T. S. Ragu-Nathan

• Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Engineering, MBA, Ph.D.
• Professor Emeritus at University of Toledo

We investigate the effect of conditions that create technostress, on technology-enabled innovation, technology-enabled performance and overall performance. We further look at the role of technology self-efficacy, organizational mechanisms that inhibit technostress and technology competence as possible mitigations to the effects of technostress crea...

When barriers to entry are limited, technologies often contribute little to a firm’s long-term competitive advantage (CA). This research argues that a manufacturing firm’s proprietary technologies can overcome this limitation because they are rare, inimitable, valuable and non-substitutable. Technologies, which are dedicated by suppliers to meet a...

Significant changes in customer demands for individualised offerings are causing firms to move away from mass production strategies toward customisation. Many firms struggle in this migration because the requirements for mass customisation (MC) differ greatly from those needed for mass production. As firms strive to optimise their interactions with...

Today's supply chains are expected to respond rapidly, effectively, and efficiently to changes in the marketplace to sustain, succeed and create competitive advantage in this increasingly global marketplace by focusing on time, flexibility, and speed of response. The focus of this study is the supply chain responsiveness construct and a firm's prac...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify relationships among buyer‐supplier trust, joint operational activities, and the degree of mass customization as well as the interactions between cultural factors (i.e. long‐term strategic alignment and autonomy) and trust in the context of supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach The mod...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine alignment between supplier management practices and information systems (IS) strategies (i.e. particular IS applications portfolios), and its effects on supply chain integration and supply chain flexibility. Design/methodology/approach The paper develops a model and hypotheses suggesting that “lean”...

This paper highlights theoretical and mathematical differences between formative and reflective measurement models, in the context of academic SEM oriented research in Operations and Manufacturing Management, an area of significant current interest. It discusses problems associated with measurement model misspecification. It further illustrates, us...

Exploring the factors that may lead to the inability of professionals to adapt or cope with emerging IS in a healthy manner.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to address the nature of knowledge quality, describe its dimensions, and create valid and reliable instruments to measure it. Knowledge quality is proposed as a second‐order factor model which includes three dimensions: intrinsic knowledge quality, contextual knowledge quality, and actionable knowledge quality....

Organizational use of information and communications technologies (ICT) is increasingly resulting in negative cognitions in individuals, such as information overload and interruptions. Recent literature has encapsulated these cognitions in the concept of technostress, which is stress caused by an inability to cope with the demands of organizational...

This paper examines the concept of technostress in the professional sales area and shows it to be a possible reason for low technology-enabled behavioural performance of professionals in the sales function. Integrating literature from sales, technostress and social cognitive theory, we examine relationships between technostress creators, role stres...

Facing intensified global competition, firms strive for greater supply chain collaboration by leveraging the resources and knowledge of key suppliers and valued customers to reduce uncertainty, lower transaction costs, build core competence, capitalise on opportunities for learning and knowledge creation, and improve competitive position. This stud...

The research team conducted in-depth, on-site interviews with executives from four companies to understand how these organizations cope with automation and integration. The authors contend that management's approach to automation and integration, which was developed in the industrial stage, may not be successful as firms enter a post-industrial env...

Existing studies have empirically tested the impacts of interdependence on the use of inter-organizational systems (i.e., IOS) by many firms to deal with inter-firm coordination requirements. It is also proposed that proper governance mechanisms are necessary for firms to really benefit from their inter-firm coordination. However, the roles of gove...

The research reported in this paper studies the phenomenon of technostress, that is, stress experienced by end users of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and examines its influence on their Job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and intention to stay. Drawing from the Transaction-Based Model of stress and prior research...

IT managers in global firms often rely on user evaluations to guide their decision-making in adopting, implementing, and monitoring the effectiveness of enterprise systems across national cultures. In these decisions, managers need instruments that provide valid comparisons across cultures. Using samples representing five nations/world regions incl...

Emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) make it possible for many business end-users to get connected anytime, anywhere. While the pervasive new ICTs have the potential to offer significant end-user performance gains, they also bring some negative side effects such as technostress: a cognitive reaction that an individual experien...

Based on empirical survey data, this paper uses concepts from sociotechnical theory and role theory to explore the effects of stress created by information and computer technology (ICT)-that is, "technostress"-on role stress and on individual productivity. We first explain different ways in which ICTs can create stress in users and identify factors...

