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(2014)ThesisIn the information systems (IS) discipline, there has been a continued interest in comprehending and explaining how the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems instigate organisational change processes and bring about desirable outcomes. Extensive literature on ERP implementation identifies numerous factors that affect organisational changes, including staff training, top management support and involvement, active user participation, external knowledge acquisition, knowledge co-creation and sharing, staff learning and many more. Despite the maturing of ERP technologies and a wealth of knowledge available on ERP implementation, organisations continue to experience considerable difficulties and rarely achieve desired outcomes. The key challenge for an organisation implementing an ERP system, emphasised in the literature, is to understand and enact new business processes inscribed in ERP and thus undergo a profound organisational change. The thesis addresses this challenge by approaching ERP implementation as an organisational learning process. When an organisation is planning and configuring ERP and then implementing it in its specific business processes, all its actors have to learn, individually and collectively, and engage in instigating change in practice. To conceptualise ERP implementation as an organisational learning process, the thesis builds from two theories of learning: community of practice (CoP) theory that draws attention to situated learning in practice and a theory of single- and double-loop learning by individuals, groups and an organisation as a whole. Within such a theoretical foundation, the thesis examines the following research questions: How does organisational learning emerge and assist the actors in an ERP implementation? How do CoPs facilitate organisational learning during an ERP implementation? To answer these questions, a qualitative case study was conducted in an information technology (IT) services company in Australia during its SAP implementation (over 14 months in 2009–2010). The analysis of empirical data (interviews, observations and company documents) reveals that the company first failed to implement SAP (Phase 1), then succeeded in SAP-enabled transformation at the operational level (Phase 2) and eventually achieved the desired organisation-wide transformation (Phase 3). Importantly, these three phases of SAP implementation were characterised by not learning, single-loop learning and double-loop learning respectively. In-depth analysis also revealed that the spontaneous formation of communities of practice around SAP interpretation and application in practice in different departments stimulated ‘learning by doing’, leading to single-loop learning. Further institutionalisation of communities of practice and the formation of a ‘community of communities of practice’ across the company resulted in double-loop learning and a successful transformation of processes company-wide. Lessons from this case study suggest that the emergence, maturing and institutionalisation of communities of practice were the key mechanisms by which SAP implementation transformed from not learning to single-loop and double-loop learning, leading to gradual SAP-enabled transformations. Grounded in the empirical findings, the thesis proposes a processual model of ERP implementation as practice-based organisational learning as a major theoretical contribution. It posits a relation between a gradual ERP-enabled organisational transformation and ongoing practice-based learning by doing in emerging communities of practice mutually intertwined with single- and double-loop organisational learning. The proposed model addresses the key challenge of ERP implementation by contributing to a practice-based and more refined understanding of its complex and emergent nature. Further, it opens up new avenues for exploration of practice-based learning and ERP-enabled organisational change processes. The model is also expected to help practitioners to plan, monitor and manage ERP implementation and organisational change better.
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(2017)ThesisThe current study responds to calls for research to increase the knowledge on how development firms could generate and enhance value from their distributed IT projects. Recent literature indicates the need for studies to address significant challenges of distributed information systems development teams, such as cultural incompatibility, lack of trust, customer collaboration, communication, lack of control and coordination (Mattsson et al. 2010). Based on a qualitative exploratory single-case study, this dissertation is concerned with the institution of effective governance frameworks to address distributed development project challenges, an area of research that is currently lacking empirical studies. In particular, the current study is seeking to understand how social governance mechanisms affect the governance of distributed software development projects. The current study shows the role and intervening processes of social governance mechanisms (Jones et al. 1997), including restricted access, macroculture, collective sanctions and reputation, to coordinate activities and safeguard exchanges. Furthermore, the current study suggests that to apply these social governance mechanisms effectively, it is critical that organisations maintain congruency among them. The study also found that all the four social governance mechanisms of the Jones et al. (1997) model interact with each other, thus showing the critical importance of macroculture among the social governance mechanisms and the impact that macroculture has on other mechanisms. Moreover, the current study found that the mentioned four social governance mechanisms are context dependent and have different impacts on safeguarding and coordinating exchanges in various contexts including Open Source Software. The current study also found a new construct, ideological similarity , which is about a preference for more frequent interactions among project teams with similar interests to facilitate smooth interactions and enhance coordination. The study also provides effective practices, such as co-locating distributed teams at the start of the project and through the project life cycle.
