Thomas Widjaja

Handle with care: How online social network providers’ privacy policies impact users’ information sharing behavior

Privacy policies determine online social network providers’ options to monetize user data. However, these statements also intrude on users’ privacy and, thus, might reduce their willingness to disclose personal information, which in turn limits the data available for monetization. Given these conflicting interests, we conducted an experimental survey to investigate the relationship between privacy policies and users’ reactions. We show that users’ privacy risk perceptions mediate the effect that changes in policies’ monetization options have on users’ willingness to disclose information. Our findings emphasize privacy policies as a delicate managerial concept for companies relying on data monetization.

Value Potentials and Challenges of Service-Oriented Architectures

This article summarizes the results of an empirical study among large German enterprises regarding the value potentials and challenges of service-oriented architectures (SOA).The 21 value potentials and 13 challenges examined were identified and structured based on an advancement of SOA value models already existing in literature as well as on a series of expert interviews.Key results regarding the implementation and evaluation of the SOA-Concept are: The majority of the users only run one or a few SOA-based applications and the share of services in their IT-landscape is on average about 10%. Among the design principles proposed in literature, especially loose coupling and good documentation of interfaces are implemented. Clear capsulation of functionality and the definition of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), however, are hardly applied. The interviewed companies assess the relation of the value of a SOA introduction compared to its cost currently as slightly negative, but with a positive trend for the upcoming years. It is shown that the assessment of the overall value positively correlates with the duration of SOA usage. Among the 21 examined value potentials, optimization of business processes, increased agility and cost reduction due to parallel re-use of services receive the highest ratings. According to the interviewed experts, the main challenges are operation (performance/security) and the management (governance) of the architecture. These challenges hinder value realization and lead to a moderately positive assessment of the overall concept.

Service-Oriented Architectures: Modeling the Selection of Services and Platforms

The basic idea behind the Software-Oriented Architecture (SOA) paradigm is the support of business processes by IT systems consisting of services. Those services are clearly encapsulated, and loosely coupled entities, which deliver defined business functionality. Current literature accredits SOA-based software systems various benefits compared to traditional monolithic systems such as enhanced agility, straightforward integration of heterogeneous IT environments, etc. However, in order to leverage those benefits, new or adapted methods and tools are needed to support decision makers.

A Two-Sided Perspective on Supplier Dependence in IS Outsourcing Dyads

Whilst client dependence on an IT supplier is already a well-known risk in IS outsourcing relationships, investigations of the supplier side of dependence have been largely neglected. This contradicts traditional dependence research, which suggests to incorporate the respective dependence of both parties in a bilateral exchange relationship. This paper attempts to close this research gap and investigates supplier dependence in five outsourcing relationships with two-sided data. Furthermore, it proposes a conceptualization of supplier dependence and applies two central dyadic constructs from reference disciplines, namely relative and joint dependence, on IS outsourcing relationships.

Der "Preis des Kostenlosen"

Viele Angebote im Internet sind auf den ersten Blick kostenlos: eine Suche bei Google, das Lesen von Online-Nachrichtenmagazinen oder die Nutzung von Online Social Networks (OSN). Auf den zweiten Blick bezahlen die Nutzer jedoch mit ihren privaten Daten – die sie bewusst oder zum Teil auch unbewusst angeben. Die Verwendung dieser Daten ist wesentlicher Bestandteil vieler Geschaftsmodelle von OSN-Anbietern. In diesem Artikel wird betrachtet, wie diese Geschaftsmodelle funktionieren, was Nutzer davon halten, dass mit ihren Daten Geld verdient wird, und wie sich das auf ihr Verhalten auswirkt.

