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Protecting Privacy When Sharing and Releasing Data with Multiple Records per Person
Hasan B. Kartal and Xiao-Bai Li
Abstract
This study concerns the risks of privacy disclosure when sharing and releasing a dataset where each individual may be associated with multiple records. Existing data privacy approaches and policies typically assume that each individual in a shared dataset corresponds to a single record, which causes underestimating the disclosure risks in multiple records per person scenarios. We propose two novel measures of privacy disclosure to arrive at a more appropriate assessment of disclosure risks. The first measure assesses individual-record disclosure risk based upon the frequency distribution of individuals’ occurrences. The second measure assesses sensitive attribute disclosure risk based upon the number of individuals affiliated with a sensitive value. We show that the two proposed disclosure measures generalize the well-known k-anonymity and l-diversity measures, respectively, and work for scenarios with either a single record or multiple records per person. We have developed an efficient computational procedure that integrates the two proposed measures and a data quality measure to anonymize the data with multiple records per person when sharing and releasing the data for research and analytics. The results of the experimental evaluation using real-world data demonstrate the advantage of the proposed approach over existing techniques for protecting privacy while preserving data quality.
Does IT Help Revenue Management in Hospitals
Kangkang Qi and Sumin Han
Abstract
In this study, we examine the question of how the adoption of IT systems influences revenue management in hospitals. We posit that IT plays a vital role in enhancing revenue through two mechanisms: (1) increase in the net patient revenue, and (2) decrease in the uncompensated care ratio. Using unique datasets from various proprietary resources, we test the relationships between IT (clinical and business) investment and revenue management performances using dynamic panel data models with the generalized method of moments (GMM). Empirical results generally support our hypotheses: i.e. (1) both clinical and business IT investment have short-term and long-term effects on boosting net patient revenue, (2) clinical IT investment was found to have short-term contemporaneous effect on reducing uncompensated care ratio. Moderation analyses suggest that: (1) larger hospitals tend to utilize business IT systems better in facilitating revenue management through both channels over the long run, but not necessarily using clinical IT; (2) for-profit hospitals outperform their non-profit counterparts when it comes to managing revenues with the help of clinical IT, no interaction effect with business IT was found though. This paper contributes to the literature of business value of IT investment and healthcare IT in the field of information systems as well as revenue management and healthcare administration literature. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
Integration of On-Premises and Cloud-Based Software: The Product Bunding Perspective
Xiong Zhang and Wei T. Yue
Abstract
Firms in the cloud-computing era are facing the critical issue of integrating on-premises software and cloud-based software services. To date, the software industry has designed two different types of integration methods—an enterprise service bus (ESB) and an integration platform as a service (iPaaS). However, there are conflicting views on when and how to use these different integration methods to fulfill integration needs. This study aims to resolve this confusion through economic modeling. By focusing on the indirect network effect and following a two-product bundling framework, we establish a stylized model to investigate the optimal pricing and bundling decisions and the best integration choice. Our findings contradict common perceptions that an iPaaS is the better choice for integration and show that firms can derive higher value by adopting ESB to integrate on-premises software and cloud-based software services. Conceptually, given that the overall network value received from a cloud-based software service is higher, the use of ESB can contribute toward significantly improving the total value of the two software applications. We also find that unbundling is the best marketing strategy for firms because software integration can improve the valuation of individual software. Our findings have important implications for software vendors. It suggests that vendors can leverage a higher network value from the software service by integrating it with on-premises software applications through ESB instead of iPaaS and eventually realize a higher profit by extracting more value from consumers. Since integration increases the value of individual products, the vendors must sell them separately instead of selling them as a bundle.
