Actualizing big data analytics for smart cities: A cascading affordance study

This study investigates how Big Data Analytics (BDA) can be leveraged to support a city’s transformation into a smart destination. We conduct an in-depth case study of a city-in-transformation and adopt the perspective of technology affordances to uncover the varying opportunities enabled by BDA to facilitate the attainment of smart tourism goals. Our findings unveil three types of BDA affordances and demonstrate how these affordances are actualized in a cascading manner to enable informed decisions and a sustainable development of smart tourism. Implications are presented for future investigation of the affordances of BDA in smart tourism, as well as for policy makers and practitioners who engage in the development of innovative tourism services for the smart citizens.     

传统企业数字化转型过程与机制探索性研究

   数字化转型已经成为当前很多传统企业的战略选择。然而,已有文献对数字化转型的过程与内在机理缺乏深入研究。借助科技给予与意义建构理论视角,通过对典型企业——双星集团的案例研究,文章对数字化转型的过程与内在机理进行了探索性分析。文章发现传统企业的数字化转型是一个自上而下的过程,包含转型发起、形成共识与转型实现三个阶段。在每一个阶段,由行为主体和数字化技术形成的二元结构是数字化转型给予形成（即阶段性转型认知）的社会基础。文章进一步揭示了支撑企业转型的四种数字转型给予,包括：数字化战略给予、共享的数字化战略给予、数字化业务战略给予与数字化业务战略实现。意义建构是促进转型给予形成的主要机制;意义解构和意义给赋是高层次主体影响低层主体意义建构的主要方式,也是实现过程转换的主要机制。文章打开了数字化转型过程黑箱,对IT驱动的组织转型研究和相关理论进行了有效补充,也为我国传统企业转型与新旧动能转换提供了有益借鉴。     

An empirical study on business analytics affordances enhancing the management of cloud computing data security

The mechanism of business analytics affordances enhancing the management of cloud computing data security is a key antecedent in improving cloud computing security. Based on information value chain theory and IT affordances theory, a research model is built to investigate the underlying mechanism of business analytics affordances enhancing the management of cloud computing data security. The model includes business analytics affordances, decision-making affordances of cloud computing data security, decision-making rationality of cloud computing data security, and the management of cloud computing data security. Simultaneously, the model considers the role of data-driven culture and IT business process integration. It is empirically tested using data collected from 316 enterprises by Partial Least Squares-based structural equation model. Without data-driven culture and IT business process integration, the results suggest that there is a process from business analytics affordances to decision-making affordances of cloud computing data security, decision-making rationality of cloud computing data security, and to the management of cloud computing data security. Moreover, Data-driven culture and IT business process integration have a positive mediation effect on the relationship between business analytics affordances and decision-making affordances of cloud computing data security. The conclusions in this study provide useful references for the enterprise to strengthen the management of cloud computing data security using business analytics.     

智慧城市信息安全影响因素与关联路径研究 ——基于扎根理论的探索性分析

【目的/意义】面对智慧城市日益突出的信息安全问题,构建智慧城市信息安全影响框架模型,探究影响因 素之间的相互关系,为提高智慧城市信息安全风险应对能力,确保智慧城市系统平稳运行提供参考。【方法/过程】 基于扎根理论,从半结构化访谈获得的访谈资料入手,通过开放式编码、主轴式编码、选择性编码和饱和度检验等 几个阶段,利用 NVivo12 软件对智慧城市信息安全影响要素进行关系梳理,构建智慧城市信息安全影响框架模 型。【结果/结论】根据三阶段编码分析,识别出智慧城市信息安全影响因素,阐明用户自身、数据服务、人员管理、 外部环境4大因素对智慧城市信息安全的影响及其相互之间的作用关系,为智慧城市信息安全体系建设提供较为 全面的参考。【创新/局限】本研究仅研究了智慧城市信息安全的影响因素,未对智慧城市信息安全进行数据层面的 实证探索,但也为日后智慧城市信息安全的进一步研究提供了新的思路。     

Autonomous vehicles in the smart city era: An empirical study of adoption factors important for millennials

Smart cities are developing at increasing speed. Smart cities rely on the deployment of information and communication technology (ICT) that is digitally transforming our habitats. Digital transformation affects several areas from transportation, energy, government to the environment. But, primarily, it affects citizens. Therefore, the adoption of all areas of the smart city holds great research potential. The purpose of this paper is thus to provide an insight into millennials’ adoption of autonomous vehicles (AV), which are at the forefront of future transport. Millennials are an important focus group for smart city concepts since they are keen to adopt technology and new transport modes. Our research focuses on technology adoption, perception of the benefits, security, safety, mobility-related efficiencies and concerns as the key AV adoption factors. The impact of these factors is empirically tested with structural equation modelling using data from 382 millennials. We confirm the perceived benefits of AV are vital factors for AV adoption whereas the perceived safety of AV significantly reduces the influence of various concerns regarding AV.     

