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Fall 2007 (Vol 48, Issue 1) Table of Contents DEVELOPING A CONTINUOUS AUDITING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM BASED ON INFORMATION PROCESS MODELS In recent years, Continuous Auditing (CA) has become an inevitable trend in current business environment. Computer-aided auditing systems, such as the Generalized Audit Software (GAS), are widely used to complete this task. However, most auditors who are not equipped with IT backgrounds have great degree of difficulty in integrating computer-aided auditing system with their professional knowledge in auditing. This limitation greatly impairs the auditors’ ability to independently and continuously performs tests in the CA environment. This study proposed a systematic analysis approach to assist auditors in bridging the “semantic gap” between the information system and auditors’ specialty. This proposed approach first provides a framework for auditors to effectively understand business processes and data flow/data structure of information systems. These ingredients are then mapped into the process of auditing including auditing objectives, key controls and auditing rules by employing information process models such as Use-case Diagram, Data Flow Diagram, and Entity-Relationship Diagram. With this approach, auditors can independently design auditing rules which can be automatically embedded in the database. Auditors can also perform auditing tasks independently on a real-time basis and reach the objectives of Continuous Auditing. Keywords: Generalized Audit Software (GAS), Business Process, Data Flow, Conceptual Model, Continuous Auditing (CA) USER ASSESSMENT OF PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS USED IN PHARMACEUTICAL DETAILING: SYSTEM FEATURES, USEFULNESS AND EASE OF USE This study explores the perceptions of pharmaceutical sales representatives toward the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) in pharmaceutical detailing. It uses data from a survey of sales representatives at a large pharmaceutical company that adopted a PDA system for use in pharmaceutical detailing. The study first identifies the specific PDA features that users perceive as being important in performing pharmaceutical detailing tasks. Then, built on the technology acceptance model (TAM), the study examines the important PDA features as antecedents to the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) of the system. The results suggest some ways to improve specific system features, which in turn enhance PU and PEOU and through them, system usage. The findings would be useful to those who use or plan to use PDAs for pharmaceutical detailing or other similar mobile tasks. Keywords: Personal Digital Assistants, Sales force Automation Systems, Technology Acceptance Model, Pharmaceutical Detailing ALIGNING THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS CURRICULUM WITH THE NEEDS OF INDUSTRY AND GRADUATES Graduates of an undergraduate information systems (IS) program were surveyed to determine whether the curriculum could be better aligned with their career needs by adjusting the balance between technical and business content. A survey was designed and validated to measure managerial, technical, and interpersonal communication responsibilities as well as duration of employment and preference for certification requirements. A research model is presented, and path analysis is used to reduce over-specification and arrive at a parsimonious model. It was found that although emphasizing technical topics at the expense of business content may provide short-term benefits in transitioning to the work force, such a move may inhibit career advancement as graduates assume greater managerial responsibilities. Emphasizing communications and teamwork skills while maintaining the existing curriculum balance between business and technical content is indicated as an appropriate strategy to align the IS curriculum with the needs of industry. Keywords: IS Education, IS Curriculum Assessment, Technical Skills, Business Skills, Certifications, Human-Resource Needs PKR: A PERSONALIZED KNOWLEDGE ECOMMENDATION SYSTEM FOR VIRTUAL RESEARCH COMMUNITIES This paper proposes a personalized explicit- and tacit-knowledge recommendation model for a virtual research community. The proposed model aims to recommend both useful journal documents (explicit knowledge) and community members who can discuss the information (tacit knowledge) on-line in real time. A middleware system, the personalized knowledge recommender (PKR) system, that was constructed from this model is presented. The model combines content-based (CB) and collaborative filtering (CF) methods, to make explicit and tacit knowledge recommendations. Unlike other similar systems, this system adapts CB and CF in different ways to provide users with not only “interest-related” documents for reference but also connections to the “related knowledge owners” for further on-line discussion. An e-journal paper recommendation for a virtual research community is used as an example to evaluate the performance of PKR in terms of mean absolute error, precision, recall and F-measure. PKR creates the specialty of explicit- and tacit-knowledge recommendations. Keywords: Content-Based Filtering, Collaboration Filter, Personalization, Explicit Knowledge, Tacit Knowledge Recommendation A NOVEL STRUCTURAL SIMILARITY MEASURE ON xML DATA FOR INTEGRATED DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT XML has emerged as a standard for data representation on the Web. Driven by advanced Internet technologies and the growth of e-business activities, large amounts of information has already been created in XML format and stored in document management systems. However, many document management systems have not been fully utilizing XML structures to support effective document searching. In this paper, we discuss an efficient and effective approach to be layered on top of or embedded within a document management system in order to support searching XML documents with proximate querying based on structural similarity. As a core component, we propose a novel structural similarity measure and demonstrate it through extensive experiments that our measure brings significant improvement over previous methods, in terms of accuracy and effectiveness. Keywords: None provided AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMER VALUE AND REPURCHASE INTENTION IN KOREAN INTERNET SHOPPING MALLS It is important to analyze the relationship between customer values and business value in order to provide a guideline of successful e-business. The purpose of this paper is to answer the following questions. First, what are key components of customer value in e-business? Second, what difference exists in the expectation level and current level of customer value in e-business? Finally, what influences the relationship between customer value and business value? Data collected from 615 respondents who made purchases through Internet shopping malls were used to test a research model. Three managerial implications were derived from the analysis and further studies were suggested. Keywords: E-Business, Customer Value, Business Value, Electronic Commerce, Trust, Internet Shopping Mall HOW THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT IMPACTS INFORMATION SYSTEMS PROJECT SUCCESS: AN INVESTIGATION OF EXPLOITATIVE AND EXPLORATIVE FIRMS Problems impacting information systems (IS) projects are well recognized. However, there has been limited research on how a positive internal environment impacts successful IS