Ubiquitous connectivity has fostered an unprecedented wave of mobile computing and communication applications. As the number of mobile applications grows exponentially, a crucial issue is how users will monitor and manage their media 'flows' to optimal levels. This means having 'requisite' levels of information and communication, while avoiding states of hyper-connectivity. Our research is focused on developing mobile applications that analyze users' multiple media flows. A dashboard interface then offers feedback to the user, who can adapt and modify her or his behavior for improved productivity and personal well-being.

In order to specifically address the issue of customer retention in online marketplaces, and drawing from prior related work, we propose service quality, business value and customer loyalty as a three-stage service transformation that extends the impact of reputation to customer loyalty to retain customers. In an attempt to provide an integrated model to understand customers' online repurchase behaviour in C2C markets, the research questions that guide this study are: (1) Does the three-stage service transformation have an impact on customers' online repurchase intention? (2) Does the integrated model apply universally, given the context of cultural diversity? This study is conducted using auction websites in New Zealand and Taiwan to address potential cultural differences in the motivation of sellers, website design, product type, seller-buyer relationship and business strategies. An additional question of interest that we study is whether the medium used for data collection (paper versus online survey) has any affect on the parameters of the integrated model.

Context: Although agile software development (ASD) method use has grown dramatically in recent years, there is lack of empirical evidence for their effective use and predicted improvements in software development. This suggests that there is an imprecise understanding of their use and practice in organisations beyond the adoption phase. There is a lack of clarity on what 'usage' or 'effectiveness' mean in the context of ASD. In particular, the relationship between agile usage and agile effectiveness has not been investigated. Objective: To study the factors that impact usage of ASD methods and analyse the relationship between post-adoption use of ASD methods, i.e. agile usage and the results effectively achieved in terms of improvements in development outcomes, i.e. agile effectiveness. Method: An agile usage model of post-adoption or continued agile usage is tested using a survey instrument. The study employs variance-based or partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) implemented in SmartPLS version 2.0. Special attention is given to the quality of the measures used by developing reliable and valid measures of study variables. Results: The results from a partial least squares (PLS) analysis shows that relative advantage and agile coach significantly influence the usage of agile methods. Results also support the thesis that agile usage as measured by intensity and extent of agile method use significantly impacts agile effectiveness. Conclusions: The overall contribution of this research is to improve the effectiveness of ASD methods by increasing the likelihood that ASD methods will be effectively used and sustained beyond the adoption phase.

Context: Agile methodologies (AM) emerged as a popular alternative to formalized methods, and have gained widespread acceptance in both the academic and industrial contexts. While most research has focused on their early stages of adoption and use, there is little evidence that agile methodologies have been effectively used beyond the adoption stage. Objective: The objective of this paper is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the various factors that impact the sustained usage of agile methods. Method: We performed a systematic literature review to identify empirical studies relating to agile usage. We followed the guidelines provided for conducting systematic literature reviews in software engineering [1, 2] using the following distinct stages: 1) protocol development and the search strategy, 2) exclusion process, 3) data extraction, and 4) data synthesis. Results: Our review identified nine critical factors viz., Management Support, Attitude, Motivation, Team Composition, Training, Agile Mindset, Technical Competence and Expertise, Agile Engineering Practices, and Methodology Champion. Conclusions: Our review highlights the significance of nine critical factors that impact sustained usage of AM in organizations. Our findings also indicate that the right balance and combination of various factors with an emphasis on continuous improvement will be crucial for achieving true agile sustainability in organizations.

Better understanding of information asymmetry in internet auctions by researchers has led to improved online auction designs, increased market efficiency, and therefore better outcomes for all stakeholders. In this paper we focus on a specific aspect of internet auctions that has not received much attention in the literature: the presence of interaction between buyers and sellers while an auction is in progress -- so called "live interaction". Examples of such interaction include characteristics of questions from buyers, answers and other disclosures from sellers, conversation threads, etc. We believe that such interaction differentiates active disclosure from seller volunteered information (passive disclosure). The facilitation of live interaction is a feature of the auction site TradeMe which represents 60% of all internet traffic in New Zealand. We collected data from 532 auctions of used cars over a three week period. In addition to data about the auction itself, we collected data about the number of questions asked and answered, the average length of the questions and answers, number of conversation threads and the use of specific textual triggers in the questions that encompass sentiments such as intent, politeness, and courtesy words. We modeled the problem using logistic regression to isolate live interaction based determinants of auction outcomes. We studied the effects of live interaction variables on outcomes in two ways: by themselves; and embedded in a larger model encompassing more traditional auction characteristics. The results show which specific aspects of live interaction between buyers and sellers are significant in determining auction outcomes. We propose that such interaction is greatly facilitated by the use of mobile devices and building it in as a necessary design feature can produce superior outcomes.

In this paper we present a proposal for the utilization of social network technologies to implement adaptive business networks. Organizations are increasingly reliant on models of coordination and cooperation. Traditional approaches to defining and implementing business processes are deficient in addressing cross organizational models. We propose that such models can be usefully supported by social networking technologies that have rapidly grown to be effective platforms for collaboration among individuals.

Recommender Systems belong to a class of systems intended to assist individuals make evaluations about entities in meaningful ways. In this paper we discuss the issues in the design of integrated recommender systems and suggest a framework that takes the perspective of an individual functioning in multiple domains. This is particularly applicable today with the rapidly increasing diffusion of personalized, networked mobile devices. We present some preliminary design ideas in the form of a functional prototype.

The Differential File Architecture (DFA) has been previously proposed as a physical database design which confines the volatility of a large database into a small, more manageable file. Although this approach affords many advantages, the use of dual files often results in two accesses to secondary storage. The response performance of the DFA is therefore a key issue, yet the only predictive performance model currently in existence assumes an ideal environment. This paper represents a preliminary step toward developing a general model of DFA performance, applicable to realistic settings in which the distribution of key accesses and the hashing distribution of keys to filter switches are non-uniform. In support of a regression approach to the problem, a metric is developed and tested for suitability as a predictor of non-uniformity effects.