CCE Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Information Systems (DCIS)

Department

Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences

Advisor

Yair Levy

Committee Member

Ling Wang

Committee Member

Steven Zink

Keywords

Certification, Inefficiencies, Information System, Intention, Six Sigma

Abstract

Organizations worldwide have been turning to Six Sigma program (SSP) to eliminate the defects in their products or drive out the variability in their processes to attain a competitive advantage in their marketplace. An effective certification program has been touted as a major contributor to successful implementation of SSP. An effective certification program provides the professionals involved with SSP projects a clear understanding of what their responsibilities should be in reducing the variability in their processes. Despite the benefits, a significant number of professionals who attend certification training fail to become certified.

This study aimed to develop a predictive model to address the certification challenges that organizations face in implementing SSP. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, this study investigated the perceived responsibility factors of reducing inefficiencies in Information Systems (IS) processes and the influence of these factors on the intention of professionals to acquire SSP certification. The qualitative approach was employed to gather responsibilities in reducing process inefficiencies. The quantitative approach was used to uncover the responsibility factors for a large group of SSP certification candidates in an IS organization. Survey instruments were used to collect data from the IS department of a Fortune 500 company in both qualitative and quantitative phases. The results of the qualitative and quantitative approaches indicated that five responsibility factors of leadership (LDS), technical expertise (TEX), project selection and management (PSM), analysis (ANA), and certification (CET) would have significant contribution on intention of professionals to acquire SSP certification (INI). However, the results of the Ordinal Logistic Regression predictive model developed in this study indicated that only CET was a significant predictor of INI.

This study makes two important contributions to successful SSP implementation in an IS organizations. The first contribution is that CET is a significant predictor of GB candidates' intention to acquire certification. The second contribution of the present study is that gender differences affect the intention to acquire certification.

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