Sensemaking is often associated with processing large or complex amount of data obtained from diverse and distributed sources. Sensemaking enables leaders to have a better grasp of what the data represents and what insights they can get from it. Thus, sensemaking is considered extremely important in mature markets where the competition is fierce. To-date, the research base on sensemaking has not moved far from the conceptual realm, however. In response, this research provides a conceptual framework that explains the core processes of sensemaking - noticing, interpretation and action - and examines how emerging technologies such as Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques help to enhance the human sensemaking process in generating valuable insights during data analysis. Design Science Research (DSR) is adopted as a research methodology in the context of financial transactional data analysis, aiming to make sense of the data while exploring conceptions of customer value for a mainstream commercial bank alongside the perceived need for banking products. Three analytical models are introduced, examining Connected Customer Lifetime Value (CCLV), Network Relationship Equity (NRE) and product purchasing frequency based on customer 'personas'. The former models employ SNA techniques in providing novelty, the latter combines the outcomes of SNA with ML clustering algorithms to provide a base on which product holdings and purchase frequency analysis are overlaid - providing a novel form of recommendation. Ongoing evaluation of the developed models is used to explore the nuances of the sensemaking process and the ability of such models to support that process (in the given domain).

Since its beginnings in 1974, the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network has grown into one of the largest, safest, and most efficient payment systems in the world. An ACH transaction is an electronic funds transfer between bank accounts using a batch processing system. Currently, the ACH Network moves almost $43 trillion and 25 billion electronic financial transactions each year. With the increasing movement toward an electronic, interconnected and mobile infrastructure, it is critical that electronic payments work safely and efficiently for all users. ACH transactions carry sensitive data, such as a consumer's name, account number, tax identification number, account holder name, address, or social security number. ACH fraud consists of the theft of funds through the Automated Clearing House financial transaction network (Accounts Receivable & Order-to-Cash Network, 2012). If the transactions are intercepted by fraudulent activities, either during transit or during rest, the sensitive customer data can be used to steal the transferred funds, which can cause financial and reputational damage to ACH network participants and consumers. Even though the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) requires ACH participants to use commercially reasonable encryption and authentication procedures, the risks associated with employee error or negligence, physical theft, and insider theft of data remain substantial. The ACH network that handles 40 billion transactions annually has consumer and corporate financial information. As the ACH network emerges as a prominent payment channel, proactive steps must be taken to guarantee consumer safety. The primary research question “How can opportunities to commit ACH fraud by insiders be inhibited by masking sensitive data in the ACH transactions life cycle?” is addressed employing design science research methodology with special focus on this specific question: Will use of Multi-step tokens in life cycle of ACH transactions lower the risk of sensitive data exposure? To demonstrate the extent to which the Multi-step tokens in the life cycle of ACH transactions lower the risk of sensitive data exposure, the following two sub-questions will be answered: • How to model and simulate sensitive data exposure risk in current ACH transaction life cycle? • How to model and simulate sensitive data exposure risk in the multi-step tokenized ACH transaction life cycle? The research findings through proof of concept simulations confirm that sensitive consumer personal identifiable information shared in ACH network can be made more secure from insider threat opportunities by multi-step tokenization of ACH data. In the to-be system, the real account number will not be used to post the actual financial transaction. Only tokenized account number will be used by RDFI (Receiving Depository Financial Institution) to post the financial transaction. Even if the ODFI (Originating Depository Financial Institution) initiate the financial transaction using real account number, RDFI will reject the transaction back to the originator to resend the transaction using the token value. For the same account number, RDFI will have different token values based on SEC (Standard Entry Class) code, origin, ODFI, transaction type etc. The account token value will be generated only if ODFI sends a token request separately to RDFI in a multi-step manner. The research findings suggest that multi-step tokenization can be used to generate and validate unique transaction path as a function of the transaction origin number, originating depository financial institution, Standard Entry class, Receiving depository financial institution and account number. Even if the account or token value gets misplaced, the data will be of no use to the person having the information. The cipher can be further strengthened by including additional unique ACH data elements. The findings stem from proof of concept development and testing of conceptual, empirical and simulated models of current ACH network, insider breach scenarios, and multi-step tokenized systems. The study findings were augmented by running different model scenarios and comparing the outputs for breaches, network traffic and costs. The study findings conclude with an implementation proposal of the findings in the ACH network and opportunities for further research on the topic.

