Browsing by Author "Joubert, Janine"

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    Building trust in mobile commerce: a technical report presented to the Department of Information Systems, University of Cape Town
    (2006) Joubert, Janine; Van Belle, Jean-Paul
    Mobile commerce or ITHXll'Tlmerce is seen as the next technological innovation that will transform the marketplace. Despite the hype associated with m-commerce and the massive revenue predictions by research companies, current adoption figures by consumers seem to demonstrate a lack of enthusiasm for more advanced services. A key reason cited in the literature is a lack of trust Consumers regard ITHXll'Tlmerce as more risky than e-commerce. M-comrnerce transactions are often characterised by complex technology, anonymous vendors, lack of transparency and convoluted interactions between stakeholders. It is therefore no wonder that consumers are reluctant to adopt new m-commerce services. Trust becomes more important in situations of inaeased uncertainty, such as m-commerce. This research is the first South African study to investigate a model that incorporates trust and risk factors to explain adoption and usage of ITHXll'Tlmerce. The model is based on the existing trust literature, but complemented with variables that relate to the benefits of mobile technologies, namely Innovation Diffusion characteristics. Two research approaches were followed. Since m-commerce is relatively new in South Africa, qualitative analysis, by using focus groups, was conducted to explore how and why trust and risk influence m-commen::e adoption. This was combined with a more quantitative approach to investigate the relevance and importance of trust and risk issues on a population of potential 'early adopters'. The study provides several interesting findings. The study determined that personal characteristics significantly influence the perceived trustworthiness of the vendor, technology and the institutional framework. It was further established that these factors significantly influence overall trust perceptions and that trust and risk additionally influence intention to use m-commerce services. However, amongst early adopters, benefits were more important than both trust and perceived risks. This can be attributed to the high-risk tolerance of 'earty adopters' and it is possibly not generalisable to later adopters. However, the importance of trust cannot be underestimated, since most of the participants of this study were explicit about limits to their trust e.g. not being prepared to provide aedit card details or engage in high-value transactions. In conclusion, ITHXll'Tlmerce appears to have great prospec1s in South Africa. However, it is important that vendors unleash this potential by designing m-commerce services to reduce risk perceptions and inaease trust To this end, this research also suggests a number of practical vendor interventions.
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    Embedding risk management within new product and service development of an innovation and risk management framework and supporting risk processes, for effective risk mitigation : an action research study within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Sector
    (2016) Joubert, Janine; Van Belle, Jean-Paul
    At first glance, innovation and risk management seem like two opposing disciplines with diverse objectives. The former seeks to be flexible and encourages enhanced solutions and new ideas, while the latter can be seen as stifling such innovative thinking. Since there is a failure rate of as many as eight out of every ten products launched, it is perhaps necessary for organisations to consider applying more structured approaches to innovation, in order to better manage risks and to increase the chances of delivering improved goods and services. A risk management approach is well suited to address the challenge of failure, as it focuses not only on the negative impact of risks but also on the opportunities they present. It aligns these with the strategic objectives of the organisation to increase the chances of its success. The research objective of this study was to establish how to embed risk management within the innovation divisions of an organisation to ensure that more efficient products and services are delivered to customers. To achieve this end, action research was conducted in a large organisation operating in a high-technology environment that launches many diverse products and services and rapidly expanding service offerings to other industries. The study took four years to complete and delivered multiple interventions that successfully embedded risk management within the organisation, leading to changed behaviours and double-loop learning. Two main knowledge contributions are offered by the study. Firstly, a generic and empirically validated integrated Innovation and Risk Management Framework (IRMF) is developed and guides new product and service development by considering both best practices and risks. Secondly, a risk dashboard is designed as a design science artefact within the action research cycles, which consolidates all the knowledge that was generated during the study. This is ultimately a visual interface to support stage-gate decision making. Since the context of the study was broad, extensive and complicated, the use of mixed-method research complemented and expanded on the findings by providing another layer of support and validation. This thesis highlights the complexity of innovation and presents the need for an organising framework that will encourage innovation but is sufficiently flexible to cater for diverse needs and risks. The study delivers several other, valuable contributions regarding what, how and why incidents occur within the real-world context of new product and service development. Several generic artefacts, such as risk processes and maturity frameworks, are also developed, which can guide risk and new product and service development practitioners to deliver more efficient product and services. This study offers several novel approaches to evaluating risks and provides practical support and recommendations, addressing shortcomings of fragmented research in similar, but smaller-scale studies that have been conducted in information systems. It is the premise of this research that a much wider number of risks need to be managed as new products and services are developed, than was noted in previous studies. Effective risk management in new product and service development could lead to competitive advantage for organisations by increasing knowledge and facilitating sustainable, informed risk decision-making.