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Summer 2008 (Vol 48, Issue 4) Table of Contents A COMPREHENSIVE TWO-LEVEL FRAMEWORK FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS CURRICULUM DESIGN, ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVEMENT Accreditation and curriculum development are critical tasks at every university. This paper describes a comprehensive two-level framework for information systems curriculum design, assessment and improvement. The two-level framework utilizes both a macro- and a micro-level approach to real-world problem solving. The macro level provides a general framework for overall course development and ensures that course topics, goals and assessment methods are related to each other. The micro level provides a framework for individual lesson design. The micro level uses activation, demonstration, and application to guide students through increasingly complex sub-problems. Both the macro and micro level of the framework incorporate a final phase of reflection for continual improvement. Application of the comprehensive two-level framework can provide benefits to all stakeholders in the education system: deans and department heads, faculty members/instructors, students and employers. Keywords: Accreditation, Assessment, IS Curriculum Design, Problem-Based Learning THE INFLUENCE OF PERSONALITY TRAITS AND INFORMATION PRIVACY CONCERNS ON BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS This study incorporates the Big Five personality traits into a theoretical model that explains and predicts individuals concerns for information privacy, computer anxiety, and individual behavioral intentions. Data was gathered via a survey, which was completed by 230 undergraduate college students, and analysis was conducted utilizing structural equation modeling. Agreeableness was found to have a significant influence on individual concerns for information privacy while neuroticism was found to have a significant influence on computer anxiety. In addition, intellect exerted a significant influence on both computer anxiety and behavioral intentions. Key insights for theory and practice are presented. Keywords: Information Privacy, Ethical Issues, Behavioral Intentions, Personality Traits ERP ALIGNMENT FOR POSITIVE BUSINESS PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM KOREA’S ERP MARKET This paper aims to examine conditions under which investment in enterprise resource planning (ERP) has a positive influence on business performance. Our empirical analysis on Korean firms that invested in ERP systems reveals how organizational integration modes need to be aligned with ERP systems for positive results from the ERP investment. Organizational integration modes refer to simultaneously used methods — people, standardization, and centralization — by which an organization coordinates and controls the activities of different departments within the same organization. The degree of alignment between ERP and integration modes is determined by the clarity of the ERP objectives, and positive results in terms of operational efficiency are correlated with the degree of alignment between ERP and these three integration modes. Keywords: Enterprise Resource Planning Systems; Clarity of ERP Objectives; Integration Modes AN INTERACTIVE WEB-BASED ENVIRONMENT USING PEDAGOGICAL AGENTS This paper describes the architecture of an Interactive Learning Environment (ILE) on the Internet using companions, including a human one geographically distant from the learning site. The achieved system relies on 3-tiers Client/Server architecture (Client, Web Server, Data and applications Server) where human and software agents can communicate via the Internet and use the DTL strategy (Double Test Learning). The architecture contains five main agents: a tutor agent in charge of guiding the learner; a system agent whose role is to manage and to control the accesses to the system; a teacher agent in charge of the management and the updating of the different bases; a learner agent representing the main agent of the system for whom the teaching is dedicated, and finally a learning companion agent whose role can sometimes be as an assistant, and other times, as a troublemaker. Keywords: Learning Companion System, DTL Strategy, Companion, Troublemaker, Co-Learner, Multi-Agents System USE OF COGNITIVE MAPPING TECHNIqUES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT In today’s information and technology-driven world, information systems (IS) have become a vital component of successful businesses and organizations (King, 2006; Langdon, 2006). Most organizations are relying on information systems in day-to-day operations, management and other business activities. Moreover, information systems have been used by many organizations as strategic resources to attain or retain competitive advantages (Siau, 2003), as illustrated by the pervasive adoption of electronic commerce and enterprise systems. Keywords: None provided THE IMPACTS OF JOB CHARACTERISTICS ON IS EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION: COMPARISON BETWEEN PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES The use of temporary employees in the information systems field continues at a high rate. In order to maintain a quality work environment, an organization must effectively manage both the temporary and permanent work force. A model of satisfaction is constructed based on previous literature and focus groups in three organization that proposes links to satisfaction from the job characteristics of dependence, autonomy, task interdependence, and management support. A survey of employees in public sector and non-profit organizations revealed that both permanent and temporary employees related management support to satisfaction, temporary employees related task interdependence to satisfaction, and permanent employees related job involvement to satisfaction. Follow-up interviews revealed satisfaction of the permanent employees to be negatively impacted by perceived workload imbalances. Keywords:IS Personnel, IS Contracting, Management of