Why Do Individual Employees Commit Malicious Computer Abuses? A Routine Activity Theory Perspective
Xin (Robert) Luo, Han Li, Qing Hu, and Heng Xu
Abstract
Prior information security studies have largely focused on understanding employee security behavior from a policy compliance perspective. We contend that there is a pressing need to develop a comprehensive understanding of the circumstances that lead to employee commitment of deliberate and malicious acts against organizational digital assets. Drawing on Routine Activity Theory (RAT), we seek to establish a comprehensive model of employee-committed malicious computer abuses (MCA) by investigating the motivations of the offenders, the suitability of the desired targets, and the effect of security guardianship in organizational settings. Specifically, we delineate the effects of the individual characteristics of self-control, hacking self-efficacy, and moral beliefs, and the organizational aspects of deterrence based on the routine activity framework of crime. We test this research model using subjects who held a wide range of corporate positions and varying degrees of computer skills. Our findings offer fresh insights on insider security threats, identify new directions for future research, and provide managers with prescriptive guidance for formulating effective security policies and management programs for preventing MCA in organizations.
The Anatomy of a Design Principle
Shirley Gregor, Leona Chandra Kruse, and Stefan Seidel
Abstract
This essay derives a schema for specifying design principles for information technology-based artifacts in sociotechnical systems. Design principles are used to specify design knowledge in an accessible form, but there is wide variation and lack of precision across views on their formulation. This variation is a sign of important issues that should be addressed, including a lack of attention to human actors and levels of complexity as well as differing views on causality, on the nature of the mechanisms used to achieve goals, and on the need for justificatory knowledge. The new schema includes the well-recognized elements of design principles, including goals in a specific context and the mechanisms to achieve the goal. In addition, the schema allows: (i) consideration of the varying roles of the human actors involved and the utility of design principles; (ii) attending to the complexity of IT-based artifacts through decomposition;(iii) distinction of the types of causation (i.e., deterministic versus probabilistic); (iv) a variety of mechanisms in achieving aims; and (v) the optional definition of justificatory knowledge underlying the design principles. We illustrate the utility of the proposed schema by applying it to examples of published research.
Unpacking the Difference between Digital Transformation and IT-enabled Organizational Transformation
Lauri Wessel, Abayomi Baiyere, Roxana Ologeanu-Taddei, Jonghyuk Cha, Tina Blegind-Jensen
Abstract
While digital transformation offers a number of opportunities for today’s organizations, information systems scholars and practitioners struggle to grasp what digital transformation really is, particularly how it differs from the well-established concept of information technology (IT)-enabled organizational transformation. By integrating literature from organization science and information systems research with two longitudinal case studies – one on digital transformation, the other on IT-enabled organizational transformation – we develop an empirically grounded conceptualization that sets these two phenomena apart. We find that there are two distinctive differences: (a) digital transformation activities leverage digital technology in (re)defining an organization’s value proposition, while IT-enabled organizational transformation activities leverage digital technology in supporting the value proposition and (b) digital transformation involves a new organizational identity compared with IT-enabled organizational transformation that enhances an existing organizational identity. We synthesize these arguments in a process model to distinguish the different types of transformations and propose directions for future research.
Empowerment of Grassroots Consumers: A Revelatory Case of a Chinese FinTech Innovation
Tianhui Tan, Ying Zhang, Cheng Suang Heng, and Chunmian Ge
Abstract
Recent year have witnessed the emergence of Financial Technology (FinTech) innovations as a promising resolution to financial exclusion, via mechanisms that empower the financially underprivileged to gain access rights into the traditional financial industry. However, academic research has provided little guidance on how to strategize the IT-enabled empowerment mechanisms for FinTech innovations to realize both business success and financial inclusion. In this study, we conduct an in-depth revelatory case study on a novel Chinese FinTech innovation, Yu’E Bao, the bellwether in revolutionizing the country’s financial industry dramatically through the successful empowerment of a large population of financially underprivileged (i.e., “grassroots consumers”, translated from “cao gen” in Chinese). Through our systematic qualitative analyses of news articles collected since the product launch, we derive a two-stage theoretical model, examined through the lens of “empowerment”, and unravel the mechanisms underlying FinTech innovation’s empowerment process on grassroots consumers. Most importantly, we elucidate a “duality of empowerment”, that is, the catalyst for Yu’E Bao’s success soon becomes the impediment to Yu’E Bao’s further development. Our study contributes to the literature on Information Technology-enabled (IT-enabled) empowerment, empowerment, and FinTech. Critical implications to various stakeholders, such as government and policy makers, as well as FinTech practitioners and product designers are also drawn.
