Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Editorial

We are happy to present the second issue of the sixth volume of Indore Management
Journal (IMJ). This is a special issue focusing on the domain of information technology
and management. Information technology is cutting across all the disciplines of
management studies in various ways. The present issue has tried to explore various
emerging topics of information technology and management along with its interaction
with real world applications.

This issue has various papers on contemporary topics of information technology

and management. Big Data is emerging as an important area for management
professionals. First article has discussed the various facets of Big Data and its
relevance in the present scenario. The article is supplemented by a HR practitioners'
view on Big Data. Technology acceptance is playing an important role for several
business models. Various technology acceptance models have been reported in the
second article. Social media has emerged as an important platform for expression
of views and likings of individuals. The third article has investigated the role of
self-disclosure for participating in social networking platforms. Besides that there
is also one article on e-Government services. Last article has discussed the role of
smart devices and its linkages with data mining.

We have also included three book reviews that are highly contemporary and useful
to manifest the importance of information technology and systems management.

We are confident that the articles presented in this issue will be useful to current
management researchers and practitioners.

Editorial Team
Indore Management Journal (IMJ)

IMJ 69
 CONTENTS
EDITORIAL

1 Big Data: Road Ahead for India

Madhukar Dayal, Sachin Garg and Rubaina Shrivastava

15 Big Data - Intuitive Lessons for HR Managers

Debolina Dutta

17 A review of Evolution of Theories and Models of Technology Adoption

Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

30 Participating in Social Networking Sites (SNS):

Mediating Role of Self-disclosure and the Effects of Well-being
Manoj Das

39 Government Process Re-engineering for an E-governance Implementation for

Motor Vehicle Registration in India
Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

47 Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Technologies:

Framework for Temporal Data Mining Concerning Smart Meters
Shashi Kant Srivastava

Book Review

56 Think Bigger: Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for your Business
Shweta Grover

59 Semi-Organic Growth - Tactics and Strategies behind Google's success

Kakul Modani

63 Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and

Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business
Suganya Balakumar

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Big Data: Road Ahead for India
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Madhukar Dayal, Sachin Garg and Rubaina Shrivastava

Abstract for enhanced insight and decision making". Morton,

Runciman & Gordon (2014) reflecting on the
Advancements in computing technologies make new
characteristics of Big Data list them as: Volume, Velocity,
platforms and large volumes of data available to
Variety, Veracity and Value. Such voluminous data first
businesses and governments to discover hidden
accumulated from the astronomical and weather data
underlying patterns in the data and creating new
(for example, collected from various satellites). Today,
knowledge. While businesses need to embrace these
such data additionally comes from a wide variety of
technologies in order to stay ahead of competition,
sources, such as, sensor data, web logs, data streams
governments can reap great benefits in cost effectively
on the Internet, social media, customer transactions, etc.
delivering social services and bring about improvement
in social development indices. However, before any Big Data is perceived as comprising structured,
new technology can become a powerful resource (for unstructured and semi-structured data. Amongst them
business or for government), there exists a fundamental the unstructured data lead, with an estimated share of
need for extensive planning, such that one can chalk over 95% in Big Data. Structured data are those that are
out a future trajectory, prepare for the changes to come, systematically stored for retrieval, manipulation and
and invest prudently. Exploitation of Big Data platforms analysis, for example, as in relational databases. Semi-
and technologies requires both corporate strategies and structured data do not reside in relational databases but
government policies to be in place much before the have some organisational properties making them easier
results would start pouring in. In this paper, we to analyse. With a few alterations semi-structured data
investigate the potential of available Big Data platforms can often be reorganised in relational databases. XML
and technologies, their current use by various is an example of semi-structured data. Unstructured
governments, and their potential for use by the central data, on the other hand, do not follow any specified
and state Governments in India. format and are largely void of meta-data, such as data
Keywords: big data, business strategy, government from social media, emails, videos, photos and audio
policy, social welfare. files data.

1. Introduction 1.1 Understanding Big Data

The world is changing: earlier understanding of the To better understand and appreciate "Big Data", we
historical chain of events was viewed as knowledge but should go back to what Diebold (2012) talks about Big
now its meaning has turned into being a capability to Data being three things: the term ("firmly entrenched"),
predict and influence the future, including the ability the phenomenon ("continuing unabated") and an
to diminish negative future outcomes and enhance "emerging" discipline. Thus, Big Data is many things
positive ones. In one of its emerging forms, this science to different people and it is imperative to understand
is known as Big Data. it deeper before it can be put to use. Towards this end,
we look at how Big Data is changing the paradigms of
There is no rigorous definition of Big Data. As pointed
social science research (and thus the lenses through
out by, Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier (2013, pp 7): "…the
which we perceive the world) and follow this with how
real revolution is not in the machines that calculate data
Big Data tools and techniques are being used to make
but in data itself and how we use it". According to
smart policy and business decisions. This is followed
Gartner: "Big Data is high volume, high velocity and
by a deeper look at Big Data in the Indian perspective
high variety information assets that demand cost-
effective, innovative forms of information processing and the road ahead.

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Big Data and Social Science Research Paradigms: The Analysis: drawing on large data sets to identify patterns
Debate: One of the big controversies about Big Data and in order to make economic, social, technical, and legal
its use for science was started by Chris Anderson, Editor claims;
in Chief of Wired magazine when he claimed "the end
Mythology: the widespread belief that large datasets
of scientific theory building and hypothesis testing"
offer a higher form of intelligence and knowledge that
was near - "faced with massive data, this approach to
can generate insights that were previously impossible,
science-hypothesize, model, test-is becoming obsolete"
with the aura of truth, objectivity, and accuracy.
(Anderson, 2008). His contention was that Google had
"conquered the advertising world" without knowing The idea that "Big Data" rests on "mythology" needs
anything about the "culture and conventions" of deeper digging into. Similar to the ideas put forth by
advertising, merely on the assumption that better data, Gitelman (2013) and Bollier and Firestone (2010), boyd
analyzed better would win. A similar theme has been and Crawford posit that "all researchers are interpreters
evoked by Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier's (2013) claim of data". Data is not a "given" Gitelman (2013, ch 1),
that data analysis has now shifted from using a sample but is rather subject to a "cleaning" and "interpretive"
process. Thus, their contention - just because we have
size of N (where N is a subset of the population (N <<
more data, it is a myth to presume that our insights will
all)) to the entire population (N = all). As it is infeasible
be truthful, accurate or more objective. They argue that
to collect data from the entire population, it is the
in the case of "Big Data", the four forces that regulate
accepted research practice to survey a statistically
social systems - market, law, social norms and
significant sample and extrapolate the findings to inform
architecture (code in case of technology) are frequently
decisions applicable to the entire population (Agresti
at odds and it is necessary to provoke conversations
& Finlay, 2009; Hutcheson & Sofroniou, 1999; Salsburg,
around what it all means. To accomplish that, they list
2001; Velleman, 1997). However, Mayer-Schönberger &
out six provocations that we use to review the current
Cukier (2013) contend that with fixed sample sizes, one
state of the "correlation-causation" debate.
could not be sure that all population characteristics
were accounted for, and extremely small groups might Provocation 1: Big Data Changes the Meaning of
not even find a place in the sample. As N  all, this Knowledge: boyd and Crawford posit that Big data
is no longer the case and there is greater freedom in profoundly changes our thinking at the epistemological
asking relevant questions. These claims have sparked levels by reframing key questions about knowledge and
off a vociferous debate on the role of theory in social research processes. Numbers don't speak of themselves
science research, Big Data's contribution(s) to social and others methods of studying phenomena can get
science research, and even more on what big data detracts blown away by the sheer force of numbers. This talks
from social science research. One of the most infiuential to the qualitative/quantitative divide also talked about
participants in this debate have been boyd and Crawford. by Manovich (2012) who talks about "deep data"-about
They rebutted Anderson's claim(s) by providing a bold a few people and "surface data" about lots of people.
new definition of big data and provoking a conversation There are different and distinct questions that can be
around it. asked and answered using the two types of data, and
researchers should be cognizant not to prefer one to the
1.2 boyd and Crawford's Definition detriment of the other. They also point out that the tools
boyd and Crawford (2012) defined "Big Data" as a often used to study Big Data phenomenon, for example
cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon that Twitter and Facebook come with their own limitations
rests on the interplay of: and restrictions. They treat the study of society using
the Big Data tools as analogous to "accounting tools"
Technology: maximizing computation power and
that "shape the reality they measure". The idea that tools
algorithmic accuracy to gather, analyze, link, and
limit what can be collected resonates with Vis (2013)
compare large data sets;
who points out that the Application Programming

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Interfaces (APIs) that are used by researchers to collect mentioned that for the economic studies Google
data limit what can be collected. Tufekci (2013) points undertakes, a random sample was good enough (Bollier
out how the practice of using "hashtags" to filter tweets and Firestone, 2010).
biases the data towards a particular demographic-those
Provocation 4: Taken Out of Context, Big Data Loses
who use a particular hash tag are more "wedded" to
its Meaning: Contextual integrity of the data is extremely
the issue, and are thus different from the rest. Manovich
important to gain value from the data. boyd and
(2012) cautions us against taking what is spoken on
Crawford contend that people's real-world 'personal'
social media as authentic by telling about his personal networks are different from their 'articulated' and
experiences growing up in the erstwhile Soviet Union 'behavioral' networks traced out through data. Taylor
and how what was spoken out was very different from & Schroeder (2014) provide an example of wrong
what was actually meant. inferences due to lack of context. Practical Big Data
Provocation 2: Claims to Accuracy and Objectivity are analysis requires the data to pass through multiple
Misleading: boyd and Crawford claim "all researchers stages through the pipeline (Jagadish et al., 2014) and
are interpreters of data". Data is not a "given", existing at each stage the data gets "repurposed, reprocessed,
in and of itself. Data is actively collected and sourced. retrofitted, and reinterpreted" thus losing context on the
As Desouza & Jacob (2014) point out that it is difficult way (Schintler & Kulkarni, 2014).
to "recognize data in its unstructured form and then to Provocation 5: Just Because it is Accessible Does not
understand how to 'connect it' to more conventional make it Ethical: Big Data is changing the perception
forms of data". Bollier & Firestone (2010, pg. 13) ask of ethics. Earlier, individual decisions had specific and
if the data represents an "objective truth" or are knowable outcomes. With the advent of Big Data, many
interpretations biased due to the way the data is can take actions without realizing how their actions
"cleaned"? Visualizations also have judgments impact others (Zwitter, 2014). Crawford & Finn (2014)
embedded within them (Bollier & Firestone, 2010, pp talk about the use of social media (Twitter) sourced data
11-12). Khoury & Ioannidis (2014) point out that "Big in the context of crisis, where people share location data
error" is another challenge with "Big Data". They say, and other personal information because they want help.
"big data's strength is in finding associations, not in One of the bigger challenges is anonymity and re-
showing whether these associations have meaning. identification. boyd and Crawford (2012) say that
Finding a signal is only the first step". Thus, it is researchers should focus on "accountability", which is
important to understand the biases and the limitations a much broader concept than "privacy". Privacy and
of the data. anonymity continue to be the biggest challenges
regarding the use of Big Data in social science and
Provocation 3: Bigger Data are not Always Better Data:
public policy.
Using the example of Twitter, boyd and Crawford point
out that we cannot assume that Twitter users provide Provocation 6: Limited Access to Big Data Creates New
an appropriate sample as not everyone is on Twitter Digital Divides: The "digital divide" regarding Big Data
and "bots" also inhabit it. Also, results are not transferable can be thought to exist along three axes- (a) who creates
between social networks due to the network's unique the data, (b) who accesses the data, and (c) who has the
demographies (Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014). Sometimes, resources to analyse said data. Hilbert (2013) talks about
"smaller" data might be more relevant. This is similar these axes as necessary, but not sufficient conditions
to Manovich (2012)'s concept of "shallow" and "deep" to harness "Big Data" and the need to have institutional
knowledge. Lagoze (2014) has called out Mayer- mechanisms (or appropriate policies) in place. Manovich
Schoenberger and K. Cukier (2013) on their concept of (2012) also talks about the challenges of accessing data,
N = all. It is an unachievable mathematical ideal as not as much of the "social media" data is only accessible
everything can ever be measured. Sometimes, sampling to few, trained people within the companies. A similar
the data is better as pointed out by Hal Varian who point was made by Taylor, Schroeder, & Meyer (2014)

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in the context of income and other "sensitive" data that velocity. However, predictive policing in the Los Angeles
is only accessible to a few researchers. The challenge Police Department is an example of using "true" big
of who creates the data is important in a policy context data. The data in this case is a fusion of historical and
to maintain equity and ensure that policy makers do real-time data (that includes real-time city and traffic
not divert a disproportionate share of resources to those camera feeds). This data is used to identify areas where
segments on whom data is available, at the expense of crime may occur and concentrate resources in such
the data-poor. areas. They point out that possibly one of the biggest
insights of this project was the realization that video
Once we consider these research and perspective aspects,
streams are just another form of data that can be
other questions that are needed to be asked are: What
connected to other data via geocoding. The public sector
is the data? Where is the data? Who owns it? Who has access
in US is deploying big data technologies in Postal
to it? Is it technically, legally, ethically, politically feasible
services, health care and human services, and internal
to run analytics on it? What does it cost to analyse this data?
revenue services, to name a few.
What are the expected benefits of this analysis? Do the
benefits outweigh the costs? Improving Decision Making: The underlying premise
behind using big data to enhance decision making is
Thus, it is imperative to consider that all data is collected,
providing feedback loops that allow citizens to engage
stored and analysed in an environment circumscribed
with government and thus reveal preferences that are
by policy. It is policy which sets the boundaries of what
not revealed through the traditional polling process.
is acceptable or unacceptable in particular contexts.
Various regulations like HIPPA, Children Privacy Act, Desouza & Jacob (2014) identify two different
FERPA etc. determine the limitations of data collection mechanisms that have been proposed to assess the
and analysis. Thus, we have an interesting paradox peoples' will: prediction markets and sentiment analysis.
between data and public policy: Public Policy However, these methods require new types of data,
simultaneously bounds and is bounded by the data richer data and existing data cannot be shoe-horned to
collection and analysis framework(s). fit these paradigms, and thus need greater investment.

Prediction markets, designed to take advantage of the

2. Big Data in the Public Sector
"wisdom of the crowds" work akin to a futures market,
The public sector is a ripe area for applying the tools where the commodity being traded on is an event.
and techniques of Big Data to increase the efficiencies Though such markets are part of well developed stocks
in the sector. This can happen in two ways: by using and commodities markets, they are still akin to wagers.
Big Data to improve programmatic outcomes, and to While wagering on stocks and commodities is accepted,
improve decision making. wagering on politically sensitive issues is not and leads
Improving Programmatic Outcomes: Desouza & Jacob to ethical concerns.
(2014) contend that most public sector data is of low Sentiment analysis draws on messages posted on social
complexity and hence organizations can improve their media like Twitter and Facebook as a means to
"programmatic outcomes". They provide an example of understand the populace. The use of social media has
New York city where the mayor's office is linking been criticized by scholars as not being representative
together otherwise unconnected databases and mining of the society (see Tufekci, 2013; boyd and Crawford,
them to identify areas of focus. As an example, the office 2012; Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014). Another aspect is that
is using predictive analytics to identify potential zoning social media can be manipulated as noted by Desouza
violations and target inspections towards such potential & Jacob (2014). It should also be noted that sentiment
violations. The key insight here is the idea of linking analysis depends heavily on natural language
together disparate databases to get a more complex processing, which is not as well developed for languages
database, which may not possess large volume or other than English. Thus the use of this technique in

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Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

other countries and regions may not be as successful. with many challenges, chiefly related to privacy,
discrimination and liability (Schintler & Kulkarni, 2014).
However, despite these shortcomings, we should still
Of these, however, privacy has the largest mindshare,
attempt to use these mechanisms as "another" input into
owing in part to the Snowden affair. The primary fallout
the decision-making process. Some examples of how
of Snowden's disclosures on the NSA's bulk collection
big data is being used as input into the decision making
of telecommunication metadata was that privacy
process follow.
concerns with big data came to the forefront in the eyes
Boston Street Bump is a project of Boston's Mayor's of the public. This also prompted a review of US Signals
Office of New Urban Mechanics. It crowd sources road Intelligence and a mandate to look closely at the
condition data using the accelerometer and GPS sensors "challenges inherent in big data":"Look at how the
of smartphones. This data is aggregated across users challenges inherent in big data are being confronted by
and used to fix short-term problems like potholes. The both the public and private sectors; whether we can
application found mention in Podesta et al., (2014). It forge international norms on how to manage this data;
was also reported that initially the app sent repair crews and how we can continue to promote the free flow of
to wealthier neighbour hoods where people were more information in ways that are consistent with both privacy
likely to carry smartphones, and this bias was fixed by and security." - The White House, Review of US Signals
first deploying it to city-road inspectors, who service Intelligence, Jan 17, 2014.
all parts of the city equally; the public now provides
additional supporting data (Podesta et al., 2014). 2.2 Privacy, Anonymity and Big Data

Flowminder used cell phones to track people's The researcher community's concerns over privacy issues
movement during the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak are echoed by Lane & Stodden (2013): "privacy issues
(Taylor & Schroeder, 2014) and identify areas outside could stop bona-fide data collection and statistical
the capital (Port-au-Prince) at risk of cholera. This research in its tracks". This does not imply that the
technique used near real-time (upto 12 hour) location researcher community is not concerned about privacy,
data of cell phones (based on the phone-tower but rather wants a "sensible structure for data access
communication) from phone companies and that ensures the goal of good science is attained while
extrapolated the results (considering that multiple protecting confidentiality and respecting individual
people share a phone). These results were validated by agency" (Lane & Stodden, 2013).
comparing with on the ground data from local and UN
The major challenges impacting the usage of Big Data
agencies.
for Public Policy and Social sciences are:
Billion Prices Project at MIT has created an "inflation
Lack of data collection and management infrastructure.
index" by tracking online prices (Taylor & Schroeder,
This challenge is even more pronounced in the
2014). The initial idea behind this was to use actual on
developing world. The developing world does not have
the ground prices in Argentina and compare them with
enough ears on the ground to collect high quality data.
officially released figures that could be potentially
Most of the data that Big Data and development experts
affected by political demands. Decuyper et al., (2014)
talk about is essentially digital exhaust of a very specific
have attempted to use indicators derived from mobile
type-mobile phone call data records (UN Global Pulse,
phone data (call detail records and airtime purchases)
2012). Though analysing these records has shown utility,
as food security indices in an African country.
there are inherent challenges in accessing these records.
2.1 Big Data and Public Policy: Key Challenges These records are all part of private businesses owned
data systems and sharing them is fraught with
From the foregoing, we note that big data can be used competition and other issues. Though the records are
to analyze, formulate and monitor public policy in collected in near real time, they are actually released
myriad ways. However, its use continues to be fraught after a significant amount of time (cf. D4D challenge

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(Taylor & Schroeder, 2014)). Even when released, they all citizens (Nissenbaum, 2010; Podesta et al., 2014).
are only accessible to a small number of researchers. Whereas the government is not able to link together its
Hence, even plucking the low hanging fruit in this case own administrative databases together because of the
is non-trivial (Prydz, 2014). "big brother is watching attitude", multiple data brokers
acquire data from federal, state and county governments,
Lack of Institutional mechanisms to curate the data and
and link them together to form extremely rich datasets
mediate access to it. Again, while in the US, researchers
(Washington, 2014). Ansolabehere & Hersh (2012)
have access to resources curated and mediated by the
provide an illustration when they detail how the private
ICPSR, such institutional arrangements are largely
firms they engaged "Catalist" and "Polimetrix" shared
lacking in the developing world. Even, in the USA,
data amongst themselves to link various voting records,
presence of legislation overly focused on privacy aspects
and shared de-identified records with the researchers.
has prevented the linking together of administrative
record data both across agencies and across states (Lane Lack of Data Integrity or provenance which is a
& Stodden, 2013; Lane & Schur, 2009; Lane & Schur, "cornerstone of credible science" (Lagoze, 2014) is a
2010). major challenge to the reproducibility and applicability
of results. A lot of big data lacks provenance as (i) it
Absence of infrastructure to support privacy preserving
has not been designed for research (social media data)
data mining, wherein the researchers do not need access
(Lazer et al., 2014), (ii) it has been stripped of key
to the raw data per se. Data enclaves (Abowd & Lane,
identifiers (Podesta et al., 2014), or (iii) it has been
2004) are a possible solution, but have concerns regarding
"repurposed, reprocessed, retrofitted, and reinterpreted"
accessibility to a select few. Thus, some virtual solutions
(Schintler & Kulkarni, 2014) multiple times.
are needed.
Till now we have looked at the various aspects of Big
Crisis of Reproducibility is illustrated by Google Flu
Data from the data and domain perspective. Now, we
Trends (Lazer et al., 2014). Both science and social
turn our gaze to the tools and techniques used to analyse
science are passing through a crisis of reproducibility,
this data and gain value.
partly because of entrenched notions on sharing and the
incentive mechanisms, and partly because it is difficult 3. Big Data Technologies and Challenges
or impossible to share. Studies like the Facebook
contagion study (Kramer, Guillory, & Hancock, 2014) The open source project Hadoop (by Apache Software
cannot be replicated (and thus criticized) outside the Foundation) is a primary Big Data analytics platform
platform for which they were designed and same is the which is built to operate on large distributed (high
case with multiple other studies, many of which depend performance) compute clusters. MapReduce, the most
on data sourced from commercial entities mediated popular function, is essentially a two stage fault tolerant
through Application Programming Interfaces (Vis, 2013; analytical routine which distributes the data and task
Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014). at hand, first, to various compute nodes, and integrates
the results obtained later. This is done using the Hadoop
Privacy and anonymity as Daries et al., (2014) say, the
Distributed File System (HDFS) (adopted from Google
two are intimately linked and sides of the same coin.
(distributed) File System or GFS). IBM's InfoSphere
We need to clearly understand what needs to be protected
BigInsights and InfoSphere Streams are commercial
and build strong policy foundations for the same. The
platforms for analysis of big data at rest and in streams
consent framework that does not take care of end-use
respectively. A survey on Big Data describing
only instills a false sense of privacy, as it does not really
technologies, platforms, applications, and challenges
protect end-use (Barocas & Nissenbaum, 2014; Mundie,
with suggestions on designing Big Data systems is
2014; Podesta et al., 2014).
presented by Chen & Zhang (2014). For more details
Data Brokers or "omnibus information providers" are on the platform, we refer the interested readers to
largely unregulated and hold detailed profiles on almost Understanding Big Data: Analytics for Enterprise Class

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Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Hadoop and Streaming Data by Zikopoulos, Eaton, Deroos, value and sensitivity of the information/data.
Deutsch & Lapis (2015). Further developments for new 5. To conduct periodic internal and external security
analytical routines to add to the Hadoop family are also audits.
underway by several organisations including the open
6. Real-time security monitoring to detect and respond
source community.
to any alarming event.
3.1 Challenges 7. Use of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)
method, in order to keep a balance between need to
Kambatla, Kollias, Kumar, & Grama (2014) point out
perform operations on encrypted data packets and
that due to the scattered nature of Big Data it is difficult
also keeping it secure while in transmission.
to store, process and analyse it at one place. Hence, it
8. Cyber threat intelligence mechanisms.
needs to be segregated and processed over different
servers. But with such distributed databases there arises 9. Hosting critical information only in hardened host
the complexity of privacy, fault-tolerance, security and servers.
access controls. Chen & Zhang (2014) highlight that the Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier (2013, pp 27) cite an
lack of awareness pertaining to Big Data poses serious example of 'Xoom', which is a firm holding a big name
threats to the nation's cyber security and is also a barrier in the context of Big Data. Xoom analyses its transactions
to country's socio-economic development. in totality and triggers an alarm if any suspicious
behaviour is detected. Usually to detect malicious
Big Data poses a serious challenge in regard to data
behaviour it works on pattern based detection
complexity, large scale data integration, sheer volume
techniques, which implies that whenever any suspicious
and lack of availability of supporting high performance
behaviour is detected which appears to be against the
computing cluster (HPCC) hardware and software
'normal' behaviour pattern of the firm, the software will
platforms to tackle the aforesaid challenges. For more
raise an alert/alarm. Xoom provides 128 bit encryption
detailed discussion on involved issues, we refer the
protection for securing transactions on its website
interested readers to Big Data: Opportunities and
whether the user is logged in or not. Xoom is a Verisign
Challenges by Morton, Runciman & Keith (2014).
certified site and a certified licensee of TRUSTe
3.2 A Techno-Legal Perspective (www.xoom.com).

