Search results
1 – 10 of over 104000Mohammed Abbas and Adnan Alghail
The mobile shadow information technology (IT) phenomenon is both completely misunderstood and negatively explored by those participating inside the organizational ecosystem. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The mobile shadow information technology (IT) phenomenon is both completely misunderstood and negatively explored by those participating inside the organizational ecosystem. It represents all internet-based software, any other solutions for communications or employees’ sharing without any formal authorization or approval from the IT department. Such behavior can lead to a security breach of the organization’s data privacy, as these risks could disseminate it without the organization fully knowing. Recent research identifies that shadow IT is rarely covered from the knowledge sharing and knowledge protection (KP) perspective. This paper aims to provide an insight on how mobile shadow IT as a phenomenon could impact KP of an organization as a whole.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an exploratory study based on a qualitative approach. The authors conducted interviews with 11 IT users to answer the main research question. The interview guidelines were divided into three parts: types of mobile shadow IT and occurrence; KP nature in the workplace; and mobile shadow IT impact on KP.
Findings
The research findings identified that most interviewees use mobile shadow IT without any notice or permission from their IT departments. This sharing also negatively impacts the KP in the organization. The most common mobile shadow IT applications are the clouded type like Dropbox, Google Drive and WhatsApp. Interviewees are using mobile shadow IT mainly because organizations do not provide suitable tools to communicate efficiently. The authors concluded that mobile shadow IT harms KP with no security and privacy on what is being shared because this process is unmonitored by the organization.
Practical implications
For adequate knowledge and data protection, IT departments need to take more actions and efforts. This study can help IT decision-makers cope with the technology changes while understanding mobile shadow IT impacts. This study also offers insight regarding types of applications that can be used as an alternative tool for employees rather than using unauthorized applications. This research shows that medium-sized organizations are free to use these applications, which can cause damage to organizations.
Originality/value
This research is arguably among the first to explore the interviewees’ perspectives on how mobile shadow IT impacts KP. This paper also provides theoretical and practical insights by identifying the three primary constructs and how mobile shadow IT usage can affect KP.
Details
Keywords
Elizabeth Keating and Nadeem M. Ghani
Discusses the challenges that internal departments face as organizations grow and expand. The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, grew significantly over a short period of time…
Abstract
Discusses the challenges that internal departments face as organizations grow and expand. The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, grew significantly over a short period of time, creating considerable problems in the finance department, as staff and systems failed to keep pace with the evolving demands placed by the museum departments. These problems resulted in outdated policies and procedures, unhappy users, and frustrated employees. The finance department needed big changes but had to make them while maintaining vital functions, improving morale, and instituting new policies and procedures. Discusses several key nonprofit management issues, including change management, the role of leadership in a crisis, the challenge of informal personnel networks and knowledge management, and key financial issues facing nonprofit organizations.
Details
Keywords
Aurélie Leclercq - Vandelannoitte
In reference to increasing consumerization, this article investigates how organizations react to employees’ adoption and use of personal devices at work, such as by incorporating…
Abstract
Purpose
In reference to increasing consumerization, this article investigates how organizations react to employees’ adoption and use of personal devices at work, such as by incorporating innovative, individual, IT-driven changes into their corporate practices. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Four in-depth, longitudinal case studies, conducted between 2006 and 2010, feature 92 interviews and observations to ensure triangulation.
Findings
We identify three types of organizational reactions (induction, normalization, and regulation) that depend on specific dimensions and affect the nature of subsequent IT-based organizational change.
Research limitations/implications
Continued research into the consumerization of IT can explore how it affects organizations today and whether different effects might arise in other contexts and with different kinds of organizations.
Practical implications
Reversed IT adoption logics have deep consequences for organizations; companies could achieve great gains from them, if carefully considered and managed.
Originality/value
This article addresses a topic that has been analyzed only scarcely and rarely, namely, the consumerization of IT and the tactics organizations use to incorporate user-driven IT innovation. Although this article presents only a few cases, it constitutes an initial attempt to explore this research area theoretically and investigate the ways organizations can harness employees’ personal IT adoption logics to promote creative, IT-driven change in firms.
Details
Keywords
Ewa Wikström, Ellinor Eriksson, Lejla Karamehmedovic and Roy Liff
The focus of this study is on the knowledge retention process, including knowledge capture, knowledge codification and the internalising of knowledge in organisations – a key…
Abstract
Purpose
The focus of this study is on the knowledge retention process, including knowledge capture, knowledge codification and the internalising of knowledge in organisations – a key aspect of age management. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of the difficulties in this process to discuss implications for organizational measures to retain knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on field research on a Swedish multinational company from the perspective of senior employees.
