Information Technology Practitioners Research Articles

Workshop Membangun Perusahaan Perseorangan Untuk Usaha Bidang IT Untuk Mahasiswa Semester Akhir Universitas Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya

The community service activity entitled "Workshop on Building Individual Companies for Businesses in the IT Sector for Final Semester Students at Bhayangkara University, Jakarta Raya" is a real effort to increase the knowledge and skills of final semester students in planning and managing individual companies in the Information Technology (IT) sector. This workshop aims to provide practical guidance in starting an IT company, introduce the legal aspects of IT business, and invite students to apply their knowledge in real situations. This activity covers various relevant topics, such as business planning, IT product development, financial management, marketing strategy, and legal aspects related to IT business. In addition, the workshop also involved experienced IT practitioners and entrepreneurs as guest speakers, who provided invaluable practical insights. The results of this workshop reflect an increase in participants' understanding and skills in planning and starting an IT business. Participants have a better understanding of the process of registering a private company online via the AHU website and the importance of registering for a Kemenkumham permit. This workshop not only improves conceptual understanding, but also provides practical skills that can be applied in the real world. Thus, this workshop has a positive impact on the development of entrepreneurship among final semester students at Bhayangkara University, Jakarta Raya. Furthermore, sustainability evaluations and follow-up steps are needed to ensure that the knowledge and skills acquired remain sustainable and support students in their efforts to become entrepreneurs in the IT industry.

Development using the Rapid Application Model of peTrace: Peter’s Poultry Supply Sales and Monitoring Management System

The poultry industry includes other support industries such as feed production and distribution, veterinary and poultry equipment production and distribution, meat and egg processing, marketing and distribution, and so on. Poultry production in the tropics. The poultry supply business is not prevalent in the province of Oriental Mindoro, that has a land area of 588,350 ha that supplies agriculture crops and livestock production, in addition to 286 registered business names, the plurality of which are linked to poultry supply. And one of the towns in Oriental Mindoro is recognized for producing agriculture and aquaculture. Rapid Application Method (RAD) is a software development methodology that emphasizes rapid prototyping through design. This type of testing modifies the software system before it is implemented. And Alpha testing was carried out by the Information Technology Practitioner. The system peTrace was ready for evaluation after several design and functionality issues were resolved. Purposive sampling was applied by the proponents this is to identify the 50 respondents so that the evaluators could have an accurate evaluation result. Information Technology Practitioners, store owners, staff, and clients were among those who responded. Owner, staff utilized the peTrace several times, testing its functionalities and verifying its usability. The proponents adapted the evaluation questionnaire using the ISO 25010 software quality criteria. To modify the five assessment criteria, ISO 25010 quality software standards were used. According to the assessment findings, peTrace is helpful and performs as predicted in terms of functional appropriateness (4.90), performance efficiency (4.85), usability (4.83), security (4.83), and maintainability (4.82). The peTrace system is broad in design, simple to maintain, and adaptable to any portable device independent of operating system, making it suited for any local Feed Store. For future growth, the assessors advise using real-time analysis. A good system will offer continuous monitoring with few, if any delays.

Assessing the Intention to Adopt Cloud Accounting during COVID-19

The information technology (IT) revolutionization aside with the emergence of COVID-19 have catalyzed cloud-computing services and systems with multiple end-user benefits for online business management, specifically in the accounting discipline. For example, cloud accounting enables the significant reduction of organisational IT investment with flexible access to a large group of scalable resources. The cloud accounting enables small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) to independently engage in fundamental bookkeeping responsibilities rather than hiring external auditors for the same services. As cloud-based accounting adoption remains in the preliminary stage within Jordanian businesses, this study applied the technology, organisation, and environment model to explore cloud accounting among Jordanian SMEs. The study data were gathered from 156 Jordanian SME owners or managers with a structured online survey questionnaire. The recommended study framework encompassed seven determinants that influenced the cloud accounting adoption intention. Resultantly, except Perceived knowledge uncertainty factor, the proposed hypotheses were supported as the aforementioned factors (relative advantages, security concerns, top management support, organizational readiness, competitor’s intensity and suppliers computing support) positively and significantly influenced the cloud accounting of Jordanian SMEs. The study outcomes could facilitate IT field decision-makers and practitioners by investigating an actual cloud accounting case based on the essentiality of its application.

