A large number of security breaches involve internal employee negligence and insider breach. This situation, coupled with the need to comply with regulatory mandates has led to the establishment of comprehensive information security programs in many organizations. However, the relationships between comprehensive information security programs and security culture are unclear. This research thus proposes a research model to evaluate the influences of key components of comprehensive information security programs on security culture and empirically tests it. The results indicate that SETA programs awareness has significant influences on security culture and on employees' awareness of organizational security policy, and that the awareness of security monitoring also impacts security culture. The proposed research model can be used as a benchmark to evaluate the effectiveness of comprehensive information security programs, to improve the design of such programs should gaps exist, and eventually assist in building a security culture.

Even though data warehousing (DW) requires huge investments, the data warehouse market is experiencing incredible growth. However, a large number of DW initiatives end up as failures. In this paper, we argue that the maturity of a data warehousing process (DWP) could significantly mitigate such large-scale failures and ensure the delivery of consistent, high quality, “single-version of truth” data in a timely manner. However, unlike software development, the assessment of DWP maturity has not yet been tackled in a systematic way. In light of the critical importance of data as a corporate resource, we believe that the need for a maturity model for DWP could not be greater. In this paper, we describe the design and development of a five-level DWP maturity model (DWP-M) over a period of three years. A unique aspect of this model is that it covers processes in both data warehouse development and operations. Over 20 key DW executives from 13 different corporations were involved in the model development process. The final model was evaluated by a panel of experts; the results strongly validate the functionality, productivity, and usability of the model. We present the initial and final DWP-M model versions, along with illustrations of several key process areas at different levels of maturity.

When does it benefit a firm to take a lead in innovation with information technology (IT)? How should a firm align its IT innovation with a dynamic industry? In addressing these questions we present a typology of IT Innovation and Environment Alignment (ITIEA) based on a firm's IT innovation strategic orientation and the industry environment. The traditional ‘fit’ perspective predicts that a firm that matches its IT innovation with a dynamic environment would obtain performance benefits. In contrast, the ‘options’ perspective suggests that a firm that takes advantage of a stable environment to proactively pursue IT innovation and develop IT capability as real options would obtain performance advantage. We employ a quasi-experiment design to test these two competing hypotheses using archival data of IT leaders over a time frame of 6 years. We perform a longitudinal analysis of the performance change trajectories of proactive and reactive IT leaders over time. The results indicate a general support for the ‘options’ perspective that proactive IT leaders that lead in innovation with IT in relatively stable environments are found to consistently outperform reactive IT leaders in overall performance, allocative efficiency, and cost efficiency in management process. However, interestingly, the results also show a partial support for the ‘fit’ perspective that reactive IT leaders that emphasize intensive deployment of IT innovation in dynamic environments are found to obtain a cost advantage in production and operation process over time. The findings offer practical implications for managers to better engage in IT innovations to create and sustain competitive advantage. Synthesizing options thinking and dynamic capability perspective, we provide a framework to better understand IT innovation, dynamic environment, and performance outcomes. The findings also shed useful light on whether, when, and how to innovate with IT for sustained competitive advantage.

Despite the suggestions of friction-free information availability, considerable price dispersions for the same product are not uncommon across online retailers in the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment. Online customers do not necessarily always buy from the site with the lowest price, suggesting that other forces are at work. This paper presents and empirically examines a model that proposes that Web site value in terms of (perceived) Web site quality as well as awareness of the site and consumer differences (on price sensitivity) are key variables in explaining online consumer behavior in their choice of Web site despite the existence of price dispersions. Two hundred ninety-three students participated in a series of controlled laboratory experiments making use of two different types of products in terms of complexity and expensiveness (Canon digital camera Powershot S400 and digital versatile disc full-screen edition of Star Wars: Episodes I and II) that required them to interact with three different real-world Web sites offering each of these two branded products and make their decision on which of the three Web sites they will chose to buy the product from. The prices varied across the Web sites, as did the quality of the sites on various dimensions and site awareness of the participants. Conditional logit models of discrete choice for each of the two product types indicate differential influences of Web site quality dimensions and price sensitivity. A number of interesting implications emerge, and pointers to further extensions of the research theme are discussed.

Data warehousing (DW) has emerged as one of the most powerful technology innovations in recent years to support organization-wide decision making and has become a key component in the information technology (IT) infrastructure. Proponents of DW claim that its infusion can dramatically enhance the ability of businesses to improve the access, distribution, and sharing of information and provide managerial decision support for complex business questions. DW is also an enabling technology for data mining, customer-relationship management, and other business-intelligence applications. Although data warehouses have been around for quite some time, they have been plagued by high failure rates and limited spread or use. Drawing upon past research on the adoption and diffusion of innovations and on the implementation of information systems (IS), we examine the key organizational and innovation factors that influence the infusion (diffusion) of DW within organizations and also examine if more extensive infusion leads to improved organizational outcomes. In this paper, we conducted a field study, where two senior managers (one from IS and the other from a line function) from 117 companies participated, and developed a structural model to test the research hypotheses. The results indicate that four of the seven variables examined in this paper-organizational support, quality of the project management process, compatibility, and complexity-significantly influence the degree of infusion of DW and that the infusion, in turn, significantly influences organization-level benefits and stakeholder satisfaction. The findings of this paper have interesting implications for both research and practice in IT and DW infusion, as well as in the organization-level impact of the infusion of enterprise-wide infrastructural and decision support technologies such as DW.

