Aleš Popovič

Towards business intelligence systems success: Effects of maturity and culture on analytical decision making

The information systems (IS) literature has long emphasized the positive impact of information provided by business intelligence systems (BIS) on decision-making, particularly when organizations operate in highly competitive environments. Evaluating the effectiveness of BIS is vital to our understanding of the value and efficacy of management actions and investments. Yet, while IS success has been well-researched, our understanding of how BIS dimensions are interrelated and how they affect BIS use is limited. In response, we conduct a quantitative survey-based study to examine the relationships between maturity, information quality, analytical decision-making culture, and the use of information for decision-making as significant elements of the success of BIS. Statistical analysis of data collected from 181 medium and large organizations is combined with the use of descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. Empirical results link BIS maturity to two segments of information quality, namely content and access quality. We therefore propose a model that contributes to understanding of the interrelationships between BIS success dimensions. Specifically, we find that BIS maturity has a stronger impact on information access quality. In addition, only information content quality is relevant for the use of information while the impact of the information access quality is non-significant. We find that an analytical decision-making culture necessarily improves the use of information but it may suppress the direct impact of the quality of the information content.

Extending the understanding of mobile banking adoption: When UTAUT meets TTF and ITM

Mobile banking (mBanking) enables customers to carry out their banking tasks via mobile devices. We advance the extant body of knowledge about mBanking adoption by proposing a model for understanding the importance and relationship between the user perception of mBanking, initial trust in mBanking services, and the fit between the technology and mBanking task characteristics. We synergistically combine the strengths of three IS theories - task technology fit (TTF) model, unified theory of acceptance and usage of technology (UTAUT), and initial trust model (ITM). The model was tested in a study conducted in Portugal, one of the European Union (EU) countries with the highest mobile phone adoption. Based on the sample of 194 individuals we applied partial least squares (PLS) to test the conceptual model propose. The path significance levels were estimated using the bootstrapping method (500 resamples). The study found that facilitating conditions and behavioral intentions directly influence mBanking adoption. Initial trust, performance expectancy, technology characteristics, and task technology fit have total effect on behavioral intention. The paper offers valuable insights to decision-makers involved in the implementation and deployment of mBanking services. For researchers, the paper highlights the usefulness of integrating TTF, UTAUT and ITM in the development of a decision support framework to study the adoption of new technologies.

Supporting Performance Management with Business Process Management and Business Intelligence: A Case Analysis of Integration and Orchestration

The case(s) demonstrates the importance of business process management (BPM) and business intelligence systems (BIS) in achieving better firm performance. It has been well documented in the literature that research on the effectively usage and combination of knowledge from BPM and BIS in turbulent service environments is limited. In response, we conduct an exploratory comparative case study of four firms in banking and telecommunication industries that have implemented BPM initiative and BIS solution. Our results firstly highlight that actual results of applying BPM and BIS differ greatly from the results that were originally planned. Secondly, we find that BIS initiatives are usually driven by improving marketing and sales, while BPM initiatives are driven by improving business processes. Thirdly, we identify that there is a lack of strong commitment to using both systems for supporting performance management.

Extending the understanding of critical success factors for implementing business intelligence systems

Extant studies suggest implementing a business intelligence (BI) system is a costly, resource‐intensive and complex undertaking. Literature draws attention to the critical success factors (CSFs) for implementation of BI systems. Leveraging case studies of seven large organizations and blending them with Yeoh and Koronioss (2010) BI CSFs framework, our empirical study gives evidence to support this notion of CSFs and provides better contextual understanding of the CSFs in BI implementation domain. Cross‐case analysis suggests that organizational factors play the most crucial role in determining the success of a BI system implementation. Hence, BI stakeholders should prioritize on the organizational dimension ahead of other factors. Our findings allow BI stakeholders to holistically understand the CSFs and the associated contextual issues that impact on implementation of BI systems.

Business Intelligence Maturity: The Economic Transitional Context Within Slovenia

This article propose a new maturity model with three related dimensions (technological, information quality, and business) and provide its empirical analysis within Slovenian organizations. With the use of K-means clustering, the naturally present maturity groups are identified. This article is an attempt to establish clear directions for further business intelligence development in transition economy settings. The findings hold important implications for commercial enterprise success.

