Showing papers on "Empirical research published in 1992"

Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable

Abstract: A large number of studies have been conducted during the last decade and a half attempting to identify those factors that contribute to information systems success. However, the dependent variable in these studies-I/S success-has been an elusive one to define. Different researchers have addressed different aspects of success, making comparisons difficult and the prospect of building a cumulative tradition for I/S research similarly elusive. To organize this diverse research, as well as to present a more integrated view of the concept of I/S success, a comprehensive taxonomy is introduced. This taxonomy posits six major dimensions or categories of I/S success-SYSTEM QUALITY, INFORMATION QUALITY, USE, USER SATISFACTION, INDIVIDUAL IMPACT, and ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT. Using these dimensions, both conceptual and empirical studies are then reviewed a total of 180 articles are cited and organized according to the dimensions of the taxonomy. Finally, the many aspects of I/S success are drawn together into a descriptive model and its implications for future I/S research are discussed.

Strategic decision making

Abstract: This article reviews the strategic decision making literature by focusing on the dominant paradigms–i.e., rationality and bounded rationality, politics and power, and garbage can. We review the theory and key empirical support, and identify emergent debates within each paradigm. We conclude that strategic decision makers are boundedly rational, that power wins battles of choice, and that chance matters. Further, we argue that these paradigms rest on unrealistic assumptions and tired controversies which are no longer very controversial. We conclude with a research agenda that emphasizes a more realistic view of strategic decision makers and decision making, and greater attention to normative implications, especially among profit-seeking firms in global contexts.

Technology Diffusion and Organizational Learning: The Case of Business Computing

Abstract: The dominant explanation for the spread of technological innovations emphasizes processes of influence and information flow. Firms which are closely connected to pre-existing users of an innovation learn about it and adopt it early on. Firms at the periphery of communication networks are slower to adopt. This paper develops an alternative model which emphasizes the role of know-how and organizational learning as potential barriers to adoption of innovations. Firms delay in-house adoption of complex technology until they obtain sufficient technical know-how to implement and operate it successfully. In response to knowledge barriers, new institutions come into existence which progressively lower those barriers, and make it easier for firms to adopt and use the technology without extensive in-house expertise. Service bureaus, consultants, and simplification of the technology are examples. As knowledge barriers are lowered, diffusion speeds up, and one observes a transition from an early pattern in which the new technology is typically obtained as a service to a later pattern of in-house provision of the technology. Thus the diffusion of technology is reconceptualized in terms of organizational learning, skill development, and knowledge barriers. The utility of this approach is shown through an empirical study of the diffusion of business computing in the United States, reporting survey and ethnographic data on the spread of business computing, on the learning processes and skills required, and on the changing institutional practices that facilitated diffusion.

First-Mover Advantage: A Synthesis, Conceptual Framework, and Research Propositions:

Abstract: Numerous conceptual and empirical studies advance the notion that first movers achieve long-term competitive advantages. These studies purport to demonstrate the presence of a systematic direct rel...

Development and Test of a Theory of Technological Learning and Usage

Abstract: Beliefs, attitudes, and intentions are important factors in the adoption of computer technologies. While contemporary representations have focused on explaining the act of using computers, the role of learning to use the computer needs to be better understood within the overall adoption process. Inadequate learning can curtail the adoption and use of a potentially productive system. We introduce a new theoretical model, the theory of trying, in which computer learning is conceptualized as a goal determined by three attitude components: attitude toward success, attitude toward failure, and attitude toward the process of goal pursuit. Intentions to try and actual trying are the theoretical mechanisms linking these goal-directed attitudes to goal attainment. An empirical study is conducted to ascertain the construct validity and utility of the new theory within the context of the adoption of a word processing package. Specifically, we examine convergent validity, internal consistency reliability, stability, ...

The effectiveness of games for educational purposes: a review of recent research

Abstract: This article reviews the literature that compares the instructional effectiveness of games to conventional classroom instruction. Studies dealing with empirical research rather than teachers'judgments are reviewed. Published reviews of research in English dating from 1963 to 1984 were examined and the literature was searched for studies from 1984 to 1991. Of the 67 studies considered over a period of 28 years, 38 show no difference between games and conventional instruction; 22 favor games; 5 favor games, but their controls are questionable; and 3 favor conventional instruction. Results for social sciences, math, language arts, logic physics, biology, retention over time, and interest are examined. Math is the subject area with the greatest percentage of results favoring games, but only eight studies have adequate controls. Thirty-three out of 46 social science games/simulations show no difference between games/simulations and classroom instruction. The authors conclude that subject matter areas where ver...

