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)

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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
characteristics of Big Data list them as: Volume, Velocity,
Variety, Veracity and Value. Such voluminous data first

Advancements in computing technologies make new

platforms and large volumes of data available to
businesses and governments to discover hidden
underlying patterns in the data and creating new
knowledge. While businesses need to embrace these
technologies in order to stay ahead of competition,
governments can reap great benefits in cost effectively
delivering social services and bring about improvement
in social development indices. However, before any
new technology can become a powerful resource (for
business or for government), there exists a fundamental
need for extensive planning, such that one can chalk
out a future trajectory, prepare for the changes to come,
and invest prudently. Exploitation of Big Data platforms
and technologies requires both corporate strategies and
government policies to be in place much before the
results would start pouring in. In this paper, we
investigate the potential of available Big Data platforms
and technologies, their current use by various
governments, and their potential for use by the central
and state Governments in India.

accumulated from the astronomical and weather data

(for example, collected from various satellites). Today,
such data additionally comes from a wide variety of
sources, such as, sensor data, web logs, data streams
on the Internet, social media, customer transactions, etc.
Big Data is perceived as comprising structured,
unstructured and semi-structured data. Amongst them
the unstructured data lead, with an estimated share of
over 95% in Big Data. Structured data are those that are
systematically stored for retrieval, manipulation and
analysis, for example, as in relational databases. Semistructured data do not reside in relational databases but
have some organisational properties making them easier
to analyse. With a few alterations semi-structured data
can often be reorganised in relational databases. XML
is an example of semi-structured data. Unstructured
data, on the other hand, do not follow any specified
format and are largely void of meta-data, such as data
from social media, emails, videos, photos and audio
files data.

Keywords: big data, business strategy, government

policy, social welfare.

1.1 Understanding Big Data

1. Introduction

To better understand and appreciate "Big Data", we

should go back to what Diebold (2012) talks about Big
Data being three things: the term ("firmly entrenched"),

The world is changing: earlier understanding of the

historical chain of events was viewed as knowledge but
now its meaning has turned into being a capability to
predict and influence the future, including the ability
to diminish negative future outcomes and enhance
positive ones. In one of its emerging forms, this science
is known as Big Data.

the phenomenon ("continuing unabated") and an

"emerging" discipline. Thus, Big Data is many things
to different people and it is imperative to understand
it deeper before it can be put to use. Towards this end,
we look at how Big Data is changing the paradigms of
social science research (and thus the lenses through

There is no rigorous definition of Big Data. As pointed

out by, Mayer-Schnberger & Cukier (2013, pp 7): "the
real revolution is not in the machines that calculate data
but in data itself and how we use it". According to
Gartner: "Big Data is high volume, high velocity and
high variety information assets that demand costeffective, innovative forms of information processing
IMJ

which we perceive the world) and follow this with how

Big Data tools and techniques are being used to make
smart policy and business decisions. This is followed
by a deeper look at Big Data in the Indian perspective
and the road ahead.

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Big Data and Social Science Research Paradigms: The

Debate: One of the big controversies about Big Data and
its use for science was started by Chris Anderson, Editor
in Chief of Wired magazine when he claimed "the end
of scientific theory building and hypothesis testing"
was near - "faced with massive data, this approach to
science-hypothesize, model, test-is becoming obsolete"
(Anderson, 2008). His contention was that Google had
"conquered the advertising world" without knowing
anything about the "culture and conventions" of
advertising, merely on the assumption that better data,
analyzed better would win. A similar theme has been
evoked by Mayer-Schnberger & Cukier's (2013) claim
that data analysis has now shifted from using a sample
size of N (where N is a subset of the population (N <<
all)) to the entire population (N = all). As it is infeasible
to collect data from the entire population, it is the
accepted research practice to survey a statistically
significant sample and extrapolate the findings to inform
decisions applicable to the entire population (Agresti
& Finlay, 2009; Hutcheson & Sofroniou, 1999; Salsburg,
2001; Velleman, 1997). However, Mayer-Schnberger &
Cukier (2013) contend that with fixed sample sizes, one
could not be sure that all population characteristics
were accounted for, and extremely small groups might
not even find a place in the sample. As N all, this
is no longer the case and there is greater freedom in
asking relevant questions. These claims have sparked
off a vociferous debate on the role of theory in social
science research, Big Data's contribution(s) to social
science research, and even more on what big data detracts
from social science research. One of the most infiuential
participants in this debate have been boyd and Crawford.
They rebutted Anderson's claim(s) by providing a bold
new definition of big data and provoking a conversation
around it.

Analysis: drawing on large data sets to identify patterns

in order to make economic, social, technical, and legal
claims;
Mythology: the widespread belief that large datasets
offer a higher form of intelligence and knowledge that
can generate insights that were previously impossible,
with the aura of truth, objectivity, and accuracy.
The idea that "Big Data" rests on "mythology" needs
deeper digging into. Similar to the ideas put forth by
Gitelman (2013) and Bollier and Firestone (2010), boyd
and Crawford posit that "all researchers are interpreters
of data". Data is not a "given" Gitelman (2013, ch 1),
but is rather subject to a "cleaning" and "interpretive"
process. Thus, their contention - just because we have
more data, it is a myth to presume that our insights will
be truthful, accurate or more objective. They argue that
in the case of "Big Data", the four forces that regulate
social systems - market, law, social norms and
architecture (code in case of technology) are frequently
at odds and it is necessary to provoke conversations
around what it all means. To accomplish that, they list
out six provocations that we use to review the current
state of the "correlation-causation" debate.
Provocation 1: Big Data Changes the Meaning of
Knowledge: boyd and Crawford posit that Big data
profoundly changes our thinking at the epistemological
levels by reframing key questions about knowledge and
research processes. Numbers don't speak of themselves
and others methods of studying phenomena can get
blown away by the sheer force of numbers. This talks
to the qualitative/quantitative divide also talked about
by Manovich (2012) who talks about "deep data"-about
a few people and "surface data" about lots of people.
There are different and distinct questions that can be
asked and answered using the two types of data, and
researchers should be cognizant not to prefer one to the
detriment of the other. They also point out that the tools
often used to study Big Data phenomenon, for example
Twitter and Facebook come with their own limitations
and restrictions. They treat the study of society using
the Big Data tools as analogous to "accounting tools"
that "shape the reality they measure". The idea that tools
limit what can be collected resonates with Vis (2013)
who points out that the Application Programming

1.2 boyd and Crawford's Definition

boyd and Crawford (2012) defined "Big Data" as a
cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon that
rests on the interplay of:
Technology: maximizing computation power and
algorithmic accuracy to gather, analyze, link, and
compare large data sets;
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Interfaces (APIs) that are used by researchers to collect

data limit what can be collected. Tufekci (2013) points
out how the practice of using "hashtags" to filter tweets
biases the data towards a particular demographic-those
who use a particular hash tag are more "wedded" to
the issue, and are thus different from the rest. Manovich
(2012) cautions us against taking what is spoken on
social media as authentic by telling about his personal
experiences growing up in the erstwhile Soviet Union
and how what was spoken out was very different from
what was actually meant.

mentioned that for the economic studies Google

undertakes, a random sample was good enough (Bollier
and Firestone, 2010).
Provocation 4: Taken Out of Context, Big Data Loses
its Meaning: Contextual integrity of the data is extremely
important to gain value from the data. boyd and
Crawford contend that people's real-world 'personal'
networks are different from their 'articulated' and
'behavioral' networks traced out through data. Taylor
& Schroeder (2014) provide an example of wrong
inferences due to lack of context. Practical Big Data
analysis requires the data to pass through multiple
stages through the pipeline (Jagadish et al., 2014) and
at each stage the data gets "repurposed, reprocessed,
retrofitted, and reinterpreted" thus losing context on the
way (Schintler & Kulkarni, 2014).

Provocation 2: Claims to Accuracy and Objectivity are

Misleading: boyd and Crawford claim "all researchers
are interpreters of data". Data is not a "given", existing
in and of itself. Data is actively collected and sourced.
As Desouza & Jacob (2014) point out that it is difficult
to "recognize data in its unstructured form and then to
understand how to 'connect it' to more conventional
forms of data". Bollier & Firestone (2010, pg. 13) ask
if the data represents an "objective truth" or are
interpretations biased due to the way the data is
"cleaned"? Visualizations also have judgments
embedded within them (Bollier & Firestone, 2010, pp
11-12). Khoury & Ioannidis (2014) point out that "Big
error" is another challenge with "Big Data". They say,
"big data's strength is in finding associations, not in
showing whether these associations have meaning.
Finding a signal is only the first step". Thus, it is
important to understand the biases and the limitations
of the data.

Provocation 5: Just Because it is Accessible Does not

make it Ethical: Big Data is changing the perception
of ethics. Earlier, individual decisions had specific and
knowable outcomes. With the advent of Big Data, many
can take actions without realizing how their actions
impact others (Zwitter, 2014). Crawford & Finn (2014)
talk about the use of social media (Twitter) sourced data
in the context of crisis, where people share location data
and other personal information because they want help.
One of the bigger challenges is anonymity and reidentification. boyd and Crawford (2012) say that
researchers should focus on "accountability", which is
a much broader concept than "privacy". Privacy and
anonymity continue to be the biggest challenges
regarding the use of Big Data in social science and
public policy.

Provocation 3: Bigger Data are not Always Better Data:

Using the example of Twitter, boyd and Crawford point
out that we cannot assume that Twitter users provide
an appropriate sample as not everyone is on Twitter
and "bots" also inhabit it. Also, results are not transferable
between social networks due to the network's unique
demographies (Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014). Sometimes,
"smaller" data might be more relevant. This is similar
to Manovich (2012)'s concept of "shallow" and "deep"
knowledge. Lagoze (2014) has called out MayerSchoenberger and K. Cukier (2013) on their concept of
N = all. It is an unachievable mathematical ideal as not
everything can ever be measured. Sometimes, sampling
the data is better as pointed out by Hal Varian who
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Provocation 6: Limited Access to Big Data Creates New

Digital Divides: The "digital divide" regarding Big Data
can be thought to exist along three axes- (a) who creates
the data, (b) who accesses the data, and (c) who has the
resources to analyse said data. Hilbert (2013) talks about
these axes as necessary, but not sufficient conditions
to harness "Big Data" and the need to have institutional
mechanisms (or appropriate policies) in place. Manovich
(2012) also talks about the challenges of accessing data,
as much of the "social media" data is only accessible
to few, trained people within the companies. A similar
point was made by Taylor, Schroeder, & Meyer (2014)

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in the context of income and other "sensitive" data that

is only accessible to a few researchers. The challenge
of who creates the data is important in a policy context
to maintain equity and ensure that policy makers do
not divert a disproportionate share of resources to those
segments on whom data is available, at the expense of
the data-poor.

velocity. However, predictive policing in the Los Angeles

Police Department is an example of using "true" big
data. The data in this case is a fusion of historical and
real-time data (that includes real-time city and traffic
camera feeds). This data is used to identify areas where
crime may occur and concentrate resources in such
areas. They point out that possibly one of the biggest
insights of this project was the realization that video
streams are just another form of data that can be
connected to other data via geocoding. The public sector
in US is deploying big data technologies in Postal
services, health care and human services, and internal
revenue services, to name a few.

Once we consider these research and perspective aspects,

other questions that are needed to be asked are: What
is the data? Where is the data? Who owns it? Who has access
to it? Is it technically, legally, ethically, politically feasible
to run analytics on it? What does it cost to analyse this data?
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
providing feedback loops that allow citizens to engage

Thus, it is imperative to consider that all data is collected,

stored and analysed in an environment circumscribed
by policy. It is policy which sets the boundaries of what
is acceptable or unacceptable in particular contexts.
Various regulations like HIPPA, Children Privacy Act,
FERPA etc. determine the limitations of data collection
and analysis. Thus, we have an interesting paradox
between data and public policy: Public Policy
simultaneously bounds and is bounded by the data
collection and analysis framework(s).

2.

with government and thus reveal preferences that are

not revealed through the traditional polling process.
Desouza & Jacob (2014) identify two different
mechanisms that have been proposed to assess the
peoples' will: prediction markets and sentiment analysis.
However, these methods require new types of data,
richer data and existing data cannot be shoe-horned to
fit these paradigms, and thus need greater investment.
Prediction markets, designed to take advantage of the

Big Data in the Public Sector

"wisdom of the crowds" work akin to a futures market,

where the commodity being traded on is an event.
Though such markets are part of well developed stocks

The public sector is a ripe area for applying the tools

and techniques of Big Data to increase the efficiencies
in the sector. This can happen in two ways: by using
Big Data to improve programmatic outcomes, and to
improve decision making.

and commodities markets, they are still akin to wagers.

While wagering on stocks and commodities is accepted,
wagering on politically sensitive issues is not and leads
to ethical concerns.

Improving Programmatic Outcomes: Desouza & Jacob

(2014) contend that most public sector data is of low
complexity and hence organizations can improve their
"programmatic outcomes". They provide an example of
New York city where the mayor's office is linking
together otherwise unconnected databases and mining
them to identify areas of focus. As an example, the office
is using predictive analytics to identify potential zoning
violations and target inspections towards such potential
violations. The key insight here is the idea of linking
together disparate databases to get a more complex
database, which may not possess large volume or
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Sentiment analysis draws on messages posted on social

media like Twitter and Facebook as a means to
understand the populace. The use of social media has
been criticized by scholars as not being representative
of the society (see Tufekci, 2013; boyd and Crawford,
2012; Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014). Another aspect is that
social media can be manipulated as noted by Desouza
& Jacob (2014). It should also be noted that sentiment
analysis depends heavily on natural language
processing, which is not as well developed for languages
other than English. Thus the use of this technique in

Madhukar Dayal, Sachin Garg and Rubaina Shrivastava

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other countries and regions may not be as successful.

with many challenges, chiefly related to privacy,

discrimination and liability (Schintler & Kulkarni, 2014).
Of these, however, privacy has the largest mindshare,
owing in part to the Snowden affair. The primary fallout
of Snowden's disclosures on the NSA's bulk collection
of telecommunication metadata was that privacy
concerns with big data came to the forefront in the eyes
of the public. This also prompted a review of US Signals
Intelligence and a mandate to look closely at the
"challenges inherent in big data":"Look at how the
challenges inherent in big data are being confronted by
both the public and private sectors; whether we can
forge international norms on how to manage this data;
and how we can continue to promote the free flow of
information in ways that are consistent with both privacy
and security." - The White House, Review of US Signals
Intelligence, Jan 17, 2014.

However, despite these shortcomings, we should still

attempt to use these mechanisms as "another" input into
the decision-making process. Some examples of how
big data is being used as input into the decision making
process follow.
Boston Street Bump is a project of Boston's Mayor's
Office of New Urban Mechanics. It crowd sources road
condition data using the accelerometer and GPS sensors
of smartphones. This data is aggregated across users
and used to fix short-term problems like potholes. The
application found mention in Podesta et al., (2014). It
was also reported that initially the app sent repair crews
to wealthier neighbour hoods where people were more
likely to carry smartphones, and this bias was fixed by
first deploying it to city-road inspectors, who service
all parts of the city equally; the public now provides
additional supporting data (Podesta et al., 2014).

2.2 Privacy, Anonymity and Big Data

The researcher community's concerns over privacy issues
are echoed by Lane & Stodden (2013): "privacy issues
could stop bona-fide data collection and statistical
research in its tracks". This does not imply that the
researcher community is not concerned about privacy,
but rather wants a "sensible structure for data access
that ensures the goal of good science is attained while
protecting confidentiality and respecting individual
agency" (Lane & Stodden, 2013).

Flowminder used cell phones to track people's

movement during the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak
(Taylor & Schroeder, 2014) and identify areas outside
the capital (Port-au-Prince) at risk of cholera. This
technique used near real-time (upto 12 hour) location
data of cell phones (based on the phone-tower
communication) from phone companies and
extrapolated the results (considering that multiple
people share a phone). These results were validated by
comparing with on the ground data from local and UN
agencies.

The major challenges impacting the usage of Big Data

for Public Policy and Social sciences are:

Billion Prices Project at MIT has created an "inflation

index" by tracking online prices (Taylor & Schroeder,
2014). The initial idea behind this was to use actual on
the ground prices in Argentina and compare them with
officially released figures that could be potentially
affected by political demands. Decuyper et al., (2014)
have attempted to use indicators derived from mobile
phone data (call detail records and airtime purchases)
as food security indices in an African country.

Lack of data collection and management infrastructure.

This challenge is even more pronounced in the
developing world. The developing world does not have
enough ears on the ground to collect high quality data.
Most of the data that Big Data and development experts
talk about is essentially digital exhaust of a very specific
type-mobile phone call data records (UN Global Pulse,
2012). Though analysing these records has shown utility,
there are inherent challenges in accessing these records.
These records are all part of private businesses owned
data systems and sharing them is fraught with
competition and other issues. Though the records are
collected in near real time, they are actually released
after a significant amount of time (cf. D4D challenge

2.1 Big Data and Public Policy: Key Challenges

From the foregoing, we note that big data can be used
to analyze, formulate and monitor public policy in
myriad ways. However, its use continues to be fraught
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(Taylor & Schroeder, 2014)). Even when released, they

are only accessible to a small number of researchers.
Hence, even plucking the low hanging fruit in this case
is non-trivial (Prydz, 2014).

all citizens (Nissenbaum, 2010; Podesta et al., 2014).

Whereas the government is not able to link together its
own administrative databases together because of the
"big brother is watching attitude", multiple data brokers
acquire data from federal, state and county governments,
and link them together to form extremely rich datasets
(Washington, 2014). Ansolabehere & Hersh (2012)
provide an illustration when they detail how the private
firms they engaged "Catalist" and "Polimetrix" shared
data amongst themselves to link various voting records,
and shared de-identified records with the researchers.

Lack of Institutional mechanisms to curate the data and

mediate access to it. Again, while in the US, researchers
have access to resources curated and mediated by the
ICPSR, such institutional arrangements are largely
lacking in the developing world. Even, in the USA,
presence of legislation overly focused on privacy aspects
has prevented the linking together of administrative
record data both across agencies and across states (Lane
& Stodden, 2013; Lane & Schur, 2009; Lane & Schur,
2010).

Lack of Data Integrity or provenance which is a

"cornerstone of credible science" (Lagoze, 2014) is a
major challenge to the reproducibility and applicability
of results. A lot of big data lacks provenance as (i) it
has not been designed for research (social media data)
(Lazer et al., 2014), (ii) it has been stripped of key
identifiers (Podesta et al., 2014), or (iii) it has been
"repurposed, reprocessed, retrofitted, and reinterpreted"
(Schintler & Kulkarni, 2014) multiple times.

Absence of infrastructure to support privacy preserving

data mining, wherein the researchers do not need access
to the raw data per se. Data enclaves (Abowd & Lane,
2004) are a possible solution, but have concerns regarding
accessibility to a select few. Thus, some virtual solutions
are needed.

Till now we have looked at the various aspects of Big

Data from the data and domain perspective. Now, we
turn our gaze to the tools and techniques used to analyse
this data and gain value.

Crisis of Reproducibility is illustrated by Google Flu

Trends (Lazer et al., 2014). Both science and social
science are passing through a crisis of reproducibility,
partly because of entrenched notions on sharing and the
incentive mechanisms, and partly because it is difficult
or impossible to share. Studies like the Facebook
contagion study (Kramer, Guillory, & Hancock, 2014)
cannot be replicated (and thus criticized) outside the
platform for which they were designed and same is the
case with multiple other studies, many of which depend
on data sourced from commercial entities mediated
through Application Programming Interfaces (Vis, 2013;
Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014).

3.

