Tanya J. McGill

User Developed Applications and Information Systems Success: A Test of DeLone and McLean's Model

DeLone and McLean’s (1992) model of information systems success has received much attention amongst researchers. This study provides the first empirical test of an adaptation of DeLone and McLean’s model in the user-developed application domain. The model tested was only partially supported by the data. Of the nine hypothesized relationships tested, four were found to be significant and the remainder not significant. The model provided strong support for the relationships between perceived system quality and user satisfaction, perceived information quality and user satisfaction, user satisfaction and intended use, and user satisfaction and perceived individual impact. This study indicates that user perceptions of information systems success play a significant role in the user-developed application domain. There was, however, no relationship between user developers’ perceptions of system quality and independent experts’ evaluations, and user ratings of individual impact were not associated with organizational impact measured as company performance in a business simulation. Further research is required to understand the relationship between user perceptions of IS success and objective measures of success, and to provide a model of IS success appropriate to end user development.

A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Students' Knowledge of Programming

This article proposes a conceptual framework for analyzing students’ knowledge of programming. The framework integrates three distinct types of programming knowledge identified in the educational computing literature (syntactic, conceptual, and strategic) with three distinct forms of knowledge proposed in the cognitive psychology literature (declarative, procedural, and conditional). Analysis of empirical data from a previous experimental study (Volet, 1991) provided support for the usefulness of the model and its educational potential for diagnosing deficiencies in the programming knowledge of novice programmers during a course of instruction and for designing appropriate instruction in introductory programming.

Implementing process-based instruction in regular university teaching: Conceptual, methodological and practical issues

This paper reports an experimental field study aimed at examining whether a process-oriented form of instruction (combining program planning and interactive teaching) which produced outstanding results when implemented by a tutor/researcher (see Volet, 1991) could be used successfully by regular university tutors given detailed guidelines but minimal training. A second aim of the study was to establish the respective contribution of the two sub-components of the instructional package. The results of the study were inconclusive and raise a number of conceptual, methodological and practical issues. As in the initial study, experimental students were more satisfied with their learning and for those who had the choice, more inclined to undertake further studies in computing but the intervention did not affect students’ achievement. The results of the study are discussed in relation to the earlier work, and suggestions are made for bridging the gap between educational research and educational practice in higher education.

User developed application success: sources and effects of involvement

User participation and involvement have long been associated with system success. This paper reports on a study to investigate the role of involvement in user developed application success. The experimental study explored the chain of influences between involvement and the different forms of information systems success and clarified how these influences differ for participants and non-participants in the development process. While participation was shown to result in greater success on all the measures included in the study, the effect of participation is mediated by involvement. In this study, involvement was derived from one of two sources, depending on participation: for participants in development, involvement was derived from their participation but was unaffected by system quality, while for non-participants, involvement was derived partially from system quality. Involvement also acted differently: involvement derived from system quality directly affected both perceived system quality and user satisfaction, while involvement derived from participation directly affected only perceived system quality.

The Effect of End User Development on End User Success

End user development of applications forms a significant part of organizational systems development. This study investigates the role that developing an application plays in the eventual success of the application for the user developer. The results of this study suggest that the process of developing an application not only predisposes an end user developer to be more satisfied with the application than they would be if it were developed by another end user, but also leads them to perform better with it. Thus, the results of the study highlight the contribution of the process of application development to user developed application success.

Identification of technological gatekeepers in the information technology profession

Business organizations have become interested in recognizing gatekeepers who may improve business prospects through informal external communication. Past research has identified gatekeepers within organizations, but no technique existed for identifying gatekeepers among groups of people working in an industry, profession, or other external group. This paper develops and tests a simple rule for identifying gatekeepers among members of a profession with a common group of potential interpersonal communication channels. The rule is used to classify gatekeepers among information technology professionals, based on self-reported information dissemination behavior. The rule passes five tests that compare the characteristics and information-seeking strategies of individuals classified using this rule with other members of the profession. The results of the study confirm that self-reported information dissemination behavior can be used to identify gatekeepers among individuals with diverse information-gathering behaviors, but a common group of potential interpersonal communication channels.

User-Developed Applications: Can End Users Assess Quality?

Organizations rely heavily on applications developed by end users, yet lack of experience and training may compromise the ability of end users to make objective judgments about the quality of their applications. This study investigated the ability of end users to assess the quality of applications they develop. The results confirm that there are differences between the system quality assessments of end user developers and independent expert assessors. In particular, the results of this study suggest that end users with little experience may erroneously consider the applications they develop to be of high quality. Some implications of these results are discussed.

Empowering End Users to Confine Their Own Applications: The Results of a Usability Study Comparing SELinux, AppArmor, and FBAC-LSM

Protecting end users from security threats is an extremely difficult, but increasingly critical, problem. Traditional security models that focused on separating users from each other have proven ineffective in an environment of widespread software vulnerabilities and rampant malware. However, alternative approaches that provide more finely grained security generally require greater expertise than typical end users can reasonably be expected to have, and consequently have had limited success. The functionality-based application confinement (FBAC) model is designed to allow end users with limited expertise to assign applications hierarchical and parameterised policy abstractions based upon the functionalities each program is intended to perform. To validate the feasibility of this approach and assess the usability of existing mechanisms, a usability study was conducted comparing an implementation of the FBAC model with the widely used Linux-based SELinux and AppArmor security schemes. The results showed that the functionality-based mechanism enabled end users to effectively control the privileges of their applications with far greater success than widely used alternatives. In particular, policies created using FBAC were more likely to be enforced and exhibited significantly lower risk exposure, while not interfering with the ability of the application to perform its intended task. In addition to the success of the functionality-based approach, the usability study also highlighted a number of limitations and problems with existing mechanisms. These results indicate that a functionality-based approach has significant potential in terms of enabling end users with limited expertise to defend themselves against insecure and malicious software.

An investigation of the role of trust in virtual project management success

Virtual project teams introduce new challenges for project managers tasked with the job of delivering project success. One such challenge is the development and maintenance of trust within the virtual environment. The paper explores the role that trust plays in virtual project teams and investigates how trust influences project outcomes. A model of trust in the virtual team environment is proposed and tested using data collected from a survey of members of the Project Management Institute. Analysis of the data showed that virtual team trust predicted project success, however swift trust and perceived traditional experience did not have any influence on virtual team trust. Based on the results of the study, the paper explores and recommends strategies to develop and maintain trust to a level that promotes the success of virtual team projects.

Using a network simulation package to teach the client-server model

The client-server model is fast becoming the most common form of network architecture used in data communications. Its popularity can be seen in the phenomenal expansion of the World Wide Web. It is essential that students understand the client-server model, and that they learn how to design client-server networks and to analyze their performance. This paper describes a project to achieve this via problem solving sessions using simulation to facilitate understanding of the design and performance analysis of networks using a client-server architecture. Students will be able to gain experience designing client-server networks and testing their designs for efficiency and expandability.