IS, Job Satisfaction RECONCEPTUALIzING ORGANIzATIONAL SUPPORT AND ITS EFFECT ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USAGE: EVIDENCE FROM THE HEALTH CARE SECTOR This study examines the role of organizational support in motivating organizational members’ usage of information technology (IT). We postulate two organizational support factors, namely infrastructure support and technical support, theoretically link them to IT usage perceptions using the technology acceptance model (TAM), and empirically test these associations using field survey data from a nationwide sample of healthcare administrators. The results of this study confirm that organizational support plays a critical role in shaping user perceptions toward IT and their subsequent IT usage. Further, it extends personal usage models such as TAM by incorporating organizational support, which can play a crucial role in motivating IT usage in workplace settings. Keywords: Information Technology Use, Organizational Support, Healthcare, Survey Research CURRENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ISSUES AND MORAL INTENSITY INFLUENCES This study presents a review and analysis of how common information technology (IT) unethical actions are viewed by a sample of students, faculty, and practitioners and what moral intensity variables influenced their decision. The findings reveal that all the questionable moral situations were judged with varying levels of opposition. Gender, age, and student status all affected ethical decisions. It was also found that different moral intensity variables had varying influences on moral decisions. Practitioners can use these findings to tailor moral education and training activities. Researchers can further explore the initial findings and refine the varying impact and influences. Keywords: Age, Ethics, Ethical Decision Making, Gender, Information Technology, Moral Intensity, Students GROUPPWARE USES AND INFLUENCE ON PERFORMANCE IN SMEs According to literature a research model of SMEs uses of groupware and its influence on performance is proposed. The model incorporates concepts from the TOE framework and Information Technologies’ relative advantage and perceived usefulness. From the analysis of data from a sample of 151 SMEs belonging to the computer industry, the main contribution of this work is confirmed: mere groupware adoption do not directly influence organizational performance. Only when groupware benefits related to participation are perceived and in certain contexts, groupware positively affects SMEs performance. Specifically, in those environments given to experimentation and tacit knowledge exchange, the use of participation-oriented groupware contributes to the improvement of organizational performance. Keywords: Groupware, Perceived Benefits, Performance, SME, TOE Framework USER'S PERSPECTIVES ON PRIVACY IN WEB-BASED APPLICATIONS Privacy is a major concern in web-based applications. While privacy was a sensitive issue long before the advent of computers, the phenomenal growth in Internet commerce in recent years has brought privacy concerns to the fore. The problem of privacy has been further exacerbated by the fact that the Web makes it easy for new data to be automatically collected and analyzed by sophisticated data mining tools and personalized marketing services. This study explores the nature of the privacy concern in detail, especially for the online environment. The objective of this study is to get a better understanding of the factors that can affect online privacy concerns and how these concerns could affect the users’ behavior and the future of the Internet and electronic commerce. Keywords: Internet, Privacy, Secrecy A COMPARISON OF STRUCTURAL EqUATION MODELING APPROACHES: THECASE OF USER ACCEPTANCE OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS Structural equation modeling is becoming a more frequently used methodology to address certain research questions posed in information systems research. This paper illustrates the use of three different structural equation models to test the network of variables in an extended technology acceptance model. The techniques we use are path analysis, item level and parcel structure equation modeling. Beyond demonstrating the use of structural equation models, we compare the primary differences among the three approaches and provide guidance to help researchers select the most appropriate approach to use. While each of the three structural equation techniques produces similar structural results, they differ in the degree that they fit the data and the degree of explained variance (R2). Keywords: Accounting Information Systems, Structural Equation Modeling, Covariance Structure Analysis, Path Analysis, Parceling, Technology Acceptance Model AN EXPLORATORY STUDY INTO DETERMINING THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF KEY CRITERIA IN WEB USABILITY: A MULTI-CRITERIA APPROACH Organizations are investing significant amounts of resources in both internal and external web-based applications. Many of these applications must be used by either employees of the organization or by e-customers of the organization. One of the key components of any web-based application is its interface, and a key criteria in utilization of these web-based applications is the website’s usability. This study investigated five criteria that have been suggested to impact an individual’s assessment of a website’s usability. Utilizing a multi-criteria decision making approach, we were able to assess the relative importance of these criteria as they apply to website usability. Our findings suggest that, similar to the technology adoption literature, ease of use and navigation are two critical components in determining website usability. This study also investigated the impact of specific individual differences (gender, computer anxiety, innovativeness, and computer self-efficacy). Keywords: Website Usability, Multi-Criteria Decision Making, Gender, Anxiety, Innovativeness, Computer Self-Efficacy, Technology Utilization
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