The open source project Hadoop (by Apache Software

Foundation) is a primary Big Data analytics platform
which is built to operate on large distributed (high
performance) compute clusters. MapReduce, the most
popular function, is essentially a two stage fault tolerant
analytical routine which distributes the data and task
at hand, first, to various compute nodes, and integrates
the results obtained later. This is done using the Hadoop
Distributed File System (HDFS) (adopted from Google
(distributed) File System or GFS). IBM's InfoSphere
BigInsights and InfoSphere Streams are commercial
platforms for analysis of big data at rest and in streams
respectively. A survey on Big Data describing
technologies, platforms, applications, and challenges
with suggestions on designing Big Data systems is
presented by Chen & Zhang (2014). For more details
on the platform, we refer the interested readers to
Understanding Big Data: Analytics for Enterprise Class

Privacy and anonymity as Daries et al., (2014) say, the

two are intimately linked and sides of the same coin.
We need to clearly understand what needs to be protected
and build strong policy foundations for the same. The
consent framework that does not take care of end-use
only instills a false sense of privacy, as it does not really
protect end-use (Barocas & Nissenbaum, 2014; Mundie,
2014; Podesta et al., 2014).
Data Brokers or "omnibus information providers" are
largely unregulated and hold detailed profiles on almost
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Big Data Technologies and Challenges

Madhukar Dayal, Sachin Garg and Rubaina Shrivastava

Volume 6 Issue 2

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Hadoop and Streaming Data by Zikopoulos, Eaton, Deroos,

Deutsch & Lapis (2015). Further developments for new
analytical routines to add to the Hadoop family are also
underway by several organisations including the open
source community.

value and sensitivity of the information/data.

5. To conduct periodic internal and external security
audits.
6. Real-time security monitoring to detect and respond
to any alarming event.

3.1 Challenges

7. Use of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)

method, in order to keep a balance between need to
perform operations on encrypted data packets and
also keeping it secure while in transmission.

Kambatla, Kollias, Kumar, & Grama (2014) point out

that due to the scattered nature of Big Data it is difficult
to store, process and analyse it at one place. Hence, it
needs to be segregated and processed over different
servers. But with such distributed databases there arises
the complexity of privacy, fault-tolerance, security and
access controls. Chen & Zhang (2014) highlight that the
lack of awareness pertaining to Big Data poses serious
threats to the nation's cyber security and is also a barrier
to country's socio-economic development.

8. Cyber threat intelligence mechanisms.

9. Hosting critical information only in hardened host
servers.
Mayer-Schnberger & Cukier (2013, pp 27) cite an
example of 'Xoom', which is a firm holding a big name
in the context of Big Data. Xoom analyses its transactions
in totality and triggers an alarm if any suspicious
behaviour is detected. Usually to detect malicious
behaviour it works on pattern based detection
techniques, which implies that whenever any suspicious
behaviour is detected which appears to be against the
'normal' behaviour pattern of the firm, the software will
raise an alert/alarm. Xoom provides 128 bit encryption
protection for securing transactions on its website
whether the user is logged in or not. Xoom is a Verisign
certified site and a certified licensee of TRUSTe
(www.xoom.com).

Big Data poses a serious challenge in regard to data

complexity, large scale data integration, sheer volume
and lack of availability of supporting high performance
computing cluster (HPCC) hardware and software
platforms to tackle the aforesaid challenges. For more
detailed discussion on involved issues, we refer the
interested readers to Big Data: Opportunities and
Challenges by Morton, Runciman & Keith (2014).

3.2 A Techno-Legal Perspective

Big Data: Legal Panorama: There exist variety of

sensitive information, such as, confidential
organisational information, intellectual property (e.g.,
trade secrets), healthcare information (e.g., patient
records or insurance information), personal financial
information (e.g., employee salary details, social security
details) which need to be protected from unauthorized
disclosure, access, alteration or damage. Several nations
have enacted laws to protect personally identifiable
information, for example, European Union Data
Protection Directive, Enhancing Privacy Protection Act,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA), and for protecting personal financial
information the Gram-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). In India,
there is a pressing need to frame and enact suitable data
protection legislation and incorporate compliance
mechanisms. As of now, personal data protection is

Big Data: Information Security Panorama: Secure

cyberspace has become an indisputable need. In the
context of Big Data, all organisations involved in its life
cycle must have robust information security frameworks,
incorporating at least:
1. Limiting access through segregation and separation
of duties with defined access rights restrictions and
strict authentication and authorization parameters.
2. Use of data anonymization and a control on deanonymization techniques while storing personal
identifiable information (PID) or other sensitive information.
3. Establishing a trust boundary between data owners
and data storage owners.
4. Implementation of sound access control policies and
customized firewall configurations in parlance to the
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Volume 6 Issue 2

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covered by provisions in the Information Technology

(Amendment) Act, 2008 under Sections 43, 66, & 72
and/or under the provisions of Indian Penal Code,
1860.

responding to the users queries/searches on the basis

of matching keywords and thereby increasing Google
books sales. The Honourable court favoured Google by
stating that Google's usage does not fall into the category
of 'massive copyright infringement' (as claimed by the
plaintiff) or adversely impacts the rights of copyright
holder, as it had followed the required due diligence
and also is eligible to fall under the 'fair use' category.
Google through its security measures didn't allow the
users to have a complete view of the books but only
snippet views, thus, giving respectful consideration to
the author's rights and creativity. Not only that, the
court held that Google had incorporated better research
tool (in form of data mining), ease of access, efficient
mechanism for identifying and locating books and quick
search results for end users. On the whole, we may say
that an organisation can mitigate the risk of litigation
arising out of using Big Data with well-defined business
purpose (inclusive of transparency to users regarding
usage of data collected, protections from any competing
commercial interests that may arise, and above all
serving the public good).

Big Data legal requirements and its sector wise

applicability: The multiple layers of regulations can be
implemented jointly or independently depending upon
the case facts. In the context of Big Data, the applicability
of the relevant law is ascertained on the basis of various
factors, such as, the type of data (personal health,
financial or corporate information). The applicable laws
to select from are:
(1) Health Information Technology for Economic and
Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) - applicable to
health care providers, health care clearing houses
storing, processing, and exchanging electronically
protected health information (e-PHI). HITECH Act
widens the scope of privacy and security available
under HIPAA. It further increases the potential
liability in case of non-compliance and bestows better
enforcement.
(2) Children's Online Privacy Protection Act - applicable
to organizations collecting personal information of

Big Data in Healthcare Industry: Mckinsey Global

Institute estimated that healthcare analytics will generate
more than $300 billion in business value per year. Big
Data can make significant changes and developments
in reshaping public health. Google published a paper
in the scientific journal 'Nature' estimating the likelihood
of rapid spread of the H1N1 virus, just few weeks before
the virus actually hit (Mayer-Schnberger & Cukier,
2013). As pointed out by Bill Hamilton (2012), "If a
group of patients is discussing quality of care about a
provider, there will likely never be 100% consensus.
Patient experiences will be different, and there will be
biases based on accidents, misunderstandings and other
factors. The challenge will be to create useful information
out of this collection of data to provide information such
as provider ratings and improvement guidance"
(Hamilton, 2012).

children (the age limit varies from country to country).

(3) CAN-SPAM Act 2003 - protects customers from
targeted marketing campaigns of companies which
results into unsolicited bulk emails.
Google's 'Usage of Big Data: A Strategic Business
Purpose' example (in book Big Data: A Business and Legal
Guide by Kalyvas & Overly): The analyses of Big Data
is often for a purpose different than the one for which
it was collected. Although, the commercial use of Big
Data is apparent but organisations need to be transparent
regarding its business purpose while using Big Data
and ensuring that it does not exceed the defined
purpose(s). Google narrowly escaped in a litigation,
Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc., 770 F.Supp.2d 666
(S.D.N.Y. 2011) in which Google had successfully
avoided legal liabilities by clearly defining well in
advance a business purpose for use of Big Data. In this
case, Google was sued for violating copyright by creating
a copy of authors books in the form of e-books (using
optical character recognition technology) and then
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For more examples and a detailed discussion on legal

aspects we refer the reader to Big Data: A Business and
Legal Guide by Kalyvas & Overly (2014). Criticism of
real life Big Data application has also surfaced (Lazer
et al., 2014). However, we observe that Big Data

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Volume 6 Issue 2

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air fare predictions website for best buy price helps

consumers based on the Big Data analyses on earlier
air fare data and thus giving substantial economic benefit
to passengers (Mayer-Schnberger & Cukier, 2013, pp
4-5).

applications and development are at a nascent stage

and we envisage that over a period of time the
technology, platforms, and applications will mature
proving their utility.

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
the risk of blurriness. Immense volumes of data lie
around us needing to be collected and processed to
extract value. One of the major benefits of creating and
using Big Data is that it highlights and spots such points
of concern which otherwise may be entirely undetectable
when using sample data (Mayer-Schnberger & Cukier,
2013).

United States of America: In September 1993, the

'Information Highway' program was launched in USA.
Similarly, in March 2012 the 'Big Data Research and
Development Initiative' was launched. The project
envisions to improve and facilitate use of Big Data by
extracting valuable information insights for better
development. It primarily focuses on healthcare,
emergency response and disaster recovery,
cybersecurity, education and employability,

Governments and PSUs: Governments are increasingly

adopting digital technologies. USA.gov and 'Digital
India' are notable examples of this trend. The 2012
presidential election campaign in U.S has seen one of
the remarkable uses of Big Data for better decision
making. President Barack Obama's campaign team
conducted Big Data analysis to target voters and identify
the most responsive regions for campaigning and then
allocating the resources to the destined areas. The
winning of Obama and his getting re-elected as president
of U.S.A demonstrated and unfolded a new strategic
step in making sense of Big Data (Jin, Wah, Cheng &
Wang, 2015).

transportation and energy sector (Jin et al., 2015).

United Kingdom: COSMOS (see What is COSMOS?)
aims to be an open platform for social data analysis that
can harvest, archive, analyze and visualize social media
streams. In due course, the platform is expected to link
to other social data and is currently linked to the UK
Police API, harvesting crime statistics. Collectively, the
European Union has also started partnering through the
program 'Horizon 2020'.
Japan: Aspires to be the World's Most Advanced IT
Nation by year 2020. 'The Integrated ICT Strategy for
2020' has already been launched with a mission to
develop Japan as a leader of Information Technology
with Big Data at its centre stage. The aforesaid IT strategy
focuses at implanting the highest level of standards in
Big Data technology and IT infrastructure (see Declaration
to be the World's Most Advanced IT Nation).

Law Enforcement Agencies: Big Data can be used by

Law enforcement agencies in order to analyse
voluminious data and impede crime and terrorist attacks.
The case of a notorious Chinese serial killer 'Zhou Kehua'
is an example of usage and summary analysis of various
information obtained from Big Data. The Big Data
consisted of video data, photographs and some other
related content and on the basis of it Zhou Kehua was
tracked, investigated and captured. In this case, Big
Data analysis played a decisive role for the law
enforcement agency. Big Data may also prove to be
applicable in identifying potential criminals (Jin et al.,
2015).

Germany: The German Government has announced a

Big Data research initiative namely 'production
intelligence'. The aim is to perform real time analytics
on all manufacturing data. This Big Data analysis will
help to evaluate, improve, and enhance the
manufacturing capacities and processes, to automate,
and in effective decision making, and to achieve optimal
manufacturing scenarios (see German government
announces "Production Intelligence": funding for Jedox's
Big Data project).

Business and Economic Systems: Big Data studies can

be applied to raise the economic value and to bring
significant societal and scientific impact. Farecast, the
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Australia: The Australian Public Service ICT Strategy

2012-2015 aims to use Big Data for better service delivery,

space and weather data), (ii) accessibility to expensive

platforms (hardware and software needed, though open

efficient and effective mechanisms for e-governance,

preserve national information assets, improve health
service offerings and better emergency response

source can be deployed) is limited, (iii) efforts are needed

in the direction of preparing policies and legal
frameworks covering issues such as responsibility for

mechanisms. Australian government uses Patient

Admission Prediction Tool (PAPT) (in collaboration
with Australian e-Health Research Centre Queensland

collection, storage, and preservation, protection from

illegal use, ownership of the data and (extent of) freedom
to share with others, etc.

Health, Griffith University and Queensland University

of Technology) software for Big Data analytics in health
industry. PAPT aims to achieve predictions for number

Prime Minister's farmer soil health card is an initiative

which could provide extremely valuable data in future
contributing to the nation's food security. Similar

of patients that hospital may expect in the near days,

emergency cases, hospital staff's case(s) handling
capacities, available and required labor pool as and

schemes are also needed for our other national natural

resources, such as: (i) monitoring (underground and
surface) water availability, usage, and its preservation

when need arises, and balanced workload. These

predictions can achieve timely service delivery, better
disaster resilience and a far better quality care offering.

in India, (ii) rainfall harvesting activities and potential,

(iii) land and its (current and possible) usage across the
country, (iv) forest areas monitoring, (v) wildlife data,

United Nations: UN recently launched a project 'Global

Pulse: Harnessing Big Data for Development and
Humanitarian Action'. Global Pulse is intended to

(vi) air quality data from cities (recent media reports

indicate Delhi as the most polluted city in the World,
now since a few years), (vii) wind farming potential,

ascertain and predict the societal issues like

unemployment, disease outbreaks, and likewise. It
aspires to achieve proactive approach in handling

and so on.
On the human development index front, monitoring of
diet and health data (including disease spread and

alarming events arising out of humanitarian grounds.

It works for creating awareness and development in
regard to Big Data opportunities and its value addition

control, vaccinations, etc), levels and adequacy of

nutrition intakes in society, education (availability and
usage), transport (needs, trends, and consumption),

for society (http://www.unglobalpulse.org/).

5.

electricity (generation, distribution, shortages, losses,

etc), provide scope for exploiting big data applications
for big gains.

Big Data: The Road ahead in India

Substantial Big Data is being generated (and stored) by

The central and state Governments in India stand to

gain a lot by joint planning, collection, sharing, and

Government departments in India already. Department

of Science and Technology, GoI has announced plans
to take Big Data research forward in the Indian context,

analysis of big data to develop appropriate talent

development plans for future, planned farming to avoid
over and under production in a season leading to excess

including financial support for teams taking up such

projects (http://dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/
bigdatainitiative.html). However, continuous effort shall

or shortage, and similar other schemes.

be needed for a long period of time before some success

stories of big data studies and their results are visible.

Effort is needed to tap the potential in big data starting

with: to identify, support (such as through fully funded
academic scholarships), develop, and employ special
talent to tap the potential of big data. Simultaneously,
to set up big data analytics centres with necessary

More efforts to tap the potential of big data analytics,

especially in the social welfare sphere, are needed. The
bottlenecks needed to be overcome are: (i) not much
(big) data is being collected and stored in India (leaving
a few segments, such as, scientific community with
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infrastructure, and accessibility to the scientific and

academic community, supported by series of funding

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Volume 6 Issue 2

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6.

for incorporating future developments in these

technologies and ensuring their immediate availability

Big Data platforms and technology have crossed the

chasm of mere interest. Across the world, scientific,
academic, research, business, as well as, government
communities are aggressively charting plans and paths
to benefit from developments in the big data field. The
issues pertaining to policy and existing frameworks
developed over the last few years in some advanced
countries have been identified and critiqued to identify
unresolved issues. We anticipate much action in the
business and government domains in the years to come,
and one such potential arena would lie in big data which
spans national boundaries.

to the talent pool for productive deployment.

As the currently available big data talent pool is small,
it may not yield the critical mass necessary to push a
series of big data projects ahead rapidly. Hiring talent
from other countries, if available, may also be an
expensive alternative. Hence, progressively expanding
Government support appears to be the good road ahead.
The first among these steps could be identifying and
supporting scholars and students in acquiring the
necessary knowledge and skills.
Being a very large nation with equally large variety of

Summarizing learnings from recent applications of big

data across the world, and identifying the initiatives
embraced by governments of prosperous nations, we
underscore the huge potential that big data holds and
can unfold for the central and state governments in
India. We also propose steps that can be taken in India
during policy formulation, legal frameworks enactment,
infrastructure upgradation and talent pool creation, for
the nation to benefit from Big Data platforms and
technology.

data generated (and additionally, challenges of different

languages, notations, formats used etc), it is desirable
for India to develop and follow a schema designed and
suggested by scholars, researchers, various data users,
and Governments collectively. Though, Big Data
technology is designed to address analysis of humongous
volumes and variety of data, bringing even a partial
order to its collection and storage by pursuing an
established policy can ease analytical loads (by
somewhat reducing data's dimensionality), help in
ensuring that it meets legal frameworks and manage
changes brought to it from time to time.

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Conclusion

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Morton, J., Runciman, B. & Gordon, K. (2014). Big Data:

Opportunities and challenges. BCS Learning &
Development Limited, Great Britain.
Mundie, Craig. (2014). Privacy Pragmatism; Focus on Data
Use, Not Data Collection. In: Foreign Aff. 93, p. 28.

Velleman, P F. (1997). The Philosophical Past and the Digital

Future of Data Analysis: 375 Years of Philosophical
Guidance for Software Design on the occasion of John
W. Tukey's 80th Birthday. In: The practice of Data
Analysis: Essays in Honor of John W. Tukey. Princeton
Legacy Library, pp. 317-337.

Nissenbaum, Helen. (2010). Privacy in Context: technology,

policy, and the integrity of social life. Stanford, Calif:
Stanford Law Books. ISBN: 978-0804752367.
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20-Apr-2015 from: https://www.xoom.com/india/
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Vis, Farida. (2013). A critical reflection on Big Data:

Considering APIs, researchers and tools as data makers.
In: First Monday 18.10. ISSN : 13960466.

Podesta, J., Pritzker, P., Moniz, E.J., Holdren, J., & Zients,
J. (2014). Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, Preserving
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big_data_privacy_report_may_1_ 2014.pdf.

IMJ

Washington, Anne L. (2014). Government Information Policy

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31.4, pp. 319-325. DOI: 10.1111/ropr. 12081.

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Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

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
Engineers) for over twenty years. His experience spans
Railway operations, information technology projects,
R&D, as well as, teaching. He has travelled widely across
the country conducting seminars, delivering speeches,
advising IR in IT projects, and in applications of emerging
technologies in Indian Railways. He was also the editor
of IRIMEE, Jamalpur newsletter and conference
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.

Zikopoulos, P., Eaton, C., Deeros, D., Deutsch, T. & Lapis,

G. (2015). Understanding big data: Analytics for
enterprise class hadoop and streaming data. McGrawHill Osborne Media.
Zwitter, Andrej. (2014). Big Data ethics. In: Big Data & Society
1.2. DOI : 10.1177 / 2053951714559253. eprint: http:/
/bds.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/2/2053951714559253.
URL : http://bds.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/2/
2053951714559253.

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.

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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
management and industry, who look to tame the volume,
velocity and variability of massive data to reveal hitherto
insights, which would provide organizations with a
competitive edge. After all, analysis and insights from
big data is what has been the genesis of large number
of service and product organizations. Trend patterns
emerging from user actions have resulted in crafting
highly personalized user experience and the new wave
of advertising. This has been leveraged successfully by
the large web based startups like Amazon, Facebook,
Google and Yahoo.

would refer to the multiple sources of data, which does

not necessarily fall into neat relational structures.
Moreover, experienced practitioners have an intuitive
understanding of which levers in their operations could
produce strategic outcomes for the business and the
organization. All it requires is a questioning bent of
mind, to challenge existing paradigms of efficiency and
effectiveness and evaluate the impact of these initiatives
through the arsenal of big data.
It is also important to understand the critical difference
between correlation and causality. Therefore, a word
of caution on the tendency to find "spurious correlations".
For instance, a phenomenal correlation of 99.79% exists
between US spending on science, space and technology
with suicides by hanging, strangling and suffocation !
Or how about a 66.6% correlation between films Nicholas
Cage appears in with the number of people who drown
by falling in a pool! It would be extremely imprudent
to establish causality in these cases and take strategic
decisions driven by these correlations. ! However, it is
equally not important to establish or even explain the
causality to appreciate the correlation . This is where
a rich domain understanding becomes relevant to
connect the dots- prudently!

