How should information technology be covered in the accounting program?

Professional accounting associations, business schools, and accounting professors are increasingly faced with an important question: Which information technology (IT) competencies should be developed in accounting programs to train skilled professional accountants? Key references in accounting education show that advanced‐level training in IT is very important for accountants’ careers. Through content analysis, I investigate how Canadian CPAs are trained in IT. Results indicate that, postmerger, IT has lost ground in the CPA program. This could be mainly due to: (a) a larger coverage in finance, strategy, and governance topics; (b) challenges to promote and teach IT in terms of course development; and (c) a lack of recognition of and incentives for academic work on IT. Compared to some key players in accounting education, it appears that Canada has taken a different route with regard to the required IT competencies. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing Information Systems to Support Flexible Strategy

The literature on strategic applications of information technology(IT) and strategic information systems (SIS) contains a number of "classic" success cases. These systems are successful in terms of one particular strategy framework, but there is evidence that the demands placed upon SIS are changing. Changes in the business environment and in the rate of development of technology have created a requirement for more flexibility in the strategic process. This must be supported by a "new generation" of SIS that integrate with flexible infrastructures to provide long-term effective support for a flexible business strategy. This article looks at the changing nature of the strategic: process and examines a framework that has potential to assist in these aims. A number of techniques are analyzed to assess their capability for identifying strategic applications of IT. Finally, a way of providing a flexible IS/IT infrastructure relevant to the development of a flexible SIS is discussed.     

Teaching information technology alongside business analytics: Case study

Business analytics can be described as the statistical analysis of data to make decisions and meaningful conclusions. As the demand to advance the curriculum of undergraduate business education increases, courses in business analytics aim to provide students with fundamental skills in critical thinking. Educators have found that spreadsheet applications that include statistical features are easy to use and facilitate student learning. The authors analyzed student performance in an introductory business analytics course that used Microsoft Excel as a statistical tool by comparing scores from this introductory course with those from an information technology course in which only Excel skills were learned.     

Curriculum Internationalization at AACSB Schools: Immersive Experiences,Student Placement,and Assessment

This article presents results from a survey of AACSB-accredited business schools’ progress in internationalizing their curricula in view of a recent AACSB report. We present data on the use of immersive experiences, degree of success in student placement in internationally oriented careers, and assessment of internationalization efforts. The results indicate growth of internationalization activities at virtually all schools as expected, but these efforts may not always match AACSB recommendations. For instance, AACSB criticized business programs for not coordinating internationalization activities in a strategic manner to improve courses and develop skills needed by international managers. Our survey finds that many schools do not attempt to tie their international experiences to specific courses, but they report the experiences are used to build skills students need. Most institutions also do not examine job placement as a measure of curriculum internationalization success. We find that many schools do not assess the outcomes of their internationalization efforts in a way that can demonstrate whether or not recent AACSB suggestions are being met.     

Developing an International and Technology-Driven Business School Program

Abstract

Academics and practitioners alike have voiced their concerns about how to continuously improve the quality of education in the business school. Two central issues that have received recent attention are (1) how to address a rapidly changing and increasingly global economy, and (2) how to infuse technology into the business school curriculum. Both of these issues are changing at break-neck speed, whereas the academic environment, by its very nature and structure, is struggling to meet these demands ata much slower pace. We attempt to offer solutions to these major issues by developing an action plan for international business and technology. One key factor in developing global and technological programs in business schools is the input of its stakeholders-the international and technological business community. In this study, we report the results of an investigation of the international business and technological community's perceptions of the skills they require of recent business school graduates. A total of 126 business organizations provide insights for business schools to develop action plans to address international and technological needs. A discussion and implications of our findings provides an initial avenue for schools to follow in their strategic planning for the future.     

Critical professional skills of MIS graduates: Practitioner vs. Academician perspectives

Since enterprises have become aware of technological developments; they have started to give significant importance to information technology investments. As in all university departments, also management information systems (MIS) and business informatics programs analyze the change in the industry and aim to graduate students that fit the current needs. The authors aim to evaluate the critical skills of MIS graduates and industry based on industry demand. Providing information systems support, knowledge on latest systems, managerial knowledge, systems development, project management, and teamwork comprise the six critical factors for becoming a successful MIS professional.     

国外IT服务管理的现状及其发展趋势

IT服务管理的发展历程分为概念酝酿期、思想形成期、理论成长期、标准和方法开发完善期。IT服务管理打通了IT部门和业务部门之间的结构性障碍,全面和系统地实施IT基础架构的管理,计量IT服务成本和效益,为组织IT服务外包提供指导方法。IT服务管理将向组织管理、时效管理、风险管理、成本控制管理、技术管理等方向发展。随着信息技术在组织中的地位越来越突出,IT服务管理必将快速在中国得以应用,并形成一个新兴的IT应用领域。     

Reengineering IS Research and Its Intellectual Infrastructure for the Electronic Economy

