Public sector decision makers are confronted by pressures to make faster and better decisions as a result of the competitive environment they operate in. However, there is a trend in the public sector, including the Department of Transport (DoT) in South Africa, to invest in management information systems (MIS) that are highly fragmented and not aiding effective and timely decision-making. As a result, the country witnessed several service delivery protests since 2008 which also affected the public transport sector, such as the widespread burning of Metrorail trains several times by angry commuters. In most instances, poor service delivery emanates from the fact that public servants do not have information at their fingertips to make decisions. This quantitative study utilised Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies 5 (COBIT 5) as a theoretical framework to investigate the integration of MIS at the DoT with a view to enhancing business intelligence for effective decision-making. Data were collected through a questionnaire directed at middle managers and senior managers that were selected through stratification of business units at the DoT, as well as analysis of documents such as system specifications and strategic plans. The study established that the DoT has several systems such as Alfresco, BAS, GIS, Logis and Persal to name a few, which serve different purposes. However, in most instances, the systems are not integrated as the current infrastructure did not support integration needs and plans to accommodate changing requirements. This is compounded by the system policy implementation constraints, as well as ageing legacy systems that are obsolete. The only component where MIS was found to be integrated, was in the financial business units (Supply Chain Management, Finance and Budgeting). Core business units use off-the-shelf systems and, in some cases, custom-made applications that do not integrate with any other system and thus hinder decision-making. In conclusion, decisions are made based on thumb-sucking, as management does not have access to comprehensive information that is stored in fragmented unintegrated systems. The study recommends that governance structures should be set up to deal with a more holistic business, information and technology architecture for the DoT that enable integration of various systems for effective decision-making. Failure to transform this pattern would lead to service delivery protests persisting. A further study on a framework to integrate MIS in the public sector is recommended. / Information Science / M. Inf.

Research accentuates that end-users‘ noncompliance with information security policy (ISP) is a key concern for government just as it is for the private sector. Although awareness and training programmes are important factors impacting employees‘ intentions to comply with an organisation‘s ISP, it can be argued that there is insufficient empirical evidence to support this assertion. To address this gap, this study seeks to expand research on ISP compliance by focusing on attitudes as targets of change. A research model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour was proposed to illustrate the influence of ISP awareness training on end-users‘ attitudes towards complying with their organisation‘s ISP. Relevant hypotheses were developed to test the research conceptualisation. A survey and an experiment was undertaken to collect the data from a sample of 173 end-users of a single government organisation in one province. The data was captured and analysed using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Furthermore, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test whether the overall model appears to be a good fit to support the hypotheses. The reliability, validity, and model fit were found to be statistically significant, and three out of five research hypotheses were supported. Overall this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing an understanding of the methods that can be used to encourage end-users‘ ISP compliance behaviour through an attitudinal shift, thereby targeting end-users‘ attitude as a means to improve information security policy compliance. Implications of the findings are further discussed in the paper. / Information Technology / M. Tech. (Information Technology)

The phenomenon of business value dissipation in mature organisations as an unintended by-product of the adoption and use of information systems has been a highly debated topic in the corporate boardroom awakening the interest of practitioners and academics alike. Much of the discourse tends to focus on the inability of organisations to unlock and realise the intended benefits to be harvested through large information systems investments. While the business case for investing in large technology programmes has been thoroughly investigated, the human agent that causes value erosion through his interaction with information systems (IS), has not received the studied attention it deserves. This study examines the use of technology in organisations by considering the dichotomy inherent in IS where its introduction for the purposes of creating new or sustaining existing business value subsequently also inadvertently dissipates value. The study proceeds to investigate the root people-induced causes resulting in the unintentional dissipation of value and presents an empirically validated model suggesting that human agents do not only create value for organisations through their use of IS, but at the same time, deliberately or inadvertently, dissipate value. The root people-induced causes resulting in the unintentional dissipation of value is delineated within a Theoretical Technology Value Framework that is constructed from a review of the extant literature, and delineates the overall unintentional value destroying causes and effects of IS on organisations. The Theoretical Technology Value Framework is forthwith applied as a basis for the development of a set of questions to support both qualitative and quantitative investigations from which an Archetypical Technology Value Model was derived. Finally, an Archetypical Technology Value Model is presented as a benchmark and basis to identify, investigate, mitigate and minimise or eliminate the unintentional value destroying effects of IS on Information Technology driven organisations. The study concludes with implications for both theory and practice and suggestions on how value erosion through the activities of the human agent may be identified, modeled and mitigated. Ultimately, recommendations are offered towards the crafting of more effective IS. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Information Systems)

