Michael Parent

Aesthetics and Ephemerality: Observing and Preserving the Luxury Brand

While luxury brands are one of the most profitable and fastest growing segments of the brand pantheon, they are the least understood. There is no established definition as to what a luxury brand is; no clear understanding of the value dimensionality of luxury brands; and no rigorous conceptualization of the different types of luxury brands. They are generally treated as homogenous. Little wonder that the management of these brands is shrouded in mystery. This article explores the value dimensionality of luxury brands, differentiates among luxury brands, and proposes a typology to help firms understand the managerial implications and challenges of each type. All luxury brands are not the same—they can mean different things to different people or even different things to the same people, which makes target marketing of luxury brands both difficult and important. This also means that they react differently to each other both in times of economic prosperity and in downturns. This article also explores strategies for migrating mass-market brands into luxury brand markets.

Building Citizen Trust Through E-government

Abstract The trust of citizens in their governments has gradually eroded. One response by several North American governments has been to introduce e-government or Web-mediated citizen-to-government interaction. This paper tests the extent to which online initiatives have succeeded in increasing trust and external political efficacy in voters. An Internet-based survey of 182 Canadian voters shows that using the Internet to transact with the government had a significantly positive impact on trust and external political efficacy. Interestingly, though the quality of the interaction was important, it was secondary to internal political efficacy in determining trust levels, and not significant in determining levels of external political efficacy (or perceived government responsiveness). For policymakers, this suggests e-government efforts might be better aimed at citizens with high pre-extant levels of trust rather than in developing better Web sites. For researchers, this paper introduces political efficacy as an important determinant of trust as it pertains to e-government.

Integrating the smartphone into a sound environmental information systems strategy: Principles, practices and a research agenda

Smartphones are both green technologies and an integral parts of green information systems that are beginning to make serious contributions toward a sustainable environment. We trace the rise of the smartphone, with particular attention given to the iPhone and its many applications. The fundamental differences between smartphone-based and more common Internet applications, and how these might enhance sustainable strategies for organizations with a green agenda are highlighted. U-Commerce is suggested as a theoretical framework that best explains this, and the four dimension of U-Commerce are employed to illustrate how innovative organizations are using the unique characteristics of smartphones to pursue environmentally sound strategies. A process that might be followed for indentifying applications for sustainable issues, making sure that the applications take advantages of a smartphones unique features, and that contribute to sustainability by using fewer resources, protecting resources, and improving our use of current resources. The paper concludes by identifying a research agenda for information systems scholars to pursue studying the use of smartphones in search of a sustainable information technology agenda.

Relationships Between Job Skills and Performance: A Study of Webmasters

The main purpose of this study is to determine the mix of organizational and technical skills demanded of Webmasters, and the degree to which those skills influence job performance. The study is composed of two parts. First, a job-content analysis of 800 Webmaster positions is conducted in order to determine the mix of skills demanded of Webmasters by employers. Second, a survey of 232 Webmasters is conducted to test the relationships between those skills and job performance. The job-content analysis suggested that employers seek technical skills over organizational skills, and, in contrast, the survey results showed that Webmasters regard organizational skills as more important in performing their jobs. Structured equation modeling on the survey data showed that deficiency in both technical and organizational skills leads to lower job performance. Moreover, the effect of organizational skill deficiencies on job performance was found to be larger than that of technical skill deficiencies. For researchers, the establishment of an empirical link between job skills and job performance opens the field to further research in the skills of information systems personnel. For employers, the results suggest more attention should be paid to attracting organizational skills when recruiting information systems personnel, such as Webmasters.

Governing Information Technology Risk

Regulatory changes have affected the composition, role, and responsibilities of Boards of Directors worldwide. While stronger frameworks for directors9 fiduciary responsibilities have resulted, considerably less attention has been devoted to understanding the nature of, and concomitant duty-of-care towards, the information systems and technology assets in the organization, or IT Governance. As a result, Boards have not demonstrated the competence or attention that good IT governance demands. IT Governance takes two forms: a defensive form, IT Risk Governance, that seeks to safeguard the organization from the consequences of IT-related disasters; and a strategic form, IT Value Governance, which creates lasting shareholder value. This article focuses on IT Risk Governance. Based on an academic and trade literature review, and interviews with Board members from six international firms, it presents a model, the IT Risk Governance Chain, and a dashboard that outlines the critical areas of IT risk and the key questions directors should ask to properly safeguard the information and technology assets of their firms.

An exploration of enterprise technology selection and evaluation

The evaluation-and-selection of enterprise technologies by firms has been said to be largely rational and deterministic. This paper challenges this notion, and puts forward the argument that substantial ceremonial aspects also play an important role. An in-depth, exploratory longitudinal case study of a bank selecting a ubiquitous and pervasive e-mail system was conducted using grounded theory and a hermeneutic [pre] understanding of institutional and decision making theories. Intuition, symbols, rituals, and ceremony all figured prominently in the decision process. However, rather than being in conflict with the rational processes, we found them to be in tension, leading to a more holistic social construction of decision processes. For researchers, this suggests that a focus on process rationality, not outcomes, might lead to a fuller understanding of these critical decisions. For managers, it underscores the importance of understanding the past in order to create the future.

A model of electronic commerce adoption by small voluntary organizations

The study discussed in this paper uses case studies of six small voluntary organizations to determine the primary factors that influence electronic commerce (EC) adoption. The findings indicate that perceived benefits, including efficiency, information sharing, marketing and increased donations have a strong influence on EC adoption. The results also indicate that organizational readiness, including ability to attract volunteers and/or in-kind donations, ability to raise funds, and strategic readiness had a positive influence on EC adoption. Consistent with prior research on EC adoption in the commercial sector, strong support was found for the influence of perceived pressure, including pressure from both internal and external stakeholders. The study also concluded that perceived social risks associated with the loss of human contact and the perception of dollars being diverted from client programs to finance the EC investment had a strong influence on EC adoption. Implications for EC adoption and future research on EC adoption in the voluntary sector are discussed.

Building citizen trust through e-government

The trust of citizens in their governments has gradually eroded. One response by several North American governments has been to introduce e-government, or Web-mediated citizen-to-government interaction. This paper tests the extent to which online initiatives have succeeded in increasing trust and external political efficacy in voters. An Internet-based survey of 182 Canadian voters shows that using the Internet to transact with government has a significantly positive impact on trust and external political efficacy. Interestingly, though the quality of the interaction is important, it is secondary to internal political efficacy in determining trust levels, and not significant in determining levels of external political efficacy (or perceived government responsiveness). For policy-makers, this suggests e-government efforts might be better-aimed at citizens with high pre-extant levels of trust, rather than in developing better Web sites. For researchers, this paper introduces political efficacy as an important determinant of trust as it pertains to e-government.

Extending the capabilities of Internet‐based research: lessons from the field

The ubiquity of the Internet and e‐mail has resulted in a burgeoning interest in their potential for academic research. This paper summarizes the existing practices of Internet research and suggests extensions to them based on the design and administration of a large‐scale, national Web survey. These extensions include consideration of new capabilities such as adaptive questions and higher levels of flexibility and control. Lessons learned include the use of a modular design, management of Web traffic, and the higher level of communication with respondents.

Luxury wine brands as gifts : onthological and aesthetic perspectives

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the issues of luxury gift giving and the giving of luxury wines as gifts from a conceptual perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The article c ...