Improving Decision Quality: The Role of Business Intelligence

Findings provide insight into little investigated avenues such as the role of problem space complexity in perceived decision quality as well as indicate a more complex interplay among the antecedents of decision quality than heretofore examined. For example, results suggest that there may be a tipping point for which information quality and use of the system support higher perceived decision quality. In addition, these findings provide a direction for future research to generate deeper, more meaningful contributions in our collective understanding of how BI serves to improve the quality of decision making.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Healthy Divide or Detrimental Division? Subgroups in Virtual Teams

When subgroups are based on identity characteristics like race and gender they are likely to have negative effects, but when they are not, subgroups can have positive effects on teamwork. This paper empirically examines this proposition. Results of our study generally support the proposed assertion. When subgroups are not based on race or gender they are positively associated with perceptions of social integration and open communication. However, when they are based on race and gender they are negatively associated with perceptions of social integration and open communication.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Understanding Technology Adoption Trade-offs: A Conjoint Analysis

From a survey of working professionals, we extract the hierarchy of relative importance of each critical factor influencing the adoption decision. We found that moderate usefulness is the threshold that vendors should try to achieve and simple design does not differ significantly from the design with moderate complexity. The applicability of CBC analysis in IS research is established; guidelines and implications for IT designers, managers, and researchers are presented. Our findings enable practitioners to pursue practical questions such as: 1) which factors are consumers most concerned with when electing to adopt MO technology for professional communications? and 2) what is the tradeoff that consumers might make for accepting and adopting MO technology?

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Information Privacy Situation Awareness: Construct and Validation

To correctly capture people’s personal information disclosure behavior in online settings, it is necessary to incorporate situation awareness (SA), i.e. individuals’ ability to deal with a situation-specific environment with only limited cognitive resources at their disposal. In this paper, we propose a new construct, Information Privacy Situation Awareness (IPSA), as a specialization of SA with emphasis on information privacy. Based on a comprehensive literature review, focus group interviews, and a questionnaire administered to Facebook users, we developed a measure and items for IPSA. The major contribution of this study is a conceptualization of IPSA that demonstrates the importance of accounting for situation awareness in privacy models and serves as a catalyst for further research related to the dynamics of information privacy.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Do business students practice smartphone security

A survey of security-related practices was administered to students in business classes at a regional public university. The results of the survey show students to be lax in their smartphone security with men more willing to engage in risky behaviors than women. There were no differences in behaviors based upon maturity level or use of smartphones for financial transactions.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Learning to Thread the Needle: Information Technology Strategy

We also found evidence of a direct relationship between IT-enabled communications and marketing productivity and performance. These findings suggest that two IT-enabled roles are perceived within the marketing function. First, IT-enabled communications are guided by the strategic percepts of organizational learning and market orientation to provide superior customer value. Second, IT-enabled communications, unguided by organizational learning and market orientation, are used tactically to provide information and control in support of managerial efforts to lower costs and increase factor utilization.

Website:  http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Factors affecting the adoption level of c-commerce: an empirical study

Information sharing culture factor was found to have the strongest influ- ence on the adoption of c-commerce, followed by organiza- tion readiness and external environment. Contrary to other tech- nology adoption studies, this research found that innovation attributes have no significant influence on the adoption of c-commerce. In terms of theoretical contributions, this study has ex- tended previous researches conducted in western countries and provides great potential by advancing the understanding be- tween the association of adoption factors and c-commerce adoption level. This research show that adoption studies could move beyond studying the factors based on traditional adoption models. Organizations planning to adopt c-commerce would also be able to applied strategies based on the findings from this research.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Information Technology Investments: Does Activity Based Costing matter?

Tn this paper we explore the contribution of internal business practices, specifically the cost management system used by firms, on the stock price reaction to announcements of IT investments, using event study methodology. In addition, building on resourcebased view theory, we look at how a combination of internal and external factors, specifically perceived risk factors and market conditions, impact the stock price reaction.

Website:  http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Determinants of Reach and Loyalty – A Study of Website Performance and Implications for Website Design

The performance of websites in terms of the extent to which they can attract and retain traffic, strongly influences the volume of business transacted on them. Iden- tification of factors that influence website performance is there- fore necessary, for appropriately focusing website development efforts toward specific design parameters and including relevant performance-influencing features within the website. Although studies have described different characteristics related to web- sites, a systematic and comprehensive identification of ante- cedents to website performance is missing. This paper is based on an empirical study of the performance of 190 websites. It identifies seven factors that influence two different measures of website performance, the Reach and Loyalty. Information content, usability, ease-of-navigation and security are significant predictors of Reach. Ease-of-navigation, customization, security and availability are determinants of Loyalty.

