ABSTRACT. With the objective of studying the influence of technology on digital natives’ behaviour in professional context focusing on trust and control dynamics, this paper presents the design of an experiment for providing first laboratory data on this topic. After the introduction of the theoretical background for both digital natives and trust, we present the experiment designed by formalizing a one-shot modified trust game in which both trust and control dynamics between two players can be observed. The data gathered through the preliminary experiment sec-tions are analysed in order to answer basic research questions concern-ing the investigation of potential differences in trust and control dynam-ics in homogeneous (all composed by digital natives or digital immi-grants) and heterogeneous groups (composed by one digital native and one digital immigrants).

ABSTRACT. To innovate their business models companies often rely on emerging technologies in IT. Disruption introduced by emerging IT affects the stability of the IT services, and the ability of IT organizations to sustain the continuity of services required by the business. Thus, IT organizations are perceived as a hindrance rather than an enabler to innovation. Through a systematic review of the literature, this paper shows that “user participation” writings focus mostly on the “client” of the technology and overlooks the capabilities needed to empower IT organizations capabilities to integrate innovations in IT. Through in-depth case studies in IT services companies, the research learns what mechanisms of user participation in IT innovation would enhance or improve these capabilities. Relating to the IT capabilities of exploitation and exploration, the results recommend some practices of collaboration and user participation that could enable IT organizations’ to more effectively integrate emerging technology in IT.

ABSTRACT. Investigation about technology acceptance (TA) remains one of the most important research fields in information system literature, but the “founding father models” originated the notion of TA in a completely different scenario. We argue that, in a world where IT artifacts disseminate thanks to - and not only because of - unprecedented social media penetration, the TA models must be revisited and upgraded. In this paper, the construct of trust plays a central role, because it allows the acknowledgement of the influencing role played by institutions and organizations that have reached a credible and sustainable presence in the information technology market. We started from the TAM and UTAUT models, as departing platforms of TA models, being the mostly widely cited in the recent literature. This paper defines and explores the theoretical contribution of technology - mediated trust, as a new moderating factor adding value to the UTAUT model. Implications for future empirical research are finally presented.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to summarise the activities carried out during the FP7 TrendMiner project in the financial domain. A web-based prototype summarising the media stream in terms of its likely impact on a selected financial asset from economic and political-economic perspectives has been iteratively developed. The platform is able to gather the events occurring along the social media timeline and to build a tailored visualisation/summarisation of these data with price movements of a given stock or index. The results of the prototype have been evaluated and summarised in this and three ex-amples are used as a proof-of-concepts for validating the prototype outcomes against the known market behaviours and the existing literature. The TrendMiner financial use case prototype shows the ability to play as another decision support tool beside the consolidated market forecast techniques such as technical and fundamental analysis.

ABSTRACT. Didactic performance plays a central role in the survival and success of public universities. This is due to the effects it has had and will have in the future on the public financing system of Italian universities. It also contributes to the goal of quality assurance in higher education, which is pursued by a new frame that is set by the State. The aim of this paper is to design a performance management system to improve student success. It also aims to highlight the conditions and features that an IT system should have in order to effectively serve its purpose. The level of analysis is the degree course of a department of an Italian public university, which is responsible for the organization, planning and results of didactics. Three specific moments in time of a student's career are considered: pre-college and entrance phase, degree course duration, final phase and post-college outcomes.

ABSTRACT. This study takes a first step toward understanding the diffusion of e-disclosure tools by Italian municipalities. We construct a synthetic indicator for measuring mandatory disclosure through web site and an indicator for voluntary disclosure through social media usage, such as Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, we propose a research model to analyse the determinants of e-disclosure tools diffusion in order to underline any differences for mandatory and voluntary e-disclosure. We use OLS regression modelling on 93 Italian municipalities’ data during 2012. The central idea is that determinants can influence in different way the mandatory and voluntary e-disclosure tools diffusion.