How information-sharing values influence the use of information systems

We examine the effects of information-sharing values on BIS success dimensions relationships.Information use depends on information quality, but not on system quality.An increase in information-sharing values is reflected in increased information quality.Information-sharing values are not directly linked to information use.Information-sharing values negatively affect the information quality-information use link. Although the constituents of information systems (IS) success and their relationships have been well documented in the business value of information technology (IT) and strategic IS literature, our understanding of how information-sharing values affect the relationships among IS success dimensions is limited. In response, we conduct a quantitative study of 146 medium and large firms that have implemented a business intelligence system in their operations. Our results highlight that in the business intelligence systems context information-sharing values are not directly linked to IT-enabled information use, yet they act as significant moderators of information systems success dimensions relationships.

SOA Adoption Phases

The paper argues that attitudes to SOA follow a typical hype cycle from Technological Trigger, Peak of Inflated Expectations, and a Trough of Disillusionment to the more recent realization that SOA is a concept that may offer certain benefits but has several limitations. The main research question studies how the attitude to SOA changes in various phases of the hype cycle, how the SOA implementation cycle and an increase in business process maturity (BPMa) are interconnected and which factors influence the transition between the hype cycle phases. The paper shows that an organization’s success with implementing SOA depends on its ability to match the SOA implementation with an increase in BPMa. The dual purpose of implementing SOA is shown in the first framework: to assure the coherence of IT assets and to assure business/IT alignment. In the second framework, the interconnection of SOA and BPMa and its role in transiting through the hype cycle phases is outlined. The findings are analyzed using a longitudinal case study of a large Slovenian company.

Parameter evaluation of geometric semantic genetic programming in pharmacokinetics

The role of crossover and mutation in genetic programming has been the subject of much debate since the emergence of the field. Recently new genetic operators, called geometric semantic operators, have been introduced. Contrary to standard genetic operators, these operators present the interesting property of inducing a unimodal fitness landscape for every problem that consists in finding a match between inputs and targets. As the definition of these operators is quite recent, their effect on the evolutionary dynamics is still in many senses unknown and deserves to be studied. This paper intends to fill this gap, with a specific focus on applications in the field of pharmacokinetic. Results show that a mixture of semantic crossover and mutation is always beneficial compared to the use of only one of these operators. Furthermore, we show that the best results are obtained using values of the semantic mutation rate which are considerably higher than the ones that are typically used when traditional subtree mutation is employed.

The impact of big data analytics on firms high value business performance

Big Data Analytics (BDA) is an emerging phenomenon with the reported potential to transform how firms manage and enhance high value businesses performance. The purpose of our study is to investigate the impact of BDA on operations management in the manufacturing sector, which is an acknowledged infrequently researched context. Using an interpretive qualitative approach, this empirical study leverages a comparative case study of three manufacturing companies with varying levels of BDA usage (experimental, moderate and heavy). The information technology (IT) business value literature and a resource based view informed the development of our research propositions and the conceptual framework that illuminated the relationships between BDA capability and organizational readiness and design. Our findings indicate that BDA capability (in terms of data sourcing, access, integration, and delivery, analytical capabilities, and people’s expertise) along with organizational readiness and design factors (such as BDA strategy, top management support, financial resources, and employee engagement) facilitated better utilization of BDA in manufacturing decision making, and thus enhanced high value business performance. Our results also highlight important managerial implications related to the impact of BDA on empowerment of employees, and how BDA can be integrated into organizations to augment rather than replace management capabilities. Our research will be of benefit to academics and practitioners in further aiding our understanding of BDA utilization in transforming operations and production management. It adds to the body of limited empirically based knowledge by highlighting the real business value resulting from applying BDA in manufacturing firms and thus encouraging beneficial economic societal changes.

Emergent digital era governance: Enacting the role of the ‘institutional entrepreneur’ in transformational change

Abstract As e-government matures the realisation of its potential to enact organisational change in the public sector remains unclear. This study examines e-government towards digital era governance (DEG) and the actors involved in this transformational change. We draw upon the concept of ‘enactment’ as a lens to provide insights into relevant theoretical issues. These are operationalised through an enhanced Technology Enactment Framework (TEF) to consider reforms to explore the DEG environment and, specifically, the interventions of the CIO on e-government policies. We employed a case analysis approach from public sector authorities in the US States of California and Nevada with data from CIOs and other key informants. Our findings reveal how public sector CIOs adopt the role of an ‘institutional entrepreneur’, who demonstrate a series of initiatives augmented through identified behaviours. These relate to proactive community mobilisation (leadership, member focus) and legitimisation (discourse, success stories). We outline the policy implications of DEG and the risk factors of senior managers who enact these processes towards complex technological change. Furthermore, the characterisation of institutional entrepreneurial enactment appears to be extremely beneficial to the transformation to DEG within any contemporary public sector context.