Hoon S. Cha

Managing the knowledge supply chain: an organizational learning model of information technology offshore outsourcing

In this paper, we present an economic learning model that helps to formalize the complex relationships among an offshoring firms knowledge levels, production costs, and coordination costs. Specifically, we model a domestic firms use of a selective offshore strategy (i.e., offshoring only a portion of its information technology activities) to exploit, through IT investments or contractual provisions, the foreign vendors large, scale-driven repository of production knowledge. We illustrate the conditions under which knowledge transfers during offshoring may reduce a domestic firms in-house production costs, leading to total cost savings in both the short term and the long term. Alternatively, when knowledge transfers are not sufficiently large, some short-lived offshoring projects may generate substantial cost savings to the domestic firm; however, long-lived offshoring projects may cause a disruption in the knowledge supply chain, resulting in substantial losses in the later stages of the project. A firm that fails to realize the costs associated with such a disruption soon enough in the project life may find itself locked into a disadvantageous offshoring agreement without any recourse. However, a domestic firm may be able to overcome a disruption in its knowledge supply chain by exploiting the learning-by-doing production knowledge generated by the foreign vendors economies of scale. The managerial implications derived from our learning model may help guide firms as they consider the impacts of offshore contracts and knowledge management investments on firm knowledge, production costs, and coordination costs.

The mediating role of consumer trust in an online merchant in predicting purchase intention

Abstract It is widely known in related literature that trust in a merchant reduces the perceived risk of an online transaction. However, there are theoretical reasons to postulate that the perceived risk acts as a barrier to consumer trust. Furthermore, existing studies suggest that trust is an important predictor of purchase intention. Thus, this research aims at investigating the mediating role of consumer trust in an online merchant in the relationships between components of perceived risk and purchase intention: (1) examining the total effect without mediation, and (2) examining the mediation effect. When we probed the total effect, the findings revealed that performance, psychological, financial, and online payment risks have a significant negative influence on purchase intention. On the other hand, an examination of the mediation effect indicated that trust in an online merchant completely mediates the effect of performance risk, but partially mediates that of the psychological risk. Given the mixture of unmediated as well as mediated effect of perceived risks on purchase intention, the paper concludes that efforts, made by online merchants, to lessen certain types of risk will first improve consumer trust, and then ultimately, increase consumers intention to buy online.

A Learning Model of Information Technology Outsourcing: Normative Implications

We use an economic learning model to examine how knowledge parameters characterizing a sourcing relationship between a vendor and a client interact with production costs and coordination costs to affect the business value of alternative outsourcing strategies. This information is then used to determine a firms optimal rate of information technology (IT) outsourcing. We find that the optimal outsourcing rate is dependent on the ability of the outsourcing client to acquire production knowledge from its outsourcing vendor and to retain its internal coordination knowledge despite losses of fundamental production skills due to outsourcing. Specifically, when the client is unable to acquire sufficient production knowledge from the external vendor, the clients optimal outsourcing decision is to engage in either one of two extreme strategies—total insourcing or total outsourcing—depending on the rate at which the clients coordination knowledge depreciates. On the other hand, when the client is able to acquire a substantial amount of production knowledge from the external vendor, the firms optimal decision is to outsource only a portion of its IT services, where the proportion depends on the rate at which the clients coordination knowledge depreciates.

IT certifications, outsourcing and information systems personnel turnover

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the factors that influence the turnover intention of information system (IS) personnel.Design/methodology/approach – Anchored in the theory of human capital and the theory of planned behavior, as well as an extensive review of existing turnover literature, the authors propose a novel set of variables based on the three‐level analysis framework suggested by Joseph et al. to examine IS turnover intention. At the individual level, IT certifications, IT experience, and past external and internal turnover behaviors are considered. At the firm level, industry type (IT versus non‐IT firms) and IT human resource practices regarding raise and promotion are included. Finally, at the environmental level, personal concerns about external changes characterized by IT outsourcing and offshoring are studied. The authors investigate the impact of these variables on turnover intention using a large sample of 10,085 IT professionals working in the USA.Findings – The empirical analysis bas...

