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(2013)Book ChapterThis chapter begins with a broad overview of the methodological landscape that distinguishes between three levels: the level of meta-theoretical assumptions where different paradigms are articulated, the level of research methods and the level of research techniques and tools. Different research paradigms are then discussed, making explicit the assumptions that inform them, and the relationships between methodology, theory and method in conducting research. We then build on this analysis illustrating the distinctive nature of the paradigms with examples from three seminal papers from within the same topic domain, information richness. Drawing on these papers, we discuss how the methodological assumptions determine choice of research paradigm, formulation of research questions and selection of methods, and provide practical examples of how this is achieved. The chapter concludes by summarising the arguments for adopting a broader view of research methodology and its importance for achieving greater reflexive awareness of our ‘unconscious metaphysics’ that underlay and influence how we see and research the world.
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(2013)Book ChapterThis chapter describes the various forms and sources of research data and the importance of planning to appropriately manage data throughout their life cycle. The many reasons that data should be managed within research projects and programs (and beyond to enable future use) are discussed. Legal, ethical and policy reasons for planning are introduced, as are practical and pragmatic reasons, along with the role of researchers in data management processes. Ten important components of a data management plan are addressed and a checklist for researchers in the early stages of constructing a data management plan is provided. The chapter concludes by providing references to useful data management tools and resources.
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(2013)Book ChapterThis chapter begins by reinforcing the integral role of writing and dissemination in the research process, while acknowledging that writing and dissemination practices vary from discipline to discipline, field to field. Despite these differences, there are characteristics and processes that most research writing and dissemination have in common, and these are discussed here. From the general structure of a research report to the importance of writing throughout the research process, key aspects of research writing are addressed after which dissemination and publishing are defined and major and emerging forms of publication are described. The chapter concludes with a discussion of peer review and the ethics of authorship.
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(2010)Journal ArticleThis paper investigates the academization of library and information science (LIS)educators in Australia from 1959 to 2008. Extensive data document the distribution of these academics in Australian higher education institutions over fifty years: from a slow beginning in the 1960s, to rapid growth in the 1970s, relative stability in the 1980s, and a persistent decline from the 1990s. Results of other characteristics of Australian LIS educators over the fifty-year period are presented including: previous positions held before entering academia, what and where academic qualifications were obtained, academic positions/ranks by gender, mobility within Australian higher education institutions, and years spent as Australian LIS educators. Although there has been a steady decline in the number of Australian LIS educators since the 1990s, the level of academic qualifications and percentage with doctorates have risen, thus conforming to a major requirement of academia; however, the relative decline in junior academic positions is a worrying trend. The analysis of changed characteristics over time helps define who Australian LIS academics are, and additionally provides data that contributes to LIS academic workforce planning.
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(2010)Journal ArticleConducting a literature review is a vital part of any research. Library and information science (LIS) professionals often play a central role in supporting academics in their efforts to locate relevant publications and in teaching novice researchers skills associated with literature reviews. This paper examines literature review processes with the aim to contribute to better understanding of their complexity and uncertainty and to propose a new approach to literature reviews that is capable of dealing with such complexity and uncertainty.
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(2010)Conference PaperThis paper investigates the concept of information. It follows different approaches for defining information before discussing a knowledge-in-action view on information as part of sociomaterial practices. Drawing from Stamper’s (1991) extended semiological framework the paper proposes its reinterpretation to study information as a sociomaterial phenomenon. The paper further argues that rather than focusing on finding general definitions for information, intellectual efforts should concentrate on characteristics and attributes of information. Combining earlier efforts in this direction different attributes of information such as novelty, time dependence, or goal relevance. are introduced. Locating those attributes within Stamper's extended semiological framework helps to identify different aspects of sociomaterial context affecting information. Understanding and paying attention to information through its attributes can, therefore, provide guidance for researching information and possibly help advancing the development of information systems.
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(2010)Journal ArticleThis article explores some of the issues associated with giving non-human actors a voice of their own in actor-network theory based research. What issues do we face in doing so? Does doing so increase understanding of the issue to hand, bring to life and make more accessible and interesting the stories of these actors? Or does this anthropomorphism detract from the issues at hand? We discuss these broader issues and then present some findings from an ANT field study which investigated the implementation of institutional repositories and their relations with the spread of open access to scholarly publishing. We experiment with allowing some of the non-human actors to speak for themselves. We conclude with a discussion which opens the debate: does giving voice to non-human actors bring them to life and make them better understood as intimately entangled with each other and human actors in the sociomaterial practices of the everyday? And what are the challenges in doing so?