ABSTRACT. Cloud-based technological solutions are expected to play a key role in the near future due to their pervasiveness and the possibility they show to spur processes of economic growth by increasing efficiency and favoring differentiated business applications. However, in order to exploit such possibilities, firms need to define and adopt appropriate business models. By analyzing the case of FIWARE, we discuss which business models can be adopted by different actors involved in the development and usage of cloud-based platforms. We show that such platforms represent general purpose technologies, which allow new forms of division of labor among technology suppliers and technology users, with positive returns for both types of actors.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to describe how firms adopting advanced ICT systems may benefit of a relevant advantage with respect to competitors. As usual in “how” question the adopted methodology is qualitative and based on a case study on financial industry. In recent years, financial trader moved their office closer to stock exchange in order to gain on the speed in initiating and canceling orders. The amount of this kind of orders is actually relevant (over 70% in US market). The closeness between servers of traders and markets is important because it makes possible to execute only a small percent of orders basing on quickly collected information. Therefore, companies in financial industry changed their business model in order to maintain their market share. The European financial authority ESMA published a definition of HFT that describes the phenomenon as a business where the firm’s servers (where orders are initiated) are in proximity, co-located to the exchange’s matching engine, the firm is using the highest possible bandwidth currently available in order to connect to the exchange; a bandwidth in the range of 10 GB/s would be considered among the fastest currently provided and firms that generate two messages per second over the entire trading day should be considered as using a machine/algorithm. This trend seems to be confirmed in these days and also social networks have an improved role. Our study is based on the resource based view (Barney 1996, 2001; Priem and Butler, 2001) that considers as strategic those resources that are Valuable, Rare, Inimitable and Non-substitutable (VRIN). In our case study, we discuss whether the capacity to innovate in advanced ICT systems can be considered as a “VRIN” resource on the same vein of other studies (Wade et Al., 2004). In details, we consider that capacity valuable because time to market of orders has become a critical performance. Therefore, we proposes measures for correlation between the time of publishing of significant “twits” posted by companies profiles and variations in company share quotation. This evidence can justify the effort that company is doing in automatically linking twits and orders. It can be also considered rare because buildings close to market’s office are of course limited and financial algorithmic experts are very specialized. Third, a competitive advantage could be sustainable if competitors are not able to duplicate a strategic asset perfectly. We discuss how the capacity to innovate in advanced ICT systems can be considered inimitable due to the elaboration of specific algorithms. Finally, this resource could be non- substitutable only for those firms able to innovate their algorithms continuously. In our conclusion, we consider that the capacity to innovate in advanced ICT systems can create a sustainable competitive advantage if it is supported by a continuous innovation.

ABSTRACT. This case study features the experiences of Marks & Spencer, a leading U.K. retailer, in deploying the latest round of its radio frequency identification (RFID) initiative as a way of laying the foundation for attaining omnichannel retailing capabilities. The prize to be obtained is inventory accuracy and reliability; this study focuses on attempts to reach inventory management improvements in the retail stores first. The exploration of M&S is successful and in the future, M&S would like to extend its RFID enablement to its entire supply chain which would include its manufacturers and distribution centers. This case study also uses the qualitative research method of content analysis of conference transcripts of talks given by key M&S executives who deployed their RFID initiatives.

ABSTRACT. With the growing emphasis on visualization as a mechanism for analyzing and exploring large and complex data sets, visualization research has recognized the need of reusing prior design knowledge instead of starting from scratch. This fact is especially relevant in designing control systems in which alarm visualizations are key artifacts for human operators to maintain an awareness of the state of the process under control. In this context, there is a plethora of design materials in the form of design rules that collect design knowledge about known ways to design alarm visualizations. However, these design rules can be too abstract, not comprehensive enough, and loosely coupled, being difficult to be interpreted and applied by non-experienced designers. Aiming at overcoming this situation, this paper proposes a design pattern language as a fitting approach to disseminate reusable alarm visualization design knowledge. The final aim is to provide designers with an easy access to the existing body of knowledge of recognized alarm visualization design solutions for operating control systems.

ABSTRACT. This paper develops a contextual model of individuals’ intention to accept/reject e-banking in Lebanon. It captures the influence of a local cultural variable on banking e-services’ acceptance at the first stages of the adoption process. Based on the IDT and MATH, an adapted model was proposed that includes religiosity in order to identify the factors that would influence the adoption of Internet banking. The proposed model was empirically tested using data collected through a survey designed to capture a cross-sectional snapshot of the underlying phenomena. Data was collected from over 147 Lebanese potential adopters of e-banking. The results revealed that hedonic factors are an antecedent to the utilitarian factors that with social influences and computer self efficacy explain ebanking acceptance. In addition, extrinsic religiosity is an antecedent to the social influences and intrinsic religiosity influences the computer self efficacy. The implications of the study are discussed and suggestions for future research presented.

ABSTRACT. The healthcare domain represents a field where the territorial intelligence and ICT can be prof-itably combined to strengthen the skills of a territory, to understand its phenomena, to interpret local dynamics concerning the ordinary arrangement as well as extraordinary phenomena in-volving patients, institutions and organizations. The results presented in this paper are addressed to face the challenges of territory sustainable development, encouraging mutualisation and cooperative exploitation of information between individuals and communities. In particular, the main goal of the research carried out within the healthcare domain is to provide patients with personalized services based on a technology with a limited invasive effect, through the experimentation of new solutions meant to share information and integrate software components. The process model discussed in this paper and the derived application, MyDDiary, represent a concrete modality of interrelationships among territorial actors devoted to the patients’ empowerment.

