Untangling Technology

The partnership between Norzaidi Mohd Daud, Ph.D, from the Faculty of Business Management and Intan Salwani Mohamed from the Faculty of Accountancy has led to the development of TECHPROVED^TMSystem, a new business information technology system that could prove to be the way forward for detecting user resistance to technology and other IT usage problems.

Today more than ever, the momentum for employing emerging technologies to ensure more efficient delivery systems is building throughout industry and government. No one wants to be left behind and huge investments are made to acquire new information technology systems to this end. These investments, however, involve a complex mixture of technological, managerial and policy related challenges. Such investments often fail to live up to expectations if these risks are not fully understood or addressed in the first place. When this happens,  policy makers need to know what went wrong but few have the resources to accurately and continuously evaluate the problem.

The Business-Accountancy research duo has shown how to get around this problem by developingTECHPROVED^TMSystem, a system based on their research on IT implementation in the Malaysian port industry. The study involving 357 middle managers from the port authority, immigration, customs and marine departments, incorporated three levels of analysis. Specifically, they sought to identify the perception of the middle managers on the effects of IT usage, examine the relationships between variables such as technology characteristics, task characteristics, task-technology fit, perceived usefulness, perceived resistance, user resistance, user satisfaction and the level of impact of the said variables on performance.

Descriptive analysis was used to determine the perception of middle managers on the impact of IT on their performance and the type of information utilized by them whilst Structured Equation Modelling (SEM) was uemployed to determine the significant levels of associations and interactions between the variables tested. These findings were then used to validate the theoretical framework proposed for the construction of TECHPROVED^TMSystem.

The study synthesizes and augments existing literature on IT usage to include not only organizational but also individual abilities to absorb and apply new technology. It identifies the performance measures that can be evaluated in order that the critical success factors for IT usage maybe determined for each level. Results of the study have implications on our understanding of IT implementation and usage. Specifically, it offers a useful evaluation and analysis system that can be adapted to match any organizational network and should be exploited if we want to realize the promise of electronic governance.

Further Information: The research has been published in the Industrial Management and Data Systems (ISI Thomson), Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives (ISI Thomson), the Journal of Computer Information Systems (ISI Thomson), the Maritime Policy and Management (SCOPUS), the International Journal of Business Systems Research (Harzing’s Index), Information Technology Management Models: An Introduction (UPENA), Intranet and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Usage in Malaysia Port Industry (UPENA), and Selection of Social Sciences and Management Research Papers (UPENA) . It has also won gold medals at the 37th International Exhibition of Invention, New Techniques and Products, 2009, Geneva, Switzerland and the Invention, Innovation and Design, 2009, Malaysia.

Associate Professor Dr Norzaidi Mohd Daud is Head of the ICT Support Division, Research Management Institute (RMI). He can be contacted via:  norza544@salam.uitm.edu.my. His partner, Intan Salwani Mohamed can be contacted via:  intan838@salam.uitm.edu.my