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El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The research revealed the need to design an information architecture model for Data Governance initiative that can serve as an intercom between current IT / IS management trends: Information technology (IT) management and information management. A model is needed that strikes a balance between the need to invest in technology and the ability to manage the information that originates from the use of those technologies, as well as to measure with greater precision the generation of IT value through the use of quality information and user satisfaction, using the technologies that make it possible for the information to reach them to be used in their daily work.

E-learning systems provide a promising solution as an information exchanging channel. Improved technology could mean faster and easier access to information but does not necessarily ensure the quality of this information. Therefore it is essential to develop valid and reliable methods of quality measurement and carry out careful information quality evaluations. Information quality frameworks are developed to measure the quality of information systems, generally from the designers¿ viewpoint. The recent proliferation of e-services, and e-learning particularly, raises the need for a new quality framework in the context of e-learning systems. The main contribution of this thesis is to propose a new information quality framework, with 14 information quality attributes grouped in three quality dimensions: intrinsic, contextual representation and accessibility. We report results based on original questionnaire data and factor analysis. Moreover, we validate the proposed framework using an empirical approach. We report our validation results on the basis of data collected from an original questionnaire and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in particular. However, it is difficult to measure information quality in an e-learning context because the concept of information quality is complex and it is expected that the measurements will be multidimensional in nature. Reliable measures need to be obtained in a systematic way, whilst considering the purpose of the measurement. Therefore, we start by adopting a Goal Question Metrics (GQM) approach to develop a set of quality metrics for the identified quality attributes within the proposed framework. We then define an assessment model and measurement scheme, based on a multi element analysis technique. The obtained results can be considered to be promising and positive, and revealed that the framework and assessment scheme could give good predictions for information quality within e-learning context. This research generates novel contributions as it proposes a solution to the problems raised from the absence of consensus regarding evaluation standards and methods for measuring information quality within an e-learning context. Also, it anticipates the feasibility of taking advantage of web mining techniques to automate the retrieval process of the information required for quality measurement. This assessment model is useful to e-learning systems designers, providers and users as it gives a comprehensive indication of the quality of information in such systems, and also facilitates the evaluation, allows comparisons and analysis of information quality.

Due to many adverse consequences of poor decision making in organisations there is a need to focus on the quality of information and knowledge. This research focuses on how to obtain and use, or “harness” knowledge from information in improving organisational decision-making in a civil protection/security organisation to become effective and enter an organisational wide learning spiral. This is necessary in order to gain a high degree of intuitiveness and intelligence and to be effective. The researcher explores how information-knowledge can be processed and converted into deeper level knowledge, while at the same time how to get decision makers to codify knowledge in order to help them to externalise it. In order to achieve this, the “information-space” model was used to show the information-to-knowledge dynamic journey. The research involved using quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative approach is used to obtain computable results from key decision-makers, such as senior workers, and test a model derived from the literature. Seventeen hypotheses were proposed based on theory to evaluate the proposed model. Primary data was collected during the empirical phase of the research from 135 respondents. A structural equation model was used and included exogenous and endogenous latent constructs. On the other hand, a use of qualitative research helped to obtain deeper insights into the use of information and knowledge in decision making. It was underpinned by several propositions and its aim was to expose the role of information-knowledge and the creation of a learning organisation. The results of the quantitative approach revealed that twelve hypotheses are positively significant. Two hypotheses have a significant negative impact on other constructs. Additionally, three hypotheses are non-statistically significant. The results reveal some very interesting insights, such as that demographic factors, such as age, level of education, gender, work experience and level of authority, have a significant impact on problem solving and decision making. In terms of type of information, the proprietary and common sense information types have more significance for solving problem and decision making. But, much to the researcher’s surprise, the public information and personal information played a very minor role. On the other hand, the results of the qualitative data collection show how key decision makers made decisions and gained a certain degree of intuition from it. Therefore, this research has met its objective in helping towards improvement in a civil protection/security organisation to become a learning organisation and help it to enter a learning spiral and make continual improvement. Hence, the researcher succeeds in making suitable recommendations to a number of different stakeholders, in particular the civil protection/security organisations to (i) to develop their management and specialist personnel, and, (ii) to have the necessary information management strategy in place that would harness information and help towards (iii) creating an effective and robust knowledge management strategy.

