Biography

Angsana A. Techatassanasoontorn is a Ph.D. candidate in the Information and Decision Sciences department at the Carlson School of Management. She holds an M.S. degree in Management Information Systems from University of Arizona and a B.S. degree in Statistics from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. She was a recipient of 2004-2005 Carlson School doctoral dissertation fellowship and 2004 Doris McNamara fellowship for women. She represented University of Minnesota at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) doctoral consortium in Seattle, Washington and the Big 10 IS Doctoral and Junior Faculty Research Symposium in Columbus, Ohio in 2003. She also received the Ph.D. student teaching awards from the Carlson School of Management in 2001 and 2004. To learn more about Angsana, visit her web site at http://ids.csom.umn.edu/faculty/phds/angsana.

Background: “I began my career in Information Systems as a programmer at a software development company in Bangkok, Thailand. Like many new graduates, I simply followed the trend at that time to start off a career in IS with programmer positions. The picture of a programmer in my mind was someone who sits in front of a computer coding and debugging programs. However, through this job, I not only learned that my impression was wrong but I also discovered that I truly enjoyed the part of the job that I used my knowledge to teach and train others. This made me decide to make a switch from working in the industry to pursuing a career in academia at Thammasat University in Thailand. It was the experience of teaching colleagues, students, and others to use various information technologies that made me want to study problems that center on the interaction between people and information technologies.”

Research interests : “My research interests are in the areas of technology adoption and diffusion and technology policy. In my work, I draw upon theories from various disciplines including IS, economics, and marketing science. I also apply methodologies from Public Health, Biostatistics, and Geography—survival analysis and spatial statistics – to broaden an understanding about the dynamics of technology diffusion.”

Current Research Project: “Although technology adoption and diffusion have been widely studied in the IS field, most research examines adoption and diffusion at individual and organization levels. As a result, little is known about technology adoption and diffusion at the international level. Currently, I work with my advisor, Professor Robert J. Kauffman, to develop theories to understand influential factors that drive diffusion of technology across countries. The first theory is the state-based theory of technology diffusion in which I argue that there are different sets of drivers influence diffusion speeds at different states of diffusion process. This new theoretical perspective should enable business strategists and government policy makers to design not only appropriate plans but also when they should be used to promote faster technology diffusion. The second theory is a contagion theory of technology diffusion , in which I argue that, in addition to within-country factors, a country's diffusion process can be influenced by other countries that share similar characteristics. For example, countries that share similar socioeconomic, culture, lifestyle, and technology policy probably have similar adoption and diffusion patterns. Then, I empirically evaluated the state-based theory of technology diffusion on the international diffusion of digital wireless phones in nearly 50 countries. In particular, I investigated the effects of country environmental factors, digital and analog wireless phone industry environmental factors, and nation-level technology policy factors on the speed of diffusion.

The initial results illustrate that multiple digital wireless standards slow down diffusion across the critical diffusion states. In addition, competition from both analog and digital wireless phone industries in terms of a number of operators and service prices influences the growth of digital wireless phone diffusion from the early diffusion to the partial diffusion state where a critical mass of adopters is reached. To date, I have presented the conceptual and methodological aspects of the analysis in the paper entitled “International Diffusion of Digital Wireless Phone Technology: A Coupled-Hazard Approach” at the INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology in November 2002. It is due for publication in late 2004 in the journal, Information Technology and Management . The second paper entitled “Does One Standard Promote Faster Growth? An Econometric Analysis of the International Diffusion of Wireless Technology” was presented at the Electronic Marketing Mini-track of Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-37), where it won the “Best Research Paper Award.” Currently, I am working on expanding the data set and developing a contagion theory of technology diffusion and its empirical assessment. I plan to graduate from the Carlson School's Ph.D. program in May 2005.”

General impressions : “My experience with the doctoral program has been wonderful. I am confident that the training I have received here helps prepare me to do rigorous research throughout my academic career. The program also offers the opportunity for me to practice all the core tasks of future faculty – teaching, research, and services. I also like the open environment where students can freely interact with faculty as well as other students.”