Website:  http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

A metamodeling approach for requirements specification

This has often led to unsatisfactory requirements management in industrial software development. In this work, a proposal for requirements modeling is presented that allows the integration of the expressiveness of some of the more relevant Requirements Engineering techniques by taking advantage of metamodeling. This proposal focuses on scalability with respect to expressiveness and adaptability to the application domain to establish some basic guidelines and extension mechanisms that lend coherence and semantic precision. A case study and 4 tool support are presented to describe the application of this proposal in a real-life project.

Website:  http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Computer Systems Analyst

Computer systems analysis is a hybrid of information technology and business. And computer systems analysts leverage both their knowledge of information technology and business to design better computer systems and processes for their clients. Although these professionals have many responsibilities, their first task is to understand their client’s business, whether it’s an organization in Silicon Valley or a firm on Wall Street. And they’ll specifically want to learn how the organization uses technology. Analysts will then research the best technologies to help the organization’s overall computer system – the hardware, the software and the networks – run more efficiently and effectively.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Information Security Analyst

With the rise in hackers and data breaches sweeping throughout companies and the government, there’s a greater need to keep personal and top-secret information safe from cyberattacks. That’s where information security analysts enter the picture. Information security analysts are responsible for protecting the computer networks of a company or government agency. While their behind-the-scenes work often goes unnoticed, public awareness about cybersecurity threats and efforts to protect sensitive information have spiked since classified documents were leaked from the National Security Agency and a slew of security breaches at high-profile retailers and institutions have plagued consumers.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Web Developer

A friend recommends a certain website, so you click on the link. And wow – even though you can't put your finger on it, everything about the site seems to fit together superbly, from the colors and graphics, to the images and special effects (or "animation" to those in the know). Although you haven't visited the site before, you know just how to navigate it. The search function even works. For all this and more, you can thank a talented Web developer.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Computer Systems Administrator

A network and computer systems administrator’s greatest contribution is maintaining an organization’s work flow and keeping its lines of communication open. This work is not for the faint of heart. In a single day, he or she may encounter stacks of servers, dozens of crisscrossing network cables and major malfunctions with the hardware and software that runs the company’s local area and wide area networks. Since companies depend on their networks for so much of their work, problems must be corrected swiftly and completely.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Database Administrator

Database administrators – DBAs, for short – set up databases according to a company’s needs and make sure they operate efficiently. They will also fine-tune, upgrade and test modifications to the databases as needed. The job involves resolving complex issues, so attention to detail is an essential trait in this profession, as is a passion for problem-solving. Communication skills are also important since DBAs often work as part of a team with computer programmers and managers. Ongoing maintenance of a database requires being on call, and a quarter of DBAs work more than 40 hours a week. These professionals are employed in a wide range of settings in the public and private sectors, and some DBAs work as consultants to organizations.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Computer Programmer

Computer programming is an exciting industry that's still in its infancy, according to Jeff Lyons, founder and president of the National Association of Programmers. He writes in an email: "When I entered the industry, the Internet was a DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] project and smartphones were not even a concept. Now, we have billionaires because they made it easy to search the Internet for just about any topic we can imagine. Today, our very young children play with devices with more computing power than was available to launch all of the Apollo missions that landed men on the moon. Even the most nontechnical persons can easily utilize these devices to access the collective knowledge of mankind."

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/

Computer Support Specialist

Almost everyone has thrown up their hands in frustration after what feels like a million failed attempts to log onto their computer or more than an hour wrestling with a router to set up a home network. When you reach for the phone or keyboard to seek assistance and a little peace of mind, the person who answers on the other end is typically a computer support specialist. These tech savants work in a variety of settings – from traditional offices to universities to call centers – but the primary goal of the men and women who field often frantic pleas for help from users with computer issues is always the same: to provide the assistance they need in a friendly and effective manner. “We need to make sure we know how to diagnose their issues and do it quickly,” says Guido Diaz, senior computer support specialist at Florida International University. “Customer relations and troubleshooting are very important.” Considering the number of phone calls, face-to-face meetings, emails and, in some cases, chats they engage in on a daily basis, people in this line of work must exhibit excellent communication skills.

Website:  http://www.arjonline.org/engineering/american-research-journal-of-computer-science-and-information-technology/