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Even in the absence of cross-linking, at large enough concentration, long polymer strands have a strong influence on the rheology of aqueous systems. In this work, we show that solutions of medium molecular weight (120 000-190 000 g mol−1) alginate polymer retained a liquid-like behaviour even for concentrations as large as 20% w/v. On the contrary, solutions of alginate polymer of larger (and also polydisperse) molecular weight (up to 600 000 g mol−1) presented a gel-like behaviour already at concentrations of 7% w/v. We dispersed micrometre-sized iron particles at a concentration of 5% v/v in these solutions, which resulted in either stable magnetic fluids or gels, depending on the type of alginate polymer employed (medium or large molecular weight, respectively). These magneto-polymer composites presented a shear-thinning behaviour that allowed injection through a syringe and recovery of the original properties afterwards. More interestingly, application of a magnetic field resulted in the formation of particle clusters elongated along the field direction. The presence of these clusters intensely affected the rheology of the systems, allowing a reversible control of their stiffness. We finally developed theoretical modelling for the prediction of the magnetic-sensitive rheological properties of these magneto-polymer colloids. © 2020 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Information technology is an inherent component of major change initiatives that organizations undertake. However, the increasing technological complexity involved in achieving the benefits of these change initiatives means that organizations must substantially revise management policies and procedures to create and deploy information technology across multiple functional areas and longer time horizons. Industries, governments, professional societies, and early researchers consider prior management practices inadequate and are moving toward practices that promote the integration of multiple functions, projects, environments, and stakeholders to best achieve the benefits of the chosen change. In this editorial, we discuss previous research, highlight key findings, and raise questions about the process of managing multiple projects in change initiatives that contain significant information technology—also known as program management.

Change agents are often advised to achieve organisational transformational by building a coalition of allies that can guide and support the organisation through the transformation process. This paper explains the process through which creation and evolution of a supporting coalition for an IT-enabled transformation program was achieved in an Australian emergency response organisation. We explain the process of ‘coopting’ which comprises of various strategies adopted by the program actor at different stages of the program, for gaining participation and support from various actors in the organisation and inducting them into this guiding coalition. Furthermore, we shed light on the role of change agents in a transformation program, who operate largely in the absence of explicit senior leadership support and in a hostile political environment.

Information Technology (IT) enabled transformation programs are collections of interrelated projects and operational activity aimed at achieving strategic change of significant complexity, where theopportunity for change is provided by IT. This paper reports on a study of major Australian organisations that are using IT-enabled transformation programs to achieve strategic transformation of their work. While the program management literature has focused on the coordination of the multiple projects and related operational activities within the programs, little is known about how these programs deploy efforts to coordinate activities in response to contextual pressures. This exploratory, multi-casestudy asserts that a significant effort is needed to coordinate responses to factors external to the program. In addition, this study shows the key internal and external forces that combine in shifting the locus of effort in coordinating and integrating multiple activities and projects in major IT-enabled transformation programs. Three areas of effort are identified: creating change momentum, seeking customer engagement, and managing public image. The findings are presented in the form of acontingency model.

This paper presents early evidence of agile methods in IT enabled transformational programs of high strategic significance and substantial complexity in large organisations. Based on interviews of top management, and program and project managers, we discuss the key drivers that lead to agile IT enabled programs and some of thebarriers encountered while managing IT enabled programs in an agile manner. In addition to the need for fast response to environmental changes, strong IT-business collaboration, and efficient resource use by minimising governance burden, we found that organisations are adopting agile practices in program management as transitory step towards achieving enterprise agility. In doing so agile and non-agile projects co-exist within a program thus creating new coordination challenges. Programs with high degree of agile methods adoption face similar challenges in coordinating with the rest of the organisation which operates in non-agile manner. The paper aims to contribute tofostering scholarly discussion on implementation of agile practices in major projects and programs, an emerging area of research with scarce academic literature.

