This paper is a part of a large study, which examines healthcare professionals attitudes regarding the adoption, use and perceived benefits of healthcare information technology (HIT). To date, literature on HIT has shown many important benefits related to quality and efficiency as well as limitations related to generalization and to a lack of empirical data on benefits. The aim of this paper is to develop a survey instrument focused the perceived benefits of HIT adoption. We exhaustively reviewed the construct of perceived benefits in various research areas to identify established approaches to predicting individuals intentions to adopt technology. The items of perceived benefits taken from previous studies were developed and modified, and three benefit dimensions (direct, indirect and strategic benefits) were described. The questionnaire addressed the following issues: demographic information, perceived benefits of computerized physician/provider order entry (CPOE), and intent to adopt CPOE. We present a survey instrument containing the perceived benefits construct targeting healthcare executives. This is developed and validated by the translational validity test that attempts to assess the degree to which we accurately translated our construct into the operationalization. The Importance of the instrument for perceived benefits of HIT adoption as well as its limitations is also presented.

Extreme events are sometimes defined as unexpected events in which local resources are insufficient to cope with the extent of the damage and require outside resources to address the hazards specific to the event. For that reason, communities immediately adjacent to disaster areas have a unique and important role in the study of measures to mitigate the effects of the resulting hazards to human life and property. This exploratory study looks at the use of information technology in conjunction with disaster mitigation activities in areas adjacent to a large disaster. The experiences, thoughts, and beliefs of individuals involved in mitigation activities at Louisiana State University immediately following Hurricane Katrina and the resulting large scale evacuation of New Orleans were captured through interviews in which cognitive maps were developed. Through a Grounded Theory approach, the data was analyzed for theoretical fit. In the early analysis the data grouped itself into three main stories; the Implementers, Decision Makers, and the Vendor stories. The best theoretical fit was found in elements of Improvisation Theory. Specifically, alignment was found in the use of "Bricolage" in solving problems, the unique elements that resulted in a climate of openness to improvisational processes, and the improvisation of command and control. Finally, other research questions that came up in the course of the study are examined.

The concept of organizing visions for IT innovations, introduced by Swanson and Ramiller, offers a valuable analytical lens to examine institutional dynamics underlying diffusion of complex information technology (IT) innovations at the inter-organizational level of analysis. Several aspects of the organizing vision framework, however, warrant further elaboration. In this thesis, two such aspects are addressed. First, the process of organizing vision production and evolution is elucidated in more detail and embedded in the broader context of industry meaning structures. To this end, a process-oriented model is presented delineating how the development of an organizing vision is enabled and constrained by a variety of beliefs and logics situated in the adopter and vendor industries and, conversely, how the industry meaning structures may over time become altered by the unfolding evolution of the vision. Second, specific mechanisms enabling the legitimation function of organizing visions are identified and examined. The IT legitimation taxonomy comprising 26 discursive strategies for gaining and maintaining legitimacy for IT innovations is developed. The taxonomy integrates major conceptual views on legitimacy drawn from both organization theory and IS literatures. It is further refined and illustrated through a historical case study of Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) systems, an IT innovation in the field of healthcare. 142 press releases issued by vendors of CPOE software, hardware and services from 1998 to 2005 are content-analyzed and a post-hoc analysis of temporal and cross-sectional patterns in the vendors' use of legitimation strategies is carried out. The contribution of this research lies in advancing the neo-institutional perspective on IT innovation and laying a foundation for extending the analysis of IT diffusion and use beyond the organizational boundaries.

Despite the fact that research into cheating has continued for several decades, cheating in higher education appears to be widespread and endemic. This may be particularly troublesome for business school students, who, according to some research, appear to cheat more than students in other curriculums. Technology is giving students new opportunities to cheat. Companies are developing products specifically designed to help students cheat. Although there are some resources and tools to help faculty monitor things such as plagiarism, technology is providing a continuous stream of new opportunities for students to cheat, oftentimes without a high likelihood of being caught. Beliefs and norms are one indicator for why students cheat. Understanding how students perceive cheating using technology versus cheating using traditional means may provide valuable insights and may form the basis for additional research. This study tested the hypothesis that students tend to view cheating via technology with more leniency than cheating with traditional means. It did this by examining the results of survey data that asked 148 students to rate the acceptability of behavior in a series of scenarios that included a version using information technology and one using more traditional means. The results of the survey were mixed, leading to the conclusion that the general hypothesis is not supported and that researchers should look into other factors for the reasons behind cheating with information technology.

Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster in American history and created the need for organizations along the Gulf Coast to employ disaster management and recovery plans. With the ubiquitous nature of computers and technology, IT professionals were critical organizational assets in executing those plans in order to insure the safety and recovery of valuable information. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the impact natural disasters have on IT professionals and their subsequent turnover decisions. The theoretical guide for this study was the Unfolding Model of Turnover (Lee and Mitchell 1994) that identifies shocks, or jarring events, as a principal initiator of voluntary turnover. A mixed methods research strategy was employed consisting of a web-based survey of 153 IT professionals affected by Hurricane Katrina and 19 in-depth interviews. Over 58% of the surveyed participants who left their pre-Katrina employers followed one of Lee and Mitchells theorized decision paths. The classification results increases to 84% with the inclusion of a new emergent decision path; providing evidence that the unfolding model is appropriate for studying disaster related turnover. Findings from this study indicate there are actions organizations can take to retain critical IT employees. Likewise, there are organizational actions, or aftershocks, that can initiate the cognitive decision process leading to turnover. This research constitutes an initial step toward understanding the factors that influence the turnover of IT professionals who have been affected by a natural disaster as well as providing practical suggestions for organizational disaster management planning.

The rising cost of quality healthcare is becoming an increasing concern. A significant part of healthcare cost is the pharmaceutical supply component. Improving healthcare supply chains is critical not only because of the financial magnitude but also because it impacts so many people. Efforts such as this project are essential in understanding the current operations of healthcare pharmacy systems and in offering decision support tools to managers struggling to make the best use of organizational resources. The purpose of this study is to address the objectives of a local hospital that exhibits typical problems in pharmacy supply chain management. We analyze the pharmacy supply network structure and the different, often conflicting goals in the decisions of the various stakeholders. We develop quantitative models useful in optimizing supply chain management and inventory management practices. We provide decision support tools that improve operational, tactical, and strategic decision making in the pharmacy supply chain and inventory management of pharmaceuticals. On one hand, advanced computerized technology that manages pharmaceutical dispensation and automates the ordering process offers considerable progress to support pharmacy product distribution. On the other hand, the available information is not utilized to help the managers in making the appropriate decisions and control the supply chain management. Quantitative methods are presented that provide simplified, practical solutions to pharmacy objectives and serve as decision support tools. For operational inventory decisions we provide the min and max par levels (reorder point and order up to level) that control the automated ordering system for pharmaceuticals. These parameters are based on two near-optimal allocation policies of cycle stock and safety stock under storage space constraint. For the tactical decision we demonstrate the influence of varying inventory holding cost rates on setting the optimal reorder point and order quantity for items. We present a strategic decision support tool to analyze the tradeoffs among the refill workload, the emergency workload, and the variety of drugs offered. We reveal the relationship of these tradeoffs to the three key performance indicators at a local care unit: the expected number of daily refills, the service level, and the storage space utilization.

A virtual experiment (in silico) of a complex social system is conducted in order to investigate the effects of social structure and organizational culture on an information system development projects outcome. This is performed within the context of user participation and project success. A 2x2 factorial design is employed with the social factor being measured as either low or high initial relationships between the customer and developer groups working on the project. The cultural factor is measured dichotomously with the two groups either having the same or different cultural beliefs. The project success outcome variable is measured as a percentage of the project that may be completed at a given time period. The simulation incorporates interactive, learning agents from two distinct groups within an information systems project; viz. the customers and the developers. A dynamic social system is first defined and then evolved which incorporates knowledge resources, tasks to be accomplished, and the agent communication social interactions in order to accomplish the given tasks. In order to integrate the multi-theoretical concepts employed in the simulation, first a multi-dimensional philosophical foundation derived from Buddhist philosophy and psychology is described. Second, an Integrated Capital Ensemble model of social forces based on the works of Marvin Harris in cultural anthropology and Pierre Bourdieu in sociology is introduced. Third the operationalization of the conceptual model is described in terms of dynamic network analysis methods. Finally a discussion of the results of the experiment; the significant effect that the social and cultural factors have on project success are discussed.