ABSTRACT. In recent years technology has become a ubiquitous element of higher education and ownership of technology such as smart phones, tablets and laptops has be-come prevalent amongst university students. At the same time academics are wor-ried about the lack of engagement with their courses by students. Part of this dis-engagement appears to be that students are distracted from academic engagement in class by the use of personal technology. This paper discusses research that was conducted at the University of Portsmouth and questions the true impact of tech-nology and engagement from a socio-technical perspective. It is a qualitative, in-depth exploratory study into examples of experiences and attitudes.

ABSTRACT. While its size and complexity make it a powerful knowledge source, the Deep Web has a wide variety of offerings that can be adapted to meet business needs such as: competitive intelligence, cross-enterprise collaboration, techno-elitism and innovative technology solutions. Additionally, elements associated with higher risks in terms of trading and security such as crypto-currency and onion routing start finding their place in the current business environment. This paper outlines the potential of the Deep Web as a SME business tool by reviewing a set of benefits and risks associated with its content, tools and technologies. The study represent an account of what the academic and practitioner literature define in terms of concepts, benefits and risks and their correspondents in the real business world based on the experience of various SME representatives. The technology gap is highly visible in this field, with businesses who have been at the forefront of the Deep Web exploitation for years and other businesses who have no knowledge of it. In the meantime, regulatory bodies are still arguing whether they should regulate the Deep Web or not and where to fit it in the online surveillance and privacy discussions. Data has been gathered from previous academic and practitioner publications, a number of small and medium enterprises and academics with interest in the field in order to provide a brief account of the socio-technical world surrounding the Deep Web. The limitations observed during the primary research stage show that company confidence in the Deep Web is at an early stage. This paper aims to provide a initial review of its potential role within the business world and the risks that companies are vulnerable to both as Deep Web users and sources of Deep Web data.

ABSTRACT. This paper surveys the application of Socio-Technical Design (STD) in the deployment of computer based systems in organizations and tries to explain its successes and difficulties relating it to the evolution of information systems. Moreover, it continues this story recalling the contributions given to the interactions between humans and machines in the work places give by CSCW and related research areas. Finally it shows that a dialogue between STD and CSCW could be beneficial but requires that both of them makes a radical move towards a closer attention to technology, as, today, technological innovation needs to be grounded on what we know about work practices and work organization

ABSTRACT. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are getting very widespread both in formal and informal learning. However the literature suggests that organizational features and culture may influence their current implementation. This study explores the use and the diffusion of ICTs in Italian Corporate Universities. After a comprehensive review of the literature, we report and discuss the results of a survey involving 20 Italian Corporate Universities. Our findings reveal they do not make extensive use of ICTs. Compared to the dominant literature and common practice, we provide some insights and interpretations on these “deviant” behaviors.

ABSTRACT. Employer branding has nowadays become a strategic tool used by companies to develop the e-relation with their partners (e-Partner Relationship Management). This article treats the evolution of employee branding on social media platforms, and uses a study to better understand the new facets created by social media. Through interviews with a number of hotel managers in Paris, we will present the evolution of the concept of employer branding as well as summarize the different facets of e-employer branding within social media.

ABSTRACT. In the last decades, virtual teams have been increasingly adopted within organizations. Academic literature has studied this trend especially fo-cusing on factors affecting virtual team’s effectiveness as well as opportunities and disadvantages related to their usage. Nevertheless, there is a need to explore more in depth the kind of initiatives that the HR Department has to promote for sustain effective virtual teams particularly in terms of training and development actions. The research questions addressed in this research in progress paper are: What are the training needs perceived by virtual teams’ members in the early stage of their adoption? What are the perceived benefits and challenges related to the early stage of virtual collaboration? We conducted an exploratory study in order to promote a first understanding of factors likely to affect virtual team’s effectiveness with special focus on training needs in the early stages of virtual team membership. Our methodology consisted of a qualitative approach by in-terviewing five virtual team members of Nielsen TAM Italy. In this paper the results of this qualitative study are presented. The goal of this exploratory phase is to restitute a large part of the complexity which accompanies the creation of conditions for effective virtual teams and to identify the most critical issues to be taken into account for the further research steps.

ABSTRACT. The ability to understand, or even to anticipate, business needs is the necessary input to create value for the whole organization and so to transform IT into «business technology». In this context, it is important to capture expectations and to rationalize the application portfolio, in order to avoid obsolescence, manage related costs, and support the convergence with companies’ business goals. The purpose of this paper is to understand if it is possible to define a useful model to manage the application portfolio over time. To answer this question, the case of Edison S.p.A. has been analyzed. Against a critical situation, the IT Management of the company investigated a way of increasing the control over the application portfolio and defined a strategy for its migration to an integrated platform, in order to increase the level of alignment between IT and business processes and to prepare for changing requirements in the future.

