Australasian Journal of Information Systems

Prioritising sustainability factors for public-private partnership (PPP)-based mature telecentres using the ‘Akshaya’ project as a case

Gaurav Mishra, Reena Shah — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 21:25:01 -0800

Telecentres are considered an essential information and communication technology (ICT) platform to deliver e-government services and play a vital role in reducing the digital divide, thereby enhancing access to e-government services. This study aimed to identify the factors that financially sustain a PPP-based mature telecentre and explore the hierarchy among these factors. An in-depth review of existing literature was conducted to identify sustainability factors. These factors were subjected to further validation through a qualitative field study. Then, interpretive structural modelling (ISM) was used to understand the interrelationships and identify the hierarchy between the identified factors. Finally, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) was used to validate the developed hierarchical model. The results indicated that in order of their hierarchy, ‘centre resources’, ‘affordability’, ‘quality of services’, ‘quality of operators’, and ‘convenience’ were the influential factors that sustained a mature telecentre. The critical role of village-level entrepreneurs and the importance of integration between public and private entities at each stage of the hierarchy were emphasised. This paper presents theoretical and practical implications for stakeholders to adopt appropriate measures to sustain telecentres.

Hate Speech Patterns in Social Media: A Methodological Framework and Fat Stigma Investigation Incorporating Sentiment Analysis, Topic Modelling and Discourse Analysis

Vajisha Udayangi Wanniarachchi, Chris Scogings, Teo Susnjak, Anuradha Mathrani — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 21:26:39 -0800

Social media offers users an online platform to freely express themselves; however, when users post opinionated and offensive comments that target certain individuals or communities, this could instigate animosity towards them. Widespread condemnation of obesity (fatness) has led to much fat stigmatizing content being posted online. A methodological framework that uses a novel mixed-method approach for unearthing hate speech patterns from large text-based corpora gathered from social media is proposed. We explain the use of computer-mediated quantitative methods comprising natural language processing techniques such as sentiment analysis, emotion analysis and topic modelling, along with qualitative discourse analysis. Next, we have applied the framework to a corpus of texts on gendered and weight-based data that have been extracted from Twitter and Reddit. This assisted in the detection of different emotions being expressed, the composition of word frequency patterns and the broader fat-based themes underpinning the hateful content posted online. The framework has provided a synthesis of quantitative and qualitative methods that draw on social science and data mining techniques to build real-world knowledge in hate speech detection. Current information systems research is limited in its use of mixed analytic approaches for studying hate speech in social media. Our study therefore contributes to future research by establishing a roadmap for conducting mixed-method analyses for better comprehension and understanding of hate speech patterns.

The Interplay of Challenge-Hindrance-Appraisal and Self-Efficacy: Technostress and Remote Working Performance

Manfred Schoch — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 21:27:44 -0800

Measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have caused many employees to work from home; a novel situation in which individuals used information systems (IS) more intensively to stay in touch with coworkers. This novel IS use situation affected individuals differently and resulted in both positive and negative outcomes. Recent calls for research advocate for clarification regarding the conceptualisation of appraisal, which explains different individual responses to objectively equal environments. In particular, challenge-hindrance-research does not differentiate between primary and secondary appraisal. Therefore, it remains unclear how individual capability beliefs, such as self-efficacy, affect challenge and hindrance IS use appraisal. We conduct an empirical study with 1,553 German employees to investigate these relationships and the positive and negative outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that challenge and hindrance IS use appraisal, and remote working self-efficacy are interconnected, yet different constructs. We find that self-efficacy is related to challenge IS use appraisal, rather than hindrance IS use appraisal. Further, challenge IS use appraisal is a driver for performance in a remote working environment. We conclude that there are stressful aspects of IS use that are not influenced by an individual’s belief in their abilities. Our study emphasises the importance of remote working self-efficacy and IS use appraisal to mitigate techno-distress and increase performance during remote work.

