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A major trend in enterprise resource planning software (ERP) is to embed business analytics tools within user-centered roles in enterprise software. This integration allows business users to get better and faster insight to action. As a consequence, it is imperative for business students to learn how to use these new tools to adequately prepare them for new expectations in the industry. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this paper, the authors propose a new serious game, called ERPsim for big data, to enable the learner to acquire abilities at each level of the business analytics learning taxonomy. To maximize the pedagogical impact of the game, participatory design (PD) with professors as co-designers was used during game development.

This case study presents the PD approach and analyses the efficacy of the proposed new simulation.

The authors conclude by providing recommendations and lessons learned from this approach.

Online grocery shopping possesses characteristics that can make it more difficult than regular online shopping. There are numerous buying decisions to make each shopping session, there are large ranges of product types to choose from and there is varied arithmetical complexity. The purpose of this paper is to examine how such characteristics influence the attitude of consumers toward online grocery shopping websites.

The authors hypothesized that the product type (search or experience product), the task arithmetic complexity, and the attention and cognitive load associated with browsing through product pictures have an effect on the attitude of online shoppers toward these websites. To test the hypotheses, 31 subjects participated in a within-subject laboratory experiment.

The results suggest that visual attention to product pictures has a positive effect on the attitude of online shoppers toward a website when they are shopping for experience goods, but that it has a negative effect on their attitude toward a website when the task arithmetic complexity is greater. They also suggest that the cognitive load associated with browsing through product pictures has a negative effect on the attitude of online shoppers toward a website when they are shopping for experience goods, and that greater cognitive load variation has a positive effect on their attitude toward a website when arithmetic task complexity is greater.

When designing online grocery websites, providing clear single unit quantities with pictures corresponding to the sales unit could help establish a clear baseline on which consumers can work out their quantity requirements. For decisions involving experience goods, product pictures may act as an important complementary information source and may even be more diagnostic than text description.

Results reinforce the relevance of enriching the study of self-reported measures of the user experience on e-commerce sites with automatic measures.

In a warehouse setting, where hourly workers performing manual tasks account for more than half of total warehouse expenditure, a lack of employee engagement has been directly linked to company performance. In this article, the authors present a laboratory experiment in which two gamification elements, goal setting and feedback, are implemented in a wearable warehouse management system (WMS) interface to examine their effect on user engagement and performance in an item picking task. Both implicit (neurophysiological) and explicit (self-reported) measures of engagement are used, allowing for a richer understanding of the user's perceived and physiological state.

This experiment uses a within-subject design. Two experimental factors, goals and feedback, are manipulated, leading to three conditions: no gamification condition, self-set goals and feedback and assigned goals and feedback. Twenty-one subjects participated (mean age = 24.2, SD = 2.2).

This article demonstrates that gamification can successfully increase employee engagement, at least in the short-term. The integration of self-set goals and feedback game elements has the greatest potential to generate long-term intrinsic motivation and meaningful engagement, leading to greater employee engagement and performance.

This article explores the underlying effects of gamification through two of the most prominent motivational theories (self-determination theory [SDT] and goal-setting theory) and one of the leading employee engagement models (job demands-resource model [JD-R[ model). This provides a theory-rich interpretation of the data, which allows to uncover the motivational pathways by which gamification affects engagement and performance.

The localized strain softening behaviour of concrete has been modelled by two approaches: (i) the stiffness degrading model based on the total stress‐strain constitutive relationship, and (ii) the tangent softening model based on the incremental stress‐strain relationship. The models are implemented using a new softening initiation criterion proposed for application in multi‐dimensional finite element analysis. Parametric analyses on plain concrete beams, tested experimentally by other researchers, have been carried out to investigate the required numerical efforts, the mesh objectivity, and the energy dissipation characteristics of the structures. The stiffness degrading model is very stable even when applied with relatively coarse finite element meshes. However, the computational demand of this model is relatively high. The combination of a total stress‐strain constitutive relationship to compute the element responses, and an incremental relationship to formulate the stiffness matrix, appears to be computationally efficient and stable, provided that adequately refined finite element mesh is used to model the structure.

In a finite element model of typical dam—foundation—reservoir systems, the presence of heterogeneous material properties for the dam and the foundation produces a combined damping matrix that is non‐proportional to the mass and/or the stiffness matrices of the system. In this case, the undamped real free‐vibration modes cannot uncouple the damping forces such that the classical mode superposition method using real modes is not applicable. This paper presents comparative analyses of recent coordinate reduction procedures that have been developed to compute the response of linear systems with non‐proportional damping. The comparisons are based on the numerical efficiency and the accuracy of the displacement, acceleration and stress response, and on the distribution of the damping energy in the system.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a laboratory experiment in which the paper investigated how expert and novice users differ in their emotional responses during use of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in a decision-making context, and how such a difference affects information sourcing behavior.