ABSTRACT. This paper addresses the role of power and interests in implementing a new Information System (IS) in an organization. It examines how responses to external pressures and expectations can be leaded by powerful agents that can use resources, and their membership to relevant social and institutional groupings in order to generate a transformational process in their organization. To study these interactions, the paper adopts the circuits of power introduced by Backhouse et al. (2006). Based on a case study of an implementation of an integrated IS in a private University in Lebanon, this paper portrays how the implementation of such dispositif results from the interactions of power among the different actors and stakeholders involved. The case study also shows how the different interests and objectives of actors and stakeholders were influenced by exogenous contingencies and institutional forces. It shows how IS can become a dispositif of power that can replace the chain of command and organizational structure authority. Finally, this paper discusses theoretical and practical implications for the future development of these results.

ABSTRACT. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are enablers for cooperative and collective online shopping, which is a novel phenomenon also known under the terms “group buying” and “collective buying”, which can be found in busi-ness-to-business (B2B) contexts as well as in business-to-consumer (B2C) shopping transactions. We analyze recent developments regarding enablers and inhibitors of ICT-based group buying models in various markets. We perform a thorough analysis of group buying models with intent to explain the evolution, developments and changes of online group-shopping variations. Thus, we give an overview of approaches and derived variants of the online group buying mod-el highlighted with selected real-world application examples. A detailed SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) for each of the two dominant approaches (top-down and bottom-up) represents the core contribution of the paper and may contribute to the development and improvement of future business models in the field.

ABSTRACT. Disclosing voluntary information, such as Intellectual Capital (IC) performance, may produce both beneficial and unintended effects (Beattie and Smith 2012, Beattie, McInnes, and Fearnley 2004, Holland 2006). As a matter of fact, on the one hand, companies may find economic and managerial incentives – on the basis of agency theory, legitimacy theory, signalling theory and stakeholder theory – to disclose more than mandatory information. On the other hand, firms may support some costs such as the loss of competitive advantage for giving away company’s secrets, the provision costs for collecting, organising and disclosing information, and the litigation costs (Beattie and Smith 2012, Elliot, and Jacobson 1994). The first argument is linked to a literature stream pointing out that better information quality decreases information asymmetry in the market and, consequently, information risk for firms. The second argument, instead, supports the assumption that more information could lead to unintended consequences, even if audited. The aim of this research is to analyse the effect that IC disclosure may have on the information risk, measured as the way in which the market is informed about the firm performance. In doing so, we used the analysts’ stock recommendations as a proxy to evaluate the information risk. To test our main research question, we assessed the extent to which a sample of 3020 American listed companies disclosed IC information on a stand-alone social or IC statement over the period 2004-2012. Then, we run panel data regressions to investigate the effect of IC disclosure on information risk. Empirical results may be of interest for both academics and practitioners, since allows to reduce a gap in the literature about the contribution of the IC disclosure on firms’ reputation and to give support to managers to properly understand the potential both beneficial and unintended effects of such voluntary disclosure.

ABSTRACT. Recent research has highlighted how intensely accounting literature has focused on the potential benefits of XBRL for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of communication between companies and their internal and external stakeholders. Some studies have analyzed ex ante the degree of compatibility between the existing XBRL taxonomies and actual corporate financial reporting practices, in order to identify the degree of potential misfit between these taxonomies and the related reported items in company financial statements. Other works have addressed the structural characteristics of voluntary XBRL adopters, particularly in the US, based on the voluntary filing program of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Finally, some papers consider the relevant impacts of XBRL technology in one of two ways: either (a) once its formal implementation has already occurred (on a voluntary or mandatory basis); or (b) even before then, by assessing ex ante the potential impacts of this technology. Based on existing research on the motivation and characteristics of companies providing voluntary disclosures, our work takes a third way, by considering a pilot project activated in 2011 to implement the IFRS Taxonomy in the Italian market, thanks to an initiative of XBRL Italia. This empirical study was conducted over a fairly limited sample of both listed and non-listed Italian companies using a case study methodology and applying the 2011 IFRS taxonomy to the main quantitative financial statements of the surveyed companies (statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, cash flow statement and statement of changes in equity), which we globally refer to as “face financials.” The results of each application were then grouped together to derive qualitative considerations on the extent to which the 2011 IFRS Taxonomy fitted the actual needs of preparers. This study is qualitative in nature and represents the first step of a multi-year project to improve the IFRS Taxonomy by identifying the labels that need to be adjusted to match the local Italian accounting requirements.

