the model is moderated by some factors like ISP (information Systems Planning), business planning alignment, top management support, IT education and training, and process innovation. The empirical result, based on the moderating regression analysis, indicates that the relationship between IT investment and production/coordination performance is significantly related depending on moderating factors. However, production/coordination performance is partially related to firm performance.

A Fuzzy Description Logic Approach to Model Management in R&D Project Selection

Abstract: Project selection is an important task in R&D project management. Several mathematical and decision models have been proposed for R&D project selection and current efforts have been on the effective model management approaches. In order to provide a formal and semantically rich method for model representation and to support content-rich formal reasoning, this paper proposes a fuzzy description logic approach to model management in R&D project selection. In the proposed approach, ontology engineering is applied to design the architecture of model management system, and fuzzy description logic is proposed to represent the modeling knowledge. Thus it can represent the imprecise and vague information, which is common in R&D project selection. A decision support system has also been developed based on the proposed approach. It is used to facilitate the selection of project proposals in the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The application results show that the proposed method supports effective model management for R&D project selection.

City Planning Approach for Enterprise Information System

Abstract: Recently, a framework to consider the overall architecture of enterprise information systems (EIS) such as the Enterprise Architecture (EA) has gained increasing popularity in Japan. In this paper, we propose a city planning approach for an EIS comprised of EIS architecture and an EIS Scenario. Our proposed approach leverages the methodology of city planning in civil engineering to provide a framework for portraying an EIS. First, we illustrate an EIS architecture that refers to the architectural description provided by IEEE. Architecture can be described as viewpoints based on stakeholders’ concerns. We focus on three specific viewpoints: “structure,” “part and whole,” and “ins and outs.” To achieve an aggregation of each project and stakeholder concern included in an EIS, we discuss an EIS Scenario that includes a migration plan in terms of a mechanism of program management. Second, we discuss the validity of our framework and discuss its applicability. Our framework is intended to offer management and CIOs a useful methodology for designing EIS architectures from a top level view of the enterprise that takes into consideration several stakeholder viewpoints. Our framework is intended to provide a metaphor for visualizing otherwise unseen EIS architectures.

Using Stakeholder Theory to Analyze Knowledge Sharing During Enterprise Systems Implementations

Abstract: Enterprise Systems (ES) are comprehensive yet complex systems to implement, involving numerous stakeholders, each with specific domain knowledge, which are crucial to the success of the ES project. It would therefore be prudent for greater attention to be given to the study of knowledge sharing during ES implementations. This is a conceptual paper, which begins with an overview of why stakeholders and their domain knowledge are important to ES projects. Next, it highlights four key categories of stakeholders involved in ES implementations, and their dynamic nature during the project. It then applies the concepts of stakeholder theory to analyze stakeholder knowledge sharing during ES implementations in three areas. Firstly, it looks at stakeholder identification of the relevant stakeholders and their domain knowledge. Secondly, it considers stakeholder prioritization of the more important stakeholders and domain knowledge in each phase of the project. Thirdly, it looks at stakeholder management of inter-stakeholder knowledge sharing. Finally, this study presents seven propositions that can serve as potential areas for future research.

Factors Affecting the Realisation of Benefits from CRM Packaged Software-based Work Systems

Abstract: The paper explores the factors that may be important for organisations wanting to realise the benefits from their investment in CRM packaged software. Its major contribution is the development and preliminary validation of a model of factors that are important for the realisation of benefits from CRM packaged software-based work systems. Using a combination of literature review and content analysis of ten case studies, the study identifies 24 factors that appear to be important for an organisation currently or about to implement CRM packaged software. The most important factors identified are: the strategy adopted by an organisation to implement their packaged software; the overall data strategy and supporting data infrastructure; integration between other systems and data repositories; and clearly defined and communicated, roles and responsibilities.

Comparative Analysis of Data Mining Algorithms for Predicting Inpatient Length of Stay.