Findings
The findings indicate that knowledge retention is a complex phenomenon, partly because valued knowledge is tacit and knowing is highly subjective and transferred through learning in collaboration with others in the process of undertaking assignments and acting together in work situations.
Research limitations/implications
Knowledge retention is considered only from the perspective of senior, white-collar employees in this study; it would be of interest to consider other employees’ perspectives as well. A second limitation is that the data were collected at a single site. It could be argued, however, that a single case study research format provides an opportunity to gain deep knowledge and allows for explanations about observed phenomena, thereby contributing towards transferable scientific knowledge.
Practical implications
Knowledge retention is hindered by focusing solely on senior workers and on an explicit and commodified view of knowledge.
Social implications
Knowledge retention should be an on-going way of working throughout the organization in which tacit knowledge and knowing are important.
Originality/value
This study shows the importance of considering knowledge and knowing retention as a matter of continual interaction between actors. Retention of tacit knowledge and knowing is not merely a matter of capturing and codifying knowledge. This study contributes to an understanding of the internalisation of tacit knowledge and knowing in continual interaction and cannot be preceded by a step-wise process.
Details
Keywords
Ayman Ahmed Ezzat Othman and Mirna Mohamed ElKady
In spite of the active role of continuous learning on improving organisational performance, the construction industry generally and architectural design firms (ADFs) in particular…
Abstract
Purpose
In spite of the active role of continuous learning on improving organisational performance, the construction industry generally and architectural design firms (ADFs) in particular are criticised for their inability to use organisational knowledge to foster learning culture towards enhancing their performance. This paper aims to develop a framework based on knowledge management (KM) to enhance the learning culture in ADFs in developing countries.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the abovementioned aim, a research methodology consisted of data collection, data analysis and action required is designed to achieve four objectives. First, to examine the nature of the construction industry in developing countries, learning culture in ADFs, as well as knowledge and KM; second, to present three case studies to investigate the effectiveness of KM in enhancing the learning culture in ADFs; third, to investigate the perception and application of KM towards enhancing the learning culture in ADFs in Egypt, finally to develop a KM based framework to enhance the learning culture in ADFs in developing countries.
Findings
Through literature review, the research highlighted the fragmented nature of the architectural design process, which led to the loss of valuable information and made the process of capturing and sharing knowledge a hard task. In addition, it identified the barriers of implementing KM and the building blocks of learning culture in ADFs. Results of data analysis showed that “lack of organisational culture” and “low involvement of top management” were ranked the highest barriers for implementing KM in ADFs. Moreover, respondents mentioned that they do not share openly their information with other employees to maintain their uniqueness and that the strict working environment of their ADFs is not encouraging creativity or enhancing learning culture. Furthermore, “continuous learning and enhancement” and “experimentation, feedback and reflection” were ranked by respondents as the highest building blocks of a learning organisation.
Research limitations/implications
This research focussed on ADFs in developing countries.
Practical implications
Implementing KM strategies will facilitate the enhancement of learning culture within ADFs in developing countries. This will impact positively on improving the performance and increasing the competitiveness and market share of ADFS.
Originality/value
The research identified the barriers of KM implementation in ADFs and the building blocks of creating a learning organisations. It focusses on improving the performance of ADFs through using the capabilities of KM towards building learning culture in ADFs. The proposed framework which was designed to facilitate the implementation of KM for enhancing the learning culture in ADFs in developing countries represents a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not previously occurred.
Details
Keywords
Anuragini Shirish and Leslie Batuekueno
The article provides a conceptual replication and enrichment of the status quo bias theory in the specific context of understanding IT department user resistance and user…
Abstract
Purpose
The article provides a conceptual replication and enrichment of the status quo bias theory in the specific context of understanding IT department user resistance and user adoption. The findings can assist technology renewals and associated change management professionals to assess and plan the adoption and active usage of human resource systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used survey method to gather data. All items were based on prior literature. They administrated the survey to employees of GOODTECH (name changed), information systems (IS) department members, situated in France. They obtained 103 valid responses along with usage data from the system to run their path model, in order to validate the proposed research model.
