Journal of Systems and Information Technology

Martins, Adérito Leitão; Picoto, Winnie Ng

2020 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/jsit-06-2019-0112

The adoption of information systems (IS) by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) leads to the acquisition of new competencies and relative advantages. In some cases, the decision to adopt IS results from legal obligations that companies must comply with. This paper aims to assess the effect of the mandatory digital transmission of documents to the tax and customs authority on the decision to adopt IS by SMEs.Design/methodology/approachThe authors propose a research model to analyze the antecedents of IS adoption and the relationship between that adoption and the development of new competencies and the consequent relative advantages. Based on the data from 94 European SMEs, this paper tests the research model with a partial least squares approach.FindingsThe findings show that companies decide to adopt IS due to their obligations for tax compliance. However, while some companies decide to adopt basic IS just to comply with the transmission of documents, others decided to implement more complex systems to satisfy wider company needs.Research limitations/implicationsDue to time constraints, the characteristics of the respondents such as their sector of activity, the sensitivity of companies and entrepreneurs to IS, their geographic distribution or years of activity were not studied. As mentioned above it is important to investigate further the characteristics of the companies and their differentiation factors between those who only invest to reduce costs and those that see IS as a differentiating factor. This factor could be a source of information to study the company and its environment that is very useful in increasingly competitive markets.Practical implicationsThis study is important because it shows managers the possible ways of thinking that can guide their investment decisions and whether these will lead them to face future challenges.Originality/valueFor researchers, this paper shows how a change in the law may have an effect on decisions to adopt technology and how existing theories can be applied to study the effects of changes in the law.

Wiafe, Isaac; Koranteng, Felix Nti; Tettey, Thomasina; Kastriku, Ferdinand A.; Abdulai, Jamal-Deen

2020 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/jsit-06-2018-0091

Although information and communication technology has become a significant driver for organizational efficiency and effectiveness, there is inadequate empirical research on technology acceptance in the maritime industry especially in developing countries. Literature on how behavior and attitude influence technology acceptance is non-existent. This study therefore aims to augment existing literature on technology acceptance in developing countries with particular emphasis on the maritime industry.Design/methodology/approachThe study extended the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model to investigate the factors that affect the acceptance and use of INTTRA: a multi-carrier booking and shipping system designed to facilitate ocean trade worldwide. Responses from 198 subjects, collected through a questionnaire, were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling.FindingsThe research model confirmed significant influences of performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, anxiety and attitude towards use on users’ intention to use INTTRA. In contrast, social influence, effort expectancy and self-efficacy did not significantly influence intention to use. Although these findings confirm some proposed relationships in the UTAUT model, it contradicted the cultural dimension argument that developing countries with higher degrees of femininity pay less attention to performance and high attention to social influence.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to knowledge in the area of information systems and technology acceptance in developing countries. Particularly, it seeks to expand literature on adoption within the maritime industry. The study is limited to the sample used for the study, as it used participants from only one country. However, the findings are not generalized for the entire maritime industry but rather Ghana.Originality/valueThe originality of the study is derived from the provision of literature on adoption within the maritime industry in developing countries. It also provided evidence that challenges existing knowledge on characteristics of countries that exhibits high level of femininity culture as proposed by Hofstede.

Handarkho, Yonathan Dri

2020 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/jsit-05-2019-0088

This study aims to examine the factor of social experience influencing an individual’s purchase decision in the social commerce (SC) environment by proposing a model developed based on the social impact theory. The proposed model consists of the number, closeness and tie strength of the influencing factor and the receiver.Design/methodology/approachA total of 288 responses were collected from Indonesian SC users to validate the theoretical model, which consists of perceived herd behavior, peer communication, emotional support, parasocial interaction and subjective norms. This study also explores the moderating effects of gender, age, experiences and occupations on the direct effect of model variables, which affect the individual’s intention to purchase in SC.FindingsThe results of this study showed that parasocial interaction is the strongest determinant of intention to purchase in SC, followed by perceived herd behavior and peer communication. However, the direct effect of subjective norms and emotional support were found insignificant in this study. For moderating effects, only gender and occupation were significant in terms of the immediate effect of peer communication, perceived herd behavior and subjective norms on intention to purchase.Originality/valueThe study contributes to theory in the form of insight on immediate effect and the exploratory investigation of moderating effects. It also contributes to practice by suggesting several practical actions based on the findings designed to achieve the objective of improving customers’ intention to purchase in SC.

