About Associate Professor Liaquat Hossain
Liaquat’s work aims to explore the effects of different types of social network structures and patterns of information technology use on coordination in a dynamic and complex environment. The primary focus of Liaquat’s research is in the area of network analysis of organisational and social systems. He approaches this using social networks theory and analytical methods and apply theories and methods from sociology and social anthropology to study coordination problem in a dynamic, complex and distributed environment. He further apply network based theories and methods to explore the phenomenon of globally distributed work groups (referred to as outsourcing in business management literature) and its management challenges. Overall, he is interested in exploring (modeling and empirical investigation) of the effects of different types of social network structures on coordination and organisational performance from a theoretical and an applied perspective. In his research, he uses methods and analytical techniques from mathematical sociology (i.e., social networks analysis), social anthropology (i.e., interview and field studies) and computer science (i.e., information visualisation, graph theoretic approaches and data mining techniques such as clustering) to explore coordination problems in a dynamic, distributed and complex setting.
The primary focus of Liaquat's research is in the area of network analysis of organisational and social systems. He approaches this using social networks theory and analytical methods and apply theories and methods from sociology and social anthropology to study coordination problem in a dynamic, complex and distributed environment. He further apply network based theories and methods to explore the phenomenon of globally distributed work groups (referred to as outsourcing in business management literature) and its management challenges. Overall, he is interested in exploring (modeling and empirical investigation) of the effects of different types of social network structures on coordination and organisational performance from a theoretical and an applied perspective. In his research, he uses methods and analytical techniques from mathematical sociology (i.e., social networks analysis), social anthropology (i.e., interview and field studies) and computer science (i.e., information visualisation, graph theoretic approaches and data mining techniques such as clustering) to explore coordination problems in a dynamic, distributed and complex setting.
In his current research, he is engaged in two major projects: (i) Work Patterns, Communications Structure and Performance and (ii) New Directions in Modeling Disaster Coordination. For providing new directions to work patterns, communications structure and performance, we draw theories from sociology and social studies of science and technology as we are not purely interested in IT, but the interaction effect of IT and social networks on performance. Even for IT and Information Systems, there are very few systematic empirical studies on exploring the interaction effect of IT and Social networks on Performance. Our study will contribute to the understanding of work patterns of GPs in rural areas, their association with professional peers, types and patterns of ICT use in their day-to-day work and work performance. The outcome would further help understanding how GPs often carry out procedures in situations with limited resources or personnel and are implicitly required to adapt to protocols and codes of conduct for Australian rural settings. Our aim is to develop network based measures for exploring the mediating effect of how different types ICT help support knowledge intensive work groups. We will develop network instrument for collecting data related to implication(s) of patterns of ICT usage for supporting knowledge intensive work groups. We will also explore whether there is any correlation between patterns of ICT usage and social network structures of the work groups. In our study, we will make distinction between the types, usage patterns of ICT, and network structure for supporting the work groups and explore whether the joint effect of ICT and network structure have implications on their performance. In doing so, we aim to extend the theory of structural holes by applying its underlying assumptions (i.e., efficiency and effectiveness) to explore the interconnection between types and patterns of ICT usage, network structure, support of knowledge intensive work groups (i.e., GPs) and their performance.
Liaquat worked as a Postdoc in Information Economics at MIT Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) USA during 1997-1998. During 1995-1997, he was a PhD student in Information and Communications Technology at the School of Information Technology and Computer Science of the University of Wollongong NSW Australia. He completed MSc in Computer and Engineering Management from Assumption University Thailand in 1994. He completed Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from Assumption University Thailand in 1993.
Selected publications
- L. Hossain and D Zhou, “Measuring Open Source Software Quality through Centrality”, Accepted for the 30th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), Leipzig, Germany, 10 - 18 May 2008 (Acceptance Date: 7 February 2008). Tier A+
- D. Kim and L. Hossain, “Visualising and Interpreting Group Behaviour through Social Networks”, Accepted to IFIP 8.3 (International Federation for Information Processing) Conference on Decision Support Systems, Manufacture des Tabacs, Toulouse, France, July 1st-4th 2008 (Acceptance Date: 22 February 2008). Tier A
- K, Chung and L. Hossain, “Network Structure, ICT use and Performance Attitudes of Knowledge Workers”, Accepted for the 16th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) (Acceptance date: 4 March 2008) Tier A
- M. S. Hasan, L. Hossain, and J. Davis, “Social Networks Analysis for Exploring Organisational Disintegration”, Behavioural Aspects of Information Systems Track of the Twenty Eighth International Conference on Information Systems, Montreal, December, 2007. Tier A+
- L. Hossain, K. S. K. Chung and M. S. Hasan, “Exploring Temporal Communication through Social Networks”, Accepted for INTERACT 2007, The Eleventh IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. C. Baranauskas et al. (Eds.): INTERACT 2007, LNCS 4662, Part I, pp. 19–30, 2007. Tier A
- K. Kim and L. Hossain, “Visualising and Interpreting Group Behaviour through Social Networks”, in Proceedings of the North American Association for Computational Social and Organizational Sciences (NAACSOS), June 7-9, USA, 2007. Tier A (Most important workshop in Computational and Mathematical Organisation Theory, organised by Carnegie Mellon University).
- L. Hossain, S. Zhao, and M. S. Hasan, “Exploring Structural Changes of Communications Network During Organisational Crisis”, in Proceedings of the IFIP Working Group 8.6 Transfer and Diffusion of IT Conference on Organisational dynamics of technology-based innovation: diversifying the research agenda, Manchester (UK) 14th -16th June, 2007, pp. 481-486. Tier A.
- L. Hossain and A. Wu, “Measures of Centrality Correlates on Coordination”, IFIP Working Group 8.3 Decision Support Systems, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, in June 29th - July 1st 2006, pp. 126-149. Tier A.
- L. Hossain, A. Wu, and B. Choi, “Measuring Coordination through Social Networks”, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Milwaukee, Winconsin, USA, December 10-13, 2006. Tier A+.
- L. Hossain, K. S. K. Chung and A. Wu, “Actor Centrality Correlates to Project Based Coordination”, ACM Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Banff, Alberta, Canada, November 4-8, 2006, pp.363-372. Tier A.