Software migrations are mostly performed by organisations using migration teams. Such migration teams need to be aware of how sensitive information ought to be handled and protected during the implementation of the migration projects. There is a need to ensure that sensitive information is identified, classified and protected during the migration process. This thesis suggests how sensitive information in organisations can be handled and protected during migrations by using the migration from proprietary software to open source software to develop a management framework that can be used to manage such a migration process.A rudimentary management framework on information sensitivity during software migrations and a model on the security challenges during open source migrations are utilised to propose a preliminary management framework using a sequential explanatory mixed methods case study. The preliminary management framework resulting from the quantitative data analysis is enhanced and validated to conceptualise the final management framework on information sensitivity during software migrations at the end of the qualitative data analysis. The final management framework is validated and found to be significant, valid and reliable by using statistical techniques like Exploratory Factor Analysis, reliability analysis and multivariate analysis as well as a qualitative coding process. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Systems)

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology Design in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Supervisor: Prof J Messeter Cape Town, 2013 / The aim of this research project was to provide an answer to the question: “How can an understanding of online trust be used to build valuable online applications in Higher Education?” In order to present an answer to this question, a literature survey was conducted to establish: • An understanding of the phenomenon of online trust • What the factors are that influence a loss of trust in the online environment The literature survey highlighted several factors that influence a loss of trust in the online environment, called trust cues. These factors, however, were often tested within the E-commerce environment, and not in organization-specific contexts, such as online platforms in use in Higher Education. In order to determine whether or not these factors would influence the development of trust in context-specific environments, the author of this research grouped the indentified trust factors into three focus areas, i.e. content, ease of use, and navigation. These factors were then incorporated into a series of nine different prototypes. These prototypes were different versions of a particular online platform currently in use at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The prototypes were tested over a three week period, with certain staff members at the institution in question recruited as test participants. During each week of user observations, a different focus area was targeted, in order to establish the impact that it would have on the perceived trustworthiness of the platform in question. User observations were conducted while test participants completed a standard process using the various prototypes. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted while participants completed the specific process. Participants were asked to evaluate each screen in the process according to its perceived trust worthiness, by assigning a trust level score. At the completion of the three rounds of user observations, in-depth interviews were conducted with test participants. The participants’ trust level scores for each prototype were captured and graphed. A detailed description for the score given for a particular screen was presented on each graph. These scores were combined to provide an analysis of the focus area tested during the specific round. After the three rounds of user observations were completed, an analysis of all the trust factors tested were done. Data captured during interviews were transcribed, combined with feedback received from questionnaires, and analysed. An interpretation of the results showed that not all trust factors had a similar influence in the development of trust in the online platform under investigation. Trust cues such as content organization, clear instructions and useful content were by far the most significant trust factors, while others such as good visual design elements, professional images of products, and freedom from grammatical and typographical errors had little or no impact in the overall trustworthiness of the platform under investigation. From the analysis done it was clear that the development of trust in organization-specific contexts is significantly different than developing trust in an E-commerce environment and that factors that influence the development of trust in one context might not always be significant in another. In conclusion, it is recommended that when software applications are developed in organization-specific contexts, such as Higher Education, that trust factors such as good content organization, clear instructions and useful content be considered as the most salient. Organization-specific contexts differ quite significantly in that the users of these systems often convey a certain degree of trust toward the online platforms that they work with on a daily basis. Trust factors that are geared toward developing an initial or basic trust in a particular platform, which is often the case with first time users engaging in an E-commerce platform, would therefore not be as significant in the development of a more developed level of trust, which is what is needed within the development of organization-specific online platforms.

