Hepu Deng

Critical factors for evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka

This paper aims to identify the critical factors for evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka from the perspective of the delivery of public services and the efficiency of public organizations. To fulfill these aims of the study, a conceptual framework is developed based on a comprehensive review of the related literature by considering the delivery of public services and the efficiency of public organizations. With the collected survey data from Sri Lanka, the conceptual framework is empirically tested and validated by performing a confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling. The study shows that the delivery of quality information and services, user-orientation of information and services, efficiency and responsiveness of public organizations, and contributions of public organizations to the environmental sustainability are the critical factors for evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka. As the first study in examining the critical factors for evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka, the findings of the study would be of practical significance to the continuous development of e-government in Sri Lanka and other countries in the world.

Consensus-based decision support for multicriteria group decision making

Consensus decision making is complex and challenging in multicriteria group decision making due to the involvement of several decision makers, the presence of multiple, and often conflicting criteria, and the existence of subjectiveness and imprecision in the decision making process. To ensure effective decisions being made, the interest of all the decision makers usually represented by the degree of consensus in the decision making process has to be adequately considered. This paper presents a consensus-based approach for effectively solving the multicriteria group decision making problem. The subjectiveness and imprecision of the decision making process is adequately handled by using intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. An interactive algorithm is developed for consensus building in the group decision making process. A decision support system framework is presented for improving the effectiveness of the consensus building process. An example is presented for demonstrating the applicability of the proposed approach for solving the multicriteria group decision making problem in real world situations.

Intelligent decision support for effectively evaluating and selecting ships under uncertainty in marine transportation

This paper presents an intelligent decision support system for evaluating and selecting specific ships under uncertainty. A task-oriented procedure is developed for determining the relative importance of the evaluation and selection criteria with respect to a specific shipping task. A fuzzy multicriteria analysis algorithm is developed for determining the overall performance of each ship across all the selection criteria and their associated sub-criteria. An intelligent decision support system capable of integrating the developments above is proposed for facilitating the ship evaluation and selection process. An example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed intelligent decision support system.

Multi-criteria group decision making for evaluating the performance of e-waste recycling programs under uncertainty

This paper presents a multi-criteria group decision making approach for effectively evaluating the performance of e-waste recycling programs under uncertainty in an organization. Intuitionistic fuzzy numbers are used for adequately representing the subjective and imprecise assessments of the decision makers in evaluating the relative importance of evaluation criteria and the performance of individual e-waste recycling programs with respect to individual criteria in a given situation. An interactive fuzzy multi-criteria decision making algorithm is developed for facilitating consensus building in a group decision making environment to ensure that all the interest of individual decision makers have been appropriately considered in evaluating alternative e-waste recycling programs with respect to their corporate sustainability performance. The developed algorithm is then incorporated into a multi-criteria decision support system for making the overall performance evaluation process effectively and simple to use. Such a multi-criteria decision making system adequately provides organizations with a proactive mechanism for incorporating the concept of corporate sustainability into their regular planning decisions and business practices. An example is presented for demonstrating the applicability of the proposed approach in evaluating the performance of e-waste recycling programs in organizations.

Evaluating the critical determinants for adopting e‐market in Australian small‐and‐medium sized enterprises

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation of the critical determinants for the adoption of e‐market in Australian small‐and‐medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within the technology‐organization‐environment (TOE) framework.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model is proposed for better understanding the adoption of e‐market in Australian SMEs. Structural equation modelling is used for testing and validating the proposed conceptual model based on the survey data collected from Australian SMEs. A logistic regression analysis is conducted for identifying the relationship between the critical determinants and the adoption of e‐market in Australian SMEs.Findings – A positive relationship is identified between the perceived direct benefit, top management support, external pressure, trust and the adoption of e‐market in Australian SMEs. The top management support emerges as the most critical determinant. The perceived indirect benefit, size and organization readiness, howev...

Measuring the public value of e‐government: a case study from Sri Lanka

Purpose – This paper aims to present a case study on the public value of the e‐Sri Lanka program. Four major dimensions of public value creation through e‐government including the delivery of public services, the achievement of outcomes, the development of trust, and the effectiveness of public organizations are considered in evaluating the performance of the e‐Sri Lanka program. The progress of e‐Sri Lanka program is evaluated, and the potential areas for improvement in the development of e‐government in Sri Lanka are identified.Design/methodology/approach – Existing methodologies for evaluating the public value of e‐government have been critically analyzed. The need for extending existing methodologies for better assessing the performance of e‐government is discussed. Consequently, an extended conceptual framework is developed for evaluating the public value of e‐government. Various national survey data in Sri Lanka on e‐government development are used for conducting the empirical analysis on the perfor...

Critical success factors in e‐learning ecosystems: a qualitative study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the critical success factors for sustainable e‐learning in an e‐learning ecosystem framework. Three critical components of the e‐learning ecosystem including principles and methods, processes and systems, and substance and content are considered based on a comprehensive review of the relevant literature in e‐learning.Design/methodology/approach – Systematic interviews are conducted with experts in e‐learning for identifying the critical success factors to sustainable e‐learning within an e‐learning ecosystem framework. This leads to the development of an e‐learning success model that describes the underlying relationship between and among the identified critical success factors.Findings – A comprehensive analysis of the interview results shows that there are several barriers to the effective adoption of the proposed e‐learning success model for improving the effectiveness of e‐learning. These barriers include a lack of understanding of the technologies be...

Fuzzy Multicriteria Decision Support for Information Systems Project Selection

This paper presents a fuzzy multicriteria group decision making approach for selecting information systems projects. The inherent subjectiveness and imprecision of the selection process is modeled by using linguistic terms characterized by triangular fuzzy numbers. To avoid the complex and unreliable process of comparing fuzzy numbers usually required in fuzzy multicriteria analysis, a new algorithm is developed based on the degree of dominance and the degree of optimality concepts. A multicriteria decision support system is proposed to facilitate the evaluation and selection process. An information systems project selection problem is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.

Knowledge management in supporting collaborative innovation community capacity building

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the role of knowledge management in collaborative innovation and identifies the knowledge management approaches for supporting collaborative innovation community capacity building (CICCB) in organizations. The importance of collaborative innovation in developing organizational competitiveness is increasingly being recognized in both theory and practice worldwide. Collaborative innovation, however, is still under-explored from the trans-disciplinary perspective of knowledge management and community capacity building. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive review of the related literature in collaborative innovation and knowledge management is conducted. Three demands for CICCB, including trust building for enhancing the effectiveness, sustainability building for improving the efficiency and extensibility building for developing the competitiveness in organizations, are identified, which paves the way for the development of a holistic approach to effective CIC...

A fuzzy rule-based approach for screening international distribution centres

In practical situations, a decision maker often has to deal with numerous alternatives in evaluating and selecting the most suitable international distribution centre (IDC) location for enhancing the organizational competitiveness. To improve the effectiveness of the decision making process, it is critical to reduce the number of alternatives through screening so that the decision maker can focus on the most attractive alternatives for further consideration. This paper presents a fuzzy rule-based approach to effectively screen decision alternatives in adequately solving the problem of evaluating and selecting IDC locations. Case-based reasoning with the use of fuzzy production rules is adopted to screen out unattractive alternatives based on past experience in a specific decision making situation. A decision support system based on the proposed approach is presented to improve the effectiveness of the screening process. An example is given to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach in improving the effectiveness of the decision making process in multicriteria decision making.