Showing papers in "The International Journal of Business and Information in 2007"

Information Communication Technology (ICT) Adoption Among SME Owners in Malaysia

Abstract: This paper examines the extent of information communication technology (ICT) skills, use, and adoption among owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia; identifies innovation characteristics and adopter categories among the owners; and establishes the relationship among these various constructs. The authors surveyed 383 SME owners, using a survey instrument developed from the constructs used in the diffusion of innovation theory. The findings show that the level of ICT skills possessed by SME owners in Malaysia is poor, that their use of ICT is low, and that their adoption of ICT is slow and late, primarily because they find that ICT adoption is difficult. The authors discuss the implications of their study and present their suggestions for future research direction.

Transformational Leadership: The Influence of Culture on the Leadership Behaviours of Expatriate Managers

Abstract: One of the basic reasons that the authors investigated cross-cultural leadership was to determine the extent to which leadership behaviours can be influenced by cultural values. Some researchers suggest that certain leadership behaviours are likely to be particular to a given culture, whereas others argue that there should be certain structures that leaders must perform to be effective, regardless of cultures. This study was conducted to determine the possible relationships between the work-related values of subordinates and the leadership behaviours exhibited by expatriate managers. Ninety-one Thai subordinates, direct-report of expatriates, responded on the instruments called the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Value Survey Module (VSM). Major results indicate that the culture of Thai subordinates has a very limited role in predicting the leadership behaviours of expatriate managers. Furthermore, the study seems to provide evidence to support a near universalistic position for the transformational-transactional paradigm.

A study of the impact of organizational learning on information system effectiveness

Abstract: Past studies on system effectiveness capture the underlying factors (top management support, communication effectiveness, firm size, and user training) as well as different dimensions (system quality, information quality, use, user satisfaction, individual impact, and organizational impact) necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of a system. Although the framework of system effectiveness from DeLone and McLean [1992, 2003] is well established, some recent studies on organizational learning (OL), which is a more intrinsic concept, drive us to revisit the issue of system effectiveness. With a strong learning culture, companies can face the challenges of new things. It is hypothesized that an organization with good learning orientation will facilitate the implementation and use of a new system. A survey was conducted among those firms implementing an electronic document management system (EDMS). It is found that management support is still the most important factor and may improve an organization's performance in different ways. Other than that, organizational learning does impact the performance of employees and their satisfaction with new technology implementation. Its influence on EDMS effectiveness is stronger on employees than on the organization.

Conceptualizing and Measuring Spiritual Leadership in Organizations

Abstract: This paper presents the development and validation of a spiritual leadership measure comprising three sequential stages of scale development. Stage 1 built content validity into the measure through content analysis of interview data, extant literature review, and content expert item analysis. Stage 2 established reliability and preliminary construct validity based on the confirmatory factor analysis of pre-test data. Finally, Stage 3 provided further construct validity through cross-validation in a new sample. The resulting four-item spiritual leadership scale demonstrated robust preliminary psychometric properties. The contributions and implications of the present studies, as well as some future research directions, are discussed in the concluding section.

Validating the American Customer Satisfaction Index Model in the Online Context: An Empirical Study of U.S. Consumer Electronics E-Tailers

Abstract: The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model, developed in 1996, used a multiple indicator approach to measure overall customer satisfaction. The authors of the present non-experimental, exploratory study adopted the ACSI model to examine and explore the relationships among electronic service quality, customer expectations, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty for consumer electronics e-tailers. The study adopted quota and snowball sampling. A total of 276 valid responses were collected from an online survey, and the data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Of the eight hypotheses in this study, six were supported and two were not. Findings indicated that perceived value and customer satisfaction were two significant variables that mediated the relationships between electronic service quality and customer loyalty. Moreover, this study found that electronic service quality had no direct effect on customer satisfaction, but had indirect positive effects on customer satisfaction for consumer electronics e-tailers. In terms of practical implications, managers of consumer electronics e-tailers could formulate a competitive strategy based on the modified ACSI model to retain current customers and to enhance customer relationship management (CRM). The study also includes a discussion of limitations and recommendations for future research.

Public Investment and Economic Growth in the Three Little Dragons: Evidence from Heterogeneous Dynamic Panel Data

Abstract: Although the investment–growth relationship in the NIEs has been studied rather extensively, the casual connection between public capital and economic growth has not yet been fully explored. This paper makes a novel attempt to study the interactions among these macroeconomic variables with the help of 1971-2000 heterogeneous dynamic panel data from Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. The premise of this study is that public spending may contribute to economic growth in different ways. We explore this using a variety of econometric techniques. The analysis suggests that both public and private investment and public consumption have a long-term dynamic impact on economic growth in all the countries of our sample and in a panel of sample countries. The pair-wise analysis shows bidirectional causality between public investment and economic growth, and the homogeneous non-causality hypothesis suggests that non-causality results are completely homogeneous in a small sample of these mentioned countries.

Enabling e-Business Competitive Advantage: Perspectives from the Australian Financial Services Industry

Abstract: E-business and associated technologies continue to have a major impact on the way organizations conduct business. However, in the current environment which is conducive for imitative behaviour, organizations find it increasingly difficult to create competitive advantage by simply implementing pervasive e-business solutions. In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework to assess the ability of e-business initiatives to generate competitive advantage in the context of the Australian financial services industry. Results show that e-business applications are considered to be an enabling mechanism that enhances organizational competencies, thereby allowing organizations to deliver traditional and new services more effectively and efficiently. The manner in which e-business systems are used constitutes a source of advantage. It was also found that in an industry where intensive interaction is required among organizations, standardization of e-business systems and collaboration with partners and competitors constitutes a source of advantage. This research contributes to the current ongoing debate concerning the strategic value of IT and how it can be accomplished and serves as a basis of further research in this area.

