The purpose of the study was to investigate a modification of a managerial accounting technique, Activity-Based Costing (ABC), as a tool for addressing Information Resource Management (IRM) concerns within business processes. To indicate that ABC has been adapted for the IRM context, this study called the tool "Activity-Based Analysis" (ABA). ABA includes ABC's costing methodology as well as additional methods to address broader issues. The research method was a single-site case study at a property and casualty insurance company. The unit of analysis was a business process consisting of activities needed to provide claims handling services for workers' compensation insurance. Four questions guided the study: 1. Did ABA identify management information required to monitor process effectiveness and efficiency? 2. Did ABA support outsourcing decision making by identifying IRM cost components within business processes? 3. Did ABA identify information resources; that are sharable? 4. Did ABA identify differences between Company organizational characteristics andIRM department organizational characteristics?

This study investigated, in the context of a field-based case study, possibilities for formation of a synergistic union between CSCW and CASE tools. A major dimension of today's software challenge is in gearing up for large-scale system development necessitating large teams of systems engineers. The principal goal of this research was to advance the body of knowledge regarding the nature of collaborative technological support in the software development process. Specifically, the study was designed to evaluate the potential for using a CSCW tool as an effective front-end to a CASE tool in the furtherance of SDLC goals.

This research conducted an interdisciplinary field experiment to identify relationships between productivity, user satisfaction and IS Helpdesk USP's use of effective communication behavior. An experimental group of Helpdesk USPs of a large retail organization were trained by communication professionals in communication effectiveness, with emphasis on the needs of the telephone environment.

This research examines the role of electronic messaging in business firms. The study presents a taxonomy of electronic mail uses, develops a theoretical framework for analyzing electronic mail impact, and investigates risks and advantages of electronic messaging. The research focus is intermediate-size firms.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effect on parametric and nonparametric tests using ordinal data when the distances between points changed on the measurement scale. The research examined the performance of Type I and Type II error rates using selected parametric and nonparametric tests.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between selected end-user training programs corporations provide to their employees and subsequent employee performance based on these opportunities.

In comparing the means .of two normally distributed populations with unknown variance, two tests very often used are: the two independent sample and the paired sample t tests. There is a possible gain in the power of the significance test by using the paired sample design instead of the two independent samples design.

The purpose of this study is to identify what detail design tools are more productive for the different types of professional software developers. By establishing a match between the detail design tool and the cognitive style of the professional programmer, the end product (Information Systems) should be of a higher quality. Two laboratory experiments were conducted. The first experiment was with professional Software Developers; the second one was with students. The dependant variables considered in this study were the number of semantic errors and the time required to complete a design task for conditional logic. The independent variables were the cognitive style of the subject, the complexity of the task, and the detail design tools. Decision trees, flowcharts and pseudocode were used as detailed design tools. Field dependence was the only dimension of cognitive style that was tested.

Managing a software development project presents many difficulties. Most software development projects are considered less than successful, and many are simply canceled. Ineffective project management has been cited as a major factor contributing to these failures. Project management tools can greatly assist managers in tracking and controlling their projects. However, project management tools are very structured and analytical in nature, which is not necessarily supported by decision-making styles of the managers. This research examined the influence that decision style has on a project manager's use of a project management tool.

This study uses simulation to examine differences between fixed sampling interval (FSI) and variable sampling interval (VSI) Shewhart X-bar control charts for processes that produce positively autocorrelated data. The influence of sample size (1 and 5), autocorrelation parameter, shift in process mean, and length of time between samples is investigated by comparing average time (ATS) and average number of samples (ANSS) to produce an out of control signal for FSI and VSI Shewhart X-bar charts. These comparisons are conducted in two ways: control chart limits pre-set at ±3σ_x / √n and limits computed from the sampling process. Proper interpretation of the Shewhart X-bar chart requires the assumption that observations are statistically independent; however, process data are often autocorrelated over time. Results of this study indicate that increasing the time between samples decreases the effect of positive autocorrelation between samples. Thus, with sufficient time between samples the assumption of independence is essentially not violated. Samples of size 5 produce a faster signal than samples of size 1 with both the FSI and VSI Shewhart X-bar chart when positive autocorrelation is present. However, samples of size 5 require the same time when the data are independent, indicating that this effect is a …

Information systems research tends to ignore individual differences in users. This laboratory experiment sought to illuminate contributions of decision-makers' cognitive processes to decision outcome as reflected in four hypothesis sets: the impact of imagery preference and presentation format upon (HI) recall accuracy and upon hemispheric activation during (H2) encoding and (H3) recall, and (H4) to examine the relationship between hemispheric activation differences and accuracy differences. Point-value (specific values) and intraset-pattern (relationships between values) recall were considered. Thirty MBA students, grouped by imagery preference (cognitive style) as favoring verbal (textual) or visual (graphical) information presentation, performed computer-based recall tasks using tabular and graphical formats in a repeated measures design. Hemispheric activation (cognitive process) was assessed using ratios of EEG activity in six frequency bands captured from six pairs of homologous electrode sites during encoding and recall.