Models for Sample Selection Bias

Abstract: When observations in social research are selected so that they are not independent of the outcome variables in a study, sample selection leads to biased inferences about social processes. Nonrandom selection is both a source of bias in empirical research and a fundamental aspect of many social processes. This chapter reviews models that attempt to take account of sample selection and their applications in research on labor markets, schooling, legal processes, social mobility, and social networks. Variants of these models apply to outcome variables that are censored or truncated—whether explicitly or incidentally—and include the tobit model, the standard selection model, models for treatment effects in quasi-experimental designs, and endogenous switching models. Heckman’s two-stage estimator is the most widely used approach to selection bias, but its results may be sensitive to violations of its assumptions about the way that selection occurs. Recent econometric research has developed a wide variety of pro...

Information technology diffusion: a review of empirical research

Abstract: Innovation diffusion theory provides a useful perspective on one of the most persistently challenging topics in the IT field, namely, how to improve technology assessment, adoption and implementation. For this reason, diffusion is growing in popularity as a reference theory for empirical studies of information technology adoption and diffusion, although no comprehensive review of this body of work has been published to date. This paper presents the results of a critical review of eighteen empirical studies published during the period 1981-1991. Conclusive results were most likely when the adoption context closely matched the contexts in which classical diffusion theory was developed (for example, individual adoption of personal-use technologies), or when researchers extended diffusion theory to account for new factors specific to the IT adoption context under study. Based on classical diffusion theory and other recent conceptual work, a framework is developed to guide future research in IT diffusion. The framework maps two classes of technology (ones that conform closely to classical diffusion assumptions versus ones that do not) against locus of adoption (individual versus organizational), resulting in four IT adoption contexts. For each adoption context, variables impacting adoption and diffusion are identified. Additionally, directions for future research are discussed.

The Case for Participatory Evaluation

Abstract: Participatory evaluation is presented as an extension of the stakeholder-based model with a focus on enhancing evaluation utilization through primary users' increased depth and range of participation in the applied research process. The approach is briefly described and then justified from theoretical and empirical bases. The literature on organizational learning provides theoretical support for participatory evaluation stemming primarily from the view that knowledge is socially constructed and cognitive systems and memories are developed and shared by organization members. Twenty-six recent empirical studies were found to support an organizational learning justification of the model. Studies were classified into one of six emergent categories: conceptions of use; effects of participation on the use of research; effects of participation on the use of disseminated knowledge; effects of research training; school-university partnerships; and internal evaluation. Requirements of organizations and evaluators and an agenda for research are discussed.

Team building and its influence on team effectiveness: An examination of conceptual and empirical developments.

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter examines team building and its influence on team effectiveness. The chapter provides an explanation of "teams" and "team building", and input-throughput-output model of team effectiveness to provide a context for examining team building interventions. Three previous reviews are presented, which examined team building research through 1980. The chapter also reviews the empirical research on team building published during the 1980s, comparing it to the findings of the previous research and suggesting avenues for future research. The analysis of the research conducted in the 1980's shows that the quantity of research on team building has decreased, although the quality of research has improved. It also shows that the research still focuses, for the most part, on intact, white-collar teams, with little attention being directed at newly formed or blue-collar teams. In general, team building interventions were fairly effective and team building appears to have a positive effect on perceptions and attitudes. However, the results are more equivocal with regard to behavioral outcomes.

