Arrow Repository
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The ARROW Discovery Service searches simultaneously across the contents of Australian university research repositories,including theses; preprints; postprints; journal articles; book chapters; music recordings and pictures.
Mostrando recursos 141 - 160 de 483,040
141.
Organisational Forms and Knowledge Types: a cognitive mulit-actor approach - René Jorna
In this article knowledge types are combined with organizational forms. Knowledge is something individual actors have. This paves the way for a semio-cognitive approach to actors. Organizations in which primary and organizational (secondary) processes are performed are viewed as multi-actor systems. Organizational processes consist of tasks, such as planning, control and administration. These tasks are performed by individuals with knowledge. With regard to knowledge not only content, but also type can be discerned. Three knowledge types are distinguished: tacit, coded and theoretical knowledge. In developing a conceptual framework for the cognitive analysis of knowledge management, I will illustrate and explain...
142.
Database Security and the Problem of Polyinstantiation: a moral scrutiny - Mikko Siponen
In the area of computer security the problem of polyinstantiation is widely recognized. The research on polyinstantiation can be considered morally questionable, since it involves lying. This being the case, a moral scrutiny on the problem of polyinstantiation is warranted. The morality of polyinstantiation shall be critically analysed from the viewpoint of a moral philosophical framework. The moral philosophical framework used includes 1) Kantian ethics, 2) the universality theses advocated by Hare, Rawls, Gewirth, Jewish-Christian ethics, and Confucian ethics, 3) utilitarianism, and 4) Theory of Information Ethics (IE) by Floridi. The result of this analysis suggests that research and practice...
144.
Have SMEs Benefited from E-Commerce? - Simpson Poon
Recently there has been a surge in research projects on how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) use E-Commerce/E-Business for business purposes. These include a mixture of academic, industry and government studies. The outcomes have presented a mixed message. While there are anecdotal success stories, SMEs found their E-Commerce/E-Business endeavours successful to a point but face difficulties in achieving many speculations portrayed by the media and visionaries. In this paper, I try to address the issue based on published works in the domain of E-Commerce/E-Business adoption among SMEs. The answer may lie in a more refined research strategy and consolidation of...
145.
Information and Communications Technology in Asia Pacific Countries: implications for small and medium enterprises in Malaysia - Tim Beal; Moha Abdullah
Information communications and technology (ICT) is transforming the environment in which SMEs operate and changing the paradigms of value creation, customer satisfaction and business effectiveness. This paper attempts to explore global and Asia Pacific ICT usage and the major factors influencing SMEs. It focuses particularly on Malaysia where the development of ICT usage amongst SMEs is one of the main policy items in the agenda of the Malaysian government. It describes a survey of SMEs in north and eastern peninsula Malaysia 1999-2000.
146.
Evaluating the Knowledge Assets of Innovative Companies - Maen Al-Hawari; Helen Hasan
Knowledge has long been recognised as a valuable resource for organisational growth and sustained competitive advantage, especially for organisations competing in an uncertain environment (Miller & Shamsie 1987). In the current post-industrial society, knowledge is recognised as a primary source of a company’s wealth. However knowledge assets are much more difficult to identify and measure than are the physical assets with which we are much more familiar. (Boisot 1998) As a company’s innovative capacity may be dependent upon its ability to take advantage of its knowledge assets, it is important to be able to identify and measure those assets. While...
147.
Small Firm Internet Adoption: a market oriented approach - Colin Jones; Rob Hecker; Peter Holland
Fundamental to the development of new customer value offerings via web-based commerce is a small firm’s ability to strategically acquire and exploit knowledge. The focus of this paper is the empirical testing of a normative web-based commerce adoption model developed from a review of the extant literature related to electronic marketing, the Internet and the diffusion of new innovations. A preliminary test of the model’s theoretical contentions lent support to its overall focus, but found that the firm’s existing learning capabilities were diminished during the adoption of web-based commerce. Consequently, sub-optimal adoption outcomes were associated with insufficient knowledge development.
148.
Electronic Commerce and Market Focus: some findings from a study of Swedish small to medium enterprises - Lejla Vrazalic; Deborah Bunker; Robert MacGregor; Sten Carlsson; Monika Magnusson
In the past, organisations relied on traditional quantitative metrics, such as return on investment (ROI) to make decisions when investing in technology. With the advent of electronic commerce (EC), these decisions are becoming less reliant on ROI measures. Instead different driving forces are taking precedence in the decision making process. This paper presents the findings of a study of 118 Swedish small to medium enterprises (SMEs) that have adopted EC. The results of the study suggest that improvements to customer service, internal efficiency and organisational competitiveness have become equally important when making EC investment decisions. The study also examined whether...
150.