The buzz around big data is enough to make sensible

people head for the hills! Terms in the Hadoop bestiary
like HDFS, Mapreduce, Pig, Zookeeper, Hive, Mahout
,Sqoop, Flume are enough to deter most HR professionals
from testing these waters. However, just as driving a
car requires some overall coordination, sensitivity to
traffic behavior and a clear sense of what is the intended
destination and not a degree in automobile engineering
or a minute understanding of the workings or mechanism
of the vehicle, grappling with big data needs skills
which are not so difficult.
So what competencies are required to become a true big
data master? Since the differentiation emerges from the
speed of the insights provided, agility is a key
requirement. However, what to look for necessitates a
high level of domain understanding, an ability to build
correlation with strategic outcomes for the organization,
an innate curiosity and an entrepreneurial bent of mind.
If retail analytics have established a correlation between
diaper and beer sales, resulting in retail outlets bundling
these products together, can HR not find similar
patterns? Surely, it is not too much to ask for from HR
practitioners? Not really. Most HR functions are sitting
on goldmines of large employee data and each function
within HR can independently explore what insights
could be gleaned from the volume, velocity and variety
of data accessible to them. The variety aspect of the data
IMJ

Too much to digest? Let me share a few illustrative

examples. A discussion with a recent assessment firm
indicated that they were offering services to a large
number of organizations for filtering the large volume
of campus recruits applying to organizations. A sharp
campus recruitment head then took it upon himself to
link the assessment scores (available from a different
data source), to performance on the job and retention
of the campus hires (available in the organizations
performance management system). Some extremely
interesting insights emerged from the data trend, which
were useful for the organization to sharpen its
recruitment strategy for better organizational outcomes.
I could share a personal example of how a Talent
Acquisition function I was part of, was actually working

15

Debolina Dutta

Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

blindly against non-validated perceptions and biases

which were actually counter-productive to the
organizations' interests. The business head had given
us a mandate to improve quality of hire, with a clear
directive to increase the intake from top tiered
organization. The rationale behind this mandate seemed
intuitive, with talent at top tiered organization having
gone through sufficient screening process to ensure
high caliber talent. Additionally, having worked at these
top tier organizations, the assumption was that these
hires would produce non-linear outcomes in terms of
quality of performance and productivity. The Talent
Acquisition function took affirmative action and
congratulations were generously awarded by all, when
the intake of talent from these top tier organizations was
increased from 23% of lateral hires to 78% of lateral
hiring. Naturally, this came at a significant increase in
the salary cost. However, reviewing the hiring data of
over 5000 hires over a couple of years, correlating with
performance and retention indicated that there was no
significant correlation of pedigree of company hired
from with the performance. What this meant was that
with no significant productivity increase, we had, in
effect, increased the cost base for the organization by
5% and actually got appreciation for it! Naturally,
corrective strategies were applied and hiring was then
focused on increasing Tier hire, but within the same
salary grids applicable to the larger organization and
no deviations in cost allowed.

makingthis firm a frontrunner on these metrics, with

some of the best statistics in the industry.
Fundamental to all these examples is the strong feedback
loop used to link data streams to build powerful and
actionable insights. The purpose of Big Data is not to
generate more data but to produce actionable outcomes.
Examples cited here are not necessarily restricted to the
domain of talent acquisition. For instance, HR Managers
could be encouraged to look at trends within
performance management systems, link with reward
and recognition or correlate with training interventions
and retention statistics. Depending on the business
problem critical to the specific organization, HR
managers should start use the "drivetrain approach" in
conjunction with a model assembly line and this can
be used to link a predictive model to actionable outcomes.
Can HR managers consider performance metrics of
certain teams or business units to provide
recommendations to other business functions on HR
interventions which will result in improved business
outcomes, much akin to the recommendation engine of
Ecommerce sites? So instead of waiting for best practice
sharing on a knowledge site, can some proactive data
mining throw up these nuggets? A lot of HR decisions
are based on lag data and maybe the time has come for
us to get into predictive indicators for our decision
making. We can all start with asking simple questions
around "What objectives is our HR function trying to
achieve? What levers do we have at our disposal to
achieve this objective?"

An interesting example from another top IT services

firm has been how they have been using the data from
their pre-boarding gamification platform. Insights from
how offered candidates engaged with the organization
through the pre-boarding gamification activity provided
a heads-up to the Talent Acquisition function about
which candidates were likely to abort. Proactive
recruitment was therefore initiated only for these high
risk cases and this contributed to overall utilization
level increasing and bench strengthsreducing,

IMJ

All of us would be amazed at the possibilities which

emerge from these simple questions.
Debolina Dutta has 23 years of work experience in HR
& Sales domain. She had a degree in Electrical Engineering
from College of Engineering, Pune, a Post Graduate Degree
in management from IIM, Bangalore and completed her
FPM-Industry program from IIM Indore. She is working
as Director and Head of HR, VF Brands (I).

16

Debolina Dutta

A Review of Evolution of Theories and

Models of Technology Adoption
Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Abstract

Government (Venkatesh et al. 2012)that were promising

in respect of the advantages they offered to the users
but still have not been adopted by the users to the extent
expected.

Technology adoption is one of the mature areas of IS

research. Research in this domain has evolved over time
by conceptualizing new factors which can better explain
the phenomena of technology adoption resulting in
development of several theories and models. This
process of evolution has been primarily driven by rapidly
changing technology scenario and has led to new factors
which are grounded in theory from other disciplines.
In this paper, we strive to trace the evolution of various
theories and models of technology adoption over the
years with the objective of presenting an overview of
this important domain to the researchers who intend
to apply these models in their research. We also look
at need for identification of new factors in the technology
adoption models in wake of rapid technology changes
in future.

1.

Several studies have revealed that technology adoption

is not related to the aspects of technology alone but has
evolved as a much more complex process involving
dimensions of user attitude and personality (Venkatesh
et al. 2012), social influence (Ajzen and Fishbein 1975),
trust (Gefen et al. 2003) and numerous facilitating
conditions (Thompson et al. 1991). It is necessary to
understand the evolution of this research area in
Information Systems and look at future research
opportunities.
In this study, we trace the evolution of research in the
area of technology adoption over the years by means
of a review of the existing literature on the subject. The
study is undertaken with two objectives. The first
objective of this paper is to present an overview of this
important domain to the researchers who intend to
apply these models in their research. Second objective
of the study is to look at the need to identify new
constructs that may possibly be used in explaining
adoption of emerging technologies such as egovernment, cloud computing, mobile government etc.
and further build the theoretical foundations of the
existing body of knowledge.

Introduction

Technology adoption is one of the mature area of research

in information systems. Carr (1999) has defined
technology adoption as the 'stage of selecting a
technology for use by an individual or an organization'.
With rapid strides being made in technology innovations
in every conceivable domain, the issues related to
technology adoption have gained increasing prominence
in recent times. Huge investments are made by
organizations and governments for introducing new
technologies that have the potential of bringing a
paradigm shift in the life-style of the users. However,
these investments may not yield results if the innovations
are not adopted by the intended users. Initial failure
of diffusion of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems
in US (Simon et al. 2007) and Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) systems (Addo & Helo 2011) are some
of the examples of the technologies that failed to take
off in spite of promising start. More recent examples
are that of cloud computing (Low et al. 2011) and eIMJ

2.

Research Methodology

Methodology of literature survey was followed for this

paper. Research papers with relevant keywords (such
as technology adoption, technology adoption theory,
technology adoption model etc) were downloaded from
online databases like EBSCO, Google Scholar, Proquest,
INFORMS etc. The papers were scrutinized to identify
and classify them on the basis of themes on which they
were focussed. Details of methodology, data set and
major findings of the papers were tabulated for extracting

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their common and differentiating features. References

of latest papers were once again searched online to
include any missing papers left out due to new keywords.
Since the objective was to look at evolution of theories
and models over the years rather than their application,
we picked up a survey paper by Sarkar (2009), review
papers by Chuttar et.al. (2009) and Long (2010) that
provided an overview of some of the important theories
that have evolved over the years. Seminal papers related
to these theories were then downloaded and studied in
depth to understand the constructs and the context of
the study.

Two major streams of research have evolved on adoption

of technologies. One stream pertains to adoption at
individual and the other at organizational level. If the
intention or usage by an individual is the subject of
study, it is considered as adoption at individual level
(e.g., Compeau and Higgins 1995; Davis et al. 1989). On
the other hand, if success of implementation by the
organization is under study, it is considered as adoption
at organization level (Leonard-Bartonan and d
Deschamps 1988). Adoption at individual and
organizational levels leads to mass adoption which is
termed as the diffusion of technology.

3.

The theories and models that have evolved for explaining

adoption of technology are summarized in chronological
order as follows:

Technology Adoption Theories and Models

Literature review revealed interchangeable use of the

terms adoption and diffusion although these terms are
quite distinct from each other. Therefore, noting the
difference between these two terms is in order. Adoption
refers to "the stage in which a technology is selected
for use by an individual or an organization" (Carr, 1999)
while the term diffusion refers to "the stage in which
the technology spreads to general use and application"
(Rogers, 2003). Therefore, while the term adoption is
used at individual level, diffusion can be thought of as
adoption by the masses. From the point of view of our
study, both the terms are important because adoption
will generally lead to diffusion. Hence, while looking
into the evolution of research of technology adoption
we take into account the diffusion studies as well as
adoption studies.

A. Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Roger, 1960): Research in diffusion can be traced back to the epic work
by Everett Roger's in 1960 named as the Diffusion
of Innovation Theory which has been widely applied
by the researchers over the years.
The main idea of the theory is that there are four
elements that influence the spread of a new idea: the
innovation, communication channels, time and social
system. The process of diffusion consists of five
stages, namely, knowledge, persuasion, decision,
implementation, and confirmation. It results in six
categories of users: innovators, early adopters, early
majority, late majority, laggards and the leapfroggers. The theory can be depicted as shown in
Figure 1.

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

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The diffusion innovation theory provided the concept

of S-shaped curve of adoption which was also called
as the epidemic model of adoption. According to this
curve, spread of infections among the population can
be held as an analogy to the pattern of spread of
a new technique or idea. According to this analogy,
initially the rate of spread is slow. In the mid range
of the graph, the rate of spread accelerates and finally
the rate of spread tapers off resulting in an S-shaped
curve depicted in Figure 2.

slope of the growth curve becomes positive and

number of members who have adopted the innovation becomes so large that there are hardly any new
members left for adopting it. According to Rogers
(1960), this point occurs when nearly 10% to 20% of
the members of the social system have adopted the
innovation.
The S-shaped adoption curve described above applies
to most of the innovations that come up from time
to time. However its application is of special significance 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 intention (BI), attitude (A), and subjective norm (SN)".
According to TRA behavioural intention of a person
depends on his attitude and subjective norms.
Mathematically, it can be interpreted that behavioural
intention is the summation of attitude and subjective
norms. Moreover, intention of a person likely to
convert to action if there is the intention to behave
in a specific manner is strong enough.

Figure 2: S-shaped Adoption Curve (Rogers, 1960)

The reasoning for such S-shape curve is that initially
the innovation has to come from outside the boundaries of the social system prevalent at that time. This
implies that number of people that are exposed to
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.

Figure 3: Theory of Reasoned Action, (Fishbein and

Ajzen, 1975)

The S-shaped curve depicted in Figure 2 illustrates

that there is a critical "take off point" at which the

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The definition of various constructs used in the theory

are as given in Table 3.

of how well one can execute courses of action required

to deal with prospective situations". According to the
theory, self-efficacy is the most important determinant
for behavioural change since it leads to building up
of coping behaviour.

Table 1: Constructs used in Theory of Reasoned

Action
Construct

Definition

Attitudes

"Sum of beliefs about a particular

behaviour weighted by evaluations of
these beliefs".

Subjective
norms

"Influence of people in one's social

environment on his behavioural intentions; the beliefs of people, weighted by
the importance one attributes to each
of their opinions that will influence
one's behavioural intention"

Behavioural
intention

"Function of both attitudes toward a

behaviour and subjective norms toward
that behaviour which has been found
to predict actual behaviour"

Figure 4: Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991)

The definition of additional construct (PBC) is given in
Table 2.

Source: Fishbein and Ajzen (1975)

Table 2: Additional Construct used in Theory of

Planned Behaviour

C. Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991): The

Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was proposed by
Icek Ajzen in 1991 and was developed from the
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which was proposed by Martin Fishbein and Ajzen in 1975. TPB
adds the concept of Perceived Behavioural Control
(PBC) to the constructs attitudes and subjective norms
which make the TRA. Perceived behavioural control
refers to "people's perception of the ease or difficulty
of performing the behaviour of interest". It differs
from Rotter's (1966) concept of perceived locus of
control because it is not constant and varies with
different situations faced by the individual. Locus of
control is considered to be a more generalized
expectancy of the individual that remains fairly stable
across situations. In this way, the criticism faced by
TRA that it is based on relatively static construct of
attitude and thus cannot be used for prediction of
behavioural outcome has been addressed by TPB. The
roots of concept of PBC are grounded in the SelfEfficacy Theory (SET) proposed by Bandura (1977)
which in turn came from the Social Cognitive Theory.
Bandura (1986) defined self-efficacy as "the judgments
IMJ

Construct

Definition

Perceived
Behaviour
Control

"People's perception of the ease or

difficulty of performing the behaviour
of interest which in turn depends on the
self efficacy which is the judgments of
how well one can execute courses of
action required to deal with prospective
situations."

Source: Ajzen (1991)

D. The Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986): Focus

of the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) is on the concept
of self-efficacy which is defined as "the judgment of
one's ability to use a technology to accomplish a
particular job or task" (Compeau and Higgins, 1995).
According to SCT, behaviour of the user is influenced
by expectations of outcome related to personal as well
as performance-related gains. Self-efficacy, in turn,
influences the expectation of outcome of both types.
While esteem of the person and his sense of achievement relate to personal outcome expectations, outcome expectations related to performance on the job

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lead to performance related expectations. According

to SCT, there are two opposing factors that influence
behaviour of the users. Positive contribution is made
by the factor "affect" which is the extent to which
an individual likes his job. On the other hand,
negative contribution to desired behaviour is made
by the factor "anxiety" which is the anxious reaction
of the person while performing a job such as trying
to use a computer with which the person is not very
familiar. This theory has been widely used in adoption studies.

of use) as "the degree to which an innovation is

perceived as relatively difficult to understand and
use". The definitions of these constructs are depicted
in Table 1.
TAM was originally tested in the context of adoption
of email service and file editor at IBM Canada with
14 items on each of 2 constructs. The results of the
survey on sample of 112 users validated the model
with the finding that perceived usefulness is a
stronger factor than perceived ease of use that drives
technology adoption. In next ten years, TAM became
well-established as a robust, powerful, and parsimonious model for predicting user acceptance. King and
He (2006) presented a meta analysis of TAM and
found that it is a valid and robust model with
applications in a wide range of areas. Dwivedi et al
(2010) carried out a comparison of TAM and UTAUT
(Venkatesh et al. 2003) and found that focus is now
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.

E. Technical Adoption Model (Fred D Davis, 1989):

Technology Adoption Model (TAM) has been widely
used in technology adoption studies. The strength of
the model lies in its simplicity as it has only two
constructs, namely, "perceived usefulness" and "perceived ease of use" for predicting extent of adoption
of new technologies at individual level as shown
below

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
ways from the Theory of Reasoned Action because
it makes a distinction between cognitive and affective
components of attitudes. Beliefs belong to the cognitive component of attitudes. According to this
theory "Behaviour is determined by what people
would like to do (attitudes), what they think they
should do (social norms), what they have usually
done (habits), and by the expected consequences of

Figure 5: Technology Adoption Model (Davis, 1989)

These constructs are derived from Bandura's Self
Efficacy Theory (1982) which defines perceived ease
of use as "the judgments of how well one can execute
courses of action required to deal with prospective
situation" and from Rogers and Shoemaker (1971)
paper which defines complexity (interpreted as ease

Table 3: TAM Model by Davis (1989)

Construct

Definition

Theoretical Background

Perceived usefulness

The degree to which a person believes that using a

particular system would enhance his or her
job performance

Bandura's Self efficacy

theory (1982)

Perceived ease of use

The degree to which a person believes that using a

particular system would be free of effort

Rogers and Shoemaker

(1971)

Source: Davis (1989)

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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, prevalent social norms regarding use of PC at the workplace, 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
place for facilitating use of PC. These constructs are
depicted in the figure 6.

Figure 6: The Model of PC Utilization

(Thompson et al. 1991)
outcomes that are distinct from the activity itself, such
as improved job performance, pay, or promotions"
(Davis et al., 1992, p. 1112). Examples of extrinsic
motivation are perceived usefulness, perceived ease
of use, and subjective norm. On the other hand, if
performing an activity leads to a feeling of pleasure
and results in satisfaction for the individual, such
behaviour can be classified as intrinsic motivation.
(Vallerand, 1997). Users want to perform an activity
"for no apparent reinforcement other than the process
of performing the activity per se" (Davis et al., 1992,

The definition of the constructs used in the model are

given in Table 4.
G. The Motivation Model (Davis et al., 1992): Davis
applied the motivational theory to study information
technology adoption and use. The main premise of
the Motivation Model is that there are extrinsic and
intrinsic motivations that shape the behaviour of the
user. Extrinsic motivation is defined as the perception
that users want to perform an activity "because it is
perceived to be instrumental in achieving valued

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
consequences

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

Affect Towards
Use

"Feelings of joy, elation, or pleasure, or depression, disgust, displeasure, or hate associated

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
Conditions

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

Source: Thompson et al. (1991)

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p. 1112). An examples of intrinsic motivation is the

extent of enjoyment that a person derives from
playing with a computer (Davis et al., 1992;
Venkatesh, 2000).

that remaining three constructs, namely, attitude

toward using technology, self efficacy, and anxiety
are theorized not to be the direct determinants of
intention as they are fully mediated by ease of use
which has been considered in the unified model as
performance expectancy. Therefore, these three constructs have been removed from the UTAUT model.
The constructs in the unified model are defined as
in table 6.

H. Extended TAM2 model (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000):

Venkatesh & Davis modified TAM to include additional key determinants of TAM's perceived usefulness and usage intention constructs in their extended
TAM model. The additional constructs included social
influence processes (subjective norm, voluntariness
and image) and cognitive instrumental processes (job
relevance, output quality, result demonstrability and
perceived ease of use) which are depicted in Figure 7.

The unified theory is proposed to be superior as it

is able to explain 70% of the variance while the earlier
theories were explaining only 30-40% variance in the
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 studyrather, 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
Support (MAPS) provides an integration of earlier
research that was focussed on individuals with
relevant constructs of social network in a way that
helps to extend the scope of earlier theories. The
authors propose that there are two types of social
ties. First tie between employees relates to obtaining
help from employees that can result in extension of
knowledge for using the system. Another kind of tie
between employees is related to providing assistance
and help to co-workers for enabling better understanding of configuration and deployment of the
system. These ties are labelled as "get-help" and "give
help" ties. The authors propose two new constructs,
namely, "network density" and "network centrality"
that relate to the concept of "get-help" and "give-help"
respectively. The theoretical backing for these constructs is drawn from earlier research carried out in
social network and are posited as key predictors of
system use. These constructs are further extended as
"valued network density" and "valued network cen-

The definitions and theoretical basis of the constructs

are summarized in Table 5.
I. Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Venkatesh, 2003): This theory, popularly referred as UTAUT was postulated in 2003 by
Venkatesh et.al. by a systematic review and consolidation of the constructs of earlier eight models (TRA,
TAM, MM, TPB, TAM2, DOI, SCT and model of
personal computer use). It is meant to serve as a
comprehensive model that can be applied across a
range of applications. It has four key constructs
namely "performance expectancy, effort expectancy,
social influence and facilitating conditions" which are
depicted in Figure 8.
For developing the unified model, the authors have
compiled and tested all the constructs that were used
in previous models and theorized that out of the seven
constructs used earlier, four constructs shown above
are most significant as determinants of intention to
use information technology. They have hypothesized
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Table 5: Extended TAM Model by Venkatesh and Davis (2000)

Construct

Definition

Theoretical Background

Subjective Norm

Person's perception that most people who are

important to him think he should or should
not perform the behaviour in question".

Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and

Ajzen 1975) and the subsequent Theory of
Planned Behaviour (Ajzen 1991).

Voluntariness
and Compliance
with Social
Influence.

Voluntariness is the extent to which potential

adopters perceive the adoption decision to be
non-mandatory.

Hartwick and Barki (1994) found that even

when users perceive system use to be
organizationally mandated, usage intentions
vary because some users are unwilling to
comply with such mandates.

Image

Moore and Benbasat (1991) define image as

"the degree to which use of an innovation is
perceived to enhance one's . . . status in one's
social system".

Moore and Benbasat (1991)

Job relevance

Defined as an individual's perception

regarding the degree to which the target
system is applicable to his or her job. Regarded
as cognitive judgment that exerts a direct
effect on perceived usefulness, distinct from
social influence processes.

Output quality

Output quality measures perception of how

well the system performs the job related tasks.

Cognitive instrumental theoretical

underpinnings come from three main areas:
work motivation theory (e.g., Vroom 1964),
action theory from social psychology (e.g.,
Fishbein and Ajzen 1975), and taskcontingent decision making from behavioral
decision theory (e.g., Beach and Mitchell
1978).

Result
Demonstrability

Defined by Moore and Benbasat (1991) as the

"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

from earlier models

Moderators

Performance
expectancy

Performance expectancy is
defined as the degree to
which an individual believes
that using the system will
help him or her to attain
gains in job performance.

The five constructs from the

different models that pertain to
performance expectancy are
perceived usefulness (TAM/
TAM2), extrinsic motivation (MM),
job-fit (MPCU), relative advantage
(IDT), and outcome expectations
(SCT).

Gender, Age

Effort
expectancy

Effort expectancy is defined

as the degree of ease
associated with the use of
the system.

Three constructs from the existing

models capture the concept of effort
expectancy: perceived ease of use
(TAM/TAM2),
complexity
(MPCU) and ease of use (IDT).

Gender, Age,
Experience

Social influence

Social influence is defined as

the degree to which an
individual perceives that
important others believe he
or she should use the new
system.

The three constructs related to

social influence: subjective norm
(TRA, TAM2/IDTPB, TPB), social
factors (MPCU), and image (IDT).

Gender, age,
voluntariness and
experience

Facilitating
conditions (no
effect on use
intention but
direct effect on
use behaviour)

Facilitating conditions are

defined as the degree to
which an individual believes
that an organizational and
technical infrastructure
exists to support use of the
system.

Three different constructs used in

earlier models are: perceived
behavioural control (TPB, DTPB,
C-TAM-TPB),
facilitating
conditions
(MPCU)
and
compatibility (IDT).

Age and experience

Source: Venkatesh et al. (2003)

trality" by taking into account the extent of the

resources, information and knowledge available in the
system. It is inferred that these constructs can act as
additional predictors.

established determinants of system use, namely

behavioural intention and facilitating conditions,
were able to explain about 20 percent additional
variance.

The definitions of these constructs are given in Table 7.

To summarize, Table 8 presents the summary of the

various theories and models of technology adoption
that have evolved over the years.

The authors conducted a social network study on 87

employees of a supplier-focused business unit of a
large multinational company in Finland. With this
empirical study they were able to obtain support to
their proposed model. They found that the new social
network constructs which augmented the previously
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25

4. Discussions & Findings from the Study

The study was carried out with two objectives. The first
objective was to present an overview of technology

Rajesh Sharma and Rajhans Mishra

Volume 6 Issue 2

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

Construct

Definition

Behavioral
intention

Behavioral intention is defined as "a person's subjective probability that he will perform
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
conditions

Facilitating conditions is defined as the "degree to which an individual believes that an

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
centrality

Network centrality is defined as the extent of an individual's involvement in assistance

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
centrality

Valued network centrality refers to peers' perceptions of the level of system-related resources
controlled by a focal employee.

Valued network
density

Valued network density refers to the connectedness of a focal employee to others, weighted
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

intend to apply these models in their research. This
objective has been achieved as evolution of various
models has been presented in Table 8. In section 3, we
have presented definitions of the constructs and
provided literature references to the criticism and
applications of various models. It is felt that the paper
provides sufficient knowledge of this evolving field in
a concise form to the researchers who intend to probe
deeper into the field of technology adoption.

that researchers should "redirect their focus toward

examining different antecedents (e.g., IT artifact and
design) and different consequences (e.g., adaptation
and learning behaviors) in order to reach a more
comprehensive understanding of what influences
adoption and acceptance in different IT use contexts
and to provide more useful recommendations for
practice" (pp 216). This view of the authors clearly hints
towards probable inadequacy of present models in
explaining adoption of upcoming technologies such as
Internet of Things (IOT), cloud computing and mGovernment among others. This also points towards a
future research opportunity that needs to be probed by
the researchers and fulfils the second objective of the
research.

Second objective of the study was to look at the necessity

to identify new constructs that may possibly be used
in explaining adoption of emerging technologies such
as e-government, cloud computing, mobile government
etc. Need for a sound theoretical model in the fast
changing information technology environment has been
articulated by Benbasat & Barki (2011). They suggest
IMJ

It is therefore posited that the systematic overview of

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
Innovation Theory

Everett Roger

The innovation, communication channels, time

and social system.

1975

Theory of Reasoned
Action

Ajzen and Fishbein

Behavioural intention, Attitude (A), and

Subjective Norm.

1985

Theory of Planned
Behaviour

Ajzen

Behavioural intention, Attitude (A), and

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
Utilization

Thompson et al.

Job-fit, Complexity, Long-term consequences,

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
Acceptance and Use of
Technology (UTAUT)

Venkatesh et al.

Performance expectancy, effort expectancy,

social influence and facilitating conditions.

2009

Model of Acceptance
with Peer Support
(MAPS)

Sykes et al.

Behavioural intention, System use, Facilitating

conditions, Network density, Network
centrality, Valued network centrality, Valued
network density.

5. Conclusions

adoption and diffusion research by highlighting various

theories and models, including their criticism. The paper

This review paper provides an overview of theories and

models which have evolved over the years for better
understanding of adoption process of technologies by
individuals and organizations. It is intended to present
a bird's eye view of various constructs related to this
relatively mature area of information system research
and will be of immense value to the contemporary
researchers who are planning future work in adoption

identifies the possibility and the need for further

evolution in this domain so that more holistic models
are developed that can take care of fast-changing
technology environment. Therefore it is evident that
research has to continue in this domain because the
environmental factors driving the adoption process are
dynamic and can reveal new constructs of adoption.
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use and user acceptance of information technology,
MIS Quarterly, 8, 318-339.

of new technologies in the present dynamic environment.

The review provides identifies several new areas of
research where the existing models of technology
adoption may prove to be inadequate. The paper
concludes with the view that further evolution in this
area of study may be necessary. Future research in this
domain may require that existing theories are augmented
with constructs from other disciplines of management
in order to explain the adoption process of new
technologies.

Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., & Warshaw, P. R. (1992). Extrinsic

and intrinsic motivation to use computers in the
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22(14),
1111-1132.
Dwivedi, Y. K., Mustafee, N., Carter, L. D., & Williams, M.
D. (2010). A Bibliometric
Comparision of the
Usage of Two Theories of IS/IT Acceptance (TAM and
UTAUT). In AMCIS (p. 183).
Fishbein M., Ajzen, I.(1975). Belief, Attitude, Intention, and
Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research,
Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.

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the Perception and Use of EMail:
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Gefen, D., Karahanna, E., & Straub, D. W. (2003). Trust and

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for the selection of decision strategies. Academy of
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Leonard-Barton, D., & Deschamps, I. (1988). Managerial

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technology. Management Science, 34, 1252-1265.

Benbasat, I., & Barki, H. (2007). Quo vadis TAM?. Journal

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Moore, G., & Benbasat, I.(1991). Development of an

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Sarkar, J. (1998). Technological diffusion: alternative theories

and historical evidence. Journal of economic surveys,
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Understanding e-Government portal use in rural India:

role of demographic and personality characteristics.
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Technology acceptance: a meta- analysis of the TAM:
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Sykes, T. A., Venkatesh, V., & Gosain, S. (2009). Model of

acceptance with peer support: A social network
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Computing: Toward a Conceptual Model of Utilization.
MIS quarterly, 15(1), 125.

Rajesh Sharma is a participant in the Fellow Program in

Management (FPM) at Indian Institute of Management
Indore (India) in the Information System area. His interest
areas in research include e-Government, technology
adoption, business process management and marketing
of services. He belongs to the Indian Telecom Service
(ITS) and is currently on study leave from the Department
of Telecom, Ministry of Communication & IT, Government
of India.

Vallerand, R. J. (1997). Toward a hierarchical model of

intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Advances in Social
Psychology (29), M. Zanna (ed.), Academic
Press,
New York,, pp 271-360.
Van Dijk, J., & Hacker, K. (2003). The digital divide as a
complex and dynamic phenomenon. The Information
Society, 19(4), 315-326.
Van Raaij, E. M., & Schepers, J. J. (2008). The acceptance
and use of a virtual learning environment in China.
Computers & Education, 50(3), 838-852.

Rajhans Mishra is an Assistant Professor in Information

Systems Area at Indian Institute of Management Indore.
He has also served as a visiting faculty at Indian Institute
of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of
Management Lucknow. His research interest includes
recommendation systems, web mining, data mining, text
mining, e-Governance and business analytics. He has
completed his doctoral work from Indian Institute of
Management Lucknow.

Venkatesh V., & Davis F. (2000). A theoretical extension of

the technology acceptance model: four longitudinal field
studies. Management Science, 46(2), 186-204.
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D.
(2003). User acceptance of information technology:
Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425-478.
Venkatesh, V., Sykes, T. A., & Venkatraman, S. (2014).

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Using Social Networking Sites (SNS): Mediating

Role of Self Disclosure and Effect on Well-being
Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

Manoj Das
Abstract

are "parallel but disjointed" (Ishii & Ullmer, 1997). With

the proliferation of digital technologies in our everyday
lives and the increased usage of networking sites, these
two realms are slowly converging into one another. We
are slowly merging our physical bodies with our online
selves and moving from "you are what you wear" to
"you are what you post".

Social networking sites (SNS) have acquired the

fascination of academicians for quite some time now
due to its unique advantages and outreach. This research
aims at examining the antecedents of SNS usage from
the perspective of people who fear or prefer avoiding
face-to-face communication as well as those who lack

Computer mediated communication (CMC) has emerged

as an indispensable part of interaction in our everyday
lives (Stone, 2009). A social networking site
(SNS)represents an online commu-nity wherein
members share their personal information by creating
"profiles" with the purpose of communicating with other
users of SNS in different ways and an array of topics
(Mahajan, 2009;Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009).
They serve a variety of purposes like 'social searching'with the purpose of finding information regarding offline
contacts, and 'social browsing'- developing new
connections with different individuals(Lampe, Ellison,
& Steinfield, 2006; Joinson, 2008; Trusov, Bucklin, &
Pauwels, 2009), befriending new people(Golder,
Wilkinson, & Huberman, 2007),increasing social capital
(Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2006),providing a platform for computer-mediated communication (Bennett,
Maton& Kervin, 2008, Ross et.al, 2009).

meaningful relations in their life. Drawing upon uses

and gratifications theory (U & G) and self-determination
theory, we identify the motives for SNS usage and its
impact on individual's well-being.
Previous studies focused on investigation of these
motives individually, in isolation of the other attributes
with most of the studies being experimental in nature.
However, the fact remains that, most of these attributes
are co-existing within an individual, and hence it would
be interesting to study them simultaneously, which
would help in identifying their relative strengths and
interactive effects. Hence while addressing this gap in
the literature; we seek to investigate the simultaneous
as well as the interactional effects of loneliness, social
connectedness, social isolation, social anxiety, and the
mediating role of self-disclosure. It would help
practitioners in designing SNS more effectively to ensure
enhanced user satisfaction with their usage.

Despite the immense usage of SNS, there has been a

scant amount of research related to it , in particular with
reference to the motives of usage and the kind of benefits
derived. (Ross et al., 2009). We draw upon uses and
gratifications theory (U & G), which specifies 'how and
why' a particular media is used with underlying
motivations and derived satisfaction associated with it
(Stafford, Stafford, & Schkade, 2004). U & G theory
explains usage of different media by focusing on the
individual motivations driving the decision (Katz,
Blumler & Gurevitch, 1999). It identifies the specific
gratifications, which individuals seek to satisfy notably
their psychological and sociological factors (Rubin,

Keywords: social networking sites, uses and

gratifications theory, self disclosure, social anxiety,
loneliness

1.

Introduction

As per Ishii and Ullmer (1997), "we live between two

realms: our physical environment and cyberspace." (p.
234). The "physical environment" represents the physical
environment in which we, humans, live (Gibson, 1979).
"Cyberspace" hereafter referred to as the "digital world"
made up of bits & bytes and distinct due to its
intangibility. It remains uncontested that these worlds
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Volume 6 Issue 2

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2002).On the other hand, self determination theory,

states that needs for competence , relatedness and
autonomy(Ryan & Deci, 2000) play an important role
in facilitating ones need and fulfilling need of social
development and personal well-being.

individual. It would help practitioners in designing

SNS more effectively to ensure enhanced user satisfaction
with their usage. The structure of remaining paper is
as follows: First of all literature review-highlighting
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)
and self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) for
identifying the motives behind SNS usage. This would
help in understanding how people behave and seek
gratification when using SNS. We particularly look at
this from the perspective of people who fear or prefer
avoiding face-to-face communication as well as those
who lack meaningful relations in their life.

1.1. Social Networking Sites and Motives for their

Usage
Boyd & Ellison (2007) have defined SNS as "web-based
services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public
or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2)
articulate a list of other users with whom they share
a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of
connections and those made by others within the system"
(p. 211).

Previous studies focused on investigation of these effects

individually, in isolation of the other attributes with
most of the studies being experimental in nature.
However, the fact remains that, most of these attributes
are co -existing within an individual, and hence it would
be interesting to study them simultaneously, which
would help in identifying their relative strengths and
interactive effects. Hence while addressing this gap in
the literature; we seek to investigate the simultaneous
as well as the interactional effects of loneliness, social
connectedness, social isolation, social anxiety, and the
mediating role of self-disclosure on well-being of an

Typically, SNS users create a profile on a SNS with a

picture and personal details and interests like place of
work, schools attended, favorite sports and sitcoms.
After creation of profile, they search for profiles of
friends and colleagues and even join groups based on
common interest by sending them a request. The most
common motive is maintaining existing social networks
effec-tively (Boyd & Ellison, 2007) with sometimes
sending invitations to" friends of friends'' (Staples, 2009).
(Table 1).

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,

Fang, & Chen, 2011

Functional , Experiential and Social motivations

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1.2. Uniqueness of CMC

2.1. Loneliness

Text based communication in CMC warrants special

attention due to its special features like emoticons to
express varied emotions and its importance for people
experiencing difficulty in face-to-face communication
(Reid & Reid, 2007). (Table 2).

Loneliness can be defined as "the cognitive awareness

of a deficiency in ones social and per-sonal relationships
and the ensuing affective reactions of sadness, emptiness
or longing" (Asher & Paquette, 2003 p.75). It can also
be alternatively defined as, "being alone, felt deprivation
of closeness"(Parkhurst & Hopmeyer, 1999). As social
beings, we become vulnerable when we en-ter in social
relationships.

2.

Usage of SNS and Well-Being

Researchers have established the existence of a positive

relationship between SNS's usage and the psychological
well-being of an individual (Kim & Lee, 2011; Liu & Yu,
2013). Having a large number of friends on face book
increases an individual's sense of well-being due to a
favorable representation of oneself to others (Kim and
Lee, 2011), this can also be mediated by self-disclosure
and friendship quality rather than have a direct influence
on well-being (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009; Wang & Wang,
2011). Huang (2010) has reported that social
communication via internet is a positive predictor of
psychological well-being. Due to the unique features
of CMC, users are comfortable in making self-disclosure,
which they would have otherwise avoided in case of
face-to-face interactions or online interactions, which
leads to high quality friendship (Valkenburg & Peter,
2007). Disclosure is also dependent on the timing,
appropriateness of the particular context and comfort
level with the partner (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009). Based
on displacement hypothesis, spending more time on
SNS reduces the quality of real life relations while
augmentation hypothesis maintains that usage of SNS
increases the quality of their real life relations. (Morgan
& Cotton, 2003; Shaw & Gant, 2002; Valkenburg & Peter,
2007)

Loneliness has been classified into two distinct types

based on the kind of relationship deficit they arise from
(Weiss, 1974). It can be either emotional loneliness due
to the lack of emotionally close relationship with a
caring and understanding person like a romantic partner.
On the other hand, social loneliness arises from the
absence of group ties with friends and other peers.
Loneliness is both a cause of as well as effect of internet
usage among college students (Kim, LaRose & Peng,
2009; Tokunaga & Rains, 2010). Individual feeling
depression and loneliness perceive themselves to be
lacking in skills with regard to social competence
(Caplan, 2003). McKenna, Green, and Gleason (2002)
have argued that lonely individuals are "somewhat
more likely to feel that they can better express their real
selves with others on the Internet than they can with
those they know offline" (p.28). This would lead them
to believe that they are more successful in online social
interactions leading to increased usage of networking
sites and feeling of well-being (Baker and Oswald, 2010).
Additional support for usages of SNS sites by lonely
individuals comes from social augmentation hypothesis,
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;

Tidwell & Walther, 2002

Increased self-disclosure and intimacy

Caplan, 2005

Control over self-presentation

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interacting with others exists due to the amplification

of individual's total social resources (Bessire, Kiesler,
Kraut, & Boneva, 2008). It also opens up an avenue for
meeting and befriending people thereby fulfilling their
need of social interaction and relationship thereby
eliminating both types of loneliness by satisfying the
individual's needs of relatedness as well. This is also
in line with the assumptions of stimulation theory and
social compensation theory, which state that lonely
individuals seek to compensate for lack of meaningful
relations by using the self disclosure feature of SNS
(Valkenburg & Josen 2007, Skues, Williams & Wise,2012).

shares our affective component of physical pain

(Eisenberger, 2012; MacDo-nald & Leary, 2005). We
tend to compensate for the loss of these social bonds
by using these SNS's. Drawing upon augmentation
hypothesis it can be inferred that individuals generally
use SNS for developing their social relations (Walther,
1996), and usage of media enhances the ex-isting social
relations of users (Valkenburg & Peter 2007, 2009).The
embedded social cues within these media foster a sense
of belonging, which acts as a surrogate of having social
relations (Derrick, Gabriel, & Hugenberg, 2009).
CMC helps in overcoming the barriers of spatial and
temporal constraints, which impede face to face
communication for individuals (Wellman &
Haythornthwaite, 2002).It provides social support due
to its unique features like higher anonymity, option of
editing and crafting messages along with access to varied
information sources (Walther & Boyd, 2002).

Hence, we can hypothesize that:

Hypothesis 1: There exists a positive relationship between
avoiding loneliness and usage of SNS and well-being of
individual.

2.2. Social Isolation

Hence, we can hypothesize that:

Although "loneliness" and "social isolation" are often

used interchangeably, but they are in fact distinct
concepts. (Bernard & Perry, 2013, de Jong Gierveld, Van
Tilburg & Dykstra, 2006). People can be socially isolated
without feeling lonely, or feel lonely amongst others.

Hypothesis 2: There exists a positive relationship between

avoiding social isolation and usage of SNS and well-being
of individual.

