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The purpose of this paper is to rank the users’ attitude on major components of mobile cloud computing (MCC) security and investigate the degree of impact of these components on MCC security as a whole.

Hypotheses were evolved and tested by data collected through an online survey-questionnaire. The survey was administered to 363 users from Chinese organizations. Statistical analysis was carried out and structural equation model was built to validate the interactions.

The eight components of MCC security in the order of importance are as follows: mobile device related, user identity related, deployment model related, application-level security issues, data related, virtualization related, network related and service delivery related. The empirical analysis validates that these security issues are having significant impact on perceived security of MCC.

Constant vigilance on these eight issues and improving the level of user awareness on these issues enhance the overall security.

These issues can be used for designing and developing secured MCC system.

While several previous research has studied various security factors in the MCC security domain, a consolidated understanding on the different components of MCC security is missing. This empirical research has identified and ranked the major components of MCC security. The degree of impact of each of these components on overall MCC security is identified. This provides a different perspective for managing MCC security by explaining what components are most important.

This study/ paper aims to empirically examine the user attitude on perceived security of enterprise systems (ES) mobility. Organizations are adopting mobile technologies for various business applications including ES to increase the flexibility and to gain sustainable competitive advantage. At the same time, end-users are exposed to security issues when using mobile technologies. The ES have seen breaches and malicious intrusions thereby more sophisticated recreational and commercial cybercrimes have been witnessed. ES have seen data breaches and malicious intrusions leading to more sophisticated cybercrimes. Considering the significance of security in ES mobility, the research questions in this study are: What are the security issues of ES mobility? What are the influences of users’ attitude towards those security issues? What is the impact of users’ attitude towards security issues on perceived security of ES mobility?

These questions are addressed by empirically testing a security model of mobile ES by collecting data from users of ES mobile systems. Hypotheses were evolved and tested by data collected through a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire survey was administered to 331 users from Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The data was statistically analysed by tools such as correlation, factor analysis, regression and the study built a structural equation model (SEM) to examine the interactions between the variables.

The study results have identified the following security issues: users’ attitude towards mobile device security issues; users’ attitude towards wireless network security issues; users’ attitude towards cloud computing security issues; users’ attitude towards application-level security issues; users’ attitude towards data (access) level security issues; and users’ attitude towards enterprise-level security issues.

The study results are based on a sample of users from Chinese SMEs. The findings may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to examine the model in a different context. The issues requiring further investigation are the role of gender and type of device on perceived security of ES mobile systems.

The results show that the key security issues are related to a mobile device, wireless network, cloud computing, applications, data and enterprise. By understanding these issues and the best practices, organizations can maintain a high level of security of their mobile ES.

Apart from understanding the best practices and the key issues, the authors suggest management and end-users to work collaboratively to achieve a high level of security of the mobile ES.

This is an empirical study conducted from the users’ perspective for validating the set of research hypotheses related to key security issues on the perceived security of mobile ES.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the decision process of enterprise software acquisition. The research aims to focus on identifying significant influences on enterprise software acquisition decisions.

As a research model and theoretical background, the organizational buying model (OBB) is proposed for the acquisition of enterprise systems. Influences on enterprise software acquisition decision processes were found by an empirical study carried out from a practitioner's perspective. The study collected data via a mail survey administered to information systems (IS) professionals involved in the acquisition of enterprise software (ES). The survey questionnaire was developed based on a previous research project and a literature review. Organizational buying behavior (OBB) models in the literature served as the basis for the influences included in the survey instrument. Factor analysis was carried out on the survey data to identify the most significant factors/influences.

The following five factors emerged as significant influences on the acquisition decision process of enterprise software: ES strategy and performance; BPR and adaptability; management commitment and user buy‐in; single vendor integrated solution; and consultants, team‐location, and vendor's financing. These factors are discussed and managerial implications are extracted. Conclusions are derived from the study findings and guidelines for further research are suggested.

The present study provides a starting point for further research in understanding a more comprehensive list of influences on enterprise software acquisition. A bigger sample from more industries is required to examine whether the significance of the influences remains stable.

Using OBB models has proven to be useful for organizations in making effective decisions on enterprise software acquisition.

This paper provides a model for IS planning for building flexibility and success, by considering volatile environment and the possibilities for leveraging the user's cognitive capabilities.

A review of existing IS planning models is given to identify the shortcomings in building flexibility and success. A model is evolved by hypothesizing user involvement in IS planning leads to IS flexibility; and flexibility in IS enables organizational flexibility and IS success. The control variables were considered at the user, IS, and organizational levels. The proposed model was examined by a questionnaire survey, in which 296 users and planners from 42 organizations participated.

The study results validated the proposed model that IS success and organizational flexibility could be achieved through IS flexibility, which could be generated by involving users in IS planning. Also, the study results have shown that user expectations, perceived personal usefulness, and users' internal flexibility possess a high driver power for user involvement.

The variables included in the model are not exhaustive, and the validity of the model has not been tested in a real life situation.