Big Data: Information Security Panorama: Secure Big Data: Legal Panorama: There exist variety of
cyberspace has become an indisputable need. In the sensitive information, such as, confidential
context of Big Data, all organisations involved in its life organisational information, intellectual property (e.g.,
cycle must have robust information security frameworks, trade secrets), healthcare information (e.g., patient
incorporating at least: records or insurance information), personal financial
information (e.g., employee salary details, social security
1. Limiting access through segregation and separation
details) which need to be protected from unauthorized
of duties with defined access rights restrictions and
disclosure, access, alteration or damage. Several nations
strict authentication and authorization parameters.
have enacted laws to protect personally identifiable
2. Use of data anonymization and a control on de- information, for example, European Union Data
anonymization techniques while storing personal Protection Directive, Enhancing Privacy Protection Act,
identifiable information (PID) or other sensitive in- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
formation. (HIPAA), and for protecting personal financial
3. Establishing a trust boundary between data owners information the Gram-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). In India,
and data storage owners. there is a pressing need to frame and enact suitable data
4. Implementation of sound access control policies and protection legislation and incorporate compliance
customized firewall configurations in parlance to the mechanisms. As of now, personal data protection is

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covered by provisions in the Information Technology responding to the users queries/searches on the basis
(Amendment) Act, 2008 under Sections 43, 66, & 72 of matching keywords and thereby increasing Google
and/or under the provisions of Indian Penal Code, books sales. The Honourable court favoured Google by
1860. stating that Google's usage does not fall into the category
of 'massive copyright infringement' (as claimed by the
Big Data legal requirements and its sector wise
plaintiff) or adversely impacts the rights of copyright
applicability: The multiple layers of regulations can be
holder, as it had followed the required due diligence
implemented jointly or independently depending upon
and also is eligible to fall under the 'fair use' category.
the case facts. In the context of Big Data, the applicability
Google through its security measures didn't allow the
of the relevant law is ascertained on the basis of various
users to have a complete view of the books but only
factors, such as, the type of data (personal health,
snippet views, thus, giving respectful consideration to
financial or corporate information). The applicable laws
the author's rights and creativity. Not only that, the
to select from are:
court held that Google had incorporated better research
(1) Health Information Technology for Economic and tool (in form of data mining), ease of access, efficient
Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) - applicable to mechanism for identifying and locating books and quick
health care providers, health care clearing houses search results for end users. On the whole, we may say
storing, processing, and exchanging electronically that an organisation can mitigate the risk of litigation
protected health information (e-PHI). HITECH Act arising out of using Big Data with well-defined business
widens the scope of privacy and security available purpose (inclusive of transparency to users regarding
under HIPAA. It further increases the potential usage of data collected, protections from any competing
liability in case of non-compliance and bestows better commercial interests that may arise, and above all
enforcement. serving the public good).
(2) Children's Online Privacy Protection Act - applicable Big Data in Healthcare Industry: Mckinsey Global
to organizations collecting personal information of Institute estimated that healthcare analytics will generate
children (the age limit varies from country to country). more than $300 billion in business value per year. Big
(3) CAN-SPAM Act 2003 - protects customers from Data can make significant changes and developments
targeted marketing campaigns of companies which in reshaping public health. Google published a paper
results into unsolicited bulk emails. in the scientific journal 'Nature' estimating the likelihood
Google's 'Usage of Big Data: A Strategic Business of rapid spread of the H1N1 virus, just few weeks before
Purpose' example (in book Big Data: A Business and Legal the virus actually hit (Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier,
Guide by Kalyvas & Overly): The analyses of Big Data 2013). As pointed out by Bill Hamilton (2012), "If a
is often for a purpose different than the one for which group of patients is discussing quality of care about a
it was collected. Although, the commercial use of Big provider, there will likely never be 100% consensus.
Data is apparent but organisations need to be transparent Patient experiences will be different, and there will be
regarding its business purpose while using Big Data biases based on accidents, misunderstandings and other
and ensuring that it does not exceed the defined factors. The challenge will be to create useful information
purpose(s). Google narrowly escaped in a litigation, out of this collection of data to provide information such
Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc., 770 F.Supp.2d 666 as provider ratings and improvement guidance"
(S.D.N.Y. 2011) in which Google had successfully (Hamilton, 2012).
avoided legal liabilities by clearly defining well in For more examples and a detailed discussion on legal
advance a business purpose for use of Big Data. In this aspects we refer the reader to Big Data: A Business and
case, Google was sued for violating copyright by creating Legal Guide by Kalyvas & Overly (2014). Criticism of
a copy of authors books in the form of e-books (using real life Big Data application has also surfaced (Lazer
optical character recognition technology) and then et al., 2014). However, we observe that Big Data

IMJ 8 Madhukar Dayal, Sachin Garg and Rubaina Shrivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

applications and development are at a nascent stage air fare predictions website for best buy price helps
and we envisage that over a period of time the consumers based on the Big Data analyses on earlier
technology, platforms, and applications will mature air fare data and thus giving substantial economic benefit
proving their utility. to passengers (Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier, 2013, pp
4-5).
4. Big Data Opportunities
4.1 International Big Data Initiatives
Big Data being voluminous allows us to explore new
information avenues with better granularity and without United States of America: In September 1993, the
the risk of blurriness. Immense volumes of data lie 'Information Highway' program was launched in USA.
around us needing to be collected and processed to Similarly, in March 2012 the 'Big Data Research and
extract value. One of the major benefits of creating and Development Initiative' was launched. The project
using Big Data is that it highlights and spots such points envisions to improve and facilitate use of Big Data by
of concern which otherwise may be entirely undetectable extracting valuable information insights for better
when using sample data (Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier, development. It primarily focuses on healthcare,
2013). emergency response and disaster recovery,
Governments and PSUs: Governments are increasingly cybersecurity, education and employability,
adopting digital technologies. USA.gov and 'Digital transportation and energy sector (Jin et al., 2015).
India' are notable examples of this trend. The 2012 United Kingdom: COSMOS (see What is COSMOS?)
presidential election campaign in U.S has seen one of
aims to be an open platform for social data analysis that
the remarkable uses of Big Data for better decision
can harvest, archive, analyze and visualize social media
making. President Barack Obama's campaign team
streams. In due course, the platform is expected to link
conducted Big Data analysis to target voters and identify
to other social data and is currently linked to the UK
the most responsive regions for campaigning and then
Police API, harvesting crime statistics. Collectively, the
allocating the resources to the destined areas. The
European Union has also started partnering through the
winning of Obama and his getting re-elected as president
program 'Horizon 2020'.
of U.S.A demonstrated and unfolded a new strategic
step in making sense of Big Data (Jin, Wah, Cheng & Japan: Aspires to be the World's Most Advanced IT
Wang, 2015). Nation by year 2020. 'The Integrated ICT Strategy for
2020' has already been launched with a mission to
Law Enforcement Agencies: Big Data can be used by
develop Japan as a leader of Information Technology
Law enforcement agencies in order to analyse
with Big Data at its centre stage. The aforesaid IT strategy
voluminious data and impede crime and terrorist attacks.
focuses at implanting the highest level of standards in
The case of a notorious Chinese serial killer 'Zhou Kehua'
Big Data technology and IT infrastructure (see Declaration
is an example of usage and summary analysis of various
to be the World's Most Advanced IT Nation).
information obtained from Big Data. The Big Data
consisted of video data, photographs and some other Germany: The German Government has announced a
related content and on the basis of it Zhou Kehua was Big Data research initiative namely 'production
tracked, investigated and captured. In this case, Big intelligence'. The aim is to perform real time analytics
Data analysis played a decisive role for the law on all manufacturing data. This Big Data analysis will
enforcement agency. Big Data may also prove to be help to evaluate, improve, and enhance the
applicable in identifying potential criminals (Jin et al., manufacturing capacities and processes, to automate,
2015). and in effective decision making, and to achieve optimal
Business and Economic Systems: Big Data studies can manufacturing scenarios (see German government
be applied to raise the economic value and to bring announces "Production Intelligence": funding for Jedox's
significant societal and scientific impact. Farecast, the Big Data project).

IMJ 9 Madhukar Dayal, Sachin Garg and Rubaina Shrivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Australia: The Australian Public Service ICT Strategy space and weather data), (ii) accessibility to expensive
2012-2015 aims to use Big Data for better service delivery, platforms (hardware and software needed, though open
efficient and effective mechanisms for e-governance, source can be deployed) is limited, (iii) efforts are needed
preserve national information assets, improve health in the direction of preparing policies and legal
service offerings and better emergency response frameworks covering issues such as responsibility for
mechanisms. Australian government uses Patient collection, storage, and preservation, protection from
Admission Prediction Tool (PAPT) (in collaboration illegal use, ownership of the data and (extent of) freedom
with Australian e-Health Research Centre Queensland to share with others, etc.
Health, Griffith University and Queensland University
Prime Minister's farmer soil health card is an initiative
of Technology) software for Big Data analytics in health
which could provide extremely valuable data in future
industry. PAPT aims to achieve predictions for number
contributing to the nation's food security. Similar
of patients that hospital may expect in the near days,
schemes are also needed for our other national natural
emergency cases, hospital staff's case(s) handling
resources, such as: (i) monitoring (underground and
capacities, available and required labor pool as and
surface) water availability, usage, and its preservation
when need arises, and balanced workload. These
in India, (ii) rainfall harvesting activities and potential,
predictions can achieve timely service delivery, better
(iii) land and its (current and possible) usage across the
disaster resilience and a far better quality care offering.
country, (iv) forest areas monitoring, (v) wildlife data,
United Nations: UN recently launched a project 'Global (vi) air quality data from cities (recent media reports
Pulse: Harnessing Big Data for Development and indicate Delhi as the most polluted city in the World,
Humanitarian Action'. Global Pulse is intended to now since a few years), (vii) wind farming potential,
ascertain and predict the societal issues like and so on.
unemployment, disease outbreaks, and likewise. It
On the human development index front, monitoring of
aspires to achieve proactive approach in handling
diet and health data (including disease spread and
alarming events arising out of humanitarian grounds.
control, vaccinations, etc), levels and adequacy of
It works for creating awareness and development in
nutrition intakes in society, education (availability and
regard to Big Data opportunities and its value addition
usage), transport (needs, trends, and consumption),
for society (http://www.unglobalpulse.org/).
electricity (generation, distribution, shortages, losses,
5. Big Data: The Road ahead in India etc), provide scope for exploiting big data applications
for big gains.
Substantial Big Data is being generated (and stored) by
The central and state Governments in India stand to
Government departments in India already. Department
gain a lot by joint planning, collection, sharing, and
of Science and Technology, GoI has announced plans
analysis of big data to develop appropriate talent
to take Big Data research forward in the Indian context,
development plans for future, planned farming to avoid
including financial support for teams taking up such
over and under production in a season leading to excess
projects (http://dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/
or shortage, and similar other schemes.
bigdatainitiative.html). However, continuous effort shall
be needed for a long period of time before some success Effort is needed to tap the potential in big data starting
stories of big data studies and their results are visible. with: to identify, support (such as through fully funded
academic scholarships), develop, and employ special
More efforts to tap the potential of big data analytics,
especially in the social welfare sphere, are needed. The talent to tap the potential of big data. Simultaneously,
bottlenecks needed to be overcome are: (i) not much to set up big data analytics centres with necessary
(big) data is being collected and stored in India (leaving infrastructure, and accessibility to the scientific and
a few segments, such as, scientific community with academic community, supported by series of funding

IMJ 10 Madhukar Dayal, Sachin Garg and Rubaina Shrivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

for incorporating future developments in these 6. Conclusion

technologies and ensuring their immediate availability
Big Data platforms and technology have crossed the
to the talent pool for productive deployment.
chasm of mere interest. Across the world, scientific,
As the currently available big data talent pool is small, academic, research, business, as well as, government
it may not yield the critical mass necessary to push a communities are aggressively charting plans and paths
series of big data projects ahead rapidly. Hiring talent to benefit from developments in the big data field. The
from other countries, if available, may also be an issues pertaining to policy and existing frameworks
expensive alternative. Hence, progressively expanding developed over the last few years in some advanced
Government support appears to be the good road ahead. countries have been identified and critiqued to identify
The first among these steps could be identifying and unresolved issues. We anticipate much action in the
supporting scholars and students in acquiring the business and government domains in the years to come,
necessary knowledge and skills. and one such potential arena would lie in big data which
spans national boundaries.
Being a very large nation with equally large variety of
data generated (and additionally, challenges of different Summarizing learnings from recent applications of big
languages, notations, formats used etc), it is desirable data across the world, and identifying the initiatives
for India to develop and follow a schema designed and embraced by governments of prosperous nations, we
suggested by scholars, researchers, various data users, underscore the huge potential that big data holds and
and Governments collectively. Though, Big Data can unfold for the central and state governments in
technology is designed to address analysis of humongous India. We also propose steps that can be taken in India
volumes and variety of data, bringing even a partial during policy formulation, legal frameworks enactment,
order to its collection and storage by pursuing an infrastructure upgradation and talent pool creation, for
established policy can ease analytical loads (by the nation to benefit from Big Data platforms and
somewhat reducing data's dimensionality), help in technology.
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What is COSMOS? (n.d.). Retrieved on 12-Apr-2015 from

http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/cosmos/ Madhukar Dayal has served as a Gazetted officer in Indian
Railways (Indian Railways Service of Mechanical
Zikopoulos, P., Eaton, C., Deeros, D., Deutsch, T. & Lapis,
Engineers) for over twenty years. His experience spans
G. (2015). Understanding big data: Analytics for
Railway operations, information technology projects,
enterprise class hadoop and streaming data. McGraw-
Hill Osborne Media. R&D, as well as, teaching. He has travelled widely across
the country conducting seminars, delivering speeches,
Zwitter, Andrej. (2014). Big Data ethics. In: Big Data & Society
advising IR in IT projects, and in applications of emerging
1.2. DOI : 10.1177 / 2053951714559253. eprint: http:/
technologies in Indian Railways. He was also the editor
/bds.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/2/2053951714559253.
of IRIMEE, Jamalpur newsletter and conference
URL : http://bds.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/2/
2053951714559253. proceedings. He earned his Fellow (Computers &
Information Systems) degree from IIM Ahmedabad. He has
taught C, C++ (OOP), Industrial Management, computer
hardware, software, and networking courses at the
graduate level and in Management Development
Programs. Currently he teaches Spreadsheet Modelling,
Information Systems for Managers, and Modern Computing
Applications for Businesses in the post-graduate programs,
and DBMS & OLTP in the Fellow (PhD) program. His
research interests include high performance compute
cluster algorithms and business and government
applications of technology.
Sachin Garg is a Ph.D. student at George Mason
University's School of Policy, Government & International
Affairs. He is currently researching how Big Data can be
used to analyse and inform in Public Policy, and how
policies impact the generation, collection and
dissemination of such Data. Prior to joining the doctoral
programme, Sachin was working as a Software Architect
in Yahoo!. He has extensive and varied experience with
Open Source Software, especially Linux. He holds a
Masters in Computer Science from the University of
Allahabad, India.
Rubaina Shrivastava is an Academic Associate
(Information Systems) at Indian Institute of Management,
Indore (IIMI). Earlier, she worked as a Research Fellow
(Information Security) at National Law Institute University
(NLIU, Bhopal). She has received Post Graduate from
NLIU, Bhopal in the stream of Cyber Laws and Information
Security. Also, she holds two globally respected
certification viz. CCNA and RHCE. She is a compassionate
enthusiast for addressing cybersecurity techno-legal
challenges and to inform others about the good than can
be done in line.

IMJ 14 Madhukar Dayal, Sachin Garg and Rubaina Shrivastava

Viewpoint
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Big Data - Intuitive Lessons for HR Managers

Debolina Dutta

"Big Data" has emerged as the new buzz word in would refer to the multiple sources of data, which does
management and industry, who look to tame the volume, not necessarily fall into neat relational structures.
velocity and variability of massive data to reveal hitherto Moreover, experienced practitioners have an intuitive
insights, which would provide organizations with a understanding of which levers in their operations could
competitive edge. After all, analysis and insights from produce strategic outcomes for the business and the
big data is what has been the genesis of large number organization. All it requires is a questioning bent of
of service and product organizations. Trend patterns mind, to challenge existing paradigms of efficiency and
emerging from user actions have resulted in crafting effectiveness and evaluate the impact of these initiatives
highly personalized user experience and the new wave through the arsenal of big data.
of advertising. This has been leveraged successfully by It is also important to understand the critical difference
the large web based startups like Amazon, Facebook, between correlation and causality. Therefore, a word
Google and Yahoo. of caution on the tendency to find "spurious correlations".
The buzz around big data is enough to make sensible For instance, a phenomenal correlation of 99.79% exists
people head for the hills! Terms in the Hadoop bestiary between US spending on science, space and technology
like HDFS, Mapreduce, Pig, Zookeeper, Hive, Mahout with suicides by hanging, strangling and suffocation !
,Sqoop, Flume are enough to deter most HR professionals Or how about a 66.6% correlation between films Nicholas
from testing these waters. However, just as driving a Cage appears in with the number of people who drown
car requires some overall coordination, sensitivity to by falling in a pool! It would be extremely imprudent
traffic behavior and a clear sense of what is the intended to establish causality in these cases and take strategic
destination and not a degree in automobile engineering decisions driven by these correlations. ! However, it is
or a minute understanding of the workings or mechanism equally not important to establish or even explain the
of the vehicle, grappling with big data needs skills causality to appreciate the correlation . This is where
which are not so difficult. a rich domain understanding becomes relevant to
connect the dots- prudently!
So what competencies are required to become a true big
data master? Since the differentiation emerges from the Too much to digest? Let me share a few illustrative
examples. A discussion with a recent assessment firm
speed of the insights provided, agility is a key
indicated that they were offering services to a large
requirement. However, what to look for necessitates a
number of organizations for filtering the large volume
high level of domain understanding, an ability to build
of campus recruits applying to organizations. A sharp
correlation with strategic outcomes for the organization,
campus recruitment head then took it upon himself to
an innate curiosity and an entrepreneurial bent of mind.
link the assessment scores (available from a different
If retail analytics have established a correlation between
data source), to performance on the job and retention
diaper and beer sales, resulting in retail outlets bundling
of the campus hires (available in the organizations
these products together, can HR not find similar
performance management system). Some extremely
patterns? Surely, it is not too much to ask for from HR
interesting insights emerged from the data trend, which
practitioners? Not really. Most HR functions are sitting
were useful for the organization to sharpen its
on goldmines of large employee data and each function
recruitment strategy for better organizational outcomes.
within HR can independently explore what insights
could be gleaned from the volume, velocity and variety I could share a personal example of how a Talent
of data accessible to them. The variety aspect of the data Acquisition function I was part of, was actually working

IMJ 15 Debolina Dutta

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

blindly against non-validated perceptions and biases makingthis firm a frontrunner on these metrics, with
which were actually counter-productive to the some of the best statistics in the industry.
organizations' interests. The business head had given
Fundamental to all these examples is the strong feedback
us a mandate to improve quality of hire, with a clear
loop used to link data streams to build powerful and
directive to increase the intake from top tiered
actionable insights. The purpose of Big Data is not to
organization. The rationale behind this mandate seemed
generate more data but to produce actionable outcomes.
intuitive, with talent at top tiered organization having
Examples cited here are not necessarily restricted to the
gone through sufficient screening process to ensure
domain of talent acquisition. For instance, HR Managers
high caliber talent. Additionally, having worked at these
could be encouraged to look at trends within
top tier organizations, the assumption was that these
performance management systems, link with reward
hires would produce non-linear outcomes in terms of
and recognition or correlate with training interventions
quality of performance and productivity. The Talent
and retention statistics. Depending on the business
Acquisition function took affirmative action and
problem critical to the specific organization, HR
congratulations were generously awarded by all, when
managers should start use the "drivetrain approach" in
the intake of talent from these top tier organizations was
conjunction with a model assembly line and this can
increased from 23% of lateral hires to 78% of lateral
be used to link a predictive model to actionable outcomes.
hiring. Naturally, this came at a significant increase in
Can HR managers consider performance metrics of
the salary cost. However, reviewing the hiring data of
certain teams or business units to provide
over 5000 hires over a couple of years, correlating with
recommendations to other business functions on HR
performance and retention indicated that there was no
interventions which will result in improved business
significant correlation of pedigree of company hired
outcomes, much akin to the recommendation engine of
from with the performance. What this meant was that
Ecommerce sites? So instead of waiting for best practice
with no significant productivity increase, we had, in
sharing on a knowledge site, can some proactive data
effect, increased the cost base for the organization by
mining throw up these nuggets? A lot of HR decisions
5% and actually got appreciation for it! Naturally,
are based on lag data and maybe the time has come for
corrective strategies were applied and hiring was then
us to get into predictive indicators for our decision
focused on increasing Tier hire, but within the same
making. We can all start with asking simple questions
salary grids applicable to the larger organization and
around "What objectives is our HR function trying to
no deviations in cost allowed.
achieve? What levers do we have at our disposal to
An interesting example from another top IT services achieve this objective?"
firm has been how they have been using the data from
All of us would be amazed at the possibilities which
their pre-boarding gamification platform. Insights from
emerge from these simple questions.
how offered candidates engaged with the organization
through the pre-boarding gamification activity provided
a heads-up to the Talent Acquisition function about Debolina Dutta has 23 years of work experience in HR
& Sales domain. She had a degree in Electrical Engineering
which candidates were likely to abort. Proactive
from College of Engineering, Pune, a Post Graduate Degree
recruitment was therefore initiated only for these high in management from IIM, Bangalore and completed her
risk cases and this contributed to overall utilization FPM-Industry program from IIM Indore. She is working
level increasing and bench strengthsreducing, as Director and Head of HR, VF Brands (I).