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Impact of Animated Banner Ads on Online Consumers: A Feature Level Analysis
Weiyin Hong, Muller Y. M. Cheung, James Y.L. Thong
Abstract
Despite the popular use of animated banner ads on websites, extant research on the effects of Web animation has generated mixed results. We argue that it is critical to identify feature-level animation characteristics, and examine their individual and combined effects on capturing online consumers’ attention across different task conditions. We identify three key animation features (i.e., motion, lagging, and looming) based on three attention theories and investigate their effects on online consumers’ attention and recall across browsing and searching tasks with three laboratory experiments using an eye tracking machine. Experiment 1 found that both motion and looming (animation features) are effective in attracting online consumers’ attention to the animated ads when they are performing a browsing task. However, combining a salient feature (e.g., motion) with another salient feature (e.g., looming) does not add to its original attention attraction effect, suggesting a “banner saturation” effect. Further, online consumers’ attention positively affected their recall performance. In experiment 2, none of the animation features or their interactions has a significant effect when the subjects are performing a searching task, indicating task is an important boundary condition when applying the theories. Experiment 3 replicated experiment 1 in a more realistic context. The results of experiment 3 exhibit a close pattern with the results of experiment 1. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research.
Mitigating the Security Intention-Behavior Gap: The Moderating Role of Required Effort on the Intention-Behavior Relationship
Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Alexandra Durcikova, and Jay F. Nunamaker, Jr.
Abstract
Although users often express strong positive intentions to follow security policies, these positive intentions fail to consistently translate to behavior. In a security setting, this inconsistency between intentions and behavior—termed the intention-behavior gap—is particularly troublesome as a single failure to enact positive security intentions may make a system vulnerable. We address a need in security compliance literature to better understand the intention-behavior gap by explaining how an omnipresent competing intention—the user’s desire to minimize required effort—negatively moderates the relationship between positive intentions and actual security behavior. Moreover, we posit that this moderating effect is not accounted for in extant theories used to explain behavioral information security, introducing an opportunity to broadly impact information security research to more consistently predict behavior. In three experiments, we found that high required effort negatively moderated users’ intentions to follow security policies. Controlling for this moderating effect substantially increases the explained variance in security policy compliance. The results suggest that security researchers should be cognizant of the existence of competing intentions, such as the desire to minimize required effort, which may moderate the security intention-behavior relationship. Otherwise, such competing intentions may cause unexpected inconsistencies between users’ intentions to behave securely and their actual security behavior.
Impact of Helping Others in a Coopetitive Crowdsourcing Community
Indika Dissanayake, Sridhar Nerur, Jingguo Wang, Mahmut Yasar, and Jie Zhang
Abstract
It is increasingly the case that organizations are engaging the community through crowdsourcing platforms to evolve innovative solutions to challenging business problems. Participants on such platforms often simultaneously cooperate and compete with one another to earn top honors. This paper addresses the imperative to understand the dynamics of knowledge sharing in such a coopetitive environment. Specifically, our study relies on the conceptual foundations of social exchange and social capital theories to investigate how help rendered (e.g., exchanging ideas or sharing knowledge) by participants in an online coopetitive crowdsourcing setting affects their performance. Furthermore, the study examines the moderating effects of the intensity of competition. Results of our econometrics analyses suggest that help given in a highly competitive contest, as opposed to a less competitive one, is more likely to be reciprocated, but less likely to improve the contributor’s contest performance. In addition, our study found that help received by participants positively impacts their contest performance, and partially mediates the relationship between help rendered and contest performance. This research also provides insight into what motivates participants to share knowledge under conditions of coopetition. The findings of our study have strong implications for both theory and practice.
