Jim Q. Chen

Systems requirements for organizational learning

To produce organizational memory, knowledge management systems must transform individual knowledge into organizational knowledge, sometimes grudgingly.

Characteristics of internet users and their privacy concerns: a comparative study between China and the United States

Abstract Concern about the privacy of online consumers is a global issue. Given the global nature of the Internet, companies planning and implementing e-commerce must understand the differences in privacy concerns of consumers in different cultures with different social/economic contexts to become effective in business. Motivated by this need, this study analyzes and compares the privacy concerns of online consumers in China and the United States, identifies major factors related to these concerns, and discusses the cultural/social/economic backgrounds of the related phenomena found in the study.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of U.S. and Chinese Computer Security Awareness

Despite the recent increased attention afforded malware by the popular press, there appears to be a dearth in user awareness and understanding of certain aspects of the security paradigm. This article presents a comparison of user awareness levels of rootkits, spyware, and viruses between U.S. and Chinese users. The results of a survey of 210 U.S. respondents and 278 Chinese respondents indicate that respondents’ awareness and knowledge of rootkits is well below that of spyware and viruses. Data analysis further reveals that there are significant differences in Chinese and U.S. user perceptions with regard to spyware and computer viruses. However, there is no difference in cross-cultural awareness with regard to rootkits. Due to the ubiquitous nature of the Internet, rootkits and other malware do not yield at transnational borders. An important step to mitigate the threats posed by malware, such as rootkits, is to raise awareness levels of users worldwide.

Building Web Applications: Challenges, Architectures, and Methods

Abstract Because of its flexibility, the Web is becoming the applications platform of choice, and applications of the Web are proliferating rapidly. These two trends call for rapid development and deployment of Web-based software, and this article presents architectures and development methods to enable beleaguered IT shops to quickly produce quality software for the Web.

A Cross-Culture Empirical Study of M-commerce Privacy Concerns

There has been little empirical research about consumer information privacy concerns in the context of mobile commerce. This article explores the relationships between mobile phone users’ characteristics and their information privacy concerns from a cross-cultural perspective by analyzing the mobile phone consumers in the United States and Korea. The study collected a total of 540 usable responses, including 276 U.S. responses and 264 Korean responses. Analyses revealed that Koreans were much more active in mobile commerce activities. In general, the U.S. sample expressed significantly higher levels of information privacy concerns than those of the Korean sample. The number of years of mobile commerce experience seems to have little impact on the privacy concerns of Americans. Income does not seem to have any bearing in Americans’ mobile commerce activities. Understanding the mobile users’ demographics and their attitudes toward information privacy concerns in different cultural contexts will help mobile commerce businesses better serve global consumers.

Analysis of the total quality management-based software auditing

As the total quality management (TQM) method becomes the mainstream of quality control, a new auditing framework is needed to guide the process of software quality assurance. This paper discusses the importance of the TQM method and proposes a TQM-based information system auditing framework. A TQM-based quality auditing could enhance the eff ectiveness and efficiency of the software quality management .

E-commerce security threats: awareness, trust and practice

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has always been accompanied by security concerns. Despite numerous studies in the areas of security and trust, to date there is a dearth of research that addresses the impact of security trust and security awareness on the prevalence of online activities. This study investigates the relationships among awareness of security threats, security trust, frequency of e-commerce activities and security practices. The results presented herein suggest that security awareness level is positively correlated to security practices. The security trust level of frequent e-commerce users is higher than that of infrequent e-commerce users. The study also found that there was no significant correlation between trust level and awareness.

Security Perceptions of e-Commerce Users

In todays computer security paradigm, e-commerce participants are faced with many types of malware. Spyware and viruses are two such examples that continue to threaten secure e-business. Despite the best efforts of information security professionals to lessen the frequency and impact of the infections, these infections show no sign of abatement. Because typical users are vulnerable to malware and security breaches, increasing education and awareness is a necessary step in efforts to mitigate the malware threat. However, prior to implementing an effective education program, user behavior toward malware and the awareness levels must be assessed. To this end, the efforts described herein are to assess both familiarity and knowledge of respondents from two universities relative to malware. Based on data from approximately 200 information technology (IT) users, it was found that there are differences in security awareness and perceptions between light and heavy e-commerce users.

Light-Weight Development Method: a Case Study

The Internet technology has changed the way software applications are designed, built, and distributed. The technology enables us to deliver applications easily and quickly, and provides more efficient methods to do maintenance and updates. Web application developments present specific challenges to developers, such as content-rich, security, volatile system requirements, application scalability, rapidly evolving development tools, and ever increasing demand for fast system deployment by customers. These add up to the difficulty of software project planning, budgeting, and controlling. In recent years a number of new development methodologies, called agile methodologies, have become increasingly popular in the software industry. This paper reviews several major agile methodologies, compares them with traditional methods, and proposes a selection framework for business. The paper also provides a case study of an early attempt to use agile development at Intel. The success at Intel proved that agile methods can be used to develop successful web-based applications at large organizations.

Organizational Ecology Success Factors in the Business: A Case Study at Fingerhut Inc.

The proliferation, growth, decline, and re-growth of the high tech industry during the past several decades has allowed for the creation of new organizational concepts. One of these concepts finds its theoretical underpinnings in the areas of ecology and biology. This paper attempts to apply organizational ecology, particularly the well-known Verhulst-Pearl (VP) ecological logistic growth model, to the life cycle of e-commerce enterprises using Fingerhut Inc. as an example noting its successes and failures.