IMJ 16 Debolina Dutta

A Review of Evolution of Theories and
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Models of Technology Adoption

Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Abstract Government (Venkatesh et al. 2012)that were promising

in respect of the advantages they offered to the users
Technology adoption is one of the mature areas of IS
but still have not been adopted by the users to the extent
research. Research in this domain has evolved over time
expected.
by conceptualizing new factors which can better explain
the phenomena of technology adoption resulting in Several studies have revealed that technology adoption
development of several theories and models. This is not related to the aspects of technology alone but has
process of evolution has been primarily driven by rapidly evolved as a much more complex process involving
changing technology scenario and has led to new factors dimensions of user attitude and personality (Venkatesh
which are grounded in theory from other disciplines. et al. 2012), social influence (Ajzen and Fishbein 1975),
In this paper, we strive to trace the evolution of various trust (Gefen et al. 2003) and numerous facilitating
theories and models of technology adoption over the conditions (Thompson et al. 1991). It is necessary to
years with the objective of presenting an overview of understand the evolution of this research area in
this important domain to the researchers who intend Information Systems and look at future research
to apply these models in their research. We also look opportunities.
at need for identification of new factors in the technology
In this study, we trace the evolution of research in the
adoption models in wake of rapid technology changes
area of technology adoption over the years by means
in future.
of a review of the existing literature on the subject. The
1. Introduction study is undertaken with two objectives. The first
objective of this paper is to present an overview of this
Technology adoption is one of the mature area of research important domain to the researchers who intend to
in information systems. Carr (1999) has defined apply these models in their research. Second objective
technology adoption as the 'stage of selecting a of the study is to look at the need to identify new
technology for use by an individual or an organization'. constructs that may possibly be used in explaining
With rapid strides being made in technology innovations adoption of emerging technologies such as e-
in every conceivable domain, the issues related to government, cloud computing, mobile government etc.
technology adoption have gained increasing prominence and further build the theoretical foundations of the
in recent times. Huge investments are made by existing body of knowledge.
organizations and governments for introducing new
technologies that have the potential of bringing a 2. Research Methodology
paradigm shift in the life-style of the users. However,
Methodology of literature survey was followed for this
these investments may not yield results if the innovations
paper. Research papers with relevant keywords (such
are not adopted by the intended users. Initial failure
as technology adoption, technology adoption theory,
of diffusion of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems
technology adoption model etc) were downloaded from
in US (Simon et al. 2007) and Enterprise Resource
online databases like EBSCO, Google Scholar, Proquest,
Planning (ERP) systems (Addo & Helo 2011) are some
INFORMS etc. The papers were scrutinized to identify
of the examples of the technologies that failed to take
and classify them on the basis of themes on which they
off in spite of promising start. More recent examples
were focussed. Details of methodology, data set and
are that of cloud computing (Low et al. 2011) and e-
major findings of the papers were tabulated for extracting

IMJ 17 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

their common and differentiating features. References Two major streams of research have evolved on adoption
of latest papers were once again searched online to of technologies. One stream pertains to adoption at
include any missing papers left out due to new keywords. individual and the other at organizational level. If the
Since the objective was to look at evolution of theories intention or usage by an individual is the subject of
and models over the years rather than their application, study, it is considered as adoption at individual level
we picked up a survey paper by Sarkar (2009), review (e.g., Compeau and Higgins 1995; Davis et al. 1989). On
papers by Chuttar et.al. (2009) and Long (2010) that the other hand, if success of implementation by the
provided an overview of some of the important theories organization is under study, it is considered as adoption
that have evolved over the years. Seminal papers related at organization level (Leonard-Bartonan and d
to these theories were then downloaded and studied in Deschamps 1988). Adoption at individual and
depth to understand the constructs and the context of organizational levels leads to mass adoption which is
the study. termed as the diffusion of technology.

3. Technology Adoption Theories and Models The theories and models that have evolved for explaining
adoption of technology are summarized in chronological
Literature review revealed interchangeable use of the order as follows:
terms adoption and diffusion although these terms are
A. Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Roger, 1960): Re-
quite distinct from each other. Therefore, noting the
search in diffusion can be traced back to the epic work
difference between these two terms is in order. Adoption
by Everett Roger's in 1960 named as the Diffusion
refers to "the stage in which a technology is selected
of Innovation Theory which has been widely applied
for use by an individual or an organization" (Carr, 1999)
by the researchers over the years.
while the term diffusion refers to "the stage in which
the technology spreads to general use and application" The main idea of the theory is that there are four
(Rogers, 2003). Therefore, while the term adoption is elements that influence the spread of a new idea: the
used at individual level, diffusion can be thought of as innovation, communication channels, time and social
adoption by the masses. From the point of view of our system. The process of diffusion consists of five
study, both the terms are important because adoption stages, namely, knowledge, persuasion, decision,
will generally lead to diffusion. Hence, while looking implementation, and confirmation. It results in six
into the evolution of research of technology adoption categories of users: innovators, early adopters, early
we take into account the diffusion studies as well as majority, late majority, laggards and the leap-
adoption studies. froggers. The theory can be depicted as shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Rogers, 1960)

IMJ 18 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

The diffusion innovation theory provided the concept slope of the growth curve becomes positive and
of S-shaped curve of adoption which was also called number of members who have adopted the innova-
as the epidemic model of adoption. According to this tion becomes so large that there are hardly any new
curve, spread of infections among the population can members left for adopting it. According to Rogers
be held as an analogy to the pattern of spread of (1960), this point occurs when nearly 10% to 20% of
a new technique or idea. According to this analogy, the members of the social system have adopted the
initially the rate of spread is slow. In the mid range innovation.
of the graph, the rate of spread accelerates and finally The S-shaped adoption curve described above applies
the rate of spread tapers off resulting in an S-shaped to most of the innovations that come up from time
curve depicted in Figure 2. to time. However its application is of special signifi-
cance for adoption of communication technology
where it is referred to as Metcalfe's law (Gilders 1993).
In this case, value of the innovation is enhanced for
existing users of the communication system as more
and more people adopt the innovation. Each addition
of user has a positive effect on existing users of the
system which results in acceleration of the adoption
curve. Phenomenal growth of the Internet over last
one and half decade is often interpreted by this law.
B. Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen,
1975): Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) has its roots
in social psychology setting. The theory proposes
three general constructs, namely "behavioural inten-
tion (BI), attitude (A), and subjective norm (SN)".
According to TRA behavioural intention of a person
depends on his attitude and subjective norms.
Figure 2: S-shaped Adoption Curve (Rogers, 1960)
Mathematically, it can be interpreted that behavioural
The reasoning for such S-shape curve is that initially
intention is the summation of attitude and subjective
the innovation has to come from outside the bound-
norms. Moreover, intention of a person likely to
aries of the social system prevalent at that time. This
convert to action if there is the intention to behave
implies that number of people that are exposed to
in a specific manner is strong enough.
the innovation are few in the beginning. As these
people in the social system start accepting the
innovation, they bring it in contact with more and
more people. Therefore the rate of spread keeps on
increasing. Eventually, the innovation is accepted by
most of the members of social system and the rate
of spread declines. As there are no more members
left for accepting the innovation, the spread stops
completely.
The S-shaped curve depicted in Figure 2 illustrates Figure 3: Theory of Reasoned Action, (Fishbein and
Ajzen, 1975)
that there is a critical "take off point" at which the

IMJ 19 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

The definition of various constructs used in the theory of how well one can execute courses of action required
are as given in Table 3. to deal with prospective situations". According to the
Table 1: Constructs used in Theory of Reasoned theory, self-efficacy is the most important determinant
Action for behavioural change since it leads to building up
Construct Definition of coping behaviour.

Attitudes "Sum of beliefs about a particular

behaviour weighted by evaluations of
these beliefs".
Subjective "Influence of people in one's social
norms environment on his behavioural inten-
tions; the beliefs of people, weighted by
the importance one attributes to each
of their opinions that will influence
one's behavioural intention"
Behavioural "Function of both attitudes toward a
intention behaviour and subjective norms toward
that behaviour which has been found Figure 4: Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991)
to predict actual behaviour"
The definition of additional construct (PBC) is given in
Source: Fishbein and Ajzen (1975)
Table 2.
Table 2: Additional Construct used in Theory of
C. Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991): The Planned Behaviour
Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was proposed by
Construct Definition
Icek Ajzen in 1991 and was developed from the
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which was pro- Perceived "People's perception of the ease or
posed by Martin Fishbein and Ajzen in 1975. TPB Behaviour difficulty of performing the behaviour
adds the concept of Perceived Behavioural Control Control of interest which in turn depends on the
(PBC) to the constructs attitudes and subjective norms self efficacy which is the judgments of
which make the TRA. Perceived behavioural control how well one can execute courses of
refers to "people's perception of the ease or difficulty action required to deal with prospective
of performing the behaviour of interest". It differs situations."
from Rotter's (1966) concept of perceived locus of Source: Ajzen (1991)
control because it is not constant and varies with
D. The Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986): Focus
different situations faced by the individual. Locus of
of the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) is on the concept
control is considered to be a more generalized
of self-efficacy which is defined as "the judgment of
expectancy of the individual that remains fairly stable
one's ability to use a technology to accomplish a
across situations. In this way, the criticism faced by
particular job or task" (Compeau and Higgins, 1995).
TRA that it is based on relatively static construct of
According to SCT, behaviour of the user is influenced
attitude and thus cannot be used for prediction of
by expectations of outcome related to personal as well
behavioural outcome has been addressed by TPB. The
as performance-related gains. Self-efficacy, in turn,
roots of concept of PBC are grounded in the Self-
influences the expectation of outcome of both types.
Efficacy Theory (SET) proposed by Bandura (1977)
While esteem of the person and his sense of achieve-
which in turn came from the Social Cognitive Theory.
ment relate to personal outcome expectations, out-
Bandura (1986) defined self-efficacy as "the judgments
come expectations related to performance on the job

IMJ 20 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

lead to performance related expectations. According of use) as "the degree to which an innovation is
to SCT, there are two opposing factors that influence perceived as relatively difficult to understand and
behaviour of the users. Positive contribution is made use". The definitions of these constructs are depicted
by the factor "affect" which is the extent to which in Table 1.
an individual likes his job. On the other hand, TAM was originally tested in the context of adoption
negative contribution to desired behaviour is made of email service and file editor at IBM Canada with
by the factor "anxiety" which is the anxious reaction 14 items on each of 2 constructs. The results of the
of the person while performing a job such as trying survey on sample of 112 users validated the model
to use a computer with which the person is not very with the finding that perceived usefulness is a
familiar. This theory has been widely used in adop- stronger factor than perceived ease of use that drives
tion studies. technology adoption. In next ten years, TAM became
E. Technical Adoption Model (Fred D Davis, 1989): well-established as a robust, powerful, and parsimo-
Technology Adoption Model (TAM) has been widely nious model for predicting user acceptance. King and
used in technology adoption studies. The strength of He (2006) presented a meta analysis of TAM and
the model lies in its simplicity as it has only two found that it is a valid and robust model with
constructs, namely, "perceived usefulness" and "per- applications in a wide range of areas. Dwivedi et al
ceived ease of use" for predicting extent of adoption (2010) carried out a comparison of TAM and UTAUT
of new technologies at individual level as shown (Venkatesh et al. 2003) and found that focus is now
below shifting away from TAM to UTAUT while citing in
the research articles. In another study, Benbasat &
Barki (2007) have criticized TAM especially on the
grounds of its limitations in the fast-changing IT
environment.
F. The Model of PC Utilization (Thompson et. al. 1991):
The model is based on the Theory of Human
Behaviour by Triandis (1977) which differs in some
Figure 5: Technology Adoption Model (Davis, 1989) ways from the Theory of Reasoned Action because
it makes a distinction between cognitive and affective
These constructs are derived from Bandura's Self
components of attitudes. Beliefs belong to the cog-
Efficacy Theory (1982) which defines perceived ease
nitive component of attitudes. According to this
of use as "the judgments of how well one can execute
theory "Behaviour is determined by what people
courses of action required to deal with prospective
would like to do (attitudes), what they think they
situation" and from Rogers and Shoemaker (1971)
should do (social norms), what they have usually
paper which defines complexity (interpreted as ease
done (habits), and by the expected consequences of

Table 3: TAM Model by Davis (1989)

Construct Definition Theoretical Background

Perceived usefulness The degree to which a person believes that using a Bandura's Self efficacy
particular system would enhance his or her theory (1982)
job performance

Perceived ease of use The degree to which a person believes that using a Rogers and Shoemaker
particular system would be free of effort (1971)

Source: Davis (1989)

IMJ 21 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

their behaviour". This theory primarily deals with

extent of utilization of a PC by a worker where the
use is not mandated by the organization but is
contingent on the option of the user. In such a setting,
the theory posits that the use of computer by the
worker is likely to be influenced by several factors
such as his feelings (affect) toward using PCs, preva-
lent social norms regarding use of PC at the work-
place, general habits related to use of the computer,
consequences expected by the user by using the PC
and extent of conditions that are present at the work Figure 6: The Model of PC Utilization
(Thompson et al. 1991)
place for facilitating use of PC. These constructs are
depicted in the figure 6.
outcomes that are distinct from the activity itself, such
The definition of the constructs used in the model are
as improved job performance, pay, or promotions"
given in Table 4.
(Davis et al., 1992, p. 1112). Examples of extrinsic
G. The Motivation Model (Davis et al., 1992): Davis motivation are perceived usefulness, perceived ease
applied the motivational theory to study information of use, and subjective norm. On the other hand, if
technology adoption and use. The main premise of performing an activity leads to a feeling of pleasure
the Motivation Model is that there are extrinsic and and results in satisfaction for the individual, such
intrinsic motivations that shape the behaviour of the behaviour can be classified as intrinsic motivation.
user. Extrinsic motivation is defined as the perception (Vallerand, 1997). Users want to perform an activity
that users want to perform an activity "because it is "for no apparent reinforcement other than the process
perceived to be instrumental in achieving valued of performing the activity per se" (Davis et al., 1992,

Table 4: Constructs used in the Model of PC Utilization (Thompson et al. 1991)

Construct Definition

Job-fit "The extent to which an individual believes that using a technology can enhance the
performance of his or her job."

Complexity "The degree to which an innovation is perceived as relatively difficult to understand and
use."

Long-term "Outcomes that have a pay-off in the future."

consequences

Affect Towards "Feelings of joy, elation, or pleasure, or depression, disgust, displeasure, or hate associated
Use by an individual with a particular act."

Social Factors "Individual's internalization of the reference group's subjective culture, and specific
interpersonal agreements that the individual has made with others, in specific social
situations."

Facilitating "Provision of support for users of PCs may be one type of facilitating condition that can
Conditions influence system utilization."

Source: Thompson et al. (1991)

IMJ 22 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

p. 1112). An examples of intrinsic motivation is the that remaining three constructs, namely, attitude
extent of enjoyment that a person derives from toward using technology, self efficacy, and anxiety
playing with a computer (Davis et al., 1992; are theorized not to be the direct determinants of
Venkatesh, 2000). intention as they are fully mediated by ease of use
H. Extended TAM2 model (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000): which has been considered in the unified model as
Venkatesh & Davis modified TAM to include addi- performance expectancy. Therefore, these three con-
tional key determinants of TAM's perceived useful- structs have been removed from the UTAUT model.
ness and usage intention constructs in their extended The constructs in the unified model are defined as
TAM model. The additional constructs included social in table 6.
influence processes (subjective norm, voluntariness The unified theory is proposed to be superior as it
and image) and cognitive instrumental processes (job is able to explain 70% of the variance while the earlier
relevance, output quality, result demonstrability and theories were explaining only 30-40% variance in the
perceived ease of use) which are depicted in Figure 7. adoption behaviour (Venkatesh et al. 2003). However,
it is criticized on the grounds of being overly complex,
not being parsimonious in its approach and its
inability to explain individual behaviour (Casey &
Wilson-Evered 2012; Van Raaij & Schapers 2008). A
comprehensive review of 450 articles that have cited
UTAUT was carried out by Williams et al (2011) and
they found that only a small number of articles have
actually used the constructs of UTAUT in their study-
rather, it has been used more for theory-building.
Figure 7: Extended Technical Adoption Model
(Venkatesh & Davis, 2000) J. Model of Acceptance with Peer Support, (MAPS,
Sykes et al., 2009): Model of Acceptance with Peer
The definitions and theoretical basis of the constructs
Support (MAPS) provides an integration of earlier
are summarized in Table 5.
research that was focussed on individuals with
I. Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technol-
relevant constructs of social network in a way that
ogy (Venkatesh, 2003): This theory, popularly re-
helps to extend the scope of earlier theories. The
ferred as UTAUT was postulated in 2003 by
authors propose that there are two types of social
Venkatesh et.al. by a systematic review and consoli-
ties. First tie between employees relates to obtaining
dation of the constructs of earlier eight models (TRA,
help from employees that can result in extension of
TAM, MM, TPB, TAM2, DOI, SCT and model of
knowledge for using the system. Another kind of tie
personal computer use). It is meant to serve as a
between employees is related to providing assistance
comprehensive model that can be applied across a
and help to co-workers for enabling better under-
range of applications. It has four key constructs
standing of configuration and deployment of the
namely "performance expectancy, effort expectancy,
system. These ties are labelled as "get-help" and "give
social influence and facilitating conditions" which are
help" ties. The authors propose two new constructs,
depicted in Figure 8.
namely, "network density" and "network centrality"
For developing the unified model, the authors have that relate to the concept of "get-help" and "give-help"
compiled and tested all the constructs that were used respectively. The theoretical backing for these con-
in previous models and theorized that out of the seven structs is drawn from earlier research carried out in
constructs used earlier, four constructs shown above social network and are posited as key predictors of
are most significant as determinants of intention to system use. These constructs are further extended as
use information technology. They have hypothesized "valued network density" and "valued network cen-

IMJ 23 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Table 5: Extended TAM Model by Venkatesh and Davis (2000)

Construct Definition Theoretical Background
Subjective Norm Person's perception that most people who are Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and
important to him think he should or should Ajzen 1975) and the subsequent Theory of
not perform the behaviour in question". Planned Behaviour (Ajzen 1991).

Voluntariness Voluntariness is the extent to which potential Hartwick and Barki (1994) found that even
and Compliance adopters perceive the adoption decision to be when users perceive system use to be
with Social non-mandatory. organizationally mandated, usage intentions
Influence. vary because some users are unwilling to
comply with such mandates.

Image Moore and Benbasat (1991) define image as Moore and Benbasat (1991)
"the degree to which use of an innovation is
perceived to enhance one's . . . status in one's
social system".

