1914
Competence of Information Technology Professionals in Internet-Based Ventures
maintainability (Bass, Clements & Kazman,
2003; Deshpande, Murugesan, Ginige, Hansen,
Schwabe & Gaedke, 2002). Another important
product characteristic is its degree of innovative-
ness, that is, the newness of the technology itself
or in the newness of applications the technology
offers to the customer. For instance, launching
an E-Shop (Kollmann, 2006) can be expected to
require low development efforts, because there
exists a variety of ready-made Web applications
for this business model. By contrast, newly fou nd
businesses with highly innovative platforms
(such as Google with respect to their search
technology) will initially focus on the perfec-
tion of their technology rather than on aspects of
commercialization and generating revenues. In
particular, technical problems at the beginning of
business operations can be expected to give way
to environmental, commercial and competitive
problems in later development phases (MacInnes,
2005). Consequently, a shift from IT competence
to business and transdisciplinary competence can
be postulated with the passing of time. Moreover,
as resource availability and thus the number of
IT personnel can be expected to increase during
WKHJURZWKRIWKH\RXQJ¿UP.ROOPDQQ
a shift from operational to strategic tasks can be
presumed (Sgobbi, 2002). While at an early stage,
IT professionals need to posses entrepreneurial

FRPSHWHQFHDQHI¿FLHQWSURJUDPPLQJVW\OHDQG
sound technology knowledge, the later CIO is
required to additionally possess business manage-
ment knowledge and interpersonal competence in
order to delegate operational development tasks to
her IT staff. Similarly, the relevance of possessing
conceptual IT knowledge and having an IT/Busi-
ness vision can be expected to increase over time,
as the focus moves from a short-term realization
WRDORQJWHUPLQWHQVL¿FDWLRQDQGGLYHUVL¿FDWLRQ
of the initial business idea (Kollmann, 2006). The
aspect of changing requirements particularly ap-
plies to Web 2.0 platforms whose business models
and Web applications are vague at the beginning,
but evolve over time (Highsmith, 2002; O’Reilly,
,QWKLVUHJDUGDQRWKHUIDFWRULQÀXHQFLQJ
the value propositions of IT-related competencies
is the volatility of the IT/Business environment,
as it necessitates software enhancement activities
such as adding, changing, and deleting software
functionality in response to new and evolving
business requirements (Banker & Slaughter, 2000;
Zhang et al., 2003).
)DFWRUVLQÀXHQFLQJYDOXHSHUFHSWLRQ In gen-
eral, a respondent’s temperament determines that
respondent’s view of knowledge, while knowledge
views of technologists and managers are likely to
GLYHUJH'XHFN$¿UVWLPSRUWDQWPRGHUDWRU
is thus the respondent’s functional role, that is, the
question whether the respondent is responsible for

IT-related or business-related tasks. For instance,
IT professionals tend to think rather conceptual
than pragmatic, while they ascribe less importance
to interpersonal relationships. Besides personality,
views on knowledge depend on the respondent’s
knowledge itself, including practical experience
in an area where the respective knowledge is
required. It can be argued that value perception
LVGLVWRUWHGGHSHQGLQJRQWKHFRQ¿JXUDWLRQRI
WKH UHVSRQGHQW¶V FRPSHWHQFH SUR¿OH DV VRFLDO
psychology suggests that individuals rate other
people more positively the more similar they are
t o t he m s el ve s ( By r ne , 19 7 1; J a c k so n , B r et t , S e s s a ,
Cooper, Julin & Peyronnin, 1991). In addition,
business managers are often not aware of the mul-
tidimensionality of IT competence (Nakayama &
Sutcliffe, 2003), while inexperienced IT profes-
sionals might underestimate the importance of
their business competence. In contrast, shared do-
main knowledge between IT and business people
positively affects a correct understanding of each
RWKHU¶VFRQWULEXWLRQWRWKH¿UP5HLFK%HQEDVDW
2000). Furthermore, shared domain knowledge
positively affects the degree of IT/Business align-
PHQWZLWKLQWKHIRXQGLQJWHDPZKLFK³UHIHUVWR
the state in which business and IT executives
understand and are committed to the business
and IT mission, objectives, and plans” (Reich &
Benbasat, 2000, p. 81). In this context, alignment
1915