The successful design, implementation, deployment, and use of mobile software applications is rare. While many mobile apps are developed, few succeed. This design science research project builds and evaluates CrashApp™, a mobile application that connects lawyers and clients before, during, and after car accidents. The effective, widespread use of this app depends on satisfying the needs of three groups of stakeholders – the end-users (clients), the owners (lawyers), and the software developers. The research objective is to investigate the key differences among the three stakeholder groups on evaluation criteria for mobile app success. Evaluation strategies and methods are selected to collect data that measures each group’s satisfaction with the constructed application artefact. Research contributions are the identification of multiple stakeholder groups and the ability to design rich evaluation strategies that provide measures of application success. Practice contributions are the design and development of a useful mobile app that provides needed services to the client and effective client connections for the law firm to interact with the clients. The project produced an instantiation of the design artefact CrashApp™ mobile application, which was evaluated with a naturalistic evaluation approach, including the following methods and techniques: focus groups, focused surveys, usability surveys, and real life tests and assessments.

Today, the world contains a large number of important non-profit organizations (NPOs) that seek to maintain the welfare of people and animals and to preserve the natural world. NPOs are extremely dependent on funds from the public which has resulted in severe competition between these organizations. This has also come as a result of the cut down of government support and a shortage of donations. Their lack of financial resources indicates that NPOs around the world face major challenges and are therefore in need of customized tools to increase their revenue and ensure their survival. With the purpose of increasing donations towards NPOs, this study aims to research how a media object can be developed and marketed in Bali to motivate tourists into donating money to the Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) which is located in Canguu, Bali. By doing this, NPOs can use this research as tool for application within their own organization to increase their revenues.The media object that was chosen for this research was a poster, placed in the streets of Canggu, Bali and was selected because it has been shown that visual communication is a powerful tool for encouraging prosocial human behavior. The aim was to document how the media object affected levels of tourist engagement and ultimately their motivation to donate money to an NPO. A number of theories of motivation and behavior were used to form the foundation for this research. The methodology used included qualitative data collection by way of interviews, observations of local conditions pertinent to tourist interaction with media objects, as well as information gathered through a focus group involving local tourists. Research Through Design (RTD) was the framework that was used to structure the process for the creation and the testing of the prototype (the media object). The RTD included four phases, two of which were not completed due to complications involving the COVID-19 pandemic. The research concluded that the environment, attitudes towards legitimacy and emotional engagement all played a crucial role for the effectiveness and ultimately the success of a media object. Furthermore, it was concluded that there is a need for extended research on tourists’ behavior as well as consumer behavior, in relation to donors, in order to fully understand how a media object should be developed to motivate a tourist to donate money to an NPO.

Technological advancement has significantly impacted people and organizations during the last decade. Society is exposed to an increasing rate of cyber-attacks utilizing sophisticated tools to accomplish their objectives. Previously attackers’ primary focus was exploiting technological vulnerabilities to access organizations’ information; however, attackers have shifted their focus to exploiting the vulnerabilities in people’s human nature instead. This has resulted in organizations acknowledging that technical security measures alone are insufficient in providing adequate protection for organizations and need to invest in mitigating the risk people pose to an organization’s cybersecurity. Thus realizing the need to address cybersecurity’s social-technical nature. Organizations have begun implementing cybersecurity awareness-raising initiatives to increase people’s cybersecurity awareness to reduce human-instigated breaches. This is especially crucial for organizations in the public sector to achieve because they tend to produce more destructive and widespread repercussions to society. To provide organizations in the public sector with the means to achieve good cybersecurity awareness, this thesis aims to develop a guideline for managers in large Swedish public organizations to assist them in their complex cybersecurity awareness-raising endeavors. The thesis employs a design science research strategy to develop, evaluate, and validate the guideline with the assistance of cybersecurity awareness experts. The results show six principal factors have been established as significant for raising cybersecurity awareness in large Swedish public organizations. These factors range from user-oriented, managerial, and technical, supporting the assertion that cybersecurity is a complex socio-technical matter. The key contribution of this thesis is to introduce a highly abstract guideline to enhance large Swedish public organizations’ cybersecurity awareness efforts.

