Decision support systems for business continuity of U.S. critical transportation infrastructure: A systematic review

The critical transportation infrastructure (CTI) that society relies on to be constantly available, including but not limited to bridges, tunnels, limited access highways, and associated assets, is under increasing demand and the consequent threat of disruption. Whether it is a cyberattack or a natural disaster threatening to interrupt service, business continuity managers have many choices about protecting the essential airways, railways, and roadways that are also integral parts of national preparedness efforts and defense. Floods, fires, terrorism, pandemics, and technical accidents all highlight the need for continuity managers to better plan for disasters and efficiently recover from them. The research question guiding this dissertation is: What decision support systems should managers incorporate into their business continuity plans to protect critical transportation infrastructure against disruption in the United States? The findings indicated that decision support systems (DSS) would aid managerial decision-making where time is of the essence in an emergency. However, specific data inputs are required. Furthermore, collaboration as a disruption mitigation strategy is explored. Presented as a systematic review, the theoretical framework for this study was created using the theory of absorptive capacity and high reliability organization theory.Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure i ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR BUSINESS CONTINUITY OF U.S. CRITICAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW Michael Arthur Quintieri Doctor of Business Administration, 2022 The critical transportation infrastructure (CTI) that society relies on to be constantly available, including but not limited to bridges, tunnels, limited access highways, and associated assets, is under increasing demand and the consequent threat of disruption. Whether it is a cyberattack or a natural disaster threatening to interrupt service, business continuity managers have many choices about protecting the essential airways, railways, and roadways that are also integral parts of national preparedness efforts and defense. Floods, fires, terrorism, pandemics, and technical accidents all highlight the need for continuity managers to better plan for disasters and efficiently recover from them. The research question guiding this dissertation is: What decision support systems should managers incorporate into their business continuity plans to protect critical transportation infrastructure against disruption in the United States? The findings indicated that decision support systems (DSS) would aid managerial decision-making where time is of the essence in an emergency. However, specific data inputs are required. Furthermore, collaboration as a disruption mitigation strategy is explored. Presented as a systematic review, the theoretical framework for this study was created using the theory of absorptive capacity and high reliability organization theory. Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure ii Keywords: Decision support systems, business continuity, critical infrastructure, transportation, absorptive capacity, high reliability organization Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure iii DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR BUSINESS CONTINUITY OF U.S. CRITICAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW By Michael Arthur Quintieri Dr. Deborah Wharff, Primary Advisor Dr. Denise Breckon, Secondary Advisor Dissertation submitted to the School of Business, University of Maryland Global Campus, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration 2022 Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure iv © Copyright by Michael Arthur Quintieri 2022 Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure v Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to Dr. Anthony J. Robb who inspired me to pursue so much. Tony was a learned scholar and traveler in addition to being an esteemed language professor. He taught me I was capable and to believe in possibility, subtly but aptly as was his way. Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure vi Acknowledgements My spouse, Frank, was unwavering throughout this process and deserves a special set of accolades. Special thanks to Dr. Deborah Wharff and Dr. Denise Breckon. I could not have made it this far without your support and encouragement. I will do my upmost best to carry your words of wisdom forward. Additionally, special thanks goes to the following individuals and places that shaped the journey: Dr. Aminu Jibrin – Aurora, CO Ayo Yejide – Kansas City, MO Barbara Reis, Anthony Pumphrey, Joe Quintieri (dec.) – Philadelphia, PA Brett J. Mattei – St. Petersburg, FL Daniel Quintana – Westwood, NJ Dominic Starelli – Pacifica, CA Esteban Cabezzas Villalobos – San José, Costa Rica Francesco Quintieri – Milan, Italy Dr. Gerard A. LaMorte III – Rutgers University—Newark Joe Consolo (dec.) – Chesterfield, MO John Giordano – Voorhees, NJ Dr. Kendal García Humes – Alamosa, CO Maryann Miller – Medford, NJ Nicholas J. Basile, Joy Pino-Mottin, and Alyssa Little – Washington Township, NJ Nigel Soloman – Toronto, Canada Richard Kennedy – Maple Shade, NJ Tara Roseman – Sherman Oaks, CA Thomas André – Paris, France Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure vii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR BUSINESS CONTINUITY OF U.S. CRITICAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ................................................................................................. iii Dedication .................................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................... vii Listing of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... ix Listing of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview of the Management Problem ......................................................... 1 Background and Overview ........................................................................................................................... 4 Business Continuity (BC) ....................................................................................................................... 4 Decision Support Systems (DSS) ........................................................................................................... 6 Disruptions to Critical Transportation Infrastructure ........................................................................... 7 Problem Statement and Significance of the Problem ................................................................................. 9 Research Question .............................................................................................................................. 11 Rationale for the Study or Significance of the Study .......................................................................... 13 Definitions and Terminology ...................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Organization of the Dissertation ................................................................................................................ 15 Chapter 2: Scoping Literature Review and Theoretical Frame ................................................................... 16 Discussion of Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................ 16 Absorptive Capacity ............................................................................................................................ 17 High Reliability Organizations (HROs) ................................................................................................. 19 Scoping Literature Review ......................................................................................................................... 22 Critical Transportation Infrastructure: The Threat Landscape ........................................................... 22 Business Continuity and Information Exchange ................................................................................. 25 Decision Support Systems (DSS) ......................................................................................................... 26 Conceptual Framework .............................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 30 Review Design and Methodology .............................................................................................................. 30 Evidence-Based Management and Research Framework .................................................................. 31 The Systematic Review (SR) ................................................................................................................ 31 Systematic Review (SR) Process .......................................................................................................... 32 Scoping Process and Research Question Review (Asking) .................................................................. 32 Search Strategy to Identify Relevant Evidence (Acquiring) ................................................................ 33 PRISMA Diagram ................................................................................................................................ 