Gail Ridley

Awareness of IT Control Frameworks in an Australian State Government: A Qualitative Case Study

IT control frameworks set out best practices for IT actions, processes and monitoring within organisations, and are believed to lead to more effective IT governance. It is difficult to assess the adoption, awareness and perception of the value of the frameworks in the Australian public sector, due to the limited academic literature available. The exploratory research reported in this paper evaluated the awareness and understanding of IT control frameworks in three public sector agencies within an Australian state government, adopting a flexible definition of IT control frameworks. Comparison was made between the level of awareness and the outcomes of recent internal and external IT audits for the agencies, where available. Qualitative data were gathered from internal documentation and nine interviews, seeking IT and business-oriented perspectives. No use of formalised IT control frameworks was found, although informal approaches were noted. Awareness and understanding of IT control frameworks in the agencies appeared limited. The agencies investigated will lack motivation to derive value from utilising IT control frameworks without increased awareness of their purpose. Further research is warranted in this area, including the investigation of effective mechanisms for raising awareness of the potential of the frameworks.

A Preliminary Evaluation of Online Access Centres: Promoting Micro E-Business Activity in Small, Isolated Communities

This paper reports on a study of 18 of the 20 first round of community online access centres introduced in Tasmania, the only island state of Australia. The access centres were designed to redress some disadvantages of living and working in rural regions of Tasmania, such as isolation and economic inequity. The investigation aimed to determine and evaluate trends in micro e‐business activity associated with use of the centres. Statistical data collected over a two year period in eighteen community online access centres were utilised. Comparisons were made of five communities with populations of 2 000–15 000, and thirteen with populations below 2 000. Differences were found in micro e‐business activity generated in the two population categories. In centres in the larger communities, micro e‐business activity was more uniform over the period. However, this was in marked contrast to the surge in micro e‐business activity noted in the smaller population centres over the investigation period. It is proposed that differences in micro e‐business activity may be explained by more limited opportunities outside the online access centres in the smaller communities. The findings of this foundation study suggest that online access centres do promote e‐business activity in small, isolated communities, and they may offer potential to address limited business opportunities in geographically remote areas.

Theoretical approaches to gender and IT: examining some Australian evidence

Researchers have sought a theoretical perspective to explain the under‐representation of women in the information technology (IT) workforce of many nations. Gender imbalance limits the size and skill sets of IT human resources. The essentialist theory, social construction theory and individual differences theory of gender and IT have been proposed to account for the IT gender gap. This study examined evidence for these theories to explain this gap through content analysis of articles published in the national newspaper, The Australian, over three time periods. Newspaper articles report implicit theoretical perspectives on IT and gender and influence the views of the Australian public, including women. While evidence to support all theories was found over the three periods, the essentialist theory was dominant. Increased utility of the individual differences theory to account for the IT gender gap was seen in 2007–2008. The primary contribution of this study is to provide evidence that suggests that theoretical approaches, whether implicit or explicit, shape how people understand the under‐representation of women in the IT workforce. Media interventions are proposed to help redress the imbalance through increased awareness.

E-commerce in Developing Countries

The aim of the following paper is to present a review of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report, E‐Commerce and Development Report 2002, which focuses on progress towards e‐commerce in developing countries. The Report presents valuable information and analysis within its nine chapters that will be of interest to many countries. However, it is argued that the Report would have been more useful if UNCTAD had considered how the chapters related to each other, and in particular, how the topics mapped against the entire scope of what is a complex issue. For illustrative purposes, a preliminary framework was developed from the literature and then used for comparison against the issues covered in the Report, revealing gaps. It is recommended that UNCTAD build on the leadership role it has taken in the area by developing a framework of the issues on e‐commerce in developing countries that could be used for future publications in the area.

Research productivity of accounting academics in changing and challenging times

Purpose – The aim of this study is to investigate factors considered to impact on the research productivity of accounting academics, and identify how the factors were related. The study aims to set itself within an international context of increased workloads, and revenue‐driven research and teaching.Design/methodology/approach – A meta‐analysis was conducted of international studies from accounting and related business fields, published between 1988 and 2008, that examined factors influencing the research productivity of academics. A data‐driven approach to thematic analysis was used to synthesise the results, which were categorised into two time periods.Findings – Three clusters of factors that accounted for researcher productivity were found to have had most focus in related studies over the period. These were “Institutional characteristics”, “Intrinsic motivation” and “Knowledge, skills and other individual characteristics”. Hierarchical clusters of factors operating at government, institution and ind...

Towards evaluating health information portals: a Tasmanian E-health case study

This paper investigates the provision of health information for rural residents through a web portal. Approaches to evaluate health portals are applied to a case study, where health information is made available through a portal accessed by rural Tasmanians. The portal was found to be a quality website, from an evaluation of its nature, success and quality.

Resilience and national security

Although “resilience” is a commonly used term, it has multiple meanings and lacks precision. The aim of this chapter is to provide a scholarly review of resilience for national security, including future directions and needs. The chapter considers problems that have been raised about resilience in the literature, and then analyses these when applied to national security. The method used was a researcher review of the substantial, growing, inter-disciplinary and largely immature body of literature. Resilience for national security is an area that extends far beyond military concepts. Current diverse issues include the transfer of some resilience responsibilities from governments to communities, managing private sector partner collaboration and the limited empirical research available on how to build resilience in organisations. Future empirical research undertaken in organisational settings will provide more guidance on how to develop resilience. This review is indicative that much of it will be transferable to a national security context. The chapter points to future directions and research opportunities. For a life-critical issue like resilience from a national security context, there is obvious value in increased clarity of understanding.