Abstract: It is well documented that efficient measurement of inpatient length of stay (LOS) can greatly enhance the planning and management of hospital resources. This paper describes the use of a data mining approach to predict the LOS using historical data. The data are first pre-processed using attribute-aggregation, attribute-generalization and relevance analysis procedures to reduce the numbers of attributes and compress the training data set. Two classifiers, Naive Bayesian and decision tree, are used for predicting LOS. Further a new concept, named “prediction profit”, is introduced to compare the performance of these classifiers. We demonstrate that this new measure of performance can better discriminate between alternative classifiers when compared to existing ones such as the overall accuracy. The empirical tests show that the proposed data mining approach for predicting LOS is a viable one.

Balancing Business Value of Thai Internet Banking Services: The Corporate Customers' Perspectives

Abstract: An understanding of corporate customer acceptance of Internet banking can assist banks to assess the real business value of Internet banking implementation. The four benefit factors are information quality, information accessibility, information sharing, and transaction benefit. The three major barriers are related to trust, legal support, and organization barriers. Information quality and transaction benefit factors are far more important than other in discriminating Internet banking users from non-users. In addition, information sharing and distrust of the web are two drawbacks of Thai Internet banking adoption. As Thai banks decide to use Internet technology as a new self-service delivery channel, they have to enhance acceptance from corporate customers. This does not seem to be merely a matter of getting corporate customers to recognize benefits, but banks probably need to lower barriers to Internet banking adoption to provide actual benefits to corporate customers.

Applying Technology Acceptance Model, Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Cognitive Theory to Mobile Data Communications Service Acceptance

Abstract: This study examines patterns of mobile data communications service adoption with respect to a commonly used service, short message service, at the individual users level. Based on Davis’ technology acceptance model, Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior, and Bandura’s social cognitive theory, a comprehensive model is established to test the influence of selfefficacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social pressure, and perceived enjoyment on mobile data communications service acceptance. The model also examines the moderating effect of perceived enjoyment on the influence of perceived usefulness on intention to use the service. An empirical study is conducted to test this model using data collected from 172 mobile data services users. The results support most of the hypothesized relationships in the model. Especially, users’ telecommunication selfefficacy has a strongly positive effect on perceived ease of use, which then has significantly positive effect both on perceived usefulness and on intention to use. Perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness both have positive effect on the intention to use. However, the moderating effect of perceived enjoyment in the model is not confirmed. Implications of these findings for practice and research are discussed.

A Survey of ERP System Implementation in Taiwan

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a recently completed survey of Taiwanese firms that focuses on their implementation and use of packaged ERP systems. Objectives of the survey includes: to investigate the extent to which packaged ERP systems were applied in manufacturing and service firms, the implementation experience, and the major benefits obtained from the implementation. Findings of the survey indicate that the firms implemented with all planned modules tend to have more successful implementation, and use of ERP systems from evolution of the legacy systems, in-house redevelopment and outsourcings are critical to organizational performance and survival. Furthermore, our research results findings suggest that both researchers and companies should adopt broader definitions and multiple performance measures indexes of success and pay particular attention to the early identification and correction of problems.

Effective Project Control: Insights from the Australian Construction Industry

Abstract: Information systems development (ISD) projects continue to struggle with high rates of failure and escalation, despite years of research and practice. To provide an alternative exploration of this concern, this paper examines the development of another industry, which has similarities to ISD, and has transformed itself from a poor performer in an uncertain environment to a strong performer in a certain environment. Insight from another industry could be valuable for revealing a new direction for research. In this paper, the study is a 45year historical case of the market leader in the Australian construction industry from 1951 to 1996. The starting point for investigation is project management control mechanisms. Currently, one of the guiding principles of ISD project management is that to improve performance, firms should adopt a standard toolkit of control mechanisms, which is assumed to be appropriate for all situations. This paper finds that, in contrast to this standard set, the use of controls is context contingent. Organizations in high uncertainty environments should adopt input controls, while those in low uncertainty environments should adopt behavior and output controls. The implications for ISD are substantial.

