Khaled A. Alshare

The Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence Framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the causal relationships in the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) Education Performance Excellence Criteria.Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 220 respondents from 15 United Arab Emirates (UAE) universities and colleges, results of regression analysis and confirmatory structural equation modeling show that all of the hypothesized causal relationships in the Baldrige model are statistically significant.Findings – A comprehensive “measurement model” grounded in the Baldrige Performance Excellence in Education Criteria for the 33 items of measurement is developed, tested, and found to be valid and reliable. Leadership is identified as a driver for all components in the Baldrige System, including measurement, analysis and knowledge management, strategic planning, faculty and staff focus and process management. All Baldrige components (categories) are significantly linked with organizational outcomes as represented by the two...

A path analytic model and measurement of the business value of e-government: An international perspective

The paper tests a model of measuring the business value of e-government. It provides results of its application to business firms operating in Dubai and using its government electronic services (e-government). The dimensions of the e-government business value model include information technology (IT) capability, search and transaction-oriented uses of e-government, intelligence generation, new business development, time savings, and firm profitability. The dimensions of e-government use and e-government benefits on firms profitability are tested. The study uses self-reported data and is based on a sample of 1859 firms operating in Dubai. Using LISREL, we employed confirmatory factor analysis to assess the factor structure of each of our latent constructs. Path analysis with composite variables is used to test the hypothesized relationships among the constructs. Several rival path models are tested by comparing the goodness-of-fit of each. The results confirm that firms IT capabilities are positively and directly associated with the use of e-government services, enhanced firm intelligence generation, and firm profitability. IT capabilities are also associated indirectly with the firms time savings from e-government use. Other results show that the use of e-government, search or transaction-oriented, is positively related to enhanced intelligence generation, new business development, and time savings. The paper provides empirical evidence about the positive effect of use of e-government services on the performance of firms. Results also support the positive effect of new business generated from e-government use and time savings. The relationship between use of e-government and profitability is also mediated by other variables. In general, mean scores show that the average level of use of e-government in our sample was still low. The study strongly implies that firms in Dubai should use e-government as an information source to enhance their market intelligence and build revenues. In addition, IT suppliers should emphasize e-government services that link firms to customers and collaborators, and facilitate access to key information resources. Government agencies should enhance their e-government information services to improve business performance. The study provides some preliminary evidence about the criteria that businesses use to evaluate their adoption of e-government services. This could be valuable for governments in designing and implementing their e-government services. The findings might have policy implications for the implementation of Dubai e-government services.

An Exploratory Analysis of Culture, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, and Internet Acceptance: The Case of Jordan

ABSTRACT This study examined the impacts of cultural dimensions, perceived ease of use (PEOU), and perceived usefulness (PU) of managers intentions to use the Internet. Based on data collected from 507 Jordanian managers, findings suggested that while two cultural dimensions, power distance (PD) and collectivism (CO) had significant positive impacts on managers intentions to use the Internet the other two cultural dimensions, uncertainty avoidance (UA) and femininity (FE) had no impact. Additionally, both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use had significant positive impact on managers intentions. The results showed that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use mediated the relationship between cultural dimensions and managers intentions. Findings should assist organizations to understand the influence of cultural values on computer-technology acceptance by integrating societal and cultural values into their technological diffusion. Finally, implications and suggestions for future research were also provided for practitioners and academicians.

Factors influence consumers' adoption of mobile payment devices in Qatar

This research examines the factors that influence the customers intention in adapting Mobile Payment Device MPD technology in an emerging economy Qatar. Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model UTAUT is employed as the basis for the proposed research model. A questionnaire survey is used as a tool to collect the data. Research results reveal that performance expectancy, social influence, and perceived information security have direct significant effects on consumers behavioural intention to adapt the MPD. It is also found that effort expectancy has indirect effect on intention through performance expectancy. Demographic factors such as gender, age, and self-reported knowledge about MPD moderate the relationship between behavioural intention to adopt MPD and the predicting variables. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

Business Communication Skills in Information Systems (IS) Curricula: Perspectives of IS Educators and Students