Job relevance Defined as an individual's perception Cognitive instrumental theoretical

regarding the degree to which the target underpinnings come from three main areas:
system is applicable to his or her job. Regarded work motivation theory (e.g., Vroom 1964),
as cognitive judgment that exerts a direct action theory from social psychology (e.g.,
effect on perceived usefulness, distinct from Fishbein and Ajzen 1975), and task-
social influence processes. contingent decision making from behavioral
decision theory (e.g., Beach and Mitchell
Output quality Output quality measures perception of how
1978).
well the system performs the job related tasks.

Result Defined by Moore and Benbasat (1991) as the

Demonstrability "tangibility of the results of using the
innovation". This implies that individuals can
be expected to form more positive perceptions
of the usefulness of a system if the co-variation
between usage and positive results is readily
discernible.
Source: Venkatesh & Davis (2000).

Figure 8: The UTAUT Model (Venkatesh et. al. 2003)

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Table 6: Constructs used in UTAUT (Venkatesh et.al. 2003)

Construct Definition Root source of the construct Moderators
from earlier models

Performance Performance expectancy is The five constructs from the Gender, Age
expectancy defined as the degree to different models that pertain to
which an individual believes performance expectancy are
that using the system will perceived usefulness (TAM/
help him or her to attain TAM2), extrinsic motivation (MM),
gains in job performance. job-fit (MPCU), relative advantage
(IDT), and outcome expectations
(SCT).

Effort Effort expectancy is defined Three constructs from the existing Gender, Age,
expectancy as the degree of ease models capture the concept of effort Experience
associated with the use of expectancy: perceived ease of use
the system. (TAM/TAM2), complexity
(MPCU) and ease of use (IDT).

Social influence Social influence is defined as The three constructs related to Gender, age,
the degree to which an social influence: subjective norm voluntariness and
individual perceives that (TRA, TAM2/IDTPB, TPB), social experience
important others believe he factors (MPCU), and image (IDT).
or she should use the new
system.

Facilitating Facilitating conditions are Three different constructs used in Age and experience
conditions (no defined as the degree to earlier models are: perceived
effect on use which an individual believes behavioural control (TPB, DTPB,
intention but that an organizational and C-TAM-TPB), facilitating
direct effect on technical infrastructure conditions (MPCU) and
use behaviour) exists to support use of the compatibility (IDT).
system.

Source: Venkatesh et al. (2003)

trality" by taking into account the extent of the established determinants of system use, namely
resources, information and knowledge available in the behavioural intention and facilitating conditions,
system. It is inferred that these constructs can act as were able to explain about 20 percent additional
additional predictors. variance.
The definitions of these constructs are given in Table 7. To summarize, Table 8 presents the summary of the
The authors conducted a social network study on 87 various theories and models of technology adoption
employees of a supplier-focused business unit of a that have evolved over the years.
large multinational company in Finland. With this 4. Discussions & Findings from the Study
empirical study they were able to obtain support to
their proposed model. They found that the new social The study was carried out with two objectives. The first
network constructs which augmented the previously objective was to present an overview of technology

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Table 7: Model of Acceptance with Peer Support (Sykes et al., 2009)

Construct Definition
Behavioral Behavioral intention is defined as "a person's subjective probability that he will perform
intention some behavior" (Fishbein and Azjen 1975, p. 288).
System use System use is defined as the frequency, duration, and intensity of an employee's interactions
with a particular system (Venkatesh et al. 2003).
Facilitating Facilitating conditions is defined as the "degree to which an individual believes that an
conditions organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support use of the system" (Venkatesh
et al. 2003, p. 453).
Network density Network density describes the connectedness of a network and is defined as the actual
number of ties in a network as a proportion of the maximum possible number of ties.
Network Network centrality is defined as the extent of an individual's involvement in assistance
centrality exchanges with co-workers (Mossholder et al. 2005; Sparrowe et al. 2001). An individual's
centrality has been linked to influence (Burkhardt and Brass 1990), involvement in innovation
(Ibarra 1993a, 1993b), and attitudes toward new technology (Rice and Aydin 1991).
Valued network Valued network centrality refers to peers' perceptions of the level of system-related resources
centrality controlled by a focal employee.
Valued network Valued network density refers to the connectedness of a focal employee to others, weighted
density by the perceived strength of the tie and control of system-related information (such as
system features, upcoming releases, demo dates), knowledge (such as tips and tricks, short
cuts, process sequences), and other tangible resources (such as training resources, manuals,
tutorials) that are needed for effective use of a system.

Source: Sykes et al 2009.

adoption theories and models to the researchers who that researchers should "redirect their focus toward
intend to apply these models in their research. This examining different antecedents (e.g., IT artifact and
objective has been achieved as evolution of various design) and different consequences (e.g., adaptation
models has been presented in Table 8. In section 3, we and learning behaviors) in order to reach a more
have presented definitions of the constructs and comprehensive understanding of what influences
provided literature references to the criticism and adoption and acceptance in different IT use contexts
applications of various models. It is felt that the paper and to provide more useful recommendations for
provides sufficient knowledge of this evolving field in practice" (pp 216). This view of the authors clearly hints
a concise form to the researchers who intend to probe towards probable inadequacy of present models in
deeper into the field of technology adoption. explaining adoption of upcoming technologies such as
Internet of Things (IOT), cloud computing and m-
Second objective of the study was to look at the necessity
Government among others. This also points towards a
to identify new constructs that may possibly be used
future research opportunity that needs to be probed by
in explaining adoption of emerging technologies such
the researchers and fulfils the second objective of the
as e-government, cloud computing, mobile government
research.
etc. Need for a sound theoretical model in the fast
changing information technology environment has been It is therefore posited that the systematic overview of
articulated by Benbasat & Barki (2011). They suggest technology adoption contributes to the area of IS/IT

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Table 8: Evolution of Theories and Models of Technology Adoption

Year Theory/Model Developed By Constructs/ Determinants of adoption

1960 Diffusion of Everett Roger The innovation, communication channels, time

Innovation Theory and social system.
1975 Theory of Reasoned Ajzen and Fishbein Behavioural intention, Attitude (A), and
Action Subjective Norm.
1985 Theory of Planned Ajzen Behavioural intention, Attitude (A), and
Behaviour Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioural
Control.
1986 Social Cognitive Theory Bandura Affect, anxiety.
1989 Technical Adoption Fred D Davis Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use.
1991 The Model of PC Thompson et al. Job-fit, Complexity, Long-term consequences,
Utilization Affect Towards Use, Social Factors, Facilitating
Conditions.
1992 The Motivation Model Davis et al. Extrinsic motivation ( such as perceived
usefulness, perceived ease of use, and
subjective norm) and intrinsic motivation (such
as perceptions of pleasure and satisfaction).
2000 Extended TAM2 model Venkatesh and Davis Social influence processes (subjective norm,
voluntariness and image) and cognitive
instrumental processes (job relevance, output
quality, result demonstrability and perceived
ease of use).
2003 Unified Theory of Venkatesh et al. Performance expectancy, effort expectancy,
Acceptance and Use of social influence and facilitating conditions.
Technology (UTAUT)
2009 Model of Acceptance Sykes et al. Behavioural intention, System use, Facilitating
with Peer Support conditions, Network density, Network
(MAPS) centrality, Valued network centrality, Valued
network density.

adoption and diffusion research by highlighting various 5. Conclusions

theories and models, including their criticism. The paper
This review paper provides an overview of theories and
identifies the possibility and the need for further
models which have evolved over the years for better
evolution in this domain so that more holistic models understanding of adoption process of technologies by
are developed that can take care of fast-changing individuals and organizations. It is intended to present
technology environment. Therefore it is evident that a bird's eye view of various constructs related to this
research has to continue in this domain because the relatively mature area of information system research
environmental factors driving the adoption process are and will be of immense value to the contemporary
dynamic and can reveal new constructs of adoption. researchers who are planning future work in adoption

IMJ 27 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

of new technologies in the present dynamic environment. use and user acceptance of information technology,
MIS Quarterly, 8, 318-339.
The review provides identifies several new areas of
Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., & Warshaw, P. R. (1992). Extrinsic
research where the existing models of technology
and intrinsic motivation to use computers in the
adoption may prove to be inadequate. The paper workplace1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,
concludes with the view that further evolution in this 22(14), 1111-1132.
area of study may be necessary. Future research in this Dwivedi, Y. K., Mustafee, N., Carter, L. D., & Williams, M.
D. (2010). A Bibliometric Comparision of the
domain may require that existing theories are augmented
Usage of Two Theories of IS/IT Acceptance (TAM and
with constructs from other disciplines of management UTAUT). In AMCIS (p. 183).
in order to explain the adoption process of new Fishbein M., Ajzen, I.(1975). Belief, Attitude, Intention, and
technologies. Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research,
Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
References Gallivan, M.J.(2001). Organizational adoption and
assimilation of complex technological i n n o v a t i o n s :
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Gefen, D., & Straub, D. W. (1997). Gender Differences in
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Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: a theory of Gefen, D., Karahanna, E., & Straub, D. W. (2003). Trust and
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Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Management, 15(3), 373-388.
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Beach, L. R., & Mitchell, T. R. (1978). A contingency model acceptance model. Information & Management,
for the selection of decision strategies. Academy of 43(6), 740-755.
Management Review, 3(3), 439-449. Leonard-Barton, D., & Deschamps, I. (1988). Managerial
influence in the implementation of new
Benbasat, I., & Barki, H. (2007). Quo vadis TAM?. Journal
technology. Management Science, 34, 1252-1265.
of the Association for Information Systems, 8(4), 7.
Low, C., Chen, Y., & Wu, M. (2011). Understanding the
Carr Jr, V. H. (1999). Technology adoption and diffusion. The determinants of cloud computing adoption.
Learning Center for Interactive Technology. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 111(7), 1006-
Casey, T., & Wilson-Evered, E. (2012). Predicting uptake of 1023.
technology innovations in online family dispute Moore, G., & Benbasat, I.(1991). Development of an
resolution services: An application and extension of the instrument to measure the perceptions of
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Chuttur M.Y. (2009). Overview of the Technology Acceptance Rogers, E. M. (2003) Diffusion of Innovations, Free Press,
Model: Origins, Developments and Future Directions, New York, Fifth Edition 2003.
Indiana University, USA. Sprouts: Working Papers Rogers, E. M., & Shoemaker, F. F. (1971). Communication
on Information Systems, 9(37). http://sprouts.aisnet.org/ of innovations: A cross- cultural approach. Free
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MIS quarterly, 19(2), 189. Monographs: General and Applied, 80(1), 1.
Davis, F. A.(1989). Perceived usefulness perceived ease of

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Sarkar, J. (1998). Technological diffusion: alternative theories Understanding e-Government portal use in rural India:
and historical evidence. Journal of economic surveys, role of demographic and personality characteristics.
12(2), 131-176. Information Systems Journal, 24(3), 249-269.
Simon, S., Kaushal, R., Cleary, P., Jenter, C., Volk, L., Poon, Williams, M. D., Rana, N. P., Dwivedi, Y. K., & Lal, B. (2011,
E., Oray, E.,Lo, H., Williams, D.& Bates, D. (2007). June). Is UTAUT really used or just cited for the sake
Correlates of electronic health record adoption in office of it? a systematic review of citations of UTAUT's
practices: a statewide survey. Journal of the American originating article. In ECIS.
Medical Informatics Association, 14(1), 110-117. Yousafzai, S. Y., Foxall, G. R., & Pallister, J. G. (2007).
Sykes, T. A., Venkatesh, V., & Gosain, S. (2009). Model of Technology acceptance: a meta- analysis of the TAM:
acceptance with peer support: A social network Part 1. Journal of Modelling in Management, 2(3), 251-
perspective to understand employees' system use. MIS 280.
quarterly, 33(2), 371-393.
Thompson, R. L., & Higgins, C. A. (1991). Personal
Computing: Toward a Conceptual Model of Utilization.
Rajesh Sharma is a participant in the Fellow Program in
MIS quarterly, 15(1), 125.
Management (FPM) at Indian Institute of Management
Vallerand, R. J. (1997). Toward a hierarchical model of Indore (India) in the Information System area. His interest
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Advances in Social areas in research include e-Government, technology
Psychology (29), M. Zanna (ed.), Academic Press,
adoption, business process management and marketing
New York,, pp 271-360.
of services. He belongs to the Indian Telecom Service
Van Dijk, J., & Hacker, K. (2003). The digital divide as a (ITS) and is currently on study leave from the Department
complex and dynamic phenomenon. The Information of Telecom, Ministry of Communication & IT, Government
Society, 19(4), 315-326. of India.
Van Raaij, E. M., & Schepers, J. J. (2008). The acceptance
and use of a virtual learning environment in China. Rajhans Mishra is an Assistant Professor in Information
Computers & Education, 50(3), 838-852. Systems Area at Indian Institute of Management Indore.
He has also served as a visiting faculty at Indian Institute
Venkatesh V., & Davis F. (2000). A theoretical extension of
the technology acceptance model: four longitudinal field of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of
studies. Management Science, 46(2), 186-204. Management Lucknow. His research interest includes
recommendation systems, web mining, data mining, text
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D.
mining, e-Governance and business analytics. He has
(2003). User acceptance of information technology:
Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425-478.
completed his doctoral work from Indian Institute of
Management Lucknow.
Venkatesh, V., Sykes, T. A., & Venkatraman, S. (2014).

IMJ 29 Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Using Social Networking Sites (SNS): Mediating
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Role of Self Disclosure and Effect on Well-being

Manoj Das

Abstract are "parallel but disjointed" (Ishii & Ullmer, 1997). With
the proliferation of digital technologies in our everyday
Social networking sites (SNS) have acquired the
lives and the increased usage of networking sites, these
fascination of academicians for quite some time now
two realms are slowly converging into one another. We
due to its unique advantages and outreach. This research
are slowly merging our physical bodies with our online
aims at examining the antecedents of SNS usage from
selves and moving from "you are what you wear" to
the perspective of people who fear or prefer avoiding
"you are what you post".
face-to-face communication as well as those who lack
meaningful relations in their life. Drawing upon uses Computer mediated communication (CMC) has emerged
and gratifications theory (U & G) and self-determination as an indispensable part of interaction in our everyday
theory, we identify the motives for SNS usage and its lives (Stone, 2009). A social networking site
impact on individual's well-being. (SNS)represents an online commu-nity wherein
members share their personal information by creating
Previous studies focused on investigation of these
"profiles" with the purpose of communicating with other
motives individually, in isolation of the other attributes
users of SNS in different ways and an array of topics
with most of the studies being experimental in nature.
(Mahajan, 2009;Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009).
However, the fact remains that, most of these attributes
They serve a variety of purposes like 'social searching'-
are co-existing within an individual, and hence it would with the purpose of finding information regarding offline
be interesting to study them simultaneously, which contacts, and 'social browsing'- developing new
would help in identifying their relative strengths and connections with different individuals(Lampe, Ellison,
interactive effects. Hence while addressing this gap in & Steinfield, 2006; Joinson, 2008; Trusov, Bucklin, &
the literature; we seek to investigate the simultaneous Pauwels, 2009), befriending new people(Golder,
as well as the interactional effects of loneliness, social Wilkinson, & Huberman, 2007),increasing social capital
connectedness, social isolation, social anxiety, and the (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2006),providing a plat-
mediating role of self-disclosure. It would help form for computer-mediated communication (Bennett,
practitioners in designing SNS more effectively to ensure Maton& Kervin, 2008, Ross et.al, 2009).
enhanced user satisfaction with their usage.
Despite the immense usage of SNS, there has been a
Keywords: social networking sites, uses and scant amount of research related to it , in particular with
gratifications theory, self disclosure, social anxiety, reference to the motives of usage and the kind of benefits
loneliness derived. (Ross et al., 2009). We draw upon uses and
gratifications theory (U & G), which specifies 'how and
1. Introduction
why' a particular media is used with underlying
As per Ishii and Ullmer (1997), "we live between two motivations and derived satisfaction associated with it
realms: our physical environment and cyberspace." (p. (Stafford, Stafford, & Schkade, 2004). U & G theory
234). The "physical environment" represents the physical explains usage of different media by focusing on the
environment in which we, humans, live (Gibson, 1979). individual motivations driving the decision (Katz,
"Cyberspace" hereafter referred to as the "digital world" Blumler & Gurevitch, 1999). It identifies the specific
made up of bits & bytes and distinct due to its gratifications, which individuals seek to satisfy notably
intangibility. It remains uncontested that these worlds their psychological and sociological factors (Rubin,

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Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

2002).On the other hand, self determination theory, individual. It would help practitioners in designing
states that needs for competence , relatedness and SNS more effectively to ensure enhanced user satisfaction
autonomy(Ryan & Deci, 2000) play an important role with their usage. The structure of remaining paper is
in facilitating ones need and fulfilling need of social as follows: First of all literature review-highlighting
development and personal well-being. motives of SNS usage, followed by hypothesis
development and the conceptual framework.
This study contributes to the literature by drawing
upon uses and gratifications (U&G) theory (Katz, 1959) 1.1. Social Networking Sites and Motives for their
and self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) for Usage
identifying the motives behind SNS usage. This would
Boyd & Ellison (2007) have defined SNS as "web-based
help in understanding how people behave and seek
services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public
gratification when using SNS. We particularly look at
or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2)
this from the perspective of people who fear or prefer
articulate a list of other users with whom they share
avoiding face-to-face communication as well as those
a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of
who lack meaningful relations in their life.
connections and those made by others within the system"
Previous studies focused on investigation of these effects (p. 211).
individually, in isolation of the other attributes with
Typically, SNS users create a profile on a SNS with a
most of the studies being experimental in nature.
picture and personal details and interests like place of
However, the fact remains that, most of these attributes
work, schools attended, favorite sports and sitcoms.
are co -existing within an individual, and hence it would
After creation of profile, they search for profiles of
be interesting to study them simultaneously, which
friends and colleagues and even join groups based on
would help in identifying their relative strengths and
common interest by sending them a request. The most
interactive effects. Hence while addressing this gap in
common motive is maintaining existing social networks
the literature; we seek to investigate the simultaneous
effec-tively (Boyd & Ellison, 2007) with sometimes
as well as the interactional effects of loneliness, social
sending invitations to" friends of friends'' (Staples, 2009).
connectedness, social isolation, social anxiety, and the
(Table 1).
mediating role of self-disclosure on well-being of an

Table 1: Motivation for Using Social Media

Author Motivation for using social media
Kollock (1999) Anticipated reciprocity, increased recognition, and sense of efficacy
Dholakia, Bagozzi, & Pearo(2004) Purposive value ,self discovery, maintaining interpersonal connectivity,
social enhancement, and entertainment
Lakhani & Wolf (2005) Creativity, intellectual stimulation, and improving professional skills
Ryan et al. (2006) Autonomy, competence, and relatedness
Yee (2007) Achievement, social, and immersion
Joinson (2008) Social connection, shared identities, photographs, content , social
investigation, social network, surfing and status updating
Park, Kee, & Valenzuela (2009) Socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking and 'information'
Rafaeli, Hayat, & Yaron (2009) Getting information', 'sharing information' and 'entertainment'.
Zhou, Jin, Vogel, Functional , Experiential and Social motivations
Fang, & Chen, 2011

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1.2. Uniqueness of CMC 2.1. Loneliness

Text based communication in CMC warrants special Loneliness can be defined as "the cognitive awareness
attention due to its special features like emoticons to of a deficiency in ones social and per-sonal relationships
express varied emotions and its importance for people and the ensuing affective reactions of sadness, emptiness
experiencing difficulty in face-to-face communication or longing" (Asher & Paquette, 2003 p.75). It can also
(Reid & Reid, 2007). (Table 2). be alternatively defined as, "being alone, felt deprivation
of closeness"(Parkhurst & Hopmeyer, 1999). As social
2. Usage of SNS and Well-Being
beings, we become vulnerable when we en-ter in social
Researchers have established the existence of a positive relationships.
relationship between SNS's usage and the psychological Loneliness has been classified into two distinct types
well-being of an individual (Kim & Lee, 2011; Liu & Yu, based on the kind of relationship deficit they arise from
2013). Having a large number of friends on face book (Weiss, 1974). It can be either emotional loneliness due
increases an individual's sense of well-being due to a to the lack of emotionally close relationship with a
favorable representation of oneself to others (Kim and caring and understanding person like a romantic partner.
Lee, 2011), this can also be mediated by self-disclosure On the other hand, social loneliness arises from the
and friendship quality rather than have a direct influence absence of group ties with friends and other peers.
on well-being (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009; Wang & Wang,
Loneliness is both a cause of as well as effect of internet
2011). Huang (2010) has reported that social
usage among college students (Kim, LaRose & Peng,
communication via internet is a positive predictor of
2009; Tokunaga & Rains, 2010). Individual feeling
psychological well-being. Due to the unique features
depression and loneliness perceive themselves to be
of CMC, users are comfortable in making self-disclosure,
lacking in skills with regard to social competence
which they would have otherwise avoided in case of
(Caplan, 2003). McKenna, Green, and Gleason (2002)
face-to-face interactions or online interactions, which
have argued that lonely individuals are "somewhat
leads to high quality friendship (Valkenburg & Peter,
more likely to feel that they can better express their real
2007). Disclosure is also dependent on the timing,
selves with others on the Internet than they can with
appropriateness of the particular context and comfort
those they know offline" (p.28). This would lead them
level with the partner (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009). Based
to believe that they are more successful in online social
on displacement hypothesis, spending more time on
interactions leading to increased usage of networking
SNS reduces the quality of real life relations while
sites and feeling of well-being (Baker and Oswald, 2010).
augmentation hypothesis maintains that usage of SNS
increases the quality of their real life relations. (Morgan Additional support for usages of SNS sites by lonely
& Cotton, 2003; Shaw & Gant, 2002; Valkenburg & Peter, individuals comes from social augmentation hypothesis,
2007) which posits that an additional opportunity for

Table 2: Unique Features of CMC

Author Feature
Mckenna & Bargh, 2000 Anonymity, it allows internet users to share even intimate conversations
with anyone they desire without actually sharing identifying in-formation
Mckenna & Bargh, 2000 Absence of non-verbal cues or vocal cues
Nguyen, Bin, &Campbell, 2012; Increased self-disclosure and intimacy
Tidwell & Walther, 2002
Caplan, 2005 Control over self-presentation

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Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

interacting with others exists due to the amplification shares our affective component of physical pain
of individual's total social resources (Bessière, Kiesler, (Eisenberger, 2012; MacDo-nald & Leary, 2005). We
Kraut, & Boneva, 2008). It also opens up an avenue for tend to compensate for the loss of these social bonds
meeting and befriending people thereby fulfilling their by using these SNS's. Drawing upon augmentation
need of social interaction and relationship thereby hypothesis it can be inferred that individuals generally
eliminating both types of loneliness by satisfying the use SNS for developing their social relations (Walther,
individual's needs of relatedness as well. This is also 1996), and usage of media enhances the ex-isting social
in line with the assumptions of stimulation theory and relations of users (Valkenburg & Peter 2007, 2009).The
social compensation theory, which state that lonely embedded social cues within these media foster a sense
individuals seek to compensate for lack of meaningful of belonging, which acts as a surrogate of having social
relations by using the self disclosure feature of SNS relations (Derrick, Gabriel, & Hugenberg, 2009).
(Valkenburg & Josen 2007, Skues, Williams & Wise,2012).
CMC helps in overcoming the barriers of spatial and
Hence, we can hypothesize that: temporal constraints, which impede face to face
communication for individuals (Wellman &
Hypothesis 1: There exists a positive relationship between
Haythornthwaite, 2002).It provides social support due
avoiding loneliness and usage of SNS and well-being of
to its unique features like higher anonymity, option of
individual.
editing and crafting messages along with access to varied
2.2. Social Isolation information sources (Walther & Boyd, 2002).

