M. Adam Mahmood

On-line Shopping Behavior: Cross-Country Empirical Research

Electronic commerce is a worldwide phenomenon. Many Internet users browse the Web for information on products and services, but very few actually make purchases on-line. Until now, research on the factors that promote on-line shopping behavior has treated them independently and at the national level. The present study, in contrast, uses cross-country data from 26 nations and analyzes constructs with a structural equation model (SEM). The study finds that the factors of trust and economic conditions, but not educational level and technological savvy, make a significant positive contribution to online shopping behavior. In fact they explain more than 80 percent of the variability in online shopping behavior. Empirical guidelines are provided to help managers select one or more macro-level predictors to explain on-line shopping behavior. Future research opportunities are delineated.

Employees’ Adherence to Information Security Policies: An Empirical Study

It is widely agreed that a key threat to information security is caused by careless employees who do not adhere to the information security policies of their organizations. In order to ensure that employees comply with the organization’s information security procedures, a number of information security policy compliance measures have been proposed in the past. Prior research has, however, criticized these measures as lacking theoretically and empirically grounded principles. To fill this gap in research, the present study advances a novel model that explains employees’ adherence to information security policies. This model modifies and combines the Protection Motivation Theory, the General Deterrence Theory, the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Innovation Diffusion Theory and Rewards. In order to empirically validate this model, we collected data (N=917) from four different companies. The findings show that direct paths from threat appraisal, self-efficacy, normative beliefs, and visibility to the intention to comply with IS security policies were significant. Response efficacy, on the other hand, did not have a significant effect on the intention to comply with IS security policies. Sanctions have a significant effect on actual compliance with IS security policies, whereas rewards did not have a significant effect on actual compliance with the IS security policies. Finally, the intention to comply with IS security policies has a significant effect on actual compliance with the IS security policies.

Information Technology Investments and Organizational Productivity and Performance: An Empirical Investigation

The extent to which investment in information technology (IT) is related to organizational performance and productivity remains an open question in the minds of managers responsible for such investment decisions. Most past research into this relation has been based on cross-sectional analyses of 1-year periods. Attempts to determine relations between IT investment and the associated effect of that investment in such short periods have resulted in mostly mixed or negative findings. This study is thought to be the first to apply a multiyear, cross-sectional analysis. In the research, covering a 3-year period and involving firm-level data for a broad cross-section of U.S. industry, we found positive relations between higher levels of IT investment and selected measures representing organizational performance and productivity. These results, being based on multiyear analysis, are thought to be an important contribution in view of the fact that much of the existing literature in the area has failed to explain conclusively the economic impact of IT investment on organizational performance and productivity.

Measuring internet-Commerce success: What factors are important?

ABSTRACT Determining the attributes that influence the success of e-commerce is difficult due to a limited conceptual basis necessary for success measures. Keeney (1999) proposed twenty-five objectives separated into two sets-fundamental objectives (the important goals of customers) and means objectives (important goals to be achieved by e-businesses)–for successful e-transactions. Based on Keeneys research, Torkzadeh and Dhillon (2002) developed two instruments that together measure the factors that influence e-commerce success. This research uses these instruments to empirically investigate the Internet shopping behavior of college students (undergraduate and graduate). The research determines the adequacy of multivariate linear relationships between the variables of the two instruments through canonical correlation and redundancy analyses. The research formalizes and tests a series of research hypotheses on Internet shopping behaviors. The article also summarizes the research results with important conclusions and future research directions.

Measuring e-Commerce Technology Enabled Business Value: An Exploratory Research

While a plethora of anecdotal evidence exists, there is little empirical evidence on the value-creating potential of e-commerce technologies. The present research investigates whether firms using e-commerce technologies are successful in generating business value and, if so, what e-commerce drivers determine success and how to best use these drivers. This work shows how diffusion theory can be used to analyze the wide-spread utilization of e-commerce technologies and how they create business value. It presents an exploratory model of e-commerce business value grounded in information technology (IT) business value and productivity literature. We use a sample from more than 550 company executives, identified as innovative and successful users of IT.

A cross-national comparison of e-government success measures: a theory-based empirical research

The present research investigates citizen experience with e-government in the USA and Spain by utilising the DeLone and McLean (1992) theory of Information Systems (ISs) success. A parsimonious causal model was derived from direct and indirect impacts of e-government characteristics. These relationships were tested using the AMOS/SEM approach. The SEM results indicated citizens in both countries who perceive e-government services to be of high quality are more likely to be satisfied with these services and this satisfaction is more likely to contribute towards e-government success. This satisfaction is also more likely to motivate the citizens to use e-government services more frequently.

Special Section: Measuring Business Value of Information Technology in E-Business Environments

M. Adam Mahmood is a Professor of Computer Information Systems in the Department of Information and Decision Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso. He also holds the Ellis and Susan Mayfield Professorship in the College of Business Administration. He was a visiting faculty at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration in Finland and a visiting Erskine Scholar at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He received his Ph.D. in Management Information Systems at Texas Tech University. Dr. Mahmoods research interest centers on economics of information systems, electronic commerce, strategic and competitive information systems, group decision support systems, and organizational and end-user computing. On this topic and others, he has published over 85 technical research papers in some of the leading journals and conference proceedings, including the Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, Decision Sciences, European Journal of information Systems, INFOR Canadian Journal of Operation Research and Information Processing, information and Management, Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, Data Base, and others. He has also presented papers in a number of regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Mahmood presently serves as the editor of the Journal of Organizational and End User Computing. As a Governors appointee, he also serves as a member of the Texas Department of Information Resources Board of Directors. He has served as a guest editor of the Journal of Management Information Systems and the International Journal of Electronic Commerce. He has also served as president of the Information Resources Management Association.