Akshay Bhagwatwar

Citizen Apps to Solve Complex Urban Problems

Tackling complex urban problems requires us to examine and leverage diverse sources of information. Today, cities capture large amounts of information in real-time. Data are captured on transportation patterns, electricity and water consumption, citizen use of government services (e.g., parking meters), and even on weather events. Through open data initiatives, government agencies are making information available to citizens. In turn, citizens are building applications that exploit this information to solve local urban problems. Citizens are also building platforms where they can share information regarding government services. Information that was previously unavailable is now being used to gauge quality of services, choose services, and report illegal and unethical behaviors (e.g., requesting bribes). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the range of citizen applications (“citizen apps”) targeting urban issues and to address their effects on urban planning, decision-making, problem solving, and governance. We examine citizen apps that address a wide range of urban issues from those that solve public transportation challenges to those that improve the management of public utilities and services and even public safety.

Considerations for Information Systems “Backsourcing”: A Framework for Knowledge Re-integration

Backsourcing is motivated by opportunities arising from changes in the business situation, redefinition of the character of outsourced service declining in quality or due to the discovery of flaws in the contract. The situation of backsourcing clearly has major implications for an organization in terms of monetary investments, IS infrastructure and changes in employee requirements during and after the process. The paper considers a detailed analysis of two case studies of backsourcing reported from JP Morgan Chase (USA) and Sainsbury (UK). A major contribution of the paper is to identify important strategies to be followed in backsourcing projects to ensure efficient knowledge re-integration.

Technology-Enabled Participatory Platforms for Civic Engagement: The Case of U.S. Cities

Abstract Technology-enabled participatory platforms are proving to be valuable canvases for engaging citizens in solving public-good challenges. Citizens are playing a more active role by either designing platforms themselves or participating on platforms created by public agencies. Unfortunately, our theoretical knowledge about the nature of these platforms is limited. In this paper, we take the first steps towards understanding technology-enabled participatory platforms. Through an exploratory analysis, following the spirit of a grounded theoretic methodology, we examined technology-enabled participatory platforms in the 25 most populated cities in the United States. We deduce four main archetypes—citizen centric and citizen data, citizen centric and government data, government centric and citizen data, and government centric and citizen-developed solutions of technology-enabled participatory platforms. We describe the intricacies of how collective intelligence is leveraged on these platforms. Implications for local government managers and urban planners are discussed. We hypothesize how the future of these platforms might evolve in the not so distant future.

Case study: Business process outsourcing: A case study of Satyam Computers

The prominence of business process outsourcing (BPO) continues to intensify in todays hyper-competitive marketplace. Engaging in BPO can help an organization focus on its core competencies, while gaining specialized knowledge, skills, and processes in auxiliary spaces. The literature is laden with evidence that engaging in a BPO will help organizations secure financial, operational, and even strategic advantages. While there is little doubt that organizations can attain these benefits, few BPO arrangements work out as planned. Managing risks in BPO arrangements is paramount. In this case analysis, we describe a significant failure through chronological description of scandals that took place at one of Indias largest outsourcing vendors, Satyam Computer Services. In describing the study, we draw attention to the fact that organizations need to (1) improve their sensing capabilities and keep abreast of strategic transformations at their outsourcing vendors, (2) be able to plan for and execute contingency plans, and (3) balance the risks and rewards of BPOs in terms of knowledge and capabilities dependencies.

Out of Asia: Understanding the nexus between technology usage and research productivity in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan

Abstract Journal and conference publications are well-known measures of scientific and academic research productivity. Prior research on scientific productivity that studies dimensions such as research culture, technological support, and researcher collaboration focuses on Western world contexts. Asian countries, such as Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan have received attention recently for the quality of their educational institutions, which have increasingly emphasized research productivity. With a large number of established and funded public universities, these countries show a strong potential for future scientific research. Consequently, it is crucial to understand the factors that influence the research productivity of scholars in these countries. In this paper the focus is specifically on the research productivity of students and faculty members in three countries: Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan. We investigate an important factor that influences research productivity: technology usage, which we conceptualize as the summation of mobile phone and computer usage. In addition, we analyze the relationship between technology usage and international collaboration.

Contextual Priming and the Design of 3D Virtual Environments to Improve Group Ideation

Three-dimensional (3D) virtual environments (VEs) are collaboration platforms where group members are represented as avatars and interact in a customizable simulated world. Research from cognitive psychology has shown that it is possible to manipulate nonconscious cognition and behavior through “priming,” a well-known phenomenon in which words and images are used to activate desired concepts in participants’ minds. Our goal in this was to investigate whether priming during the task execution (called contextual priming) using 3D objects in the VE can improve brainstorming performance. To investigate this, we conducted two studies. The first used priming objects specifically related to the task topic and the second used priming objects related to creativity, in general. Compared to VEs without 3D priming objects, our results show that when groups brainstormed in the VEs designed with 3D priming objects, they generated better quality ideas as well as a greater breadth and depth of ideas. Thus, the 3D priming...

We’re In This Together: The Role of Team Characteristics in Enterprise Process Execution and Performance

Organizations face challenges after a new enterprise system (ES) implementation, including employee resistance and negative impacts on organizational outcomes. ESs are used by employees in coordination with their team members for executing business processes. Consequently, team characteristics are likely to play a critical role in influencing perceptions about effective process execution and performance when using ESs. Yet research has not investigated the influence of team characteristics, such as team coordination, shared mental models, and mutual trust, in overcoming challenges associated with process execution following a new ES implementation. We conducted a lab simulation to investigate the role of team characteristics to moderate the influence of process characteristics on team and process performance. We posit that even if teams initially perceive processes as complex, rigid, and radical, team characteristics can mitigate these perceptions and reduce their influence on performance outcomes.

Impacts of Information and Communication Technology Implementation on Regulated Financial Services: The Case of Swaziland

The impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the individual level as well as at the organizational and societal levels is evident from the large stream of research in various domains (Bala and Venkatesh, 2013; Dewan and Kraemer, 2000; Gillwald and Stork, 2007; Mithas et al., 2012). In recent years, ICTs have become an integral part of public sector organizations as well, impacting decisionmaking in government policies, financial systems, and governance regulations (Cordella and Bonina, 2012). While prior research in this regard has focused primarily on contexts relevant to western countries, many African nations have recently experienced rapid adoption of ICTs geared toward improving the social connectivity of people as well as in computerization of traditional public sector organizations (Cordella and Iannacci, 2010). Although the use of ICTs in African public sector organizations is still low as compared to their counterparts in western countries, ICTs are rapidly gaining recognition among African governments and policy makers as a tool for expediting economic growth and development (Gillwald and Stork, 2007). Leaders and government officials in African nations have started recognizing the importance of ICTs and experimenting with ICT implementation strategies to maximize the benefits for different stakeholders (Gillwald and Stork, 2007).