2.3. Social Anxiety

Social isolation refers to being ignored or excluded with

or without explicit declarations (Williams, 2007).
Commonly used terms that are used interchangeably
are ostracism, social exclusion, and rejection. Some of
the reasons for occurrence of social isolation are
increasing social cohesiveness, punishment for deviant
behavior, getting rid of unwanted members and
maintain-ing order in group (Gruter & Masters, 1986).
Humans as social beings are very sensitive towards
social isolation as they crave the interpersonal relations
and group memberships to feel connected with others
(Williams, 2007). It acts as a inhibitor from realizing our
basic needs (i.e., belonging, self-esteem, control, and
meaningful existence) (Williams, 2009).The absence of
these social bonds can lead to deterioration of wellbeing along with physical and mental morbidity(Cacioppo, Hawkley & Thisted, 2010; Hawkley,
Burleson, Berntson & Cacioppo, 2003; Williams, 2007).

Social anxiety disorder refers to a marked and persistent

fear of social or performance situations in which
embarrassment may occur, resulting in significant
distress and difficulties in functioning (American
Psychiatric Association, 2013). Drawing upon the
cognitive model of social anxiety, we can infer that
individuals experiencing social anxiety strong negative
beliefs about themselves (Clark & Wells, 1995; Liebowitz,
1987, Mattick, & Clarke, 1998, Rapee & Heimberg, 1997).
Due to these negative beliefs, such individuals tend to
evaluate most social cues as negative evaluation, which
tends to increase their anxiety. This increases their
inability to process face-to-face transactions due to their
concerns with self-presentation (Clark & McManus,
2002; Leary, & Kowalski, 1995; Schlenker & Leary, 1982).
Most of these problems are effectively resolved in
computer-mediated communication due to ease of
control over personal information, and decreased
scrutiny in terms of physical appearance and vocal

We have evolved to develop pain as alarm signal for

social isolation as it activates the neural systems, which
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2.5. Subjective Well-being

sounds, anonymity and absence of nonverbal cues there

by enhancing it usage and well-being of user (High &
Caplan, 2009, Kang, 2007, Madell & Muncer, 2007,
Subrahmanyam & Lin, 2007).

Subjective well-being stands for how an individual

makes sense of his life through cognitive and affective
evaluations (Diener,Lucas, Oishi, 2005). It is common
knowledge that people share their problems with others
in times of stress and the support thus obtained has
significant benefit on that person's health and wellbeing (e.g. Uchino, Cacioppo & Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996).
In fact, sharing events and discussing things with others
is helpful in building one's social resources thereby
allowing development of positive social interactions
(Gable & Reis, 2001).Hence, sharing experiences using
SNS helps to improve one's social ties with others in
addition to providing psychological benefit (Gable, Reis,
Impett, & Asher, 2004; Shen, Liu, & Wang, 2013;
Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009). A high number of friends
on SNS leads to satisfaction with life and well-being
since individuals compensate for the loss of meaningful
relations in their real life with their friends on the SNS
(Lee, Lee, & Kwon, 2011).

Hence, we can hypothesize that:

Hypothesis 3: There exists a positive relationship between
social anxiety and usage of SNS and well-being of individual.

2.4. Mediating Role of Self-Disclosure

Self-disclosure occurs when a person provides (i.e.,
discloses) information about himself or her-self to
another person (Cozby, 1973). Based upon social
penetration theory, when reciprocal disclosure occurs
between individuals it results in development of strong
relationships along with intimacy and strong
interpersonal bonds (Altman& Taylor, 1973).Sharing of
private thoughts, experiences, and emotions is a common
and widespread practice in SNS (Joinson & Paine, 2007).
Due to the unique features of CMC, youths prefer it to
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 wellbeing 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
fulfillment of socio emotional needs (Goswami, 2012).
Moreover, SNS users are less conscious about their selfpresentation on SNS, which causes them to disclose
more information as op-posed to face-to-face
conversation (Walther, 1996).

Figure 1 : Conceptual Framework

3.

SNS form an indispensable part of our everyday lives;

hence, there has been an increased attention towards
understanding the motives for their usage. In this paper,
we have tried to provide a holistic framework by
identifying the antecedents of SNS usage for people
who lack meaningful relationships in their lives and
compensate for it by using SNS.

Hence, we can hypothesize that:

Hypothesis 4: Usage of SNS is mediated by self-disclosure
and leads to well-being of an individual.

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Discussion & Conclusion:

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relations in childhood. Current Di-rections in
Psychological Science, 12(3), 75-78.

For such individuals SNS offers a gateway to a world

where they can express their feelings without inhibition,
receive social and emotional support they crave and
thereby increase their sense of well-being (Goffman,
1959). Disclosing personal information is also easier
due to anonymity and the absence of any kind of criticism
along with feeling of being in control (Qian & Scott,
2007).

Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The 'digital natives'
debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal
of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775-786.
Berger, C. R., & Calabrese, R. J. (1975). Some explorations
in initial interaction and beyond: Toward a
developmental theory of interpersonal communication.
Human communication research, 1(2), 99-112.
Bernard, S., & Perry, H. (2013). Loneliness and Social Isolation
Among Older People in North Yorkshire. Social Policy
Research Unit, University of York: York. Loneliness
Survey Team A, 3.

Some practical implications for companies could be

targeting such individuals for targeting their products
and creating virtual communities wherein they can share
their ideas & comments freely (Gupta, Kim & Shin,
2010) which could act as a potential barrier for
competitors. Companies would also be able to effectively
promote their products and services extensively on
such com-munity pages (Algesheimer,Borle, Dholakia,
& Singh, 2010). It could serve as a source for idea
generation for new products and improvements in
existing ones.

Bessire, K., Kiesler, S., Kraut, R., & Boneva, B. S. (2008).

Effects of Internet use and social resources on changes
in depression. Information, Community & Society, 11(1),
47-70.
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., & Thisted, R. A. (2010).
Perceived social isolation makes me sad: 5-year crosslagged analyses of loneliness and depressive
symptomatology in the Chicago Health, Aging, and
Social Relations Study. Psychology and Aging, 25 (2),
453-463.
Caplan, S. E. (2003). Preference for Online Social Interaction
A Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial
Well-Being. Communication Research, 30(6), 625-648.

In addition, since the success of SNS depends on the

number of members, content generation done by users,
increased level of site visits and traffic which result in
revenue genera-tion(Carroll,2007, Chen,2013). Hence,
designers of SNS need to keep in mind the motives of
the users for using SNS and try to make it a pleasurable
experience for using them.

Carroll, E. (2007). Success Factors of Online Social Networks.

The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.
Chen, R. (2013). Member use of social networking sites-an
empirical examination. Decision Support Systems, 54(3),
1219-1227.
Clark DM,Wells A. (1995). Acognitive model of social phobia.
In Social Phobia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Treatment,
ed. R Heimberg, M Liebowitz, DA Hope, FR Schneier,
pp. 69-93. New York: Guilford.

Future research can empirically verify this model and

identifying which are the most relevant motives for
usage of SNS. It would help practitioners in designing
SNS more effectively to en-sure enhanced user
satisfaction with their usage. Future research may also
look into whether personality traits have an impact on
usage of SNS. Lastly, a longitudinal study may reveal
in-sights that are more promising.

Clark, D. M., & McManus, F. (2002). Information processing

in social phobia. Biological Psychiatry, 51(1), 92-100.
Collins, N. L., & Miller, L. C. (1994). Self-disclosure and liking:
a meta-analytic re-view. Psychological Bulletin, 116(3),
457-475.
Cozby, P. C. (1973). Self-disclosure: a literature review.
Psychological Bulletin, 79(2), 73-91.
Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, S., & Hugenberg, K. (2009). Social
surrogacy: How favored television programs provide the
experience of belonging. Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology, 45(2), 352-362.

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in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2414-2419.

Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2009). The effects of instant

messaging on the quality of adoles-cents' existing
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Determining uses and gratifications for the Internet.
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impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal
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M. D. Lytras & P. O. de Pablos (Eds.), Social web
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Walther, J. B., & Boyd, S. (2002). Attraction to computermediated social support. In C. A. Lin & D. Atkin (Eds.),
Communication technology and society: Audience
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Stone, B. (2009). Breakfast can wait: The day's first stop is

online. New York Times.
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net: Internet use and well-being. Adolescence, 42, 659677.

Wang, J., & Wang, H. (2011). The predictive effects of online

communication on well-being among Chinese
adolescents. Psychology, 2(4), 359-362.

Tokunaga, R. S., & Rains, S. A. (2010). An evaluation of two

characterizations of the relation-ships between
problematic Internet use, time spent using the Internet,
and psychosocial problems. Human Communication
Research, 36(4), 512-545

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In Z. Rubin (Ed.), Doing unto oth- ers. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Wellman, B., & Haythornthwaite, C. (Eds.). (2002). The
Internet in everyday life. Oxford: Black-well Publishers

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word-of-mouth versus traditional marketing: findings
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Marketing, 73(5), 90-102.

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58, 425-452.
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Manoj Das is a participant of Fellow program in

Management (FPM) in Marketing Area at IIM Indore. He
has done his M.Sc (Organic Chemistry) and MBA from
RTMNU. He has 3 years of teaching experience prior to
joining the FPM course of IIM Indore. His areas of interest
in research are social media and its impact on business
and individuals, personal selling, Service marketing.

Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2007). Online communication

and adolescent well-being: Testing the stimulation versus
the displacement hypothesis. Journal of Computer
Mediated Communi-cation, 12(4), 1169-1182.
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to friends. Developmental psychology, 43(2), 267-277.

IMJ

38

Manoj Das

Government Process Re-engineering of an E-governance

Implementation for Motor Vehicle Registration in India
Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

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

implementation for motor vehicle registration in a state

(Axelsson, Melin & Lindgren, 2013). Another research

(Fogli, 2013) proposes a novel approach to the
development of e-government applications for citizens

in India. Registration of new vehicles is a process which

calls for detailed Government Process Reengineering
study as the frequency of this process is very high, to

and public administration employees. Also literature

reveals a study on the usability of e-governance software
(Kumar & Subramoniam, 2013). In developing countries

the tune of several lakhs per year, and is increasing day

by day. The objective of implementation of the egovernance project is to register a new vehicle in less

with limited resources, it is vital to judiciously set egovernment strategies and direct investment, giving
due consideration to the risks involved (Abdallah &

than five days. However, data collection revealed that

there are cases where the process took even more than
twenty days, that too after the implementation of the

Fan, 2012). Another research aims to discover the quality

priorities of e-government users and analyses the
attitude of Greek citizens towards e-government sites

electronic method for the same. Seven hypotheses have

been stated and tested to reach a conclusion about the
cases studied - whether the average time taken for

(Papadomichelaki & Mentzas, 2011). Understanding

the key determinants of e-government services is an
important issue for enhancing the degree of the usage

registration crosses the target of five days, and also to

test whether a difference exists between groups such
as, transport and non-transport vehicles or between

of services (Sharma, 2015). Nograek & Vintar (2015)

have worked to develop a more comprehensive
framework that would provide better insight into the

dealers. These are set as the objectives of this Government

to Citizen (G2C) services. The study also comes up with
a reengineered process, after eliminating non-value

characteristics of organisational transformation of public

sector organisations in the e-government era. The
purpose of another research found in the literature is

adding approvals and steps to minimize the delay in

the process, thereby improving the overall productivity.

to assess the maturity level of the Jordanian egovernment program from citizens' perspective (Anas,
Hussein and Saheer, 2014). Alomari, Sandhu & Woods

Keywords: government process reengineering, vehicle

registration, time, hypothesis, G2C services

It is stated in literature that citizen adoption of e-

(2014) have explored how citizens socialise and network

while using and adopting e-government. The importance
of evaluation and optimization of e-government services

government systems is sluggish, particularly in

developing countries (Rana & Dwivedi, 2015). An
analysis on why e-government projects are prone to

is imperative if the government organisations consider

to have an effective impact on the success and take-up,
or proper buy-in of the services offered (Lee, Sivarajah,

design-reality gap is available in literature (Guha &

Chakrabarti, 2014). E-government information flow
between government, intermediaries and users in varied

Molnar, Weerakkody & Irani, 2015). Another study

focuses on a comprehensive review of the literature
related to e-government satisfaction and adoption, with

ways impacts the effectiveness of e-government policies

(Taylor et al., 2014). Another study (Alawneh, Al-Refai
& Batiha, 2013) relates to the determinants of e-

particular focus on the most critical factors and the

manifested variables that influence user satisfaction in
e-government (Weerakkody, Irani, Lee, Hindi & Osman,

satisfaction with e-government. Analysis of stakeholder

2014). The primary intention of the literature review is

1.

IMJ

Introduction

39

Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

resolution. Secondly, pressure on the developer for

speedy implementation may result in launching the

to establish the gap in literature as stated in the

motivation section that follows.

2.

software product before it is fully ready in all aspects.

Third is the time and finance constraint involved in
every project. Ineffective change management, lack of

Motivation for the Present Study

Literature review section has discussed the presence of

a gap in the literature with respect to reengineering of

awareness for training and fear among the employees

about downsizing, are other contributing factors that
act as barriers for communication between the client

existing government process flow of an already

implemented e-government system, led to the
establishment of the stated gap that is studied less or

and the software supplier, preventing full understanding

of the process before development.

totally absent in the research articles, especially in the

case of e-government implementations in India.

3.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is defined as the

There is scope for dramatic improvement in performance

by switching from the "as-is" process flow to the "tobe" process flow in every e-project implemented in the
country. Though technology is a key enabler for Business
Process Reengineering in areas other than software, like
RFID or bar code for engine or chassis identification,
this study focuses mainly on dramatic improvement by
taking a re-look at the software process flow alone. The
study is focused on the motor vehicle registration process
to see whether the implemented e-project met the
objective of delivering the Registration Certificate before
the fifth day from application submission. Also, it seeks
to ascertain whether the initially set objective of five
days could be further reduced to target a lower time
period through the implementation of the reengineered
process.

fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business

processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical,
contemporary measures of performance, such as cost,
quality, service and speed. BPR applied IT is the new
Industrial Engineering (Davenport & Short, 1990;
Davenport & Stoddard, 1994). BPR involves a thorough
analysis of the current business processes that are
redesigned to improve performance (Al?Mashari & Zairi,
2000; Davenport, 1993). Government Process Reengineering (GPR) has evolved from applying Business
Process Re-engineering (BPR) concepts to Government
Services. Most organizations, both public and private,
have traditional bureaucratic procedures that hinder
performance and ultimately, the productivity level
(Rainey, Backoff & Levine, 1976). Antiquated processes,
historical Acts and Rules, and status quo continue, even
with the introduction of technology to facilitate
improvement of service delivery. Costly and time-

Figure 1 shows eleven steps of the "as-is" process starting

from the customer who is a citizen initiating the process
and ending in the final dispatch of the Registration
Certificate by post. As a first step, citizen approaches
the dealer for registration, remits payments and signs
papers. Then the dealer submits the details to the website.
This is followed by the dealer visiting the RTO for tax
token and for generation of number for remitting fees.
The dealer takes the vehicle to the ground for physical
verification of chassis and engine numbers by RTO,
along with the originals of the submitted documents.
Verification is carried out in the system and registration
number is allotted for the vehicle. After this allocation,
the clerk retrieves details from the implemented system
and verifies. The Superintendent repeats this step. Issue
of Registration Certificate is the next step. Registration

consuming business processes cause inefficiency and

ineffectiveness. So there is a desperate need to
thoroughly analyze and reengineer the old-fashioned
and obsolete business processes to improve performance
(Davenport & Beers, 1995). Any e-project, at the time
of implementation, will not be based on the most optimal
streamlined process for various reasons such as, gaps
in communication between the user and developer
resulting in project failure (Bashein, Markus & Riley,
1994; Cao, Clarke & Lehaney, 2001). Firstly, jobs set
aside for each section in an office or for an officer have
stabilized over time due to the process of conflict over
ownership of the sub-processes involved and their

IMJ

Problem Statement

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.
Then physical signature is affixed on the Registration
Certificate by the concerned authority prior to hologram
fixing, lamination and dispatch. This is the 11-step
process which is the focus of this study.

4.

of the registration certificate. Further, the time taken

for each of the sub-processes involved as listed in the
Table 1 were collected from corresponding files available
in the office. Suitable hypotheses are coined to come
to a conclusion about the time taken for the process of
registration as discussed in the following sections. The
study was done during the period January 2013 to April
2014.

Research Methodology

The population consists of all new vehicles registered

in the state where registration is growing at the rate of
ten lakh per year through nearly twenty or more Regional
Transport Offices (RTO) assisted by sub RTOs
numbering a little more than two and half times the
number of RTOs. Three RTOs were randomly picked
by Simple Random Sampling from districts where the
registration rate of new vehicles is high. Twenty to
thirty samples each of transport and non-transport
vehicles were randomly picked from the website of the
State Motor Vehicle Department for data relating to
date of submission of application and date of delivery
IMJ

The hypotheses proposed for the study are as follows:

H1: The time delay between registration on the website
and data entered status of transport vehicle data is less
than or equal to one day.
H2: The time delay between data entered status and
verified status of transport vehicle is less than or equal
to one day.
H3: The time delay between verified status and RC
issued status is less than or equal to one day.

41

Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

H4: The time delay between issued status and printed

status of RC is less than or equal to one day.

picked-up as sample during period of study are

presented here (Table 1).

H5: The time delay between fresh application for

registration and dispatched status of Registration
Certificate is less than or equal to five days.

6.

The results of t-tests carried out to test at 5% significance

level on whether any of the sub processes crossed the
time limit of one day or the whole process exceeded the
target objective of five days is shown in Table 2.

H6: There is no difference between average time taken

for registration of transport and non-transport vehicles.
H7: There is no difference between average times taken
for registration of vehicles from two dealers.

5.

Results

For the above set of hypothesis, 't' calculated value tcalc

is much above 't' tabulated value ttab of 1.79 for both
transport vehicles as well as non-transport vehicles for
the corresponding one-tailed tests. Hence, hypothesis
H1 that the activity is taking less than or equal to one

Data Collection

The descriptive statistics of the data collected from the

office files for twenty registered vehicles randomly

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of the Samples for Transport and Non-Transport Vehicles
Average Time elapsed between
the following in days

Transport Vehicle
(N=20)

Non-Transport Vehicle
(N=20)

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

4.30
0.35
0.75
0.80
14.3

4.68
0.67
1.12
1.36
11.93

12.25
1.20
2.30
0.90
31.65

15.06
2.14
2.25
0.85
19.41

Submission and Entered

Entered and Verification
Verification and Issue
Issuing and Printing
Submission and Dispatch

Table 2: Summary of the 't' Test Results Carried Out on Sub Processes Time Limit and the Whole Process
H.
No.

Hypothesis for the t test carried

out at 95% significance level
for which the tabulated t value is
1.729 for 19 degrees of freedom

Transport Vehicle
(N=20)
tcalc

Test
Result

H1

Time taken between application submission

and data entered in the system <= 1 day

3.15

H2

Time taken between data entered in the

system and verification done <= 1 day

H3

Non-Transport
Vehicle (N=20)
tcalc

Test
Result

Reject

3.34

Reject

4.33

Reject

1.58

Accept

Time taken between verification done and

issue registration certificate <= 1 day

1.00

Accept

2.58

Reject

H4

Time taken between Issuing of registration

certificate and printing <= 1 day

0.66

Accept

0.53

Accept

H5

Time taken between submission of fresh

application and dispatch of registration
certificate <= 5 days

6.14

Reject

4.99

Reject

IMJ

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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
Time taken for registration
in days

Vehicle Type

Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean

Transport

29

7.21

4.894

.909

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
Variances
F
Sig.

t-test for Equality of Means

t

df

Sig. (2tailed)

Mean
Difference

Std.
95%
Error
Confidence
Difference Interval of the
Difference
Lower

Time taken for Equal

registration in variances
days
assumed

4.406

.040

Equal
variances
not
assumed

-3.199

57

.002

-8.160

2.551

-13.267

-3.241

37.47

.003

-8.160

2.518

-13.259

Table 5 : Group Statistics on Time taken for Registration of Vehicles from Two Dealers
Time taken for registration
in days

Dealer

Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean

Dealer1
Dealer2

20
20

33.35
28.00

14.240
12.657

3.184
2.830

Table 6 : Independent Samples Test on Time taken for Registration of Vehicles from Two Dealers
Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances
F
Sig.