Smart cities: Advances in research—An information systems perspective

Smart cities employ information and communication technologies to improve: the quality of life for its citizens, the local economy, transport, traffic management, environment, and interaction with government. Due to the relevance of smart cities (also referred using other related terms such as Digital City, Information City, Intelligent City, Knowledge-based City, Ubiquitous City, Wired City) to various stakeholders and the benefits and challenges associated with its implementation, the concept of smart cities has attracted significant attention from researchers within multiple fields, including information systems. This study provides a valuable synthesis of the relevant literature by analysing and discussing the key findings from existing research on issues related to smart cities from an Information Systems perspective. The research analysed and discussed in this study focuses on number of aspects of smart cities: smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart citizens, smart government, and smart architecture as well as related technologies and concepts. The discussion also focusses on the alignment of smart cities with the UN sustainable development goals. This comprehensive review offers critical insight to the key underlying research themes within smart cities, highlighting the limitations of current developments and potential future directions.     

Pathways to developing information technology-enabled capabilities in born-digital new ventures

Despite significant business opportunities made possible through advancements in technology, readily available digital technologies are often overlooked and not used by new ventures. To address this knowledge gap, this paper looks at the relationships between readily available digital technologies and born-digital new venture capabilities. We use an affordance lens to explore conditions in which born-digital new ventures interact with digital technologies to actualize digital affordances that facilitate the development of important capabilities. First, using the existing literature, we present a research model and its key elements. Then, using data on new ventures in a Canadian university incubator, we conduct fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and develop seven configurational research propositions as pathways to develop information technology-enabled organizational capabilities in new ventures. Using this retroductive approach, this research builds a context-specific middle-range theory that explains complex interactions between readily available digital technologies and new venture characteristics, where resources are provided by incubators in dynamic environments, to facilitate the development of ITOCs in the new ventures. We close by describing the study’s theoretical and practical implications.     

智能电网中的云计算平台研究

统一坚强智能电网是未来电网发展的趋势,信息技术是其建设和发展的重要支撑,云计算为坚强智能电网下的海量数据处理、分析、存储、管理与计算平台提供了新的技术手段。为了更好地研究和利用云计算构建智能电网中的信息平台,首先对云计算进行了概述,总结了智能电网对信息平台的要求及云计算在智能电网中的应用,并结合已有研究对智能电网下云计算平台研究的新内容进行了讨论分析。     

网络视角下智慧城市外部智慧性作用机制探究

经济全球化快速发展使得城市之间的各类联系日益增多,要实现城市的智慧发展,不能仅关注城市内部的创新,也要重视其在整体网络中的表现。在城市网络理论视域下,采用社会网络分析法,将智慧城市在城市网络中的位置与作用定义为其外部智慧性,并以2016年中国193个试点智能城市为样本,利用主要企业总部-分公司布址数据构建智慧城市网络,探究智慧城市的外部智慧性对其内部智慧性绩效评估的影响与作用机理。研究发现,智慧城市在网络中的点入度、点出度、结构洞与互惠性等属性均对其内部智慧性的评估结果有显著的影响作用。新兴智慧城市要提升综合竞争力,应该识别自身的网络定位,增强与其他城市的联系与合作,形成内外联动,实现智慧城市发展的各项目标。     

基于数据安全技术的建筑三维协同设计管理平台研究

随着智慧建造技术发展,设计企业智慧设计实现方法倍受关注。研究符合设计企业设计管理需求的管理平台,解决设计企业设计管理中的数据安全问题,提高建筑设计企业的设计数据安全,是设计企业完成转型升级的必经之路。设计阶段的数据管理是建设项目全生命周期数据管理中的一环,通过对三维协同设计、建筑数据化管理等的现状进行分析研究,就三维模型批注查阅不便、建筑数据格式多样化、数据安全性低等问题,运用DLP手段、数字水印技术、数据编码等计算机技术构建了一个设计管理平台,该平台过滤了设计环节数据采集的恶意信息;阻止了数据处理过程中的数据丢失与被盗;通过数据源的追溯,解决了企业间的纠纷问题。最后,对该平台的建设与应用进行研究分析,提出了可普适推广使用的模式路径。     

Why do people use mobile payment technologies and why would they continue? An examination and implications from India

