Raymond M. Henry

When the Wait Isnt So Bad: The Interacting Effects of Website Delay, Familiarity, and Breadth

Although its popularity is widespread, the Web is well known for one particular drawback: its frequent delay when moving from one page to another. This experimental study examined whether delay and two other website design variables (site breadth and content familiarity) have interaction effects on user performance, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. The three experimental factors (delay, familiarity, and breadth) collectively impact the cognitive costs and penalties that users incur when making choices in their search for target information. An experiment was conducted with 160 undergraduate business majors in a completely counterbalanced, fully factorial design that exposed them to two websites and asked them to browse the sites for nine pieces of information. Results showed that all three factors have strong direct impacts on performance and user attitudes, in turn affecting behavioral intentions to return to the site, as might be expected. A significant three-way interaction was found between all three factors indicating that these factors not only individually impact a users experiences with a website, but also act in combination to either increase or decrease the costs a user incurs. Two separate analyses support an assertion that attitudes mediate the relationship of the three factors on behavioral intentions. The implications of these results for both researchers and practitioners are discussed. Additional research is needed to discover other factors that mitigate or accentuate the effects of delay, other effects of delay, and under what amounts of delay these effects occur.

Determinants of the Use of Relational and Nonrelational Information Sources

Although it has been argued that knowledge is an important organizational resource, little research has investigated where individuals go to search for information or knowledge. Prior work has investigated sources in isolation, but in an organizational setting, sources are encountered as an open portfolio instead of in isolation. It is important to understand how individuals perceive the wide array of sources available to them and how those perceptions affect their use of different types of sources. Building on prior work, this research looks at factors underlying the selection of sources that require direct interpersonal contact (relational sources) and those that do not (nonrelational sources) and explores factors that differentially affect the use of these types of sources. A sample of 204 working professionals recruited from graduate business studies was used to test hypotheses regarding the effects of accessibility and quality, as well as comparisons and trade-offs between relational and nonrelational sources. Consistent with prior work, source accessibility and quality significantly affect usage of a source. This relationship, however, is moderated by the type of source with accessibility having less effect on the use of relational sources. Furthermore, use of each type of source was also affected by the perceived accessibility and quality of alternative types of sources. Together these results highlight the importance of simultaneously considering the relational and nonrelational sources available to individuals. These results also have implications for the design and implementation of systems for managing information and knowledge assets.

Effects of culture on control mechanisms in offshore outsourced IT projects

In spite of the increasing trend of offshore outsourcing in the IT industry, there has been little attention given to control strategies for managing offshore IT development. This paper offers an analysis of the relationship between national culture and control mechanisms, which is particularly important in the offshore systems development context. Control is defined as an attempt made by an organization to ensure that individuals act according to an agreed upon strategy to achieve desired objectives. This paper uses four modes of control that have been previously applied to information systems development - formal (outcome, behavior) and informal (clan, self) - in the offshore context. The dimensions of national culture studied are based on Hofstedes work and include individualism (vs. collectivism), uncertainty avoidance, and power distance. The objective of this research is to address the effect of national cultural differences on control mechanisms. Propositions regarding the relationship between cultural dimensions and modes of control used in offshore-outsourced ISD project are presented. This work draws from three distinct research streams - control, outsourcing, and culture. This work proposes portfolios of control that contain a mix of control mechanisms which should be implemented depending on the cultural settings involved.

A hybrid data mining/simulation approach for modelling outpatient no-shows in clinic scheduling

This paper considers the outpatient no-show problem faced by a rural free clinic located in the south-eastern United States. Using data mining and simulation techniques, we develop sequencing schemes for patients, in order to optimize a combination of performance measures used at the clinic. We utilize association rule mining (ARM) to build a model for predicting patient no-shows; and then use a set covering optimization method to derive three manageable sets of rules for patient sequencing. Simulation is used to determine the optimal number of patients and to evaluate the models. The ARM technique presented here results in significant improvements over models that do not employ rules, supporting the conjecture that, when dealing with noisy data such as in an outpatient clinic, extracting partial patterns, as is done by ARM, can be of significant value for simulation modelling.