Mohamed, Mona; Chakraborty, Joyram; Pillutla, Sharma

2020 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/jsit-08-2019-0157

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of culture on the cross-cultural design of the recognition-based graphical password (RBG-P) interface as inferred from Chinese and Saudi subjects’ image selections.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a between-group design adopted using two groups of participants from China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to measure the differences caused by the effects of cultures on graphical password image selections. Three hypotheses have been tested in a four-week long study carried out using two questionnaires and an RBG-P webtool designed for images selection.FindingsThe results have indicated that participants are equally biased not only toward their own culture but also depending on their opinions about other cultures. In addition, when creating the password, it has been observed that culture not only influenced the image selection to create the password but also have an effect on the sequence of the images forming the password.Research limitations/implicationsAppropriately used image selection differences can be used appropriately in cross-cultural designs that will lead to better development of culturally adaptive interfaces that will boost the security posture of RBG-P authentication.Practical implicationsSome RBG-P interfaces that are produced outside the designer’s culture may suffer the effects of cultural differences. Hence, to incorporate culture in the interface, authentication systems within applications should be flexible by designing images that fit the culture in which the software will be used. To this end, access control interface testing should also be carried out in the environmental and cultural context in which it is will be used.Originality/valueThis paper provides useful information for international developers who develop cross-cultural usable secure designs. In such environments, the cross-culturally designs may have significant effects on the acceptability and adoption adaptation of the interface to multi-cultural settings.

Odoom, Raphael; Kosiba, John Paul

2020 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/jsit-03-2019-0062

Currently, mobile payments have become pervasive in electronic commerce and are steadily increasing in many regions worldwide. In the literature, however, its continued usage among consumers is deemed equivocal, particularly among small businesses. This study uses the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to examine mobile money continuance intention among micro enterprises in an emerging/less-developed economy. This study aims to explore the mediating role of agent credibility on this relationship, given that these agents are contingent actors between service providers and mobile money users.Design/methodology/approachAfter a preliminary qualitative enquiry, quantitative data collected from 584 micro enterprises were tested from the UTAUT perspective, using structural equation modelling.FindingsFindings from the study establish the applicability of the UTAUT in explaining the antecedents, motivations and continuance intention of mobile money usage among micro enterprises. Further, beyond their direct effects, the UTAUT conditions have indirect effects on the continuance intention through their effect on perceived agent credibility.Originality/valueThe findings provide evidence to issues of research and managerial interest, offering insightful implications to the academic and practitioner communities, respectively.

Anagnostopoulos, Theodoros; Luo, Chu; Ramson, Jino; Ntalianis, Klimis; Kostakos, Vassilis; Skourlas, Christos

2020 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/jsit-12-2018-0158

The purpose of this paper is to propose a distributed smartphone sensing-enabled system, which assumes an intelligent transport signaling (ITS) infrastructure that operates traffic lights in a smart city (SC). The system is able to handle priorities between groups of cyclists (crowd-cycling) and traffic when approaching traffic lights at road junctions.Design/methodology/approachThe system takes into consideration normal probability density function (PDF) and analytics computed for a certain group of cyclists (i.e. crowd-cycling). An inference model is built based on real-time spatiotemporal data of the cyclists. As the system is highly distributed – both physically (i.e. location of the cyclists) and logically (i.e. different threads), the problem is treated under the umbrella of multi-agent systems (MAS) modeling. The proposed model is experimentally evaluated by incorporating a real GPS trace data set from the SC of Melbourne, Australia. The MAS model is applied to the data set according to the quantitative and qualitative criteria adopted. Cyclists’ satisfaction (CS) is defined as a function, which measures the satisfaction of the cyclists. This is the case where the cyclists wait the least amount of time at traffic lights and move as fast as they can toward their destination. ITS system satisfaction (SS) is defined as a function that measures the satisfaction of the ITS system. This is the case where the system serves the maximum number of cyclists with the fewest transitions between the lights. Smart city satisfaction (SCS) is defined as a function that measures the overall satisfaction of the cyclists and the ITS system in the SC based on CS and SS. SCS defines three SC policies (SCP), namely, CS is maximum and SS is minimum then the SC is cyclist-friendly (SCP1), CS is average and SS is average then the SC is equally cyclist and ITS system friendly (SCP2) and CS is minimum and SS is maximum then the SC is ITS system friendly (SCP3).FindingsResults are promising toward the integration of the proposed system with contemporary SCs, as the stakeholders are able to choose between the proposed SCPs according to the SC infrastructure. More specifically, cyclist-friendly SCs can adopt SCP1, SCs that treat cyclists and ITS equally can adopt SCP2 and ITS friendly SCs can adopt SCP3.Originality/valueThe proposed approach uses internet connectivity available in modern smartphones, which provide users control over the data they provide to us, to obviate the installation of additional sensing infrastructure. It extends related study by assuming an ITS system, which turns traffic lights green by considering the normal PDF and the analytics computed for a certain group of cyclists. The inference model is built based on the real-time spatiotemporal data of the cyclists. As the system is highly distributed – both physically (i.e. location of the cyclists) and logically (i.e. different threads), the system is treated under the umbrella of MAS. MAS has been used in the literature to model complex systems by incorporating intelligent agents. In this study, the authors treat agents as proxy threads running in the cloud, as they require high computation power not available to smartphones.