Browsing by Subject "Information systems"

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    Enhancing Data-Driven Decision Support with Multi-Perspective Solutions
    (2020-08) Wang, Yaqiong
    As digital systems become ubiquitous, providing all-around support for decision makers has become a significant part of contemporary information systems. To this end, numerous data-driven analytics techniques have been widely adopted by various platforms to facilitate decision making in a wide variety of application domains, e.g., product choice, employee recruitment, and medical diagnosis. The appropriate application of various data-driven methodologies for decision support in complex real-world contexts is crucial to gain benefits and to avoid unexpected consequences and, thus, the ability take into account multiple perspectives for better decision support represents an important challenge. In order to provide insights into this question, this thesis focuses on investigating some of the problems existing in decision support applications and attempts to provide various solutions and empirical evidence of the effectiveness of these solutions. Specifically, my thesis proposes to provide more nuanced decision support in different application domains by balancing different aspects of decision support models or by providing complementary sources of information for decision makers, e.g., balancing accuracy and long-tailness to address popularity bias in recommender systems; using individual prediction reliability to complement outcome prediction to support decision making in highly risk-sensitive domains like medical diagnosis or financial markets; providing complementary channels to fulfill online consumption decision support in the retailing industry. Solutions and findings provided by my thesis advance the understanding of decision support problems in multifaceted contexts, and have practical implications for information systems that adopt data-driven methods.
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    The impact of the demand for integration in the large multi-business unit firm on the IT organization structure
    (2012-06) Larson, Eric Christopher
    Large, multi-business unit firms are decentralizing their overall corporate structures. At the same time, the structures of their IT organizations are becoming more centralized. This is contrary to current wisdom that the IT organization structure will mimic the structure of the corporation, all else being equal. Because the general business environment is increasingly uncertain, the trend in decision rights for the corporation has favored decentralization, yet the IT organization has not followed. Empirical work in the domain of IT organization structure has focused narrowly on the locus of decision rights (centralization/decentralization). This paper extends the existing literature by taking a broader approach to conceptualizing IT organization structure to include the dimensions of standardization, formalization, centralization and configuration. We provide evidence of a dramatic change in the IT organization structure toward more standardization, more formalization, more centralization, a configuration emphasizing headquarters IT and higher CIO Rank. We also provide an explanation for this unexpected trend by empirically testing the impact of the demand for integration on IT organization structure using data representing 186 Fortune 1000 firms over the period 1993-2009. We further provide evidence that suggests that the structure of the IT organization moderates the generally harmful influence that the demand for integration has on the performance of the firm. Understanding this phenomenon is critical to managing the IT organization in the most cost-effective manner. Since IT expenditure is a significant portion of overall capital investment for most firms, improving the efficiency of the IT operation significantly impacts the bottom line. Better understanding of the contextual factors that impact the organization of the IT function allows IT managers to modify the organization structure in meaningful ways and to anticipate and manage expectations regarding how the context impacts the role that IT plays in the larger firm. Additionally, the results of this study are notable for the top management team of large multi-business unit firms. The fact that information pervades the modern firm means that the appropriate design of the IT organization deeply impacts both the top-line revenue growth and the cost-efficiency of the businesses of the firm.