Although "loneliness" and "social isolation" are often Hence, we can hypothesize that:
used interchangeably, but they are in fact distinct Hypothesis 2: There exists a positive relationship between
concepts. (Bernard & Perry, 2013, de Jong Gierveld, Van avoiding social isolation and usage of SNS and well-being
Tilburg & Dykstra, 2006). People can be socially isolated of individual.
without feeling lonely, or feel lonely amongst others.
2.3. Social Anxiety
Social isolation refers to being ignored or excluded with
or without explicit declarations (Williams, 2007). Social anxiety disorder refers to a marked and persistent
Commonly used terms that are used interchangeably fear of social or performance situations in which
are ostracism, social exclusion, and rejection. Some of embarrassment may occur, resulting in significant
the reasons for occurrence of social isolation are distress and difficulties in functioning (American
increasing social cohesiveness, punishment for deviant Psychiatric Association, 2013). Drawing upon the
behavior, getting rid of unwanted members and cognitive model of social anxiety, we can infer that
maintain-ing order in group (Gruter & Masters, 1986). individuals experiencing social anxiety strong negative
Humans as social beings are very sensitive towards beliefs about themselves (Clark & Wells, 1995; Liebowitz,
social isolation as they crave the interpersonal relations 1987, Mattick, & Clarke, 1998, Rapee & Heimberg, 1997).
and group memberships to feel connected with others
Due to these negative beliefs, such individuals tend to
(Williams, 2007). It acts as a inhibitor from realizing our
evaluate most social cues as negative evaluation, which
basic needs (i.e., belonging, self-esteem, control, and
tends to increase their anxiety. This increases their
meaningful existence) (Williams, 2009).The absence of
inability to process face-to-face transactions due to their
these social bonds can lead to deterioration of well-
concerns with self-presentation (Clark & McManus,
being along with physical and mental mor-
2002; Leary, & Kowalski, 1995; Schlenker & Leary, 1982).
bidity(Cacioppo, Hawkley & Thisted, 2010; Hawkley,
Most of these problems are effectively resolved in
Burleson, Berntson & Cacioppo, 2003; Williams, 2007).
computer-mediated communication due to ease of
We have evolved to develop pain as alarm signal for control over personal information, and decreased
social isolation as it activates the neural systems, which scrutiny in terms of physical appearance and vocal

IMJ 33 Manoj Das

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

sounds, anonymity and absence of nonverbal cues there 2.5. Subjective Well-being
by enhancing it usage and well-being of user (High &
Subjective well-being stands for how an individual
Caplan, 2009, Kang, 2007, Madell & Muncer, 2007,
makes sense of his life through cognitive and affective
Subrahmanyam & Lin, 2007).
evaluations (Diener,Lucas, Oishi, 2005). It is common
Hence, we can hypothesize that: knowledge that people share their problems with others
in times of stress and the support thus obtained has
Hypothesis 3: There exists a positive relationship between
significant benefit on that person's health and well-
social anxiety and usage of SNS and well-being of individual.
being (e.g. Uchino, Cacioppo & Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996).
2.4. Mediating Role of Self-Disclosure In fact, sharing events and discussing things with others
is helpful in building one's social resources thereby
Self-disclosure occurs when a person provides (i.e.,
allowing development of positive social interactions
discloses) information about himself or her-self to
(Gable & Reis, 2001).Hence, sharing experiences using
another person (Cozby, 1973). Based upon social
SNS helps to improve one's social ties with others in
penetration theory, when reciprocal disclosure occurs
addition to providing psychological benefit (Gable, Reis,
between individuals it results in development of strong
Impett, & Asher, 2004; Shen, Liu, & Wang, 2013;
relationships along with intimacy and strong
Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009). A high number of friends
interpersonal bonds (Altman& Taylor, 1973).Sharing of
on SNS leads to satisfaction with life and well-being
private thoughts, experiences, and emotions is a common
since individuals compensate for the loss of meaningful
and widespread practice in SNS (Joinson & Paine, 2007).
relations in their real life with their friends on the SNS
Due to the unique features of CMC, youths prefer it to
(Lee, Lee, & Kwon, 2011).
face-to-face communication for self-disclosure (Nguyen,
Bin, & Campbell, 2012; Schouten, Valkenburg, & Peter,
2007; Walther, 1996). Increased self-disclosure leads to
trust, friendships closeness, and satisfaction with the
communication leading to higher levels of engagement.
(Berger & Calabrese, 1975; Collins & Miller, 1994; Draper,
Pittard, & Sterling, 2008; Jourard, 1971; Morry, 2005)

Research indicates that quality of friendship and well-

being are positively related, and happy individuals
have better relationships (Diener & Seligman, 2002;
Michalos, Hubley, Zumbo, & Hemingway, 2001).This
may be due to the feeling of being connected and a sense
of belongingness associated with the usage of SNS
(Morrow, Ross, Grocott, & Bennett, 2010), due to Figure 1 : Conceptual Framework
fulfillment of socio emotional needs (Goswami, 2012).
3. Discussion & Conclusion:
Moreover, SNS users are less conscious about their self-
presentation on SNS, which causes them to disclose SNS form an indispensable part of our everyday lives;
more information as op-posed to face-to-face hence, there has been an increased attention towards
conversation (Walther, 1996). understanding the motives for their usage. In this paper,
we have tried to provide a holistic framework by
Hence, we can hypothesize that:
identifying the antecedents of SNS usage for people
Hypothesis 4: Usage of SNS is mediated by self-disclosure who lack meaningful relationships in their lives and
and leads to well-being of an individual. compensate for it by using SNS.

IMJ 34 Manoj Das

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

For such individuals SNS offers a gateway to a world relations in childhood. Current Di-rections in
Psychological Science, 12(3), 75-78.
where they can express their feelings without inhibition,
Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The 'digital natives'
receive social and emotional support they crave and
debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal
thereby increase their sense of well-being (Goffman, of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775-786.
1959). Disclosing personal information is also easier Berger, C. R., & Calabrese, R. J. (1975). Some explorations
due to anonymity and the absence of any kind of criticism in initial interaction and beyond: Toward a
developmental theory of interpersonal communication.
along with feeling of being in control (Qian & Scott,
Human communication research, 1(2), 99-112.
2007).
Bernard, S., & Perry, H. (2013). Loneliness and Social Isolation
Some practical implications for companies could be Among Older People in North Yorkshire. Social Policy
Research Unit, University of York: York. Loneliness
targeting such individuals for targeting their products Survey Team A, 3.
and creating virtual communities wherein they can share Bessière, K., Kiesler, S., Kraut, R., & Boneva, B. S. (2008).
their ideas & comments freely (Gupta, Kim & Shin, Effects of Internet use and social resources on changes
2010) which could act as a potential barrier for in depression. Information, Community & Society, 11(1),
47-70.
competitors. Companies would also be able to effectively
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., & Thisted, R. A. (2010).
promote their products and services extensively on
Perceived social isolation makes me sad: 5-year cross-
such com-munity pages (Algesheimer,Borle, Dholakia, lagged analyses of loneliness and depressive
& Singh, 2010). It could serve as a source for idea symptomatology in the Chicago Health, Aging, and
Social Relations Study. Psychology and Aging, 25 (2),
generation for new products and improvements in
453-463.
existing ones.
Caplan, S. E. (2003). Preference for Online Social Interaction
In addition, since the success of SNS depends on the A Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial
Well-Being. Communication Research, 30(6), 625-648.
number of members, content generation done by users,
Carroll, E. (2007). Success Factors of Online Social Networks.
increased level of site visits and traffic which result in The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.
revenue genera-tion(Carroll,2007, Chen,2013). Hence, Chen, R. (2013). Member use of social networking sites-an
designers of SNS need to keep in mind the motives of empirical examination. Decision Support Systems, 54(3),
the users for using SNS and try to make it a pleasurable 1219-1227.
experience for using them. Clark DM,Wells A. (1995). Acognitive model of social phobia.
In Social Phobia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Treatment,
Future research can empirically verify this model and ed. R Heimberg, M Liebowitz, DA Hope, FR Schneier,
identifying which are the most relevant motives for pp. 69-93. New York: Guilford.
Clark, D. M., & McManus, F. (2002). Information processing
usage of SNS. It would help practitioners in designing
in social phobia. Biological Psychiatry, 51(1), 92-100.
SNS more effectively to en-sure enhanced user
Collins, N. L., & Miller, L. C. (1994). Self-disclosure and liking:
satisfaction with their usage. Future research may also a meta-analytic re-view. Psychological Bulletin, 116(3),
look into whether personality traits have an impact on 457-475.
usage of SNS. Lastly, a longitudinal study may reveal Cozby, P. C. (1973). Self-disclosure: a literature review.
in-sights that are more promising. Psychological Bulletin, 79(2), 73-91.
Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, S., & Hugenberg, K. (2009). Social
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and psychosocial problems. Human Communication Wellman, B., & Haythornthwaite, C. (Eds.). (2002). The
Research, 36(4), 512-545 Internet in everyday life. Oxford: Black-well Publishers
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capital in a social network site?: Facebook use and Manoj Das is a participant of Fellow program in
college students' life satisfaction, trust, and Management (FPM) in Marketing Area at IIM Indore. He
participation1. Journal of Computer Mediated has done his M.Sc (Organic Chemistry) and MBA from
Communication, 14(4), 875-901. RTMNU. He has 3 years of teaching experience prior to
Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2007). Online communication joining the FPM course of IIM Indore. His areas of interest
and adolescent well-being: Testing the stimulation versus in research are social media and its impact on business
the displacement hypothesis. Journal of Computer and individuals, personal selling, Service marketing.
Mediated Communi-cation, 12(4), 1169-1182.
Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2007). Preadolescents' and
adolescents' online communication and their closeness
to friends. Developmental psychology, 43(2), 267-277.

IMJ 38 Manoj Das

Government Process Re-engineering of an E-governance
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Implementation for Motor Vehicle Registration in India

Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Abstract expectations helps to develop e-services that offer

external services and improve internal efficiency
The study analyzes the performance of an e-governance
(Axelsson, Melin & Lindgren, 2013). Another research
implementation for motor vehicle registration in a state
(Fogli, 2013) proposes a novel approach to the
in India. Registration of new vehicles is a process which
development of e-government applications for citizens
calls for detailed Government Process Reengineering
and public administration employees. Also literature
study as the frequency of this process is very high, to
reveals a study on the usability of e-governance software
the tune of several lakhs per year, and is increasing day
(Kumar & Subramoniam, 2013). In developing countries
by day. The objective of implementation of the e-
with limited resources, it is vital to judiciously set e-
governance project is to register a new vehicle in less
government strategies and direct investment, giving
than five days. However, data collection revealed that
due consideration to the risks involved (Abdallah &
there are cases where the process took even more than
Fan, 2012). Another research aims to discover the quality
twenty days, that too after the implementation of the
priorities of e-government users and analyses the
electronic method for the same. Seven hypotheses have
attitude of Greek citizens towards e-government sites
been stated and tested to reach a conclusion about the
(Papadomichelaki & Mentzas, 2011). Understanding
cases studied - whether the average time taken for
the key determinants of e-government services is an
registration crosses the target of five days, and also to
important issue for enhancing the degree of the usage
test whether a difference exists between groups such
of services (Sharma, 2015). Nograšek & Vintar (2015)
as, transport and non-transport vehicles or between
have worked to develop a more comprehensive
dealers. These are set as the objectives of this Government
framework that would provide better insight into the
to Citizen (G2C) services. The study also comes up with
characteristics of organisational transformation of public
a reengineered process, after eliminating non-value
sector organisations in the e-government era. The
adding approvals and steps to minimize the delay in
purpose of another research found in the literature is
the process, thereby improving the overall productivity.
to assess the maturity level of the Jordanian e-
Keywords: government process reengineering, vehicle government program from citizens' perspective (Anas,
registration, time, hypothesis, G2C services Hussein and Saheer, 2014). Alomari, Sandhu & Woods
(2014) have explored how citizens socialise and network
1. Introduction
while using and adopting e-government. The importance
It is stated in literature that citizen adoption of e- of evaluation and optimization of e-government services
government systems is sluggish, particularly in is imperative if the government organisations consider
developing countries (Rana & Dwivedi, 2015). An to have an effective impact on the success and take-up,
analysis on why e-government projects are prone to or proper buy-in of the services offered (Lee, Sivarajah,
design-reality gap is available in literature (Guha & Molnar, Weerakkody & Irani, 2015). Another study
Chakrabarti, 2014). E-government information flow focuses on a comprehensive review of the literature
between government, intermediaries and users in varied related to e-government satisfaction and adoption, with
ways impacts the effectiveness of e-government policies particular focus on the most critical factors and the
(Taylor et al., 2014). Another study (Alawneh, Al-Refai manifested variables that influence user satisfaction in
& Batiha, 2013) relates to the determinants of e- e-government (Weerakkody, Irani, Lee, Hindi & Osman,
satisfaction with e-government. Analysis of stakeholder 2014). The primary intention of the literature review is

IMJ 39 Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

to establish the gap in literature as stated in the resolution. Secondly, pressure on the developer for
motivation section that follows. speedy implementation may result in launching the
software product before it is fully ready in all aspects.
2. Motivation for the Present Study
Third is the time and finance constraint involved in
Literature review section has discussed the presence of every project. Ineffective change management, lack of
a gap in the literature with respect to reengineering of awareness for training and fear among the employees
existing government process flow of an already about downsizing, are other contributing factors that
implemented e-government system, led to the act as barriers for communication between the client
establishment of the stated gap that is studied less or and the software supplier, preventing full understanding
totally absent in the research articles, especially in the of the process before development.
case of e-government implementations in India.
3. Problem Statement
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is defined as the
There is scope for dramatic improvement in performance
fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business
by switching from the "as-is" process flow to the "to-
processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical,
be" process flow in every e-project implemented in the
contemporary measures of performance, such as cost,
country. Though technology is a key enabler for Business
quality, service and speed. BPR applied IT is the new
Process Reengineering in areas other than software, like
Industrial Engineering (Davenport & Short, 1990;
RFID or bar code for engine or chassis identification,
Davenport & Stoddard, 1994). BPR involves a thorough
this study focuses mainly on dramatic improvement by
analysis of the current business processes that are
taking a re-look at the software process flow alone. The
redesigned to improve performance (Al?Mashari & Zairi,
study is focused on the motor vehicle registration process
2000; Davenport, 1993). Government Process Re-
to see whether the implemented e-project met the
engineering (GPR) has evolved from applying Business
objective of delivering the Registration Certificate before
Process Re-engineering (BPR) concepts to Government
the fifth day from application submission. Also, it seeks
Services. Most organizations, both public and private,
to ascertain whether the initially set objective of five
have traditional bureaucratic procedures that hinder
days could be further reduced to target a lower time
performance and ultimately, the productivity level
period through the implementation of the reengineered
(Rainey, Backoff & Levine, 1976). Antiquated processes,
process.
historical Acts and Rules, and status quo continue, even
with the introduction of technology to facilitate Figure 1 shows eleven steps of the "as-is" process starting
improvement of service delivery. Costly and time- from the customer who is a citizen initiating the process
consuming business processes cause inefficiency and and ending in the final dispatch of the Registration
ineffectiveness. So there is a desperate need to Certificate by post. As a first step, citizen approaches
thoroughly analyze and reengineer the old-fashioned the dealer for registration, remits payments and signs
and obsolete business processes to improve performance papers. Then the dealer submits the details to the website.
(Davenport & Beers, 1995). Any e-project, at the time This is followed by the dealer visiting the RTO for tax
of implementation, will not be based on the most optimal token and for generation of number for remitting fees.
The dealer takes the vehicle to the ground for physical
streamlined process for various reasons such as, gaps
verification of chassis and engine numbers by RTO,
in communication between the user and developer
along with the originals of the submitted documents.
resulting in project failure (Bashein, Markus & Riley,
Verification is carried out in the system and registration
1994; Cao, Clarke & Lehaney, 2001). Firstly, jobs set
number is allotted for the vehicle. After this allocation,
aside for each section in an office or for an officer have
the clerk retrieves details from the implemented system
stabilized over time due to the process of conflict over
and verifies. The Superintendent repeats this step. Issue
ownership of the sub-processes involved and their
of Registration Certificate is the next step. Registration

IMJ 40 Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Citizen approaches dealer for registration, remits payments and signs papers

Dealer submits details to RTO through website

Dealer visits RTO for tax token and for generation of number for fee

Dealer takes vehicle to ground for physical verification of chassis and engine number, along with the
originals of submitted documents

Verification in the implemented system and allotment of number

Retrieves details from the implemented system and verifies

Above step repeated by the Superintendent

Issue of Registration Certificate

Registration Certificate printed

Registration Certificate signed by issuing authority

Registration Certificate hologram pasted, laminated and dispatched

Figure 1: Schematic Representation of the "as-is" Process in Focus

Certificate is printed on a card that is later laminated. of the registration certificate. Further, the time taken
Then physical signature is affixed on the Registration for each of the sub-processes involved as listed in the
Certificate by the concerned authority prior to hologram Table 1 were collected from corresponding files available
fixing, lamination and dispatch. This is the 11-step in the office. Suitable hypotheses are coined to come
process which is the focus of this study. to a conclusion about the time taken for the process of
registration as discussed in the following sections. The
4. Research Methodology study was done during the period January 2013 to April
The population consists of all new vehicles registered 2014.
in the state where registration is growing at the rate of The hypotheses proposed for the study are as follows:
ten lakh per year through nearly twenty or more Regional
H1: The time delay between registration on the website
Transport Offices (RTO) assisted by sub RTOs
numbering a little more than two and half times the and data entered status of transport vehicle data is less
number of RTOs. Three RTOs were randomly picked than or equal to one day.
by Simple Random Sampling from districts where the H2: The time delay between data entered status and
registration rate of new vehicles is high. Twenty to verified status of transport vehicle is less than or equal
thirty samples each of transport and non-transport to one day.
vehicles were randomly picked from the website of the
H3: The time delay between verified status and RC
State Motor Vehicle Department for data relating to
issued status is less than or equal to one day.
date of submission of application and date of delivery

IMJ 41 Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

H4: The time delay between issued status and printed picked-up as sample during period of study are
status of RC is less than or equal to one day. presented here (Table 1).