The Meaning of Tacit Knowledge - Kit Dampney; Peter Busch; Debbie Richards
Tacit knowledge definitions tend to be extremely varied. Some argue that tacit knowledge is precisely that. Others feel that only time and effort prevent all tacit knowledge from eventually becoming articulated. For the purposes of our research “tacit knowledge”, in practice at least, encompasses a medium ground, being comprised of articulable and inarticulable subsets. Along the lines of Weber (1997), we have formalised a meaning for this “tacit knowledge” and for comparison have completed a content analysis of the literature to determine what other researchers understand “tacit knowledge” to mean.
151.
Design Theory in Information Systems - Shirley Gregor
The aim of this paper is to explore an important category of information systems knowledge that is termed “design theory”. This knowledge is distinguished as the fifth of five types of theory: (i) theory for analysing and describing, (ii) theory for understanding, (iii) theory for predicting, (iv) theory for explaining and predicting, and (v) theory for design and action. Examples of design theory in information systems are provided, with associated research methods. The limited understanding and recognition of this type of theory in information systems indicates that further debate concerning its nature and role in our discipline is needed.
152.
Ownership as an Issue in Data and Information Sharing: a philosophically based review - Dennis Hart
It has long been an aim of information management and information systems development to enable more effective and efficient data and information sharing within organisations. A commonplace assertion has been that data and information belong, or should belong, to the organisation as a whole as opposed to any individual or stakeholder within it. Nevertheless, despite the potential benefits of data and information sharing within organisations, efforts to achieve it have typically run into more difficulty than expected and have frequently been less successful than the technological capabilities would, at least prima facie, allow. This paper is based on the proposition...
153.
Information Systems as Dialectic, Tool - Mediated Activity - Helen Hasan
Information Systems (IS) draws its significance from the uniqueness of computer-based information and communications tools and their place in shaping recent human history. Advances in the field come from a better understanding of how to develop and use these tools and what impact they have on the way we work, and live. As IS is still an evolving field of study, two views, the objective and the subjective, are in constant tension and, though these may be considered complementary, it is rare that they come together as a unified whole. A more balanced, and integrated, foundation for IS may be...
154.
The Foundation Role for Theories of Agency in Understanding Information Systems Design - Robert Johnston; Simon Milton
In this paper we argue that theories of agency form a foundation upon which we can build a deeper understanding of information systems design. We do so by firstly recognising that information systems are part of purposeful sociotechnical systems and that consequently theories of agency may help in understanding them. We then present two alternative theories of agency (deliberative and situational), mainly drawn from the robotics and artificial intelligence disciplines, and in doing so, we note that existing information system design methods and ontological studies of those methods implicitly adhere to the deliberative theory of agency. We also note that...
155.
Systems Thinking About Purpose - Gaye Lewis
This paper argues that in the context of human activity systems, the concept of purpose is critically important and that giving purpose a central role in the development and management of human activity systems can lead to more flexible, effective and autonomous systems. The systems thinking literature is reviewed in order to consolidate and assess current thinking about purpose. The importance of intrinsic purpose is highlighted. Implications for practice in terms of information systems design are illustrated by contrasting two different approaches to the design of knowledge management systems. An analysis of corporations as purposeful systems highlights some of the...
156.
Information Systems Foundations - Karl Popper's third world - Craig McDonald
The various information professions have matured separately over the years, developing different bodies of theory and practice to meet their evolving purposes and needs. A problem arises however, when different information professions address the same knowledge domain and there is no explicit correspondence between the conceptual structures embedded independently in each. In this situation, a knowledge worker involved in the domain is faced with a range of possibly incompatible structures presented in different forms by a range of information professions. This is a common problem that is being exacerbated by the explosion in information production and the widening access to...
157.
A Critique of Generalizability in Interpretive Research - Mike Metcalfe; Maureen Lynch
This paper is about generalizability in interpretive systems research. The authors are concerned that, in its search for appropriate inquiry methods, the discipline of Information Systems (IS) does not slip into the errors of other social disciplines and become a dismal science. Many systems thinkers have repeatedly argued that the purpose of IS research needs to be to produce what Argyris calls actionable knowledge and Ulrich, critique heuristics. That is, rules of thumb which managers can use to solve design problems, not too vague and not too detailed. This is a different concept from generalizability, which aligns with the scientific...
158.
Guidelines for Conducting Positivist Case Study Research in Information Systems - Graeme Shanks
The case study research approach is widely used in a number of different ways within the information systems community. This paper focuses on positivist, deductive case study research in information systems. It provides clear definitions of important concepts in positivist case study research and illustrates these with an example research study. A critical analysis of the conduct and outcomes of two recently published positivist case studies is reported. One is a multiple case study that validated concepts in a framework for viewpoint development in requirements definition. The other is a single case study that examined the role of social enablers...
159.
A Theoretic Basis for IS? The Contribution of ANT - Jim Underwood
Representation is a key issue of IS design and operation that is often ignored. Actor-network theory (ANT), a semiotic theory of stakeholders, provides a way of dealing with representation. Combining aspects of ANT and Foucault's discourse theory allows us to include concepts as actors and promises a flexible and durable foundation for IS practice, but ANT itself indicates that the search for a purely theoretical foundation for IS is misguided.
141.