Several studies have suggested that the effect of cultural differences among Information Systems (IS) professionals from different nations on the development and implementation of IS could be important. However, IS research has generally not considered culture when investigating the process of systems development. This study examined the relationship between the cultural backgrounds of IS designers and their process-related values with a field survey in Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Hofstede's (1980) value survey module (i.e., Power Distance (PDI), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI), InDiVidualism (IDV) and MASculininity/femininity) and Kumar's (1984) process-related values (i.e., technical, economic, and socio-political) were utilized in the data collection. The hypotheses tested were: whether the IS professionals differed on (H.,) their cultural dimensions based on country of origin, (Hg) their process-related values based on country of origin, and (H3) whether a relationship between their cultural dimensions and their process-related values existed. The countries were significantly different on their PDI, UAI and MAS, but not on their IDV. They significantly differed on their technical and sociopolitical values but not on their economic values. IDV and MAS significantly correlated with the process-related values in Singapore, Taiwan and the United States. In the United Kingdom, UAI significantly …

This study investigates the impact of multimedia on the effectiveness of information scanning. Information scanning is the act of seeking and receiving a wide variety of special information to develop a thorough understanding of the organization and the environment. The application domain of this study is Executive Support Systems. The experimental task is to identify potential threats and opportunities, a strategic information-scanning activity, based on the information stored in three ESS prototypes. Forty subjects from four organizations participated in the experiment. A random assignment process allocated them into three groups. The control group used the text-based ESS. The first experimental group used the visual multimedia ESS. The second experimental group used the audiovisual multimedia ESS. The experiment was carried out on the sites of the participating organizations. The investigator measured the effectiveness of information scanning based on the number of threats and opportunities each subject identifies. A close-ended questionnaire measured subjects' retention of information. The results of this study support the cognitive-fit theory. The findings indicate that multimedia is not an appropriate presentation format for analytical tasks. Subjects who use text-based ESS identify significantly more threats and opportunities than subjects who use audiovisual multimedia ESS. The cognitive style of subjects …

The purpose of this research is to continue examining the project management process. The management of projects is complicated. It is the complexity of the process that makes a project so difficult to control. This research examines the effect of particular facets of the project manager's skill set and operating environment on management decisions.

Organizations that must respond quickly to environmental pressures look for tools to assist in that response. Information technology may be one tool to facilitate the response. In this study the possible effects of using information technology, specifically a decision support system, in the feedback segment of one organization's strategic management loop were examined. The organization was one region of the Board of Probation and Parole in a central state. Personnel included administrators, parole officers and clerical workers. The information technology was an off-the-shelf software product called PlanRight. This study is significant for two reasons: a new application for information technology was examined and the adequacy of a generic computerized tool designed to be suitable for various operations was explored. This study was a case study. Two months of data were taken prior to the implementation of the decision support system, and four months of data were taken after the system was implemented. Questionnaire data taken before system implementation provided descriptive characteristics of the organization. Follow-up surveys and interviews at the conclusion of the study were used to evaluate employee perceptions. The study was done in three phases. During phase one questionnaires were distributed and returned. During phase two, goals, plans …

This research examined the performance of three parametric methods for confidence intervals: the classical, the Bonferroni, and the bootstrap-t method, as applied to estimating the mean of voucher populations in accounting. Usually auditing populations do not follow standard models. The population for accounting audits generally is a nonstandard mixture distribution in which the audit data set contains a large number of zero values and a comparatively small number of nonzero errors. This study assumed a situation in which only overstatement errors exist. The nonzero errors were assumed to be normally, exponentially, and uniformly distributed. Five indicators of performance were used. The classical method was found to be unreliable. The Bonferroni method was conservative for all population conditions. The bootstrap-t method was excellent in terms of reliability, but the lower limit of the confidence intervals produced by this method was unstable for all population conditions. The classical method provided the shortest average width of the confidence intervals among the three methods. This study provided initial evidence as to how the parametric bootstrap-t method performs when applied to the nonstandard distribution of audit populations of line items. Further research should provide a reliable confidence interval for a wider variety of accounting populations.