ABSTRACT. Last years have been characterized by an increasing need for transparency towards public organizations with a pressing request for publishing official documents and financial data on their institutional websites. The aim of this paper is to conduct a theoretical analysis to understand whether XBRL could be a potential instrument for improving the transparency in public organizations or could represent only a useless redundancy. The analysis highlights criticalities related to the definition of the taxonomy due to the heterogeneity of accounting information systems. It shows also that some existing codes (SIOPE, integrated chart of accounts, etc.) could offer perspectives to XBRL adoption.

ABSTRACT. Recommendation Systems have made a long way since their first appearance in the e-commerce platforms.Until then, evolved recommendation systems have been successfully integrated in social networks. Now its time to test their usability and replicate their success in new exciting areas of web-enabled phenomena. One of these is crowdsourcing. Research in the IS field is investigating the need, benefits and challenges of linking the two phenomena. At the moment, empirical works have only highlighted the need to implement these techniques to recommend tasks in crowdsourcing distributed work platforms and the benefits for contributors and firms. We review the variety of the tasks that can be crowdsourced through these platforms and theoretically investigate how the impact of these techniques on the outcome of the crowdsourcing process differs based on the nature of the task. Adopting a Technology Affordances and Constraints Theory we anticipate the tensions in the creative crowdsourcing platforms and the contribution the innovation processes.

ABSTRACT. This review reports the recent advances in food packaging technologies as tools to satisfy consumer and food industry principal demands, as food tracing in every stage of the supply chain and food quality and safety assurance. Both the latest and the most consolidated applications have been reported in the areas of intelligent and active packaging technologies. Reasons and constrains of present commercial implementation scarcity, especially in the European market, are also commented.

ABSTRACT. In recent years Europe has been confronted with several macroeconomic challenges, such as the financial crisis and a stronger global competition, as well as internal socio-economic challenges. The Europe 2020 Strategy highlighted the need for our continent to take an innovative path to respond to these challenges by building upon one of Europe’s key strengths; its talented and diverse creative population. Creative industries require imaginative yet dynamic solutions such as the integration of user-centred approaches, the innovative use of ICT, the design of new services for increased social inclusion to increase their competitiveness as well as contributing to broader cultural diversity. This paper sets to implement the theoretical ground work for the implementation of a platform, which supports the entire lifecycle of the innovation process, from idea conception to idea implementation. Key benefits include direct innovation outcomes such as increased speed to market, increased product quality, and a reduced risk of innovation efforts not meeting customer needs. The platform will apply creative methods to help end-users generate and evaluate ideas in their early stages and if feedback is positive to move forward towards their implementation.

ABSTRACT. The growing diffusion of digital technology in everyday life is bringing into the realm of technological products new users with novel demands, which translate into novel design and research issues. Furthermore, the nature of these new ICT products, based on the idea of interaction as phenomenologically situated, raises the necessity of relying on new design and evaluation methods. Action Research, based on a juxtaposition of action and research, and committed to the production of new knowledge through the seeking of solutions/improvements to “real-life” practical problem situations, appears to well cope with these new demands: unlike laboratory experiments, which struggle to maintain relevance to the real world, the “laboratory” of Action Research is the real world itself. In this paper we report on our experience within an Action Research project aimed at conceiving a novel children-oriented data gathering techniques and using it for the context-of-use analysis of the TERENCE project, which developed a TEL system for children. Not only did our experience provide solutions for the problem at hand, but it was also the opportunity for a reflection on Action Research itself in the case in which the objective of the research is the definition of a new method for solving the problem at hand.

ABSTRACT. Museums are valued as social and cultural heritage institutions connecting past with present and future. Museums as information based and knowledge oriented institutions are embracing Internet technologies for encouraging participation of the users in cultural activities by developing virtual museums moving from being custodial and collectiondriven institution to becoming audience and information-driven institutions. Technology does not exist per se but is socially shaped. Museums developing the potential offered by new technologies have the opportunity to promote social innovation opening up to audience as active participant in the definition of cultural contents emphasizing the interaction and communication between museum and users. 

ABSTRACT. People of all ages can have special requirements when it comes to social interaction. As intelligent systems with natural language processing are becoming more capable of meaningful conversations with their users there is scope to utilize this technology of supporting individuals unique social needs. Technologies that have their focus on the end user can personalise themselves by adapting to the conversations with the user to encourage longer and more engaging interactions. This engagement provokes the user to continually change their expectations of the conversation resulting in a co-evolving socio-technical system that helps meet the end users unique needs with social interaction. Within this paper, we explore two areas where social interaction can affect people’s well-being and how end user supporting technologies can help provide support for their unique needs.