How Does Positioning of Information Technology Firms in Strategic Alliances Influence Returns to R&D Investments?
Pouya Rahmati, Ali Tafti, Sunil Mithas, and Vishal Sachdev
Abstract
Because software is fungible, has low marginal replication costs, and requires relatively high levels of initial investment to develop, understanding how IT-producing firms can protect and leverage value from their research and development (R&D) investments is important. We examine how the positioning of IT-producing firms within their networks of strategic alliances moderates their profits from R&D investments. We posit that alliances with IT-consuming firms generate relation-specific rents that, in turn, protect the value of R&D investments by making software innovations difficult for rivals to appropriate. Among IT-producing firms, we make a distinction between software consulting and services firms and software package-product firms. Our analyses of a data panel on 464 IT-producing firms for the 14-year period 1996-2009 suggest that IT-producing firms’ returns on R&D investments increase with alliance ties to IT-consuming firms. We also find that alliances with IT-consuming firms have a more beneficial effect on R&D investment returns for software consulting and services firms than for software package-product firms. Our findings yield nuanced insights into how IT-producing firms should position themselves within a network of alliances with IT-consuming firms. We discuss implications for research and practice.
The Dynamics of Architecture–Governance Configurations: An Assemblage Theory Approach
Ole Hanseth and Joan Rodon Modol
Abstract
Research on digital infrastructures and platforms studies large-scale systems that are characterized by constant evolution, loosely defined boundaries, and growing complexity. This research demonstrates that evolution is driven by tensions (between stability and change), which are in turn determined by the systems’ architecture and governance structures. This paper argues that architecture and governance are intrinsically related and conceptualizes them as a unified entity that we call an architecture-governance (A-G) configuration. We focus on the dynamics of A-G configurations –i.e., how architecture and governance interact and, in combination, shape the evolution of digital infrastructures, at the same time as A-G configurations change as emergent outcomes of the evolution of infrastructures. To this end, this paper applies Assemblage Theory as a lens to conduct a longitudinal study about an electronic prescription infrastructure. We identify three overall A–G configurations corresponding to different phases of the evolution of the infrastructure. This paper makes three contributions. First, we theorize an A-G configuration as an intertwined intermediate-scale entity representing the form of the infrastructure at the same time as constituting an assemblage in its own right. Second, we demonstrate how an A-G configuration and its infrastructure co-evolve through a series of interacting stabilization and destabilization processes that operate within and across levels. Finally, we argue that tensions driving the evolutions of infrastructures are also dynamic, and accordingly, the focus of study should be processes of stabilization and destabilization rather than stability and change.
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Design Principles for Robust Fraud Detection: The Case of Stock Market Manipulations
Michael Siering, Jan Muntermann, and Miha Grčar
Abstract
We address the challenge of building an automated fraud detection system with robust classifiers that mitigate countermeasures from fraudsters in the field of information-based securities fraud. Our work involves developing design principles for robust fraud detection systems and presenting corresponding design features. We adopt an instrumentalist perspective that relies on theory-based linguistic features and ensemble learning concepts as justificatory knowledge for building robust classifiers. We perform a naïve evaluation that assesses the classifiers’ performance to identify suspicious stock recommendations; and a robustness evaluation with a simulation that demonstrates a response to fraudster countermeasures. The results indicate that the use of theory-based linguistic features and ensemble learning can significantly increase the robustness of classifiers and contribute to the effectiveness of robust fraud detection. We discuss implications for supervisory authorities, industry, and individual users.