Findings
The study offers an enriched user resistance model (URM) to understand why IT-savvy employees would resist or adopt new human resource tools. Apart from providing partial validity to status quo bias theory in the French context, the enriched model uses behavioral intention to use as an intermediate variable to explain the influence of two key constructs of the original theory: switching cost and switching benefits. This research provides a better explanatory power to understand the cause of user resistance and new IT use.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size used in the study can be considered as a limitation, although power analysis reveals that the results are significant and valid. The context of the study is also limited to one country and to a specific type of IS implementation scenario. Since the purpose of the paper was to offer contextual theory enhancement, the findings are valid for this purpose.
Practical implications
Digital project managers are offered a framework to increase technology adoption of new human resource tools and evaluate how to reduce user resistance at times of technology renewals. Self-efficacy for change and colleagues’ opinion can indirectly impact behavioral intention to use via switching cost and switching benefit perceptions and thus reducing resistance perceptions as well as increasing adoption of new IT tools in post-implementation phases.
Originality/value
The paper enriches the well-established user resistance theory in IS domain in a context of human resource post-implementation phase by studying IT-savvy end user's perceptions. The paper demonstrates the need to integrate user adoption and user resistance variables in one parsimonious framework and extends support to emerging research on dual focus perspective.
Details
Keywords
Richard G. Taylor, Jeff Brice, Jr. and Sammie L. Robinson
The purpose of the paper is to determine whether management’s optimistic perceptions of their organization’s level of information security preparedness can ultimately result in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to determine whether management’s optimistic perceptions of their organization’s level of information security preparedness can ultimately result in increased information security risks.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study was conducted in a financial institution. In all, 24 employees were interviewed. These employees came from all functional areas and various positions, from tellers to executives. Interviews were conducted, internal policies and examiners’ reports were made available and access was given to observe the employees during working hours and to observe the facilities after hours.
Findings
Executives were overly optimistic about the level of information security at their organization. These optimistic perceptions guided security priorities; however, the findings show that their perceptions were misguided leaving their organization open to increased security threats. More specifically, the results show that optimist perceptions by management can put an organization’s information at risk.
Originality/value
The paper uses existing theory and evaluates it in a “real-world” setting. For security research, it can be difficult to get honest responses from questionnaires; however, the hands-on approach provided a deeper insight to the problem of optimistic perceptions in an organizational setting. For practitioners, the case can raise managements’ awareness of perceptional inaccuracies, resulting in more informed information security decisions and ultimately improved security for their organization.
Details
Keywords
Lin Jia, Dianne Hall, Zhijun Yan, Junjiang Liu and Terry Byrd
Firms invest much money in information technology (IT) since IT support has been recognized as a critical enabler of employee outcomes. However, the value obtained by…
Abstract
Purpose
Firms invest much money in information technology (IT) since IT support has been recognized as a critical enabler of employee outcomes. However, the value obtained by organizations and their employees is not always as much as they anticipated because of, at least partly, a poor relationship between IT staff and users. The purpose of this paper is to apply the social capital theory to examine relationship management between IT and business and explores mechanisms through which social capital between IT staff and users affect users’ employee outcomes, including job satisfaction and job performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on social capital theory and past literature, the researchers propose a research model and explore the effect of social capital on knowledge sharing, IT users’ perceived service quality, job satisfaction and ultimately job performance. Based on a survey of 289 respondents, this study applies the partial least square technique to test the research model.
Findings
Mediation test was performed to explore the effect mechanisms of social capital on employee outcomes, and the results indicate that three dimensions of social capital affect IT users’ job satisfaction and job performance in different approaches.
Originality/value
This study uses social capital theory to direct how to improve the poor relationship between IT staff and users and provides a useful insight into the mechanisms through which three dimensions of social capital improve users’ job satisfaction and job performance.
Details
Keywords
Karen Honegger and Steven H. Appelbaum
Examines the relationship between empowerment, desire to be empowered and perceived control among professional nursing staff in a small healthcare institution where recent…
Abstract
Examines the relationship between empowerment, desire to be empowered and perceived control among professional nursing staff in a small healthcare institution where recent attempts at empowerment have had limited success. A sample of 31 nurses and nursing assistants was used to test hypotheses that there is a positive relationship between perceived control and empowerment and that this relationship is moderated in a positive direction by desire to be empowered. Questionnaires measuring the four dimensions (meaning, competence, self‐determination, impact) of empowerment and desire to be empowered as well as work locus of control were administered to subjects. Results support the hypothesized relationship between perceived control and empowerment. However, that between desire to be empowered and empowerment was not supported. Implications of these findings are discussed including several possible ways of increasing perceived control in specific situations. These include changing some organizational, supervisory style, reward system and job design factors.
Details