Responding to Cybersecurity Challenges: Securing Vulnerable U.S. Emergency Alert Systems

• Journal: Communications of the Association for Information
• asdfFeb 24, 2020

Problem:

• U.S. emergency alert systems (EASs) comprise an important portion of the nation’s critical infrastructure.
• EASs are built on aging technology platforms and suffer from a fragmented interconnected network of public-private-government partnerships.
• Some EASs are vulnerable through a management interface that is available via an Internet-accessible website.
• EASs typically have no vulnerability disclosure policies, which makes reporting problems a difficult endeavor.

How an Enterprise Blockchain Application in the U.S. Pharmaceuticals Supply Chain is Saving Lives

• Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

A case study examined the progress of a MediLedger, a blockchain-based pharmaceutical supply chain system. The team focused on how blockchain applications can be used in the enterprise context, how they can add value, and what drives their adoption. Through interviews the team discovered how the project developed over time and how the developers solved the challenges that arose. Four lessons provide guidance to other firms.

The Role of Knowledge Management in the Relationship between IT Capability and Interorganizational Performance – An Empirical Investigation

• Journal: Communications of the Association for Information
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Research has long posited that the relationship between IT and performance can be explained by investigating overlooked key capabilities that are enabled by IT. These connections are especially not well understood in an inter-organizational (IO) context.

Firms that develop competency in managing knowledge resources across their supply chains are rewarded with higher economic benefits. A major challenge in managing IO knowledge are the competing, and often conflicting, goals of firms in the partnership. The key to dealing with this challenge may lie in the use of IT to enable better inter-firm relationships.

The Magical "We": Enhancing Collaboration Transparency in Grounded Theory Method in Information Systems Research

• Journal: Communications of the Association for Information
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Grounded theory (GTM) research aims at understanding practice issues from observing it. When researchers collaborate and use GTM, they often report their research method by stating "we did the research." This, however, does not clarify how they reconciled differences in the researchers' viewpoints and their omitted descriptions may lessen the quality of the study, possibly resulting even incorrect conclusions. Omitting details can make it difficult to observe and assess collaborative work.

How a Low-Margin Business Cocreated Analytics Value through an Innovation Partnership

• Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Business unit managers often feel they need to start analytics initiatives to remain competitive. Given the budget constraints placed on business units, including the internal IT business unit, managers have to find innovative ways to pay for the analytics initiatives. Since IT departments are cost centers, this leads to business unit managers trying to launch analytics initiatives outside the purview of the internal IT department. This trend is called shadow IT. 

How TradeLens Delivers Business Value with Blockchain Technology

• Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

A longitudinal case study provides a rare glimpse into the development and evolution of TradeLens from 2013 to 2019. Data were collected from several sources, including interviews, conferences, focus groups, direct observation, project meetings, and field visits. The business value of this global supply chain system is still evolving, but seven valuable lessons provide guidance for future blockchain projects with interorganizational boundaries.

Building a Blockchain Application that Complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation

• Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

The researchers attempted to find out if the regulations of GDPR conflicted with the features and benefits of blockchain technology. They gathered evidence from workshops, meetings, documents, and interviews. The outcome is that third-party services that provide permissioned pseudonyms are indeed able to avoid storing personal information yet provide the shared ledgers needed for blockchains.

Pricing or advertising? A game-theoretic analysis of online retailing

• Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems
• asdfNov 05, 2019

Problem:

Pricing and advertisement are two of the most important instruments for online retailers (e-tailers) to attract and compete for customers. At the same time, these two dimensions have a considerable impact on the costs and profitability of such firms. Knowing such strategies and their impacts is key in maintaining competitive advantage. In order to attract customers, it is essential to consider not only consumer behavior and market segment, but also competitor`s strategic response.

What successful online petitions have in common

• Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems
• asdfNov 05, 2019

Problem:

Online petitions play an increasingly important role in the political life of many countries. They are a powerful tool for motivating political change, allowing people to easily participate in the political discourse and eventually influence policy- and decision making. Despite their growing popularity, the success rate of online petitions is still regrettably low.

To better understand what differentiates successful from unsuccessful petitions, this paper investigates how textual information in online petitions influences their success and the level of support they receive. On a higher level this knowledge can help to better understand the dissemination and consumption of online content in the field of e-politics.

The Impact of System Use on Task Performance

• Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems
• asdfNov 05, 2019

Problem:

It is widely accepted that information systems have an influence on performance. However, literature is still in disagreement about the strength and direction of the influence. Does system use affects users’ task performance positively, negatively, or insignificantly? This knowledge gap makes it difficult for us to understand the deeper interrelations between system use and task performance.

The unresolved situation makes it hard for practitioners to justify IT investments by expected improvement of task performance. Furthermore, it is not clear how systems should ideally be used in order to maximize task performance and consequently create most value through system use.