The emerging electronic economy is bringing with it rapid advances in open networks and information technology (IT) capabilities, increasing global complexity and interdependence, and increasingly short business cycle times. Many enterprises are reengineering the way they carry out their business to take advantage of these new conditions. In this article, we contend that it is also time for information systems (IS) academics to fundamentally rethink the IS research process and the intellectual infrastructure that enables it in light of these new conditions. We first examine why the current IS research process needs to be changed. We then systematically analyze needed change along 6 dimensions. The change potentials are used to propose an IS research paradigm that is based on interactive knowledge repositories and collaborative electronic networks. We propose a new intellectual infrastructure that is based on a new type of IT-enabled electronic space for the research community, which we term a cybrarium. A cybrarium is focused not only on the storage and dissemination but also on the synthesis of knowledge generated in the research community. We articulate the basic distinctions between electronic Web journals and cybrariums and show how a cybrarium leads to a fundamentally changed research process. We contend that such a redefined research process and its underlying intellectual infrastructure will enable the IS research community to make the transition to a large-scale global collaborative alliance that is faster, more forward looking, and cumulative.     

EXAMINATION OF A PATH MODEL RELATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITH FIRM PERFORMANCE

This article draws on the resource‐based view of the firm to investigate the mechanisms through which information technology (IT) impacts firm performance. Research suggests that the relationship between IT and firm performance may be both direct and indirect. In this study, a path model is tested that proposes a firm's IT infrastructure resources as having both a direct impact on organizational performance, as well as an indirect effect that is propagated through its impact on an intermediate organizational resource, a firm's logistics information system (LIS). The results suggest that positive firm performance may be derived directly from an organization's superior IT infrastructure, as well as indirectly, through its enabling impact on LIS's. These findings contribute to our understanding of the nature of the relationship between IT and firm performance by exploring the value of IT at both the process and organizational levels.     

Ethics,CSR, and Sustainability Education in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Financial Times</Emphasis> Top 50 Global Business Schools: Baseline Data and Future Research Directions

This paper investigates how deans and directors at the top 50 global MBA programs (as rated by the Financial Times in their 2006 Global MBA rankings) respond to questions about the inclusion and coverage of the topics of ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability at their respective institutions. This work purposely investigates each of the three topics separately. Our findings reveal that: (1) a majority of the schools require that one or more of these topics be covered in their MBA curriculum and one-third of the schools require coverage of all three topics as part of the MBA curriculum, (2) there is a trend toward the inclusion of sustainability-related courses, (3) there is a higher percentage of student interest in these topics (as measured by the presence of a Net Impact club) in the top 10 schools, and (4) several schools are teaching these topics using experiential learning and immersion techniques. We note a fivefold increase in the number of stand-alone ethics courses since a 1988 investigation on ethics, and we include other findings about institutional support of centers or special programs; as well as a discussion of integration, teaching techniques, and notable practices in relation to all three topics.     

Factors Affecting the Design of Short-Term Study-Abroad Programs: An Exploratory Study of Two Business Schools

Study-abroad programs have played a significant role in globalization of business curricula over the years. Short-term study-abroad programs (STSAPs) are proliferating in business schools and provide a viable alternative of studying abroad to students who are unable to participate in programs of longer durations due to disruption in family, work, and education schedules. This exploratory study attempts to understand factors that are critical to students’ participation in STSAPs offered by business schools. This research focuses on a combination of factors that include STSAP components and attributes as well student specific characterisitics. Initial analysis indicates that STSAP cost, STSAP content, and organizational and personal issues, in that order, are considered important by business school students. Significant differences exist in the perceived importance of different factors used by students to choose to participate in STSAPs based on gender, age group, family income, program level (undergraduate versus graduate), and program type. Results of this research have implications for the design of STSAPs in business schools that are offering or considering offering such courses or programs.     

Similarities in Business and IT Professional Ethics: The Need for and Development of A Comprehensive Code of Ethics

The study of business ethics has led to the development of various principles that are the foundation of good and ethical business practices. A corresponding study of Information Technology (IT) professionals’ ethics has led to the conclusion that good ethics in the development and uses of information technology correspond to the basic business principle that good ethics is good business. Ergo, good business ethics practiced by IT professionals is good IT ethics and vice versa. IT professionals are professionals in businesses; a difficulty presented to these professionals, however, is the number and diversity of codes of ethics to which they may be held. Considering the existence of several formalized codes of ethics prepared by various IT professionals’ associations, a more harmonized approach seems more reasonable. This paper attempts to present a review of the purpose of codes of ethics, the persons who should be covered by such codes and to organize codes of ethics for business in general and IT professionals in particular and to make the argument that, once again, good ethics is good business practice, regardless of the profession or occupation concerned     

Research in information systems in China (1999–2005) and international comparisons

