Linying Dong

Charismatic leadership and user acceptance of information technology

Although there is widespread agreement that leadership has important effects on information technology (IT) acceptance and use, relatively little empirical research to date has explored this phenomenon in detail. This paper integrates the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) with charismatic leadership theory, and examines the role of project champions influencing user adoption. PLS analysis of survey data collected from 209 employees in seven organizations that had engaged in a large-scale IT implementation revealed that project champion charisma was positively associated with increased performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition perceptions of users. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research in this area are provided.

Top management support of enterprise systems implementations

Despite the general consensus regarding the critical role of top management in the information systems (ISs) implementation process, the literature has not yet provided a clear and compelling understanding of the top management support (TMS) concept. Applying metastructuring (Orlikowski et al., 1995) as a guiding framework for understanding TMS behaviors, this paper attempts to address the gap by focusing on two key questions: (1) What supportive actions do top managers engage in during IS implementations? (2) How do these actions affect IS implementation outcomes? Analyses of in-depth case studies at two Canadian universities that had implemented a large-scale enterprise system revealed three distinct types of TMS actions: TMS – resource provision (TMSR – actions related to supplying key resources such as funds, technologies, staff, and user training programs); TMS – change management (TMSC – actions related to fostering organizational receptivity of a new IS); and TMS – vision sharing (TMSV – actions related to ensuring that lower-level managers develop a common understanding of the core objectives and ideals for the new system). Results suggest that different support behaviors exercise different influences on implementation outcomes, and that top managers need to adjust their support actions to achieve the desired outcomes. In particular, TMSR affected project completion, TMSC impacted formation of user skills and attitudes, and TMSV influenced middle manager buy-in. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Exploring managerial factors affecting ERP implementation: an investigation of the Klein‐Sorra model using regression splines

Abstract. Predicting successful implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is still an elusive problem. The cost of ERP implementation failures is exceedingly high in terms of quantifiable financial resources and organizational disruption. The lack of good explanatory and predictive models makes it difficult for managers to develop and plan ERP implementation projects with any assurance of success. In this paper we investigate the Klein & Sorra theoretical model of implementation effectiveness. To test this model we develop and validate a data collection instrument to capture the appropriate data, and then use multivariate adaptive regression splines to examine the assertions of the model and suggest additional significant relationships among the factors of their model. Our research offers new dimensions for studying managerial interventions in IT implementation and insights into factors that can be managed to improve the effectiveness of ERP implementation projects.

Promoting the continuing usage of strategic information systems: The role of supervisory leadership in the successful implementation of enterprise systems

Organizations face significant challenges in capturing value from their investments in strategic information systems such as enterprise systems (ES). Managers are a powerful source of influence shaping the post-adoption attitudes and behaviors of users and the success of ES. However, the extant IS literature has focused primarily on the role of top management and theoretical explanations of the role of supervisors in fostering continuing usage of ES are lacking. Drawing on transformational leadership theory and the IS continuance (ISC) model, this paper conceptualizes a theoretical model differentiating the influence mechanisms through which different types of leadership behaviors influence the success of ES. Data collected from 192 users of ES confirms our theorization. We find that transformational leadership behaviors of supervisors influence users’ evaluations of satisfaction and perceived usefulness, while their transactional leadership behaviors influence users’ ES continuance intention by moderating the effects of user satisfaction and perceived usefulness on ES continuance intention. This study advances research on the role of leadership behaviors of supervisors in capturing value from enterprise systems. The research also contributes to practice by suggesting effective strategies for promoting continued usage of mission critical systems such as enterprise systems and delivering value from firms’ IT investments.

A case study: The deficiency of information security assurance practice of a financial institute in the protection of privacy information

Driven by business efficiencies and the need for a competitive advantage, enterprises are now collecting more clientspsila information to increase market share and to offer better services. The hyper-growth of business and competition increases the implementation of ubiquitous and pervasive computing. Such implementations have created a privacy void, in which clientspsila information is sent over from machines to machines without the assurance of information security. information security assurance (IA) aims to restore clientspsila confidence level by ensuring confidentiality, integrity and availability of their information. This paper suggests a holistic and systems approach to deploying information security assurance and illustrates the approach by using a case of inappropriate information privacy practices in a large Canadian financial institute.

An Information Assurance Framework on Trusted Autonomic Communications

Increasing incidents of security breaches and identity thefts have pressured organizations to make information security a priority in order to restore consumerspsila trust. As shown in the four case studies reported in this paper, ensuring information security goes beyond advanced technological solutions as it involves a complex interaction process between human actors and these technological solutions. Therefore, we propose an Information Assurance framework to address the complexity of information security, and illustrate the usefulness of our framework by applying it to the four cases. We conclude the study with a discussion and directions for future research.

Why aren’t we eating our own dog food?

CanTel was one of the fastest growing Canadian telecommunications companies that provided telephone, cable, Internet, and cloud services. In 2015, the company employed over 40,000 employees and boasted of achieving over Cdn

Testing Klein and Sorra's innovation implementation model: An empirical examination

10 billion of annual revenue and serving over 10 million customers. As a cloud service provider, the company faced a dilemma of not being able to fulfill the IT needs of its internal business units. As a result, one of the business units, Digital Channel, resorted to a third-party cloud service, and this set an example for other business units to follow suit. Jeff Smith, the CEO of the company CanTel, and the CIO Jane Lockhart had to find a solution to the issue that had significant implications to its business-IT alignment and IT governance.