Time taken for Equal

registration in variances
days
assumed
Equal
variances
not
assumed
IMJ

1.579

.217

t-test for Equality of Means

t

1.256

df

38

1.256 37.485

43

Sig. (2tailed)

Mean
Difference

Std.
Error
Difference

95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower

Upper

.217

5.350

4.260

-3.274

13.974

.217

5.350

4.260

-3.278

13.978

Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

and non-transport vehicle can be rejected. This is

statistically significant and hypothesis H6 is rejected at
5% significance level as 0.04 is less than 0.05 or 5%.
Twenty nine transport vehicle samples and thirty nontransport vehicle samples are taken randomly for the
above hypothesis test.

day is rejected in both the cases and it is concluded that

the same is more than one day in the case of both
transport and non-transport vehicles. A similar set of
hypothesis have been developed. To test the hypothesis
for serial numbers 2 to 5 and 't' test results on whether
to accept the corresponding hypothesis or not have been
listed for both transport vehicle and non-transport
vehicles respectively.

The group statistics (Table 5) and independent sample

't' test to find out whether there exists difference between
registration time taken for new vehicle registration by
two different dealers are as given in Table 6. Twenty
samples are taken for each dealer's case and independent
't' test is conducted to find out whether significant
difference exists in the average time taken for registration
between the two dealers.

It can be noted that only four of the listed sub-processes

are statistically within the time limit given; rest of them
exceeded the time limit. Moreover, hypothesis test on
the whole process of new vehicle registration also
revealed that the time limit set as 5 days has been
exceeded in the case of both transport vehicles and nontransport vehicles. In order to reduce the steps in the
process, a new "to-be" process is arrived at by holding
internal discussions to arrive at a more simplified
process, eliminating duplicated approvals and non-value
adding steps as discussed in later sections of this
research.

A sample size of twenty from each dealer is taken for

testing this hypothesis. The results showed that the
hypothesis H7 could not be rejected at 5% significance
level as 0.217 is much above 0.05 or 5%. Therefore, it
is concluded that there is no difference in the average
time taken for registration of new vehicles from two
different dealers.

The group statistics (Table 3) and the result of the

independent sample 't' test to see whether there is any
difference between time taken for registration of
transport vehicle and that of non-transport vehicle are
presented in Table 4 for testing hypothesis H6.

Figure 2 shows the "to-be" process after elimination of

steps which are found no value adding so that the
process can be completed within the stipulated time of
less than or equal to one day instead of the previously
set target of five days. The main changes which can
be noted in the process flow prior to re-engineering as

Based on above results, it is inferred that hypothesis

H6 which states that there is no difference between
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

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Suresh Subramoniam and Dev Twinky

Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

in Figure 1 and re-engineered process flow as in Figure

2 are as follows: Dealer visit to RTO office for physical
payment and manual receipt of registration number is
avoided by online payment and electronic receipt of
registration number in the re-engineered process. The
verification step which is repeated by the Superintendent
is eliminated in the re-engineered process. Electronic
generation and delivery of registration certificate is
suggested in the place of several steps which follows
the step involving issue of certificate. This leads to
reducing an eleven step process to a mere six step
process, saving time and effort of many, improving
productivity at the same time, while improving the lead
time in issue of registration certificate for new vehicles.

7.

concluded that they exceeded the set time limit of one

day. The hypothesis test on whether the registration
process as a whole exceeded the agreed limit of five
days revealed that both transport and non-transport
vehicles exceeded the set time limit of five days.
Hypothesis H6 which states that there is no difference
between the average time taken for registration of
transport vehicles and non-transport vehicles is rejected.
Further, it is concluded that there is no difference in
the average time taken for registration of new vehicles
from two different dealers. Every step in the existing
process was re-visited to decide whether to retain it in
the process flow or not. Redundant steps, if any, are
removed and others are collapsed or streamlined for
process simplification. In the "as-is" process eleven steps
are involved, whereas the re-engineered process has
only six steps. Also a reduction of nearly 45% of steps
is achieved using the new process. The time limit,
according to agreement with citizen's charter, for
registration using the present process flow is five days.
But in reality it is even more than 20 days in certain
cases. It can be seen that using the re-engineered process,
registration can be done in one day by the proposed
process flow alone, leaving aside reduction in time
which can be achieved by envisaging technologies like
RFID for engine or chassis number swipe or verifications
that are carried out manually at present.

Conclusion and Managerial Implications

Most-government software are designed and

implemented in a project mode that results in the
accidental inclusion of non-value-added steps in the
process flow. Such inclusions can also be due to the
organizational power play between interacting members
of the system in the allocation of work in the newly
introduced e-mode of functioning. Only a revisit at a
later point of time with an idea of re-engineering can
help to evolve a crispy set of value added tasks in the
process flow, ending up with saving of resources. Though
an effort is made to achieve an end-to-end process flow
in every e-government project, there is a tendency for
employees to fall back on the earlier manual method
at least partially in duplicating the functionality already
available in the software, leading to delays in the process.
Revisits on the process flow at planned intervals and
up-to-date application of emerging technologies widen
the scope for re-engineering possibilities in every egovernment project in the post implementation phase.

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Information Quarterly, 31(2), 327-336.

Suresh Subramoniam is an Associate Professor at the CET

School of Management, College of Engineering,
Trivandrum. He holds Masters degree in Industrial
Engineering from Louisiana State University in USA and
PhD in Management from Kerala University. He is Fellow
of the Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering.

Kumar, K., & Subramoniam, S. (2013). Usability analysis of

an Indian e-governance software. Electronic
Government, An International Journal, 10(2), 211-221.
Lee, H., Sivarajah, U., Molnar, A., Weerakkody, V., & Irani,
Z. (2015). A User Satisfaction Study of London's
Congestion Charge e-Service: A citizen perspective.
International Journal Of Electronic Government
Research, 11(2), 35-50.

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Dev Twinky is a full time MBA student at CET School

of Management, College of Engineering, Trivandrum. She
has special interest in Business Process Re-engineering of
e-government systems.

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Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart

Technologies: Framework of Temporal Data
Mining Concerning Smart Meter
Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

Shashi Kant Srivastava

Abstract

recorded very easily (Nezhad, Wijaya, Vasirani, &

Aberer, 2014). This recording, if mined following data
mining techniques, may provide various useful adoption
patterns that remain unknown otherwise. Current
electric meter does not offer this facility of observing
and recording electricity consumption of different
electrical devices. The importance of this research
becomes evident since electric meters are part of every
household numbering thousands of millions in number.
Moreover, every house is equipped with several
electrical devices.

This paper attempts to propose a framework to study

the adoption pattern of smart electrical technologies
based on the existing understanding of technology
adoption. The main thrust of this research is to develop
a framework that may become practical right away,on
availability of data from these technologies. In the
absence of existing data, this paper generates the data
with the help of computer simulation, and shows how
wealth and technology diffusion theories can be explored
for developing the proposed technology adoption
framework. It is argued that results based on the
proposed framework are able to identify the trends and
association in the adoption of these technologies within
society.

The proposed topic becomes more important due to

three reasons. First, IoT's are the future of the world.
Second, IoT's will generate huge amount of data, the
use of which is not thought of at present. Third, there
is no prior research work on a similar topic. Examples
of IoT's i.e., smart meter and smart devices, are to
become common in the event of the present electric
meter being replaced for effectiveness and efficiency.The
data generated by the combination (smart meter and
smart devices )will be enormous in size. This data will
have record of all the operations of all the devices on
24*7*365 basis. The size of the data will be
huge;conventional analytical techniques cannot handle
it. Therefore, this data offers a unique opportunity to
data scientists to explore techniques that may be of help
to the various stakeholders involved. An example of
such trends is, mining the adoption pattern of various
smart electrical devices within the household. Mining
these patterns will not only be of help to equipment
manufacturers to understand their customers better,
but also to policy makers to frame suitable policies in
alignment with their long term socio-environmental
objectives.

Keywords: IoT, technology adoption, temporal data

mining, smart meter, smart grid, smart home, smart
devices

1. Introduction
This paper proposes a framework to mine probable and
feasible business solutions from the enormous data
generated from Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Smart
meters are one such device which may be categorised
as initial examples of IoT's that may soon become an
integral part of households (Depuru, Wang,
Devabhaktuni, & Gudi, 2011; Greveler, Glosekotter,
Justus, & Loehr, 2012). Smart meters are capable of
transferring electrical consumption metering details of
a household on real time basis to electricity provider.
Furthermore, this meter can also transfer equipment
wise recording of the consumption pattern, in case the
house is equipped with smart devices. Due to this
capability of the smart meter, adoption time of various
smart electrical devices installed in a residence can be

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2. Literature Review

Literature review of temporal data mining clearly

demonstrates that, in comparison to the field of data
mining, this area is very new. Furthermore, there are
relatively limited efforts by researchers to explore the
field of temporal data mining. Therefore, there are very
few papers pertaining to this research subject. Out of
a limited number of 114 papers used for literature review,
majority of efforts are presented as conference papers;
publication as journal articles is limited. As a result,
there are very few papers on the application of temporal
data mining in smart homes(i.e. Cook & Jakkula, 2008;
Jakkula & Cook, 2011). Very limited number of papers
(e.g. Chou, Hsu, & Lin, 2014; Zhang, Grijalva, & Reno,
2014) and the anticipated extensive application of smart
meter in future, suggest a gap in existing research
efforts. Hence investigation and future research in this
field is desirable. Considering the evident gap in
literature, this paper aims to bridge this to an extent.
The present effort of bridging the gap may be of concern
to certain stakeholders of smart meters. Users,
manufactures, electricity providers and policy makers
within the government are few important stakeholders.
Out of these, manufactures of smart devices would be
the first to be concerned. Manufactures would be
interested to know the adoption pattern prevailing in
society. The prediction of this adoption pattern will
provide a fair idea to manufactures to appropriately
plan their business strategy. There are innumerable
electrical devices in households at present and more or
less, all are set to become smart in due course of time.
A study of adoption patterns in the early stage will give
added advantage to manufactures to invest on
innovation and design of the appropriate product and
plan its marketing accordingly. Considering these
implications, this articles aims to design a framework
that may suggest answers of the following questions,
related to manufacturers of smart devices.

Literature review section is organized in three sub

sections. First section explains the overview of data
mining literature relevant to our research. Second
explains the apparent research gap in the reviewed
literature of data mining and the third generates research
questions to be addressed based on these gaps. Data
mining literature specifically focused to time trend is
of interest for our research. The first mention of such
an idea was observed in 1998 in a paper titled "The
intelligent interface for online electronic medical records
using temporal data mining" by Spenceley &
Warren(1998). Since then two prominent fields have
been extensively usingtemporal data mining; one,
medical (Bellazzi, Larizza, Magni, & Bellazzi, 2005;
Eriksson, Werge, Jensen, & Brunak, 2014; Svanstrm,
Callrus, & Hviid, 2010)and another, geographic
information system and urban planning( An, Zhang,
Zhang, & Wang, 2014; Cheng & Wang, 2008; Kitamoto,
2002).
Besides medical and urban planning fields, research of
temporal data mining is also emerging in the context
of smart environment, specifically for smart homes.
One research following this technique of data mining
in the context of smart homes is by Cook & Jakkula,
(2008). This paper uses the technique of temporal data
mining for the detection of anomalies in smart homes.
These anomalies are events happening within
continuously observed environment that are other than
day to day routine, may be accident, fire etc. Possibility
of detection of such anomaly becomes possible because
smart homes are residences equipped with smart devices
capable of sensing the environment. Furthermore, these
smart devices, in the presence of other smart technology,
sequentially connect to smart meter and smart grid. So
smart devices, smart home, smart meter and smart grid
form interlinked chains. Combining these separate
segments of the chain together results in smart
environment. Out of these four sub units of smart
environment, smart grid is the subject relatively more
studied in research. There are quite a few papers which
study application of temporal data mining in the context
of smart grid ( Fan, Chen, Kalogridis, Tan, & Kaleshi,
2012; Prasad & Avinash, 2013; Samantaray, 2015).
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1. What are the characteristics of households that adopt

a particular smart device at particular time reference?
User's demographic and social characteristics can be
concluded, based on his electricity consumption detail
(Newing, Anderson, Bahaj, & James, 2015). These
characteristics are the number of occupants, presence
of children, type and size of dwelling, and socio-

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economic and geo-demographic characteristics of the

household(Newing, Anderson, Bahaj, & James, 2015).
For the purpose of simplification, this paper does not
simulate the variation in power consumption of the
single household. Rather only the total amount of
yearly consumption is modelled. Therefore, it is not
possible to mine all the possible household characteristics with the present data. But the economic
aspect, significantly associated with the amount of
electricity consumption, is considered as the variable
for consumer segmentation. By integrating electricity
consumption of the single household at the time of
device adoption will help to know the present
segment of customers that adopt devices. Furthermore, it gives an indication of the next appropriate
consumer segment based on which customized
business plan for that section can be prepared.

illumination level and presence of human being. Based

on this informationthe smart bulb will be able to decide
whether to light itself up or not. In the context of IT,
definition of smart is slightly modified; besides sensing
and controlling capabilities, communication to other
devices and networks is also required. This capability
defines smart devices as"personal devices interacting
with users, sensing their environment, and
communicating with each other" (Allwright et al., 2006).
Smart meters are also an example of smart devices to
be deployed in future households. As defined, smart
meters too are capable of sensing the electric
consumption in totality, as well as partially by smart
devices of the home. Smart meters may force control
on consumption of electrical devices, if programmed.
Smart meters are also capable of communicating this
consumption data through internet to the electricity
provider on near real time basis.Therefore, smart meter
reaches its full capability only in the presence of smart
electrical devices and in their absence offers only limited
functionality. Smart grid, as one of the associated
technologies, is explained below.

2. What is the sequential adoption pattern between two

particular smart devices? With this analysis manufactures may prepare for the production and marketing of the next product analyzed to be adopted
by the customer segment.
3. What is the average time lag between adoptions of
two particular smart devices? Knowing the time of
adoption by society will give opportunity to firms
to strategically plan their future products.

3.1 Smart Grid

Smart grid is defined as "the electricity grid that uses
digital technology to improve reliability, security and
efficiency of the electric system, from large generation,
through the delivery systems to electricity consumers
and a growing number of distributed generation and
storage resources"(Li, Zhou, & China 2011, p.99).
Definition of smart grid makes it clear that smart grid
uses computer technology to integrate all parts of
electricity distribution and consumption intelligently.
The principle objective of this integration is to make the
system more efficient. Efficiency of the smart grid is the
result of availability of all consumption records in the
process of electricity distribution via smart grid. Through
digital technology smart grid automatically keeps the
travel and consumption records of electricity, from
generation till the last point of consumption. Because
of its digital nature smart grid is not only capable of
keeping all the data recorded in the process of electricity
distribution, but it can also communicate this data to
various stakeholders and help them take proper

Remaining part of the paper is organised as follows.

Next section, Section 3, describes smart meter and related
technologies. Section 4 elaborates the concept of temporal
data mining and its evolution. Section 5 defines the
nature of temporal data availability, and Section 6 defines
the problem and explains the tentative solution which
temporal data mining may offer. The final section,
Section 7, deals with conclusions of the paper and
suggests future work to be done in this regard.

3.

Smart Meter and Related Smart Technologies

In the context of electronics, smart is defined as any

method or device having both sensing and control
capabilities (Baz, 1996). In accordance with this definition
all the smart devices are capable of sensing the
surrounding environment and are able to accordingly
guide and control their functions. For example, smart
bulb will be capable of sensing the surrounding
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decisions at the appropriate time. Present electricity

distribution lacks this capability and hence is susceptible
to several problems. The biggest problem of present day
electricity transmission is energy and power shortage,
power outage and electricity theft. To an extent these
problems can be resolved with the help of smart grids
(Seetharam et al., 2013). Smart grid offers unique
solutions, which are unimaginable in present context,
to these problems. Differential pricing to resolve energy
shortage at peak hours and accurate data availability
of power outages and theft detection are a few of them.
The fully functional smart grid system does not mean
just the presence of smart grid and smart meter; smart
electricity devices are other essentials required to attain
the full capability offered by smart grids. If smart grid
is an essential requirement beside smart meter at one
end, then smart electrical devices are essential at the
other end.

capability and threats posed by this data availability

is still unknown. However, certain characteristics of
this data may be visualized. Based on the use of smart
devices, smart meters will keep recording the use with
time stamp on it. Time stamping on the data from
various devices puts it in the category of temporal data.
Analysis of this data comes under the specialised area
of data mining, known as temporal data mining.
Temporal data mining may offer certain usability to this
data for pattern mining, useful to stakeholders.

4.

The previous section discussed the integration of smart

meter and smart devices to produce enormous amounts
of data.It is nearly impossible to handle this data without
the intervention of data mining. Data produced by smart
meters are of enormous volume and high velocity
(Nezhad et al., 2014). Being temporal in nature, temporal
data mining techniques offer better analysis of data
compared to that of traditional data mining. Temporal
data mining is an extension of traditional data mining.
Application of temporal data mining lies in mining the
sequence of activities rather than just cross sectional
states of it, and thus, they offer better inferences than
that of traditional data mining (Camara, Naguingar, &
Bah, 2015). These inferences may result in contextual
and temporal proximity of two or more subjects of
study, some of which may indicate cause and effect
relationship between multiple series of data (Camara
et al., 2015).

3.2 Smart Devices

By embedding microelectronics devices to any everyday object, it can be converted into a smart object
(Mattern, 2003). These smart objects or devices can
communicate by wireless means and they may form
networks that may rise to a world-wide distributed
system network of magnitude much larger than today's
Internet (Mattern, 2003). Recentdevelopments in sensor
technology has made sensors capable of detecting
various environmental phenomena, including but not
limited to, light, acceleration, temperature etc. Radio
sensors are another interesting development in this
area;they can report their observations without any
energy supply within a few meters distance. These
sensors obtain the required energy from the environment
or directly from the measuring process itself. The
capability of remote control, security alarm and sensors
are utilized while converting an ordinary home into
smart home with the application of these smart devices
(Kadam, Mahamuni, & Parikh, 2015). An overview of
smart meter, smart grid and smart devices helps us in
understanding the concept of smart home and smart
environment in which smart devices, in interaction with
smart meter and smart grid,produce enormous amount
of data. The present world has not witnessed data of
such nature and quantum, and hence the potential
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Temporal Data Mining

5.

Nature of Data

Smart devices installed in smart homes are comprised

of hardware and software, with time stamping of its use
recorded in a server (Mohassel, Fung, Mohammadi, &
Raahemifar, 2014). Smart meters communicate
consumption data equipped with time stamping to both
the user and the service provider (Mohassel et al., 2014).
For the purpose of this research adoption of such devices
by society is assumed to be similar to other technology
adoption seen historically. We further assume that once
adopted by households (first time stamp recorded in
the data server), the device is used on a regular basis.
Cases of abandonment after adoption are not taken into
account. Present study is concerned only with the first

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time record of use of any new device by the consumer.

Some of the information anticipated to be obtained from
smart environment and used to answer the formulated
research questions are:

distribution. In pareto distribution the frequency of

observation is inversely proportional to the amount of
consumption. If amount is more, frequency or probability
of its occurrence will be less and vice averse. Based on
average per capita electricity consumption in India as
800KWH (Chauhan & Saini, 2015; Sharma &
Balachandra, 2015), variation in consumer per capita
consumption is modelled with maximum yearly
consumption of electricity as 12000 KWH and 100 KWH
as minimum electricity consumption. Modelling of
electricity consumption is followed by modelling the
time pattern of smart device adoption. Rogers' diffusion
of innovation (DOI) theory explains that adoption of
any innovation in society follows a normal curve in time
(Sahin, 2006). Innovators are the first segment of society
to adopt these products, followed by early adopter.
After these segments of society have adopted the
product, it is adopted by early majority and late majority
segments. In the end, the population characterised as
laggards adopt it (Sahin, 2006). Therefore, to simulate
adoption data in time, normal distribution is used. It
is assumed that smart device adoption will take
approximately 10 years (3650 days). Therefore the last
person of the proposed 1000 people will adopt it after
nearly 10 years from the first person. It has been found
that there is a high degree of correlation between
economic status of the individual and adoption of
innovation (Al-Ghaith, Sanzogni, & Sandhu, 2010). This
fact is used in simulation of data. As a result, multivariate
data is generated following two distribution patterns,
pareto and normal. Since there is correlation between
the amount of electricity consumption by a household
and adoption of smart devices, certain degree of
correlation is maintained between these two in data
generation.

