Concealing information, one of the many forms of deception, is a pervasive phenomenon as it is present in virtually every facet of interpersonal communication. In some cases, information concealment can have profound implications (e.g., insider threats in organizations, security screening at the border, and criminal interviews). New technologies are under development to aid in identifying concealed information, however, additional research is needed in three key areas to increase the feasibility of using these technologies in real-world credibility assessment contexts. First, research is needed to investigate the accuracy of new credibility assessment technologies relative to existing deception-detection systems. Demonstrating that new technologies meet or exceed detection accuracies of existing systems (e.g., the polygraph) is critical. Second, research is needed to determine if a targetless Concealed Information Test (CIT) is feasible. Existing CIT research supports the presence of main effect differences between persons concealing information and the control group. These behaviors may permit the detection of concealed information without the use of customized sets of stimuli. Eliminating the need to create customized sets of stimuli for each examinee would drastically increase the ease with which an automated system can be used to conduct a CIT. Finally, research is needed to illuminate various elements of the human-computer interaction that occurs during automated credibility assessments. This is a new domain of human-computer interaction as system users in this context are not instigating the interaction, and in many cases, they may be seeking to limit the effectiveness of the system. Before novel systems designed to conduct credibility assessments can be adopted, further research is needed to illuminate how users perceive, respond to, and strategically manage their behaviors when interacting with systems of this nature. This dissertation contains the results of a research program designed to address each of these areas. First, an experiment was designed to investigate the accuracy rates of two promising noncontact measures of concealed information (oculometrics and vocalics) relative to electrodermal activity (EDA). Second, an experiment was designed to evaluate the feasibility of using a targetless CIT to elicit main effect differences between concealers and the control group to identify concealed information. And third, a thorough analysis of examinees' general perceptions, self-reported stress and arousal, perceived effort and performance, and use of countermeasures within the context of an automated credibility assessment interview was conducted. This research effort has yielded the following findings. First, eye tracking and vocalics can be used to identify significant differences in the behaviors and physiology of examinees concealing information, however, the accuracy with which truth tellers and information concealers can be classified remains impractical for an applied setting. Second, there are main effect differences between persons concealing information and telling the truth, however, the use of countermeasures may limit the accuracy with which concealers can be identified. Finally, the presence of concealed information and the use of crime-relevant questions alter how examinees perceive and react to a system designed to identify concealed information. The limitations of this research, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explicate the meaning of information systems (IS) success in the realm of a dynamic hierarchical structure model of IS success. Through an empirical study of 382 firms using internal and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems, different characteristics of this model are examined via four hypotheses. / First, using linear structural modelling techniques, it is shown that successful information systems share certain properties common to all systems, in addition to certain properties specific to each class of systems. Four generic factors influencing IS success are identified as (i) output reliability, (ii) system's characteristics, (iii) efficiency outcomes, and (iv) users' requirements. Second, the role of time in the IS adoption and assessment process is explored. By comparing firms that have adopted EDI with those that have not adopted EDI, it is shown that the decision maker's perception of IS success changes during different stages of the adoption and assessment process. Third, the role of stakeholders in the assessment process is examined by comparing perceptions of different managerial groups based on their educational background, management echelon, and functional area. It is shown that different stakeholders evaluate the success of IS differently. Finally, through an examination of various types of evaluation functions, it is shown that IS success is a multi-dimensional construct. / Overall, cross-group comparisons of the dynamic hierarchical structural model of IS success provide sufficient evidence regarding the instability of IS success across time, type of system, and stakeholders involved in the evaluation process. / In addition to the major hypotheses, two corollaries have also been examined. It is shown that user involvement in an IS project has a positive effect on the system's success. Further, the results of the study indicate that respondents in smaller companies are more satisfied with the support and services of the MIS department than their counterparts in larger companies. / Finally, by comparing three versions of the questionnaire used in the study, it is shown that question order has a significant effect on responses. The implications of this finding for survey studies are discussed.

This investigation focuses on configurable technologies, a term which refers to technologies that are highly parameterizable and are built from a range of components to meet the very specific requirements of a particular organization. They cannot be seen independently of their representations through external intermediaries who "speak" for the technology by providing images, descriptions, demonstrations, policies, templates and "solutions". I use the term technology-configuring mediation to refer to the process characterized by a socially constructed relationship between clients and consultants, where visions of how the technology should operate are negotiated. Configurable tools are well illustrated by ERP projects and represent an important trend in IS, drawing its popularity from the hope of benefiting from increased economies of scale and access to cumulative knowledge supposedly "embedded" into these technological artifacts. / From a critical interpretive perspective that combines ideas from structuration theory, social shaping views of technology and critical discourse analysis, this dissertation is based on an empirical investigation that spanned one year and is primarily organized in three papers. The first paper investigates the use of structuration theory in the IS field, asking: How can we successfully apply structuration theory in IS empirical research? Paper 1 contributes to the advancement of interpretive research methods by describing, analyzing and illustrating the ways IS scholars have used Giddens' theory in their research. In addition, it presents a repertoire of research strategies that may help overcome barriers to the empirical application of structurationist theory by dealing with three core elements: time, context and duality of technology. / The second paper discusses the rhetorical closure that often dominates discourses about IT, arguing that configurable technologies are social constructions and, to different degrees, are always open to change. Taking ERP projects as a typical illustration of configurable IT, Paper 2 describes a multilevel framework that identifies occasions for ERP package negotiation and change at three levels---segment, organization and individual---thereby breaking down the rhetorical closure that seems to dominate public debate. Paper 2 draws on structurationist and political streams of thinking about technology to set out a theoretical framework that contributes to advancing our knowledge of configurable IS phenomena. / The third paper addresses the question: How does the mediation process influence the negotiation between global principles and local contexts during the implementation of configurable IS, and how does such a negotiation influence the success of the implemented technology? Paper 3 provides a new understanding of configurable technology implementation. The structuring of a new configuration is seen as a mediation process where knowledge and power dependencies are created and recreated over time by consultants and clients, the entire process being bordered by internal and external constraints. Paper 3 recognizes different patterns of mediation and explains how these patterns affect the negotiation of global principles and local contexts as well as the project results. The study ends by identifying a collection of mediating strategies that are likely to improve the implementation of configurable IS.