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(2019)ThesisCybersecurity emerges as an exemplary case of human-technology entanglement. Cybersecurity technologies that monitor security breaches, protect Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, and respond to and counter-attack cybercrimes, are getting deployed at an increasing rate across organisations worldwide. These technologies are highly complex, and their deployment involves profound technological, organisational and social transformation in an environment of ever-increasing cyber threats and the dramatic rise of interconnected digital devices. These present an urgent challenge for all stakeholders who need to understand the cybersecurity phenomenon in order to deal with its complex social and technological implications. This thesis explores the cybersecurity phenomenon in the context of government organisations responsible for the deployment, implementation and use and effects of cybersecurity technologies. A broad literature review on cybersecurity demonstrates that the dominant research focus has been on the technical aspects of cybersecurity technologies, including their design, functionality and performance, as well as recommending best practices. Limited research in information systems (IS) and social sciences has also addressed social and organisational aspects, primarily concerned with issues around privacy, surveillance and human rights, data sharing and protection, legislation and law enforcement, and psychological profiling of attackers. On the other hand, IS literature has addressed IT implementation, organisational change and adaptation in organisational context, focusing on specific IT systems (for example on ERP and CRM) but not cybersecurity technologies. Overall, the literature review shows that there is a lack of understanding of the cybersecurity phenomenon and the complex processes of the deployment, implementation and use of cybersecurity technologies. This thesis therefore aims to contribute to better understanding of cybersecurity technologies and specifically to offer a theoretical model that explains unfolding adaptation processes between an organisation and cybersecurity technologies and their implications. This aim is achieved by conducting a longitudinal field study of the adoption of cybersecurity technologies in a government organisation and answering the following research question: How do human and technological actors change and adapt in turbulent and complex environment marked by increasing cyber threats and imperative government adoption of cybersecurity technologies? The theoretical model of human cybersecurity technology co-adaptation, inductively built from the empirical findings, describes ongoing complex adaptation processes involving human and technological actors, organisational power structures, and a hostile cyber threatening context. The thesis thus extends knowledge on process of change and becoming in IS to include a co-adaptation process. It also extends knowledge on cybersecurity phenomenon and also contributes to the IS literature on IT adoption in a turbulent environment. Its practical implications are relevant for cybersecurity stakeholders: by being aware of; and better understanding the co-adaptation required to implement such multidimensional and intrusive technologies, they will be better equipped to deal with cybersecurity technologies deployment and implementation in practice.
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(2019)ThesisOver the past decade, crowdsourcing marketplaces — online exchange platforms which facilitate commercial outsourcing of services — have witnessed a dramatic growth in the number of participants (service providers and customers) and the value of outsourced services. On crowdsourcing marketplaces, provider profiles and especially previous customers’ feedback on these profiles are the main sources of information for the choice decisions of prospective customers. The information on these profiles signals the reputation and past performance of their owners. However, deciding about the most appropriate provider based on profiles is a key challenge for customers because the information on profiles may be incomplete and sometimes irrelevant for customer decisions. By adversely affecting customers’ choices, such ineffective profiles impede many service providers to develop long-term relationships with customers, transact on a regular basis and survive on crowdsourcing marketplaces. Given the important role of provider profile information in the customer–provider relationship development, previous studies have investigated the impact of simple components, such as “average ratings,” while more complex, compound information components have often been overlooked. Accordingly, the main objectives of this research are to reveal 1) the effects of main feedback information components on provider profiles on customers’ choice decisions, and 2) the impact of all common, simple and compound, profile information components on the long-term business outcomes of providers on crowdsourcing marketplaces. Two discrete choice experiments were conducted, one in a controlled laboratory (120 participants) and one on a crowdsourcing marketplace (695 participants), and the results were analysed through nested logit modelling to address the first objective. A longitudinal partial least squares (PLS) analysis of the impact of 4,545 provider profiles on a large crowdsourcing marketplace was also conducted to address the second objective. The results of this research in general showed that providers’ profile information significantly impacts on customers’ choices and the long-term business outcomes of the providers. More specifically, this research revealed that: 1) the cost, visibility (often determined by recency), richness, frequency and consistency of information components on a profile determine their relative credibility and the extent of their impact on customers’ choices; 2) higher credibility information components on provider profiles have a larger impact on the transactions of repeat customers compared to new customers; and 3) repeat customers’ transactions have a larger impact on providers’ long-term business outcomes. In addition to the contribution of this research to theory, this thesis also provides practical guidelines for customers, providers and market makers to benefit from more efficient transactions on crowdsourcing marketplaces.
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(2018)ThesisVirtual worlds, as the computer-based simulated environments incorporating various representations of real-world elements, have great potential to not only transform the structures and operation modes of various industries but also change the way people work, do business, learn, play, and communicate. However, the existing sharp distinctions between virtual worlds and the real world also bring critical challenges. To address these challenges, the concept of telepresence—the user’s feeling of ‘being there’ in the virtual environments—is adopted as it is considered a direct and essential consequence of a virtual world’s reality. To cultivate this feeling, it is essential to understand what factors can lead to telepresence. However, some literature gaps on telepresence antecedents impede the understanding of telepresence antecedents and affect the adoption of the telepresence construct in the design of virtual worlds. To address these issues, this study explores the concept of telepresence in the context of virtual worlds. Specifically, by adopting means-end chain (MEC) theory, the study aims to investigate the antecedents of telepresence; to reveal the inter-relationships among these antecedents by building a hierarchical structure; and to develop an innovative approach for user segmentation to understand in-depth individual differences in perceiving telepresence. To achieve these objectives, the laddering interview technique was adopted to collect qualitative data from 25 participants. Analysis of the data identified 21 antecedents of telepresence. Based on their inter-relationships, a hierarchical structure was developed to capture the process of cultivating telepresence. Moreover, three types of users with distinctive paths leading to telepresence were classified. This study contributes to both the virtual world research and the telepresence literature and develops a new and meaningful user segmentation method. Finally, this study provides sufficient information and helpful guidelines to practitioners on the design and improvement of virtual worlds for a better user experience.
