Prosper Bernard

Key Issues in Information Systems Management: A Comparative Study of Academics and Practitioners in Thailand

Abstract This study was designed to examine the information systems (IS) key issues in Thailand by comparing IS academics and practitioners within the country, and by comparing Thailand as a whole with other developed and developing countries. The economic development based on GDP per capita was used to classlfj, the developed and developing countries. The Q-Sort method, a ranking technique, was used to rank the IS key issues. The data were collected through an Internet survey website. The findings show that the issue of building information technology (Ig infrastructure was projected to be the top issue over the next three to five years in Thailand. The importance ranking of IS key issues in Thailand was similar to the studies from developed countries but dlflerent than the studies from developing countries. There was a signljkant dlflerence in the importance rankings of IS key issues between academics and practitioners in Thailand. However, they were in agreement on the first and second ranking IS key issues, which were building IT infrastructure and IS strategic planning, respectively.

Comparative Age Differences of Job Satisfaction on Faculty at Higher Education Level: China and Taiwan.

Purpose – The study aims to examine the age differences of job satisfaction between Taiwanese and Chinese higher education faculty.Design/methodology/approach – The data on job satisfaction were obtained from 194 Taiwanese faculty and 211 Chinese faculty at college levels in one city.Findings – No statistically significant differences were found for full‐time Taiwanese and Chinese faculty in the overall job satisfaction of age at higher education after educational reforms, but differences exist between countries.Originality/value – This article applies to strategies on job satisfaction for the current Taiwanese and Chinese faculty at colleges.

The Impact of Expert Decision Support Systems on the Performance of New Employees

Decision support technology, expert systems, executives information systems, and artificial neural networks have been reported to be useful tools to enhance the performance of managers as they helped them to gain more knowledge, experiences, and expertise and consequently enhance the quality of the decision making. They can also be used as a training tool to transfer the knowledge of the expert to middle and top management and thus improve the performance of new employees. This communication reports the conclusions of a study conducted to verify the impact of the use of the EDSS technology expert decision support systems on the performance and satisfaction of new employees in the business world. A laboratory experiment using the control groups and the treatment groups was held to test the research model. The results indicate that EDSS technologies do have a positive impact on the performance of the users.

Explaining the Factors Influencing Cellular Phones Use in Guinea

Technical and financial factors and the deregulation of the telecommunication field are often used to explain both the use of the cellular phones and the satisfaction of end‐users in developing countries. Little attention, however, has been paid to factors such as perceptions, motivations, and social variables which directly influence the decision of an individual to adopt and use a cellular phone. This study aims at better understanding the effect of these factors on the utilization of cellular phones. A questionnaire survey was conducted among cellular phones users in Guinea. Results obtained from a sample of 463 respondents show that familiarity, social influence, and the needs for mobility required by the task are key determinants of cellular phones’ use.

An empirical investigation of the prevalence of spyware in internet shareware and freeware distributions

Purpose – Spyware is a controversial software technology that allows the surreptitious collection of personal information from computers linked to the internet. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of spyware in internet shareware and freeware and to investigate the personal information collected.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology was a two‐phase, multi‐case study. The first phase determined that five of the 50 most popular pieces of Windows®‐based freeware and shareware available to internet users from CNETDownload.com were suspected of containing spyware: these were included as data sources for phase two. The purpose of phase two was to confirm the existence of spyware and to identify the types and frequencies of any personal data transmissions. For this phase, data were collected and analyzed utilizing a passive network monitor program to examine packets of data transmitted from a personal computer to external destinations on the internet.Findings – The findings confirme...

Towards a maturity model of knowledge management competences as an organisational capability

The resource-based view of the firm is used to study the role of organizational knowledge in establishing sustained competitive advantage. The concept of t Riege he organisational knowledge capabilities development analyzes the organisational capabilities in three principal dimensions: Knowledge Management (KM) infrastructures, KM processes and KM competences. However to better determine this concept; it is important to know what the impact of each dimension in organizational transformation is. In this work, we are interested in the impact of KM competences as an organisational capability in the context of organizational transformation and learning for business performance. Indeed, the literature in knowledge management, management and information technology shows that the development of the organisational capabilities is strongly related to the use of a maturity model. However, there is very little work on the literature which develops a specific maturity model for KM competences as organizational capability. For this reason, the objective of this paper is to propose a KM Competences maturity model (KMCMM) for KM competences that shows an organisational transformation.

Towards an integrated maturity model of knowledge management capabilities

The resource-based view of the firm is used to study the role of organizational knowledge in establishing sustained competitive advantage. The concept of the organisational knowledge capabilities development analyzes the organisational capabilities in three principal dimensions: Knowledge Management (KM) infrastructures, KM processes and KM competences. Indeed, the literature in KM, management and information technology shows that the development of the organisational capabilities is strongly related to the use of a maturity model. Also, the literature establishes a link between the level of maturity in KM capabilities and the level of organizational performance. However, there is very little work on the literature which develops an integrated maturity model for KM capabilities that use together the three principal dimensions. This work proposes a maturity model of Knowledge Management capabilities with three principal.

ELECTRONIC MAIL: EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE OR A FAD?

Examines the efficiency of electronic mail and its effectiveness in aiding decision making. Highlights its main functions and typical usage and also its advantages to the executive. Concludes that electronic mail does increase efficiency in the decision‐making process and is not a fad since executives prefer it to other media.

Corporate Social Responsibility a Tool in Building Sustainable Relationships with Customers

This study aims at identifying the role of the use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a marketing tool in building sustainable relationships with customers in Algerian companies. An appropriate random sample was taken, composed of (65) Algerian companies located in the industrial areas of M’Sila (and its environs) and Bordj Bou Arreridj, from different types, activities, and sizes. And to achieve the objectives of the study a questionnaire was designed as a principal research tool for the purpose of collecting data from the managers and owners of these companies, it was the use of statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for data analysis questionnaires depending on the averages and standard deviations, etc. The study has found that the Algerian companies under study recognize the importance of the application of Corporate Social Responsibility as a marketing tool, and that Corporate Social Responsibility contributes in the Algerian companies under study in building sustainable relationships with customers, through the achievement of customer’s attraction, trust, commitment, satisfaction, retention and loyalty.

BIG DATA: Preconditions to Productivity

The continuous waves of data flooding our world have created a phenomenon that has attracted businesses to leveraging this information. According to overall research the sheer volume of data generated, stored, and mined for consumer transactions insights has become economically relevant to businesses success, governmental operations, and consumer savvy transactions. The history of previous trends in IT investment and innovation and its impact on competitiveness and productivity strongly suggest that Big Data can have a similar power, namely the ability to transform our lives. The same preconditions that allowed previous waves of IT-enabled innovation to power productivity, i.e., Technology innovations followed by the adoption of complementary management innovations, are in place for Big Data, vendors and suppliers of Big Data technology and advanced analytic capabilities to have at least as much ongoing impact on productivity as vendors and suppliers of other kinds of technology.