Identifying concealed information by monitoring mouse-cursor movements

• Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems
• asdfNov 05, 2019

Problem:

Organizations are vulnerable to insider threats when their members conceal information about adverse behaviours. Even members without malicious intent might still conceal potentially adverse behaviours, e.g., non-compliance with security policies. Identifying those cases is very challenging. Organizations have reported how their current measures incur too many false positives, are often too slow or even non-existent.

The Worth of Words: How Technical White Papers Influence ICO Blockchain Funding

• Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Each ICO has an associated white paper that describes the firm's business model, market, cryptocurrency, the team behind the project, and the technology. Then investments are made in the startups. The white papers differ in scope and detail. Comprehensive white papers describing technologically-sophisticated details raised more money than superficial ones simply making claims. Examples of ICO successes and failures are described.

A Ten-Step Decision Path to Determine When to Use Blockchain Technologies

• Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Many modern information systems are large and complex. Analyzing or designing them means that IS professionals need to consider multiple perspectives. IS professionals use conceptual models – semi-formal graphical visualizations of real-world domains – to help build their understanding. The number and variety of different models can be large. We do not know how IS professionals can effectively and efficiently choose between different models, use them to develop an understanding of an IS domain, or how useful different combinations of conceptual models are for their work. We do not know whether analysis or design practices building on multiple conceptual models is effective or how it can be better supported through better model design.

Blockchain for the IoT: Privacy-Preserving Protection of Sensor Data

• Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

The constantly growing pool of smart, connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices poses completely new challenges for business regarding security and privacy. In fact, the widespread adoption of smart products might depend on the ability of organizations to offer systems that ensure adequate sensor data integrity while guaranteeing sufficient user privacy.

An Analysis of the Evolving Intellectual Structure of Health Information Systems Research in the Information Systems Discipline

• Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

More than 500 articles related to health IT were published in IS journals between 1990 and 2017. While remarkable that such a significant quantity of quality health IT research is being published in IS journals, it is nearly impossible, even for researchers who read in this area regularly, to comprehensively understand what this research has contributed.

Constraining Opportunism in Information Systems Consulting: A Three Nation Examination

• Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Opportunism, devious self-interest behavior, is a persistent social problem. Attempts to restrict opportunism, such as legal and ethical codes, have shaped societies for millennia. Opportunism differs from mere profit maximizing because it takes advantage of a trusting relationship to advance self-interest. According to a previous study by three of the authors, a majority of IS consultants and their clients have observed opportunism. Such practices might include breaking promises, being untruthful, or not acting in the other party’s best interests. Information asymmetry, when one party knows more about a situation than another, is the root cause of opportunism.

A Ten-Step Decision Path to Determine when to use Blockchain Technologies

• Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Many organizations are looking at blockchain technologies. However, the drawbacks of blockchain databases (e.g., scalability, capacity, latency, privacy) mean that the technology is not always appropriate. This article presents a ten-step decision path that can help determine whether the application of blockchain is justified and, if so, which kind of blockchain technology to use. We describe how this decision path was used to develop a blockchain prototype for the Danish maritime shipping industry.

User Satisfaction with Information Systems: A Comprehensive Model of Attribute-level Satisfaction

• Journal: Communications of the Association for Information
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

This article proposes and validates a comprehensive model to understand user satisfaction with IT and software applications. The model, which used previous concepts from a heavily-used information systems success model, can provide measures at various levels of granularity. The strongest predictors of satisfaction with the system were ease of use and response time. The strongest predictor of satisfaction with the service, in the context of a PeopleSoft implementation, was accessibility and availability of support services.

BBVA's Data Monetization Journey

• Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Data monetization occurs when companies convert data and analytics into financial returns. BBVA, a global financial group, established a data science center of excellence in 2014 to lead its data monetization activities. By 2017, BBVA had developed a rich data monetization portfolio by making preexisting data monetization activities more effective, by pursuing new data monetization approaches, and by investing in a larger number of data monetization projects. Based on BBVA’s efforts, we provide recommendations for others as they embark on their data monetization journeys.

An investigation of the dark side of social networking sites

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfJun 13, 2019

Problem:

If you do not have access to your favorite social networking site (SNS) like Facebook or Instagram, does this mean that you simply miss a tool that you sometimes need in your daily life or does it touch you more deeply? It is an important observation of recent research that the use of social networking sites over several hours per day has to be understood as something more substantial than just the usage of a tool.

This article builds on the idea that information technology, here specifically social networking sites (SNS), is so intertwined with the daily life of their users that it has become for many of them a part of their identity. This idea has been conceptualized as “IT identity” in prior research and the authors take it one step further by investigating SNS identity. Presumable consequences of this conceptualization is that SNS usage becomes habit, which would partially explain the lack of self-control over the time of SNS usage.

Designing legitimacy into technology: The case of a crowdfunding platform

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfJun 12, 2019

Problem:

New platforms often struggle to get stakeholders to use it because of its newness and lack of legitimacy. Legitimacy is traditionally considered as a social and relational quality among people. The question addressed by this article is: “how can legitimacy be designed into the technology?” Specifically, it is concerned with how to design a platform so that different key users perceive it as legitimate and wants to engage in it.