Organisational Cyber Resilience: Management Perspectives

Seyedehsaba Bagheri, Gail Ridley, Belinda Williams — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 21:28:54 -0800

As cyberthreats pose strategic risk, both IT and business management awareness are critical for effective organisational decision making. Many cyber system failures arise from organisational, and not technical issues. This study investigates senior manager awareness of organisational cyber resilience, using case study method. The Cyber Resilience Matrix is used as a theoretical framework to communicate the multifaceted meaning of cyber resilience. This study examines whether the multilayered nature of cyber resilience is understood by both managerial levels to include the periods before and after cyber incidents. As the higher education sector faces complex cyber challenges, research data were gathered from two Australian universities. Analysis found the two management groups differed in their resilience approach. The authors posit that principles-based cyber policies contribute to an organisational view of cyber resilience. The engineering resilience approach, accompanied by a non-bureaucratic organisational structure, was preferred by IT managers. Business managers favoured an ecological approach with a vertical organisational structure. Both managerial groups emphasised the period before cyber crisis when compared to after cyber incidents. This research contributes to the limited theoretical development in the field and attempts to shift the focus from cyber security to cyber resilience.

The Impacts of Role Overload and Role Conflict on Physicians’ Technology Adoption

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0700

Technology adoption is an important solution for physicians to increase work efficiency, and thus deal with role conflict among their multiple job roles. Prior studies have not investigated how multiple job roles and role conflict influence physicians’ technology adoption intentions. Based on role strain theory and role identity theory, we present a model of physicians’ technology adoption intentions to support their primary (clinical care) versus secondary (teaching or research) job roles. We test the model using surveys with 156 physicians at nine medical schools in Korea. The results of our data analysis largely support our hypotheses. Role overload in each of their job roles increases role conflict between any pair of associated roles. Furthermore, role conflict between a physician’s primary and secondary role is affected more by role overload in the secondary role than by overload in the primary role. Moreover, the impact of role conflict on technology adoption intentions is also influenced by the hierarchical relationship between two roles. This study contributes to technology adoption research by demonstrating how physicians’ job characteristics affect technology adoption.

Defining Digital Wellbeing Literacy in Remote Work Integrated Learning

Nancy An, Gillian Vesty, Chris Cheong — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 21:41:28 -0700

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of remote Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) programs for Higher Education (HE) students, fostered by advances in digital technologies. Emerging as a new post-covid normal, the ‘remote workplace’ and remote WIL brings further challenges with students expressing anxiety in dealing with this new form of working environment. Having the capacity to talk about wellbeing issues with others is an important wellbeing literacy (WL) skill. This paper addresses the need for a better understanding of wellbeing literacy (WL) skills in remote WIL workplaces. Interpreting WL in remote settings can further the definition of WL by extending it to a digital context. In contributing to Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) research and the emerging field of WL, this paper explores how WIL students develop WL skills in a remote setting, which we define as Digital Wellbeing Literacy (DWL). In-depth interviews were held with WIL academics, WIL professionals, WIL students and wellbeing experts on digital and pedagogical factors that support WL in remote work. We found that students proactively use digital communication tools and social media to communicate wellbeing concerns, which in turn helps them practice DWL. We propose four strategies toward improving DWL in HE WIL offerings.

How Big Five Personality Traits affect Information and Communication Technology Use: A Meta-Analysis

Arun Joshi, Saini Das, Srinivasan Sekar — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 21:42:20 -0700

This study performed a meta-analysis of forty-eight studies to synthesize existing literature examining the relationship between ‘Big Five’ personality traits and the use of various Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). We conducted sub-group analysis to investigate the potential moderators on the relationship between personality and ICT use. The results largely reveal that the ‘Big Five’ personality traits are significantly associated with the use of various ICTs. Specifically, ‘extroversion’ showed the strongest association with social networking, along with business and commerce-based ICTs, while ‘openness’ had the highest correlations with career and education, and information-based ICTs. The results also identified technology type, region of the country, and voluntariness as potential moderators. This paper offers theoretical and practical implications that researchers could embrace in enhancing understanding of traits-technology fit, and technology providers in improving crafting, marketing, and delivering technology at the individual, organizational, national, and global levels.

Social outcome expectations and women's intentions to return to IT employment

Alexei Tretiakov, Jo Bensemann, Tanya Jurado — Sat, 27 May 2023 18:08:11 -0700

Women leaving IT employment for childcare or other reasons, and never returning, is a phenomenon that contributes to the underrepresentation of women in IT. However, potential women returners, women who have recently left IT employment and may or may not return, remain an under-researched group. We studied the effects of social outcome expectations on the intention to return to IT employment for 182 potential women returners from New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. The data were obtained via a survey questionnaire. Expectations of friendly co-workers, work-life balance, and family proximity were included; and the expectations of friendly co-workers had a statistically significant effect on the intentions of potential women returners to return to IT employment. The results highlight the difficulty of creating an environment that encourages potential women returners to return to IT because, unlike work-life balance or family proximity, friendly co-workers is a factor that is difficult to control via managerial interventions. For practice, the results suggest that organisations should promote an environment friendly to women, which in part may be achievable by implementing agile approaches to organizing IT work.