Exploiting organizational knowledge in developing IS project cost and schedule estimates: An empirical study

Project management is vital to the effective application of organizational resources to competing demands within and across projects. The effective application of project management, however, is predicated upon accurate estimates of the project budget and schedule. This study assesses primary and supporting activities that exploit knowledge within an organizations memory to develop project schedule durations and budgets. The study further assesses the subsequent impact of predictability on project success. Two hundred and sixteen survey responses from IT professionals with project management responsibilities were analyzed. Results found use of the primary activities of using parametric estimating techniques (use of formal models), bottom-up estimating techniques (formulating estimates at the task level), and the support activities of team reliance, realistic targets, and professional experience all impact the predictability of estimates for project cost and duration. Predictability in turn was found to directly impact project success with regards to meeting cost and duration objectives. While use of analogous estimating techniques (using similar previous projects) was not found to be useful for project managers with more experience, it was used by project managers with less experience in determining predictability.

The Impact of Influence Tactics in Information System Development Projects: A Control-Loss Perspective

Information systems development (ISD) projects are prone to high levels of failure. One of the major reasons attributed to these failures is the inability to harmonize values held by a diverse set of participants in an environment that is characterized by uncertainty due to changing requirements. In this paper, we focus on a relational approach to achieve congruence between a project manager and a team member with respect to influence tactics. Constructs of perceptual congruence and communication congruence that reflect a level of agreement and degree of shared understanding between the project manager and team members are described. A congruence model is constructed and tied to an intermediate outcome variable of control loss. One hundred and thirteen dyadic pairs of project managers and team members are surveyed in order to test the model. The results indicate that having strong relational equity and common understanding can minimize control loss. It is important to consider the perspectives of both the project manager and a team member while formulating and assessing monitoring strategies to promote the success of an ISD project. Especially, encouraging team members to discuss disagreements constructively can motivate them to perform better and keep things under control. Finally, it is critical to address the performance problems as they occur rather than wait until the completion of the project.

A social network analysis of interlocked directorates in electronic commerce firms

Abstract Using social network analysis, this research examines whether a pattern of interlocked directorates exists among the top 50 e-commerce firms and how this network differs from the network of other leading firms. Further, it looks at whether a firm’s measure of centrality is associated with its visibility. The results suggest that the location of e-commerce firms in these networks is more important than simply the number of ties. The findings point to the role of e-commerce firms in establishing links between both firms and industries. These findings also suggest that e-commerce firms are most interesting to study when looked at in terms of a larger network of firms, and that it is in the ties between the e-commerce and the traditional and well-established firms where many potential research opportunities lie.

Antecedents to Relational and Nonrelational Source Use: An Exploratory Investigation

Drawing a distinction between relational and nonrelational sources, we explore the antecedents to selecting an information source. The antecedents to use have been categorized into job, individual, and source characteristics. Two theoretical models are developed and tested using working professionals. The differences between the models are highlighted and discussed. The results indicate that there are differences in the drivers of source selection which could have direct implications for the design of knowledge management systems

Effect of Control on Information Systems Development Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Control modes are critical for promoting information systems development (ISD) performance, however the relationship is elusive. Further, control is typically discussed in terms of the use of portfolios of control comprised of both formal (outcome and behavior) and informal (clan and self) mechanisms. Yet, the extent to which formal and informal controls individually relate to both performance and each other is still not fully established. This research utilizes meta-analysis to examine these relationships. The results indicate that control does enhance performance, although the strength of the relationship varies across types of control and different measures of performance. The results also show a significant relationship between formal and informal control modes, providing support for views of complementarities between modes within portfolios of control. It appears, however, that only clan control is positively associated with formal control. Building on these findings we suggest future directions for the study of control in ISD.

Strategic Management and Social Media: An Empirical Analysis of Electronic Social Capital and Online Fundraising

Abstract Purpose This study analyzes the impact of different types of social capital (structural, relational, cognitive) from different sources (internal and external) generated in electronic social networks on organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach We test our hypotheses using OLS regression analysis of data obtained from nonprofit organization (NPO) fundraising on a popular online social networking website. Findings The results provide insights into the multifaceted, complex nature of social capital in electronic environments. We find that electronic social capital does indeed impact organizational outcomes, but that these impacts vary depending on the type of social capital, the type of outcomes, and roles within the social network. Originality/value These results clearly indicate the need to further research exploring social capital, in all its forms, within increasingly popular online and electronic social networks. While specifically applicable to NPOs, the findings also provide important insights for a wide variety of organizations.