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(2012)ThesisThe phenomenon of knowledge sharing in multi-party software development projects is not easily understood, and this is mainly due to the complexity of interactions between various specialists and stakeholders. This study integrates Social Interdependence Theory and the Coopetitive Model of Knowledge Sharing to postulate and operationalise a model that explains the forces behind high-quality knowledge sharing in cross-functional software development teams. A two-step mixed sequential research design is employed to test the proposed model in the context of cross-functional software development teams. The first step, triangulation step, acts as a pilot study by providing an initial evaluation of the proposed model and its instrument. The triangulation step consists of two qualitative and quantitative pilot studies, and compares the results from semi-structured-interviews and an online survey. The second step of the research design examines the proposed conceptual model and its instrument by incorporating data collected from an online survey. The survey results confirmed the positive impact of cooperative behaviours on driving high-quality knowledge sharing, whereas competition was found to have complex consequences. Consistent with the organisational politics and the coopetition literature, the results demonstrated the mixed impacts of two facets of competition for tangible & intangible resources on high-quality knowledge sharing. Competition for tangible resources was found to positively generate cooperative communication, but to inhibit sharing high-quality knowledge. Competition for intangible resources was shown to negatively affect interpersonal relationships and the cooperative task orientation of individuals, but to enhance high-quality knowledge sharing. The results confirmed the significant impact of (i) positive outcome, means and boundary interdependencies on enhancing cooperative behaviours and (ii) negative outcome and boundary interdependencies on generating competitive behaviours. The findings help toward an understanding of the forces underlying high-quality knowledge sharing in multiparty software development teams. The multi-dimensional conceptualisation of cross-functional cooperation and competition provides a better understanding of the details of the relation between simultaneous cooperation & competition and knowledge sharing behaviours. This study adds to the emerging contingency perspective pertaining to the study of cooperation and competition in software development teams. The findings contribute to advancing the recent emphasis on understanding coopetition at intra-organisational levels.
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(2013)ThesisWith the growth of the Internet, firms have realised the potential of this medium as a tool to expand their businesses and offer enormous benefits to their customers. E-commerce is a way to conduct business transactions online. It provides convenience for people to purchase goods and services at lower costs and without the need of having to speak to someone directly or going into a store. E-commerce assists businesses to develop new markets, increase productivity through cost reductions and establish electronic links between businesses which makes it an integral part of the local and global market. Despite e-commerce having been around since the mid-1990s and attracting more and more attention from businesses and consumers, the adoption of e-commerce is still relatively slow among retailers compared to other ways of doing business. This is due to the lack of understanding of the e-commerce phenomenon and the context that is affecting its adoption. This research aims to provide better understanding of e-commerce adoption among Australian retailers. For this purpose the study interviewed firms from different retail categories and used a combination of Daniel et al.’s (2002) stages of growth (SOG) model and Tornatzky and Fleischer’s (1991) technology-organisation- environment (TOE) framework as the basis to develop an integrated e-commerce model that outlines the evolution of e-commerce from B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) perspectives. The model will be a useful tool for retailers to have a better understanding of their current state of B2C and B2B initiatives as well as helping them to develop suitable strategies to implement online trade and to sell products and services over the Internet. The data analysis has identified five B2C e-commerce maturity levels: web presence, e-commerce portal, e-commerce implementation, e-commerce integration and enterprise integration. The B2B e-commerce levels describe the involvement of the firm in B2B from simple format interaction through emails and other communication tools over the internet to more sophisticated levels until the final level which represents full integration of online and in-store operations. In addition, the study findings suggest that the defined e-commerce levels are influenced by internal and external factors. However, these factors were found to have a different effect on each level of adoption. In addition, the research findings suggest that organisations can reach a stagnation point from which they have no motivation to move further up to the following e-commerce maturity level either now or in the foreseeable future. Moreover, the study identified anxiety points among e-commerce maturity levels where the retailers were found to be interested in advancing further in their e-commerce implementation to integrate e-commerce with their in-store POS (point-of-sale); however, they were uncertain about proceeding as this move is associated with high human and financial investment. Finally, the study found that according to the case organisations, it is unlikely that the online trade will replace the traditional form of trade conducted through the physical location. However, among the case organisations who were involved in e-commerce, the study found that e-commerce represents an important business model for them, despite the low revenue percentage generated through this emerging and developing application of various information and communications technologies (ICTs). The proposed model is expected to be used as a roadmap for organisations considering online trade with customers and business partners.
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(2010)Conference PaperAn opportunity to explore the topic of data usages is presented by the collaborative research being undertaken by a federation of applied science research units affiliated with a number of different Australian research organizations (the Cluster). The research aims to investigate how members of the collaboration understand and work with data in their day-to-day practice.