Scholarly Works, Business Information Technology

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Research articles, presentations, and other scholarship

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Combating Infant Mortality in Rural India: Evidence From a Field Study of eHealth Kiosk Implementations
Venkatesh, Viswanath; Rai, Arun; Sykes, Tracy Ann; Aljafari, Ruba (Society for Information Management, 2016-06-01)
The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals listed high infant mortality rates as a major problem in developing countries, especially in rural areas. Given the powerful information dissemination capabilities, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been suggested as interventions to build infant care awareness and to modify healthcare behaviors. We examine how the use of one ICT intervention-specifically, eHealth kiosks disseminating authenticated and accessible medical information-can alleviate the problem of high infant mortality in rural India. We investigate how mothers' social networks affect their use of eHealth kiosks, seeking professional medical care for their infants and, ultimately, infant mortality. Drawing on the social epidemiology and social networks literatures, we focus on advice and hindrance from both strong and weak ties as the conduit of social influence on mothers' health-related behaviors for the care of their infants. Over a period of 7 years, we studied 4,620 infants across 10 villages where the eHealth kiosks were implemented along with support resources for proxy use. The results revealed that (1) eHealth kiosk use promotes seeking professional medical care and reduces infant mortality, (2) mothers are especially vulnerable to hindrance from both strong and weak ties as they choose to maintain the status quo of traditional infant healthcare practices (e.g., reliance on untrained personnel, superstitions, fatalism) in villages, and (3) advice from both strong and weak ties offers the potential to break down misplaced beliefs about infant healthcare practices and to develop literacy on seeking professional medical care. In contrast, in a comparative group of 10 neighboring villages, the reduction in infant mortality was not as pronounced and the effect of professional medical care in reducing infant mortality was lower. Our findings suggest that an ICT intervention can effectively address one of society's most important problems (i.e., infant mortality) even in parts of the world with limited resources and deep suspicion of technology and change. Overall, we believe such an ICT intervention will complement other investments being made, including the facilitation of use (proxy use) and provision of professional medical facilities to reduce infant mortality.
Empowering physicians with health information technology: An empirical investigation in Chinese hospitals
Chen, Yang; Aljafari, Ruba; Xiao, Bo; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Oxford University Press, 2021-05-01)
OBJECTIVE: Few studies examine physicians' use of different features of health information technology (HIT) in relation to their psychological empowerment and stress, especially in China, where many hospitals are being pushed to share digitized medical information. Further, there are mixed findings about the impact of HIT on stress, with some studies suggesting that HIT increases stress and others suggesting no effect. Hence, there is a need for a nuanced view of HITs to incorporate different features, regions, and outcomes. This work seeks to extend the existing body of knowledge on HIT by assessing the effects of basic (data-related) and advanced (clinical) HIT features on physician empowerment, stress, and ultimately, job satisfaction in Chinese hospitals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We surveyed 367 physicians at 5 class 3 hospitals (ie, regional hospitals that provide specialist medical and healthcare services and carry out high levels of teaching and scientific research tasks) in 5 provinces in China. We specified and estimated a structural equation model using partial least squares. RESULTS: Physicians who used advanced features experienced improvement in all dimensions of physician empowerment and significant reduction in stress. Physicians who used basic technology, however, experienced improvement in fewer dimensions of physician empowerment and no significant change in stress. Except for efficacy, all dimensions of physician empowerment and stress predicted job satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare professionals should assess the purpose of HIT features and expect different effects on intermediate and ultimate outcomes. The nuanced view of HIT features and processes leading to outcomes sheds light on their differential effects and resolves inconsistencies in prior findings on HIT effects.