ICT-Driven Work Engagement Interventions in Work-From-Home: The Mediating Role of the Need for Relatedness

Harshit Singh, Vedant Dev — Sat, 27 May 2023 18:12:58 -0700

During the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations across the world implemented mandatory work-from-home policy. The policy had a detrimental impact on the work engagement of the employees as there was a prolonged dependence on ICT-mediated communication for all interactions. In response, organizations had to implement ICT-driven interventions to address the problem of dwindling work engagement levels. In view of enhancing intervention effectiveness, this research examines the satisfaction of need for relatedness as the psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between ICT-driven interventions and intellectual, social and affective dimensions of work engagement. We develop and test our mediation model in a cross-organizational study of 167 employees. Results show that need-for-relatedness mediates the relationship between intervention intensity in fostering interactions and work engagement of the employees. In addition, the perceived social support in the team negatively moderates the relationship between intervention intensity and the satisfaction of need for relatedness. Our results have implications for designing and implementing ICT-driven interventions in organizations planning large-scale work-from-home adoption.

Clarifying the Role of E-Government Trust in E-Government Success Models: A Meta-analytic Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Apeksha Hooda, Parul Gupta, Anand Jeyaraj, Yogesh Dwivedi — Sat, 27 May 2023 18:21:30 -0700

E-government implementation success is of critical importance for nations. Prior information systems (IS) success models emphasize the effects of information quality, service quality, system quality, and user satisfaction but do not consider e-government trust. This study incorporates e-government trust into the IS success model and empirically tests the model on empirical findings reported in 67 prior studies using meta-analysis methods and structural equation modeling. Our analysis shows that: a) information quality, service quality, system quality, and user satisfaction influence e-government trust, and b) system use mediates the effect of e-government trust on intention to use e-government systems in the future.

When Agility Meets a Project Portfolio: A Study of Success Factors in Large Organisations

Masoud Aghajani, Kamrul Ahsan, Naomi Whiteside — Sat, 27 May 2023 18:28:00 -0700

The iterative nature of agile methods combined with high levels of team and customer interactions and continuously changing IT and software development project requirements make the management of agile project portfolios very complex. To date, the mechanisms under which project portfolio management adapts to these complexities and achieves portfolio success have not been thoroughly investigated. This study explores the notion of success and its impacting factors in large organisations' portfolios of agile IT and software development projects. Using a multiple case study design, we analysed the agile project portfolios of seven large organisations. We identified four success criteria and 15 success factors and categorised them into a unique agile portfolio success framework. Some of these criteria and factors are unique to agile project portfolios. The framework contributes to agile and project management literature by conceptualising the notion of success in portfolios of agile projects while revealing a set of factors that affect the relationship between an agile portfolio with its subcomponents and the surrounding environment. The framework supports managers and practitioners in large organisations in reflecting on their agility efforts to achieve higher success rates in their agile portfolios.

Do Challenge and Hindrance Stressors Effect Cyberloafing Differently? Attentiveness and Anger as Mediators and Trait Mindfulness as a Moderator

Sauvik Kumar Batabyal, Kanika Tandon Bhal — Sat, 27 May 2023 18:31:56 -0700

The objective of this study is to test the differential effect of challenge and hindrance stressors on cyberloafing, specifically using attentiveness and anger as mediators, respectively. It also investigates the effect of trait mindfulness as a moderator on the effect of hindrance stressors on cyberloafing through anger. We collected data from 304 full-time Indian employees, working in broad-ranging industries and functions. The findings showed that challenge stressors have an indirect negative effect on cyberloafing through attentiveness. The results also indicated that anger partially mediates the positive relationship between hindrance stressors and cyberloafing. Simple moderation analysis revealed that high trait mindfulness lowers the impact of hindrance stressors on anger. Moreover, trait mindfulness moderated the indirect effect of hindrance stressors on cyberloafing through anger, in a way that the indirect effect became weaker in the case of high trait mindfulness. To regulate cyberloafing, we discussed the importance of optimizing challenge stressors to increase attentiveness and enhancing trait mindfulness to weaken the negative effects of hindrance stressors on anger and cyberloafing in the context of the theoretical and practical contribution of the study.