Defining and Categorizing Consumer Resale Behavior in Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) E-Commerce

Abstract: More consumers nowadays function as resellers by taking advantage of online transactions. This exploratory study investigates the phenomenon of consumer online resale behavior in consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce in Taiwan and China. The authors define consumer resale as products that are resold or purchased mainly for self-use, not for resale. They conceptually define and categorize four consumer online resale types – (1) resale of extra purchase, (2) resale after temporary ownership, (3) unintentional resale, and (4) disposition. In conclusion, they draw three major implications. First, C2C e-commerce has changed consumer behavior by enabling consumers to resell in the secondary market. Second, consumer online resale is multi-faceted, with each type of consumer online resale being formed by different motivations and resulting in various impacts on consumer purchase and resale decisions, both online and off-line. Third, the concept of products, evaluation of product value, and consumer satisfaction with online resale may change when consumers act simultaneously in the roles of reseller and consumer. The authors present their findings in such a cultural context as to provide a framework for further research, and also provide propositions for discussion and further study.

A Model for Mobile Agent Security in E-Business Applications

Abstract: Mobile agent systems provide a great flexibility and customizability to distributed applications like e-business and information retrieval in the current scenario. Security is a crucial concern for such systems, especially when they are used to deal with money transactions. Mobile agents moving around the network are not safe because the remote hosts that accommodate the agents can initiate all kinds of attacks and can attempt to analyze the agents' decision logic and their accumulated data. Hence, mobile agent security is one of the most challenging unsolved problems. This paper analyzes the security attacks on mobile agents by malicious hosts and seeks to address some of these problems by proposing solutions based on public key authentication techniques and cryptography. The authors develop an experimental application and evaluate the security and performance of proposed solutions. They develop a performance model in order to tune the parameters of execution environment to meet the desired level of performance and security.

Justice Strategy Options for Increased Customer Value in a Services Recovery Setting

Abstract: This study elucidates the structural relationships among service recovery, perceived justice, and customer emotional, social, and functional value, and explores the modulating effect of this structural relationship. Samples were collected using questionnaires assessed for investigative reliability and validity. The authors then used the LISREL statistical approach to analyze the foregoing data, based on the consumers’ perspective. The findings are as follows. First, perceived justice is positively affected by service recovery. Second, psychological service recovery positively influences interactive and procedural justice. Third, tangible service recovery positively affects distributive justice. Fourth, customer value is affected by perceived justice. Fifth, interactive justice influences emotional value. Sixth, procedural justice affects social value. And, seventh, distributive justice influences functional value. Exact service failure categories and attribution were found to be modulating variables between service recovery and perceived justice. In practice, hotel managers can optimize investment in refining the service recovery strategies to increase customer value.

An Integrated Approach to Collaborative Supply Chain Design

Abstract: As a supply chain initiative, Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR) promises greater profits through improved efficiency and increased collaboration between trading partners. Considering supply chain design in the CPFR environment, we propose an integrated framework, which uses stakeholder analysis and integer linear programming for identifying the requirements and attributes of suppliers, and collaboratively achieving optimal supply chain performance. The order fulfillment process is then constructed and simulated. Through the use of a simulation, the supply chain design parameters can be easily monitored and fine-tuned, which eventually ensures an optimal supply chain strategy. The proposed methodology is demonstrated with a practical case.

The Influence of Technical Skill on Consumer Trust in On-Line Shopping in Ireland

Abstract: Research as to how consumer trust can be built in an on-line environment is limited and varies in terms of the dimensions of the problem that are examined. Consequently, much of our understanding of the antecedents of trust in on-line shopping context remains fragmented. In this study, a previously validated trust measurement instrument was applied in order to investigate the existence and importance of specific factors that are thought to predict the generation of consumer trust in internet shopping in Ireland. The degree to which consumers' level of technical skill influences their perception of these factors and thus shapes their trust response was also examined. The results provide a refined understanding of the predictors and moderators of trust in an electronic purchase environment and thus make a valuable contribution not only to information systems research but also to the overall body of marketing, trust, and diffusion research. In addition, the detailed insights afforded by this study will benefit vendors in their efforts to engender consumer trust in their websites and thus increase their success in the competitive electronic commerce marketplace.

Generating an XML-Based Search Index for an Effective Search of Office Documents

Abstract: Office applications are becoming a major pillar of today‟s organizations since they are used to edit a vast amount of digital documents. Finding these office documents in large databases that fit users‟ needs is becoming increasingly important. Broad one- or two-word searches in conventional search engines are often plagued by low precision, returning many irrelevant documents as their output. In order to solve this problem, we propose a technique that allows users to define search terms inside office documents and term descriptions presenting semantic relationships between the office documents and their search terms. This technique provides a means that generates an XML-based search index allowing users to effectively find out target office documents by search conditions, whose definitions are based on document types, search terms, and term descriptions. We also present the schema of the proposed search index that allows users to effectively search office documents of various types, and also present a search framework that uses the proposed technique.