Rebuilding Stakeholder Confidence in Health-Relevant Big Data Applications: A Social Representations Perspective

Big data applications are at the epicentre of recent breakthroughs in digital health. However, controversies over privacy, security, ethics, accountability, and data governance have tarnished stakeholder trust, leaving health-relevant big data projects under threat, delayed, or abandoned. Taking the notion of big data as social construction, this work explores the social representations of the big data concept from the perspective of stakeholders in Kenya’s digital health environment. Through analysing the similarities and differences in the way health professionals and information technology (IT) practitioners comprehend the idea of big data, we draw strategic implications for restoring confidence in big data initiatives. Respondents associated big data with a multiplicity of concepts and were conflicted in how they represented big data’s benefits and challenges. On this point, we argue that peculiarities and nuances in how diverse players view big data contribute to the erosion of trust and the need to revamp stakeholder engagement practices. Specifically, decision makers should complement generalised informational campaigns with targeted, differentiated messages designed to address data responsibility, access, control, security, or other issues relevant to a specialised but influential community.

Interdisciplinary collaboration that works

Why is collaboration between the Social Sciences and Information Technology (IT) important? The aim of this paper is to explore this question and present a case for an alliance between these two distinct fields. Our remit as educators is to prepare learners for their real-world experiences, not only in their careers, but in the skills to navigate an increasingly complex world. Unquestionably, these skills require exhaustive technical knowledge which is imparted by our IT experts. However, alongside this technical know-how, learners require a critical understanding of society and essential knowledge about what it means to be human. Social scientists bring to the table the skills to help create better practices, systems and ideas considering the ‘human factor’, and thereby play a strategic role in the social shaping of technology. The authors maintain that together, the Information Technology practitioner and the Social Scientist combine for optimal impact in education. We do this through preparing students for technology trends and creating innovative solutions by providing a whole broad education planning for both technical and soft skills development. This paper outlines why collaboration between these two fields is important and presents a working model example through a student drone training project.

Role of resilient leadership and psychological capital in employee engagement with special reference to COVID-19

PurposeThe spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unseen crisis lately, which has put organizational leadership and employee engagement (EE) to test. Resilient leadership (RL) helps an organization survive and keep employees engaged in the risky environment. Similarly, psychological capital (PsyCap) is known to exert an influence on EE, but PsyCap and EE have not been investigated together during the period of crisis. To address this gap, the present study aims to outline the importance of RL and PsyCap to keep the employees engaged in the information technology (IT) industry.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 265 samples of IT professionals were collected by using an online survey questionnaire pan India. The collected data was analyzed using regression analysis, structural equation modeling along with bootstrapping technique for mediation analysis and model fit indices analysis.FindingsThe results of the analysis confirm the positive impact of RL on EE and the partial mediation impact of PsyCap on the RL–EE relationship, and the findings exhibit that employees with a higher level of PsyCap contribute favorably to EE during the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis study aims to assist IT practitioners in effectively incorporating RL to plan mitigation strategies. EE is an outcome of enhanced PsyCap of employees. To develop necessary skills and coping mechanisms to combat disruptions of such massive outbreaks, RL and PsyCap are crucial.

A tale behind Mum Effect

Mum effect is a situation when one or more project stakeholders decide to withhold critical information for particular reasons. In software project where most of the production is intangible, the seriousness of this challenge increases exponentially. There have been reports indicating that mum effect can surface during any phase of development and ultimately lead to disaster in software projects. Mum effect can be influenced by several factors such as organizational and national cultures. This research investigates potential mum effect scenarios and reveals specific reasons which induce this challenge among information technology practitioners.