This study introduces industry competition factors to fraud models to examine how competition associates with fraud risk. I argue that industry competition eclipses many firm-level determinants in their association with fraud risk, and that the cost of poor information elevates fraud risk as competition increases. I find that fraud risk is higher for firms in industries with 1) more substitutable products and services, 2) greater threats of new entry, and 3) larger incumbent pools of competitors, and that substitution exceeds every firm-level variable except size in its relevance with fraud risk. Cross-sectionally, I provide evidence that industry-wide non-adoption of advanced cost analytics (i.e. using obsolete, distortionary standard costing practices) may exacerbate the fraud-risk effects of competition, especially product substitution: a one standard deviation increase in substitution associates with over double the fraud risk for firms in industries typified by obsolete costing practices. I also find that different strategies vary in their fraud-offsetting associations dependent on the type of competition most prevalent in an industry. Together, these findings shed light on how the effects of industry competition may subsume or surpass most firm-level fraud determinants and provide evidence of previously unidentified drawbacks of obsolete cost accounting systems. / Doctor of Philosophy / Elements of industry competition help explain a firm's fraud risk. I find that bringing competition variables into firm-level fraud models helps explain a large portion of the firm's fraud risk, and that the effects of competition more strongly associate with fraud risk than most firm-level attributes. The results also indicate that the effects of competition on fraud risk may be even worse in industries where obsolete cost accounting practices remain widespread: the effects of price competition in such industries associates with significantly greater fraud risk than in other industries. Additional findings include the implied fraud-risk-reducing effects of different business strategies, depending on which type of competition is most intensive around a firm. Altogether, this study sheds light on the importance of including industry competition effects when assessing fraud risk, especially when a firm's or its peers' cost accounting system quality is poor and price competition is high.

Business intelligence (BI) systems have been widely recognized as a leading technology for many years. However, despite the high priority and importance placed on BI, there has been a significant lack of BI system implementation (BISI) success. BI systems are not considered to be conventional information systems (IS) and often rely on the integration of a complex information infrastructure. Consequently, the degree of information quality (IQ) and system quality (SQ) have not met expectations for BISI success. This study was designed to determine how an organization may gain benefits in the context of BISI by uncovering the antecedents and critical value factors (CVFs) of SQ and IQ necessary to derive greater BISI success. In phase one, a list of BISI SQ and IQ characteristics were collected through literature discovery and an open-ended questionnaire delivered to a group of BI user experts. The collected items were grouped and categorized based on their similarities. In phase two of the study 257 survey responses were collected from BI users to measure the level of importance, i.e. value, they placed on SQ and IQ characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) via principal component analysis (PCA) was then used to uncover the CVFs of SQ and IQ that influence BISI success. Two highly reliable CVFs for SQ of BISI with a cumulative variance of nearly 62% and three highly reliable CVFs for IQ of BISI with a cumulative variance of over 75% were subsequently identified. In phase three of the study, an extended conceptual model for IS success was validated to assess the uncovered CVFs of SQ and IQ, as well as their influence on the constructs of perceived SQ of BISI and perceived IQ of BISI. Employing partial least squares (PLS), a subset of structural equation modeling (SEM), the research model was then used to assess the dimensions of perceived SQ of BISI and perceived IQ of BISI as antecedents of the constructs of perceived user systems satisfaction and perceived user information satisfaction from BISI. The crossover effects of perceived user systems and information satisfaction from BISI were also analyzed. The results identified two SQ CVFs of BISI (integration flexibility SQ and reliability SQ) that demonstrated a significant positive impact on perceived SQ for BISI as well as three IQ CVFs of BISI (representation IQ, intrinsic IQ, and accessibility IQ) that had a significant positive impact on perceived IQ of BISI. The constructs of perceived user systems satisfaction and perceived user information satisfaction from BISI had explained variances of R2 = .576 and .589 respectively. Additionally, 12 items of SQ for BISI and 14 items of IQ for BISI were identified as possessing high reliability. This study makes two important contributions to the IS body of knowledge. First, it investigated the universal set of antecedents of SQ and IQ to establish the CVFs of IQ (integration flexibility SQ and reliability SQ) as well as the CVFs of IQ (representation IQ, intrinsic IQ, and accessibility IQ) for BISI success. Second, this study evaluated the crossover effects of system and information satisfaction in BISI success highlighting the importance that BI users place on the need to distinguish between the BI system, the IQ of the output produced, and the influence of IQ on perceived user system satisfaction from BISI. This study benefits stakeholders by focusing on what is important to BISI success and identifies those areas that are most likely to lead to better use of scarce resources while providing the greatest benefits.