The purpose of this study is to review the research activities in information systems (IS) in the mainland of China. We reviewed and analyzed a total of 859 research papers in information systems published in 18 leading academic journals in business and management in the mainland from 1999 to 2005. Applying the content analysis method, we first categorized the papers by their reference disciplines, research topics, research methods, and the units of analysis. The data were then compared with the results of similar Western studies. Results show that, among the published IS research papers in the mainland of China, IS research itself represents the primary theoretical reference discipline; organizational and system/software issues are the main topics of the focus; non-empirical studies were the dominant research method; and the majority of studies were conducted at the organizational and/or system level. Compared with the West, IS research in China demonstrates its own characteristics in theoretical foundations, research focuses, and research methods, and there are a number of areas that need to be improved. Translated from Guanli Kexue Xuebao 맜理科学学报 (Journal of Management Sciences in China), 2006, 9(2): 76–85 The original published paper was based on the data from 1999 to 2003. The current paper is based on the data from 1999 to 2005     

Is competence set expansion in the information service industry a planned behavior? The moderating effects of action control style

Technological advancement has brought dramatic changes to most industries. As a result, the pressure to compete has intensified tremendously. This is especially evident in the information service (IS) industry where the need of companies to expand their employees' competence set (CS) becomes critical. This study investigated whether CS expansion in the IS industry is a planned behavior moderated by individual style of action control. A mail survey was carried out to collect data from the IS companies in Taiwan. A total of 190 valid samples were obtained. The results of analyses showed that our proposed model provided a good fit to the data. Attitude tendency (AT), subjective norms (SN), and computer/information technology (IT) self-efficacy positively affected employees' intentions of expanding the CS. Moreover, we found that the action control style moderated the effects of AT, SN, and computer/IT self-efficacy on behavioral intention. The implications of this study as well as its limitations are discussed.     

The Global Awareness Curriculum in International Business Programs: A Critical Perspective

Designing educational sequences that enhance the cognitive, behavioral, and critical skills of a diverse learning community seeking global competencies, requires mindfulness of different international educational models, a tailored curriculum designed to build different types of awareness learning, and clarity in targeted outputs keeping in mind a range of potential occupations and life situations in which such skills will be used. This article outlines conceptual frameworks for global awareness sequences in international management programs, building on existing cross-cultural research, training literature, and comparative analysis of different higher education models. It updates global competence learning frameworks to include recent advances in cultural intelligence, critical reflexivity, and post-colonial perspectives on management education. It calls attention to changing student demographics as a catalyst for moderate curriculum reform, especially a rehabilitation of core global awareness knowledge components eclipsed by cross-cultural courses and humanities requirements. A curriculum for business students with a sequential and/or simultaneous implementation of three pedagogical dispositions (knowledge, behavior, and critical acculturation) is discussed.     

Big data analytics and firm performance: Effects of dynamic capabilities

Drawing on the resource-based view and the literature on big data analytics (BDA), information system (IS) success and the business value of information technology (IT), this study proposes a big data analytics capability (BDAC) model. The study extends the above research streams by examining the direct effects of BDAC on firm performance (FPER), as well as the mediating effects of process-oriented dynamic capabilities (PODC) on the relationship between BDAC and FPER. To test our proposed research model, we used an online survey to collect data from 297 Chinese IT managers and business analysts with big data and business analytic experience. The findings confirm the value of the entanglement conceptualization of the hierarchical BDAC model, which has both direct and indirect impacts on FPER. The results also confirm the strong mediating role of PODC in improving insights and enhancing FPER. Finally, implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Business Education in Asia and Australasia: Recent Trends and Future Prospects

The globalization of business education is leading to convergence in the traditionally more diverse business curriculum. This can be seen by examining the mission and vision statements of Asia and Australasia's leading business schools, which emphasize the provision of quality learning and scholarship; educating future leaders; and contributing to the growth and transformation of the economies within which they operate. Less commonly mentioned are the personal, ethical, and responsible leadership development of their students. These are emergent themes in Asian and Australasian business schools—just as they are in Europe and North America. Much work remains to embed the role of culture and precognitive decision making in the business school curriculum.     

How Focused are the World’s Top-Rated Business Schools on Educating Women for Global Management?

Persuaded by the observed positive link between the flow of appropriately skilled and trained female talent and female presence at the upper echelons of management (Plitch, Dow Jones Newswire February 9, 2005), this study has examined current trends on women’s uptake of graduate and executive education programs in the world’s top 100 business schools and explored the extent to which these business schools promote female studentship and career advancement. It contributes by providing pioneering research insight, albeit at an exploratory level, into the emerging best practice on this important aspect of business school behavior, an area which is bound to become increasingly appreciated as more global economic actors wise up to the significant diseconomies inherent in the under-utilization of female talent, particularly in the developing world. Among the study’s main findings are that female graduate students averaged 30% in the sample business schools, a figure not achieved by a majority of the elite schools, including some of the highest ranked. Only 10% of these business schools have a specialist center for developing women business leaders, and only a third offered women-focused programs or executive education courses, including flextime options. A higher, and increasing, percentage of business schools, however, reported offering fellowships, scholarships or bursaries to prospective female students, and having affiliations with pro-women external organizations and networks that typically facilitate career-promoting on-campus events and activities. The implications of the foregoing are discussed, replete with a call on key stakeholder groups to more actively embrace the challenge of improving the supply of appropriately trained female talent, or top management prospects. Future research ideas are also suggested.