ABSTRACT. Despite the considerable interest in the effects of Social Media as a catalyst for socio-economic-political change, there is a limited understanding of its role in developing countries. This research aims to explore the areas where Social Media is used and to identify the impact of SM in those areas so that an overall scenario of the use of SM in different areas can be developed and the areas that are not covered by the existing research can be identified. Five main areas are identified and analyzed and an informative framework is developed to identify the valuable directions for the future research.

ABSTRACT. This paper reflects on the relationship between various stakeholders in the healthcare industry and intelligent medical systems It take into consideration the potential impact that intelligent system has on healthcare. The aim of the paper is to emphasize a set of decisive factors for the successful deployment of intelligent systems in healthcare including the individual needs of patients and medical staff. .The motivation to the author of this study was the publicity and investment that intelligent agents like Watson have benefitted from since the outset of their trial deployments in healthcare organisations, which have preceded doctors’ feedback. In this paper we discuss some incentives to use intelligent medical systems and the ethical considerations. Potential roles of intelligent systems in healthcare are explored from a socio-technical perspective.

ABSTRACT. Organizational learning and the continuous development and acquisition of competences by a firm’s employee are fundamental instruments for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. In this scenario, digital technologies play a relevant role in providing a ubiquitous platform to foster and facilitate this learning process. This paper, as research in progress, aims to define the main design aspects of competence acquisition mobile app. In order to achieve this goal it adopts a Design Science research approach and anchors the requirements elicitation process is on competence acquisition literature. Once the the system key components and characteristics are presented the paper rounds off with future research directions.

ABSTRACT. This research aims to shed light on a subject with lack of research in a country with a society that seems modern and open to the world, but at the same time suffers from perpetual political conflict making any form of modernization impossible. This situation was found by other research to increase collectivist cultural dimension of the people in the absence of support from local authorities. The research uses Lebanon as a context; despite a very difficult economic environment and limited financial flexibility, Lebanese companies are realizing the need to develop their distinctive capabilities by developing their information resources. We will be focusing on LSCA, an insurance company leader in the Lebanese market. This work will attempt to understand how the local communities’ modernization period may be a key factor in the implementation and development of the HRIS in companies, especially the LSCA which is in a process of integration of an HRIS project.

ABSTRACT. Performance management has become an important topic in the public sector, especially in those contexts where the pressures for increasing efficiency, accountability and quality force organizations to revise their modus operandi. Measuring and assessing performance demands the support by an information system, hence this study investigates the impact of the introduction of a performance management system (PMS) on the information system (IS) in public organizations. Empirical evidences derive from a single case study involving a public higher education institution that has developed and implemented a PMS. The implementation of the IS was influenced by the ever-changing regulatory prescriptions and the lack of a coherent design, this led to a patchy operation of the system which comprises areas where information management is computer based, and other where it is still manually handled.

ABSTRACT. The use of technology has involved a revolution in higher education but even when the benefits of e-learning have still not been fully demonstrated, blended learning is increasingly gaining support as the model of the future in higher education, especially in those international ones in constant quest for excellence and innovation in the learning experiences they propose to their learners. But, how are educational institutions facing the use of technology for educational purposes? How do they have to change in order to be ready for successfully adopting this kind of learning model? In this paper we intend to answer these questions, and to provide some recommendations to educational institutions in order to help them understand how to lead the change management processes necessary for blended learning to become a full-fledged reality at their schools.

ABSTRACT. Museums as memory and cultural heritage institutions collect, preserve and display cultural heritage by connecting past with present and future. Internet technologies as threat and opportunity help museum to gain legitimacy as social and cultural institution creating value for community ad society. Museum as information based and knowledge oriented institutions are embracing new technologies coherently with trend and social need of participation in cultural activities moving from custodial and collection drive to audience and information driven institutions based on managing communication and knowledge sharing. Museums as organizations may select a different path for change moving from the merely ‘virtual’ dimension to an institution knowledge based, participatory and learning oriented by following an information or knowledge approach between enhancing internal processes and opening to audience as active participant in definition of contents for preservation of cultural identity and heritage.