Cette thèse a pour objet de proposer une réponse à la question : « quels sont les déterminants de la qualité de l’information comptable diffusée par les entreprises libyennes dans leurs rapports annuels. ». La réponse apportée est à la fois théorique et empirique. Pour ce faire, au plan théorique, nous proposons une approche théorique et institutionnelle de la diffusion d’informations comptables. Ensuite, pour avoir une mesure numérique de la qualité de l’offre d’informations d’un rapport annuel, un système de pondération est attachée aux items de la liste. Cette pondération est établie sur la base des points attribués par différents utilisateurs, à savoir les analystes financiers et les experts comptables, présentés sous forme d’un questionnaire. Elle permet de calculer un indice numérique de qualité. L’indice de qualité de l’information comptable diffusée est une mesure de la satisfaction des besoins des analystes financiers et experts-Comptables. L’indice de qualité sert à évaluer les rapports annuels, pour ce faire, nous allons utiliser la méthode de l’équipondération qui semble qualifié comme objective. Les rapports annuels seront évaluer à l’aide de liste d’items pour la période 2007-2008-2009, par une méthode dichotomique en prenant 1 si l’item est présent et dans le cas contraire 0, afin de déterminer le score d’indice.L’indice de qualité obtenu pour chaque rapport annuel des entreprises étudiées nous aidera à explorer les déterminants potentiels de la qualité d’informations comptables diffusées dans le rapport annuel. L’étude statistique pour les dix hypothèses permet d’approfondir la connaissance des déterminants des pratiques de diffusion en Libye, et pour ce faire, nous allons utiliser principalement la méthode de régression linéaire multiple. En parallèle, nous évaluerons le niveau d’harmonisation comptable au sein des entreprises libyennes pour la période (2009) en utilisant l’indice C de comparabilité de Van der Tas (1988).Les résultats de cette recherche contribuent à la connaissance de la pratique de diffusion d’informations en Libye. / No abstract available

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal identificar os fatores determinantes à adoção de estratégias de lobbying sobre a regulação contábil do setor petrolífero, bem como avaliar a qualidade das informações contábeis das empresas desse setor. Para atender a esse objetivo, recorreu-se a três estudos direcionados para cada um dos seguintes aspectos: determinantes do lobbying e características dos grupos de interesses (estudo 1); estágio atual da qualidade da informação contábil do setor petrolífero (estudo 2) e evidências empíricas às questões do Discussion Paper Extractive Activities (estudo 3). Para operacionalizar os estudos, utilizaram-se as cartas comentários enviadas ao IASB e a base de dados da Evaluate Energy®, empregando-se diversas técnicas econométricas como regressão linear simples e múltipla, regressão logística binomial e multinomial e regressão de Poisson a diversos planos amostrais contendo informações de empresas petrolíferas. Os resultados indicam que o grupo de interesse formado pelos preparadores de demonstrações financeiras do setor petrolífero possui incentivos econômicos para realizar lobbying sobre determinada regulamentação contábil no sentido de defender seus interesses como prega a teoria da regulação econômica, notadamente quanto ao fator tamanho. Tal grupo de interesse, dentro do plano das escolhas contábeis, é favorável à utilização do custo histórico como base de valor e da possibilidade de escolha entre dois modelos contábeis concorrentes (successful efforts e full cost) e desfavoráveis às mudanças que levem ao aumento do nível de divulgação das informações. Suportando essa posição, tem-se a visão dos usuários primários das demonstrações financeiras que sugerem que as informações contábeis disponibilizadas pelas empresas petrolíferas são de qualidade, ao menos sob o prisma da relevância e conservadorismo, e indicam, ainda, que o atual conjunto de informações baseado no custo histórico é relevante para as suas decisões econômicas. Levando-se em consideração o grande apoio recebido pela proposta de ampliação das divulgações obrigatórias, aí incluída a proposta do Publish What You Pay, tem-se a rejeição por parte dos participantes do mercado de capitais indicando que os benefícios decorrentes da ampliação da divulgação não serão maiores do que os existentes, considerando as regras atuais. Em contraponto, tem-se a concepção de que a informação contábil produzida pelas empresas petrolíferas é inoportuna. Nesse particular, não se vislumbram alterações nessa constatação uma vez que a proposta de um novo modelo contábil de reconhecimento apresentada no DPEA se aproxima do método full cost, enquanto que as evidências do segundo estudo apontam para direção contrária ao sugerir que o método successful efforts gera informações mais oportunas do que o método concorrente. Assim, tem-se um cenário para se acreditar na manutenção do status quo vigente. / This paper aimed to identify the determining factors for the adoption of lobbying strategies regarding the accounting regulation of the oil sector, as well as to assess the quality of the accounting information