One of the most efficient ways to manage the information systems function is to introduce steering committees. It has been suggested that one of the foremost benefits of a steering committee is that it can improve the information systems planning efforts of an organization. However, there is very little empirical evidence in the literature that dea...

In recent years, information systems (IS) planning has come to represent a key IS management tool to practitioners and researchers. Concurrently, there has been increasing recognition by organizations that their IS can be viewed as a strategic resource. This research is an attempt to explore the relationship between these two aspects of IS. It anal...

Increasingly, manufacturers are making radical changes in management practices and investing heavily in advanced technologies as they attempt to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Organizations seeking to implement these changes should have an internal environment that emphasizes knowledge assimilation and sharing and creates continuous lea...

Manufacturers face the question of how to manage and organize their operations to compete successfully in a rapidly changing external environment. To examine this question, data from 224 manufacturers were collected and divided along two dimensions: (1) levels of time based manufacturing practices and (2) stable versus turbulent external environmen...

Organizations continue to work on defining and developing better strategic Internet systems. The use of the Internet should not, however, adversely affect their existing business processes but rather incorporate and support them. Therefore, developing a strategic Internet system should support their strategic profile while providing high performanc...

Effective supply chain management (SCM) has become a potentially valuable way of securing competitive advantage and improving organizational performance since competition is no longer between organizations, but among supply chains. This research conceptualizes and develops five dimensions of SCM practice (strategic supplier partnership, customer re...

MBAA International 2006 2 ABSTRACT This research investigates the nature of decision making in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies (SMEs). The role of adaptation is explored through a new proposed construct, adaptive decision making. Adaptive decision making is defined as "a conscious or unconscious tendency to place a high priority on a...

A rapidly changing environment requires firms to adopt a customer-driven approach in managing their information systems. Study results indicate that firms with high levels of organizational involvement in IS related activities have higher levels of IS management effectiveness. In turn, these higher levels lead to lower levels of end-user self-relia...

The purpose of this article is to compare quality management practices in the United States and Mexico. The survey instrument used was based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria. The results show that social aspects of quality, including quality citizenship and quality responsibility, are different in the United States an...

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria are used by many organizations throughout the world as a guide to enhancing the quality of manufactured goods and services. This study seeks to determine if these criteria are perceived to be of equal value to quality control managers in the countries of India, Mexico, and the United Stat...

It is widely argued that competition is no longer between organizations, but among supply chains. Effective supply chain management (SCM) has become a potentially valuable way of securing competitive advantage and improving organizational performance. This research conceptualizes, develops, and validates six dimensions of SCM practices (strategic s...

In this paper, we discuss our investigation of IS outsourcing management competences, their relationships and measurement. First, three theoretical perspectives were applied to explain the nature of the IS outsourcing phenomenon. Second, IS outsourcing management competence dimensions and their measures were generated, based on the literature. Thir...

Organizations continue to struggle with identifying the appropriate drivers for Internet success. They must realize that investment alone will not lead to successful deployment of the Internet, but a strategic approach based on business principles is a sounder alternative. Organizations are also unclear on the appropriate way of measuring the tangi...

As markets and technology change, time‐based competitors create integrated product development practices that reduce response‐time and enhance customisation capabilities. Such Time‐Based Product Development Practices (TBPDP) are often computer‐mediated knowledge work, enabled by end‐user computing capabilities. This paper develops a theoretical fra...

P> Although user satisfaction is widely used by researchers and practitioners to evaluate information system success, important issues related to its meaning and measurement across population subgroups have not been adequately resolved. To be most useful in decision-making, instruments like end-user computing satisfaction (EUCS), which are designed...

Mass customization is a strategy that many firms are adopting to exploit the demand for products that meet the needs of individual customers. Mass customization capability is a firm's ability to manufacture products that meet a variety of specific customer requirements quickly at a cost that is comparable to mass-produced products. The challenge fo...

This paper investigates the linkage between one aspect of supply chain strategy and TQM principles and outcomes. We empirically test the relationship among strategic quality planning, supplier-based relationships, and some TQM practices such as product design, product innovation, dependable deliveries, and value-to-customer quality and organization...