Revisiting DSS implementation research: a meta-analysis of the literature and suggestions for researchers

Abstract: Information systems are becoming increasingly critical to the daily operations and success of many firms. This, combined with the rising investments in design and development of these systems, make implementation a high priority research topic. Although information systems implementation has been a topic of interest to researchers over the past two decades, the extent to which the existing body of research reflects substantial and cumulative development is not entirely clear.The objective of this study is to conduct a rigorous and quantitative review of the empirical DSS implementation literature as a basis for providing guidelines for implementation management and conduct of future research. Meta-analysis of 144 findings from3 3 studies indicates that user-situational variables (involvement, training and experience) are more important than psychological factors to DSS implementation success and that user-situational variables can improve the implementation success by as much as 30 percent. Furthermore, the meta-analytic findings regarding the methodological characteristics of studies provide useful insights for the design of future research studies of implementation. The findings also allow us to put into perspective the incremental contribution of additional substantive and empirical studies in this area. Additionally, several specific domains (e.g., construct validation research on user involvement and causal modeling) might profit most form future research efforts.

Language Diversity and Thought: A Reformulation of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

Abstract: Language Diversity and Thought examines the Sapir–Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis: the proposal that the grammar of the particular language we speak affects the way we think about reality. Adopting an historical approach, the book reviews the various lines of empirical inquiry which arose in America in response to the ideas of anthropologists Edward Sapir and Benjamin L. Whorf. John Lucy asks why there has been so little fruitful empirical research on this problem and what lessons can be learned from past work. He then proposes a new, more adequate approach to future empirical research. A companion volume, Grammatical Categories and Cognition, illustrates the proposed approach with an original case study. The study compares the grammar of American English with that of Yucatec Maya, an indigenous language spoken in southeastern Mexico, and then identifies distinctive patterns of thinking related to the differences between the two languages.

Strategic Planning as Competitive Advantage

Abstract: Since 1970, over forty empirical studies have examined the performance consequences of formal strategic planning. This line of research has drawn heavy criticism from reviewers on methodological grounds, and has produced confusing, apparently contradicatory results. This article reevaluates the planning-performance relationship from a resource perspective, arguing that strategic planning does not satisfy the criteria for sustainable competitve advantage-- although it may produce economic value, it is easily imitated and may be substitutable. The article suggests that previous studies produced inconsistent results because they did not account for the dissemination of strategic planning over time, or for industry differences in strategic planning factor markets. An empirical test in two industries funds that formal strategic planning and financial performance are unrelated in a 'planning equilibrium' industry, but positively related in an industry with strategic planning factor market imperfections.

Service Break-Downs a Study of Critical Incidents in an Airline

Abstract: Presents the results of an empirical study of critical incidents in an airline. Describes and analyses service breakdowns from the customers′ point of view and thus creates a basis for “crisis management”. The discussion is based on interviews with 320 customers and 80 airline employees. Focuses on negative critical incidents in the relations between the service provider and business passengers. Provides a background as to why quality in services is an important aspect of management and a major research field. Discusses the typical features of service production and defines the term critical incident. Considers the strengths and weaknesses of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) and describes the choice of method and model for the empirical study. Presents and discusses the results of the survey. Reveals, among other things, that there is a considerable difference between the way customers perceive critical incidents and the view of the airline employees as to what causes critical situations for the cust...

Supporting systems development by capturing deliberations during requirements engineering

Abstract: Support for various stakeholders involved in software projects (designers, maintenance personnel, project managers and executives, end users) can be provided by capturing the history about design decisions in the early stages of the system's development life cycle in a structured manner. Much of this knowledge, which is called the process knowledge, involving the deliberation on alternative requirements and design decisions, is lost in the course of designing and changing such systems. Using an empirical study of problem-solving behavior of individual and groups of information systems professionals, a conceptual model called REMAP (representation and maintenance of process knowledge) that relates process knowledge to the objects that are created during the requirements engineering process has been developed. A prototype environment that provides assistance to the various stakeholders involved in the design and management of large systems has been implemented. >

Contract Choice in Modern Agriculture: Cash Rent versus Cropshare

Abstract: E CONOMISTS have expended enormous effort examining the rationale for various contractual arrangements in agriculture, particularly sharecropping. While economists have made considerable theoretical efforts to understand agricultural contracts, few empirical studies have been undertaken. The dearth of empirical analyses of agricultural contracts is particularly striking for modern Western agriculture.' This is an important omission, not only because the existing empirical work tends to focus on the question of efficiency, but also because the theoretical models tend to examine contracts that bear little resemblance to those found in the United States today.

