Research Summaries
What leads to successful use of Enterprise Systems?Bentley professors Tamara Babaian, Wendy Lucas and Heikki Topi are studying the reasons why people become frustrated in learning to use ERP systems, and the factors that ultimately interfere with successful adoption in organizations. The team is conducting formal studies of ERP usability, breaking new ground on a topic where previous research has relied on anecdotal evidence. In addition, based on these findings, the Bentley team is developing a theoretical framework for designing and evaluating ERP systems and other collaborative technology projects, from a usability perspective. They are also working on a prototype ERP interface that could be applied to organizational systems in general. More...
Can I Trust This Web Site? Online Privacy Notices and Consumer Decision-Making
Mary Culnan, Slade Professor of Management and Information Technology at Bentley with colleagues George R. Milne (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) and Henry Greene (University of Hartford) studied changes in readability of 312 online privacy notices over a two-year period and developed recommendations for improving public policy based on the findings. Their report, “A Longitudinal Assessment of Online Privacy Notice Readability,” will appear in the American Marketing Association publication Journal of Public Policy and Marketing (Fall 2006). More...
A Multifaceted Approach to Teaching and Learning Science in Middle School
Roland Hübscher, Bentley assistant professor of information design and corporate communication, is working with scientists at the University of Wisconsin and Kansas State, and with middle school science teachers and students in Wisconsin and Connecticut, on the development of methods that will make real learning easier. The interdisciplinary research project is supported by two National Science Foundation grants totaling more than $2.4 million. More...
