"What The Paper Says" Critique

"What The Paper Says" Critique

• Saturday, July 25, 2020

Paper Title: An empirical investigation of end-users’ switching toward cloud computing: A two factor theory perspective      

Authors: Sang Cheol Park, Sung Yul Roo

              

Your Summary of the Content of Paper:

This paper compares traditional IT methods to modern cloud computing. It also discusses what promotes switching to cloud computing and what prevents it among users.  This paper engages a study that involves analyzing data gathered from two different groups of university students in Korea in the context of them using Google Apps.  This paper is based on a study that finds that the students were more willing to switch because of the ease of using cloud services and the fact that it can be used anytime and anywhere. However the other group were reluctant because of the costs and probably because the use of the cloud requires internet connection.  The Paper also shows that in the end users choose to switch or not based on their level of personal innovativeness.

A: Quality of the Research

Item	Your Comments (expand the answers beyond the yes/no with examples, comments and references as needed)
1. Is the research question or objective clearly stated?	Yes it is, there are two main objectives for this research;first it looks at the antecedents of what enables users to switch to cloud computing and the second objective looks into the impact of these motivating factors and the barriers from the end users perspective.   This study was carried out with the main aim of discovering a model that addresses what inhibits end users from switching to modern IT services as a lot of literature and models like the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Technology Acceptance Model have addressed what motivates users to adopt and switch behaviour towards IT services.
2. Is the research question interesting and important?	Yes the research question is important because knowing what deters users from switching to modern IT services is very key as cloud computing and IT is the future, it's important to convert as many end users as possible.
3. Is the work original?	The work is original. It engages a survey that was conducted by the researchers on a group of university students in Kenya
4. Is the background research clear and relevant?	The background research of this paper is based on observations and insights from the IT usage and consumer switching literature.  A background research was carried out on cloud computing which refers to services delivered over the internet and the hardware and software in the data center that provide those services. (Rayport and Heyward, 2009). Since this paper is about exploring what motivates and inhibits end users from using cloud services, the researchers eliminated the use of Iaas (Infrastructure as service) and PaaS (Platform as Service) from conducting this research because they are enterprise level services and were not ideal for this study. However they settled for cloud services generally referred to as SaaS (Software as Service). Cloud services which are more efficient and facilitates seamless access to digital services regardless of time and location is an easier way to deploy information technology as opposed to traditional IT which traps users information in a restricted set of devices which affects user productivity.  Despite the advantages of Cloud computing or SaaS, there are still people that are reluctant to convert from traditional methods which is why this research has come about. To understand why individuals will go for cloud services and why they won’t.  They went further to explore what user experience is like after making the switch to cloud computing. (Ye, Seo, Desouza and Jha, 2008). They explored continuance behaviour and if what an individual has been exposed to prior to using cloud computing influences their choice to continue using it  A table is used to bring the purpose of the study into perspective. This table shows that end users appear ro switch to cloud computing because of enabling factors )e.g expectation of new substitute products and services) and it can they can also decline because of inhibiting factors such as (prior usage on incumbent product and services) This is a very detailed background research as it’s all encompassing and shows that the need for the study is widely needed and relevant. It brings up the need to understand end user behaviour using models such as the two factor theory which will explain motivation to switch and other models to explain why they don’t.
5. Are there any ethical problems?

B: The Research Method

Item	Your Comments
Summarise the research method	The two factor theory provides the theoretical structure for this research. The Two factor theory adapted from Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation was used in this Information System research.
Does the research method seem appropriate for the research question?	One might ask what a motivation theory has to do with the Information system but from the topic it is clear that the writers of this paper are trying to figure out what motivates end users to adopt information technology therefore a motivation theory is an appropriate background for this research.  The two factor theory has been used to characterize user’s intentions both enablers and inhibitors, positive and negative reactions, trust and distrust. (Diener , Smith and Fujita , 1995) In the context of Information system, enablers refer to  This explains  why the two factor theory has been used as the background research for this paper and it seems appropriate for the research question.
Are the methods adequately described?	The writers attempt to carefully explain the factors that have been used to categorise switching enablers which include the fact that it can be used anywhere by anyone at any time  and inhibitors which include satisfaction with and breadth of use of incumbent IT. However, there are more factors that can enable or inhibit the use of IT which includes access to internet, financial capability, location of the end user and level of computer literacy
Were the analyses done correctly?	The analysis was done correctly. It passed through three stages. The first was the descriptive analysis of the data set as seen in Table 3. The second stage focused on testing the psychometric properties for the measurements scales while the third stage focused on testing the hypothesis and analysing the model. This was all done using the PLS 2.0 software. All the conditions for were satisfied by the data provided based on the work of (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).
Are the conclusions supported by the data?	Yes the conclusion that …… is supported and deduced from data gotten from a survey carried out on undergraduate students in Korea. The participants were asked to experiment on google apps for tasks related to their academic work. The initial sample size was 223 respondents which was later narrowed down to a total of 188 survey respondents who met the threshold of people who have already been exposed to google apps (a.k.a personal innovativeness) . The data analysis was done in three stages. The first stage involved, a descriptive analysis of the data, followed by testing the psychometric properties and the cycle ended with testing the hypothesis. The data was analysed with PLS 2.0 software as indicated in the paper. This analysis led to the conclusion that the key switching enablers are omnipresence and collaboration support while switching inhibitors are the satisfaction with incumbent IT and breadth use of incumbent IT. And the role of personal innovativeness which is the main anchor of the sample size showed that this is the major motivating factor to switch to cloud services. Which is a sensible conclusion because personally and from experience, I agree that it is my level of innovativeness that pushes me to try out new applications, software and technology in general. It simply translates to the everyday life of any technology user.

C: Quality of Presentation

Item	Your Comments
Is the work well presented?	Overall the work is well presented, the abstract excellently captures the content of the paper and its very straightforward and easy to understand.
Is the paper well structured?	The paper is well structured. A concise introduction is followed by a review of existing literature and a critical analysis as to why this topic needs to be discussed. This follows the theory and model which this entire study is based upon. This is followed by the actual research model and methods and the data gathered from the research is analyzed. I specifically like that tables were used to explain data. This gives a clearer picture. The paper concludes very well the implication of the research on actual practice which is very important for cloud computing service providers as it explains the factors that they can use to promote the use of cloud services among individuals and the strategies to avoid.
Are symbols, terms, and concepts adequately defined?	I think it’s brilliant that an appendix is provided at the end of the paper to define all the symbols, terms and concepts that were used within the paper.
Would additional tables, figures help to clarify the work?	The tables are adequate Table 1 breaks down the types of cloud computing services and defines some terms that are used in the introduction of this paper. Table 2 breaks down previous switching theories which clarifies and explains why the two factor theory has been chosen as the main focus of this research. Table 3 introduces the reader to the data analysis. It shows the demographics of the respondents with the following headings: Gender, Frequency, Ratio, Types of services, Frequency. Table 4 shows the confirmatory factor analysis results Table 5 shows the inter construct correlations and Table six shows the summary of the hypothesis testing results. There are also two Figures within the paper as follows: Figure 1shows the proposed research model. Figure 2 shows the testing results of the structural model. All of these adequately explains the data analysis process and clarify the work properly.