Mobile payment technology continues to spread across the globe, but its diffusion has not been uniform. Its low usage in developing economies is of particular concern to policymakers since this technology has the potential to enable financial inclusion. In this study, in order to develop policy interventions for greater usage, we comparatively analyze factors impacting actual usage and future use intention. India, with its uneven trajectory of mobile payments, gives us an appropriate field to investigate citizens’ usage behaviour. Considering users’ perceptions of both positive and negative attributes of the technology, we develop research models under the umbrella of the valence framework. We utilize technology affordances and constraints theory (TACT) to refine the research models through an understanding of various innovative uses. To test the valence-TACT models, we collect survey responses of 551 citizens across four Indian cities. The results from the models show how certain factors, such as convenience, reflection, and security, have different impacts on actual usage and future use intention, respectively. These findings have implications for critical issues like security, risk, and digital literacy, and can help in the design of policy recommendations for enhancing the use of mobile payments, thereby impacting financial inclusion for all. The valence-TACT model provides a theoretical contribution to mobile payment and innovation literature and also offers several policy insights.     

Impression management strategies on enterprise social media platforms: An affordance perspective

Enterprise Social Media Platforms (ESMPs) are arenas for self-presentation where employees construct, co-create, and maintain an online image among their colleagues. This study systemically evaluated the current literature to understand the potential of ESMPs in influencing employees’ impression management strategies from the affordance perspective. Drawing from a focused review of the literature on ESMPs’ affordances and impression management, this paper reclassified employees’ impression management strategies in the context of ESMPs. It proposes a conceptual framework that captures the complex relationship between ESMPs’ affordances and employees’ various impression management strategies. The framework highlights that ESMPs’ affordances affect employees’ impression management strategies, both positively and negatively, and proposes the contingent effects of individual motives and boundary management on the relationship between affordances and employees’ impression management strategies. Our literature review and proposed framework provide a useful basis for future studies on impression management on ESMPs. Our framework also helps employees manage impressions strategically and managers and ESMPs’ developers to fulfil ESMPs’ potential by understanding how affordance affects impression management strategies.     

Investigating context factors in citizen participation strategies: A comparative analysis of Swedish and Belgian smart cities

Modern cities currently face numerous challenges related to mobility, waste management, access to resources, etc. Smart Cities integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) to develop innovative solutions that can solve such challenges and create a higher quality of life for their citizens. Two elements need to be considered for smart cities to be successful. First, citizens must participate in the design of the smart city to take advantage of their ideas so that the smart city answers their real needs. Secondly, each city has its own unique characteristics that need to be considered to design a citizen participation strategy truly tailored and adapted to their respective context. In line with these two considerations, the goal of this paper is to identify the context factors that impact citizen participation strategies in smart cities. In order to reach that goal, we performed a qualitative case study of two cities that strive to be smart: Namur (Belgium) and Linköping (Sweden). This analysis allows us to understand how participation is implemented in two different cases and to infer the context factors that impact the respective strategies. Five context-factors have been identified in this study: the smart city consideration, the drivers for participation, the degree of centralization, the legal requirements, and the citizens’ characteristics. By identifying these factors, we can derive context-dependent recommendations about citizen participation for smart cities. These recommendations are then applied to the case of Brussels in Belgium.     

基于复杂网络分析的智慧政务信息协同结构及特征研究——以深圳市为例

[目的/意义]探究政务信息协同结构及特征对于切实推进智慧政务建设具有重要意义。文章以深圳市智慧政务信息协同结构分析为例,提出智慧政务信息协同结构的解析方法。[方法/过程]依据深圳市政务服务流程提取信息主体及信息链,基于业务流程解析其信息协同结构,构建信息协同网络,选取度、度分布、中心性、聚集系数、平均路径等分析指标解析网络拓扑结构及网络的无标度和小世界特征。[结果/结论]发现深圳市政务信息协同网络中主要存在两类信息主体,形成了以申请人、公安局、规划和国土资源部门为核心节点的政务信息协同结构,申请人作为网络中最为特殊的信息主体在信息协同网络优化过程中应被重点关注。基于具体政务业务流程数据,运用复杂网络分析方法,可以精确解析各个城市、区域的智慧政务信息协同结构及特征,为智慧政务的信息协同建设提供依据。     