planning implementation and, in turn, IS-oriented organizational success. This paper addresses these questions using structural equation modeling and data provided by 269 CIOs. A positive internal environment was represented by top management support of IS and business managers’ participation in IS planning. This support was found to increase the likelihood of successful IS project implementation which also created the likelihood that IS would result in organizational success. Data were also tested for firms that used IS in an exploitative versus an explorative sense. Model fit for explorative firms was significantly higher. Results suggest that management behavior is vital to creating a positive IS environment for the successful project implementation and that exploitative firms may be less successful in creating such an environment. IS project planning and the absence of top management related implementation problems, but not the absence of other implementation problems, predicted IS-oriented organizational success. Keywords: Strategic Information Systems Planning, Project Performance, Top Management Support, Firm Performance, Structured Equation Modeling RESPONSES TO TRUST VIOLATION: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Much has been said about the need for trust, and much has been implied about the consequences of violating trust. There is little empirical evidence of the consequences of trust violation, with the recent exception of Pavlou and Gefen [40]. In this article, we provide a theoretical framework for the study of responses to trust violation. Within this framework, we have outlined five models, each focusing on a different dependent variable. The models also indicate some important covariates that need to be considered when studying the responses to trust violation. The proposed theoretical framework provides a good starting point for the study of trust violation. Keywords: Trust Violation, Psychological Contract Violation, Theoretical Framework A MODEL OF CUSTOMERS’ TRUST IN E-BUSINESSES: MICRO-LEVEL INTER-PARTY TRUST FORMATION Trust is one of the key success factors for many online retailers and therefore many researchers have examined the topic both conceptually and empirically. Reviewing the previous studies, we found two possible improvements in the study of trust. First, we propose a more comprehensive, parsimonious, and practical conceptualization of trust, especially business-to-customer e-commerce trust. This model of trust explicitly includes key concepts that are ignored, but are deemed to be important, in the conceptualization of trust (e.g., confidence and affect). Second, this conceptualization of trust is used in a comprehensive model of customers’ trust in e-businesses. This model includes, in a more comprehensive and parsimonious way, key factors that are likely to affect customers’ trust in an e-business. Furthermore, we believe that the model is useful in understanding the trust development process. Keywords: E-Commerce, Trust, Micro-Level Trust, Macro-Level Trust, Factors Impacting Customers’ Trust In E-Businesses, Initial Trust, Robust Trust, Loyalty, Trusting Belief, Trusting Attitude, Trusting Intention BEHAVIOR-INDUCTIVE DATA MODELING FOR ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS Traditional database design tools commonly have a restriction that their users are assumed to have expertise in entity-relationship (ER) modeling. What we have found is that once an enterprise-wide business description is prepared, even a novice field worker is able to obtain an ER model with the assistance of a design tool which automatically extracts data objects from the description and which semiautomatically classifies them into entities or attributes. Traditional entity-oriented automated database design tools have another limitation that a bunch of attribute redundancies can be induced by concealing or omitting some meaningful relationships. To avoid the major negative habits of traditional approaches, our design tool treats relationships rather than entities as the focal point in database design. Our results with an option trading application have shown that, with just a few interactions, field workers can use our tool to generate an appropriate ER model. Keywords: Design Automation, Entity Extraction, Requirements Analysis, Attribute Redundancy a USABILITY ANALYSIS OF COMPANY WEBSITES Web usability advocates stress the importance of clarity, simplicity, and consistency in web design so that users can perform desired operations efficiently and effectively. If a website lacks these characteristics, users may become confused or frustrated and “take their business” to competing sites. Usability advocates have made anecdotal observations about the extent to which websites follow “good” design practices. However, there have been few attempts to address this issue from a research perspective. This study presents an analysis of INC. 500 company websites using eleven measures, grouped into three categories: avoidance of web design errors, adherence to web design conventions, and inclusion of features to promote usability. These measures were derived from usability guidelines proposed in the literature. The results revealed that while a few design guidelines are commonly followed, most showed a high degree of variation. The mean number of guidelines followed per website was 5.5 out of a possible 11. In particular, the results suggest that many websites can be improved with regard to link appearance, navigation, and the inclusion of more positive features such as breadcrumb trails and search boxes to improve usability. Thus, many organizations should consider reexamining their websites from a usability perspective. Keywords: Web Usability; Website Design; Internet; Content Analysis A SIMULATION STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF VOIP SERVICES ON SELECTED DATA TRAFFIC UNDER WIRELINE VERSUS WIRELESS EXPANSION SCENARIOS Enterprise networks can be expanded both by wireline and wireless modes. Many organizations have been implementing Internet telephony as well using the same network infrastructure in addition to data services. It was reported in recent works that current wireless local area networking technology was very inefficient for voice communication compared to wireline technology. In this paper we performed simulation studies and demonstrated that data services were also affected more adversely in the wireless mode compared to the wireline mode as Voice over Internet Protocol was initiated over the enterprise network. These results will benefit network planners in future expansion decisions. Keywords: None Provided ASSESSING ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION CAPABILITY AND ITS EFFECT ON E-COMMERCE INNITIATIVES This research uses a qualitative approach to study the innovative capability of two organizations and the effect of innovation on their E-Commerce initiatives, strategies, and outcomes. The Innovation Strategy Model is used in this research to analyze the innovative capability of two organizations. The case study research methodology was selected and two case studies are presented. The research results show that one organization is more innovative than the other in terms of its innovative capability. A post-study follow-up shows that the organization that was high on innovative capability was very successful in their E-Commerce initiative whereas the other organization was not. Keywords: Case Studies, Qualitative Research, Strategic IT, Electronic Commerce, Innovation Strategy Model
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