H5: The time delay between fresh application for 6. Results

registration and dispatched status of Registration
Certificate is less than or equal to five days. The results of t-tests carried out to test at 5% significance
level on whether any of the sub processes crossed the
H6: There is no difference between average time taken
time limit of one day or the whole process exceeded the
for registration of transport and non-transport vehicles.
target objective of five days is shown in Table 2.
H7: There is no difference between average times taken
For the above set of hypothesis, 't' calculated value tcalc
for registration of vehicles from two dealers.
is much above 't' tabulated value ttab of 1.79 for both
5. Data Collection transport vehicles as well as non-transport vehicles for
the corresponding one-tailed tests. Hence, hypothesis
The descriptive statistics of the data collected from the H1 that the activity is taking less than or equal to one
office files for twenty registered vehicles randomly

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of the Samples for Transport and Non-Transport Vehicles
Average Time elapsed between Transport Vehicle Non-Transport Vehicle
the following in days (N=20) (N=20)

Mean SD Mean SD

Submission and Entered 4.30 4.68 12.25 15.06

Entered and Verification 0.35 0.67 1.20 2.14
Verification and Issue 0.75 1.12 2.30 2.25
Issuing and Printing 0.80 1.36 0.90 0.85
Submission and Dispatch 14.3 11.93 31.65 19.41

Table 2: Summary of the 't' Test Results Carried Out on Sub Processes Time Limit and the Whole Process
H. Hypothesis for the ‘t’ test carried Transport Vehicle Non-Transport
No. out at 95% significance level (N=20) Vehicle (N=20)
for which the tabulated t value is Test Test
tcalc tcalc
1.729 for 19 degrees of freedom Result Result
H1 Time taken between application submission 3.15 Reject 3.34 Reject
and data entered in the system <= 1 day
H2 Time taken between data entered in the 4.33 Reject 1.58 Accept
system and verification done <= 1 day
H3 Time taken between verification done and 1.00 Accept 2.58 Reject
issue registration certificate <= 1 day
H4 Time taken between Issuing of registration 0.66 Accept 0.53 Accept
certificate and printing <= 1 day
H5 Time taken between submission of fresh 6.14 Reject 4.99 Reject
application and dispatch of registration
certificate <= 5 days

IMJ 42 Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Table 3 : Group Statistics on Time taken for Registration of Transport and Non-transport Vehicles
Vehicle Type N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Time taken for registration Transport 29 7.21 4.894 .909

in days Non-transport 30 15.37 12.861 2.348

Table 4 : Independent Samples Test on Time Taken for Registration of Transport and Non-transport Vehicles
Levene's Test for
Equality of t-test for Equality of Means
Variances
F Sig. t df Sig. (2- Mean Std. 95%
tailed) Difference Error Confidence
Difference Interval of the
Difference
Lower

Time taken for Equal

registration in variances 4.406 .040 -3.199 57 .002 -8.160 2.551 -13.267
days assumed

Equal
variances -3.241 37.47 .003 -8.160 2.518 -13.259
not
assumed

Table 5 : Group Statistics on Time taken for Registration of Vehicles from Two Dealers
Dealer N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Time taken for registration Dealer1 20 33.35 14.240 3.184

in days Dealer2 20 28.00 12.657 2.830

Table 6 : Independent Samples Test on Time taken for Registration of Vehicles from Two Dealers
Levene's Test for
Equality of t-test for Equality of Means
Variances
F Sig. t df Sig. (2- Mean Std. 95% Confidence
tailed) Difference Error Interval of the
Difference Difference
Lower Upper

Time taken for Equal

registration in variances 1.579 .217 1.256 38 .217 5.350 4.260 -3.274 13.974
days assumed
Equal
variances 1.256 37.485 .217 5.350 4.260 -3.278 13.978
not
assumed

IMJ 43 Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

day is rejected in both the cases and it is concluded that and non-transport vehicle can be rejected. This is
the same is more than one day in the case of both statistically significant and hypothesis H6 is rejected at
transport and non-transport vehicles. A similar set of 5% significance level as 0.04 is less than 0.05 or 5%.
hypothesis have been developed. To test the hypothesis Twenty nine transport vehicle samples and thirty non-
for serial numbers 2 to 5 and 't' test results on whether transport vehicle samples are taken randomly for the
to accept the corresponding hypothesis or not have been above hypothesis test.
listed for both transport vehicle and non-transport The group statistics (Table 5) and independent sample
vehicles respectively. 't' test to find out whether there exists difference between
It can be noted that only four of the listed sub-processes registration time taken for new vehicle registration by
are statistically within the time limit given; rest of them two different dealers are as given in Table 6. Twenty
exceeded the time limit. Moreover, hypothesis test on samples are taken for each dealer's case and independent
the whole process of new vehicle registration also 't' test is conducted to find out whether significant
revealed that the time limit set as 5 days has been difference exists in the average time taken for registration
exceeded in the case of both transport vehicles and non- between the two dealers.
transport vehicles. In order to reduce the steps in the
A sample size of twenty from each dealer is taken for
process, a new "to-be" process is arrived at by holding
testing this hypothesis. The results showed that the
internal discussions to arrive at a more simplified
hypothesis H7 could not be rejected at 5% significance
process, eliminating duplicated approvals and non-value
level as 0.217 is much above 0.05 or 5%. Therefore, it
adding steps as discussed in later sections of this
is concluded that there is no difference in the average
research.
time taken for registration of new vehicles from two
The group statistics (Table 3) and the result of the different dealers.
independent sample 't' test to see whether there is any
difference between time taken for registration of Figure 2 shows the "to-be" process after elimination of
transport vehicle and that of non-transport vehicle are steps which are found no value adding so that the
presented in Table 4 for testing hypothesis H6. process can be completed within the stipulated time of
less than or equal to one day instead of the previously
Based on above results, it is inferred that hypothesis
set target of five days. The main changes which can
H6 which states that there is no difference between
be noted in the process flow prior to re-engineering as
average time taken for registration of transport vehicle

Citizen approaches dealer for registration and remits payments or signs


Dealer remits details and payment through website and gets verification slot

Dealer takes vehicle to ground for physical verification of chassis and engine number, along with originals
of the submitted documents

Verification in the implemented system and allotment of number

Retrieves details from the system and verifies with submitted documents

Registration Certificate is issued signed digitally and delivered electronically

Figure 2: Schematic Representation of the "to-be" Process

IMJ 44 Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

in Figure 1 and re-engineered process flow as in Figure concluded that they exceeded the set time limit of one
2 are as follows: Dealer visit to RTO office for physical day. The hypothesis test on whether the registration
payment and manual receipt of registration number is process as a whole exceeded the agreed limit of five
avoided by online payment and electronic receipt of days revealed that both transport and non-transport
registration number in the re-engineered process. The vehicles exceeded the set time limit of five days.
verification step which is repeated by the Superintendent Hypothesis H6 which states that there is no difference
is eliminated in the re-engineered process. Electronic between the average time taken for registration of
generation and delivery of registration certificate is transport vehicles and non-transport vehicles is rejected.
suggested in the place of several steps which follows Further, it is concluded that there is no difference in
the step involving issue of certificate. This leads to the average time taken for registration of new vehicles
reducing an eleven step process to a mere six step from two different dealers. Every step in the existing
process, saving time and effort of many, improving process was re-visited to decide whether to retain it in
productivity at the same time, while improving the lead the process flow or not. Redundant steps, if any, are
time in issue of registration certificate for new vehicles. removed and others are collapsed or streamlined for
process simplification. In the "as-is" process eleven steps
7. Conclusion and Managerial Implications
are involved, whereas the re-engineered process has
Most-government software are designed and only six steps. Also a reduction of nearly 45% of steps
implemented in a project mode that results in the is achieved using the new process. The time limit,
accidental inclusion of non-value-added steps in the according to agreement with citizen's charter, for
process flow. Such inclusions can also be due to the registration using the present process flow is five days.
organizational power play between interacting members But in reality it is even more than 20 days in certain
of the system in the allocation of work in the newly cases. It can be seen that using the re-engineered process,
introduced e-mode of functioning. Only a revisit at a registration can be done in one day by the proposed
later point of time with an idea of re-engineering can process flow alone, leaving aside reduction in time
help to evolve a crispy set of value added tasks in the which can be achieved by envisaging technologies like
process flow, ending up with saving of resources. Though RFID for engine or chassis number swipe or verifications
an effort is made to achieve an end-to-end process flow that are carried out manually at present.
in every e-government project, there is a tendency for
References
employees to fall back on the earlier manual method
at least partially in duplicating the functionality already Abdallah, S., & Fan, I. (2012). Framework for e-government
assessment in developing countries: case study from
available in the software, leading to delays in the process.
Sudan. Electronic Government, An International Journal,
Revisits on the process flow at planned intervals and 9(2), 158-177.
up-to-date application of emerging technologies widen Alawneh, A., Al-Refai, H., & Batiha, K. (2013). Measuring
the scope for re-engineering possibilities in every e- user satisfaction from e-Government services: Lessons
from Jordan. Government Information Quarterly, 30(3),
government project in the post implementation phase.
277-288.
Seven relevant hypotheses were developed to study Al-Mashari, M., & Zairi, M. (2000). Revisiting BPR: a holistic
and test whether the steps in the process exceeded time review of practice and development. Business Process
Mgmt Journal, 6(1), 10-42.
limits set by the citizen's charter and to see whether
Alomari, M., Sandhu, K., & Woods, P. (2014). Exploring citizen
significant difference existed between groups in the perceptions of barriers to e-government adoption in a
average time taken for registration of new vehicles, developing country. Transforming Government, 8(1),
between transport vehicle and non-transport vehicles 131-150.
or between dealers. Out of four sub-processes for which Anas R. Al-Soud , Hussein Al-Yaseen & Saheer H. Al-Jaghoub
(2014). Jordan's e-government at the crossroads.
hypotheses are stated and tested, two hypotheses each,
Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy,
for transport vehicles and non-transport vehicles, 8 (4), 597 - 619.

IMJ 45 Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Axelsson, K., Melin, U., & Lindgren, I. (2013). Public e- Nograšek, J., & Vintar, M. (2015). Observing organisational
services for agency efficiency and citizen benefit- transformation of the public sector in the e-government
Findings from a stakeholder centered analysis. era. Transforming Government, 9(1), 52-84.
Government Information Quarterly, 30(1), 10-22. Papadomichelaki, X., & Mentzas, G. (2011). Analysing e-
Bashein, B., Markus, M., & Riley, P. (1994). Preconditions government service quality in Greece. Electronic
for BPR success And How to Prevent Failures. Government, An International Journal, 8(4), 290-308.
Information Systems Management, 11(2), 7-13. Rainey, H., Backoff, R., & Levine, C. (1976). Comparing Public
Cao, G., Clarke, S., & Lehaney, B. (2001). A critique of BPR and Private Organizations. Public Administration Review,
from a holistic perspective. Business Process Mgmt 36(2), 233-244.
Journal, 7(4), 332-339. Rana, N., & Dwivedi, Y. (2015). Citizen's adoption of an
Davenport, T., & Short, J. (1990). The new industrial e-government system: Validating extended social
engineering: Information technology and business cognitive theory (SCT). Government Information
process redesign. Sloan Management Review, summer, Quarterly, 32(2), 172-181.
11-27. Sharma, S. (2015). Adoption of e-government services: The
Davenport, T. (1993). Process Innovation, Harvard Business role of service quality dimensions and demographic
School Press, Boston, MA. variables. Transforming Government, 9(2), 207-222.
Davenport, T., & Stoddard, D. (1994). Reengineering: Business Taylor, N., Jaeger, P., Gorham, U., Bertot, J., Lincoln, R., &
change of mythic proportions? MIS Quarterly, 18(2) 121- Larson, E. (2014). The circular continuum of agencies,
127. public libraries, and users: A model of e-government
Davenport, T., & Beers, M. (1995). Managing information in practice. Government Information Quarterly, 31, S18-
about processes. Journal of Management Information S25.
Systems, 12 (1), 57-80. Weerakkody, V., Irani, Z., Lee, H., Hindi, N., & Osman, I.
Fogli, D. (2013). Towards a new work practice in the (2014). A review of the factors affecting user satisfaction
development of e-government applications. Electronic in electronic government services. International Journal
Government, An International Journal, 10(3/4), 238-258. Of Electronic Government Research, 10(4), 21-56.
Guha, J., & Chakrabarti, B. (2014). Making e-government Suresh Subramoniam is an Associate Professor at the CET
work: Adopting the network approach. Government
School of Management, College of Engineering,
Information Quarterly, 31(2), 327-336.
Trivandrum. He holds Masters degree in Industrial
Kumar, K., & Subramoniam, S. (2013). Usability analysis of Engineering from Louisiana State University in USA and
an Indian e-governance software. Electronic PhD in Management from Kerala University. He is Fellow
Government, An International Journal, 10(2), 211-221. of the Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering.
Lee, H., Sivarajah, U., Molnar, A., Weerakkody, V., & Irani,
Z. (2015). A User Satisfaction Study of London's Dev Twinky is a full time MBA student at CET School
Congestion Charge e-Service: A citizen perspective. of Management, College of Engineering, Trivandrum. She
International Journal Of Electronic Government has special interest in Business Process Re-engineering of
Research, 11(2), 35-50. e-government systems.

IMJ 46 Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Technologies: Framework of Temporal Data

Mining Concerning Smart Meter
Shashi Kant Srivastava

Abstract recorded very easily (Nezhad, Wijaya, Vasirani, &

Aberer, 2014). This recording, if mined following data
This paper attempts to propose a framework to study
mining techniques, may provide various useful adoption
the adoption pattern of smart electrical technologies
patterns that remain unknown otherwise. Current
based on the existing understanding of technology
electric meter does not offer this facility of observing
adoption. The main thrust of this research is to develop
and recording electricity consumption of different
a framework that may become practical right away,on
electrical devices. The importance of this research
availability of data from these technologies. In the
becomes evident since electric meters are part of every
absence of existing data, this paper generates the data
household numbering thousands of millions in number.
with the help of computer simulation, and shows how
Moreover, every house is equipped with several
wealth and technology diffusion theories can be explored
electrical devices.
for developing the proposed technology adoption
framework. It is argued that results based on the The proposed topic becomes more important due to
proposed framework are able to identify the trends and three reasons. First, IoT's are the future of the world.
association in the adoption of these technologies within Second, IoT's will generate huge amount of data, the
society. use of which is not thought of at present. Third, there
is no prior research work on a similar topic. Examples
Keywords: IoT, technology adoption, temporal data
of IoT's i.e., smart meter and smart devices, are to
mining, smart meter, smart grid, smart home, smart
become common in the event of the present electric
devices
meter being replaced for effectiveness and efficiency.The
1. Introduction data generated by the combination (smart meter and
smart devices )will be enormous in size. This data will
This paper proposes a framework to mine probable and
have record of all the operations of all the devices on
feasible business solutions from the enormous data
24*7*365 basis. The size of the data will be
generated from Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Smart
huge;conventional analytical techniques cannot handle
meters are one such device which may be categorised
it. Therefore, this data offers a unique opportunity to
as initial examples of IoT's that may soon become an
data scientists to explore techniques that may be of help
integral part of households (Depuru, Wang,
to the various stakeholders involved. An example of
Devabhaktuni, & Gudi, 2011; Greveler, Glosekotter,
such trends is, mining the adoption pattern of various
Justus, & Loehr, 2012). Smart meters are capable of
smart electrical devices within the household. Mining
transferring electrical consumption metering details of
these patterns will not only be of help to equipment
a household on real time basis to electricity provider.
manufacturers to understand their customers better,
Furthermore, this meter can also transfer equipment
but also to policy makers to frame suitable policies in
wise recording of the consumption pattern, in case the
alignment with their long term socio-environmental
house is equipped with smart devices. Due to this
objectives.
capability of the smart meter, adoption time of various
smart electrical devices installed in a residence can be

IMJ 47 Shashi Kant Srivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

2. Literature Review Literature review of temporal data mining clearly

demonstrates that, in comparison to the field of data
Literature review section is organized in three sub
mining, this area is very new. Furthermore, there are
sections. First section explains the overview of data
relatively limited efforts by researchers to explore the
mining literature relevant to our research. Second
field of temporal data mining. Therefore, there are very
explains the apparent research gap in the reviewed
few papers pertaining to this research subject. Out of
literature of data mining and the third generates research
a limited number of 114 papers used for literature review,
questions to be addressed based on these gaps. Data
majority of efforts are presented as conference papers;
mining literature specifically focused to time trend is
publication as journal articles is limited. As a result,
of interest for our research. The first mention of such
there are very few papers on the application of temporal
an idea was observed in 1998 in a paper titled "The
data mining in smart homes(i.e. Cook & Jakkula, 2008;
intelligent interface for online electronic medical records
Jakkula & Cook, 2011). Very limited number of papers
using temporal data mining" by Spenceley &
(e.g. Chou, Hsu, & Lin, 2014; Zhang, Grijalva, & Reno,
Warren(1998). Since then two prominent fields have
2014) and the anticipated extensive application of smart
been extensively usingtemporal data mining; one,
meter in future, suggest a gap in existing research
medical (Bellazzi, Larizza, Magni, & Bellazzi, 2005;
efforts. Hence investigation and future research in this
Eriksson, Werge, Jensen, & Brunak, 2014; Svanstrm,
field is desirable. Considering the evident gap in
Callrus, & Hviid, 2010)and another, geographic
literature, this paper aims to bridge this to an extent.
information system and urban planning( An, Zhang,
The present effort of bridging the gap may be of concern
Zhang, & Wang, 2014; Cheng & Wang, 2008; Kitamoto,
to certain stakeholders of smart meters. Users,
2002).
manufactures, electricity providers and policy makers
Besides medical and urban planning fields, research of within the government are few important stakeholders.
temporal data mining is also emerging in the context Out of these, manufactures of smart devices would be
of smart environment, specifically for smart homes. the first to be concerned. Manufactures would be
One research following this technique of data mining interested to know the adoption pattern prevailing in
in the context of smart homes is by Cook & Jakkula, society. The prediction of this adoption pattern will
(2008). This paper uses the technique of temporal data provide a fair idea to manufactures to appropriately
mining for the detection of anomalies in smart homes. plan their business strategy. There are innumerable
These anomalies are events happening within electrical devices in households at present and more or
continuously observed environment that are other than less, all are set to become smart in due course of time.
day to day routine, may be accident, fire etc. Possibility A study of adoption patterns in the early stage will give
of detection of such anomaly becomes possible because added advantage to manufactures to invest on
smart homes are residences equipped with smart devices innovation and design of the appropriate product and
capable of sensing the environment. Furthermore, these plan its marketing accordingly. Considering these
smart devices, in the presence of other smart technology, implications, this articles aims to design a framework
sequentially connect to smart meter and smart grid. So that may suggest answers of the following questions,
smart devices, smart home, smart meter and smart grid related to manufacturers of smart devices.
form interlinked chains. Combining these separate
1. What are the characteristics of households that adopt
segments of the chain together results in smart
a particular smart device at particular time reference?
environment. Out of these four sub units of smart
User's demographic and social characteristics can be
environment, smart grid is the subject relatively more
concluded, based on his electricity consumption detail
studied in research. There are quite a few papers which
(Newing, Anderson, Bahaj, & James, 2015). These
study application of temporal data mining in the context
characteristics are the number of occupants, presence
of smart grid ( Fan, Chen, Kalogridis, Tan, & Kaleshi,
of children, type and size of dwelling, and socio-
2012; Prasad & Avinash, 2013; Samantaray, 2015).

IMJ 48 Shashi Kant Srivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

economic and geo-demographic characteristics of the illumination level and presence of human being. Based
household(Newing, Anderson, Bahaj, & James, 2015). on this informationthe smart bulb will be able to decide
For the purpose of simplification, this paper does not whether to light itself up or not. In the context of IT,
simulate the variation in power consumption of the definition of smart is slightly modified; besides sensing
single household. Rather only the total amount of and controlling capabilities, communication to other
yearly consumption is modelled. Therefore, it is not devices and networks is also required. This capability
possible to mine all the possible household charac- defines smart devices as"personal devices interacting
teristics with the present data. But the economic with users, sensing their environment, and
aspect, significantly associated with the amount of communicating with each other" (Allwright et al., 2006).
electricity consumption, is considered as the variable Smart meters are also an example of smart devices to
for consumer segmentation. By integrating electricity be deployed in future households. As defined, smart
consumption of the single household at the time of meters too are capable of sensing the electric
device adoption will help to know the present consumption in totality, as well as partially by smart
segment of customers that adopt devices. Further- devices of the home. Smart meters may force control
more, it gives an indication of the next appropriate on consumption of electrical devices, if programmed.
consumer segment based on which customized Smart meters are also capable of communicating this
business plan for that section can be prepared. consumption data through internet to the electricity
2. What is the sequential adoption pattern between two provider on near real time basis.Therefore, smart meter
particular smart devices? With this analysis manu- reaches its full capability only in the presence of smart
factures may prepare for the production and mar- electrical devices and in their absence offers only limited
keting of the next product analyzed to be adopted functionality. Smart grid, as one of the associated
by the customer segment. technologies, is explained below.