Driving competitiveness with RFID-enabled digital twin: case study from a global manufacturing firm’s supply chain

PurposeThe digital twin (DT) has become a heated topic among supply chain and information technology practitioners. While many papers in this area focus on technical tactics and learnings, this research paper aims to evaluate its business implications. According to literature, it has also been a weakly covered topic.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted as a single case study, in which the impact of radio-frequency identification–enabled DT was quantified from the business benefits perspective. The evaluation was carried out using a framework model developed for the assessment identifying key contribution areas and the dynamics explaining how the benefits are expected to land on a business level.FindingsImplementation of the DT was calculated to provide a significant supply chain performance improvement. The main contributor in the immediate benefits was the reduction in supply chain costs, in person-hours. However, the product availability improvement was conservatively considered in the evaluation, and thus, this paper estimates that it, together with higher cognition tools, constitutes the main financial return in the long run showing in the topline improvement. This paper suggests that the shift to DT can be generally limited by the cost savings perspective.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies released on the business impact of the cutting-edge technical solution area of the DT in supply chain management. In practice, businesses require an understanding of the business implications to decide on the investments in this area; thus, it is a critical part of the discussion.

A model to evaluate the acceptance and usefulness of enterprise architecture for digitalization of cities

PurposeEnterprise architecture (EA) is usually adopted as an approach for managing enterprise complexities and aligning business and information technology (IT) capabilities. Although IT practitioners and researchers agree about the potential applicability and benefits of EA in smart cities, little is known about the factors that influence the acceptance and usefulness of EA in smart cities. Thus, EA acceptance and usage remains a central concern of urban research and practice. Similarly, there are fewer studies that explored EA adoption from the context of enterprises that provide digital services in cities grounded on empirical evidence. Therefore, this study assesses the acceptance and usefulness of EA in smart cities context by developing an EA adoption model drawing on the DeLone and McLean Information System (IS) success model.Design/methodology/approachBased on the identified factors survey questionnaire was designed and sent out to participants which includes IT professionals, senior managers and consultants from 18 organizations in Norway and Ireland involved in a smart city project (+CityxChange) (https://cityxchange.eu/). Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and structural equation modelling using partial least square was applied for data analysis.FindingsThe results suggest that service quality and system quality positively impact user satisfaction of EA and user's intention to use EA. More importantly, information quality does not influence user satisfaction of EA, and the user satisfaction of EA and user's intention to use EA significantly influences the net benefit of EA.Originality/valueThis study provides a complete understanding for academicians and IT practitioners regarding the factors and impacts on EA acceptance and use in smart cities. Finally, this study discusses the implications of this research and provides recommendations for future research.

Portraying Citizens’ Occupations and Assessing Urban Occupation Mixture with Mobile Phone Data: A Novel Spatiotemporal Analytical Framework

Mobile phone data is a typical type of big data with great potential to explore human mobility and individual portrait identification. Previous studies in population classifications with mobile phone data only focused on spatiotemporal mobility patterns and their clusters. In this study, a novel spatiotemporal analytical framework with an integration of spatial mobility patterns and non-spatial behavior, through smart phone APP (applications) usage preference, was proposed to portray citizens’ occupations in Guangzhou center through mobile phone data. An occupation mixture index (OMI) was proposed to assess the spatial patterns of occupation diversity. The results showed that (1) six types of typical urban occupations were identified: financial practitioners, wholesalers and sole traders, IT (information technology) practitioners, express staff, teachers, and medical staff. (2) Tianhe and Yuexiu district accounted for most employed population. Wholesalers and sole traders were found to be highly dependent on location with the most obvious industrial cluster. (3) Two centers of high OMI were identified: Zhujiang New Town CBD and Tianhe Smart City (High-Tech Development Zone). It was noted that CBD has a more profound effect on local as well as nearby OMI, while the scope of influence Tianhe Smart City has on OMI is limited and isolated. This study firstly integrated both spatial mobility and non-spatial behavior into individual portrait identification with mobile phone data, which provides new perspectives and methods for the management and development of smart city in the era of big data.