The future is now: calling for a focus on temporal issues in information system research
Venkatesh, Viswanath; Ann Sykes, Tracy; Aljafari, Ruba; Poole, Marshall Scott (Emerald, 2021-01-19)
Purpose: As information systems (IS) phenomena continue to emerge and evolve in our ever-changing economic and social contexts, researchers need to increase their focus on time in order to enrich our theories. The purpose of this paper is to present broad suggestions for IS researchers about how they can direct some of their research efforts to consider, conceptualize and incorporate time into research endeavors and how they might be mindful about considering and specifying time-related scope conditions of their research efforts. Design/methodology/approach: The authors synthesize empirical studies and discuss three distinct yet related frameworks of time and the benefits they can provide. The authors choose two research streams that reflect dynamic economic and social contexts – namely, enterprise systems and social networks – to illustrate how time and frameworks of time can be leveraged in our theory development and research design. Findings: The authors demonstrate that limited research in IS has incorporated a rich conceptualization and/or discussion of time. The authors build on this gap to highlight guidelines that researchers can adopt to enrich their view of time. Originality/value: Given the dynamic nature of IS phenomena and the increased availability of longitudinal data, the authors’ suggestions aim to urge and guide IS researchers about ways in which they can incorporate time into their theory and study designs.
The Government of Jamaica's electronic procurement system: experiences and lessons learned
Ahmad, Tashfeen; Aljafari, Ruba; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Emerald, 2019-12-02)
Purpose: Realizing value from information and communication technology (ICT) in procurement in developing countries is complex due to diverse stakeholders and intertwined procurement processes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience of the Government of Jamaica in leveraging ICTs as an intervention to transform its procurement operations and combat corruption. Design/methodology/approach: The study examines conversations with employees in the Government of Jamaica to understand key milestones in its procurement history. Based on the view that the intervention context is an ecosystem where multiple and inconsistent views of the e-procurement system evolve over time, the study analyzes milestones to reveal key actions that contributed either to the initial success of or introduced challenges to the e-procurement system. Findings: The findings suggest that inducing positive sentiments about the intervention through transparency will overcome a long history of negative sentiments about the initiatives of government bodies in general. Furthermore, positive sentiments may not be directly related to the e-procurement system. Research limitations/implications: The study offers important insights that government bodies in similar contexts can apply to guide initiatives for transforming procurement operations. For instance, training should emphasize not only the technical aspects of the system from the perspective of different stakeholders but also their job descriptions. Future research may examine other initiatives in developing countries to compare the role of sentiments over time. Originality/value: The study adopts a unique approach to understand the experience of a developing country in harnessing ICTs to transform procurement operations.
Leveraging Microsoft's mobile usability guidelines: Conceptualizing and developing scales for mobile application usability
Hoehle, Hartmut; Aljafari, Ruba; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Academic Press-Elsevier, 2016-05-01)
This research conceptualizes mobile application usability and develops and validates an instrument to measure the same. Mobile application usability has attracted widespread attention in the field of human-computer interaction because well-designed applications can enhance user experiences. To conceptualize mobile application usability, we analyzed Microsoft's mobile usability guidelines and defined 10 constructs representing mobile application usability. Next, we conducted a pilot study followed by a quantitative assessment of the content validity of the scales. We then sequentially applied exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to two samples (n=404; n=501) consisting of German consumers using mobile social media applications on their smartphones. To evaluate the confirmatory factor model, we followed a step-by-step process assessing unidimensionality, discriminant validity and reliability. To assess the nomological validity of our instrument, we examined the impact of mobile application usability on two outcomes: continued intention to use and brand loyalty. The results confirmed that mobile application usability was a good predictor of both outcomes. The constructs and scales associated with mobile application usability validated in this paper can be used to guide future research in human-computer interaction and aid in the effective design of mobile applications.