Why are Women Underrepresented in the American IT Industry? The Role of Explicit and Implicit Gender Identities
Alexander Serenko and Ofir Turel
Abstract
Gender inequality in the IT profession is an acute issue with major individual, societal, and national implications. In this study, we build on the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT and extend it to account for subconscious processes that may drive women away from IT university majors and IT career choices. We specifically theorize on the asymmetric roles of explicit and implicit gender identity facets in major-selection of men and women students and in determining their decisions to join the IT profession. To do so, this study introduces the concept of implicit gender identity, defined as the degree to which men and women subconsciously, automatically, and uncontrollably associate themselves with the masculine and feminine gender groups, respectively. Data were obtained from 185 pre-major selection university students by means of a survey and the Implicit Association Test. The findings revealed that gender identity was a significant predictor of IT major and career choices for women but not for men university students. Explicit gender identity had no influence on IT major and career choices for both men and women university students. Nevertheless, men’s and women’s IT major and career choices are similarly influenced by normative pressures. IT skills and IT work experience also impact such choices. Ultimately, this study shows that implicit gender identity can be a reason for driving women university students away from the IT profession and creating a gender gap.
Value Co-Creation in Smart Services: A Functional Affordances Perspective on Smart Personal Assistants
Robin Knote, Andreas Janson, Matthias Söllner, and Jan Marco Leimeister
Abstract
In the realm of smart services, smart personal assistants (SPAs) have become a popular medium for value co-creation between service providers and users. The market success of SPAs is largely based on their innovative material properties, such as natural language user interfaces, machine-learning-powered request handling and service provision, and anthropomorphism. In different combinations, these properties offer users entirely new ways to intuitively and interactively achieve their goals and, thus, co-create value with service providers. But how does the nature of the SPA shape value co-creation processes? In this paper, we look through a functional affordances lens to theorize about the effects of different types of SPAs (i.e., with different combinations of material properties) on users' value co-creation processes. Specifically, we collected SPAs from research and practice by reviewing scientific literature and web resources, developed a taxonomy of SPAs' material properties, and performed a cluster analysis to group SPAs of a similar nature. We then derived 2 general and 11 cluster-specific propositions on how different material properties of SPAs can yield different affordances for value co-creation. With our work, we point out that smart services require researchers and practitioners to fundamentally rethink value co-creation as well as revise affordances theory to address the dynamic nature of smart technology as a service counterpart.
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Knowledge Management System Use as a Key Driver of Professional and Organizational Cognitive Engagement
Kishen Iyengar and Ramiro Montealegre
Abstract
This study aims to contribute to literature on knowledge management systems (KMS) through investigating the role of engagement as an important intermediary in the relationship between KMS use and outcomes. Building on prior literature, we propose a theoretical model that conceptualizes KMS use as a valuable resource, and distinguish between two types of cognitive engagement, professional cognitive engagement and organizational cognitive engagement. These, in turn, mediate the KMS use-job performance and KMS use-organizational commitment relationships. The model was tested on a sample of 3354 real estate agents using an extensive dataset comprised of primary and secondary data. The findings show that KMS use has an impact on the professional and organizational cognitive engagement of the individual, which in turn impact their job performance and organizational commitment. Professional cognitive engagement, however, only partially mediated the relationship between KMS use and job performance. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of the study are discussed.
Managing Changes with the Support of Smart Technology: A Field Investigation of Ride-Hailing Services
Lele Kang, Qiqi Jiang, Chih-Hung Peng, Choon Ling Sia, and Ting Peng Liang
Abstract
With the support of smart technology, IT-enabled services have become “smart” and have progressively disrupted existing markets. Ride-hailing services (RHSs) are widely regarded as representative of these IT-enabled services. However, few studies on IT-enabled services investigate how the technological attributes of smart technology influence service performance in a continuously changing environment. We developed our research model acc ording to Wixom and Todd’s model, the literature on change management, and the literature on information system post-adoption behavior. We conducted a large-scale field study by surveying 380 drivers from major metropolises in mainland China and a post hoc qualitative interpretation to validate our model. We found that smart technological attributes of RHS systems (i.e., monitoring, control, advisory support, and responsive support) positively influence functionality and content quality, which in turn influence service quality. In addition, service quality positively influences drivers’ post-adoption attitudes and behaviors, including openness toward changes in RHS, job satisfaction, and continuous usage intention. Our findings provide important theoretical and practical implications.