3. What is the average time lag between adoptions of 3.1 Smart Grid
two particular smart devices? Knowing the time of
adoption by society will give opportunity to firms Smart grid is defined as "the electricity grid that uses
to strategically plan their future products. digital technology to improve reliability, security and
efficiency of the electric system, from large generation,
Remaining part of the paper is organised as follows.
through the delivery systems to electricity consumers
Next section, Section 3, describes smart meter and related
and a growing number of distributed generation and
technologies. Section 4 elaborates the concept of temporal
storage resources"(Li, Zhou, & China 2011, p.99).
data mining and its evolution. Section 5 defines the
Definition of smart grid makes it clear that smart grid
nature of temporal data availability, and Section 6 defines
uses computer technology to integrate all parts of
the problem and explains the tentative solution which
electricity distribution and consumption intelligently.
temporal data mining may offer. The final section,
The principle objective of this integration is to make the
Section 7, deals with conclusions of the paper and
system more efficient. Efficiency of the smart grid is the
suggests future work to be done in this regard.
result of availability of all consumption records in the
3. Smart Meter and Related Smart Technologies process of electricity distribution via smart grid. Through
digital technology smart grid automatically keeps the
In the context of electronics, smart is defined as any
travel and consumption records of electricity, from
method or device having both sensing and control
generation till the last point of consumption. Because
capabilities (Baz, 1996). In accordance with this definition
of its digital nature smart grid is not only capable of
all the smart devices are capable of sensing the
keeping all the data recorded in the process of electricity
surrounding environment and are able to accordingly
distribution, but it can also communicate this data to
guide and control their functions. For example, smart
various stakeholders and help them take proper
bulb will be capable of sensing the surrounding

IMJ 49 Shashi Kant Srivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

decisions at the appropriate time. Present electricity capability and threats posed by this data availability
distribution lacks this capability and hence is susceptible is still unknown. However, certain characteristics of
to several problems. The biggest problem of present day this data may be visualized. Based on the use of smart
electricity transmission is energy and power shortage, devices, smart meters will keep recording the use with
power outage and electricity theft. To an extent these time stamp on it. Time stamping on the data from
problems can be resolved with the help of smart grids various devices puts it in the category of temporal data.
(Seetharam et al., 2013). Smart grid offers unique Analysis of this data comes under the specialised area
solutions, which are unimaginable in present context, of data mining, known as temporal data mining.
to these problems. Differential pricing to resolve energy Temporal data mining may offer certain usability to this
shortage at peak hours and accurate data availability data for pattern mining, useful to stakeholders.
of power outages and theft detection are a few of them.
4. Temporal Data Mining
The fully functional smart grid system does not mean
just the presence of smart grid and smart meter; smart The previous section discussed the integration of smart
electricity devices are other essentials required to attain meter and smart devices to produce enormous amounts
the full capability offered by smart grids. If smart grid of data.It is nearly impossible to handle this data without
is an essential requirement beside smart meter at one the intervention of data mining. Data produced by smart
end, then smart electrical devices are essential at the meters are of enormous volume and high velocity
other end. (Nezhad et al., 2014). Being temporal in nature, temporal
data mining techniques offer better analysis of data
3.2 Smart Devices
compared to that of traditional data mining. Temporal
By embedding microelectronics devices to any every- data mining is an extension of traditional data mining.
day object, it can be converted into a smart object Application of temporal data mining lies in mining the
(Mattern, 2003). These smart objects or devices can sequence of activities rather than just cross sectional
communicate by wireless means and they may form states of it, and thus, they offer better inferences than
networks that may rise to a world-wide distributed that of traditional data mining (Camara, Naguingar, &
system network of magnitude much larger than today's Bah, 2015). These inferences may result in contextual
Internet (Mattern, 2003). Recentdevelopments in sensor and temporal proximity of two or more subjects of
technology has made sensors capable of detecting study, some of which may indicate cause and effect
various environmental phenomena, including but not relationship between multiple series of data (Camara
limited to, light, acceleration, temperature etc. Radio et al., 2015).
sensors are another interesting development in this
5. Nature of Data
area;they can report their observations without any
energy supply within a few meters distance. These Smart devices installed in smart homes are comprised
sensors obtain the required energy from the environment of hardware and software, with time stamping of its use
or directly from the measuring process itself. The recorded in a server (Mohassel, Fung, Mohammadi, &
capability of remote control, security alarm and sensors Raahemifar, 2014). Smart meters communicate
are utilized while converting an ordinary home into consumption data equipped with time stamping to both
smart home with the application of these smart devices the user and the service provider (Mohassel et al., 2014).
(Kadam, Mahamuni, & Parikh, 2015). An overview of For the purpose of this research adoption of such devices
smart meter, smart grid and smart devices helps us in by society is assumed to be similar to other technology
understanding the concept of smart home and smart adoption seen historically. We further assume that once
environment in which smart devices, in interaction with adopted by households (first time stamp recorded in
smart meter and smart grid,produce enormous amount the data server), the device is used on a regular basis.
of data. The present world has not witnessed data of Cases of abandonment after adoption are not taken into
such nature and quantum, and hence the potential account. Present study is concerned only with the first
IMJ 50 Shashi Kant Srivastava
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

time record of use of any new device by the consumer. distribution. In pareto distribution the frequency of
Some of the information anticipated to be obtained from observation is inversely proportional to the amount of
smart environment and used to answer the formulated consumption. If amount is more, frequency or probability
research questions are: of its occurrence will be less and vice averse. Based on
average per capita electricity consumption in India as
Id<- is consumer identity
800KWH (Chauhan & Saini, 2015; Sharma &
con<- per year electricity consumption by consumer
Balachandra, 2015), variation in consumer per capita
t1<- is first time in the electric meter device number one consumption is modelled with maximum yearly
is recorded consumption of electricity as 12000 KWH and 100 KWH
t2<- is first time in the electric meter device number two as minimum electricity consumption. Modelling of
is recorded electricity consumption is followed by modelling the
tm<- is first time in the electric meter device number time pattern of smart device adoption. Rogers' diffusion
m is recorded of innovation (DOI) theory explains that adoption of
any innovation in society follows a normal curve in time
The combination of this information will generate m+2
(Sahin, 2006). Innovators are the first segment of society
tupple data. The vector form of this data will be of <Id,
to adopt these products, followed by early adopter.
con, t1, t2,………….tm> type.
After these segments of society have adopted the
6. Problem Definition product, it is adopted by early majority and late majority
segments. In the end, the population characterised as
Smart meter are still uncommon in most of the
laggards adopt it (Sahin, 2006). Therefore, to simulate
underdeveloped and developing countries (Weranga,
adoption data in time, normal distribution is used. It
Kumarawadu, & Chandima, 2015). But the process of
is assumed that smart device adoption will take
smart metering has started in the developed world. In
approximately 10 years (3650 days). Therefore the last
Sweden and Italy most of the households have already
person of the proposed 1000 people will adopt it after
adopted smart meter (Wehlitz, Werner, & Franczyk,
nearly 10 years from the first person. It has been found
2014). In the Indian context, in the absence of deployed
that there is a high degree of correlation between
smart meters, data depicting consumption pattern of
economic status of the individual and adoption of
smart devices is not available. Considering this difficulty
innovation (Al-Ghaith, Sanzogni, & Sandhu, 2010). This
the data of adoption is generated through simulation.
fact is used in simulation of data. As a result, multivariate
1000 data points are generated in the R-studio statistical
data is generated following two distribution patterns,
software. Generation of data is in the format explained
pareto and normal. Since there is correlation between
in Section 5 and is supported by literature. Individual
the amount of electricity consumption by a household
record of this data has consumption of electricity as one
and adoption of smart devices, certain degree of
item and adoption times of various smart devices as
correlation is maintained between these two in data
the rest. In literature it has been statistically proved that
generation.
electricity consumption is significantly related to the
level of income of family (Francisco, Aranha, Zambaldi, Based on the data simulated and following the proposed
& Goldszmidt, 2006). Furthermore, in many researches framework in Figure1, the timeline of adoption of various
income is found to follow the pareto distribution (e.g. smart devices by an individual customer can be
Dagsvik, Jia, Vatne, & Zhu, 2013; Persky, 1992). generated. We use these schedules of adoption for
Therefore, following these two premises, hypothetical temporal association mining of different devices. For
data in R software is generated using pareto distribution. the purpose of explanation the schedule of adoption of
Pareto distribution is also known as power law four devices by three customers are shown below:

IMJ 51 Shashi Kant Srivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Figure 1- Framework of Adoption Trend Mining Data

Figures 3, 4 and 5 represent the time of adoption of four association of adoption of device 2 followed by 1 is 2/
smart devices on the timeline by three customers. We 3 i.e. 67%. For customers1 and 3, device2 is adopted
can mine the temporal association of adoption of various immediately after device 1. Similarly, device 1 selected
devices based on this information. For example, the after any other device is 0%.

Figure 2- Adoption timing of four devices (Customer-01)

Figure 3-Adoption timing of four devices (Customer-02)

Figure 4-Adoption timing of four devices (Customer-03)

IMJ 52 Shashi Kant Srivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

7. Conclusion and Future Work proposed study will help the manufacturers in two
ways. First, it will mine the profiles of customers as
Once smart meters are part of society huge data will
initial adopters of their product. Second, this study will
be generated with the potential to mine useful insights,
mine the association pattern between two or more
not only for manufacturers of smart devices, owners of
launched products. Understanding of the temporal
electricity supply, government for policy formation, but
association between devices will let the manufacture
also to the owners of the houses consuming electricity,
know the average time lag between the adoptions of
to bring the consumption to more efficient and
these devices. This information will guide future
economical levels. The nature of data obtained from this
manufacturing and marketing strategy of the product.
process is big is size in comparison to the data available
from say, retail stores. The number of consumers,in case Present study explains a very limited potential use of
of retail stores,is mostly in thousands whereas the the data available from smart meters. Data simulation
consumers of smart meter will be millions in size. The done for this study is also very simplistic. That is only
complexity of the data is also much more compared to good enough to explain a few applications. Research
retail data. Retail data is mostly cross sectional in nature has found that electricity consumption variations, daily
whereas smart meter data has time as another and seasonal, are capable of giving insights about the
component. For simplification this study only uncovers demographic and social details of households. In the
one aspect of the problem, adoption mining of the smart present attempt, we have not covered these aspects of
devices in a home. There are several other further smart meter data mining. In the next attempt, we propose
complex mining activities that can be performed with to integrate this complexity. Furthermore, in the next
the same data. We presume that this field will mature step of the study we aim to propose an algorithm to
in due course of time and researchers in future will get insights from the simulated data.
bridge dimensions not touched in the present paper.
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temporal data mining. Proceedings of the Thirty-First Zhang, X., Grijalva, S., & Reno, M. J. (2014). A time variant
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 5, load model based on smart meter data mining. In IEEE
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33(11), 1015-1025. doi:10.2165/11537630-000000000- Shashi Kant Srivastava is a doctoral participant in the
00000 Information Systems area of Indian Institute of
Management (IIM) Indore. He holds a Bachelor's degree
Wehlitz, R., Werner, A., & Franczyk, B. (2014). SMIM-A cloud-
based approach for the digitisation of smart meter in Architecture from University of Roorkee and Masters
installation processes. Journal of Industrial and Intelligent in Ekistics (Science of Human Settlements) from Jamia
Information, 2(3), 169-174. doi:10.12720/jiii.2.3.169- Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Prior to current engagement,
174 he worked as an Associate Professor at Apeejay Institute
of Technology, Greater Noida. He can be reached at
Weranga, K., Kumarawadu, S., & Chandima, D. P. (2015).
Smart grid and smart metering. In Smart Metering Design [email protected].
and Application (pp. 1-15). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

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BOOK REVIEW

Think Bigger: Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy

for your Business
Shweta Grover

[Mark Van Rijmenam (2014). Think Bigger: Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for your Business, Amacom,
Pages 288, ISBN: 978-0814434154.]

The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It
lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn
before, and so in a sense it is all about potential".

– Steve Ballmer

Technology has been an apple of mankind's eye since we conduct becomes digitalized, is drastically
the invention of the wheel. Technology in its simplest transforming the business and its operations. Businesses
form was originally meant to make our lives easier by can make the best use of this data to gain valuable
supporting us in various daily and routine functions. insights about the behaviors of customers and thus,
However, the expansion of civilization caused serving them the right mix of products. It has been seen
technology to not just be the backbone of society but that the organizations which uses the insights generated
also a pastime for purposes of entertainment, work and by Big Data for conducting their processes generate
occupation. higher revenue and thus surpass most of their
competitors and peers. However, the job doesn't end
Who knew that in a short span of years, the world would
with the collection of data but it starts with it. The
become a digital entity? Cloud, Data Transfer, Portable
Company should know the right tools, techniques,
Hard Drives, Memory Cards, these developments have
algorithms and metrics to make use of it. Thus, it should
revolutionized the way data is stored, used and
have a strategy on "How to use Big Data".
transferred. Everyday conversation is now interspersed
with questions of Kilobyte capacity and the ease of Mark Van Rijmenam has written the book "Think Bigger:
storing files of considerable size. This is even more Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for Your
significant when it comes to businesses and Business" to address this issue. Author, Mark Van
entrepreneurial enterprises. Not only can such Rijmenam, is an entrepreneur who values innovation
businesses or enterprises take advantage of modern and thus, guide and inspire others by making a difference
technology to enhance their business and profit, but in usual practices. He has founded Datafloq.com.
they can also benefit from the vast options provided Datafloq is all about Big Data which connects all the
because of the versatility of data Storage. stakeholders of the global market of Big Data. He is also
a strategist of Big Data and thus provides guidelines
Businesses today are using Dashboards, Segmentation
and tenets to organizations for developing strategies on
Analysis, Heat Map Analysis, Site Search Analytics, etc.
Big Data. His forte includes Social Media, Strategy,
to increase their productivity and revenues to gain a
Mobile and Online Marketing and Big Data. He is well
competitive edge and thus surpass the other participants
versed with all the recent changes that may have an
of the industry/market.
impact on the business performance. He is the co-founder
Big Data is also one such service. Big Data i.e. the huge of Data Donderdag. Data Donderdag is an event which
amount of data which has been created or collected as is organized bi-monthly in The Netherlands to make
virtually when every choice, transaction or movement

IMJ 56 Shweta Grover

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

organizations comfortable about using and public relations as well as human resources.
understanding Big Data. He is a highly sought-after
Furthermore, a whole chapter is dedicated to how Big
international public speaker. He is one of the top Big
Data can change 16 different industries, namely:
Data influencers over the globe. He also writes articles
agriculture, automotive, consumer goods, education,
and blogs for Datafloq.com and various other platforms.
energy, financial services, gaming, healthcare, non-
Amacom has published the book, "Think Bigger: profit, manufacturing, oil and gas, telecom,
Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for Your transportation, retail, travel, and government.
Business" in April/ 2014. This book gives enough
Readers also get an insight into successful practices of
practical guidelines to ensure that your organization is
companies such as Amazon, Disney, Nike, and Wal-
way ahead of its competitors. It provides the framework
Mart, among others, who have implemented Big Data
of possibilities which are clear and easy to understand.
services.
It also gives tenets on what your organization should
do and how it should be operated and managed when After reading this book, reader can expect to have the
there are turbulent changes in the technology. This book knowledge of following things:
states that if you know the art of managing Big Data, 1) History of the Big Data
you can get various advantages over your competitors 2) Meaning of Big Data
such as personalized pricing, improvised support for
3) 7Vs
customers, identification of risks, market development,
4) Some important realities of using and incorporating
etc.
Big Data in organization
The more important question the book asks is, however, 5) Effect of Big Data on business
that given the rise of Data usage and storage, why 6) Trends of Big Data
should the IT world only benefit from this development?
7) Gamification
Big Data is a service that has immense potential in
8) Privacy, Security and Ethics of Big Data
application to various businesses. In fact, Big Data is
9) Presentation of Big Data on the company's Balance
already changing the way businesses work. The author
Sheet
repeatedly stresses the need for organizations worldwide
to understand what Big Data is and how it can used 10) Future prospective of Big Data
to full advantage. The benefits and implications are far Analysis and Critique
too vast for any business owner to ignore.
This book written by Mark Van Rijmenam, talks about
The service does have a few considerations to be taken
how the days of gigabytes and megabytes are forgone
into account before one embarks on a strategy to
and how the Big Data which has been collected through
incorporate it. Big Data requires a different culture, it
various digital sources in the world is making us
is omnipresent and it needs to be protected, hence
introduce new terms for describing it. This book offers
airtight security measures are necessary.
clear and easy to understand explanations and insights
The books further go beyond just informing the reader for managers and top management to get a feel of Big
about Big Data. It draws on extensive research and Data and its management. It does not focus on a particular
numerous practical case studies, in a way providing a industry or size but talks, in general, about the
path and useful takeaways to implement a successful development of Big Data strategies. Mark also stressed
big data strategy that best serves an individual's on the fact that the organizations cannot simply continue
business. It also offers advice on putting Big Data on to use their old processes and ignores the uses and
the balance sheet of an organization and determining benefits of Big Data. Since, Big Data is vital for company's
its return on investment, along with emphasizing the performance, they have to learn the tools and techniques
important role Big Data plays in customer relations, sooner or later.

IMJ 57 Shweta Grover

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

It also explored the concepts that every manager should 2) Also, most of the examples and cases were from
consider while developing a strategy for Big Data. developed countries. Being an Indian reader, I would
have appreciated if there were cases on How to
This book provides the reader with the guidelines, tenets
develop Big Data strategy in developing nations.
and also the lessons which he might use while
implementing this technology. It also suggests treating To summarize, this book talks about how the emergence
Big Data as an asset for an organization and how to of Big Data changing the environment and working
ascertain return on investment for this. It covers the styles of business and also the government. It attracts
trends of Big Data which are affecting the organizations, all those readers who have some interest in the
about some other important technologies and also about innovation and the development of an organization. It
the various set of analyzes. can serve as a guide to all those who have bid something
for the growth and future perspective of a particular
Moreover, this books also provides guidelines on how
organization and can also serve as an important resource
not to sacrifice security and to give due respect to the
for Mangers/Leaders who want to be sure that their
rights of privacy of the buyers.
company is not left behind by the competitors.
However, there were some aspects which this book fails
to adequately address: Shweta Grover joined IIM Indore as a participant of Fellow
Programme in Management in Economics area in 2015.
1) This book does not provide the meanings of various She is a graduate in B.A. in Economics from Delhi
Big Data tools and if you are a beginner in this field, University and Masters in Financial Economics from
Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. During
you may find it little difficult to relate to each and
her two years of association with Aon Hewitt, Gurgaon,
every concept mentioned in this book. she gathered experience in HR Analytics, Engagement,
Labour economics, etc.

IMJ 58 Shweta Grover

Semi-Organic Growth - Tactics and
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Strategies behind Google's success

Kakul Modani

[George T. Geis (2015). Semi-Organic Growth - Tactics and Strategies behind Google's success, Wiley,
Pages 240, ISBN: 978-1118933220.]

We live in a world where traditionally a company can perspective. The author usesinfographics so to make
grow in two ways - either organically i.e. by growing the readers understand and appreciate the deals in a
internally through increase in production or customer better way and attempts to answer any question that
base, etc. or inorganically by way of mergers and the readers may have on acquisitions done by Google.
acquisitions. Now, the Author explains to us in the book
At the beginning of the book, he provides a framework
an alternate growth path - the Semi-Organic Growth
to measure the impact of an M&A and attempts to
way.
explain it to the readers with respect to Google. It is
The Author has defined Semi-organic growth as under, essential to follow a pattern, if any, by which Google
makes these acquisitions and does it have anything to
"Semi-organic growth is generated when revenue results
do with its first acquisition and the way it was done?
from products or services that emerge when acquired
The book throws light on this aspect in the initial
technology-related assets attach to a company's existing
chapters. The author explains the following main aspects
capabilities in a complementary manner."
of M&A program for it to be sound:-
The questions that immediately pops up in our minds
1. Strategy - This point revolves around thoroughly
are - How do you understand the semi-organic growth
understanding the rationale behind the M&A.
way? How is it different from the traditional paths?
Why is it even necessary to have a third way? 2. Deal Economics - It mentions that the valuation of
the target using a constellation approach (i.e. using
The Author has answered all the pertaining questions
more than one valuation methodology) instead of
through judiciously choosing a company that has been
going for North Star valuation metric. Synergy analy-
a serial acquirer in a patterned manner in the last decade
sis is also a part of this aspect.
and has followed a semi-organic growth model. He
3. Organizational Design - This part of the program tries
picked Google, a Fortune 500 company, with a history
to measure how well the integration will happen.
of more than 200 acquisitions out of which two-third
Also, the reader gets an idea that organizational
have been successful and synergic. Not only the Author
design's process of integrating varies from one ac-
analyzes the mergers and acquisitions of Google in the
quisition to the other.
past decade in order to explain the readers the semi-
organic growth pattern but also answers questions in 4. Deal Dynamics - Finally, we come to a position where
mind deftly. the company talks about the structure of the M&A
deal, like whether they deal would be cash or stock
The Author explains how Google, unlike its competitors,
or a mix both.
have had a series of acquisitions since its inception,
Then, the performance evaluation of the M&A deal is
even before it went public on August 19th, 2004. This
done. The M&A effectiveness of a deal can be measured
company boasts about 200 odd purchases in various
by value-creation, strategic relatedness or organizational
related as well unrelated fields while being more than
behavior. Google's performance evaluation in its M&A
successful in it as per the industry standards, commands
activities is done by the value-creation school of thought
a study on it from Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
as well as strategic relatedness. However, the Author

IMJ 59 Kakul Modani

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

explains how the acquisition of NEST labs (a home get the basic understanding of Google's M&A activity,
automation producer, acquired for USD 3.2 billion) is the reader expects that the next chapter would talk
an example of strategic un-relatedness as the acquisition about the M&A deals in a detailed manner. The book
doesn't pertain to Google's core ad-tech business. The doesn't, in fact it takes a turn and brings Apple in the
third school of thought for M&A effectiveness involves picture.
organizational behavior.
The book explains that Apple and Google have displayed
The book introduces the reader to new terms like Acqui- an extreme behavior when it comes to M&As. While
hire, which has been practiced by Google while making one is a serial acquirer, the other has been organically
smaller acquisitions. Acqui-hire means acquiring a growing by choice barring a few small acquisitions,
company for its talent, where technology, product, etc. possibly believing, as mentioned in the book "real men
may or may not be the reason for the acquisition. The don't do M&A." This was the case till 2009. Enter 2010,
perfect example of acqui-hire for Google is the acquisition Apple and Google have got into dyadic cascading. In
of Applied Semantics (ASI) which was a pre-IPO November 2009, Google acquired Admob for USD 750
acquisition done in April 2003. This acquisition also million in stock and in reply, Apple bought Quattro
imprinted Google and charted a way for its future Wireless from the same industry. Then in March 2010,
acquisitions. Apple acquired Intrinsity to enhance battery life in
mobiles while Google in April 2010 acquired Aguilux.
The Author states the fact about an acquisition for
This dyadic cascading has continued from that point
which Google paid USD 41.5 million in cash plus stock
forward. Apple started making huge acquisitions
and USD 60.9 million worth of stock options in a cash
(eg.Beats for USD 3.2 billion), unlike its earlier attitude
plus stock deal for ASI. This acquisition proved to be
of growing organically. The book provides infographics
extremely fruitful for Google as it resulted in a massive
of acquisitions of Google and Apple for 2010 and 2013
contribution to its advertising revenues for the years
to let the reader appreciate how Apple changed its
to come. AdSense (an ASI product) contributed around
attitude towards acquisition.
25% to Google's advertising revenues in the next decade.
This acquisition provided Google with an inclination Keeping aside the information this book provides on
towards M&A activities as well as performing the M&A Google's M&A deals, the key takeaway of the book is
activity in a certain way i.e. the semi-organic way. learning how to build an M&A market model. As per
Hence, the book contains an entire chapter on this the author, "M&A market modeling fundamentally
acquisition and its details in which even the problems involves chunk building- accumulating meaningful
that Google had to go through for the semi-organic pieces of information about market segments/
integration of the ASI to Google are mentioned. subsegments, companies, and deals. A robust market
model can only be built with persistent effort." The
Going forward, the book forces the reader to think
book attempts to develop a robust M&A market model
whether Google's acquisition spree is a result of merely
for Google and its acquisitions where the categories and
using its ideal cash pile or part of experimentation by
the basis are described vividly. To begin with, the Google
the inquisitive founders or a well-thought of a plan.
M&A model is divided into three main categories - 1)
Once the reader starts asking these questions, the book
Media deals, 2) Internet software/services deals, 3)
tries to answer it in its upcoming chapters.
Technology platform deals, and 4)Others. Further, the
Generally, in a business book, competition is talked model subdivides these categories.For instance Media
about in a cohesive manner. However, this book does deals are divided into Advertising that is further
it differently. Google's competition with Apple is subdivided into Internet Advertising, Mobile
discussed in an initial chapter in which its competition Advertising, Publishing Advertising, Radio Advertising,
with Facebook and Amazon is addressed in the later Television Advertising etc. The author also tries to
chapters. It looks like a well thought of move. Once you make the reader understand the difference between