There are two main challenges to address in designing legitimacy into a platform. First, in order for legitimacy to emerge, normative, structural and cognitive norms have to be fulfilled. These norms are related to financial, social or cognitive expectations of key actors, such as getting shares in the organization or being involved in decision making as a board member or advisor. Second, platforms are often multi-sided or two-sided, so they need to satisfy diverse—and often opposite—set of norms and expectations of different key users (e.g., a platform for crowdfunding needs to present projects that need funding as well as information for investors about interesting projects to get involved in).

Word-of-mouth in the era of digital social networks

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfJun 12, 2019

Problem:

Many online shoppers search social networks for information before making a purchase. The study, therefore, examines how shoppers use their social networks—that is, core network of online friends or extended network of strangers—to search for information.

Requirements acquisition from hard-to-reach populations

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfDec 14, 2018

Problem:

The development of services, products, and information systems should focus on customer needs and preferences. Understanding the customers requires frequent interactions with them. However, this procedure is often perceived costly, difficult, and even unproductive. Because of these issues, companies may fail to acquire important requirements from potential key customers. Missing such valuable insights during design and development is likely to lead in sub-optimal performance of the outcomes.

Issues, practice, and leadership of Information Technology in Europe

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfJan 23, 2019

Problem:

There is a need for high-quality research findings that can be applied to problems encountered by information technology (IT) practitioners. The practical difficulties associated with gaining access to IT executives often limit the practicality of such research. As an IT executive, it’s one thing to know what you’re thinking and what your organization is doing, but quite another to know what others in similar leadership positions have on their minds and what are their organizations doing in terms of technology investments, priorities, performance measures, outsourcing, cloud, and so on?

This paper reports the findings of a study of IT management issues and practices as reported by European IT executives. This study was conducted as an extension of a practice-oriented research study, conducted in the United States (U.S.) since 1980, which reports on a wide range of IT concerns, investments, skills, management practices, and leadership activities. 

Addressing Key Challenges to Making Enterprise Blockchain Applications a Reality

• Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
• asdfFeb 18, 2020

Problem:

Many enterprises have not progressed their blockchain solutions beyond proofs-ofconcept. Daunting managerial challenges in the areas of standards, regulations, shared governance models and viable ecosystems impede progress. We describe the strategies that LO3 Energy, Moog, Inc. and the Center for Supply Chain Studies are pursuing to address these challenges.

Balancing the exploration for and exploitation of IT resources

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfSep 03, 2018

Problem:

Facing novel information technology (IT), organizations must invest in exploiting existing resources and assets to impact organizational performance. However, organizations must also invest in innovative, emerging technologies to strengthen their IT portfolios. Given the importance of both investments in IT capabilities and investments in digital-business intensity, the question concerning how the two types of investments interrelate arises.

How ECM workarounds emerge and how to avoid them

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfSep 03, 2018

Problem:

Companies increasingly use enterprise content management (ECM) systems to manage unstructured information assets, but employees often avoid using the new ECM systems in favor of other means of managing unstructured information, such as local file systems. However, such workarounds can lead to problems at the individual and organizational levels (e.g., poor collaboration). Against this background, the study explores how low levels of user satisfaction may result from poor information quality, and how such low-quality information may lead to the emergence of workarounds.

How to benefit from your supply chain partners' information?

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfJan 10, 2018

Problem:

Information technology enables supply-chain partners to share information, thereby fostering supply-chain performance. However, only a few organizations fully exploit their supply-chain partners’ information resources, leading to a large gap between the potential and practice of inter-organizational information systems. This study asks why only a few organizations benefit from their partners’ information.

How to develop sensemaking support systems?

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfOct 25, 2017

Problem:

Information systems can assist organizational sensemaking, which is crucial as organizations seek to improve their processes. In making sense, people collaboratively frame and label problems and situations through communication, and they do so to understand the past and to prepare for the future. But how can organizations implement systems that support organizational sensemaking?

How does CEO compensation influence the execution of IT-based environmental strategies?

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfMar 19, 2018

Problem:

Companies are increasingly expected to implement IT-based environmental strategies, either to reduce the negative environmental impacts that result from the use of IT (“green IT strategies”) or to increase the positive impacts that the use of IT can have on sustainability (“IT-enabled green strategies”). However, since the execution of both green IT strategies and IT-enabled green strategies is time-consuming, requires considerable financial investment, and adds complexity to organizational practices, CEOs face several uncertainties when deciding whether to execute IT-based environmental strategies. The study asks how the various forms of CEO compensation (fixed pay, bonus pay, stock-option pay) impact the execution of IT-based environmental strategies.

How to develop information systems for inter-organisational networks?

• Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
• asdfOct 11, 2017

Problem:

Business firms are increasingly part of inter-organisational networks, and information systems provide an essential infrastructure for these networks. Traditionally, strong alignment between information systems and business strategies is seen as prerequisite for organisational performance. But, how to reach IS-business alignment in case of several business strategies as they exist in inter-organisational networks?