Copyright (c) 2009 Association for Information Systems All rights reserved. http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq Recent documents in Management Information Systems Quarterly en-us Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:58:41 PDT 3600 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/11 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/11 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:47 PDT The technology acceptance model (TAM) asserts that ease of use and usefulness are two primary determinants of behavioral intention and usage. A parallel research stream emphasizes voluntariness, a key social influence and contextual variable, as a critical factor in information technology (IT) adoption, but pays little attention to its role in TAM. This paper addresses this particular absence by investigating the impact of environment-based voluntariness on the relationships among the four primary TAM constructs. A meta-analysis of 71 empirical studies provides strong support for the hypotheses that environment-based voluntariness moderates the effects of ease of use and usefulness on behavioral intention, but not the effect of ease of use on usefulness. Moreover, inconsistent with our expectations, environment-based voluntariness does not moderate the effects of ease of use and usefulness on usage. By further analyzing the data set, we suggest this may be because of the relatively small sample size, the presence of other factors, or the inappropriate measurement of usage in previous studies. The current study contributes not only to the distinction between user-based and environment-based voluntariness but also to a more complete understanding of user acceptance of IT across system-use environments. Jiming Wu http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/10 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/10 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:43 PDT Evolutionary psychology holds great promise as one of the possible pillars on which information systems theorizing can take place. Arguably, evolutionary psychology can provide the key to many counterintuitive predictions of behavior toward technology, because many of the evolved instincts that influence our behavior are below our level of conscious awareness; often those instincts lead to behavioral responses that are not self-evident. This paper provides a discussion of information systems theorizing based on evolutionary psychology, centered on key human evolution and evolutionary genetics concepts and notions. It is argued here that there is often a need to integrate evolutionary and non-evolutionary theories, and four important preconditions for the successful integration of evolutionary and non-evolutionary theories are discussed. An example of integration of evolutionary and non-evolutionary theories is provided. The example focuses on one evolutionary information systems theory--media naturalness theory--previously developed as an alternative to media richness theory, and one non-evolutionary information systems theory, channel expansion theory. Ned Kock http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/9 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/9 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:40 PDT Prior research has extensively studied individual adoption and use of information systems, primarily using beliefs as predictors of behavioral intention to use a system that in turn predicts system use. We propose a model of acceptance with peer support (MAPS) that integrates prior individual-level research with social networks constructs. We argue that an individual's embeddedness in the social network of the organizational unit implementing a new information system can enhance our understanding of technology use. An individual's coworkers can be important sources of help in overcoming knowledge barriers constraining use of a complex system, and such interactions with others can determine an employee's ability to influence eventual system configuration and features. We incorporate network density (reflecting "get-help" ties for an employee) and network centrality (reflecting "give-help" ties for an employee), drawn from prior social network research, as key predictors of system use. Further, we conceptualize valued network density and valued network centrality, both of which take into account ties to those with relevant system-related information, knowledge, and resources, and employ them as additional predictors. We suggest that these constructs together are coping and influencing pathways by which they have an effect on system use. We conducted a 3-month long study of 87 employees in one business unit in an organization. The results confirmed our theory that social network constructs can significantly enhance our understanding of system use over and above predictors from prior individual-level adoption research. Tracy Ann Sykes http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/8 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/8 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:36 PDT Within the emerging context of the digitization of health care, electronic health records (EHRs) constitute a significant technological advance in the way medical information is stored, communicated, and processed by the multiple parties involved in health care delivery. However, in spite of the anticipated value potential of this technology, there is widespread concern that consumer privacy issues may impede its diffusion. In this study, we pose the question: Can individuals be persuaded to change their attitudes and opt-in behavioral intentions toward EHRs, and allow their medical information to be digitized even in the presence of significant privacy concerns? To investigate this question, we integrate an individual's concern for information privacy (CFIP) with the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to examine attitude change and likelihood of opting-in to an EHR system. We theorize that issue involvement and argument framing interact to influence attitude change, and that concern for information privacy further moderates the effects of these variables. We also propose that likelihood of adoption is driven by concern for information privacy and attitude. We test our predictions using an experiment with 366 subjects where we manipulate the framing of the arguments supporting EHRs. We find that an individual's CFIP interacts with argument framing and issue involvement to affect attitudes toward the use of EHRs. In addition, results suggest that attitude toward EHR use and CFIP directly influence opt-in behavioral intentions. An important finding for both theory and practice is that even when people have high concerns for privacy, their attitudes can be positively altered with appropriate message framing. These results as well as other theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Corey M. Angst http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/7 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/7 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:32 PDT The creative industries have frequently expressed concern that they can't compete with freely available copies of their content. Competing with free is particularly concerning for movie studios, whose content may be more prone to single-use consumption than other industries such as music. This issue has gained renewed importance recently with the advent of new digital video recording and distribution technologies, and the widespread availability of Internet piracy.We examine competition between "free" and paid video content in two important contexts: the impact of legitimate free distribution in one channel on sales through paid channels, and the impact of illegitimate free distribution in pirated channels on sales through paid channels. We do this by studying