33 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria .......................................................................................................... 35 Method for Quality Appraisal of the Dataset (Appraising) ................................................................. 36 Analysis and Method of Synthesis (Aggregating) ............................................................................... 37 Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure viii Findings and Recommendations (Applying and Assessing) ................................................................ 38 Coding Process ................................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 4: Analysis and Findings ................................................................................................................ 40 Review of the Research Question .............................................................................................................. 40 Description of the Dataset ......................................................................................................................... 41 Screening Results ............................................................................................................................... 41 Results of the Quality Appraisal of the Dataset ......................................................................................... 42 Quality Appraisal Results .................................................................................................................... 42 Final PRISMA Details ........................................................................................................................... 43 Date Extraction Process ............................................................................................................................. 45 Publication Data ................................................................................................................................. 45 Identification of Gray Literature ......................................................................................................... 46 Coding Process Results .............................................................................................................................. 47 Findings and Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 49 Finding 1: Decision support systems (DSS) can be defined in a multitude of ways. .......................... 50 Finding 2: Business continuity (BC) depends on the use of an effective decision support system (DSS). .................................................................................................................................................. 54 Finding 3: DSS require various high-quality data inputs. .................................................................... 57 Finding 4: Collaboration was found to mitigate disruption. ............................................................... 58 Finding 5: The increasing of dynamic capabilities was found to contribute positively to disruption prevention/business continuity. ......................................................................................................... 60 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................................. 63 Revised Conceptual Model/Framework .................................................................................................... 63 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 64 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications .................................................................................................... 66 Significance of the Research ...................................................................................................................... 66 Answer to the Research Question ............................................................................................................. 67 Management Implications and Recommendations .................................................................................. 69 Recommendation 1: Managers must identify and re-identify risk as they continually refine their BCP. .................................................................................................................................................... 70 Recommendation 2: Consider data needs and interdependencies simultaneously. ......................... 71 Recommendation 3: Develop and increase dynamic capabilities to increase BC likelihood. ............. 72 Recommendation 4: Incorporate a DSS relevant to the CTI and readjust plans constantly. ............. 73 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................................................................. 74 Areas for Future Research ......................................................................................................................... 75 Final Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 75 References ................................................................................................................................................. 77 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................. 91 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................................. 93 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................................. 95 Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure ix Listing of Tables Table 1 .......................................................................................................................................................... 8 Table 2 ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 Table 3 ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 Table 4 ........................................................................................................................................................ 21 Table 5 ........................................................................................................................................................ 35 Table 6 ........................................................................................................................................................ 43 Table 7 ........................................................................................................................................................ 45 Table 8 ........................................................................................................................................................ 45 Table 9 ........................................................................................................................................................ 47 Table 10 ...................................................................................................................................................... 48 Table 11 ...................................................................................................................................................... 49 Table 12 ...................................................................................................................................................... 51 Table 13 ...................................................................................................................................................... 55 Table 14 ...................................................................................................................................................... 57 Table 15 ...................................................................................................................................................... 60 Table 16 ...................................................................................................................................................... 62 Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure x Listing of Figures Figure 1 ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Figure 2 ...................................................................................................................................................... 17 Figure 3 ...................................................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 5 ...................................................................................................................................................... 37 Figure 6 ...................................................................................................................................................... 44 Figure 7 ...................................................................................................................................................... 64 Figure 8 ...................................................................................................................................................... 69 Decision Support Systems for Business Continuity of U.S. Critical Transportation Infrastructure 1 Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview of the Management Problem The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) defines critical infrastructure (CI) as “sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof” (National Mining Association, 2020, para. 3). In what Galbusera et al. (2021) refer to as the nervous system of our collective societies, there are 1