Distributive Justice: What the People Think

Abstract: This article attempts to bring together in a creative way two bodies of literature that often seem to run on parallel tracks with only the barest mutual acknowledgment. One is the steadily expanding range of works in political theory on social or distributive justice.' The other is the body of empirical work on people's beliefs aboutjustice and the expression of these beliefs in practice. One might expect there to be a fruitful symbiosis between these two bodies of research, with political theorists setting the agenda for empirical studies of justice, while the results of these studies were fed back into the theoretical literature as data against which more abstract claims about the nature ofjustice could be tested. But this is not the case. There is a small amount of traffic across the border in one direction. Most empirical researchers are aware of the major landmarks in the field of theory-they have heard of Rawls's A Theory of Justice (Rawls 1971), for instance, and a few experiments (discussed below) have been devised to test its claims. But almost without exception political theorists have failed to consider the bearing that empirical findings might have on their formulations.2 There are several reasons for this neglect, of greatly differing character and strength. One is simply the insularity of academic disciplines. Much of the research I shall consider is found in journals that no political theorist would look at as a matter of course. Along with this goes an unfamiliar academic jargon and a style of presentation which (in the case of the social psychology literature, especially) is likely to seem unusually wooden and ponderous. Then there is the view that empirical studies of justice are of little value in getting at

The dynamics of speculative behaviour

Abstract: A number of recent empirical studies cast some doubt on the random walk theory of asset prices and suggest these display significant transitory components and complex chaotic motion. This paper analyses a model of fundamentalists and chartists which can generate a number of dynamic regimes which are compatible with the recent empirical evidence.

Technological interweavement: a means of achieving innovation success

Abstract: In this paper, results are presented of an empirical study of the Lake Constance region covering a sample of 848 manufacturing companies. Based upon multivariate analyses, the paper documents that the mobilization of external resources and know-how is a critical factor for a firm’s technological innovation success which in turn is the main determinant of commercial innovation success. The findings show that there are three kinds of technology-oriented external relationships, which prove to be of special importance: close contacts with customers, linkages to universities and research institutes and R&D-cooperations with other companies. innovation-pressure and raising expenditures for R&D accompanied by shortening product-life-cycles and time based competition. Especially in regard to innovation, relationships have potentials shown neither by market nor by hierar~hy:~ 0 Synergy effects of value: The combination of internal and external resources can result in a multicompetence-effect, which facilitates the development of products of superior quality. Furthermore, relationships constitute an instrument to reduce redundancies (e.g. parallel research activities) and accelerate innovation processes.

Information systems success factors in small business

Abstract: This paper presents the findings of an empirical study of key factors associated with computer-based information system (CBIS) success in small businesses. A descriptive model relating the key factors to CBIS success is developed. User information satisfaction is used as a surrogate measure for CBIS success. Eight hypotheses are derived from the model and tested using data from a questionnaire survey of 96 small businesses. The main findings are (1) CBIS success is positively associated with consultant effectiveness, level of vendor support, length of the small business's CBIS experience, sufficiency of financial resources, level of CEO support, and level of user participation, and (2) CBIS success is not associated with the number of administrative applications nor the presence of a programmer/systems analyst. These findings are compared with those of similar studies and their implications are discussed.

Buyer‐Seller Relationships: An Application of the IMP Interaction Model

Abstract: Drawing upon the framework set forth in the Interaction Model developed by the European IMP Group, examines factors leading to close relationships between buyers and sellers. An empirical test, using multiple regression analysis, demonstrates that the exchange of information and interpersonal contacts produce a co‐operative atmosphere between buyer and seller which, in turn, sets the stage for mutual adaptation. A model presented and tested affirms the relationships implied by the IMP Interaction Model and suggests managerial actions which should strengthen the links between buyer and seller.

Corporate codes of ethics and sales force behavior: A case study

Abstract: A growing public concern regarding ethical business conduct has stimulated marketing research in the ethics area. This study is the first empirical research to investigate the relationship between a code of ethics and sales force behavior. The findings present preliminary evidence that a well communicated code of ethics may be related to ethical sales force behavior. Furthermore, it appears that a sales force that is employed in such an environment can be profiled as being relatively high in job performance and receiving equally high satisfaction from their positions. Suggestions are made for future research and recommendations are offered for marketing practitioners.