BRM: A methodology for improving the practical relevance of belief-based information technology usage theories

There has been extensive research in Information Systems (IS) regarding the individual-level beliefs that are germane to technology usage. Theories like the technology acceptance model, user satisfaction, service quality, the diffusion of innovations theory, and others identify a wide variety of influential beliefs, such as those that target properties of the system itself (e.g., its features), the use of it (e.g., its ease of use), or other contextual aspects (e.g., the pressure from peers to use it). These theories have been invaluable for understanding one of the most fundamental phenomena of interest to IS researchers and practitioners: individuals’ adoption and use of information technology (IT). However, as valuable as these theories are, there has been growing criticism about the fact that several of their constituting belief constructs (e.g., usefulness or quality) do not lend themselves to prescriptions for actionable interventions, in particular those geared toward IT design. This is especially problematic when it comes to applying or extending them to the contexts of emerging technologies, where best design practices are still to be discovered and tested. We address this concern by developing a Broadness Reduction Methodology (BRM) that relies on Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) foundational work on the nature and formation of beliefs to help researchers develop belief-based theoretical models that are more relevant to IT practitioners. In order to illustrate the application of our methodology and demonstrate its validity, we apply it to the context of e-business. In doing so, we decompose the broad construct of supporting-service functionality, which has been shown to be a strong predictor of satisfaction and continued usage, into more specific constructs that are more amenable to actionable design recommendations.

Community of practice: converting IT graduate students into specialists via professional knowledge sharing

PurposeThe paper aims to highlight how an applied learning framework or “community of practice” (CoP) combined with a traditional theoretical course of study enables the identification of teaching-learning processes which facilitate knowledge transfer from practitioners to graduate information technology (IT) students for quicker integration in the labour market.Design/methodology/approachCoPs are identified based on cluster analysis according to Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (1984), with data obtained through a survey. Empirical research is applied to the CoP developed within a non-formal learning framework, principal new actors being IT specialists linked to graduate IT students and teachers on a traditional university course. Graduate IT students can gain knowledge of the ideal employee and the social and emotional skills needed to integrate with the IT labour market.FindingsThe K-Means algorithm helps to identify clusters of graduate IT students displaying necessary knowledge acceptance behaviour to convert them into specialists. The results of the cluster analysis show different learning styles of the labour force, providing an overview of candidate selection methods and the knowledge, skills and attitudes expected by users.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the research adds value to the existing literature on learning styles and the knowledge and core skills needed by IT specialists, it was limited to an emerging market.Originality/valueThe study provides a preliminary overview of graduate IT students’ attitudes from an emerging market to the re-engineering of academic learning contexts to facilitate professional knowledge transfer, converting them into IT practitioners and integrating them in the labour market of an emerging economy.

Diagnostic of Data Processing by Brazilian Organizations—A Low Compliance Issue

In order to guarantee the privacy of users’ data, the Brazilian government created the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD). This article made a diagnostic of Brazilian organizations in relation to their suitability for LGPD, based on the perception of Information Technology (IT) practitioners who work in these organizations. We used a survey with 41 questions to diagnose different Brazilian organizations, both public and private. The diagnostic questionnaire was answered by 105 IT practitioners. The results show that 27% of organizations process personal data of public access based on good faith and LGPD principles. In addition, our findings also revealed that 16.3% of organizations have not established a procedure or methodology to verify that the LGPD principles are being respected during the development of services that will handle personal data from the product or service design phase to its execution and 20% of the organizations did not establish a communication process to the personal data holders, regarding the possible data breaches. The result of the diagnostic allows organizations and data users to have an overview of how the treatment of personal data of their customers is being treated and which points of attention are in relation to the principles of LGPD.

Perceptions of ICT Practitioners Regarding Software Privacy.

During software development activities, it is important for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practitioners to know and understand practices and guidelines regarding information privacy, as software requirements must comply with data privacy laws and members of development teams should know current legislation related to the protection of personal data. In order to gain a better understanding on how industry ICT practitioners perceive the practical relevance of software privacy and privacy requirements and how these professionals are implementing data privacy concepts, we conducted a survey with ICT practitioners from software development organizations to get an overview of how these professionals are implementing data privacy concepts during software design. We performed a systematic literature review to identify related works with software privacy and privacy requirements and what methodologies and techniques are used to specify them. In addition, we conducted a survey with ICT practitioners from different organizations. Findings revealed that ICT practitioners lack a comprehensive knowledge of software privacy and privacy requirements and the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais, LGPD, in Portuguese), nor they are able to work with the laws and guidelines governing data privacy. Organizations are demanded to define an approach to contextualize ICT practitioners with the importance of knowledge of software privacy and privacy requirements, as well as to address them during software development, since LGPD must change the way teams work, as a number of features and controls regarding consent, documentation, and privacy accountability will be required.

