Designing governance for shared services organizations in the public service

As shared services organizations (SSO) become more popular as a service management and delivery option in government, properly defining and setting up the governance structure continues to be a key success factor. This paper explores the options and issues to consider when selecting and implementing shared services governance including topics such as oversight, accountability, culture, management of resources, and of day-to-day operations. Shared services organizations are increasingly common in private sector companies and the particular challenges involved in the governance of an SSO in a public service context are highlighted and discussed.     

Beyond Section 508: The spectrum of legal requirements for accessible e-government Web sites in the United States

In the United States, a number of federal laws establish requirements that electronic government (e-government) information and services be accessible to individuals with disabilities. These laws affect e-government Web sites at the federal, state, and local levels. To this point, research about the accessibility of e-government Web sites has tended to focus on compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Though Section 508 has the most specific guidelines regarding Web site accessibility, it is hardly the only law establishing accessibility requirements for e-government Web sites, and Section 508 does not apply to many sites that may be required to be accessible by other laws. Until assessment of the accessibility of e-government Web sites accounts for all of the relevant laws, the understanding of levels of accessibility and compliance will be incomplete. This article examines the entire spectrum of federal laws that create legal requirements for accessible e-government Web sites, analyzing the accessibility requirements that the laws establish and the ways in which each of the laws applies to an e-government Web site. This article also suggests research areas that should be included in future assessments to address the entire range of laws related to the accessibility of e-government Web sites. The issues raised in this article have significant relevance to the design and development of e-government, to the assessment of e-government information and services, and to the inclusion in e-government of the 54 million individuals in the United States with disabilities.     

政府门户网站互动性评估模型

文章试图建立政府门户网站的互动性指标体系，并运用层次分析法对互动性指标进行分析，在此基础上建立互动性评估模型，运用该模型对广州市政府门户网站互动性程度进行评估。     

Assessing the impact of e-procurement on the structure of the buying centre

The purpose of this research is to analyse empirically how the use of Internet at the various stages of e-procurement impacts the organisational structure of the buying centre in terms of size and composition for a capital good. In this high-risk situation organisational buyers typically undertake extensive, deliberate choice processes involving numerous sequential phases. Interdepartmental coordination is required to specify, amongst others, the most suitable type of equipment in terms of capability, maintainability or costs. Information and communication technologies have changed the way we interact and communicate at different levels, amongst individuals within a single organisation as well as amongst different organisations (for example, with suppliers). A survey was performed using a questionnaire sent to a sample of industrial firms from different sectors. Results show that the size and composition of the buying centre varies at the different stages of the e-procurement process and that the use of Internet leads to an increase in the number of functional areas that intervene in the buying centre. The aims and implications for managers and researchers are discussed.     

Philosophy and the museum: An introduction to the special issue

This paper introduces the special issue by explaining the context of the conference at which the papers were originally presented, suggesting some ways of thinking about the intersection of philosophy and museums, and briefly introducing each paper in the collection. In the main body of the paper I look at a recent trend in museum interpretation and argue that it can be understood in terms of a definition of the museum as a space of representation and space of difference. I go on to suggest that this definition allows us to think of the museum as liberating us from certain ways of thinking. The paper as a whole suggests that philosophy can help us to think about museums, and that museums can contribute to philosophical thinking.     

试论在大学公共英语阅读教学中培养学习者的跨文化交际意识

目前,随着英语四六级的改革及普及,如何在大学英语课堂教学中提高学习者的阅读能力至关重要。然而,大多数的教师过于注重训练学生的语言技能和知识,而严重忽视了文化知识在阅读教学中所起的重要作用。文章阐述了在大学公共英语阅读教学中培养学习者的跨文化交际意识的重要性,并就如何培养学习者在阅读教学中的跨文化意识提出了几点建议。     

The application of RFIDs in libraries: an assessment of technological, management and professional issues

This paper starts by outlining the technologies involved in RFIDs and reviews the issues raised by their general application. It then identifies their potential application areas within the library sector based on a generic process view of library activities. Finally it highlights the issues that are raised by their application in libraries and provides an assessment of which of these issues are likely to raise ethical concerns for library professionals. The purpose is to provide an overview of the technology within the context of the library process and to highlight issues which may raise ethical concerns for the profession. A second paper will focus specifically on these concerns within the context of the professional obligations of the librarian.     

The scope of external information-seeking under uncertainty: An individual-level study

As a first attempt to empirically investigate the scope of external information-seeking under uncertainty, this paper examines the direct and interactive effects of task uncertainty on the scope of external information-seeking. Search depth and breadth are the two components of the scope of external information-seeking in defining an individual's external information search strategy. The empirical results show that at the source portfolio level, task uncertainty exhibits positive effects on both the depth and breadth of external information-seeking. It is also found that there is a positive relationship between task uncertainty and depth-first propensity, which is defined as a seeker's propensity to acquire information through increasing search depth instead of through widening search breadth at the source portfolio level. Furthermore, the results show that the positive relationship between task uncertainty and depth-first propensity in external information-seeking is stronger when perceived source accessibility is low than when it is high. This study makes a contribution to the information-seeking literature by helping us understand how task uncertainty and source characteristics shape an individual's external information-seeking at the level of source portfolio and providing evidence of the task-source fit perspective in explaining information-seeking behaviour under uncertainty at the source portfolio level.     

Understanding career commitment of IT professionals: Perspectives of push-pull-mooring framework and investment model

Using push-pull-mooring framework and investment model as theoretical lenses, this study provides a compelling theoretical model that helps understand the important antecedents of career commitment of IT professionals. Especially, we examined the moderating role of IT career tenure. Data to test the hypotheses were drawn from a cross-sectional field study of MIS departments from top-1000 large-scale companies in Taiwan. The results generally supported the research model. Career satisfaction was the most important determinant of career commitment, followed by professional self-efficacy, threat of professional obsolescence and career investment. The moderating analysis revealed distinct patterns that IT professionals seemed to hold different attitudes about the careers at different stages. The career attitudes of senior IT professionals were largely driven by push factors. On the contrary, the expelling forces which driving people away from their current careers (push effects) and personal inhibitors and facilitators (mooring effects) seemed equally important to junior IT professionals on their attitudes toward committing to the IT career. Insight and implications on management strategy for IT/HR managers are discussed.     

‘Arrivederci CIAO.com, Buongiorno Bing.com’—Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), antecedences and consequences

The Internet facilitates access to online product reviews and comments written by consumers. This paper offers new insights on the motives and antecedents of the reading behaviour of consumer reviews in online opinion platforms. This research was carried out from 2005 to 2008 using a case study approach. The case involved working with a prominent and successful online opinion platform (CIAO.com). The company was so successful it was purchased by Microsoft for $486 million in 2008 and is now incorporated into their main search engine which is still a market leader today. The research highlights four different types of motives that drive customers to read online reviews: decision-involvement, product-involvement, social-involvement and economic-involvement motives. The outcomes also demonstrated four different new types of motives: self-involvement motives, consumer-empowerment motives, new social-involvement motives and site-administration motives. Several related themes were also investigated, such as the preference for reading or writing online reviews and the reasons for choosing one over the other. The research tested the relevance of the online reading motives and their influence on consumer buying and communication behaviour. In summary, some theoretical and practical implications are highlighted and discussed.