Despite unprecedented investments in e-government annually, the degree to which these initiatives are successful in delivering government outcomes varies widely. It is posited that traditional means of evaluating these systems overlook important measures needed to support the ultimate success of e-government. To address this gap, this study will: (1) identify the critical features of e-government that influence success; (2) investigate how public value is created through the use of e-government; and (3) propose and test a public value based success model to explain the creation of value within the disability sector. This study extends the DeLone and McLean IS Success Model (2003) using a theoretically based framework grounded from Public Value Theory to provide a perspective for evaluating e-government success. The contribution of the model is to assist governments in making complex information system portfolio investment decisions.

This case study of a flipped classroom initiative considers multiple stakeholder perspectives on themes of pedagogy, digitization, and organizational issues. We found that all the stakeholders were enthusiastic about flipped classrooms in principle. However, at a detailed level, there were tensions and differences between the groups with regard to the extent to which they preferred the new initiative or the status quo. The underlying explanation for these differences was explained using organizational practice theory. Stakeholders were more inclined to prefer the status quo when practices that were important to their performance were disrupted . We conclude that resistance associated with tensions arising from disruptions to organizational practices should no t be dismissed as “change resistance” but accepted as an opportunity to develop new routines.

The study provides a review of changing perceptions of the Information Systems (IS) academic discipline in Australia across the ten year span from 2005 until 2015. The main source of data for this analysis is a series of annual surveys of Heads of Information Systems Departments across all Australian universities. The surveys incorporated questions regarding the perceived Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats pertaining at the time to the IS academic discipline in Australia. A review of the annual judgements, augmented by data from other sources, while revealing the inevitable changes of focus over time, brings to the fore a range of persistent and enduring issues demanding the attention of Australia’s IS academics. Collaborative Doctoral Consortia are proposed as effective mechanisms to exploit the strengths and opportunities and to redress weaknesses and threats identified.

There has been a long-running discourse in the information systems literature around the business value of IT (BVIT). Researchers have adopted a myriad of conceptual, theoretical and analytical approaches to evaluating the tangible and intangible measures of BVIT. Little research however, has explored richer theoretical explanations of the dynamic nature of the BVIT processes in contemporary dynamic business environments. To address this gap, this research in progress seeks to explore how BVIT is created as a bottom-up emergent process. In pursuit of such understanding, this research embraces complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to develop a bottom-up conceptual model of BVIT. The agent-based modelling (ABM) technique is introduced as an analytical tool for computationally representing and examining the CAS model of BVIT. Operationalization of the CAS model and ABM modelling will be demonstrated through a theory building exercise.

Green Information Systems (IS) often require to obtain data in order to assess environmental outcomes and improve sustainable behaviours. As a result, privacy concerns can act as a barrier to the utilization of Green IS. We explore the case of smart meters, which track users’ personal energy usage data and provide real-time information, thus allowing users to reduce energy consumption. In this research-in-progress paper, we report on the development of a research model and experimental design to test the impact of trust seals, which can help to build trust and alleviate privacy concerns. For this reason, we refer to green energy and privacy seals that assess and certify the energy efficiency and privacy practices of companies. We further explore opt-out mechanisms, which give consumers the possibility to opt out of smart meter data collection that can also lead to a reduction of consumers’ privacy concerns with smart meters.

The ongoing introduction of new information technology and the wide range of opportunities it provides to individuals and organizations makes information system innovation a prominent theme for practitioners and researchers. However, information system research has predominantly focused on the adoption and diffusion of information technology, as opposed to the discovery and development of new ideas for how information technology can enable or drive business innovation. To address this gap, this paper conducted a literature review into business innovation (and related notions of organizational and administrative innovation) as it has been studied within the IS discipline. The contribution of this paper is that it presents ten important factors which influence business innovation with information technology. This review can provide guidance to decision makers in organizations that use new information technology to improve or transform their business.

Programme management has been historically employed as preferred means for design, development and implementation of large, complex Information Systems (IS). An oft cited rationale of programme management is coordination across multiple projects and related operational activities. Coordination is an information exchange activity that allows stakeholders to gain control over interdependent programme activities. While coordination and control have been examined separately in IS project management context, there is a need to understand the process of their interplay. An important concept that links coordination and control is dependencies among programme actors, tasks and resources. We suggest a field study based exploration of dependencies in IS programmes that is expected to explain the process of coordination and control in IS programme and in doing so we can extend the coordination theory.