Start Date
16-8-2018 12:00 AM
Description
Online forums sponsored by electronic networks of practice (ENPs) have become an important platform for technology-mediated knowledge exchange, yet relatively little is known about how ENP participants filter and evaluate information they encounter on these forums. This study integrates perspectives from expectation disconfirmation theory, prospect theory, and neuroscience research to explore how ENP forum filtering judgments are influenced when expectations formed on the basis of contextual cues are confirmed or disconfirmed by examination of solution quality. We report the results of an fMRI experiment that paired both positive and negative contextual cues with high and low quality solutions on a mock ENP forum interface. Results suggest that evaluation judgments are strongest in conditions where initial contextual cue judgments are confirmed by examination of solution quality. Moreover, our results offer evidence of differences in filtering behaviors and underlying cognitions with respect to expected and unexpected gains and losses.
Recommended Citation
Fadel, Kelly; Meservy, Thomas; and Kirwan, Brock, "Expectation Disconfirmation in ENP Information Filtering: An fMRI Experiment" (2018). AMCIS 2018 Proceedings. 22.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2018/AdvancesIS/Presentations/22
Expectation Disconfirmation in ENP Information Filtering: An fMRI Experiment
Online forums sponsored by electronic networks of practice (ENPs) have become an important platform for technology-mediated knowledge exchange, yet relatively little is known about how ENP participants filter and evaluate information they encounter on these forums. This study integrates perspectives from expectation disconfirmation theory, prospect theory, and neuroscience research to explore how ENP forum filtering judgments are influenced when expectations formed on the basis of contextual cues are confirmed or disconfirmed by examination of solution quality. We report the results of an fMRI experiment that paired both positive and negative contextual cues with high and low quality solutions on a mock ENP forum interface. Results suggest that evaluation judgments are strongest in conditions where initial contextual cue judgments are confirmed by examination of solution quality. Moreover, our results offer evidence of differences in filtering behaviors and underlying cognitions with respect to expected and unexpected gains and losses.