Competence of Information Technology Professionals in Internet-Based Ventures
itself can be expected to clarify the value percep-
tion of the competence dimensions critical to IT
professionals. Misalignment, in contrast, is likely
to distort the respondents’ perceptions.
FUTURE TRENDS
As the IT/Business environment of the Net Econ-
omy will continue to evolve and remain volatile
in the future, also the role of the IT professional,
respectively, of the CIO in Internet-based ventures
can be expected to change further on. In particu-
ODUFXUUHQW:HEFRQFHSWVUHGH¿QHWKHUROHV
of both Web users and Web developers, requir-
ing Internet-based businesses to deliver services
rather than software products and trust their cus-
tomers as co-developers (O’Reilly, 2005). Some
of the resulting competency changes have been
discussed in this chapter. However, the impact of
Web 2.0 on the core competency requirements of
,QWHUQHWEDVHG¿UPVZLOOIXUWKHULQFUHDVHLQWKH
future. Furthermore, the prospective convergence
of Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web (Wahlster &
Dengel, 2006) will even more dramatically change
the IT/Business environment of the Net Economy
which will be characterized by intelligent search
agents and semantic Web services in the future
(Sheth, Verma & Gomadam, 2006). From an IT
governance point of view, these changes will
inevitably entail a need for IT professionals who
understand the technology trends and the resulting

managerial implications, as well as a well-aligned
team of founders incorporating the wide range
of skills and knowledge required for operating a
business in the Net Economy.
The framework presented in this chapter sets
up the theoretical foundations for understanding
the IT-related competence requirements and com-
petence perceptions within the founding teams of
Internet-based ventures. With respect to future
research activities, dependencies between factors
LQÀXHQFLQJWKHDFWXDOYDOXHIDFWRUVLQÀXHQFLQJ
value perception and the perceived value of the
individual competence dimensions need to be
modelled and tested on an empirical basis.
CONCLUSION
Drawing upon the general IT governance prin-
ciple of aligning business and IT, this chapter
articulated the concept of IT-related competence
LQ\RXQJ¿UPVRIWKH1HW(FRQRP\RXWOLQHG
its dimensions and suggested a framework for
modeling effects on the value propositions of the
different dimensions as perceived by the partners.
The proposed competence model comprises three
dimensions, including IT competence, business
(i.e., non-IT) competence, and transdisciplinary
competence. According to their epistemological
and functional/disciplinary characteristics, these
dimensions have been subdivided in order to
meet the contextual particularities of Net Econ-
omy ventures, resulting in eight subdimensions

(technology knowledge, conceptual knowledge,
realization competence, business management
knowledge, entrepreneurial competence, inter-
personal competence, Net Economy competence,
and IT/Business vision). With respect to exploring
the value propositions of these dimensions, two
NLQGVRILQÀXHQFLQJIDFWRUVKDYHEHHQLGHQWL¿HG
factors that have an effect on the actual value
proposition of a competence dimension (such as
business model, development phase, resource
availability, and environmental dynamism), and
IDFWRUVWKDWLQÀXHQFHWKHSHUFHSWLRQRIWKHYDOXH
proposition by the partners (such as the respec-
tive partner’s functional role and competence
SUR¿OHDQGWKHGHJUHHRI,7%XVLQHVVDOLJQPHQW
within the team). In order to understand to what
extent business and IT people contribute to value
creation and how they perceive the contribution
of each other’s distinct competencies, possible
dependencies have exemplarily been illustrated for
ERWKNLQGVRILQÀXHQFLQJIDFWRUV)XUWKHUH[SORU-
ing these dependencies and relating them to IT
governance principles is crucial to comprehend
1916
Competence of Information Technology Professionals in Internet-Based Ventures
the complex competence requirements of Inter-
net-based ventures and the mutual understand-
ing of the founders’ value contributions within
heterogeneous teams.
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tations, edited by A. Cater-Steel, pp. 239-253, copyright 2009 by Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global).
1920
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Chapter 6.13
Consumers’ Preferences and
Attitudes Toward
0RELOH2IۋFH8VH
A Technology Trade-Off
Research Agenda
Xin Luo
Virginia State University, USA
Merrill Warkentin
Mississippi State University, USA
ABSTRACT
Consumer preferences, attitudes, and behavior

