Daniel S. Soper

Service Level Agreement Negotiation: A Theory-based Exploratory Study as a Starting Point for Identifying Negotiation Support System Requirements

IT outsourcing practices have recently proliferated an interest in service level agreement (SLA) negotiation relevant to engagements with either in-house or external IS service providers. An important research gap exists in establishing Negotiation Support System (NSS) requirements for the processes associated with SLA development. A first step in specifying such requirements is to examine relevant theoretical bases to identify and postulate reasonable propositions. A second step is to examine the efficacy of the theory-based propositions using the constructs adapted in the context of a relevant, practical and exploratory scenario. Accordingly, this paper discusses propositions that rely on theoretical bases from relevant sociological models, it identifies constructs adapted from prior Theory W research in NSS as an exemplar, it discusses an exploratory study related to the research gap identified, and it discusses findings that represent a starting point for identifying SLA NSS requirements.

An interorganizational knowledge-sharing security model with breach propagation detection

The increasing adoption of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is allowing more and more companies to integrate themselves in interorganizational netchain environments wherein knowledge assets can be electronically shared with selected business partners. The dynamic nature of these environments implies a need for organizations to protect and monitor the flow of their valuable knowledge assets throughout the netchain if they hope to maintain their long-term competitive positions. In this paper, we propose an interorganizational knowledge-sharing security model that integrates the value chain reference model (VCOR), the federated enterprise reference architecture model (FERA), and multidimensional data warehouse technologies to allow for the proactive monitoring of shared knowledge assets across an SOA-based netchain. The proposed architecture is novel In that it supports dynamic policy revision through the automated detection of knowledge-sharing breaches within a netchain—a process whose viability is demonstrated using network flow theory and a series of simulations. Existing business intelligence infrastructures can be readily modified to support the proposed model, as multidimensional data warehousing has already been adopted in many organizations.

Is human mobility tracking a good idea

Considering the trade-offs associated with human mobility tracking.

A Framework for Automated Web Business Intelligence Systems

This paper proposes a contemporary architecture to guide the development of Automated Web Business Intelligence (AWBI) systems. AWBI systems are outcome-oriented software applications that utilize automated processes in order to extract actionable organizational knowledge by leveraging the content of the web. The goal of an organization in implementing an AWBI system is to gain competitive advantage by utilizing information garnered from web sources to inform corporate decision making. Although more and more organizations are using AWBI systems to gain competitive advantage, the fact remains that most companies have not yet introduced an AWBI initiative as part of their overall decision support strategy. To that end, a solid framework by which organizations can implement AWBI systems is both timely and desirable. This paper presents such a framework, and in so doing outlines a feasible approach by which organizations can adopt AWBI systems in support of their strategic decision making processes.

The Impact of ICT Expenditures on Institutionalized Democracy and Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries

The impacts of ICT expenditures on developing countries are examined by relying on theories of adaptive structuration, global and local adaptation, and network society. Local adaptation to globalization is addressed through an empirical analysis of both the economic and political subsystems of developing countries. Least-squares regression models are used to investigate the impact of ICT expenditures on institutionalized democracy and foreign direct investment over a five-year period following the initial expenditures. ICT expenditures are shown to have a strong positive impact on future levels of foreign direct investment, as well as on future levels of institutionalized democracy in developing countries. The level of institutionalized democracy is also shown to mediate the impact of ICT expenditures on foreign direct investment. The implications of these findings for policy-makers are presented and discussed.

Who Are We? Mining Institutional Identities Using n-grams

Disciplines and organizations alike can be defined by the text they produce, the topics they discuss, and the language they employ. Analyzing such large amounts of text is challenging, but is nevertheless needed because it can help stakeholders to understand key themes in, and the evolution of their corporate or disciplinary identity. N-gram analysis is a leading text-mining technique that can be leveraged for this purpose. In this manuscript we present the development and demonstrate the potential utility of an n-gram analysis tool. We focus on revealing several aspects of the identity of an academic journal, namely Communications of the ACM (CACM), through the analysis of over 14 million unique n-grams and their relative frequencies. The results of the study imply that n-gram analyses may be a key tool in resolving the IS identity crisis. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The Intellectual Core of the IS Field: A Systematic Exploration of Theories in Our Top Journals

The information systems (IS) field has relied on a broad and varied collection of theories. The core of this theoretical landscape is an important determinant of the identity of the IS field, and has hence been discussed extensively in recent years. Nevertheless, little is known regarding the composition, consistency, and evolution of this theoretical core. Here we address these issues empirically by identifying the theories and levels of analysis which constitute the core of the IS field, and by quantifying the degree of theoretical uniformity among the fields top journals. Using a set of 87 theories in conjunction with n-gram analyses, we analyze the full text of every research article published in three top IS journals over a 22-year period in order to identify the fields most frequently and consistently used theories and theory clusters. We further identify substantial overlap among the theoretical core of the fields leading journals, but also note differences in the theoretical character of each journal.

How ICTs Affect Democracy and Corruption in Emerging Societies

In the wake of the Arab Spring, theres been speculation about the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to contribute to political transformation in emerging societies. Does adoption of these technologies really affect the political destinies of emerging nations?

Theory in North American Information Systems Research: A Culturomic Analysis

Since its inception, North American information systems (IS) research has relied on a broad and varied collection of theories. The core of this theoretical landscape is an important determinant of the IS research community’s identity, and, as such, researchers have discussed it extensively in recent years. Nevertheless, we know few concrete facts about the composition, consistency, or evolution of this theoretical core over time. Using a set of 318 theories in conjunction with n-gram analyses, we address these issues empirically by computationally analyzing the complete text of every research paper published in three leading North American IS journals over a 24-year period. In examining these 2,215 papers and more than 3.54 billion n-gram records, we identify the theories that constitute the overall core of North American IS research and provide insights into the evolution of that core. We further identify and quantify the nature of theoretical pluralism in North American IS research and examine the evolution of the theoretical density of IS research studies over time. Finally, our results shed light on the patterns of theory co-occurrence in North American IS research studies and demonstrate how such information can facilitate increasingly imperative efforts aimed at theory consolidation and generalization.

Introduction to Addressing Grand Challenges with Information Technology Minitrack

The Addressing Grand Challenges with Information Technology minitrack provides a forum for the discussion of the world’s most important or challenging problems, and the roles that information systems and information technologies can play in resolving those problems. The minitrack debuted just one year ago at HICSS-49, and was founded in response to common perceptions that a great deal of contemporary IS/IT research focuses on relatively esoteric or obscure topics that are of little practical value to society. In contrast to papers that focus on a narrow problem domain, this minitrack is designed to encourage researchers to think about big, important issues, the resolution of which would be widely beneficial to mankind. Innovative, ambitious, or unusual solutions to humanity’s greatest problems are particularly welcome in the Addressing Grand Challenges with Information Technology minitrack. For HICSS-50, the Grand Challenges minitrack is pleased to host the presentation of two papers that conform to the minitrack’s foundational principles. First among these is a paper entitled “Forming a Dimension of Digital Human Rights: Research Agenda for the Right to be Forgotten”, which addresses many interesting facets relating to the right to be forgotten, including discussions of this right from the perspectives of information privacy, technology, society/culture, and law/policy. The second paper in the minitrack for HICSS-50 is entitled “Financial Decision Support System for Wind Energy – Analysis of Mexican Projects and a Support Scheme Concept”, which describes a useful application of methods and technology within the specific context of wind-based energy generation. Both of these papers provide valuable and incremental insights into interesting and important problems, and should yield a lively and engaging discussion at the conference.