ABSTRACT. The adoption of a common financial reporting taxonomy offers several potential benefits (Debreceny and Gray, 2001; Baldwin and Trinkle, 2011), especially in terms of enhanced accessibility of financial reports, analysis of financial data and comparison across companies. Currently, XBRL implementation is not homogeneous around the world, since its adoption could be required on a mandatory or a voluntary basis and limited to companies with specific features (e.g. listed companies). Additionally, some countries require XBRL filing only for the balance sheet and the income statement, whereas other countries demand for its adoption in the notes as well. In such a scenario the Italian context provides an interesting field for this topic. In Italy XBRL filings for the balance sheet and the income statement are mandatory for unlisted companies from 2009 financial statements. A mandatory extension to the notes is effective from 2015, after two experimental versions adopted on a voluntary basis in 2013 and 2014. This gives us a research opportunity to explore the effects of the mandatory XBRL extension to financial statements notes in a separate way from its adoption for the balance sheet and the income statement. Additionally, unlisted companies generally present a more limited organizational structure that might affect the quantity and quality of disclosures and the degree of pervasiveness of XBRL implementation. The usefulness of a common taxonomy could be really boosted through the extension of XBRL to financial statement notes as well, as recently claimed by a wide set of Italian actors involved in the financial reporting process (Avallone et al., 2015). Particularly, practitioners sustained that tagging notes offers a considerable number of potential benefits, since it could potentially provide data in a more comparable way, enhancing usability of financial data and thus improving the efficiency of subsequent financial analyses. Additionally, in their opinion XBRL extension to the notes could lead an improvement in financial disclosure. Indeed, unlisted firms often provide very limited information in notes, with frequent cases of non-compliance even to mandatory requirements. Based on these arguments, our study aims at exploring whether chartered accountants have practically perceived, the benefits potentially arising from the mandatory extension of the XBRL taxonomy to financial statement notes as well. Furthermore, we provide evidence on major costs they incurred in order to fulfill this new requirement, in terms of additional time and expenses. This issue is particularly relevant considering the European trend in reducing administrative burdens and the fact that most unlisted companies are SMEs. In pursuit of our objectives and consistently with the call for more field-based research on XBRL (Alles and Debreceny, 2012), we collect data with semi-structured interviews with Italian chartered accountants involved in the production of financial information, in order to assess their perception of costs and benefits arising from the mandatory XBRL adoption for the notes in Italy. The primary contribution of our study is to provide evidence on the influence of this new requirement, highlighting the actual usefulness of XBRL extension to the notes in improving practice. Main findings of our study have practical implications, especially for regulators and users.

ABSTRACT. In this exploratory paper we adopt a strategic and organizational perspective in facing issues related to define and measure a digital strategy. We argue that the BSC may be a suitable methodology and tool for this purpose. Therefore, we propose a Social Media Balanced Scorecard as a dynamic approach to performance evaluation in the changing world of social media. Relevant theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) is a set of valuable tools to manage a company at its best. However, it is expensive and complex to implement. After a first part of theoretical introduction about the SMA framework, this paper will at-tempt to assess the possible contribution from the Information Technologies (IT) in this field both theoretically and empirically. The second part describes a medi-um-size company and its experiences in implementing a SMA system. We will describe the Nespoli Group, which comprehends 45 medium-size firms localized all-over Europe and the issues linked to the management of such a differentiated multinational ensemble of entities. In the third part, we will evaluate in depth a particular indicator, the Service Level Agreement (SLA), to understand how IT can effectively improve a SMA system. Several final considerations conclude the paper.

ABSTRACT. Based on an overview of 90 contests in the food sector this paper aims at reaching a better understanding of the many drivers pushing companies to launch contests, and thus suggesting a possible classification of the contest types. The next step of our research will be to identify specific design and management factors for each type of contest and provide a set of guidelines according to the company’s goals.

ABSTRACT. Managing innovation capabilities for SMEs is a way to increase competitiveness in the market. However, most of these companies are not able to properly manage these capabilities, either through lack of interest, unawareness or lack of an adapted tool. As a matter of fact evaluation is necessary to manage all the innovation process within the company and assess the efficiency, the effectiveness and pertinence of piloting decisions and investments. Many researchers have proposed various models for evaluating the innovation capabilities of companies. Among others ERPI laboratory develop a model and a web tool based on multicriteria algorithm and the analysis of management practices (instead of result evaluation and resource consumption). But globally the use of innovation assessment tools still remains weak. One reason is: an innovation management tool has to integrate the theoretical characteristics of the domain combined with efficient ergonomic qualities regarding CEO functioning modes. The global aim is to create a feedback loop that provides information and improvements to both scientists and entrepreneurs. Scientists have a return on experience to improve and validate the methodology and entrepreneurs have a tool that improves the performance of their company. This article presents the case of innovation-on-the-web.com, a proposed tool by the ERPI laboratory of the University of Lorraine, France. Finally we discuss the implications of the implementation of this application

ABSTRACT. Interactive ICT products falling under the umbrella of the 3rd paradigm of the HCI are posing significant challenges to designers. Context – and the way in which it has to be conceptually and epistemologically addressed – is one of the issues central in the general debate around ubiquitous computing and phenomenologically situated interaction: context strays from being yet another non-technological aspect affecting the design to become a central component not separable from activities carried on by means of the interactive application. This paper addresses design issues related to this debate within the case-study of the exploration of a dynamically changing territory upon occurrence of some kind of catastrophic event (e.g. earthquake, fire, flooding), by proposing a log-ic-based multiagent-oriented framework allowing affordable and flexible plan-ning capabilities, in which dynamic knowledge on environment and activity plans are seamlessly integrated.