Abstract This study aims to clarify the early development stages of technology intensive companies. The current literature does not offer an extensive review of stage perspectives for company growth – the overall picture of the field is somewhat vague. The evolution of this field remains unclear as well as the current state. Further, recent empirical stage models focusing on technology intensive companies have not been delineated. As companies move through their early stages, they face events which contribute to or detract from their aim. A study focusing on these events may provide fresh viewpoints for understanding the management processes. This study seeks to clarify how the literature describes the early stages of technology intensive companies, and what viewpoints are highlighted by the management as a company progresses through these sequences. This retrospective multiple case study clarifies the topic with two meta-analyses and a sequential incident study carried out in ten young technology intensive companies in Finland and Thailand. First, well covered areas, trends, and ideas for fresh approaches are studied through a meta-analysis of the past 60 years of literature focusing on stages of development. Based on recent empirical studies, a sequential self assessment framework is formed. Second, it is studied whether the case study methodology could be utilised to further clarify the early stages of technology intensive companies. Third, the experiences of ten case companies are reflected through the framework in order to test the framework, and to study what viewpoints these cases reveal about the early stages of technology intensive companies. This study provided an extensive review of the research focusing on the stages of development. A four-stage framework was found applicable for a self-assessment of the early stages in technology intensive companies, while ten case studies and cross case analysis provided partial support for the framework. In addition, this study provided many potential fresh viewpoints for a theory related to the early stages of technology intensive companies. These viewpoints are considered here as starting points for further research, which is expected to provide sufficient evidence for further modification of the framework. / Tiivistelmä Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selkeyttää teknologiaintensiivisten yritysten varhaisia kehitysvaiheita. Kirjallisuus ei tarjoa kattavaa katsausta yrityksen kehitysvaiheita käsittelevästä tutkimuksesta – kokonaiskuva aiheesta jää jokseenkin epämääräiseksi samoin kuin alan kehitys ja nykytila. Lisäksi viimeaikaisten empiiristä aineistoa sisältävien vaihemallien tuloksia ei ole koottu yhteen. Varhaisissa kehitysvaiheissaan yritykset kohtaavat sekä tavoitteitaan edistäviä että estäviä tapahtumia. Tapahtumia tutkimalla on mahdollista nostaa esille tuoreita näkökulmia varhaisiin vaiheisiin liittyviin johtamisprosesseihin. Tämä tutkimus pyrkii selvittämään, kuinka teknologiayrityksen varhaiset kehitysvaiheet on kuvattu kirjallisuudessa ja mitä näkökulmia varhaisen kehityksen läpi käyneiden yritysten johto korostaa. Tämä takautuva monitapaustutkimus analysoi aihetta kahden meta-analyysin ja vaiheittain toteutetun kriittiset tapahtumat -menetelmän avulla. Tapaustutkimus suoritettiin kymmenessä suomalaisessa ja thaimaalaisessa yrityksessä. Ensiksi 60 edeltävää vuotta käsittävässä meta-analyysissä analysoitiin vaihemallien historia ja nykytila, trendit ja potentiaaliset ideat uusille lähestymistavoille. Viimeaikaisten empiiristen tutkimusten perusteella muodostettiin synteesi varhaisten kehitysvaiheiden itsearviointikehykseksi. Toiseksi tutkittiin voidaanko tapaustutkimusta hyödyntämällä edelleen selventää teknologiaintensiivisten yritysten varhaisia kehitysvaiheita. Kolmanneksi kymmenen tapausyrityksen kokemuksia peilattiin itsearviointikehykseen tarkoituksena testata kehystä ja analysoida mitä näkökulmia tapaukset paljastavat teknologiaintensiivisten yritysten varhaisista vaiheista. Tutkimus tarjosi laajan katsauksen yrityksen kehitysvaiheisiin keskittyvään tutkimuskenttään. Nelivaiheinen kehys todettiin soveltuvaksi varhaisten kehitysvaiheiden itsearviointiin teknologiaintensiivisissä yrityksissä – kymmenen tapausta ja näiden vertailu antoi osittaisen tuen tälle. Lisäksi tutkimus tarjosi useita uusia näkökulmia teknologiaintensiivisten yritysten varhaisia kehitysvaiheita käsittelevään teoriaan. Nämä näkökulmat toimivat lähtökohtana jatkotutkimuksille, joiden oletetaan tuovan riittävästi todistusaineistoa itsearviointikehyksen edelleenkehittämiseksi.

