Steven A. Morris

Prediction of CASE adoption: a neural network approach

The failure of organizations to adopt CASE tools has been an area of interest to business researchers for over a decade. The purpose of this study is to test whether the previous research provides a basis for predicting the current adoption of CASE tools by organizations. This study uses a neural network methodology to predict CASE tool adoption using factors that were previously identified in the literature. The model consisted of six variables: IS department stability, need to improve IS department performance, use of external sources of knowledge, job rotation, pressure to reduce development time, and CASE champion. The study found that all the variables were relevant in the prediction of CASE tool adoption with an average accuracy of 71.43 percent.

Methodological and Thematic Prescriptions for Defining and Measuring the Organizational Learning Concept

Despite the long tradition of research on organizational learning (OL), theoretically acceptable definitions and empirically derived measures of the concept have not been developed. This paper introduces theoretical proclamations and a methodological plan that can guide researchers towards the goal of operationalizing OL into a valid and reliable instrument. It includes (1) practical and scientific motivations for advancing and measuring the OL construct, (2) a suggested methodology for operationalization of definitions of OL, (3) theoretical and operational themes found in the literature, and (4) scale and subscale expectations. Organizational researchers are encouraged to use the directions embodied in this research to guide attempts at developing measures of organizational learning, in hopes of advancing the field beyond normal science.

Perceived Control in Information Systems

The importance of perceptions of control in explaining human behavior and motivation has been identified, investigated and found to be significant in several disciplines. This study reports on an exploratory investigation assessing perceived control within the information systems domain. A survey instrument was developed based on the research literature to assess perceived control as a multi-dimensional construct. The survey was administered to 241 subjects. The results were analyzed to produce a set of five factors that represent a user’s perceptions of control when working with an interactive information system: 1) timeframe, 2) feedback signal, 3) feedback duration, 4) strategy, and 5) metaphor knowledge.