Honours Projects 2008
Projects supervised by Byounggu Choi
Understanding Information Systems Adoption: A Comparison of Three Theoretical Perspectives
This project focuses on exploring the determinants of adoption of information systems. To that end, this project attempts to advance the existing literature by examining the relationship between organizational factors and actual usage of information systems. There are two goals of this project: First, we introduce a new construct that is developed on the basis of change management and business process reengineering literature. This new construct captures the level of information systems usage ability and its determinants. Second, three alternative models are formulated to explain the relationship between the usage ability and its determinants based on (i) Mansfield model which explains the adoption of new technologies by using economic theory, (ii) Bass model which concentrates on a consumer’s decision to buy a newly introduced technologies, (iii) complementarity theory which focuses on the synergy effects of previous technologies and newly introduced technologies.
Key words: IT adoption, Mansfield model, Bass model, complementarity theory
Similarities or Differences: That is the Question
Why did Google buy Youtube? Is it a good decision or bad decision? This project helps answer the question by exploring the influence of resource similarities on merge and acquisition (M&A) decisions. While some studies argued similarities in resource allocation may be a predictor of M&A behaviors, others suggested differences in resource allocation may be a critical factor of M&A success. This project solves this issue using event study methodology and evaluates the cumulative abnormal returns for M&A announced by Australian firms from 1998 to 2006. By drawing on the resource based theory (RBT) and configuration theory from the organization science literature, this project is motivated by the following questions:
(i) what is a implications of similar or difference resource allocation for M&A?
(ii) what is a critical success factor for M&A?
(iii) how can we measure a M&A impact on market performance?
Key word: Similarity versus difference, resource-based theory, cumulative abnormal return, event study.
Knowledge Management Capabilities and Corporate Performance: Universalistic, Contingency, Configuration, and Complementarity Explanations
This project aims to explore the synergistic relationship between knowledge management (KM) capabilities and their impact on firms’ performance. To that end, this project attempts to advance the existing literature by examining the impact of a bundle of KM capabilities on firms’ performance holistically. In particular, by drawing on the configuration theory from the organization science and complementarity theory from the economics literature, this project is motivated by the following questions:
(iv) what constitutes KM capability? how might such a capability be measured?
(v) what are the different KM capability adoption patterns (i.e., what capabilities should be adopted, which KM capability or capabilities work well together)?
(vi) what are the performance implications of different KM capability adoption patterns?
In order to explore the relationships between KM capabilities and firms’ performance, this project will carry out in two stages. The first stage will discover the relationships between KM capability and its constituents by using cluster analysis. The second stage will test complementarity of those KM capabilities on firms’ performance by using advanced econometric techniques.
Key word: Knowledge management, econometric analysis, cluster analysis, corporate performance.
Web Site Design and Consumer Purchasing Behavior: A Research Model and Empirical Exploration
From the large number of visitors visiting an electronic commerce web site, only a mere 4.9 per cent of visitors are being converted to purchasers on these electronic commerce web site. In order to convert visitors to purchaser, it is important to understand how web site design affects consumer behavior. For this purpose, this project proposes a research model to investigate the relationship between web site design and its affect on consumer behavior by using the stimulus-organism-response model. The stimulus-organism-response model creates the relationship between features of the environment (stimulus) and approach-avoidance behaviors (response) within the environment. This is mediated by the individual’s emotional states (organism) which is aroused by the environment. Through this project, the following questions to be answered:
(i) What factors are critical to understand evaluating electronic commerce web sites?
(ii) How do these factors affect consumer behavior on electronic commerce web sites?