In a simulated SAP business environment, participants’ emotional responses were physiologically measured based on electrodermal activity (EDA) while they made business decisions.

Results show that both expert and novice users exhibit considerable EDA activity during their interaction with the ERP system, indicating that ERP use is an emotional process for both groups. However, the findings also indicate that experts’ emotional responses led to their sourcing information from the ERP, while novices’ emotional responses led to their sourcing information from other people.

From an academic standpoint, this paper responds to the recent call for more research on the role of emotions for information systems behavior.

The paper discusses the implications of this finding for the development of ERP system trainings.

Because emotions often do not reach users’ awareness level, the paper used EDA, a neurophysiological measure, to capture users’ emotional responses during ERP decision making, instead of using self-report measures that depend on conscious perception. Based on this method, the paper found that emotions can lead to different behavioral reactions, depending on whether the user is an expert or novice.

It is argued that problem‐based learning (PBL) is a valuable approach to teaching operations management, as it allows learners to apply their knowledge and skills in an environment that is close to real‐life. In fact, many simulations currently exist in the teaching of operations management. However, these simulations lack a connection to real‐life, as they are typically turn‐based and do not use real‐life IT support. The current paper seeks to address this issue by presenting an innovative pedagogical approach designed to provide learners with an authentic problem‐solving experience in operations management within an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

The paper proposes a simulation game called ERPsim whereby students must operate an enterprise in a simulated economic environment using in real time a real‐life ERP system, namely SAP. Based on a survey with instructors, it assesses the extent to which this proposed simulation is aligned with the five characteristics of the PBL approach.

Survey respondents confirm that significant improvements in student evaluations, learner motivation, attendance, and engagement, as well as increased learner competence with the technology can be achieved by using the proposed approach.

For more than five years this pedagogical approach has been used by more than 250 professors, lecturers, and professional trainers in over 160 universities worldwide. Between September 2009 and June 2011, more than 3,000 simulations games were played by over 16,000 university student teams.

Results and observations on using the proposed pedagogical approach are presented and compared to the main characteristics of the PBL approach (authenticity, ill structured problems, student‐centered, small group settings and facilitator dimensions).

In this paper, we focus on the relative efficiency of different e‐collaboration tools and their impact on the performance of individual firms positioned along the supply chain. In exploratory study, the supply chain of one large telecommunications OEM was analyzed in two consecutive phases, namely a detailed case study and an electronic survey. This led to the examination of an entire supply chain from both upstream and downstream perspectives. Supply chain execution and supply chain planning e‐collaboration tools were identified and their relative efficiency was assessed. We attempt to map out the tools' potential to enhance the performance of, individual firms, in particular the link between e‐collaboration configurations and key performance dimensions.

Building on the transaction cost theory and power structure literature, this paper aims to investigate the extent to which firms use two safeguarding mechanisms (supply chain relational investments and electronic collaboration) in different network dependency contexts in order to protect their portfolios of business relationships.

Empirical evidence is gathered though a survey data conducted with 159 firms in the wireless communication sector. The paper tests the assumption that the two safeguarding mechanisms are used to a greater extent in interdependency‐intensive networks than in other supply chain contexts.

This empirical study suggests that: in a network‐dependent context, relational investments allow firms to safeguard their portfolios of relationships; electronic collaboration seems to be a safeguarding mechanism for firms in downstream‐dependent network contexts; in general, firms appear to use both relational investments and electronic collaboration to manage their relationships in a supply chain network; and the knowledge‐based theory may explain the strong relationship between upstream and downstream use of electronic collaboration.

Overall, the present study complements the extant literature on supply chain management and inter‐firm electronic collaboration by showing how an important structural characteristic of supply chain networks (i.e. dependency) operates on the choice of using two key safeguarding mechanisms.

Results stress the importance of these safeguarding mechanisms in joint actions such as collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment.

The paper addresses interdependencies from a network perspective which encompasses the firms' complete portfolio of relationships.

This paper presents an analysis of the impact of electronic commerce on firms in the telecommunications equipment industry.

Using the OECD's value chain methodology, electronic commerce initiatives identified in the optical connectivity value chain were analyzed for each of the four layers of the chain, namely network operators, system integrators, assemblers and sub‐assemblers.

The findings from our case studies indicate that electronic commerce initiatives primarily influence process and relational innovations through supply chain collaboration. The real benefits of electronic commerce come from end‐to‐end visibility in the supply chain, and from the implementation of demand‐pull strategies for all levels of the optical connectivity equipment value chain.

Future research should concentrate on the impact of various emerging electronic marketplaces in demand‐driven integrated supply chains.

Results reveal to managers how e‐commerce can strengthen business relationships in the supply chain and how it can trigger information visibility through collaborative electronic tools.