ABSTRACT. The success of software applications, in a worldwide setup offering simple development and distribution models, is often determined by the quality and ease of use of provided interfaces. In this paper, we present a framework for multimodal signal analysis operating in con- junction with any other Android application to estimate the cognitive load imposed by its interface. The framework integrates seamlessly with such applications, even existing ones, by acting as middleware between the sensors layer and the application logic. The interaction between interface elements is mainly targeted in this work: a game presenting an increasingly complex interface was designed and tracking modules for touch events and eye movements were implemented. We show that the framework is able to capture and present raw data together with underlying models estimated by least squares approximation. We then discuss the implications of such a framework for the evaluation of efficient application interfaces.

ABSTRACT. The paper presents a participative method to build an information system on oc-cupational risk. The sharp-end operators, who constantly deal with unplanned in-teractions within the socio-technical work systems, develop a specific experience, centred on risk scenarios rather than on risk factors. To highlight this experience and benefit of the operators’ holistic view on risk, we carried out a descriptive analysis of work activity in three hospital laboratories using an elicitation interview: the “Instructions to the double”. Several multifactor risk scenarios emerged. These episodic and narrative data were processed and structured into an infor-mation system, centred on the association of activity and risk. The system allows to compare different activities and organizational services, and offers a common reference that can bridge the gap between safety experts’ and work experts’ lan-guages, for a more effective and comprehensive risk management.

ABSTRACT. The challenges of socio-technical design are demonstrated by the case of using digital pens for ordering services as a basis for coordinated service delivery. The employing and combination of a variety of methods for socio-technical design is described: survey, ethnography, creativity techniques, walkthrough, usability testing and practical pre-tests. These methods are reflected with respect to redesign and support of evolutionary growth. One of the critical challenges is the restriction of the invested resources with respect to practicability of combining various methods. Modeling socio-technical work processes proves to be an appropriate means to integrate technical features with corresponding organizational measures.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we start by deconstructing the widely-mentioned concept of care in the IS literature, to unveil its inherent shortcomings and ambiguities, and find opportunities to go beyond it while preserving its value for the development of better socio-technical systems. We find an important strand in the feminist studies tradition, and in particular in the contributions related to the so called ``new materialism''. Notwithstanding their differences, these contrarian and often neglected voices point to the importance of relational thinking and material engagement with our technological objects. For this reason, in continuing the path indicated by Ciborra with his idea of care, we advocate a new shift from this step to the next one, where becoming matters more than being, and the care about matter is more important than design abstractions.

ABSTRACT. The purpose highlights potential IT and crowdworking development in the lean enterprise. The aim of this paper is to identify the role of IT in the “Lean” production systems and to define the crowdworking evolution. In order to advance an organizational model, the research questions are: 1. Can IT increase the success of Lean Production System? 2 Could be to define the "working" the activity of a crowd of individuals on work? 3. It can be said that the approach to Lean Enterprise flexibility of organizational boundaries of enterprise involving also the entity that performs active action on the work? The research is carry out analyzing the literature in depth and conducting exploratory investigation following a qualitative methodology. The literature analyzed and the forward-thinking of the authors reveals an integration model that highlights Lean Enterprise and Crowdworking innovative concept.

ABSTRACT. Online Communities (OCs) have been increasingly explored by organizations for a variety of purposes, and investigated by the literature, focusing on issues like individual motivation, knowledge sharing, and governance structure. Few studies focused on the entanglement among technology, people, and organizational structures that support OCs working dynamics. This paper addresses this issue by identifying causal mechanisms sustaining the collective actions of OCs through a retroduction process. Based on the study of the OC of an Italian political movement, the Five Stars Movement, the concept of af-fordance is involved to describe the generative mechanisms and new affordanc-es are identified on collective action within OCs.

ABSTRACT. The interpretation of organizations like dynamic entities imposes some fundamen-tal challenges for today managers. Firms have not derived value simply by link-ing IT to their business processes: they have learned how to benefit from IT by developing a competency in creating and evolving an IT architecture, able to iden-tify and implement the organization’s strategic objectives. Cloud computing rep-resents a possible answer to companies’ needs of flexibility, giving them the chance to implement new services more quickly than the past and without expen-sive capital investments. The aim of this work is to analyze the impact of cloud on value creation opportunities for companies that decide to migrate their IT in-frastructure toward the on demand model. The assumption that similar choices, from a technological point of view, can imply various value expectations has been attested through the cross-analysis of two companies that both chose public cloud but starting, from deeply different motivations.