This paper explains the ways of collaborating with users and top management to plan a flexible IS by studying the impending changes in the environment.

As the wrong Enterprise Software (ES) acquisition can lead an organization with chronically exceeded budgets and settling for minimum returns, so can an unfavorable contractual agreement. Often the acquiring organizations become vulnerable to risks and mistakes as the software contracts are habitually written using legal terminologies and mainly to the advantage of the vendor. To avoid costly ES contracting mistakes, the purpose of this paper is to empirically identify the critical success factors (CSFs) of contracting in the context of ES acquisition.

A questionnaire survey was conducted to gather the data for this study. Statistical analysis conducted for this study include descriptive statistics, factor analysis with reliability and validity tests and nonparametric test.

The five key factors are: contractual assurance, forward compatibility and licensing; right to use, own and use of own, confidentiality and payment; software acceptance; license assignment; and vendor obligation for intellectual property. The research and managerial implications of these factors are given in discussion.

As with most empirical studies, the subjectivity of the opinion of respondents from only two industries presents some limitations to generalization. Another limitation is the respondent has been asked for the degree of criticality for each of the contracting issue given in the questionnaire. There could be critical issues other than the listed ones which are more specific to the organization.

The results can be used by managers to improve their understanding on the critical contractual issues in ES acquisition negotiations.

The significant value of this study identifies the CSFs for ES contract negotiations while acquiring the software.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a framework that would guide the practicing manager to decide the degree of information systems (IS) outsourcing.

The proposed framework has been derived from the findings of a previous empirical study and qualitative inputs. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is then used to apply the framework. The framework is finally validated in three India‐based banks.

The proposed framework helps in creating a strategic alignment between the business strategy and information system strategy. The application of the framework shows the preference of managers towards high IS outsourcing. Strategic alignment and medium term impact emerge the important factors in IS outsourcing. The validity of the framework is proved in three banks.

The validation exercise has been done on a small sample due to resources constraints and a study involving a larger sample is desired. Further, it is advised to review the framework on regular intervals and make suitable changes in decision factors.

The framework is helpful to managers in identifying the critical factors which can act as useful inputs in taking informed decisions on the degree of IS outsourcing.

The paper fills some of the gaps in IS outsourcing by suggesting a practice‐ oriented framework that guides the decision maker to undertake a systematic and structured approach in arriving at an outsourcing decision. The framework has evolved from the practices of banks in India for which there does not exist any similar research.

This paper aims to explore the impact of climate change on yields and yield variances in major rainfed crops and measure possible changes in yields under projected climate changes in different agro-climatic zones of Tamil Nadu, India. Although many empirical studies report the influence of climate change on crop yield, only few address the effect on yield variances. Even in such cases, the reported yield variances were obtained through simulation studies rather than from actual observations. In this context, the present study analyzes the impact of climate change on crops yield and yield variance using the observed yields.

The Just-Pope yield function (1978) is used to analyze the impact of climate change on mean yield and variance. The estimated coefficient from Just-Pope yield function and the projected climatic data for the year 2030 are incorporated to capture the projected changes in crop yield and variances.

By the year 2030, the yield of pulses is estimated to decline in all the zones (Northeast, Northwest, Western, Cauvery delta, South and Southern zones), with significant declines in the Northeast zone (6.07 per cent), Cauvery delta zone (3.55 per cent) and South zone (3.54 per cent). Sorghum yield may suffer more in Western zone (2.63 per cent), Southern zone (1.92 per cent) and Northeast zone (1.62 per cent). Moreover, the yield of spiked millet is more likely to decrease in the Southern zone (1.39 per cent), Northeast zone (1.21 per cent) and Cauvery delta zone (0.24 per cent), and the yield of cotton may also decline in the Northeast zone (12.99 per cent), Northwest zone (8.05 per cent) and Western zone (2.10 per cent) of Tamil Nadu, India.

The study recommends introducing appropriate crop insurance policies to address possible financial losses to the farmers. Prioritizing area-specific stress-tolerant crop varieties without complementing yield would sustain crops cultivation further.

A novel semiconducting macromolecule-polyperylene tetraamide (PPTI) was first synthesized with a simple method using 3, 4, 9, 10-perylene tetracarboxylic acid (PTCA) and hydrazine hydrate (N2H4).

The Ag nanoparticle was doped on the surface or inside of the PPTI film to obtain a highly sensitive hydrazine sensor-Ag/PPTI, which was synthesized within one step. The structure of Ag/PPTI was characterized through various techniques such as Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements (XPS) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM).

According to cyclic voltammetry results, Ag/PPTI/GCE indicated good electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of hydrazine. The amperometric detection of hydrazine was then applied on Ag/PPTI/GCE. It exhibited a wide linear range from 0.05 to 50 µM, a low detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.05 µM and high sensitivity of 0.45 µA/(µM•cm2).

In authors’ perception, this approach emerges as an effective technique for developing efficient chemical sensors for environmental pollutants.