What Lies Beneath: Unravelling the Generative Mechanisms of Smart Technology and Service Design
Joyce Y.H. Lee, Carol Hsu, and Leiser Silva
Abstract
The rapid digitalization of products and services has given rise to smart, technological products and services in various industries. While researchers recognize the complexity of digital components embedded in smart services, there exists scarce research on the evolution of product development, smart technology’s use, and the mechanisms wherein changes in products and services are triggered and implemented. In this research, taken from the theoretical basis of layered modular architecture, we study a digital venture in an event management industry and offer a substantive look at the three mechanisms—system–environment fitness, data exploitation, and user expansion—that shaped its smart technology from a conceptual idea into a real product and from a simple digital device into an integrated smart system. The research findings offer theoretical insight into the dynamics and fluidity of mechanisms that are relevant to a smart technology’s design, use, and outcomes.
Demystifying the Influential IS Legends of Positivism: Response to Lee's Commentary
JMikko Siponen and Aggeliki Tsohou
Abstract
We respond to Lee’s (forthcoming) commentary on our article “Demystifying the Influential IS Legends of Positivism” (Siponen & Tsohou [S&T], 2018). Lee offers four arguments against our analyses and conclusions in S&T (2018). First, because logical positivism (LP) has been discredited, he contends it cannot be used as a normative standard in IS. We clarify that our conclusions in S&T (2018) point to (1) the lack of justification for certain IS beliefs, and (2) a misunderstanding rather than legitimacy of LP as a philosophy of science. Second, Lee argues that IS researchers characterizing positivism never said they were following the tenets of LP. We provide evidence to show some influential papers on positivism in IS research indicated they were indeed following LP. Third, Lee offers an alternative explanation for the emergence and nature of IS positivism. His explanation has merit, and it can be accommodated in S&T’s (2018) account of positivism in IS. Unfortunately, his explanation does not account for certain problems in the IS discipline’s use of positivism. In S&T (2018), we provide a plausible explanation for these problems. Finally, we discuss the implications of S&T’s (2018) findings for the need to better understand the philosophical assumptions underlying “IS positivism.” We also counter Lee’s arguments that our conclusions in S&T (2018) should not make a difference to the future of IS research.
Investigating the Effects of Dimension-Specific Sentiments on Product Sales: The Perspective of Sentiment Preferences
Cuiqing Jiang, Jianfei Wang, Qian Tang, and Xiaozhong Lyu
Abstract
While literature has reached a consensus on the awareness effect of online word-of-mouth (eWOM), this paper studies its persuasive effect, specifically, the dimension-specific sentiment effects on product sales. We allow the sentiment information in eWOM along different product dimensions to have different persuasive effects on consumers’ purchase decisions. This occurs because of consumers’ sentiment preference, which is defined as the relative importance consumers place on various dimension-specific sentiments. We use an aspect-level sentiment analysis to derive the dimension-specific sentiments and PVAR (panel vector auto-regression) models to estimate their effects on product sales using a movie panel dataset. The findings show that three dimension-specific sentiments (star, genre and plot) are positively related to movie sales. Regarding consumers’ sentiment preferences, we find that the positive relationship with movie sales is stronger for plot sentiment relative to star sentiment for low-budget movies, whereas the positive relationship with movie sales is stronger for star sentiment relative to plot and genre sentiments for high-budget movies.