In the last twelve years there has been considerable research interest in mathematical programming approaches to the statistical classification problem, primarily because they are not based on the assumptions of the parametric methods (Fisher's linear discriminant function, Smith's quadratic discriminant function) for optimality. This dissertation focuses on the development of mathematical programming models for the three-group classification problem and examines the computational efficiency and classificatory performance of proposed and existing models. The classificatory performance of these models is compared with that of Fisher's linear discriminant function and Smith's quadratic discriminant function. Additionally, this dissertation investigates theoretical characteristics of mathematical programming models for the classification problem with three or more groups. A computationally efficient model for the three-group classification problem is developed. This model minimizes directly the number of misclassifications in the training sample. Furthermore, the classificatory performance of the proposed model is enhanced by the introduction of a two-phase algorithm. The same algorithm can be used to improve the classificatory performance of any interval-based mathematical programming model for the classification problem with three or more groups. A modification to improve the computational efficiency of an existing model is also proposed. In addition, a multiple-group extension of a mathematical programming model …

Service quality as a component of overall Information Systems quality is examined. Three related studies test the SERVQUAL and related instruments (SERVPERF and Importance-weighted SERVPERF) using Information System users. SERVPERF outperformed SERVQUAL in all three studies.

This research examined the relationship between manufacturing input parameters and factory performance in a cellular manufacturing environment.

The major purposes of the current research are twofold. The first purpose is to present a composite approach to the general classification problem by using outputs from various parametric statistical procedures and neural networks. The second purpose is to compare several parametric and neural network models on a transportation planning related classification problem and five simulated classification problems.

Utilization of World Wide Web style Web-Based Intranet Systems (W-BIS) is a rapidly expanding information delivery technique in many organizations. Published reports concerning these systems have cited return on investment values exceeding 1300% and direct payback time periods as low as six to twelve weeks. While these systems have been widely implemented, little theoretically grounded research has been conducted in relation to users' acceptance, utilization or the perceived quality of these systems. The study employed a two-site investigation of corporate Web-Based Intranet Systems, with surveys distributed via the traditional mail system. The complete survey instrument distributed to employees included the ServQual/ServPerf, User Information Satisfaction, Ease of Use/Usefulness, and Computer Playfulness instruments. In addition to these previously developed instruments, the survey instrument for this study included measures of Web-Based Intranet Systems utilization and usefulness along with respondent demographics and subordinate-reported managerial commitment. This study investigated the reliability and validity of the ServQual/ServPerf instrument in an information systems service environment. The same analysis was conducted of the more generally accepted User Information Satisfaction instrument.

This study develops a heuristic procedure for specifying parameters for a neural network configuration (learning rate, momentum, and the number of neurons in a single hidden layer) in Shewhart X-bar control chart applications. Also, this study examines the replicability of the neural network solution when the neural network is retrained several times with different initial weights.

Although several studies question information technology's contribution to productivity, organizations continue to invest in client/server systems (CSSs) particularly as enablers of business process reengineering (BPR). These efforts may be wasted if they do not improve business processes. This study focused on business processes and investigated the role of workstation-based CSSs in changing business processes. A multiple case study of workstation-based CSS databases in three organizations was performed with the proposition that they moderate the relation between managerial action and changes within business processes. The research framework suggested that changes to business processes are achieved by reducing uncertainty. In order to measure change in business processes, this study categorized business process change into: (1) compressing sequential tasks across functions, (2) compressing tasks vertically within the managerial hierarchy, (3) eliminating slack resources, (4) reducing the distance between the point of decision and the point of information or eliminating intermediaries, (5) reconfiguring sequential processes to operate in parallel, and (6) linking parallel activities during the process. Data collected from questionnaires, interviews, and observations from three case studies were used to construct network diagrams, relationship matrices, reachability matrices, and task tables of business processes. The results of this research partially support the proposition that …

IS outsourcing, especially large-scale IS outsourcing, is a comparatively recent and rapidly growing IS phenomenon, but it is also an inherently risky activity. In an IS outsourcing arrangement, the outsourcing vendor accepts responsibility for IS resources and functions formerly controlled directly by the firm. This research examines IS outsourcing from two perspectives. (1) From an IS perspective, it examines the risk perceptions of IS managers of fourteen Fortune-500 firms who had recently conducted an outsourcing evaluation. (2) From a financial perspective, it examines the theoretical relationship of IS outsourcing with financial performance, and investigates the empirical effects of IS outsourcing on the firm's market value and market risk. This research views IS outsourcing as an independent variable whose effects on the firm may be measured as changes in security returns, changes in asset risk, changes in capital structure, and long-term changes in profitability. To accomplish this, it characterizes IS outsourcing as a sale-and-leaseback transaction.