区块链技术在智慧图书馆中的应用研究

[目的]智慧图书馆建设是一项综合性系统工程，融合了诸多学科和各类先进技术。区块链技术作为当今最具颠覆性的新技术，图书馆必须努力学习掌握，积极构建"区块链+"图书馆应用系统，从而加快推动图书馆智慧化建设。[内容]文章介绍了区块链技术及其核心价值，详细分析了区块链技术在智慧图书馆建设中的应用优势，最后设计了4个基于区块链技术的智慧图书馆应用系统。[方法]采用了文献调研法和比较分析法对区块链技术在图书馆智慧服务中的应用可行性进行了研究，并对新老应用系统进行了比较分析。[成果/结论]区块链技术具有数据稳定、共识机制、去中心化的3大主要特征，能够有效解决传统图书馆在信息收集、存储安全和信息传播等方面的难题，是构建智慧图书馆的一项关键性技术。区块链技术在我国图书馆的实际应用中还存在许多不足，需要我国图书馆界持续不断的学习与改革，以期与其他区块链产业的快速发展相同步。     

Smart offices: A productivity and well-being perspective

The rapid development of information communication technology has led towards the emergence of the “connected world” characterised by the pervasive embeddedness of smart technologies. Smart technologies have a transformative impact on different domains of life. The application of smart technologies redefines the way people live, interact and conduct business. To date, the attention of the scholarly community has been paid primarily to smart cities, smart manufacturing and smart homes. However, despite numerous studies discussing the benefits of advanced technologies in the workplace, there is a lack of research on smart offices and how they affect productivity and employee well-being. This opinion paper argues that office spaces constitute a distinctive type of space, and research on smart homes or manufacturing does not suffice to capture its essence. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to propose a research agenda that can advance the current literature on smart and information communication technologies in relation to workplace spaces and the potential implications these could have on productivity.     

Building Guanxi network in the mobile social platform: A social capital perspective

Mobile social platform such as WeChat Moments has gained great popularity in China in the past few years. However, there are still a lack of studies that focus on Guanxi network building in the virtual social community. Drawing upon social capital theory and technology affordance theory, this study develops a research model to examine the influences of platform media richness and interactivity on users’ social capital and participation behaviors in the WeChat Moments. An empirical survey was conducted in China and 287 valid data were collected from WeChat users. Structural equation modelling analysis was used to test the research model. The empirical results suggest that platform interactivity and media richness are significant technology affordances that promote users’ Guanxi network, and their influences are mediated by social interaction and shared understanding. Furthermore, Guanxi network is positively associated with users’ active participation in the WeChat Moments. Theoretical and practical implications are illustrated in the final section.     

Smart city model based on systems theory

While there are several partial solutions to model some aspects of cities (e.g. transportation or energy), there is no framework allowing modelling of a complex system such as a city. This paper aims on providing a solution that can be used by practitioners to model impact of different scenarios and smart city projects encapsulating different subsystems, such as transportation, energetics or, for example, eGovernment. The term “smart cities” is classified into Systems Theory, particularly focusing on Cyber-Physical Systems. This classification is further elaborated to define a new term, so-called Smart City Agent (SCA). The SCA is considered as the main building block for modelling smart cities. The approach within this paper however stresses the interconnection of different systems within a city. Its’ strength is in better exchange of data and among heterogeneous agents. This information management approach is the missing key in the growing market of partial smart city solutions as it will allow simulation of solutions in complex systems such as a city. The suitability of usefulness of the proposed approach is demonstrated on a use case dealing with charging of electrical vehicles. The results show that the approach is suitable for modelling of dynamic behaviour.     

How commitment and platform adoption drive the e-commerce performance of SMEs: A mixed-method inquiry into e-commerce affordances

To cope with the digital transition exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, managers of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need to adopt innovative practices to face uncertain scenarios and create long-term value, identified as transformational entrepreneurship practices. Among emerging digital technologies, digital platforms are shaping and outgrowing the e-commerce channel representing a potential opportunity for manufacturing SMEs to embrace digital transformation. Drawing on affordance theory, this research uses a mixed method approach to investigate how manufacturing SMEs’ e-commerce commitment and digital platform adoption stimulate the actualization of three e-commerce affordances: consumer knowledge generation, internationalization, and customer diversification. Based on survey responses from 165 manufacturing SME managers, we find that direct selling through owned websites actualizes consumer knowledge generation and internationalization, indirect selling actualizes customer diversification and internationalization, and agency selling through third-party platforms actualizes all three affordances. The relationship between e-commerce commitment and ecommerce performance is mediated by consumer knowledge generation and internationalization but not by customer diversification. A fsQCA analysis outlines seven configurations actualizing these e-commerce affordances by pairing different ecommerce approaches with degrees of e-commerce commitment. Finally, an analysis of open-ended questions from 24 respondents complements the study and deeply interprets the seven unique configurations outlined.