concerning product choice can be of vital im-
portance in the development process and imple-
mentation of innovative products or services. The
PRELOHRI¿FH02LVEHFRPLQJDFKLHYDEOHLQWKH
business-to-employee (B2E) arena as more work
LVFRPSOHWHGRXWVLGHWKHRI¿FHDQGWKH¿[HGRI¿FH
boundaries extend well beyond the spectrum of
the desktop. Potential MO providers (e.g., employ-
ers) will encounter adoption resistance as users
experience uncertainty. This paper investigates the
critical factors in the decision models of consum-
ers when evaluating the acceptance and intention
to use MO. It will provide research guidelines for
MO designers and developers, IT/IS managers,
and IS researchers.
BACKGROUND
Mobile business (m-business, also known as
mobile commerce or m-commerce), an emerging
extension of electronic business, has received
considerable interest among IS researchers, devel-
opers, service providers, and end users. Varshney
and Vetter (2002) anticipate that the next phase
of e-business will be in the area of m-business
with the widespread deployment of wireless tech-
1921
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nologies. Mobile services have penetrated many
leading-edge personal markets such as mobile
SMS, mobile games, mobile handset icons, and
ring tones. Wireless computing is now becoming

widely deployed in the business arena as managers
KDYHDSSUHFLDWHGWKHVLJQL¿FDQWDGGHGVWUDWHJLF
value of having instant access to business infor-
mation that can enhance work productivity, ef-
¿F L H Q F \ D Q G G H F L V L R Q  P D N L Q J  X O W L P D W HO\ O H D G L Q J 
WRFRP S H W LW LYHDGYD QW DJHIRU W KH ¿ U P%X VL QHVVH V
that cater to consumers’ preferences and needs and
that capitalize on expanding opportunities, which
arise with new technologies, can sustain competi-
WLYHDGYDQWDJHVLQWRGD\¶V¿HUFHO\FRPSHWLWLYH
marketplace. Deployment of mobile technology
infrastructure, along with mobile devices, enables
employee mobility and mobility of IT functions.
This is transforming businesses processes by
enhancing communication, information access,
and business transactions from any device any-
ZKHUHDQGDQ\WLPH3HUIRUPDQFHEHQH¿WVIURP
wireless technology adoption are being realized
in the business-to-employee (B2E) domain as
corporations seek to achieve their business goals
by growing their capabilities.
The rapid development of innovative mobile
technologies, along with better integration with
the existing network infrastructure, presents new
challenges for the enterprise. Thanks to existing
wireless technologies, such as 2G and 2.5/2.75G,
which introduced GPRS (general packet radio
service) and EDGE (enhanced data rates for
global evolution), new business opportunities are
emerging through new value-added services. 3G

services are beginning to receive acceptance in
such Asian countries as China, South Korea, and
Japan. The technological trend and challenge that
mobile users are facing is how to better integrate
between wireless services, as 3G technologies are
being increasingly revamped and further evolved.
For the 3G-based CDMA evolutions, handsets
will support CDMA, CDMA 1xRTT, and CDMA
1xEV-DO with three kinds of spectrum including
850/1, 900/2, and 100MHz. For the GSM evolu-
tion, handsets will support GSM, GPRS, EDGE,
DQG:&'0$RSHUDWLQJLQ¿YHEDQGV
800/1 900/2 100MHz). In the near future, 4G will
surface as a collection of services combining
existing technologies, such as 3G and WiFi, with
other types of wireless technologies including
WiMAX and future evolutions of 3G. 4G will
be featured by high usability anytime, anywhere,
and with any technology; support for multimedia
services at low transmission cost; personalization;
and integrated services. As such, 4G will be less
disruptive and more widely accepted if the promise
is delivered upon. It is expected that 4G networks
will be all-IP-based heterogeneous networks that
allow users to switch any system at any time and
anywhere. 4G systems will not only support data
telecommunication services, but also multimedia
services. And users in widely diverse locations
will use the services, as users can use multiple
services from any service provider at the same