Mixed Methods Research in the Age of Analytics: An Exemplar Leveraging Sentiments from News Articles to Explain Firm Performance
Raman, Raji; Aljafari, Ruba; Venkatesh, Viswanath; Richardson, Vernon (Elsevier, 2022-06-01)
Investors and companies have always aspired to make informed investment decisions by using diverse information sources. With the explosion of information sources on the web and emergence of predictive analytics, many investors moved beyond traditional financial measures, as key predictors of firm performance, to textual content from analysts’ reports. Empirical research suggests that these information sources complement each other by providing a clear picture of firm performance, but remains silent on the role of additional textual content that continues to emerge and reach more potential investors on the web. We build on this line of research to examine the effect of textual content from business journals in conjunction with summary measures on cumulative abnormal returns. We use sentiment analysis with machine learning and econometrics methods to examine content extracted from textual articles about S&P 500 index companies that are published in the Wall Street Journal (years 2013–2016). Textual analysis of business journals in conjunction with quantitative measures revealed direct and interaction effects on abnormal returns over time. We also tested for robustness by replicating the analysis with different variable operationalization and observe consistent patterns. Relative to positive sentiments, negative sentiments have more profound effects on cumulative abnormal returns. The effect of positive sentiments becomes weaker when past quantitative measures are high. As information sources continue to emerge on the web, this work makes key contributions to the practice of sentiment analysis in financial markets.
Overcoming cross-organizational barriers to success in offshore projects
Maruping, Likoebe; Rai, Arun; Aljafari, Ruba; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Emerald, 2021-10-04)
Purpose: Advances in information technology coupled with the need to build resilience against disruptions by pandemics like COVID-19 continue to emphasize offshoring services in the software industry. Service-level agreements (SLAs) have served as a key mechanism for safeguarding against risk in offshore service arrangements. Yet, variations in service cost and quality persist. This study aims to open up the blackbox linking SLAs to offshore project outcomes by examining (1) how the provisions in these contracts affect the ability of project teams – the work unit primarily in charge of producing the offshored service – to achieve their objectives and fulfill client requirements and (2) how differences in contextual factors shape the effects of these provisions. Design/methodology/approach: The authors incorporate the role of organizational work practice differences to understand the challenges that 270 offshore project teams faced in coordinating and integrating technical and business domain knowledge across organizational boundaries in offshore arrangements. The examined offshore IT projects were managed by a leading software vendor in India and several of its US-based clients over a three-year period. Findings: The authors demonstrate that organizational work practice differences represent a barrier to offshore project success, and that project team transition processes are an important mechanism for overcoming these barriers. Moreover, the authors find that transition processes represent key mediating mechanisms through which SLA provisions affect offshore project outcomes. Originality/value: The study findings shed light on how SLAs shape software project teams' balance between activities aimed at meeting client needs and those aimed at containing costs.
A usability evaluation of the Obamacare website
Venkatesh, Viswanath; Hoehle, Hartmut; Aljafari, Ruba (Elsevier, 2014-10-01)
The healthcare.gov website, popularly called the Obamacare website, was off to a rough start. Although infrastructure issues received a great deal of media attention, the site has had its fair share of interface design problems. Drawing on the usability guidelines on the government site of usability.gov, we developed a survey instrument that comprised 16 dimensions to form overall usability. Based on a survey of 374 citizens, we found that usability strongly predicted citizen satisfaction with the website and intention to use the website. Six out of the 16 dimensions of usability emerged as significant in driving overall usability perceptions. In addition to key theoretical implications for e-government and usability research, our work offers practical implications for the healthcare.gov website and e-government web applications in general.
A usability study of the Obamacare website: Evaluation and recommendations
Venkatesh, Viswanath; Hoehle, Hartmut; Aljafari, Ruba (Elsevier, 2017-04-01)
We conducted a usability study of the healthcare.gov website, popularly known as the Obamacare website, using the guidelines available on usability.gov, which were published by the Department of Health and Human Services. The study was conducted among 374 citizens. We found that the interface design, which we conceptualized as 16 dimensions, was rated rather low. Specifically, five dimensions of usability emerged as key to the prediction of overall usability of the website: hardware and software, home page, screen, scrolling and paging, and user experience. We also found that citizen satisfaction and intention to use the website were rated poorly. Based on a break down by gender, age and voting behavior (for Obama or not), we found several interesting patterns of differences. Ultimately, even if the infrastructure issues that have received a bulk of the media attention are miraculously resolved, our findings suggest that the site will be found wanting. The article offers specific illustrative examples of usability problems with the website and specific recommendations drawn from usability.gov. In addition to the practical implications for Obamacare, the article offers significant implications for researchers who seek to evaluate the usability of websites in general and healthcare websites in particular.

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