The purpose of the research was to evaluate whether the Education Management Information System (EMIS) units within Provincial Education Departments can take advantage of the information management and communication tools to enhance the flow of information within the education system. The research investigates the clients' insight on the support provided by EMIS in the education department. Clients were only limited to Senior Managers and Unit Heads within the Head Office of a specific provincial education department. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

This study explores the reasons behind why EasyPay, a financial services Information Technology company, has not been able to balance the need to innovate its service offering with the pressure to stabilise its service and maintain revenue growth. Despite its good financial performance, service delivery issues had hampered the company for a long period of time. Poor customer service continued to restrict growth and put the company's long-term survival at risk. The researcher believes that the understanding this research has provided will put management in a position to formulate a more effective strategy to take the company from its current reality to its future vision. There was an overwhelming amount of information available in the form of events, patterns, issues and opinions. This information had to be organised and understood. The theory was built from the ground up and derived directly from the evidence collected. The research was iterative in nature and, as such, yielded questions along the way, and this guided the review of the literature. There was first a need to develop a systemic appreciation of the dynamics of the situation before deciding on what strategic management plan to suggest that would balance the pressures on the business and satisfy customer needs. This study therefore focused on developing an appreciation of the situation. Systems thinking theory was used in developing this appreciation, as it provided a language for describing and understanding the forces and interrelationships that shaped the behaviour of the system in EasyPay. When the system had been grasped the researcher went back and revisited the events and patterns, and used the derived systemic model to explain more clearly what happened in the company. The researcher discusses the mental models that he became aware of, in the course of the study, that were in part responsible for the existence of the system in EasyPay. Finally the researcher suggests some recommended actions and highlights areas that he believes require attention. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

Much has been documented about the importance of effective strategic planning as a basis for an organisation to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Inadequate strategic planning is also widely recognised to be one of the major factors that contribute to the failure of most small organisations. At the same time, developing a strategy for an information technology organisation is increasingly becoming a complex exercise, considering the rate at which the field is growing and the need for organisations in this field to respond quickly to changing market demands. For large organisations, it may be a matter of ensuring that existing, tried and tested strategies are frequently updated. For small organisations on the other hand, this may be a nightmare of an exercise. In this research, the author explores a number of strategic planning approaches with the aim of identifying elements in them that could assist the strategy development process of a small information technology company. After a detailed analysis of conventional approaches to strategic management, it suggests a framework which uses the Core Competence Approach to strategy development as a basis. It is supplemented by selected techniques of Strategic Choice as a toolset for systematic decision-making within the strategy development process of a small information technology company. Also included, is a case study on the application and evaluation of the suggested framework for an initial strategy-development process at a typical small information technology company. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

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No description available.

Social endorsements are user-generated endorsements of products or services, such as “likes” and personal collections, in an online social platform. We examine the effect of prior social endorsements on subsequent users’ tendency to endorse or examine a product in a social shopping context, where a social platform connect consumers and enable a collaborative shopping experience. This research consists of two parts. In part I, we identify two ways prior social endorsements can affect subsequent user behavior: as a crowd endorsement, which is an aggregate number of endorsements a product receives for anyone who comes across the product, and as a friend endorsement, which is an endorsement with the endorser’s identity delivered only to the endorser’s friends or followers. Using a panel data of 1656 products on a leading social shopping platform, we quantify the relationship between crowd and friend endorsements and subsequent examination (“click”) and endorsement (“like”) of the products, noting that examination is a private behavior while endorsement is a public behavior. Our results are consistent with the identity signaling theory where identity-conscious consumers converge with the aspiration group (the followers) in their public behavior (e.g. endorsement) and diverge from the avoidance groups (the crowd). We also find differences between public and private behaviors. Moreover, the symbolic nature of social shopping platform trumps the traditional dichotomy of symbolic/functional product attributes. Part II of this study seeks to clarify the underlying mechanism through lab experiments. We hypothesize that consumers’ evaluative attitude, specifically the value-expressive type, moderates the relationship between crowd and friend endorsements and a focal user’s product choice. Our initial results of the second study show support for this idea in the cases when the product choice is not obvious.

Abstract available from pdf file. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.