Alexander McLeod

Why don't more women major in information systems?

Purpose – Increasing enrollments in colleges of business have not been matched by women majoring in the field of information systems (IS). This paper aims to explore reasons why women choose not to major in information technology disciplines and to suggest potential solutions.Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a behavioral model based on the theory of reasoned action and a survey of the students enrolled in six sections of a college‐wide MIS course to help them answer the fundamental question “Why dont more women major in information systems?” They also used partial least squares analysis to estimate the parameters of the model and the results of several open‐ended survey questions to validate their statistical findings, leading to a richer triangulation of study results.Findings – The study found that a “genuine interest in IS” and the “influence of family” most account for a womans decision to major in information systems. Equally important are those items that did not appear to attract fe...

Security and Privacy Trust in E-Government: Understanding System and Relationship Trust Antecedents

This research proposes an E-Government security trust model and develops a typology of antecedents in the context of citizen tax software use and e-filing. We propose that tax software use and electronic filing (e-filing) offer a novel and interesting research setting that is relevant to E-Government and security because of (1) the use of software to complete tax returns by a large portion of the citizenry, (2) the necessity of security for transmittal of information during e-filing, (3) the privacy of the subject matter, (4) the current promotion of e-filing by the American tax collection agency (IRS), and (5) individual taxpayer ambivalence or negative attitude toward taxes and the government in general. We suggest that when the information system serves as surrogate for a tax domain expert several antecedents to security and privacy trust are potential determinants of use.

A strategic management support architecture: integration of the balanced scorecard and enterprise resource planning

The power of information technology to support strategic management at the executive level may currently be underutilised. A recently developed strategic management system incorporating extensive domain knowledge can be integrated with advanced data utilisation technology to form a comprehensive strategic management architecture. Specifically, we propose an information architecture that exploits the synergies between the balanced scorecard business model, data warehousing and data mining to more completely support management and performance measurement. Our proposed strategic management support architecture may provide new perspectives on how information technology can add value to enhance strategic management.

Information Security Foundations for the Interoperability of Electronic Health Records

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are clearly in the future of medicine and will provide benefits to all parties. Accurate and timely health record information is essential and dependent upon the security of the system and the security of related, interconnected systems. The current methodology of broad regulatory guidance and letting industry do its best has failed in the financial sector where identity theft has become a significant crime. Allowing the same outcome to occur in EHRs will both limit the efficiency, effectiveness and interoperability of systems. The solution is to incorporate security from the ground up in a fashion similar to national security systems. To do so across the myriad of players in healthcare will require regulation. This paper explores the foundation for technical solutions and proposes security mechanisms to protect EHRs.

Introducing the Information Technology Security Essential Body of Knowledge Framework

Abstract The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace spurred the development of the Essential Body of Knowledge (EBK) for Information Technology Security. The key feature of this security tool is its ability to act as a framework for analyzing institutional security training needs and managing security workforce development. This is accomplished through a series of steps that map security personnel roles, competency areas, and functional perspectives to an industry accepted matrix of organizational security needs. By capturing the human resource and functional elements of security, the EBK acts as a distillation of best practice, laid out in generic form ready for implementation across a wide spectrum of organizations. This paper introduces the EBK, explains its form and content, and demonstrates how to transition from the generic framework to functional model that is useful in determining organizational security structure and helpful for managing security personnel training and future security needs.

ERP Configuration: Does Situation Awareness Impact Team Performance?

Globalization, tougher competition and increasing customer expectations have led many organizations to adopt enterprise resource planning systems (ERP). However, organizations are beginning to realize the real impacts of ERP systems can be less than expected and that there is a need to better utilize ERP systems. This has led to greater focus on improved configuration and implementation. An important part of implementation is the configuration process carried out by teams. In this study, we present our research model and examine performance in ERP configuration teams. The research model posits that Team Situation Awareness (TSA) affects the performance of ERP configuration teams and that process conflict, deadlines and sharing common languages and codes will impact TSA. We then empirically tested the model in a quasi-field study involving 26 ERP/SAP student configurations teams. The results support our research model and offer insight into configuration team performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Modeling Security in Acceptance of Electronic Health Record Systems

Abstract Transactional systems are ubiquitous in most industries; however, healthcare organizations continue to slowly diffuse Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. This research integrates security features such as biometrics for authentication purposes, multiple access connections, and single sign-on systems into the Technology Acceptance Model to explore whether these features might improve user acceptance of EHR. Security potentially affects user perceptions of ease of use and usefulness, improving acceptance of EHR systems. This work contributes to the literature by exploring whether security features are important in shaping health care worker attitudes towards EHR systems.

Revisiting the Likert scale: can the fast form approach improve survey research?

Many behavioural studies employ surveys that rely on a Likert scale for construct measurement. However, prior research has shown that using Likert scales can be problematic. One alternative to Likert scale construction is the fast form approach which uses the semantic differential scale and has been shown to alleviate some - but not all - of the Likert scale biases. Our contribution to this methodological discussion is three-fold: First, we confirm the psychometric equivalency of fast form and Likert scales using a complex technology acceptance model in the context of tax software acceptance. Second, we compare the results of two subject groups with distinct expertise and show that cross-method differences are not significant, while cross-group differences are significant. Finally, we evaluate the efficiency of the fast form approach by comparing completion time and missing values for each approach. Our results suggest shorter survey completion times with the fast form approach.