IT risk management: interrelationships based on strategy implementation

PurposeRisk management is an under-explored topic in information systems (IS) research that involves complex and interrelated activities. Consequently, the authors explore the importance of interrelated activities by examining how the maturity of one type of information technology risk management (ITRM) practice is influenced by the maturity of other types of ITRM practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore these relationships, the authors develop a model based on organizational strategy implementation theory and the COBIT framework. The model identifies four types of ITRM practices, namely, IT governance (ITG); communications; operations; and monitoring.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a survey methodology to collect data on senior information technology (IT) executives' perceptions on ITRM practices. The authors use an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify four dimensions of ITR M practices and conduct a structural equation model to observe the associations.FindingsThe survey of senior IT executives' perceptions suggests that the maturity of ITRM practices related to ITG, communications and monitoring positively influence the maturity of operations-related ITRM practices. Further, the maturity of communications-related ITRM practices mediates the relationship between ITG and operations-related ITRM practices. The aggregate results demonstrate the inter-relatedness of ITRM practices and highlight the importance of taking a holistic view of ITRM.Research limitations/implicationsGiven the content and complexity of the study, it is difficult to obtain senior executives’ responses in large firms. Therefore, this study did not use a separate sample to conduct the EFA to obtain the underlying four constructs. Also, the ITRM practices identified are perceptions. Even though the authors consider this to be a limitation, it also communicates the pressing areas that senior IT professionals are expected to focus given various external and internal pressures. This study focuses on large firms, hence, small to midsize firms are not well represented.Practical implicationsGiven the demanding regulatory and financial reporting requirements and the complexity of IT, there is an increasing possibility that the accounting profession will require IT professionals to focus on operations-related ITRM practices, such as security, availability and confidentially of data and IS are closely related to internal controls. However, as this study demonstrates, the maturity of operations-related ITRM practices cannot be achieved by focusing solely on operations-related IT risks. Therefore, IT practitioners can use this study to raise awareness of the complex interrelationships among ITRM practices among managers to improve the overall ITRM practices in a firm.Social implicationsThe study also shows the importance of establishing proper communication channels among various business functions with regard to ITRM. Extant IT research identifies the importance of the firm’s communication structure on various firm performance measures. For example, Krotov (2015) mentions the importance of communication in improving trust between the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Firms with established communication channels have the necessary medium to educate and involve other departments with regard to the security of data. Thus, such firms are more likely to have mature risk management practices because of increased awareness of risks and preventive techniques.Originality/valueThe study contributes to ITG and risk management literature by identifying the role of monitoring-related ITRM practices on improving other areas of risk management. The study also extends the existing ITRM literature by providing an organizational strategy perspective to ITRM practices and showing how ITRM practices follow organizational strategy implementation. Further, the authors identify four underlying ITRM categories. Consequently, researchers could choose between two factors (Vincent et al., 2017) or four factors based on the level of detail required for the particular study.

Smart Environmental Data Infrastructures: Bridging the Gap between Earth Sciences and Citizens

The monitoring and forecasting of environmental conditions is a task to which much effort and resources are devoted by the scientific community and relevant authorities. Representative examples arise in meteorology, oceanography, and environmental engineering. As a consequence, high volumes of data are generated, which include data generated by earth observation systems and different kinds of models. Specific data models, formats, vocabularies and data access infrastructures have been developed and are currently being used by the scientific community. Due to this, discovering, accessing and analyzing environmental datasets requires very specific skills, which is an important barrier for their reuse in many other application domains. This paper reviews earth science data representation and access standards and technologies, and identifies the main challenges to overcome in order to enable their integration in semantic open data infrastructures. This would allow non-scientific information technology practitioners to devise new end-user solutions for citizen problems in new application domains.