time. Though 4G mobile technologies may offer
even greater opportunities, the gradual matura-
tion and deployment of 3G technologies makes
MO become an achievable goal as more work is
FRPSOHWHGRXWVLGHWKHRI¿FHDQGWKH¿[HGRI¿FH
boundaries extend well beyond the desktop.
There is considerable prior IS research about
m-business and wireless technologies (Feather-
man & Pavlou, 2003; Kleijnen & Ruyter, 2003;
Liang & Wei, 2004; Muthaiyah & Ehsan, 2004;
Suoranta & Mattila, 2004; Varshney & Vetter,
2002; Zellweger, 1997). However, these research
studies have mainly shed light on areas, such as
technology acceptance and penetration, as well as
technology trends and issues, leaving the domain
of consumer preferences and attitudes towards the
D G R S W L R Q RI L Q QRYD W L Y H S U R G X F W V  V S H F L ¿ F D O O \ 02 
relatively unexplored. More research is needed to
explore the factors that constitute ultimate MO
adoption and use, as well as the relative importance
of these factors for further diffusion of innovation.
In consideration of this objective, we investigate
1922
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the critical factors in the decision models of
consumers when evaluating the acceptance and
intention to use MO. Further, we provide research
guidelines for MO designers and developers, IT/IS
managers, and IS researchers.
INTRODUCTION: MOBILE OFFICE

TECHNOLOGY
Most traditional business applications are de-
YHORSHGDQGGHSOR\HGIRUXVHZLWKLQ¿[HGRI¿FH
boundaries–using hardware that is not mobile.
7KLVFRQ¿QHPHQWUHVXOWVLQDZLGHUDQJHRIOLPLWD-
WLRQVDQGGLI¿FXOWLHVLIHPSOR\HHVFDQQRWDFFHVV
needed information whenever and wherever they
want, causing postponement in responding to
customer requests, dissemination of inaccurate
information, and delivering lower-quality work
output (Intel, 2004a). Advancements in wire-
less technologies have triggered a proliferation
of mobile devices and broadened the spectrum
of solutions for new business applications and
services. In the post-2G era, where the business
mobile information environment is compara-
tively dynamic, traditional mobile voice services
cannot adequately meet customers’ business
requirements. 3G networks’ throughputs are
fairly equivalent to the early DSL networks that
UHYROXWLRQL]HGWKHKRPHRI¿FH*UXPDQ
Varshney & Vetter, 2002). Notably, according to
Gruman (2005), 3G will reduce the expectation
gap and delivery gap between wireless and wired
connections. For businesses, there is increasing
demand for mobile access to multifunctional
services that can enhance communication and
collaboration as well as management of business
information. Liang and Wei (2004), Muthaiyah
and Ehsan (2004), and Gruman (2005) indicate

that emerging 3G technologies, such as CDMA-
based EvDO (evolution, data optimized) and
GSM-based UMTS (universal mobile telecom-
munications system), and HSDPA (high-speed
downlink packet access), have the potential to
revolutionize MO users using notebook comput-
ers and handsets over the high-speed wide area
network (WAN).
Due to the dynamic nature of today’s business
environment, employees are spending less time
¿[HGWRWKHLUGHVNVDQGPRUHWLPHLQFROODERUDWLYH
work meetings, telecommuting, and working in
remote locations to accomplish their job objec-
WLYHV8QOLNHD¿[HGRI¿FHZKHUHHPSOR\HHVDUH
restricted in a limited environment, MO, including
on the road, at home, and at work (Cisco, 2002;
Gruman, 2005; IBM, 2004; Intel, 2004a, 2004b;
North-Smith, 2002), expands the reach of the
RI¿FHHQYLURQPHQWDQGSURYLGHVHPSOR\HHVZLWK
access to their information, applications/services,
and teams, in an anytime and anywhere model,
WKHUHE\HOLPLQDWLQJWKHREVWDFOHVRI¿[HGRI¿FH
boundaries. As more work is completed outside the
RI¿FHDQGDVRI¿FHERXQGDULHVH[WHQGZHOOEH\RQG
the spectrum of desktop computing, many of the
VROLGEXVLQHVVEHQH¿WVIURPZLUHOHVVWHFKQRORJ\
adoption are being realized in the B2E domain.
According to Kleijnen and Ruyter (2003), MO has
great potential to become one of the most widely
utilized m-business solutions with the global user