Analyzing Client Dependence in Dyadic IS Outsourcing Relationships

Dependence on an IT supplier is a well-known risk for client companies in IS outsourcing. However, little research efforts have been made to compare both exchange partners’ dependencies in an IS outsourcing setting. This contradicts with traditional dependence research which views this concept as a property of a relation and not as an attribute of an organization. A case study of five IS outsourcing relationships provides insights into un-/balanced and joint dependencies in a dyad. To explain variances in client dependence, the dependence construct is broken down into its constituting facets. Besides an information system’s importance and supplier’s substitutability, spillover effects emerged as an unanticipated third determinant. Originating from other exchange relationships with the IT supplier, these effects can distort the dependence structure in the focal relationship.

Compatibility of Software Platforms

In the software industry, as well as in numerous other IT industries, products are often offered as systems consisting of complementary components (Gawer and Henderson 2007). In this context, specific components take on the role of software platforms, and around these platforms so-called ecosystems evolve. Evans et al. (2006) describe a software platform as “a software program that makes services available to other software programs through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)”.2 Jansen et al. (2009) define such an ecosystem around a platform as “a set of actors functioning as a unit and interacting with a shared market for software and services, together with the relationships among them. These relationships are frequently underpinned by a common technological platform or market and operate through the exchange of information, resources, and artifacts.” The idea of offering software systems, which are based on platforms, in combination with complementary products from an “ecosystem” is applied throughout the software industry. This is not a new phenomenon: Around the first operating systems, “ecosystems” of applications had already evolved. Current examples for developing ecosystems are both Apple, with the AppStore, and Google, with the Android Marketplace. A similar constellation can be found in the area of service-oriented architectures (SOA): SOA services from different vendors can be integrated on the basis of SOA platforms. Moreover, the evolvement of ecosystems is observable in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market (Cusumano 2010a; Cusumano 2010b).

Relative and Joint Dependence in IS Outsourcing Relationships – A Model of Effects on Relational Facets and Exchange Performance

Building on dependence research, this conceptual article presents a research model encompassing anticipated effects of interdependence on IS outsourcing relationships. A dyadic perspective incorporating client and supplier dependence enables determining two basic constructs: relative and joint dependence. We discuss their expected effects on relationship quality and exchange performance. While joint dependence generally yields positive outcomes, high relative dependence and the dominant party’s exercise of exploitative power might produce two countervailing effects: use of a power advantage is theorized to be beneficial for the dominant party, allowing structuring the exchange to that party’s benefit, yet as a possible detrimental side effect, power use can diminish the relationship’s value-generating potential and decrease performance outcomes for both the weak and the dominant party. This leads to the question of whether and to what extent it is reasonable to leave power potentials untapped. A two-sided survey is planned to provide empirical data for testing our hypotheses.

Towards the Optimal Security Level: Quantification of Risks in Service-Based Information Systems

The increasing frequency and total cost of security incidents require organizations to apply proper IS risk management in order to assess the economically reasonable usage of security measures. In this paper, we contribute a model that supports risk-related investment decisions in service-based information systems. The model supports decision makers in analyzing the cost-benefit trade-off related to security measures by solving the key problem of efficiently calculating the probability density function of the potential losses for a given information system. Based on the proposed model, it is possible to derive individual metrics, such as the Value-at-Risk, that can be used to choose the optimal security level, i.e., the most economically reasonable combination of security measures. Furthermore, we demonstrate the models application in the context of an existing real-life e-commerce system by evaluating and comparing two alternative security investments for this business process.

Plattformoffenheit – Implikationen für Anbieter von Mobile Business Apps

Business-Software-Anbieter, die zukunftig auch mobile Losungen anbieten wollen, stehen vor den beiden zentralen Fragestellungen, auf welcher Plattform ihre Losung angeboten werden soll und ob nur eine oder mehrere Plattformen berucksichtigt werden mussen. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, die Parameter aktueller mobiler Plattformen zu ermitteln, die diese Entscheidungen beeinflussen. Als zentrale Stellschrauben einer Plattform werden dazu die vertikale und horizontale Offenheit einer Plattform analysiert. Anhand praktischer Beispiele wird diskutiert, welche Implikationen sich aus Sicht der Anbieter von mobilen Business-Applikationen fur die einzelnen Facetten der Offenheit von mobilen Plattformen ergeben.