of the companies from this sector. To meet these goals, three studies directed to each of the underlined aspects were used: determinants of the lobbying and characteristics of the interest groups (study 1); current status of the quality of accounting information from the oil sector (study 2) and empirical evidence for the questions of Discussion Paper Extractive Activities (study 3). To operationalize the studies, letters and comments sent to the IASB and the database of Evaluate Energy® were deployed, through the use of several econometric techniques such as simple and multiple linear regressions, binomial and multinomial logistic regression and Poisson regression in various sampling plans featuring information of the oil companies. The results indicate that the interest group formed by preparers of financial statements for the oil sector has economic incentives to undertake lobbying for an accounting regulation, in the sense of defending their interests according to the economic regulation theory, notably when size is taken into account. This interest group, within the plane of accounting choices, is in favor of using the historical cost as a basis of value and of the possibility of choice between two competitor accounting models (successful efforts and full cost) and unfavorable to the changes that lead to the increase of the disclosure level of the information. Supporting this position, there is the view of the primary users of financial statements that suggests that the accounting information provided by oil companies is valuable, at least from the perspective of relevance and conservatism, and indicates, yet, that the current group of information based on the historical cost is relevant to their economic decisions. Considering the huge support received by the proposal to expand the required disclosures, therein included the proposal of Publish What You Pay, there is rejection by the participants of the capital market indicating that the benefit resulting from the expansion of the disclosure shall not be greater than those already in existence, considering the current rules. In contrast, there is the view that the accounting information produced by oil companies is untimely. In this, particularly, alterations in this finding are not envisaged once the proposal of the new accounting model of recognition presented at DPEA approaches the full cost method, whereas evidence of the second study points to the opposite direction by suggesting that the successful efforts method generates more appropriate information than does the current method. Therefore, there is scenario to believe in the maintenance of the present status quo.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-04-28T18:42:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Cleber Marcos Rodniski.pdf: 1149882 bytes, checksum: 6eb616a0fcaba58250034c0ebccc1085 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-28T18:42:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cleber Marcos Rodniski.pdf: 1149882 bytes, checksum: 6eb616a0fcaba58250034c0ebccc1085 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-01-31 / Aurora Alimentos / O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em verificar as relações existentes entre a estrutura do sistema de custos e as características da qualidade da informação gerada em empresas brasileiras. A motivação para sua realização surgiu a partir de estudo semelhante realizado com empresas gregas por Cohen e Kaimenaki (2011). A estrutura desses sistemas é avaliada pela capacidade que tem em detalhar as informações de custos, desagregar os custos de acordo com o seu comportamento, calcular as variações ocorridas e a frequência com que a informação de custos é fornecida. A qualidade da informação é medida observando-se a relevância, precisão, pontualidade, atualização, compatibilidade, rigor, confiabilidade e utilização da informação gerada pelo sistema. A metodologia de pesquisa consubstancia-se de um estudo descritivo, realizado por meio de levantamento ou survey, com abordagem quantitativa. O estudo contou com uma amostra de 124 empresas listadas entre as 1.000 maiores empresas com operação no Brasil e constantes da classificação apresentada pela Revista Exame Maiores e Melhores (2011). Os resultados indicam altos níveis de utilização do sistema de custos pelas empresas analisadas e que a maioria das características desse sistema exerce influência positiva e estatisticamente significativa sobre a qualidade da informação gerada. A pesquisa também confirmou os achados de Cohen e Kaimenaki (2011) de que o cálculo de custos em nível de cliente, produto e centro de custos não gera necessariamente maior relevância da informação, no entanto , ao contrário da pesquisa grega, a capacidade do sistema gerar informações de acordo com a solicitação do usuário apresentou-se positiva e significativamente associada com a maioria dos atributos da informação investigados. Também nesse estudo, o r2 apresentou valores menores do que 51,0 o que indica que outras características dos sistemas de custos devem ser verificadas para explicar a geração de informações com os atributos investigados. / The aim of this work is to verify the relationship between the cost system structure