The history of IT governance research has been dichotomous in that research either focused on the IT governance structural arrangements or the contingencies that affect IT organizational decisions. Weill and Rosss (2004) seminal text on IT governance represents a synthesis of these two streams of research and thus establishes a new trajectory in the discourse related to IT governance. Their study included analysis from both survey data and case studies. However, the case study sites included were of large capitalized companies. Moreover, the cases were conducted prior to the mandated implementation of Section 404 of Sarbanes Oxley (SOX), which oversees the requirements for companies to ensure they have adequate controls in place to safeguard financial data and reporting. Compliance efforts with SOX have disproportionately impacted the finances of small publicly traded companies; consequently, the compliance efforts of small and medium publicly traded companies may differ from that of large companies. Most small companies have taken SOX seriously and complied with the requirements mandated by the legislation by implementing the controls that demonstrate that the organization has reasonable assurance of governance over the companys IT function. Still other small companies have chosen to use SOX as a catalyst for systemic change throughout the companys IT function. While the latter may seem the logical progression of a companys IT governance effort, that is not always the case. This study seeks to understand the reasons behind why some companies extend compliance efforts to invoke positive systemic change while others only do enough to comply with regulatory requirements. Using a multiple-case methodology, this study attempts to build upon the existing body of IT governance research by examining how the aforementioned IT governance concepts discussed by Weill and Ross are manifest in small and medium publicly traded companies. Additionally, the reason(s) why or why not those concepts may be present is examined using the theoretical lens of institutional theory. Findings of the study include an identification of differences small and medium publicly traded companies and large publicly traded companies in establishing enterprise-wide IT governance.

Social virtual worlds (SVWs) such as Second Life have gained immense popularity during the last decade. Their popularity is reflected in the explosive growth of the in-world economy, which is mainly supported by users consumption of virtual goods and entrepreneurial behavior. Users economic behavior has increased the size of the virtual economy to reach over $1B in the United States in 2009 (Nicholson 2009). Given that virtual consumption and entrepreneurship have become an important part of everyday virtual life in SVWs, understanding these two types of economic activities is an essential aspect to understanding user behavior in SVWs. This research aims at investigating the meanings of virtual consumption and entrepreneurship for users. The research consists of two independent essays. In the first essay about virtual consumption, I examine users understandings of virtual consumption through core-periphery analysis of its social representation. 154 Second Life users participated in the web-based survey for this study. I also identify user goals for virtual consumption by using means-end chain analysis, based on interviews with 93 Second Life users. The second essay on the topic of virtual entrepreneurship examines the collective meanings of virtual entrepreneurship and their relationship with the collective meanings of SVWs. To understand the meanings of virtual entrepreneurship, the core-periphery structure of social representations of virtual entrepreneurship is analyzed, based on interviews with 24 Second Life entrepreneurs. The meanings of virtual entrepreneurship are explained and compared with the central meanings of SVWs, identified from 101 newspaper articles on SVWs from 2005 to 2009. The results show that virtual consumption penetrates extensively into the virtual life of users and make their virtual experience in SVWs much richer; that virtual entrepreneurship is institutionalized in SVWs, and the key meanings of SVWs are well translated into the meanings of virtual entrepreneurship. This research contributes in providing fundamental knowledge about virtual consumption and entrepreneurship and further suggests potential theoretical frameworks for future research. Implications for SVW service providers and producers and sellers of virtual goods are also identified. Another contribution of the research is to demonstrate alternative qualitative research approaches combined with quantitative analyses.

The DeLone and McLean Model of Information Systems (IS) Success is one of the most cited and commonly-used models in the IS literature. Generally, the model has been used mainly to explain IS success at the individual level of analysis. However, in rare occasions it has been utilized on its entirety to measure success at the organizational level of analysis. In this study, the DeLone and McLean Model of IS Success is applied at the organizational level of analysis in the E-commerce environment. We gather website features from 448 top retailers, categorize them following DeLone and McLeans taxonomy, and introduce them as the independent variables in our model. The results of our study provide support for utilizing the model to explain the dimensions and relationships of IS Success at the organizational level of analysis. At this higher level, website features that map to quality perceptions of system quality, information quality, and service quality do exist. In terms of relationships between these dimensions; the analysis suggests that both system quality and service quality positively affect system use; and system use strongly affects net benefits as measured by organizational sales. Furthermore, as an extension of the DeLone and McLean model, we add direct paths from all three qualities to net benefits (sales). Results from this extension of the model suggest that information quality and system quality directly affect net benefits. Results from this study have strong implications for the IS field and especially for the e-commerce environment. First, it provides support for utilizing real world objective data as outcomes of the analysis. Second, it provides support for utilizing the DeLone and McLean model at the organizational level of analysis as a tool to help researchers and practitioners understand the different dimensions of IS Success and how they affect each other. Third it provides practitioners, web development instructors, and web developers with real objective website feature groups that directly affect organizational sales.