As uncertainty in markets and technology intensifies, more companies are adopting modular product and process architectures to cope with increasing demands for individually customized products. Modularity-based manufacturing is the application of unit standardization or substitution principles to create modular components and processes that can be...

Information systems (IS) have become a vital component of an organization's competitive practices. Organizations have tried to differentiate themselves based on their use and adaptation of new information technology. Top management support (TMS) is a significant factor in influencing the effectiveness of the IS function in an organization. The lite...

Time-based competitors create product development and manufacturing practices that reduce response-time and enhance customization capabilities. These practices require an information-rich, internal environment capable of flexible resource deployment and direct and continuous feedback. These firms should have enhanced information systems planning ca...

This paper describes the Q-sort, which is a method of assessing reliability and construct validity of questionnaire items at a pre-testing stage. The method uses Cohen's Kappa and Moore and Benbasat's Hit Ratio in assessing the questionnaire. Two examples are provided on how the method was applied in survey research.

As global markets and technology change, time-based competitors create product development and manufacturing practices that reduce response time and enhance customization capabilities. These practices require an information-rich internal environment that is capable of flexible resource deployment and direct and continuous feedback. To build this en...

A strategy to exploit information technology (IT) to gain a competitive advantage can be determined based on different types of organizations. This paper validates the methodology to develop organizational strategic profiles based on the Miles and Snow typology and determines distinct differences based on IT characteristics.

The strategic use of information systems (IS) has become a vital aspect of business strategy. Companies have tried to differentiate themselves based on their use and adaptation of new technology. To accomplish this, top management support has become an integral part of the IS function. The literature has conceptually supported this notion, but empi...

This paper first develops six dimensions (strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, information sharing, information quality, lean system, and postponement) that capture the content of Supply Chain Management (SCM) practices. Based on the 196 responses collected from managers, t-tests and ANOVA are used to verify whether SCM practices...

Information systems (IS) technology has become a strategic resource for most organizations to compete successfully in today’s highly uncertain marketplace. One critical component of this strategic resource is the IS human resource. Unlike many other professions, IS professionals historically displayed a much higher rate of turnover due to rapid tec...

Information systems (IS) technology has become a strategic resource for most organizations to compete successfully in today’s highly uncertain marketplace. One critical component of this strategic resource is the IS human resource. Unlike many other professions, IS professionals historically displayed a much higher rate of turnover due to rapid tec...

The information systems (IS) literature has consistently emphasized the need for a proper alignment of IS goals and strategies with organizational goals and strategies. A number of theoretical frameworks have been proposed to develop the linkages between IS and organizational strategies. However, while there has been much theorizing in the area, va...

Information systems IS technology has become a strategic resource for most organizations to compete successfully in today's highly uncertain marketplace. One critical component of this strategic resource is the IS human resource. Unlike many other professions, the IS professionals historically displayed a much higher rate of turnover due to rapid t...

Mass customization capabilities enable firms to design, produce, and deliver a high volume of differentiated products that meet specific customer needs in a timely manner and at close to mass-production prices. A critical part of mass customization is simultaneously achieving customer responsiveness, cost efficiency, and high volume production in t...

Mass customization capabilities enable firms to design, produce, and deliver a high volume of differentiated products that meet specific customer needs in a timely manner and at close to mass‐production prices. A critical part of mass customization is simultaneously achieving customer responsiveness, cost efficiency, and high volume production in t...

Total quality management provides a sound foundation upon which small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can compete and grow in the global arena. A survey based research was conducted in five countries (USA, India, China, Mexico and Taiwan) to assess the quality management practices in small and medium size companies. Our findings reveal that very high...

The manufacturing sector in general, and small manufacturers in particular, are faced with fierce national, regional and global competition. Trade alliances, such as NAFTA, which have been entered into by the USA will add to this competitive burden. Modernisation of manufacturing facilities through the infusion of computerised manufacturing and inf...

Manufacturing firms operating in a post-industrial environment have customers who demand specialized products and short lead times. To meet these needs, organizations are adopting time-based manufacturing practices to cut time and improve performance. The central tenet of this study is that time-based manufacturers employ traditional work system pr...

Presents the results of a study on quality management infrastructure practices and quality performance in manufacturing companies located in the North and Central regions of Mexico and the US Midwest region. Seven quality management infrastructure practices – top management support, strategic quality planning, quality information availability, empl...

