Waiman Cheung

Literature derived reference models for the adoption of online shopping

The aim of the authors of this paper was to identify areas that would aid in developing a better understanding of the dynamics of a customers decision to shop online. To accomplish this, a review of the empirical studies on the antecedents of online shopping was performed. From an extensive literature search, a total of 45 relevant articles were identified. The factors that have been investigated in these studies were classified according to their similarity and patterns of their findings were identified and analyzed.

Determinants of the intention to use Internet/WWW at work: a confirmatory study

Previous studies on adoption of the Internet and WWW have investigated factors affecting usage. We believe that the intention to use a technology is equally important, not only for promoting the technology but also for encouraging its voluntary continued use. Although the Triandis model has been applied to a number of technology adoption studies, its adequacy has not been assessed by using a confirmatory analysis method. Structural equation modeling may be used to assess the adequacy of the model for a technology adoption study and to compare it to alternative specifications that integrate previous research results. To prove our hypothesis, data were collected from 255 part-time MBA and diploma students. The results show that our proposed model provides a better fit than the original model. The structural path model shows the important factors that influence the intention to use the Internet/WWW as well as interrelationships between the factors. Comparing previous results on actual usage, the relative importance of factors affecting intention formation is different.

Group decision making in a multiple criteria environment: A case using the AHP in software selection

Abstract This paper reports the results of a case study where the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique was employed to support the selection of a multi-media authorizing system (MAS) in a group decision environment. Three MAS products were identified and ultimately ranked using the AHP. Six software engineers, who are technically competent and experienced, participated in our study. These engineers were trained to use the AHP and asked to apply this technique to select the most appropriate MAS product for adoption. A post-study survey and interview were conducted with all the engineers to collect further feedback on the use of the AHP, as compared to their frequently used Delphi technique, in supporting group decisions. The experiment results and survey findings indicated that the AHP is preferable to Delphi as the AHP helps group members center a discussion around objectives, rather than alternatives. We also found the AHP to be more conducive to consensus building in group decision settings.

Prediction of internet and World Wide Web usage at work: a test of an extended triandis model

Abstract The Internet/World Wide Web (WWW) has significantly impacted every facet of operations in organizations. As information systems, including Decision Support Systems, are rapidly moving to the Internet platform to facilitate remote access and group cooperation, it is crucial to understand the adoption process of the Internet. This paper studies various factors affecting Internet/WWW usage in working environments. Previous studies on Internet or WWW usage have adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as their research framework. As such, important factors, such as facilitating conditions and social factors, which we consider important in explaining the use of the Internet/WWW, were left out. Therefore, a more comprehensive theoretical model is constructed for this study by modifying the Triandis social psychological model based on the results of previous studies. Factor analysis and multiple regression were used to analyze data collected from 241 questionnaires. The results support our modified model. Facilitating conditions and social factors are confirmed as the two most important factors affecting Internet/WWW usage. Other significant factors include perceived near-term consequences and perceived complexity. All new paths that we have added to the original Triandis model are found to be significant. The proposed model should provide a valuable alternative theoretical basis for technology adoption studies in the future.

Using Genetic Algorithms and Heuristics for Job Shop Scheduling with Sequence-Dependent Setup Times

The importance of job shop scheduling as a practical problem has attracted the attention of many researchers. However, most research has focused on special cases such as single machine, parallel machine, and flowshop environments due to the “hardness” of general job shop problems. In this paper, a hybrid algorithm based on an integration of a genetic algorithm and heuristic rules is proposed for a general job shop scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setups (Jm|sjk|Cmax ). An embedded simulator is employed to implement the heuristic rules, which greatly enhances the flexibility of the algorithm. Knowledge relevant to the problem is inherent in the heuristic rules making the genetic algorithm more efficient, while the optimization procedure provided by the genetic algorithm makes the heuristic rules more effective. Extensive numerical experiments have been conducted and the results have shown that the hybrid approach is superior when compared to recently published existing methods for the same problem.