A variety of information and communication media have been employed to support the interaction of consumers with products and sales representatives in electronic-commerce (EC). But, the question of what impact those media have on consumers in EC has not been sufficiently addressed in the literature. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the richness of consumers’ interaction with products and with sales representatives on changes in their attitude towards and their intention to use business-to-consumer (B2C) EC. Controlled lab experiments were conducted using two types of products and multiple levels of interaction richness. The results show that interaction richness has positive impact on consumers’ attitude towards B2C EC. Additionally, the study finds that the impact is stronger in the case of purchasing a high-complexity product than a low-complexity product, and that consumers’ attitude change is positively related with their intention to use B2C EC. Differential effects on two facets of attitude, ease of use in accomplishing the tasks and usefulness were observed leading to interesting implications and future research directions.

Although there has been a pickup in the growth of business-to-consumer electronic commerce (EC) recently, the overall growth appears to have failed to live up to the various forecasts. Notwithstanding the concerns of security and privacy, this paper posits that for complex products and services offered on the web, existing EC interfaces (ECIs) lack the necessary "richness" to overcome the virtual nature that consumers face compared with a physical store. We empirically validate a conceptual framework that exists in the literature to address these issues of ECI design by drawing on insights from contingency research in information system (IS) design and media choice behavior. This paper finds that a fit or congruence between the product type and the ECI richness (in product information representation, and product-related interaction and communication between the consumer and vendor) leads to superior outcomes. Specifically, buying a complex product (e.g., digital camera) on the Web requires a greater ECI richness in the form of experiencing higher social presence and/or higher product presence. On the other hand, a lean ECI is sufficient for a simple product (e.g., diskette). The role of tolerance for ambiguity (TA), which is an individual difference variable, in this relationship is also examined. A significant three-way fit of TA with ECI richness and product types on consumer behavior is found. A number of implications and future research extensions are discussed

Significant research about the impact of information presentation on decision processes, group-decision support systems, and multicriteria decision making has occurred over the past 10 to 15 years. Advances in hardware and software technologies have significantly reduced costs and enhanced information presentation capability, specifically in the areas of virtual reality and visual interactive modeling (VIM). These visualization technologies can aid in the assimilation of complex qualitative and quantitative information by the decision maker and allow the abstraction of vast information space. Thus, in group-decision situations, visualization has the potential to enhance the decision makers' ability to make appropriate tradeoffs and improve communication between group members resulting in quicker and better consensus decisions. This paper focuses on the study of the effectiveness of advanced information-presentation technologies, such as VIM in complex decision situations involving multiple criteria and groups of decision makers. The effectiveness of VIM is evaluated through a controlled experimental study. The study finds that VIM leads to greater efficiency in decision making and improved group-member attitude and satisfaction with the decision-making process and group-decision solution. However, somewhat contrary to our a priori expectations, the quality of the decision that is made by the groups using visual-interaction modeling is not better than those without this support.

In software inspection, a key principle endorsed by Fagan (1986) is openness. However, scholars have recently questioned the efficacy of openness. For example, some argue that ego-involvement and personality conflicts that become more transparent due to openness might impede inspection. Still others point out that familiarity and (preexisting) relationships among inspection team members negatively affect the comprehensiveness in detection of defects. This brings up concerns if the openness as originally envisioned by Fagan may in fact lead to suboptimal outcomes. As the trend towards computer-based inspection continues, we believe that anonymity could play a positive role in overcoming some of the drawbacks noted in team-based inspection. Drawing upon the literature on software inspection and group support systems, this research proposes possible influences of group member anonymity on the outcome of computer-mediated software inspection and empirically examines the validity of the posited relationships in a set of controlled laboratory experiments. Two different inspection tasks with varying levels of software code complexity are employed. While both the control groups (i.e., teams without anonymity) and treatment groups (i.e., teams with support for anonymity) consume more or less the same time in performing the inspection tasks, the treatment groups are more effective in identifying the seeded errors in the more complex task. Treatment groups also express a more positive attitude toward both code inspection tasks. The findings of the study suggest a number of directions for future research.

Consumer interaction with product information is one of the critical components in business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce environments. Online consumers' characteristics can be expected to play an important role when designing how product information is presented in such e-commerce environments. We suggest that online consumers' personality traits impact effectiveness of the presentation of product information on e-commerce sites and the extent to which the various e-commerce environments are effective. In this article, we propose and empirically validate relationships among online consumers' personality traits, product information presentation richness and on-line consumer behaviour in e-commerce environments. Results show that effectiveness of product information presentation varies by online consumers' psychological types, and that rich product information presentation significantly influences the online buying behaviour of intuitive types, and feeling types, rather than sensing and thinking types. Discussion of the results and their implications for theory and practice as well as limitations and future research directions are presented.

We posit that the current electronic commerce (EC) systems are not user-oriented. Consumers in an EC environment find it difficult to deal with the inherent nature of virtual reality in their interaction. We propose a conceptual framework to address such an issue by drawing on insights from contingency research in information systems design and media choice behavior. The basic theme of this model, called the congruence model, is that for an EC systems environment to have favorable impact on a consumer, the system must have a good fit with both the products/services that are sold/provided and the users it supports. An initial validity of this conceptual framework is demonstrated by working with a few product and user types. A detailed evaluation of eight different commercial web sites dealing with four different product categories provides additional support to the proposed theory. We expect our conceptual model to spur significant future research on this important phenomenon.