Manufacturing firms operating in a post‐industrial environment have customers who demand specialized products and short lead times. To meet these needs, organizations are adopting time‐based manufacturing practices to cut time and improve performance. The central tenet of this study is that time‐based manufacturers employ traditional work system pr...

The recent dramatic impact of information technology (IT) on organizational performance has necessitated appropriate strategies for managing this organizational resource. IT im- pacts firms in different ways, and management needs a clear and systematic understanding of both the current and future relevance and impact of its IT before selecting mana...

This paper reports the results of a study aimed at conceptualizing and developing valid measurements for key dimensions of quality management in the international context. The quality management framework is conceptualized in terms of 13 dimensions. Subsequently, operational indicators for the 13 dimensions are developed in terms of managerial perc...

Total quality management is imperative for new industrializing countries in order to achieve international competitiveness and economic growth. An empirical research was conducted in three new industrialized countries (India, China, and Mexico) to assess the practices in the human resource development dimension of quality management. Our findings r...

Information systems (IS), in recent times, have moved away from their traditional role as back office support to a new role in which they are recognized as key organizational resources. This new role, and the introduction of new technologies, have led to new ways for organizations to restructure and manage their IS function. These changes have cons...

In this paper we compare the quality management practices and quality results between Taiwanese manufacturing and service companies, based on a survey of 131 manufacturing and 109 service companies. The results presented here are focused on eight critical factors of quality management - quality leadership, strategic quality planning, quality inform...

In this paper we compare quality management practices in three different countries: India, China and Mexico. Various constructs representing quality management practices and quality results were conceptualized. Using a questionnaire survey instrument, data was collected in India, China, and Mexico. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was use...

Posits that advocates of quality function deployment (QFD) claim that it leads to better product designs, lower product costs, and shorter development times. Presents a study which aims to learn if organizations that apply QFD to product development achieve these benefits. Data from a survey of 80 QFD projects undertaken by 40 firms are used to exa...

Abstract The past few years have witnessed an increasing global interest in ISO 9000 standards. Thousands of companies have already been certified. However, doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of ISO 9000 standards for infusing quality within organizations. In this paper, we empirically explore, in the international context, the relatio...

The past few years have witnessed an increasing global interest in ISO 9000 standards. Thousands of companies have already been certified. However, doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of ISO 9000 standards for infusing quality within organizations. In this paper, we empirically explore, in the international context, the relationship bet...

Seeks to compare the quality management practices in three different countries: USA, India and China. For this research various constructs representing quality management practices and quality results were conceptualized. A questionnaire survey instrument was developed, pre-tested and the final version of the questionnaire incorporated the results...

The benefits claimed by advocates of quality function deployment (QFD) are better product designs, lower product costs, shorter development times, and better documentation of methods and results. The purposes of this study are to learn if organizations that apply QFD achieve these benefits and to determine which technical, organizational, and perso...

The structure and dimensionality of the user information satisfaction UIS construct is an important theoretical issue that has received considerable attention. Building upon the work of Bailey and Pearson Bailey, J. E., S. W. Pearson. 1983. Development of a tool for measuring and analyzing computer user satisfaction. Management Sci.295, May 530--54...

The structure and dimensionality of the user information satisfaction (UIS) construct is an important theoretical issue that has received considerable attention. Building upon the work of Bailey and Pearson (1983), Ives et al. (1983) conduct an exploratory factor analysis and recommend a 13-item instrument (two indicators per item) for measuring us...

The research reported here is an adaptation of a model developed to measure Planning Systems Success, to the information systems (IS) context. This study is motivated by the increasing importance given to IS planning in recent years, the lack of an empirical model in the IS literature to measure a construct as important as IS planning system succes...

This research demonstrates that factors in the organizational environment can play an important part in influencing the choice of an appropriate approach for charging IS costs. The two basic approaches of chargeback and non-chargeback for charging IS costs are chosen for analysis. It is hypothesized that organizations using chargeback systems will...

The research reported here is an adaptation of a model developed to measure Planning Systems Success, to the information systems (IS) context. This study is motivated by the increasing importance given to IS planning in recent years, the lack of an empirical model in the IS literature to measure a construct as important as IS planning system succes...