Minimizing weighted tardiness of job-shop scheduling using a hybrid genetic algorithm

Relative to job-shop scheduling problems that optimize makespan or flow time, due-date-related problems are usually much more computationally complex and are classified as strongly NP-hard. In this paper, a hybrid framework integrating a heuristic and a genetic algorithm (GA) is utilized for job-shop scheduling to minimize weighted tardiness. For each new generation of schedules, the GA determines the first operation of each machine, and the heuristic determines the assignment of the remaining operations. Schedules with inferior tardiness are discarded before the next round of evolution. Extensive numerical experiments were conducted for different levels of due-date tightness. The results show that the hybrid framework performs significantly better than does either a heuristic or GA alone. It is also found to be superior to a well-recognized heuristic improvement procedure (lead-time iterations). Specifically, the combination of the RM this combination is, however, outperformed by the heuristic of Kreipl [Kreipl, S., 2000. A large step random walk for minimizing total weighted tardiness in a job shop. Journal of Scheduling 3, 125-138]. We also develop a generalized hybrid framework that can adapt to different job-shop problems--with or without sequence-dependent setups and with different objectives (e.g., makespan, tardiness, flow time). The new framework allows the interaction of parallel evolutions, extending the GA-heuristic environment to the solving of multi-objective scheduling problems.

Evolution of e-commerce Web sites: A conceptual framework and a longitudinal study

Before the 1990s, the digital exchange of information between companies was achieved using electronic data interchange (EDI) and needed agreement between the organizations. The early 1990s saw the commercialization of the Internet and the advent of open computer technology and connectivity became affordable for individuals as well as businesses. The consequence was the World Wide Web. As e-commerce activities extended across businesses, enterprises, and industries, a genre of Web sites emerged allowing the integrative management of business operations. Here, we provide an evolutionary perspective of e-commerce Web sites. We posited that there have been four eras. To chart the evolution of e-commerce Web sites, a conceptual framework was developed to characterize such sites. Based on the framework, we conducted a longitudinal study between 1993 and 2001. The result showed that the proposed four eras were clearly discernible.

Willingness to share information in a supply chain: A partnership-data-process perspective

To achieve an efficient and effective supply chain, information needs to be shared. Most current information-sharing studies address the benefits gained from shared data, but neglect the effect of willingness to share, in which the benefits of sharing data may be discounted. This study looks into the factors that affect the extent of the willingness of companies to share information from a partnership-data-process perspective. To distinguish the mode of sharing, we differentiate information sharing into template based and proactive. Our results suggest that when partnerships become closer, the willingness to share template-based information increases and consequently the willingness to proactively share additional information.

Building trust online: Interactions among trust building mechanisms

Lack of trust has been shown to be a major obstacle to the adoption of online shopping. However, there has been little investigation of the effectiveness of various trust building mechanisms and their interactions. In our study, three trust building mechanisms (third-party certification, reputation, and return policy), were examined. A scenario survey method was used for data collection. 463 usable questionnaires were collected from respondents with diverse backgrounds. Regression results showed that all three trust building mechanisms had significant positive effect on trust of the online vendor. However, their effects were not simple; they interacted to produce a different overall effect on the level of trust. These results have both theoretical and practical implications.

The model-assisted global query system for multiple databases in distributed enterprises

Todays enterprises typically employ multiple information systems, which are independently developed, locally administered, and different in logical or physical designs. Therefore, a fundamental challenge in enterprise information management is the sharing of information for enterprise users across organizational boundaries; this requires a global query system capable of providing on-line intelligent assistance to users. Conventional technologies, such as schema-based query languages and hard-coded schema integration, are not sufficient to solve this problem. This article develops a new approach, a “model-assisted global query system,” that utilizes an on-line repository of enterprise metadata—the Metadatabase—to facilitate global query formulation and processing with certain desirable properties such as adaptiveness and open-systems architecture. A definitional model characterizing the various classes and roles of the required metadata as knowledge for the system is presented. The significance of possessing this knowledge (via a Metadatabase) toward improving the global query capabilities available previously is analyzed. On this basis, a direct method using model traversal and a query language using global model constructs are developed along with other new methods required for this approach. It is then tested through a prototype system in a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) setting.