IMJ 60 Kakul Modani

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

M&A modeling and the traditional classifications such The book also touches upon how secretive American
as SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) or NAICS companies like Apple, Google etc. are when it comes
(North American Industry Classification System). The to deal disclosures. SEC guidelines for disclosure give
M&A model distinguish each and every acquisition on the leeway in the materiality concept as it says, "The
the basis of its connection (direct or indirect) with the omission or misstatement of an item in a financial report
main category and provide it with an icon. A click on is material if, in the light of surrounding circumstances,
the icon gives all the available information on that the magnitude of the item is such that it is probable
particular deal in a prescribed format. The model also that the judgment of a reasonable person relying upon
accepts specific queries that relate to the problem. A the report would have been changed or influenced by
comparison between two principal companies' specific the inclusion or correction of the item." It is because
acquisitions can also be made. The book provides step- of this reason that Google mentions its acquisition of
to-step instructions on building the model and also Waze Limited for a cash consideration of USD 969
speaks about its scope. million separately whereas it clubs the rest of the
acquisitions of the same period together and hence the
The forthcoming chapters are dedicated to the three
public doesn't come to know the target's name at times.
categories and descriptively talks about the various
Here, the M&A model comes in handy if the user wants
acquisitions that Google performed in the field of Media,
to run a query asking for the M&A details of the deals
Internet and Technology Platform. The book provides
whose values are disclosed by Google. The last portion
an exhaustive summary of the deals related to that
of the book talks about the deal dynamics of the M&A
particular area. For instance, the technology platform
program. Like, Google has used stock consideration in
mentions the acquisition of Nest Labs by Google in USD
four deals till now (as per the disclosures) that includes
3.2 billion. This is an entirely unrelated to core business
ASI and YouTube.
acquisition for Google, but Nest Labs are in the company
of producer of home automation products. Hence, this Semi-organic growth's most essential aspect is the talent
deal comes under technology and a different the target brings. It is the most important trait of this
subcategory. type of growth. The author emphasizes on the fact that
how important it is for the founders to be a part of the
While going through the first half of the book, a question
team post the acquisition and that comes under
arises in the reader's mind as to know certain other
contingent consideration. To make the founders stay for
aspects of the M&A deals like the failed deals and the
a while, there is an Earn-out provision where in some
repercussions of those or may be the extent to which
milestones are set post-acquisition based on which the
Google and its competitors made the deal disclosures.
target would receive a remaining deal amount. The
As the reader moves further, these questions are
book talks about other such mechanisms to motivate
answered in the book. The book has put Motorola
founders as well as employees and how well semi-
Mobility acquisition by Google under the chapter that
organic growth has become Google's way of acquiring
talks about the failed or shuttered deals. As the reader
the firm. The last part of the book emphasizes on the
goes through it, the book has inputs that says that
M&A integration and describes four major types of
Motorola Mobility deal hasn't been a failed deal for
acqui-hires and how each and every type has enhanced
Google per say. These instances and the numbers
Google's offering. An interesting part of the book is that
supporting the discussion ignite curiosity in the mind
it also tells the reader where the founders of the target
of the reader. Also, considering the wide variety of
company went after they left Google. It is a piece of
acquisitions that Google has made, the book suggests
information that the reader would don't mind knowing.
that it should have different parameters for evaluation
Like, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams previous firm
of a deal with respect to target's position in the life cycle,
Pyra Labs (Blogger) was acquired by Google. Twitter
product expectations, etc.
was founded by him after he left Google.

IMJ 61 Kakul Modani

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Once the reader finishes Semi-Organic Growth - Tactics YouTube, Android, Search, Apps, Maps and Ads. The
and strategies behind Google's success, it is clear that change in organizational structure questions a lot of
the book has lived up to its title as now the reader has inferences drawn in the book as when the book was
valuable information on mostly all the aspects of the written it was Google, not Alphabet. The silver lining
M&A deals undertaken by Google. Having said so, the being, the book can be used to draw a comparison
book lacks with respect to letting the reader know about between Google and Alphabet's semi-organic growth
the company's perspective over any deal post an path if need be. If Google had become Alphabet in 2014
acquisition. The content would have been richer if there instead of 2015, the book might have been written
were quotes directly from the Horse's mouth which in differently.
this case is Google. However, one can't shy away from
About the Author - George T. Geis teaches at UCLA
appreciating the references that are provided at the end
Anderson in the areas of mergers & acquisitions, financial
of each chapter that helps in substantiating the author's
modeling, entrepreneurship, and accounting. He has
writing. There are aspects of the book that are explained
been voted Outstanding Teacher of the Year at UCLA
in great detail like the deals under the three categories
Anderson five times, the most recent honor being given
namely Media, Internet and Technology Platform but
by the MBA class of 2012. Geis has also served as
there are also elements in the book that have been
Associate Dean and Faculty Director of UCLA
touched at the periphery like Google's competition with
Anderson's Executive MBA program. He is currently
Amazon. As they say, too many cooks spoils the broth.
Faculty Director of Anderson's Mergers and Acquisitions
Luckily for this book, despite concentrating on many
Executive program. Dr. Geis is an expert on M&A activity
subtopics, it doesn't look fragmented. A reader from the
in technology, communications and media markets.
finance/strategy/Information Technology background
Geis received a B.S. "summa cum laude" and with "honors
might feel the necessity of a deeper understanding in
in mathematics" from Purdue University , an M.B.A.
building the M&A market model after going through
from University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D.
the book but the book suffices in the construction of
from the University of Southern California.
the foundation of the model. The provision of 50 info-
(Source:http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/programs-
graphics at various places in the book provides
and-outreach/information-systems-research-program/
visualization to the user who would result in enhancing
faculty-and-staff/geis)
the reader recall when there will a discussion on such
topics.
Kakul Modani currently pursuing FPM in finance and
A curious thought may run into the reader's mind after accounting from IIM Indore. She holds a Masters degree
looking at the title of the book as Google is now Alphabet. in Financial Engineering from NYU and have worked as
Alphabet has become the holding company and has an Equity research analyst for the FMCG and Media sector.
Monitoring the capital market is my favorite hobby. Apart
Google Ventures, Google Capital, Fiber, Calico, Nest as
from this, she has a penchant for urdu poetry, good vocals,
the heads along with Google. Google comprises of kids and clouds.

IMJ 62 Kakul Modani

Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things,
Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business

Suganya Balakumar

[Malcolm Frank, Paul Roehrig and Ben Pring (2014). Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and
Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business, Wiley, Pages 256, ISBN: 978-8126548606.]

In the evolution of the human species if Industrial "This Second Economy will surpass the world's first (or
revolution were to be described as a major step; the industrial) economy in scale and scope by 2025. The virtual,
technology revolution can be considered as a giant leap. digital economy will exceed the industrial economy-the
This revolution has been made possible by the generation cumulative output of mankind's development over several
of innumerable amount of data around us. Imagine the millennia- in terms of transactions, revenues, and value
vast oceans of data around every being - text messages, creation, in a mere 30 years"
every website visited, songs listened to, every click
made, Facebook likes etc.- Humongous. The arduous What made, or makes, the digital economy successful,
task for the Code Halo (inclusive of big data) companies rightly mentioned by the authors, is their business model
is to make meaning from the colossal amounts of data, - the creation and management of Code Halos. According
and to apply the understanding for business strategies to the authors, "Amazon eliminating Borders was not
and practices. a book thing, nor was Apple outrunning Nokia and
BlackBerry a mobile
"As the authors define it: A Code Halo is the field of digital
information that surrounds any noun-any person, place, or phone thing, every one of these industries' disruptions
thing. More often than not, that virtual self can provide more was a Code Halo thing." The emergence of these and
insight into-and thus generate more value from-the physical much other, exuberant growth in digital economy reveals
entity alone" two major patters - the Code Halo formed the basement
for the commercialization of consumer technology and
Through a rich narrative the authors attempt to answer
the questions whether individuals/ businesses were there was outsized growth in a very consistent manner.
able to see the technology-based sea change coming? What is surprising is that the skills for creating,
Were they able to capture the commercial opportunity? implementing and managing these are not taught in any
And, they direct the reader that using technology is at curriculum in the education system.
the discretion of the individual/business, but by ignoring What has made such business models successful is our
the significance of these transition businesses may interwoven personal lives with the internet. In the past
become extinct. The book also encourages the readers two decades, we have highly personalized and blended
to think and relate to their everyday activities. our virtual world into our real world. According to
The Digital Economy Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, "The digital and physical
worlds are starting to come together - it's only the tip
The leaders, winners and outliers of today's world are of the iceberg in terms of what's coming."
playing a different game; fighting a different fight; and
winning with a new set of rules. With the immense Tyes and Elements of Business Code Halos
amounts of data generated by us, using our widgets, The authors enunciate that such interweaving is possible
there is an unseen digital economy that is quickly through the five Code Halo solutions - Customer,
emerging. This started with the commercialization of Product, Employee, Partner and Enterprise - which the
the internet, and according to W. Brian Arthur of the authors call "Holocracy". The authors have provided
Santa Fe Institute and the Palo Alto Research Center with an extraordinary emphasis to the term "Holocracy",
(PARC): grabbing the reader's attention as the book unfolds.

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Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

You and I, as customers have personal Code Halos. for understanding the growth in the digital economy.
This, in the hands of the company, is its lock, and the
The SMAC Stack
key to it is providing us with personalized customer
experience by applying individual code. It provides When I purchase a book in Amazon.in I get further
targeted commercial interactions. For example, Amazon recommendations of books to buy, this is based on the
provides personalized shopping experience; it provides preferences of other individuals who have similar tastes
the right items in the right place at the right time. The like mine. When I search for flights between Indore and
products are the software and hardware that collect our Bangalore in MakeMyTrip.com I see advertisements of
information. Our Code Halos connect with the Internet MakeMyTrip.com in the other websites I visit (for the
of Things, so that value and meaning is generated over same route). This is because MakeMyTrip.com records
time. For example, our smart phone and the installed my searches, and follows me to the other websites it
games and apps, which are increasingly network aware, has partnered with. This is how Google and Facebook
are products that can gather information about us. As earn its revenues. This exchange of information by
personal Code Halos enrich customer experience, companies is possible because codes connect with codes
Employee Code Halos enrich work experience. Sharing on four technologies- Social, Mobile, Analytic and Cloud
of our work history helps in knowledge transfer, (SMAC) - and they work together to know the minutest
individualizing and transforming work experience. It of details about our personal likes and dislikes. The
facilitates getting the right work, to the right person, authors have made a significant contribution by
at the right time. It also helps in improving productivity, providing us with this integrated view.
employee retention and hiring. For example, LinkedIn
The SMAC Stack provides the raw materials for Code
helps in employee-employee and employee-employer
Halos. SMAC technologies are the infrastructure of the
communication. The Partner Code Halo integrates the
new Code Halo economy. Explaining the SMAC Stack:
product and employee code halos, it brings clarity and
insight to real time decision making. And finally, the Social technologies: All software that helps in
Enterprise Code Halo is an aggregation of all four Code interpersonal communication, like blogs, email, social
Halos. It gives the organization an identity based on networking etc.
what it does and how it does it.
Mobile technologies: All portable hardware devices
"As the number of interconnected things expand, almost and the software, network and applications that support
every device, product, and object - from simple consumer those devices. For example smart phones, tablets,
goods to complex industrial equipment - is a candidate for wearables etc.
a Code Halo"
Analytics technologies: A software supply chain that
To collect and assess the required data the Code Halo helps in collecting, organizing, managing and analyzing
elements are employed - amplifier, application interface, myriad amounts of heterogeneous data.
algorithm, data and business model.
Cloud computing: The network of remote servers on
Amplifiers are the devices that enable interaction the internet that helps store and process data, instead
(Computer devices, industrial machines, wearables). of owning and hosting them internally. This allows for
Application interface refers to the inbuilt softwares. greater flexibility of resources and lower costs.
Algorithm, the most important of the five elements,
Initially the SMAC technologies were disconnected, but
processes the data to make meaning. Data is then
now there is a high degree of integration, mainly fostered
analysed and used in Business models.
by the information exchange between the participating
The authors enhance the fact that the organization's companies. With the development of the SMAC
Code Halo explains more about the organization than technology the internet age has evolved to the digital
its campaigns or annual reports. This forms the basis economy age. The authors explain this as the fifth wave

IMJ 64 Suganya Balakumar

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

of Corporate IT - from Mainframe, Mini Computer, Principles of Code Halo Strategy

Client/server, and Internet PC to SMAC Stack.
The authors provide a "new rule of code" that will help
The Fifth IT Wave business survive and thrive in the Code Halo world.
The authors recommend businesses to adopt the four
The first four IT Waves have enhanced business principles of Code Halo strategy: (i) To deliver beautiful
productivity. It has helped in reducing costs, generating products and experiences (ii) Avoid evil (iii) Wirearchy
revenue and providing productivity gains. The same principle and (iv) To nurture Code Halo heroes.
is expected from the present SMAC technology model.
No technology is an island now. The combination of Firstly, the Code Halo solutions must provide users
the SMAC technologies has resulted in the multiplier with beautiful products and solutions, like apple iPod
effect, interlinking the technologies to provide and unlike iPhone 6. The users must experience the
meaningful data for further business implications. "Wow! How did they read my mind?" effect. Secondly,
the Code Halo companies must learn to ignore the
"For a Code Halo to have an impact on performance, it must voices of the dark side. Issues of privacy and ethics will
be integrated into well-codified and well- understood business erupt, people will be hacked, government interventions
processes- such as sales, customer service, research and will grow and advertisements and media will continue
development, or supply chain management" to trouble. But, the winning organizations must
recognize, understand and actively manage such
negative issues.

Thirdly, businesses should establish a "Wirearchy"

organizational structure. The term Wirearchy is defined
for the Millenial as the organization structure where
members earn their status through knowledge and
willingness to share. These are dynamic networks with
interconnected nodes and free of ranks. With such a
structure the employees are obliged to be an active part
of the community in the Wirearchy. The Facebook
organizational structure is one such, which defies, but
In the past decade Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon,
not completely eradicates, the age old command and
Pandora, and Netflix have generated market value of
control hierarchy. The authors list the rules to follow
more than $1 trillion, and this has been made possible
for success in the new organization model. Though the
because of the creation and management of Code Halos.
authors created an enduring effect throughout the book
It depends on companies to leverage this new technology.
with the term "Holocracy", they fail to do the same with
For example, Zune was a portable media player marketed
"Wirearchy".
by Microsoft, launched as a competition to Apple's
iPod. It started in 2008 but was discontinued in 2012,
mainly because it failed to build proper partnerships.
It did not build apps, it did not build games, and it did
not generate information. Thus, it was unable to provide
any meaningful user experience and remained as a
fancy music player.

"The Code Halo opportunity is vast, and the downside

for missing this trend will be harsh and swift."

IMJ 65 Suganya Balakumar

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

Lastly, it conciliates the reader to find that the authors there are weeks where decades happen" - Vladimir
have prioritized the role of "Halo Heroes", who would Lenin
make use of the one-time opportunity to step forward
The authors provide guidelines for the organizations
and lead the organization. Halo Heroes would progress
to follow based on the Cross roads model, but each
in such a way to tear down the walls between IT and
organization might have different requirements and
business, and lead the new IT organization into place.
also may prefer not to follow these.
The businesses should endevour to accommodate virtual
work habits with the physical work habits; this will According to the authors the business begins to realize
enable the business and IT to work together. that there is something strange, there is a "future of
work", which has to begin with an "Action plan" which
Cross Roads Model is the Ionization phase. The main reason that businesses
do not "Ionize" is because there are voices in the
The most interesting part of this book is the description
organization pulling them back and there is no "will
of the Cross road model. The authors have elaborated
to innovate". The authors provide a set of actions that
this to a considerable extent that a business leader
the businesses could undertake - beginning from
would implement such a process without second
preparing the organization for innovation, mapping its
thoughts.
value chain, scanning the market for signs of Ionization,
Imagine the days when Mark Zuckerberg had the idea listening for new voices within the organization, and
of building a "hot or not" game for Harvard students, finally picking the Code Halo targets. Though there
also called "Facemash". And then he went on to create might be several ideas worth exploring in the
"thefacebook.com" with the intention of creating a organization the Code Halo target must be the one that
universal website that can connect people in the delivers real impact.
university. After expulsion and lawsuits he created the
When the innovations come to life a Spark is created.
social networking site "Facebook" in 2004. Facebook has
In this stage the authors advocate businesses to embrace
now become a global internet phenomenon from a
mass personalization, build Code Halos around the
Harvard social-networking website. This phenomenon,
main character of the progress and pilot and fine tune
the authors' detail, is the Cross roads models.
the business model. The challenge for the organizations
Metaphorically the authors explain how nature feels the here would be to pick the right Spark from the countless
exuberance when lightening is about to strike as ideas available to them.
"ionization", where the Code Halos doesn't exist and
Once the Code Halo solutions are ready it must augment
the situation in the industry is ripe for its introduction.
products and services to provide with meaningful
They continue to describe how a "spark" is like lighting
information and data, this is the Enrichment stage,
the match, a small spark can ignite into a fire for the
where the Spark turns into a blaze. Organizations learn
good or the bad, and likewise a small idea leads to the
during this stage, and algorithms develop with business
evolution of the Code Halo process. "Enrichment" is
analytics. At this stage the authors suggest a set of
when the spark turns into a blaze, the Code Halo
actions for the businesses - to provide a balanced focus
solutions scale up increasing the number of users and
of all the five elements of the Code Halo anatomy, to
generating more data, building meaningful services
get the right data and user experience, to use the right
and solutions. At "cross roads" is when the markets flip
metrics, to capture code and make meaning, and to
and the companies experience massive transitions. And
expect the unexpected.
"after cross roads" the companies set on an accelerated
journey which is difficult to stop, be it negative or Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things,
positive. and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business
presents itself as a practical guide for business to
"There are decades where nothing happens; and then
participate in the ongoing digital revolution. It provides

IMJ 66 Suganya Balakumar

Volume 6 Issue 2 July - December 2014

the businesses with guidelines to change process and decisions depend on perceived value - be it the firm or
attitudes of the company. the customer. For example, the authors recommend "to
deliver beautiful products and experiences", but "beauty"
With the blending of the virtual and physical world,
depends upon the individuals 'perspectives' and
every individual and businesses have lost their personal
'environment'. I doubt if such generalized statements
space. A new economy is being created. Similar to the
can be provided as guidelines.
previous economic models in the world, this economy
will also develop in a scattered manner, bringing with These criticisms aside, the authors provide an insightful
it the opportunities to develop. This book helps this thought into the future. Their ideas are systematic, far-
transition easier. It helps businesses see what is available fetched and exploratory in nature. As the authors
for them and what awaits them in the future. It is no mention businesses should aim at identifying the Code
Bible to follow, but basic guidelines to adapt. The authors Halo opportunity, adopt the principles of the Code Halo
do not provide a path for success but show businesses strategy and implement the crossroads model. This
that they could do much better, than they are doing book is a practical guide for businesses in the new
right now, if they participate in the Code Halo economy. digital economy.
It is a series of recommendations that would help people
This book would enable the managers to answer the
and business successfully navigate through these new
questions posed by the authors in the beginning - "Did
waters.
you see the technical change coming? And, if so, what
With innumerous examples the authors bring to the did you do about it?"
readers the importance of the growing digital economy,
But the managers must look beyond the
and the opportunities available. Though the book
recommendations that the book provides, to suit their
provides a model, and provides guidelines it needn't
requirements.
be accepted by the readers at its face value. The authors
fail to explain the economic situations that the businesses
must consider. Also, there is very limited mention about Suganya Balakumar is a doctorate participant in the
the expected competitions. When industries grow, it Economics area at the Indian Institute of Management
attracts new entrants, competitions grow. For this, the Indore. She holds a Master's degree in Economics from
Madras School of Economics, and a Bachelor's degree
businesses must create strategic architecture for
in Economics from Madras Christian College. Her areas
themselves, with core competencies, so that they could of interests include Development economics and
sustain and grow irrespective of the competitive Institutional Economics.
environments. Her personal interests include traveling, writing and
The guidelines provided by the authors are too lengthy. blogging.
The authors have also failed to realize that individual

IMJ 67 Suganya Balakumar