Association of Business Value to Productivity through Information Technology

The organizations around the world have integrated information technology into their processes with anticipation in the increase in productivity. Importantly, they have considered business value as a measure of productivity generated through the adoption of information technology. Carrying this forward, several information technology practitioners have tried to examine the relationships between business value and adoption of information technology. Business value aspects (employee value, customer value, economic value, and managerial value) have been examined in multiple research studies for adopting and implementing information technology. Some of the research studies have found a positive correlation between business value (as a measure of productivity) and the implementation of information technology. This research paper has attempted to examine whether business value can be safely associated with productivity through information technology.

One Team or Two? Investigating Relationship Quality between Auditors and IT Specialists: Implications for Audit Team Identity and the Audit Process

ABSTRACTWhile prior research focuses on the audit team made up of auditors, we focus on the collective audit team made up of auditors and specialists—in our context, information technology (IT) specialists. Complex systems in today's audits and researcher and regulator concerns regarding ineffective coordination and communication between the two specializations motivate better understanding of this collective audit team. We investigate how auditors and IT specialists perceive their relationship and how the audit process unfolds when these relationships are good and when they are difficult. Results of interviews conducted with Big 4 audit and IT practitioners provide evidence that they perceive their relationship quality to depend on the level of mutual value and respect. Auditors assert a one‐team view of the collective audit team that includes IT specialists, but IT specialists feel auditors see them as a separate team and a “necessary evil.” The audit process vastly differs between relationships perceived as difficult and good. In difficult relationships, the two specializations often struggle for status, with limited communication or effort to understand how their work fits together. Our findings imply difficult relationships are at risk for poor integration and unsupported reliance on IT functions, shedding light on recurring threats to audit quality identified by PCAOB inspections. In good relationships, auditors and IT specialists appear motivated to engage in frequent and open communication to help understand, coordinate, and complete the audit. Inferences gleaned from good relationships let us highlight prescriptions for audit firms to improve effectiveness of collective audit teams.

The roles of uncertainty avoidance and strategic agility in cloud storage adoption among multinational manufacturing companies in Malaysia

Cloud technology adoption is becoming a key sustainable information technology (IT) strategy for companies in developing countries with an investment potential of US$900 million by 2020. This study examined the antecedents and outcome of cloud storage adoption among multinational manufacturing companies (MNCs) in Malaysia. A total of 122 responses were collected and analysed with SmartPLS 3.2.7. Results show that relative advantage, top management support, technology readiness, cost saving and stakeholder pressure significantly influence cloud storage adoption; while uncertainty avoidance moderates the relationship between technology readiness and adoption. Interestingly, cloud storage adoption impacts firm performance while strategic agility enhances this relationship. This study provides a new perspective by examining the influence of national culture and strategic agility in the context of cloud storage adoption and its outcome among MNCs in Malaysia. In conclusion, this study contributes holistic and meaningful insights to IT practitioners and researchers in adopting cloud technology as a sustainable IT strategy.

The roles of uncertainty avoidance and strategic agility in cloud storage adoption among multinational manufacturing companies in Malaysia

Cloud technology adoption is becoming a key sustainable information technology (IT) strategy for companies in developing countries with an investment potential of US$900 million by 2020. This study examined the antecedents and outcome of cloud storage adoption among multinational manufacturing companies (MNCs) in Malaysia. A total of 122 responses were collected and analysed with SmartPLS 3.2.7. Results show that relative advantage, top management support, technology readiness, cost saving and stakeholder pressure significantly influence cloud storage adoption; while uncertainty avoidance moderates the relationship between technology readiness and adoption. Interestingly, cloud storage adoption impacts firm performance while strategic agility enhances this relationship. This study provides a new perspective by examining the influence of national culture and strategic agility in the context of cloud storage adoption and its outcome among MNCs in Malaysia. In conclusion, this study contributes holistic and meaningful insights to IT practitioners and researchers in adopting cloud technology as a sustainable IT strategy.