As the importance of communication skills for students, regardless of their disciplines, becomes evident, it is important to determine whether colleges provide students with adequate opportunities to acquire such skills. The authors compared information systems (IS) educator and student perceptions of communication skills in IS curricula. Gender, discipline, position and student classification, and school size were among the variables that were examined. Results showed that educators and students agreed that IS curricula had the appropriate emphasis on many of the communication skills. However, the two groups significantly differed on their extent of agreement or disagreement with appropriate level of emphasis and the number of courses that cover such communication skills. Results revealed that educators felt there were a few communication skills, such as proofreading, listening, facilitating meetings, and using interpersonal skills with external customers and management, that needed more emphasis in the IS curriculum. Implications for educators and researchers are reported.

Team Satisfaction and Student Group Performance: A Cross-Cultural Study

The authors examined the relationship between team satisfaction and students’ performance in group projects in two universities, one from the United States and one from Qatar. The results showed that there is a significant positive correlation between team satisfaction and group performance only for the American students. Demographic factors such as gender, employment, course level, course subject, and group gender were partially significant in influencing students’ responses. American students performed better than Qatari students, but they were less satisfied with their team members. These differences may be attributed to the cultural dissimilarities between the American and the Qatari students; thus, students’ cultural backgrounds should be considered when forming groups.

Examining the Moderating Role of National Culture on an Extended Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract Previous research studies have primarily examined the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in one country or in developed and western countries. This paper attempts to answer two questions of particular significance that remain only partially answered in the information systems literature. The first question asks: do TAM relationships hold good for a group of countries of diverse national cultures? The second question investigates: can national culture explain differences in TAM relationships across countries? To answer the above two questions, a structural equation modeling approach was applied using computer-related data collected from college students in the USA and two countries of non-Western cultures: Chile, and the United Arab Emirates. The research findings imply that for the group of three countries, all relationships among the components of an extended TAM that incorporates individual computer knowledge as an external variable were supported. In addition, national culture moderates four of the TAM relationships.

Determinants of Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Network Communities in Organizational Context

This paper attempts to examine factors that affect knowledge sharing by individuals in virtual network communities (VNCs) from an organisational context. A research model based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was developed and empirically tested using a web-based survey questionnaire. Antecedent variables are considered as organisational support, organisational culture, subjective norm, web-self-efficacy, attitude towards knowledge sharing, and intention to sharing knowledge. The results showed that attitude towards knowledge sharing, organisational culture, and subjective norm have significant positive effects on knowledge sharing intention which in turns has a significant positive impact on knowledge sharing. Additionally, organisational support indirectly impact intention through attitude. Additionally, the results revealed that web-self-efficacy gender, age, educational level, and firms age were not significant. Implications for researchers and managers were reported.

An examination of factors that influence the number of information security policy violations in Qatari organizations

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate factors that impact the number of information security policy violations in Qatari organizations and to examine the moderating effect of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on the relationships between the independent factors and the number of information security policy violations. Design/methodology/approach – Grounded in related theories from the fields of criminology, behavioral psychology and theory of planned behavior, two components that affect the number of information security policy violations were identified. A quantitative approach was used by developing a questionnaire survey to collect the data. The research model was tested using 234 employees from different Qatari organizations. Findings – The results of the study indicate that trust, the impact of implementing information security policy on work environment and the clarity of the scope of the information security policy were significant factors in predicting the number of information security policy vio...

Consumer online shopping attitude-intention and their determinants in Qatar

The study examines consumer online shopping attitude and intention and their antecedents in Qatar, one of the strongest economies in the world. Commonly used determinants of consumer online shopping attitude and intention in the literature are selected namely usefulness of online shopping, security of online shopping, privacy of online shopping, ease of use of online shopping and self-efficacy of online shopping. An analysis of a sample of 129 cross-section consumers in Doha, Qatar, supports our contention that the usefulness of online shopping, security of online shopping, privacy of online shopping and ease of use of online shopping influence consumer online shopping attitude. In turn, consumer online shopping attitude together with self-efficacy of online shopping affect consumer online shopping intention. Contrary to the expectation, usefulness of online shopping is not a significant predictor of consumer online shopping intention in Qatar. Results and implications are discussed.