Extending the UML Concepts to Transform Natural Language Queries with Fuzzy Semantics into SQL.

Abstract: Database applications tend toward getting more versatile and broader to comply with the expansion of various organizations However, naive users usually suffer from accessing data arbitrarily by using formal query languages Therefore, we believe that accessing databases using natural language constructs will become a popular interface in the future The concept of object-oriented modeling makes the real world to be well represented or expressed in some kinds of logical form Since the class diagram in UML is used to model the static relationships of databases, in this paper, we intend to study how to extend the UML class diagram representations to capture natural language queries with fuzzy semantics By referring to the conceptual schema throughout the class diagram representation, we propose a methodology to map natural language constructs into the corresponding class diagram and employ Structured Object Model (SOM) methodology to transform the natural language queries into SQL statements for query executions Moreover, our approach can handle queries containing vague terms specified in fuzzy modifiers, like ‘good’ or ‘bad’ By our approach, users obtain not only the query answers but also the corresponding degree of vagueness, which can be regarded as the same way we are thinking

Security in Modern Business: Security Assessment Model for Information Security Practices

Abstract: From my previous field research, I found that most of the organizations have very poor security practices. Some organizations may be aware of the consequences of information security breaches, but would rather take the risk. Some are not knowledgeable enough and partly because they have very limited resources to allocate in areas that return no benefits. Some of them may think that their business partners will help to protect their information. As a result, this is a kind of “I don’t care about what you care about” practice. In other words, natures of these loopholes have been investigated and explored. The next thing is to find solutions to fill this security gap. Building on the findings of previous research, this paper identifies the prescriptions that will reduce business information vulnerability. I first review the current information security models or frameworks, all of which have shortcomings, and then discuss ISO9000 and the Capability Maturity Model, which can solve some of the problems that arise from business information vulnerability. To fill the solution gap, I finally develop a new security assessment model. Due to space limitation, details of this assessment model development processes will be discussed in my other research paper.

An Exploratory Study Of The Effects Of Information And Communication Technology On Customer Relationship Management And Customer Lock-In.

Abstract: Many businesses have turned to customer relationship management (CRM) to strategically position themselves in electronic marketplaces with information and communication technologies (ICT). With greater emphasis placed on the application of technology, does the infusion of ICT influence a business’ ability to retain its customers? This study examined the relationships among three CRM elements benefiting from ICT, CRM performance, partnership quality, and customer lock-in. The results suggest that the three elements have positive relationships with CRM performance and partnership quality. However, only positive relationships exist between CRM performance and customer lock-in. None exists between partnership quality and customer lock-in. The findings further suggest that CRM performance mediates the effects of the CRM elements on customer lock-in.

Collaborative Filtering Algorithm Based on Mutual Information

Abstract: Recommender systems are used by E-commerce sites to suggest products to their customers and to provide consumers with information to help them determine which products to purchase. Collaborative filtering algorithm is the most extensive personalized recommendation used in recommender systems. Since not being considering the dependence between predicted item and historical item, typical collaborative filtering algorithm is not fit for multiple interests recommendation. The authors analyzed the reason and presented a new algorithm, collaborative filtering based on mutual information. By removing the historical items on which predicted item has not high dependence, the algorithms can deal with personalized recommendation for user’s multiple interests. The experiment shows new algorithms is more accurate than other algorithms, especially fitting for the environment where users have many completely different interests.

Enterprise Systems Implementation Failure: The Role of Organizational Defensive Routines

Abstract: This paper discusses some of the challenges that organizations face when implementing enterprise systems. A small-medium sized enterprise within a large conglomerate within the Asia-Pacific region was studied using critical ethnography. In this study it was found that organizational learning around strategically important issues failed to occur. This paper suggests the theory of organizational defensive routines for understanding how organizational learning may be hindered during the implementation of enterprise systems.