This study investigated the management of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at academic libraries in selected public universities in Ghana. The purpose for this study was to investigate the managerial processes and challenges in terms of conceptualization, policies, planning, implementation and strategies involved in ICTs adoption in order to formulate strategies for their management in Ghanaian academic libraries. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to review and explore the status and level of ICT diffusion in Ghanaian university; audit the procedures, processes and factors that influence ICT adoption and implementation in Ghanaian university libraries; establish the institutional policies, strategies and human resource that is in place and available for the adoption; determine the factors that hinder the adoption and management of ICTs in Ghanaian university libraries; and design a framework for effective and efficient management of ICTs in Ghanaian public university libraries. The study adopted mixed-method research design approach combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches through the pragmatic worldview to achieve the main purpose of the study. Adopting a survey study design, data was collected from five selected Ghanaian public universities by interviewing the five university librarians/directors, using questionnaires on 313 library staff and making observations within the five libraries. The findings of the study established that the managerial tools/instruments required for effective ICTs management in Ghanaian university libraries include the availability of library ICT policies, a library ICT strategic plan, library ICT installation and maintenance manuals, library ICT integration plans, and standard operations manuals. In addition, adequate funds, skilled manpower, adequate and standard ICT infrastructures among others. However, the study also revealed that there are absence of library ICT policies, lack of processes and procedure guidelines, inadequate funds, lack of management support, inadequate ICT skills among libraries and staff ICT training policies in the academic libraries in Ghana. The study recommends the formulation of ICT policies and strategic plans purposely for the comprehensive management of library ICT systems. Furthermore, the university top management should support their libraries by providing the required resources and motivation for the library managers including the development of stakeholder partnership and collaboration. To galvanise these recommendations, the study proposes a framework for the ICTs adoption and management in Ghanaian university libraries. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

This study examined the level of trust of information on social media. Specifically, I investigated the factors of performance expectancy with information-seeking motives that appear to influence the level of trust of information on various social network sites. This study utilized the following theoretical models: elaboration likelihood model (ELM), the uses and gratifications theory (UGT), the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model (UTAUT), the consumption value theory (CVT), and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) Model to build a conceptual research framework for an exploratory study. The research investigated the extent to which information quality and source credibility influence the level of trust of information by visitors to the social network sites. The inductive content analysis on 189 respondents’ responses carefully addressed the proposed research questions and then further developed a comprehensive framework. The findings of this study contribute to the current research stream on information quality, fake news, and IT adoption as they relate to social media.

Quality-aware management of data streams is gaining more and more importance with the amount of data produced by streams growing continuously. The resources required for data stream processing depend on different factors and are limited by the environment of the data stream management system (DSMS). Thus, with a potentially unbounded amount of stream data and limited processing resources, some of the data stream processing tasks (originating from different users) may not be satisfyingly answered, and therefore, users should be enabled to negotiate a certain quality for the execution of their stream processing tasks. After the negotiation process, it is the responsibility of the Data Stream Management System to meet the quality constraints by using adequate resource reservation and scheduling techniques. Within this paper, we consider different aspects of real-time scheduling for operations within a DSMS. We propose a scheduling concept which enables us to meet certain time-dependent quality of service requirements for user-given processing tasks. Furthermore, we describe the implementation of our scheduling concept within a real-time capable data stream management system, and we give experimental results on that.

本論文は破壊的イノベーションの微視的・巨視的構造に関する研究だ。クリステンセンによって提唱された破壊的イノベーション理論の基礎を明らかにし、破壊的イノベーション現象の原因と結果を明確に区別する。破壊的イノベーション理論が先行研究で直面した批判に取り組み、イノベーションのジレンマの原因メカニズムに関する問題を浮上する。 / This thesis is a comprehensive study about disruptive innovation, its patterns, and the mechanisms that cause it. This research tests Christensen's disruption theory, the main theory proposed today as an explanation of this phenomenon. In order to do so, this research identifies the strengths and weaknesses of Christensen's theory, and builds upon it to propose an improved theory of disruption that takes into account the differences between the micro and macro perspectives of disruption. / 博士(技術・革新的経営) / Doctor of Philosophy in Technology and Innovative Management / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University