Elaboration Likelihood in Knowledge Management: A Model and Experimental Test

Understanding knowledge transfer using computer-mediated context is becoming essential given that organizations are spread more and more globally. In this paper, we adopt elaboration likelihood theory to investigate knowledge transfer processes in a knowledge management system (KMS). We report the results of an exploratory experiment conducted to examine the impact of argument quality, source credibility and validation on knowledge usefulness of a document in a KMS. Our findings indicate that while validation of knowledge in KMS positively affects perceptions of knowledge usefulness, higher argument quality was associated with lower usefulness ratings. Surprisingly, source credibility has no effect on perceptions of knowledge usefulness. The implications of these results for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Improving Household Surveys Through Computer-Assisted Data Collection Use of Touch-Screen Laptops in Challenging Environments

Data on land use change and socioeconomic dynamics in developing countries are often collected via paper-and-pencil interviewing (PAPI). This article reviews a computer-aided personal interviewing (CAPI) methodology adopted for the fourth wave of a panel survey administered in a remote region of the Brazilian Amazon in 2009. Ruggedized touch-screen laptops were used to address challenges associated with survey administration in this setting as well as limitations associated with the PAPI method. The authors discuss hardware and software considerations, methodological innovations, and tests for mode effects on missing item response rates and enumerator learning effects.

Information Influence in Mediated Knowledge Transfer: An Experimental Test of Elaboration Likelihood

Understanding knowledge transfer in computer mediated contexts is becoming essential given that organizations are spread more and more globally. In this article, the authors adopt elaboration likelihood theory to investigate knowledge transfer processes in a Knowledge Management System (KMS). They report the results of an exploratory experiment conducted to examine the impact of argument quality, source credibility and validation on knowledge usefulness of a document in a KMS. Their findings indicate that while validation of knowledge in KMS positively affects perceptions of knowledge usefulness, higher argument quality was associated with lower usefulness ratings. Surprisingly, source credibility has no effect on perceptions of knowledge usefulness. The implications of these results for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.

IT Outsourcing: Assessing the Antecedents and Impacts of Knowledge Integration

In this paper, we empirically examine the factors that drive outsourced information systems development (ISD) project success in the post-contractual stage - that is, after the decision to outsource has been made. Specifically, we examine the impact of client expertise, vendor expertise, and project modularity on the clients and vendors knowledge integration capabilities during the outsourcing relationship. In addition, we examine the differential impact of each firms integrative capabilities on the success of outsourced ISD projects. We empirically examine these issues using project-level survey data from 114 U.S. firms engaging in ISD outsourcing projects.

The Value and Risk of Curated Shopping: Online Consumer’s Choice

Online shopping is attractive to consumers because they can look for and compare products faster and easier. However, as the number of products available online rapidly increases, consumers are required to spend more time and efforts searching for relevant product information. As a result, curated shopping, which recommends a limited number of products carefully chosen by professional shopping curators, is becoming more popular among online consumers. In this study, we empirically investigate how the consumers’ perceived risk, perceived value of curated shopping, and personal characteristics affect their decision to use curated shopping. Our results show that the perceived convenience, the efficiency of curated shopping, and the degree of shopping fatigue are positive factors that increase the intention to use curated shopping. On the other hand, the perceived financial risk is shown to be a significant negative factor. Furthermore, we found that previous experiences of curated shopping moderate the aforementioned relationships. The academic and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Determining a Firm's Optimal Outsourcing Rate: A Learning Model Perspective

We present a decision model of a firm’s optimal outsourcing rate as an extension of Cha et. al [1]’s previous work on the economic risk of knowledge loss and deskilling in the outsourcing context. Specifically, the model examines the impacts of two critical model parameters--the knowledge transfer rate and the coordination knowledge depreciation rate—on the firm’s cost minimizing outsourcing rate. When the knowledge transfer rate is low we find that the optimal decision is either total insourcing or total outsourcing, depending on the coordination knowledge depreciation rate. However, as the knowledge transfer rate increases, the firm’s optimal decision becomes a selective outsourcing strategy that creates an interesting bargaining problem.