base potentially exceeding 100 million in 2004.
It can beef up productivity for employees, since
having real-time access to business information
is key to increasing productivity and corporate
SUR¿WDELOLW\DVDZKROH7KHFRQJUXHQFHRIWKH
¿QGLQJV RI .OHLMQHQ DQG 5X\WHU  &LVFR
(2002), IBM (2004), North-Smith (2002), Liang
and Wei (2004), Gruman (2005), and Muthaiyah
and Ehsan (2004) is that unique MO services,
thanks to the revolutionarily enhanced 3G tech-
nologies, consist of accelerating mobile com-
munication and collaboration services (e-mail,
H ID [  X Q L ¿ H G P H V V D J L Q J J UR X SZ D U H P H V V D J L Q J   
mobile business information management ser-
vices (real-time calendar events, address books,
to-do task lists, calculator, word processor), and
mobile information access services (access to
1923
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&50 DFFHVV WR FRUSRUDWH ¿OHV DQG FRUSRUDWH
databases via secure mobile portal, access to
external business information services). These
process facilitation services are increasingly be-
coming incorporated in a mobile corporate portal
that is a combination of hardware and software
with integrated network development, timely
information management, and seamless security
mechanisms to enable communications between
wireless networks and devices.
Being able to create new expectations among

business users who want to constantly maintain
work sessions without disruption and discon-
nection on the road, at home, or at work, the
emerging deployment of the 3G-powered MO
initiatives will greatly transform and improve the
way employees work and communicate with col-
leagues, customers, suppliers, and vendors. These
improvements also contribute to rapid responsive-
ness, decreased costs, improved productivity and
ZRUNHI¿FLHQF\DQGEHWWHUZRUNOLIHEDODQFHLQ
WHUPV RI PRUH ÀH[LELOLW\ DQG FKRLFHV 0DQDJ-
ers, however, must understand whether and how
MO would be accepted and ultimately adopted
by employees/users in order to help companies
achieve organizational objectives and obtain
competitive advantage. Also, potential providers
of MO will encounter a high uncertainty about
consumers’ acceptance and intention to use. A
lack of studies directly investigating the adoption
and diffusion patterns of MO is to be expected
due to the newness of the MO initiatives per se.
Employee/user behavior in the MO context also
has remained rather uncharted territory, which
leads to an important topic for further research
within the MIS discipline.
THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
The theoretical framework of this chapter is
grounded in the innovation diffusion theory
(IDT) and perceived characteristics of innovating
(PCI). Despite the fact that there is little empirical

research conducted on MO, there is a plethora
of adoption theories and models that investigate
and capture user behavior characteristics. In IS
research area, the landmark is the technology
acceptance model (TAM), proposed by Davis
D Q G ' D Y L V    W K D W LG H Q W L ¿ H G ease-of-use
(EOU) and usefulness as the two key determi-
QDQWVLQÀXHQFLQJXVHUDGRSWLRQ+RZHYHU3ORXIIH
et al. (Plouffe, Hulland, & Vandenbosch, 2001)
indicate that TAM’s parsimony makes individual
responses to new technologies differ depending
on the context. In a bid to integrate the main user
acceptance models, Venkatesh, Morris, Davis,
and Davis (2003) formulated the XQL¿HGWKHRU\
of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT),
ZKLFKH[KLELWVVLJQL¿FDQWO\HQKDQFHGSUHGLFWLYH
value for adoption intention, with an adjusted R
square of approximately 70%. Yet, one weakness
of the UTAUT model is that the empirical base
did not include e-commerce or m-commerce
technologies, which Venkatesh et al. (2003) identi-
¿HGDVQHHGLQJIXUWKHULQYHVWLJDWLRQDQGWHVWLQJ
Consistent with Plouffeet al. (2001), Kleijnen and
Ruyter (2003) argue that the narrow focus of the
adoption concepts hinders us from identifying
other potential drivers of m-commerce adop-
tion. User acceptance of m-commerce-oriented
02FDQEHLGHQWL¿HGDVDWHFKQRORJ\DGRSWLRQ
Following the recommendation of Kleijnen and
Ruyter (2003), we thus focus on the adoption

process in search of valuable insights for build-
ing a theoretical framework for critical success
factors of MO.
I n t he d o m a i n o f a d o p t i o n p r o c e s s , i n n o v a t i o n ,
and diffusion (ID) is extensively researched and is
³perhaps one of the most widely researched and
best documented social phenomena” (Mahajan
& Peterson, 1985). In ID research, IDT, proposed
by Rogers (1995), is the most acceptable and
reliable framework that has been fairly widely
validated in sociology, psychology, and commu-
nications as well as IS to explain user adoption
of technical innovations. According to Rogers
LQQRYDWLRQLV³an idea perceived as new