Rapid advances in telecommunications technology (TT) and its usage have elevated it to a strategic role. This strategic thrust of TT has obvious implications for TT management. This paper reports on a study conducted to identify and analyze the impact of using a distinct steering committee to manage telecommunication technology. Based on statistica...

This paper examines the role of the information systems (IS) planner in relation to the organizational reporting level of the top IS executive. It is suggested that as the reporting level of the head of IS changes, the roles played by the IS planner change too. This notion is tested empirically with a random sample of 192 organizations. Results ind...

Rapid changes in telecommunication technology ( TT) and its usage have elevated it to a strategic role. This strategic thrust of TT has certain implications for TT management. This paper reports on a study conducted to identify and analyse the factors that influence ISDN technology awareness in an organization. Based on a statistical analysis of th...

This exploratory research analyzes the impact of the CEO's participation as a member of an organization's information systems (IS) steering committee. Results, based on an analysis of responses to a survey instrument sent to information systems managers suggest that the CEO's participation can improve certain aspects of IS such as its alignment wit...

A growing number of organizations are adopting the concept of an information center (IC) to alleviate the problems of backlog of requests for MIS services and to support end user computing. The characteristics of IC personnel required to operate a successful IC are significantly different from information systems(IS) personnel. A number of studies...

The relationship between information systems (IS) planning and IS planning effectiveness has been an important issue discussed in the literature. Most prior studies in this area have been conceptual; the few empirical studies which have addressed this issue have used rather simple conceptualizations of the notion of planning. This present research...

This study investigates the relationship between (i) the severity of personal computing problems such as cost, data integrity and security and integration and (ii) organizational factors such as level of control and level of support. The data for the study were collected from 173 U.S. companies which have implemented personal computing in the past...

Recent and rapid developments in IS technology, greater competitiveness of business, and related factors have brought about major shifts in the orientation of organizational Information Systems (IS). Necessary adaptations in IS management techniques have to be made to cope effectively with these changes. One area which has been the focus of much at...

This study reports the results of a survey conducted in 205 US organizations. The study attempts to relate critical success factors (CSF) of IS managers with performance of IS organizations. It has been concluded that all the performance measures identified in this study are significantly related to the CSFs of IS managers. Relations with and suppo...

The organizational rank of the senior Information Systems (is) officer has been suggested to influence the effectiveness of the organizational is effort. As is continues to gain increasing recognition as a key organizational system, a study of the various factors that contribute to its effectiveness should be particularly useful. This research expl...

The impact of information systems (IS) planning on the organization is assessed using data gathered in a matched-pair sample from 140 firms. The extent of IS planning activities is measured using a 64 item survey instrument that was responded to by an IS executive in each firm. Organizational impact was assessed using a ‘user satisfaction’ instrume...

This discussion of buying motor carrier services in a deregulated environment identifies the key factors influencing supplier choice.

Repetitive revisions of old information systems cause them to be less effective and more costly to maintain. Failure to replace a system at an appropriate time could lead to loss of a competitive advantage and could expose an organization to several risks such as dependence on a handful of technical specialists who have a thorough understanding of...

Management Information Systems (MIS) planning has been considered to be central to the effective utilization of the information resources of an organization. Considerable research has been undertaken in examining organizational innovation. Much of this research has involved product or service rather than process. MIS planning can be viewed as an ad...

Faced with intense competition especially from foreign sources, US industry has been vigorously pursuing various cost reduction measures. A Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory system is one of the most widely attempted techniques to reduce inventory carrying costs. Aided by recent relaxation of governmental regulations in transportation, shippers are util...

The growing importance of personal computers in business and the difficulties that business schools have had in effectively employing PCs in business education motivated an experimental study of the use of PCs in an educational context. The study confirms the merits of the strategy of off-loading basic computer instruction from mainframes to PCs. T...

"Draft for discussion: do not quote."

Facing uncertain environments, firms have strived to achieve greater supply chain collaboration to leverage the resources and knowledge of suppliers and customers. The objective of the study is to uncover the nature of supply chain collaboration and explore its impact on collaborative advantage and firm performance. Reliable and valid instruments w...

Many researchers consider information technology (IT) a great enabler for the practices of supply chain management (SCM). Meanwhile, the practices of SCM depend on good partner relationship, which is built on trust, commitment and shared vision between supply chain partners. This research develops and validates a set of measurements of IT enablers...