Id<- is consumer identity

con<- per year electricity consumption by consumer
t1<- is first time in the electric meter device number one
is recorded
t2<- is first time in the electric meter device number two
is recorded
tm<- is first time in the electric meter device number
m is recorded
The combination of this information will generate m+2
tupple data. The vector form of this data will be of <Id,
con, t1, t2,.tm> type.

6.

Problem Definition

Smart meter are still uncommon in most of the

underdeveloped and developing countries (Weranga,
Kumarawadu, & Chandima, 2015). But the process of
smart metering has started in the developed world. In
Sweden and Italy most of the households have already
adopted smart meter (Wehlitz, Werner, & Franczyk,
2014). In the Indian context, in the absence of deployed
smart meters, data depicting consumption pattern of
smart devices is not available. Considering this difficulty
the data of adoption is generated through simulation.
1000 data points are generated in the R-studio statistical
software. Generation of data is in the format explained
in Section 5 and is supported by literature. Individual
record of this data has consumption of electricity as one
item and adoption times of various smart devices as
the rest. In literature it has been statistically proved that
electricity consumption is significantly related to the
level of income of family (Francisco, Aranha, Zambaldi,
& Goldszmidt, 2006). Furthermore, in many researches
income is found to follow the pareto distribution (e.g.
Dagsvik, Jia, Vatne, & Zhu, 2013; Persky, 1992).
Therefore, following these two premises, hypothetical
data in R software is generated using pareto distribution.
Pareto distribution is also known as power law

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Based on the data simulated and following the proposed

framework in Figure1, the timeline of adoption of various
smart devices by an individual customer can be
generated. We use these schedules of adoption for
temporal association mining of different devices. For
the purpose of explanation the schedule of adoption of
four devices by three customers are shown below:

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Figure 1- Framework of Adoption Trend Mining Data

Figures 3, 4 and 5 represent the time of adoption of four
smart devices on the timeline by three customers. We
can mine the temporal association of adoption of various
devices based on this information. For example, the

association of adoption of device 2 followed by 1 is 2/

3 i.e. 67%. For customers1 and 3, device2 is adopted
immediately after device 1. Similarly, device 1 selected
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)

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7.

July - December 2014

Conclusion and Future Work

proposed study will help the manufacturers in two

ways. First, it will mine the profiles of customers as
initial adopters of their product. Second, this study will
mine the association pattern between two or more
launched products. Understanding of the temporal
association between devices will let the manufacture
know the average time lag between the adoptions of
these devices. This information will guide future
manufacturing and marketing strategy of the product.

Once smart meters are part of society huge data will

be generated with the potential to mine useful insights,
not only for manufacturers of smart devices, owners of
electricity supply, government for policy formation, but
also to the owners of the houses consuming electricity,
to bring the consumption to more efficient and
economical levels. The nature of data obtained from this
process is big is size in comparison to the data available
from say, retail stores. The number of consumers,in case
of retail stores,is mostly in thousands whereas the
consumers of smart meter will be millions in size. The
complexity of the data is also much more compared to
retail data. Retail data is mostly cross sectional in nature
whereas smart meter data has time as another
component. For simplification this study only uncovers
one aspect of the problem, adoption mining of the smart
devices in a home. There are several other further
complex mining activities that can be performed with
the same data. We presume that this field will mature
in due course of time and researchers in future will
bridge dimensions not touched in the present paper.

Present study explains a very limited potential use of

the data available from smart meters. Data simulation
done for this study is also very simplistic. That is only
good enough to explain a few applications. Research
has found that electricity consumption variations, daily
and seasonal, are capable of giving insights about the
demographic and social details of households. In the
present attempt, we have not covered these aspects of
smart meter data mining. In the next attempt, we propose
to integrate this complexity. Furthermore, in the next
step of the study we aim to propose an algorithm to
get insights from the simulated data.

References

There are four major stakeholders for this study. First,

manufactures of smart devices who are concerned with
the marketing of their product. Second, electricity
distributing companies whose main concern is the
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distribution of electricity, especially in developing
countries. Third, the government or policy makers who
are enabled and are in a position to formulate
appropriate policy; policy that is not only capable of
eradicating existing problems of electricity generation,
distribution and consumption, but is also acceptable by
society. Fourth, consumers of electricity, who, in present
scenario, are totally unaware of their own segregated
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This study will help manufacturers of smart devices to
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journal. IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution,
9(2), 113-114.

Francisco, E. D. R., Aranha, F., Zambaldi, F., & Goldszmidt,

R. (2006). Electricity consumption as a predictor of
household income: An spatial statistics approach. In VIII
Brazilian Symposium on GeoInformatics (pp. 175-192).
Greveler, U., Glosekotter, P., Justus, B., & Loehr, D. (2012).
Multimedia content identification through smart meter
power usage profiles. Computers, Privacy and Data
Protection, 5. Retrieved from http://www.nds.rub.de/
media/nds/veroeffentlichungen/2012/07/24/ike2012.pdf

Seetharam, D. P., Arya, V., Chakraborty, D., Charbiwala, Z.,

Ghai, S., Hazra, J., ... Kalyanaraman, S. (2013). Cyber
Physical Systems for Smarter Energy Grids? Journal of
Indian Institute of Science, 93(3), 541-551.
Sharma, T., & Balachandra, P. (2015). Benchmarking
sustainability of Indian electricity system: An indicator
approach. Applied Energy, 142, 206-220. doi:10.1016/
j.apenergy.2014.12.037

Jakkula, V., & Cook, D. J. (2011). Detecting anomalous sensor

events in smart home data for enhancing the living
experience. In AAAI Workshop on Artificial Intelligence
and Smarter Living The Conquest of Complexity (pp.
33-37). Retrieved from http://www.aaai.org/ocs/

IMJ

Spenceley, S. E., & Warren, J. R. (1998). The intelligent

interface for online electronic medical records using

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Zhang, X., Grijalva, S., & Reno, M. J. (2014). A time variant
load model based on smart meter data mining. In IEEE
PES General Meeting / Conference & Exposition (pp.
1-5).

temporal data mining. Proceedings of the Thirty-First

Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 5,
92328033. doi:10.1109/HICSS.1998.648321
Svanstrm, H., Callrus, T., & Hviid, A. (2010). Temporal data
mining for adverse events following immunization in
nationwide danish healthcare databases. Drug Safety,
33(11), 1015-1025. doi:10.2165/11537630-00000000000000

Shashi Kant Srivastava is a doctoral participant in the

Information Systems area of Indian Institute of
Management (IIM) Indore. He holds a Bachelor's degree
in Architecture from University of Roorkee and Masters
in Ekistics (Science of Human Settlements) from Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Prior to current engagement,
he worked as an Associate Professor at Apeejay Institute
of Technology, Greater Noida. He can be reached at
f13shashis@iimidr.ac.in.

Wehlitz, R., Werner, A., & Franczyk, B. (2014). SMIM-A cloudbased approach for the digitisation of smart meter
installation processes. Journal of Industrial and Intelligent
Information, 2(3), 169-174. doi:10.12720/jiii.2.3.169174
Weranga, K., Kumarawadu, S., & Chandima, D. P. (2015).
Smart grid and smart metering. In Smart Metering Design
and Application (pp. 1-15). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

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Volume 6 Issue 2

BOOK REVIEW

July - December 2014

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
the invention of the wheel. Technology in its simplest
form was originally meant to make our lives easier by
supporting us in various daily and routine functions.
However, the expansion of civilization caused
technology to not just be the backbone of society but
also a pastime for purposes of entertainment, work and
occupation.

we conduct becomes digitalized, is drastically

transforming the business and its operations. Businesses
can make the best use of this data to gain valuable
insights about the behaviors of customers and thus,
serving them the right mix of products. It has been seen
that the organizations which uses the insights generated
by Big Data for conducting their processes generate
higher revenue and thus surpass most of their
competitors and peers. However, the job doesn't end
with the collection of data but it starts with it. The
Company should know the right tools, techniques,
algorithms and metrics to make use of it. Thus, it should
have a strategy on "How to use Big Data".

Who knew that in a short span of years, the world would

become a digital entity? Cloud, Data Transfer, Portable
Hard Drives, Memory Cards, these developments have
revolutionized the way data is stored, used and
transferred. Everyday conversation is now interspersed
with questions of Kilobyte capacity and the ease of
storing files of considerable size. This is even more
significant when it comes to businesses and
entrepreneurial enterprises. Not only can such
businesses or enterprises take advantage of modern
technology to enhance their business and profit, but
they can also benefit from the vast options provided
because of the versatility of data Storage.

Mark Van Rijmenam has written the book "Think Bigger:

Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for Your
Business" to address this issue. Author, Mark Van
Rijmenam, is an entrepreneur who values innovation
and thus, guide and inspire others by making a difference
in usual practices. He has founded Datafloq.com.
Datafloq is all about Big Data which connects all the
stakeholders of the global market of Big Data. He is also
a strategist of Big Data and thus provides guidelines
and tenets to organizations for developing strategies on
Big Data. His forte includes Social Media, Strategy,
Mobile and Online Marketing and Big Data. He is well
versed with all the recent changes that may have an
impact on the business performance. He is the co-founder
of Data Donderdag. Data Donderdag is an event which
is organized bi-monthly in The Netherlands to make

Businesses today are using Dashboards, Segmentation

Analysis, Heat Map Analysis, Site Search Analytics, etc.
to increase their productivity and revenues to gain a
competitive edge and thus surpass the other participants
of the industry/market.
Big Data is also one such service. Big Data i.e. the huge
amount of data which has been created or collected as
virtually when every choice, transaction or movement
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organizations comfortable about using and

understanding Big Data. He is a highly sought-after
international public speaker. He is one of the top Big
Data influencers over the globe. He also writes articles
and blogs for Datafloq.com and various other platforms.

public relations as well as human resources.

Furthermore, a whole chapter is dedicated to how Big
Data can change 16 different industries, namely:
agriculture, automotive, consumer goods, education,
energy, financial services, gaming, healthcare, nonprofit, manufacturing, oil and gas, telecom,
transportation, retail, travel, and government.

Amacom has published the book, "Think Bigger:

Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for Your
Business" in April/ 2014. This book gives enough
practical guidelines to ensure that your organization is
way ahead of its competitors. It provides the framework
of possibilities which are clear and easy to understand.
It also gives tenets on what your organization should
do and how it should be operated and managed when
there are turbulent changes in the technology. This book
states that if you know the art of managing Big Data,
you can get various advantages over your competitors
such as personalized pricing, improvised support for
customers, identification of risks, market development,
etc.

Readers also get an insight into successful practices of

companies such as Amazon, Disney, Nike, and WalMart, among others, who have implemented Big Data
services.
After reading this book, reader can expect to have the
knowledge of following things:
1) History of the Big Data
2) Meaning of Big Data
3) 7Vs
4) Some important realities of using and incorporating
Big Data in organization

The more important question the book asks is, however,

that given the rise of Data usage and storage, why
should the IT world only benefit from this development?
Big Data is a service that has immense potential in
application to various businesses. In fact, Big Data is
already changing the way businesses work. The author
repeatedly stresses the need for organizations worldwide
to understand what Big Data is and how it can used
to full advantage. The benefits and implications are far
too vast for any business owner to ignore.

5) Effect of Big Data on business

6) Trends of Big Data
7) Gamification
8) Privacy, Security and Ethics of Big Data
9) Presentation of Big Data on the company's Balance
Sheet
10) Future prospective of Big Data

Analysis and Critique

This book written by Mark Van Rijmenam, talks about
how the days of gigabytes and megabytes are forgone
and how the Big Data which has been collected through
various digital sources in the world is making us
introduce new terms for describing it. This book offers
clear and easy to understand explanations and insights
for managers and top management to get a feel of Big
Data and its management. It does not focus on a particular
industry or size but talks, in general, about the
development of Big Data strategies. Mark also stressed
on the fact that the organizations cannot simply continue
to use their old processes and ignores the uses and
benefits of Big Data. Since, Big Data is vital for company's
performance, they have to learn the tools and techniques
sooner or later.

The service does have a few considerations to be taken

into account before one embarks on a strategy to
incorporate it. Big Data requires a different culture, it
is omnipresent and it needs to be protected, hence
airtight security measures are necessary.
The books further go beyond just informing the reader
about Big Data. It draws on extensive research and
numerous practical case studies, in a way providing a
path and useful takeaways to implement a successful
big data strategy that best serves an individual's
business. It also offers advice on putting Big Data on
the balance sheet of an organization and determining
its return on investment, along with emphasizing the
important role Big Data plays in customer relations,
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It also explored the concepts that every manager should

consider while developing a strategy for Big Data.

2) Also, most of the examples and cases were from

developed countries. Being an Indian reader, I would
have appreciated if there were cases on How to
develop Big Data strategy in developing nations.

This book provides the reader with the guidelines, tenets

and also the lessons which he might use while
implementing this technology. It also suggests treating
Big Data as an asset for an organization and how to
ascertain return on investment for this. It covers the
trends of Big Data which are affecting the organizations,
about some other important technologies and also about
the various set of analyzes.

To summarize, this book talks about how the emergence

of Big Data changing the environment and working
styles of business and also the government. It attracts
all those readers who have some interest in the
innovation and the development of an organization. It
can serve as a guide to all those who have bid something
for the growth and future perspective of a particular
organization and can also serve as an important resource
for Mangers/Leaders who want to be sure that their
company is not left behind by the competitors.

Moreover, this books also provides guidelines on how

not to sacrifice security and to give due respect to the
rights of privacy of the buyers.
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.
She is a graduate in B.A. in Economics from Delhi
University and Masters in Financial Economics from
Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. During
her two years of association with Aon Hewitt, Gurgaon,
she gathered experience in HR Analytics, Engagement,
Labour economics, etc.

1) This book does not provide the meanings of various

Big Data tools and if you are a beginner in this field,
you may find it little difficult to relate to each and
every concept mentioned in this book.

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Semi-Organic Growth - Tactics and

Strategies behind Google's success
Volume 6 Issue 2

July - December 2014

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
grow in two ways - either organically i.e. by growing
internally through increase in production or customer
base, etc. or inorganically by way of mergers and
acquisitions. Now, the Author explains to us in the book
an alternate growth path - the Semi-Organic Growth
way.

perspective. The author usesinfographics so to make

the readers understand and appreciate the deals in a
better way and attempts to answer any question that
the readers may have on acquisitions done by Google.
At the beginning of the book, he provides a framework
to measure the impact of an M&A and attempts to
explain it to the readers with respect to Google. It is
essential to follow a pattern, if any, by which Google
makes these acquisitions and does it have anything to
do with its first acquisition and the way it was done?
The book throws light on this aspect in the initial
chapters. The author explains the following main aspects
of M&A program for it to be sound:-

The Author has defined Semi-organic growth as under,

"Semi-organic growth is generated when revenue results
from products or services that emerge when acquired
technology-related assets attach to a company's existing
capabilities in a complementary manner."
The questions that immediately pops up in our minds
are - How do you understand the semi-organic growth
way? How is it different from the traditional paths?
Why is it even necessary to have a third way?

1. Strategy - This point revolves around thoroughly

understanding the rationale behind the M&A.
2. Deal Economics - It mentions that the valuation of
the target using a constellation approach (i.e. using
more than one valuation methodology) instead of
going for North Star valuation metric. Synergy analysis is also a part of this aspect.

The Author has answered all the pertaining questions

through judiciously choosing a company that has been
a serial acquirer in a patterned manner in the last decade
and has followed a semi-organic growth model. He
picked Google, a Fortune 500 company, with a history
of more than 200 acquisitions out of which two-third
have been successful and synergic. Not only the Author
analyzes the mergers and acquisitions of Google in the
past decade in order to explain the readers the semiorganic growth pattern but also answers questions in
mind deftly.

3. Organizational Design - This part of the program tries

to measure how well the integration will happen.
Also, the reader gets an idea that organizational
design's process of integrating varies from one acquisition to the other.
4. Deal Dynamics - Finally, we come to a position where
the company talks about the structure of the M&A
deal, like whether they deal would be cash or stock
or a mix both.

The Author explains how Google, unlike its competitors,

have had a series of acquisitions since its inception,
even before it went public on August 19th, 2004. This
company boasts about 200 odd purchases in various
related as well unrelated fields while being more than
successful in it as per the industry standards, commands
a study on it from Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
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Then, the performance evaluation of the M&A deal is

done. The M&A effectiveness of a deal can be measured
by value-creation, strategic relatedness or organizational
behavior. Google's performance evaluation in its M&A
activities is done by the value-creation school of thought
as well as strategic relatedness. However, the Author

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explains how the acquisition of NEST labs (a home

automation producer, acquired for USD 3.2 billion) is
an example of strategic un-relatedness as the acquisition
doesn't pertain to Google's core ad-tech business. The
third school of thought for M&A effectiveness involves
organizational behavior.

get the basic understanding of Google's M&A activity,

the reader expects that the next chapter would talk
about the M&A deals in a detailed manner. The book
doesn't, in fact it takes a turn and brings Apple in the
picture.
The book explains that Apple and Google have displayed
an extreme behavior when it comes to M&As. While
one is a serial acquirer, the other has been organically
growing by choice barring a few small acquisitions,
possibly believing, as mentioned in the book "real men
don't do M&A." This was the case till 2009. Enter 2010,
Apple and Google have got into dyadic cascading. In
November 2009, Google acquired Admob for USD 750
million in stock and in reply, Apple bought Quattro
Wireless from the same industry. Then in March 2010,
Apple acquired Intrinsity to enhance battery life in
mobiles while Google in April 2010 acquired Aguilux.
This dyadic cascading has continued from that point
forward. Apple started making huge acquisitions
(eg.Beats for USD 3.2 billion), unlike its earlier attitude
of growing organically. The book provides infographics
of acquisitions of Google and Apple for 2010 and 2013
to let the reader appreciate how Apple changed its
attitude towards acquisition.

The book introduces the reader to new terms like Acquihire, which has been practiced by Google while making
smaller acquisitions. Acqui-hire means acquiring a
company for its talent, where technology, product, etc.
may or may not be the reason for the acquisition. The
perfect example of acqui-hire for Google is the acquisition
of Applied Semantics (ASI) which was a pre-IPO
acquisition done in April 2003. This acquisition also
imprinted Google and charted a way for its future
acquisitions.
The Author states the fact about an acquisition for
which Google paid USD 41.5 million in cash plus stock
and USD 60.9 million worth of stock options in a cash
plus stock deal for ASI. This acquisition proved to be
extremely fruitful for Google as it resulted in a massive
contribution to its advertising revenues for the years
to come. AdSense (an ASI product) contributed around
25% to Google's advertising revenues in the next decade.
This acquisition provided Google with an inclination
towards M&A activities as well as performing the M&A
activity in a certain way i.e. the semi-organic way.
Hence, the book contains an entire chapter on this
acquisition and its details in which even the problems
that Google had to go through for the semi-organic
integration of the ASI to Google are mentioned.