[ES] La crisis económica iniciada en España en el año 2007 produjo una importante reducción de la demanda que afectó seriamente a las empresas consultoras de ingeniería españolas. Muchas de ellas optaron por iniciar un proceso de internacionalización que asegurara su continuidad, decisión que adoptaron de forma urgente y sin el tiempo necesario para adquirir conocimiento del mercado exterior y de los riesgos que conlleva la actividad internacional. Esta situación se vio agravada en el caso de las Pymes, que por su naturaleza disponen de menos recursos y capacidades para afrontar una internacionalización con garantías. Con el diseño de un modelo de madurez de internacionalización este trabajo de investigación pretende ofrecer una guía a las empresas consultoras de ingeniería que van a iniciar o han iniciado un proceso de internacionalización. El diseño del modelo está basado en: (1) el conocimiento teórico de las variables que afectan al éxito internacional en el sector de la construcción, validadas mediante entrevistas a diez empresas consultoras de ingeniería internacionalizadas; (2) los aspectos que intervienen en la expansión internacional de las empresas; y (3) los modelos de madurez más relevantes. El diseño del modelo se realiza siguiendo la propuesta del Design Science Research (DSR), en el que se somete a iteraciones de diseño y validación que incrementan su aplicabilidad. En estas iteraciones se aplican diferentes técnicas de investigación: grupo focal, prueba piloto y estudios de caso múltiple; mediante estos estudios de caso se aplica el modelo a ocho empresas consultoras de ingeniería. Estas implementaciones han permitido identificar las fortalezas y debilidades de las empresas, su nivel de madurez de internacionalización y la influencia del tamaño y experiencia internacional de las empresas en su nivel de madurez y en el valor de los índices de internacionalización. / [CA] La crisi econòmica iniciada a Espanya l'any 2007 va produir una important reducció de la demanda que va afectar seriosament les empreses consultores d'enginyeria espanyoles. Moltes d'elles van optar per iniciar un procés d'internacionalització que assegurara la seua continuïtat, decisió que van adoptar de manera urgent i sense el temps necessari per a adquirir coneixement del mercat exterior i dels riscos que comporta l'activitat internacional. Esta situació es va vore agreujada en el cas de les Pimes, que per la seua naturalesa disposen de menys recursos i capacitats per a afrontar una internacionalització amb garanties. Amb el disseny d'un model de maduresa d'internacionalització el treball de recerca pretén oferir una guia a les empreses consultores d'enginyeria que iniciaran o han iniciat un procés d'internacionalització. El disseny del model està basat en: (1) el coneixement teòric de les variables que afecten l'èxit internacional en el sector de la construcció, validades mitjançant entrevistes a deu empreses consultores d'enginyeria internacionalitzades; (2) els aspectes que intervenen en l'expansió internacional de les empreses; i (3) els models de maduresa més rellevants. El disseny del model es realitza seguint la propòsta del Design Science Research (DSR), en el qual se sotmet a iteracions de disseny i validació que incrementen la seua aplicabilitat. En estes iteracions s'apliquen diferents tècniques d'investigació: grup focal, prova pilot i estudi de casos múltiple; mitjançant estos estudis de cas, s'aplica el model a huit empreses consultores d'enginyeria. Estes implementacions han permés identificar les fortaleses i febleses de les empreses, el seu nivell de maduresa d'internacionalització i la influència de la grandària i experiència internacional de les empreses en el seu nivell de maduresa i en el valor dels índexs d'internacionalització. / [EN] The Spanish economic crisis began in 2007 and it produced a significant reduction in demand that affected Spanish engineering companies seriously. Many of them started an internationalization process to ensure their continuity, but this decision was adopted in a hurry and without enough time to acquire knowledge of the foreign market and the risks that international activity entailed. This situation was aggravated in the case of SMEs, which have fewer resources and capacities to face internationalization with guarantees. With the design of an internationalization maturity model, this research aims to offer a guide to engineering companies that are going to start or have started an internationalization process. The design of the model is based on: (1) the theoretical knowledge of the variables that affect international success in the construction sector, validated through interviews with ten internationalized engineering companies; (2) the factors involved in the international expansion of the companies; and (3) the most relevant maturity models. The design of the model is carried out following the Design Science Research (DSR) approach, in which the model is subjected to design and validation iterations that increase its applicability. In these iterations several research techniques are applied: focus group, pilot test and multiple case study; through these case studies the model is applied to eight engineering companies. These implementations have made it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the companies, their level of internationalization maturity and the influence of the size and international experience of the companies on their level of maturity and on the value of the internationalization indices. / Lozano Torró, A. (2022). Modelo de madurez de internacionalización de las empresas consultoras de ingeniería españolas [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/183870 / TESIS