and the characteristics of information quality generated in Brazilian companies. The motivation its accomplishment arose from a similar study conducted by Cohen and Kaimenaki (2011) with Greek companies. The structure of such systems is evaluated by the system’s ability in detailing cost information, disaggregating costs according to its behavior, calculating the variations and the frequency with which cost information is provided. The information quality is measured by observing the relevance, precision, timeliness, upgrade, compatibility, accuracy, reliability and usefulness of the information generated by the system. The research methodology is embodied in a descriptive study, conducted by a survey, using a quantitative approach. The study involved a sample of 124 companies listed among the top 1000 companies operating in Brazil and in the classification presented by Exame Maiores e Melhores magazine (2011). The results indicate high levels of use of the cost system by the analyzed companies and that the majority of this system’s characteristics make positive and statistically significant influence over the generated information quality. The study also confirmed the findings of Cohen and Kaimenaki (2011) that the cost calculation at client, product and cost center levels does not necessarily generate more relevance in information, however, unlike the Greek study, the system capacity in generating information according to user’s request presented positive and significantly associated with most of the investigated information attributes. Also in this study, the R2 presented values smaller than 51,0 which indicates that other characteristics of the cost systems should be checked in order to explain the generation of information with the investigated attributes.

[pt] Desde meados da década de 90, muitas empresas implementaram Sistemas Integrados de Gestão Empresarial com o objetivo de integrar seus processos de negócio, obter uma gestão melhor de suas operações e da informação que é originada em cada uma das áreas da empresa. Na Petrobras, este projeto foi iniciado em 2000 e em outubro de 2004, após algumas implantações em outras empresas do grupo, foi implantado o SAP R/3 na holding. Em paralelo, foi implantado também um ambiente de informações gerenciais para suportar o processo de gestão da empresa, com o objetivo de disponibilizar informações corporativas e com qualidade para os usuários. O presente estudo tem por objetivo avaliar a situação da qualidade das informações disponibilizadas neste ambiente, e foi escolhida a área de Materiais e Serviços para esta análise. Foram identificados, de acordo com o referencial teórico, critérios que orientaram esta avaliação e a partir destes critérios foi elaborado um questionário, que foi aplicado para cerca de 130 usuários. As respostas foram consolidadas e avaliadas estatisticamente onde foram identificados os percentuais de satisfação dos usuários com relação a cada critério avaliado. Em seguida, a luz do referencial teórico, os critérios foram grupados e foi feita uma avaliação geral de cada um dos grupamentos, identificando possíveis razões para os números encontrados, apresentando exemplos obtidos na pesquisa documental, e sugerindo ações de ajuste ou melhoria. Finalizando foram listados em ordem decrescente, os maiores problemas encontrados, bem como suas ações de correção, que servirão na prática, para orientação dos ajustes que precisam ser feitos no ambiente analítico da Petrobras. / [en] Since the mid of 90´s, many companies had implemented Entreprise Informations Systems Management with the objective to integrate their business processes, obtaining a better control of the information generated in each of the company areas. In Petrobras, this project was initiated in the year 2000. In October, 2004, following the implementation in some units of the corporation, the system was implemented in the holding company. In parallel, it was also installed an environment (another system) to support the management processes of the company. Its purpose is to provide corporate information to help in the decision process. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the quality of the information available in the information environment. For this analysis it was choosen the area of Materials and Services. In compliance with the theoretical referential, some criteria were established as guidelines, to permit the elaboration of a questionnaire which was submitted to 130 users. The answers were consolidated and evaluated with a statistical support that produced the percentage on the levels of user´s satisfaction related to each criteria. After that, in the light of the theoretical reference, the criteria were grouped and a general evaluation of each one of the groups was proceeded. Then, for each group, possible reasons for numbers found were identified, some examples gotten in the documentary research were presented and actions of adjustment or improvement were suggested. Finally, the criterias were listed in descending order, and the major problems were found. A list of recommendations were suggested, and that will help, as an orientation for the adjustments that had to be made in Petrobras analytical environment.