the impact of movie broadcasts on DVD demand and the impact of piracy availability at the time of broadcast on DVD demand. Our data include all movies shown on over-the-air and cable television during an eight-month period in 2005-2006.With respect to the impact of movie broadcasts on piracy and sales, we find that movie broadcasts on over-the-air networks result in a significant increase in both DVD sales at Amazon. com and illegal downloads for those movies that are available on BitTorrent at the time of broadcast. With respect to the impact of piracy on sales, we use the television broadcast as an exogenous demand shock and find that the availability of pirated content at the time of broadcast has no effect on post-broadcast DVD sales gains. Together our results suggest that creative artists can use product differentiation and market segmentation strategies to compete with freely available copies of their content. Specifically, the post-broadcast increase in DVD sales suggests that giving away content in one channel can stimulate sales in a paid channel if the free content is sufficiently differentiated from its paid counterpart. Likewise, our finding that the presence of pirated content does not cannibalize sales for the movies in our sample suggests that if free and paid products appeal to separate customer segments, the presence of free products need not harm paid sales. Michael D. Smith http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/6 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/6 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:29 PDT This paper extends the effort-accuracy framework of cognition by taking into account the perceived strategy restrictiveness of decision aids, and tests the extended framework in a context in which online decision aids are used to elicit consumers' preferences, automate the processing of the preferences, and provide product advice for consumers. Three types of decision aids with different decision strategy support capabilities (an additive-compensatory based aid, an elimination-based aid, and a hybrid aid supporting both strategies) are compared in terms of users' perceptions of strategy restrictiveness, advice quality, and cognitive effort. These comparisons are grounded on the properties of normativeness and complementarity of decision strategies employed by the aids. A normative strategy takes into account both the users' attribute preferences and the relative importance of such preferences, and allows for trade-offs among preferences (e.g., additive-compensatory). Strategy complementarity indicates support for decision rules based on multiple strategies (e.g., both additive-compensatory and elimination strategies).The experimental results support the validity of the extended effort-accuracy-restrictiveness framework and the effects of strategy normativeness, but not the effects of strategy complementarity. In addition to the perceptions of cognitive effort and advice quality, perceived strategy restrictiveness exerts a significant influence on consumers' intentions to use online decision aids. The additive-compensatory aid is perceived to be less restrictive, of higher quality, and less effortful than the elimination aid, whereas the hybrid aid is not perceived to be any different from the additive-compensatory aid. Weiquan Wang http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/5 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/5 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:25 PDT In the past few years, we have witnessed the increasing ubiquity of user-generated content on seller reputation and product condition in Internet-based used-good markets. Recent theoretical models of trading and sorting in used-good markets provide testable predictions to use to examine the presence of adverse selection and trade patterns in such dynamic markets. A key aspect of such empirical analyses is to distinguish between product-level uncertainty and seller-level uncertainty, an aspect the extant literature has largely ignored. Based on a unique, 5-month panel data set of user-generated content on used good quality and seller reputation feedback collected from Amazon, this paper examines trade patterns in online used-good markets across four product categories (PDAs, digital cameras, audio players, and laptops). Drawing on two different empirical tests and using content analysis to mine the textual feedback of seller reputations, the paper provides evidence that adverse selection continues to exist in online markets. First, it is shown that after controlling for price and other product, and for seller-related factors, higher quality goods take a longer time to sell compared to lower quality goods. Second, this result also holds when the relationship between sellers' reputation scores and time to sell is examined. Third, it is shown that price declines are larger for more unreliable products, and that products with higher levels of intrinsic unreliability exhibit a more negative relationship between price decline and volume of used good trade. Together, our findings suggest that despite the presence of signaling mechanisms such as reputation feedback and product condition disclosures, the information asymmetry problem between buyers and sellers persists in online markets due to both product-based and seller-based information uncertainty. No consistent evidence of substitution or complementarity effects between product-based and seller-level uncertainty are found. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Anindya Ghose http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/4 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/4 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:21 PDT Qualitative research is just as able as quantitative research to follow certain fundamental principles of logic in general and scientific reasoning in particular. Two such principles are the logic of modus ponens and the logic of modus tollens. In this essay, we frame different research approaches--positivist research, interpretive research, action research, and design research--in the forms of modus ponens and modus tollens. Three issues emerge from this framing and call into question how research is now conducted in the discipline of information systems. They are the issue of a common scientific basis, the issue of the fallacy of affirming the consequent, and the issue of summative validity. Both rigor and relevance in information systems research may be better achieved by attending to the three issues. Allen S. Lee http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/3 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/3 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:16 PDT This paper provides an introspective assessment of the current state of management information systems as a research discipline using the "lens" of the informing sciences. Based on this assessment, we observe that the degree to which MIS research is informing its key external clients-- practitioners, students, and researchers in other disciplines-- has declined over the years. This problem is particularly acute with respect to informing practitioners. Unfortunately, practitioner support may be critical in making up for lost resources caused by declining student enrollments. Despite this dire prognostication, we believe that it is possible to reverse this trend. Drawing upon cognitive science and diffusion of innovations research, we analyze the source of the problem and then present five recommendations aimed at leading MIS journals, scholars, and professional societies for improving the ability of MIS research to engage and inform its external clients. Grandon Gill http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/2 http://aisel.aisnet.org/misq/vol33/iss2/2 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:37:13 PDT Detmar W. Straub