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(2018)ThesisToday’s business climate requires the IT infrastructure of organizations to be agile and dynamic so that it can respond quickly to new business models and requirements. Every organization is faced with the need to predict change in a global business environment, to rapidly respond to competitors, and to best exploit organizational assets for growth. Large organizations are adopting a service-oriented approach to adapt to changing circumstances caused by the complexity of implementing modern technologies from different vendors and uncertainty of business needs. Research shows that the lack of clarity surrounding the role of the governance of service-oriented systems by organizations is among the major reasons of service orientation failures. The purpose of this research is to increase our understanding of the governance of service orientation in practice. Based on a literature review, this study first proposes a list of aspects to be considered when implementing Service-Oriented Governance (SOG). By adopting an interpretive research methodology using interview-based study of practices with professionals as a first phase and case studies in the second phase, this research makes three contributions: i) it studies the positioning of SOG in organizations and its relationship to other types of governance ii) it discusses how organizations practice SOG and presents which frameworks are being implemented by organizations, and iii) it discourses the importance of the governance aspects as perceived by practitioners and their actual usage in practice. This study reveals the discrepancy between governance aspects’ importance and their usage and offers possible explanation of that discrepancy. It finds that IT Governance, EA Governance and Data Governance can be regarded as prerequisites to implement effective SOG. The results provide a theoretical contribution to conceptualizing SOG (in particular its key aspects) that can be used to assess SOG practices and provide guidance to improve them. It could also lead to new insights in implementing governance frameworks.
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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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(2016)ThesisEvery year, millions of patients in the world suffer from health care-associated infections (HCAIs) caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). ARB are transmitted to patients in a ward by temporarily contaminated hands of health care workers (HCWs) in patient-care activities. Therefore, hand hygiene of HCWs is an important and effective way to prevent ARB transmission among patients and ensure patient safety. However, HCWs wash their hands with high compliance in some situations, but with low compliance in other situations. Namely, they wash their hands strategically. HCWs’ strategic hand hygiene behaviour has been observed to lead to a generally low compliance. This research studies HCWs’ strategic hand hygiene behaviour and provides guidance to hospitals about intervention decision-making to improve compliance. In particular, a strategic behaviour model is developed by using an evolutionary game to understand how HCWs adjust their hand washing behaviour because of peer influence in intensive interactions. This model suggests three contingent behaviours that depend heavily on peers’ choices: bandwagoning, free-riding, and prosocial hand hygiene behaviour. The conditions for how contingent behaviours appear are also identified. In addition, this study investigates the drivers for these contingent behaviours by conducting a discrete choice experiment (DCE) and best-worst scaling experiment (BWS). The DCE and BWS are also used to provide further insights on how hospitals can design effective interventions, from the perspective of a HCW. This study uses inspection policy as an example of an intervention in order to illustrate how to use a decision model that integrates an evolutionary game model and a transmission dynamics model for the allocation of resources for hand hygiene interventions.
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(2016)ThesisTo explain how websites are used to encourage volunteering and philanthropy. Chapter 1 explains (i) why encouraging prosocial behaviour (i.e., volunteering, philanthropy and activism) through Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is socially important and (ii) how a lack of relevant research is limiting the effectiveness of organisations at using websites (a form of ICT) to encourage prosocial behaviour: a research gap. It then discusses how this study helps to address this research gap by explaining how websites are used to encourage volunteering and philanthropy (two forms of prosocial behaviour). As using websites to encourage prosocial behaviour involves persuasion (i.e., changing individuals’ attitudes and behaviours), Chapter 2 uses two extensive literature searches to provide a foundation for understanding persuasion, which informs the later studies. Chapter 3 uses the repertory grid interview technique, and six live volunteering websites, to explain how and why websites lead to prosocial intention (to engage in volunteering). Chapter 4 uses the perceptions identified in Chapter 3 within a model and evaluates if this model can predict users' prosocial behaviour (i.e. volunteering and philanthropy) after using a prosocial website. (Chapter 2) A common frame of reference for IS on the concept of persuasion, explaining its definition, conceptualisation, and differentiation from related terms. (Chapter 3) A comprehensive explanation of how, through the roles of specific features, websites create specific perceptions, which, through specific motivational triggers, lead to prosocial intention (to engage in volunteering). (Chapter 4) A theoretical model showing how specific perceptions of website influence subsequent prosocial behaviour (i.e. volunteering and philanthropy). The research contributes (1) a comprehensive explanation of the concept of persuasion for future IS research to draw on where needed; (2) the first rich explanation of how ICT encourages prosocial behaviour through the interaction of specific features, perceptions, and motivational triggers, and (3) the first model that shows how specific perceptions of ICT influence prosocial behaviour. Collectively, the thesis contributes by providing a foundation for explaining how ICT encourages prosocial behaviour.
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