Keeping aside the information this book provides on

Google's M&A deals, the key takeaway of the book is
learning how to build an M&A market model. As per
the author, "M&A market modeling fundamentally
involves chunk building- accumulating meaningful
pieces of information about market segments/
subsegments, companies, and deals. A robust market
model can only be built with persistent effort." The
book attempts to develop a robust M&A market model
for Google and its acquisitions where the categories and
the basis are described vividly. To begin with, the Google
M&A model is divided into three main categories - 1)
Media deals, 2) Internet software/services deals, 3)
Technology platform deals, and 4)Others. Further, the
model subdivides these categories.For instance Media
deals are divided into Advertising that is further
subdivided into Internet Advertising, Mobile
Advertising, Publishing Advertising, Radio Advertising,
Television Advertising etc. The author also tries to
make the reader understand the difference between

Going forward, the book forces the reader to think

whether Google's acquisition spree is a result of merely
using its ideal cash pile or part of experimentation by
the inquisitive founders or a well-thought of a plan.
Once the reader starts asking these questions, the book
tries to answer it in its upcoming chapters.
Generally, in a business book, competition is talked
about in a cohesive manner. However, this book does
it differently. Google's competition with Apple is
discussed in an initial chapter in which its competition
with Facebook and Amazon is addressed in the later
chapters. It looks like a well thought of move. Once you
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M&A modeling and the traditional classifications such

as SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) or NAICS
(North American Industry Classification System). The
M&A model distinguish each and every acquisition on
the basis of its connection (direct or indirect) with the
main category and provide it with an icon. A click on
the icon gives all the available information on that
particular deal in a prescribed format. The model also
accepts specific queries that relate to the problem. A
comparison between two principal companies' specific
acquisitions can also be made. The book provides stepto-step instructions on building the model and also
speaks about its scope.

The book also touches upon how secretive American

companies like Apple, Google etc. are when it comes
to deal disclosures. SEC guidelines for disclosure give
the leeway in the materiality concept as it says, "The
omission or misstatement of an item in a financial report
is material if, in the light of surrounding circumstances,
the magnitude of the item is such that it is probable
that the judgment of a reasonable person relying upon
the report would have been changed or influenced by
the inclusion or correction of the item." It is because
of this reason that Google mentions its acquisition of
Waze Limited for a cash consideration of USD 969
million separately whereas it clubs the rest of the
acquisitions of the same period together and hence the
public doesn't come to know the target's name at times.
Here, the M&A model comes in handy if the user wants
to run a query asking for the M&A details of the deals
whose values are disclosed by Google. The last portion
of the book talks about the deal dynamics of the M&A
program. Like, Google has used stock consideration in
four deals till now (as per the disclosures) that includes
ASI and YouTube.

The forthcoming chapters are dedicated to the three

categories and descriptively talks about the various
acquisitions that Google performed in the field of Media,
Internet and Technology Platform. The book provides
an exhaustive summary of the deals related to that
particular area. For instance, the technology platform
mentions the acquisition of Nest Labs by Google in USD
3.2 billion. This is an entirely unrelated to core business
acquisition for Google, but Nest Labs are in the company
of producer of home automation products. Hence, this
deal comes under technology and a different
subcategory.

Semi-organic growth's most essential aspect is the talent

the target brings. It is the most important trait of this
type of growth. The author emphasizes on the fact that
how important it is for the founders to be a part of the
team post the acquisition and that comes under
contingent consideration. To make the founders stay for
a while, there is an Earn-out provision where in some
milestones are set post-acquisition based on which the
target would receive a remaining deal amount. The
book talks about other such mechanisms to motivate
founders as well as employees and how well semiorganic growth has become Google's way of acquiring
the firm. The last part of the book emphasizes on the
M&A integration and describes four major types of
acqui-hires and how each and every type has enhanced
Google's offering. An interesting part of the book is that
it also tells the reader where the founders of the target
company went after they left Google. It is a piece of
information that the reader would don't mind knowing.
Like, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams previous firm
Pyra Labs (Blogger) was acquired by Google. Twitter
was founded by him after he left Google.

While going through the first half of the book, a question

arises in the reader's mind as to know certain other
aspects of the M&A deals like the failed deals and the
repercussions of those or may be the extent to which
Google and its competitors made the deal disclosures.
As the reader moves further, these questions are
answered in the book. The book has put Motorola
Mobility acquisition by Google under the chapter that
talks about the failed or shuttered deals. As the reader
goes through it, the book has inputs that says that
Motorola Mobility deal hasn't been a failed deal for
Google per say. These instances and the numbers
supporting the discussion ignite curiosity in the mind
of the reader. Also, considering the wide variety of
acquisitions that Google has made, the book suggests
that it should have different parameters for evaluation
of a deal with respect to target's position in the life cycle,
product expectations, etc.

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Once the reader finishes Semi-Organic Growth - Tactics

and strategies behind Google's success, it is clear that
the book has lived up to its title as now the reader has
valuable information on mostly all the aspects of the
M&A deals undertaken by Google. Having said so, the
book lacks with respect to letting the reader know about
the company's perspective over any deal post an
acquisition. The content would have been richer if there
were quotes directly from the Horse's mouth which in
this case is Google. However, one can't shy away from
appreciating the references that are provided at the end
of each chapter that helps in substantiating the author's
writing. There are aspects of the book that are explained
in great detail like the deals under the three categories
namely Media, Internet and Technology Platform but
there are also elements in the book that have been
touched at the periphery like Google's competition with
Amazon. As they say, too many cooks spoils the broth.
Luckily for this book, despite concentrating on many
subtopics, it doesn't look fragmented. A reader from the
finance/strategy/Information Technology background
might feel the necessity of a deeper understanding in
building the M&A market model after going through
the book but the book suffices in the construction of
the foundation of the model. The provision of 50 infographics at various places in the book provides
visualization to the user who would result in enhancing
the reader recall when there will a discussion on such
topics.

YouTube, Android, Search, Apps, Maps and Ads. The

change in organizational structure questions a lot of
inferences drawn in the book as when the book was
written it was Google, not Alphabet. The silver lining
being, the book can be used to draw a comparison
between Google and Alphabet's semi-organic growth
path if need be. If Google had become Alphabet in 2014
instead of 2015, the book might have been written
differently.
About the Author - George T. Geis teaches at UCLA
Anderson in the areas of mergers & acquisitions, financial
modeling, entrepreneurship, and accounting. He has
been voted Outstanding Teacher of the Year at UCLA
Anderson five times, the most recent honor being given
by the MBA class of 2012. Geis has also served as
Associate Dean and Faculty Director of UCLA
Anderson's Executive MBA program. He is currently
Faculty Director of Anderson's Mergers and Acquisitions
Executive program. Dr. Geis is an expert on M&A activity
in technology, communications and media markets.
Geis received a B.S. "summa cum laude" and with "honors
in mathematics" from Purdue University , an M.B.A.
from University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D.
from the University of Southern California.
(Source:http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/programsand-outreach/information-systems-research-program/
faculty-and-staff/geis)
Kakul Modani currently pursuing FPM in finance and
accounting from IIM Indore. She holds a Masters degree
in Financial Engineering from NYU and have worked as
an Equity research analyst for the FMCG and Media sector.
Monitoring the capital market is my favorite hobby. Apart
from this, she has a penchant for urdu poetry, good vocals,
kids and clouds.

A curious thought may run into the reader's mind after

looking at the title of the book as Google is now Alphabet.
Alphabet has become the holding company and has
Google Ventures, Google Capital, Fiber, Calico, Nest as
the heads along with Google. Google comprises of

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Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things,
and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business
Volume 6 Issue 2

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
revolution were to be described as a major step; the
technology revolution can be considered as a giant leap.
This revolution has been made possible by the generation
of innumerable amount of data around us. Imagine the
vast oceans of data around every being - text messages,
every website visited, songs listened to, every click
made, Facebook likes etc.- Humongous. The arduous
task for the Code Halo (inclusive of big data) companies
is to make meaning from the colossal amounts of data,
and to apply the understanding for business strategies
and practices.

"This Second Economy will surpass the world's first (or

industrial) economy in scale and scope by 2025. The virtual,
digital economy will exceed the industrial economy-the
cumulative output of mankind's development over several
millennia- in terms of transactions, revenues, and value
creation, in a mere 30 years"
What made, or makes, the digital economy successful,
rightly mentioned by the authors, is their business model
- the creation and management of Code Halos. According
to the authors, "Amazon eliminating Borders was not
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
thing. More often than not, that virtual self can provide more
insight into-and thus generate more value from-the physical
entity alone"

phone thing, every one of these industries' disruptions

was a Code Halo thing." The emergence of these and
much other, exuberant growth in digital economy reveals
two major patters - the Code Halo formed the basement
for the commercialization of consumer technology and
there was outsized growth in a very consistent manner.
What is surprising is that the skills for creating,
implementing and managing these are not taught in any
curriculum in the education system.

Through a rich narrative the authors attempt to answer

the questions whether individuals/ businesses were
able to see the technology-based sea change coming?
Were they able to capture the commercial opportunity?
And, they direct the reader that using technology is at
the discretion of the individual/business, but by ignoring
the significance of these transition businesses may
become extinct. The book also encourages the readers
to think and relate to their everyday activities.

What has made such business models successful is our

interwoven personal lives with the internet. In the past
two decades, we have highly personalized and blended
our virtual world into our real world. According to
Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, "The digital and physical
worlds are starting to come together - it's only the tip
of the iceberg in terms of what's coming."

The Digital Economy

The leaders, winners and outliers of today's world are
playing a different game; fighting a different fight; and
winning with a new set of rules. With the immense
amounts of data generated by us, using our widgets,
there is an unseen digital economy that is quickly
emerging. This started with the commercialization of
the internet, and according to W. Brian Arthur of the
Santa Fe Institute and the Palo Alto Research Center
(PARC):
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Tyes and Elements of Business Code Halos

The authors enunciate that such interweaving is possible
through the five Code Halo solutions - Customer,
Product, Employee, Partner and Enterprise - which the
authors call "Holocracy". The authors have provided
with an extraordinary emphasis to the term "Holocracy",
grabbing the reader's attention as the book unfolds.

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You and I, as customers have personal Code Halos.

This, in the hands of the company, is its lock, and the
key to it is providing us with personalized customer
experience by applying individual code. It provides
targeted commercial interactions. For example, Amazon
provides personalized shopping experience; it provides
the right items in the right place at the right time. The
products are the software and hardware that collect our
information. Our Code Halos connect with the Internet
of Things, so that value and meaning is generated over
time. For example, our smart phone and the installed
games and apps, which are increasingly network aware,
are products that can gather information about us. As
personal Code Halos enrich customer experience,
Employee Code Halos enrich work experience. Sharing
of our work history helps in knowledge transfer,
individualizing and transforming work experience. It
facilitates getting the right work, to the right person,
at the right time. It also helps in improving productivity,
employee retention and hiring. For example, LinkedIn
helps in employee-employee and employee-employer
communication. The Partner Code Halo integrates the
product and employee code halos, it brings clarity and
insight to real time decision making. And finally, the
Enterprise Code Halo is an aggregation of all four Code
Halos. It gives the organization an identity based on
what it does and how it does it.

for understanding the growth in the digital economy.

The SMAC Stack

When I purchase a book in Amazon.in I get further
recommendations of books to buy, this is based on the
preferences of other individuals who have similar tastes
like mine. When I search for flights between Indore and
Bangalore in MakeMyTrip.com I see advertisements of
MakeMyTrip.com in the other websites I visit (for the
same route). This is because MakeMyTrip.com records
my searches, and follows me to the other websites it
has partnered with. This is how Google and Facebook
earn its revenues. This exchange of information by
companies is possible because codes connect with codes
on four technologies- Social, Mobile, Analytic and Cloud
(SMAC) - and they work together to know the minutest
of details about our personal likes and dislikes. The
authors have made a significant contribution by
providing us with this integrated view.
The SMAC Stack provides the raw materials for Code
Halos. SMAC technologies are the infrastructure of the
new Code Halo economy. Explaining the SMAC Stack:
Social technologies: All software that helps in
interpersonal communication, like blogs, email, social
networking etc.
Mobile technologies: All portable hardware devices
and the software, network and applications that support
those devices. For example smart phones, tablets,
wearables etc.

"As the number of interconnected things expand, almost

every device, product, and object - from simple consumer
goods to complex industrial equipment - is a candidate for
a Code Halo"

Analytics technologies: A software supply chain that

helps in collecting, organizing, managing and analyzing
myriad amounts of heterogeneous data.

To collect and assess the required data the Code Halo

elements are employed - amplifier, application interface,
algorithm, data and business model.

Cloud computing: The network of remote servers on

the internet that helps store and process data, instead
of owning and hosting them internally. This allows for
greater flexibility of resources and lower costs.

Amplifiers are the devices that enable interaction

(Computer devices, industrial machines, wearables).
Application interface refers to the inbuilt softwares.
Algorithm, the most important of the five elements,
processes the data to make meaning. Data is then
analysed and used in Business models.

Initially the SMAC technologies were disconnected, but

now there is a high degree of integration, mainly fostered
by the information exchange between the participating
companies. With the development of the SMAC
technology the internet age has evolved to the digital
economy age. The authors explain this as the fifth wave

The authors enhance the fact that the organization's

Code Halo explains more about the organization than
its campaigns or annual reports. This forms the basis
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Principles of Code Halo Strategy

of Corporate IT - from Mainframe, Mini Computer,

Client/server, and Internet PC to SMAC Stack.

The authors provide a "new rule of code" that will help

business survive and thrive in the Code Halo world.
The authors recommend businesses to adopt the four
principles of Code Halo strategy: (i) To deliver beautiful
products and experiences (ii) Avoid evil (iii) Wirearchy
principle and (iv) To nurture Code Halo heroes.

The Fifth IT Wave

The first four IT Waves have enhanced business
productivity. It has helped in reducing costs, generating
revenue and providing productivity gains. The same
is expected from the present SMAC technology model.
No technology is an island now. The combination of
the SMAC technologies has resulted in the multiplier
effect, interlinking the technologies to provide
meaningful data for further business implications.

Firstly, the Code Halo solutions must provide users

with beautiful products and solutions, like apple iPod
and unlike iPhone 6. The users must experience the
"Wow! How did they read my mind?" effect. Secondly,
the Code Halo companies must learn to ignore the
voices of the dark side. Issues of privacy and ethics will
erupt, people will be hacked, government interventions
will grow and advertisements and media will continue
to trouble. But, the winning organizations must
recognize, understand and actively manage such
negative issues.

"For a Code Halo to have an impact on performance, it must

be integrated into well-codified and well- understood business
processes- such as sales, customer service, research and
development, or supply chain management"

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
not completely eradicates, the age old command and
control hierarchy. The authors list the rules to follow
for success in the new organization model. Though the
authors created an enduring effect throughout the book
with the term "Holocracy", they fail to do the same with
"Wirearchy".

In the past decade Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon,

Pandora, and Netflix have generated market value of
more than $1 trillion, and this has been made possible
because of the creation and management of Code Halos.
It depends on companies to leverage this new technology.
For example, Zune was a portable media player marketed
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."

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Lastly, it conciliates the reader to find that the authors

have prioritized the role of "Halo Heroes", who would
make use of the one-time opportunity to step forward
and lead the organization. Halo Heroes would progress
in such a way to tear down the walls between IT and
business, and lead the new IT organization into place.
The businesses should endevour to accommodate virtual
work habits with the physical work habits; this will
enable the business and IT to work together.

there are weeks where decades happen" - Vladimir

Lenin
The authors provide guidelines for the organizations
to follow based on the Cross roads model, but each
organization might have different requirements and
also may prefer not to follow these.
According to the authors the business begins to realize
that there is something strange, there is a "future of
work", which has to begin with an "Action plan" which
is the Ionization phase. The main reason that businesses
do not "Ionize" is because there are voices in the
organization pulling them back and there is no "will
to innovate". The authors provide a set of actions that
the businesses could undertake - beginning from
preparing the organization for innovation, mapping its
value chain, scanning the market for signs of Ionization,
listening for new voices within the organization, and
finally picking the Code Halo targets. Though there
might be several ideas worth exploring in the
organization the Code Halo target must be the one that
delivers real impact.

Cross Roads Model

The most interesting part of this book is the description
of the Cross road model. The authors have elaborated
this to a considerable extent that a business leader
would implement such a process without second
thoughts.
Imagine the days when Mark Zuckerberg had the idea
of building a "hot or not" game for Harvard students,
also called "Facemash". And then he went on to create
"thefacebook.com" with the intention of creating a
universal website that can connect people in the
university. After expulsion and lawsuits he created the
social networking site "Facebook" in 2004. Facebook has
now become a global internet phenomenon from a
Harvard social-networking website. This phenomenon,
the authors' detail, is the Cross roads models.

When the innovations come to life a Spark is created.

In this stage the authors advocate businesses to embrace
mass personalization, build Code Halos around the
main character of the progress and pilot and fine tune
the business model. The challenge for the organizations
here would be to pick the right Spark from the countless
ideas available to them.

Metaphorically the authors explain how nature feels the

exuberance when lightening is about to strike as
"ionization", where the Code Halos doesn't exist and
the situation in the industry is ripe for its introduction.
They continue to describe how a "spark" is like lighting
the match, a small spark can ignite into a fire for the
good or the bad, and likewise a small idea leads to the
evolution of the Code Halo process. "Enrichment" is
when the spark turns into a blaze, the Code Halo
solutions scale up increasing the number of users and
generating more data, building meaningful services
and solutions. At "cross roads" is when the markets flip
and the companies experience massive transitions. And
"after cross roads" the companies set on an accelerated
journey which is difficult to stop, be it negative or
positive.

Once the Code Halo solutions are ready it must augment

products and services to provide with meaningful
information and data, this is the Enrichment stage,
where the Spark turns into a blaze. Organizations learn
during this stage, and algorithms develop with business
analytics. At this stage the authors suggest a set of
actions for the businesses - to provide a balanced focus
of all the five elements of the Code Halo anatomy, to
get the right data and user experience, to use the right
metrics, to capture code and make meaning, and to
expect the unexpected.
Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things,
and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business
presents itself as a practical guide for business to
participate in the ongoing digital revolution. It provides

"There are decades where nothing happens; and then

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the businesses with guidelines to change process and

attitudes of the company.

decisions depend on perceived value - be it the firm or

the customer. For example, the authors recommend "to
deliver beautiful products and experiences", but "beauty"
depends upon the individuals 'perspectives' and
'environment'. I doubt if such generalized statements
can be provided as guidelines.

With the blending of the virtual and physical world,

every individual and businesses have lost their personal
space. A new economy is being created. Similar to the
previous economic models in the world, this economy
will also develop in a scattered manner, bringing with
it the opportunities to develop. This book helps this
transition easier. It helps businesses see what is available
for them and what awaits them in the future. It is no
Bible to follow, but basic guidelines to adapt. The authors
do not provide a path for success but show businesses
that they could do much better, than they are doing
right now, if they participate in the Code Halo economy.
It is a series of recommendations that would help people
and business successfully navigate through these new
waters.

These criticisms aside, the authors provide an insightful

thought into the future. Their ideas are systematic, farfetched and exploratory in nature. As the authors
mention businesses should aim at identifying the Code
Halo opportunity, adopt the principles of the Code Halo
strategy and implement the crossroads model. This
book is a practical guide for businesses in the new
digital economy.
This book would enable the managers to answer the
questions posed by the authors in the beginning - "Did
you see the technical change coming? And, if so, what
did you do about it?"

With innumerous examples the authors bring to the

readers the importance of the growing digital economy,
and the opportunities available. Though the book
provides a model, and provides guidelines it needn't
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
the expected competitions. When industries grow, it
attracts new entrants, competitions grow. For this, the
businesses must create strategic architecture for
themselves, with core competencies, so that they could
sustain and grow irrespective of the competitive
environments.

But the managers must look beyond the

recommendations that the book provides, to suit their
requirements.

Suganya Balakumar is a doctorate participant in the

Economics area at the Indian Institute of Management
Indore. She holds a Master's degree in Economics from
Madras School of Economics, and a Bachelor's degree
in Economics from Madras Christian College. Her areas
of interests include Development economics and
Institutional Economics.
Her personal interests include traveling, writing and
blogging.

The guidelines provided by the authors are too lengthy.

The authors have also failed to realize that individual

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