Mitigating Information Asymmetry to Achieve Crowdfunding Success: Signaling and Online Communication
Nianxin Wang, Huigang Liang, Yajiong Xue, and Shilun Ge
Abstract
This paper examines how signals and herding factor originating from multiple sources complement or substitute one another’s effects in the crowdfunding context. Drawing on Elaboration Likelihood Model, we propose that signals from campaigns (videos) and creators (experience) can mitigate information asymmetry concerns about project quality and creator credibility and that creator-originated signals offset the effect of campaign-originated signals on crowdfunding success. Further, we posit that online communication between creators and backers (backer comment and creator reply) complement or substitute the effects of campaign-originated and creator-originated signals. We collected and analyzed objective data of 9,884 crowdfunding projects from a major reward-based crowdfunding platform in China, and most of our hypotheses are verified.
Online Channels and Store Brands: The Strategic Interactions
Xiaomeng Luo, Ling Ge, Liwen Chen, and Jianbin Li
Abstract
This study examines the strategic interactions between the online channel strategies of a national brand manufacturer and the store brand strategies of a retailer. We develop a game- theoretical model in which a manufacturer makes channel choices and a retailer selects product lines and both need to take the other’s strategy into consideration. We compare the results with cases where no interactions are involved to explicate how the manufacturer’s online channel choice affects the retailer’s store brand strategy, and vice versa. The results suggest that the retailer executes more defensive strategy if the threat of the online channel is severe but tends to be cooperative when the threat is less alarming. The manufacturer, however, would rather give up his efficient online channel to act cooperatively when the store brand is introduced. Our findings can explain certain stylized facts regarding supply chain coordination.
Understanding Information Security Policy Violation from a Situational Action Perspective
Han Li, Xin (Robert) Luo, and Yan Chen
Abstract
Insiders’ negligence or abuse is considered a leading cause for information security breaches in organizations. As most of the extant studies have largely examined insider threats at a high level of abstraction, the role of situational moral reasoning for information security policy (ISP) violations in specific situations has received little attention. To advance this line of research, this paper opens up a potentially fruitful path for IS researchers by applying the situational action theory (SAT) to contextually examine why employees violate ISPs in particular situations, such as violations of password security policy, Internet use policy, and confidential data security policy, while considering specific violation intents ranging from altruistic to malicious. The results support most of the assertions derived from SAT. Situational moral belief was found to be the predominant driver for ISP violation across three situations in an organizational setting. However, the moderation effect of moral belief was only significant in situations involving sharing passwords and selling confidential data. Sanction certainty and sanction severity were also found to take different effects across situations. Implications for IS security practitioners and suggestions for future research are presented.
Improving Action Research by Integrating Methods
Robert M. Davison, Maris G. Martinsons, and Julien Malaurent
Abstract
Action Research (AR) within the Information Systems (IS) discipline has developed extensively since the 1970s. We reviewed the AR literature and found 16 different methods, which constitutes a problematic situation for researchers. We describe and critique those methods before integrating their strengths to improve the AR method that is most frequently practiced in IS: Canonical Action Research (CAR). The existing set of principles and criteria for CAR is modified and elaborated to enhance the foundation for undertaking AR consistently. We discuss the general implications of this improved form of the method, which we name Integrated Action Research (IAR). We specifically suggest how IAR can be used to investigate the application of disruptive technologies, including those that embody artificial intelligence and enable more flexible and socially-distanced work.
High-Risk Deviant Decisions: Does Neutralization Still Play a Role?
Bradley S. Trinkle, Merrill Warkentin, Kalana Malimage, and Nirmalee Raddatz
Abstract
Extant research has shown that neutralization processes can enable potential IS security policy violators to justify their behavior and overcome the deterrence effect of sanctions in order to engage in unethical behaviors. However, such sanctions are typically moderate – not career-ending. We test the boundary conditions of this theory by testing if neutralization plays a role in overcoming the impact of extreme levels of deterrence. We extend the Siponen and Vance (2010) framework within a professional context that assigns extreme sanctions to violators. Using the scenario-based factorial survey method, common in IS security research, we collected data from future auditors who understand these extreme sanctions. We test the reasons that auditors form intentions to falsify information concerning an information security issue with the accounting information system, thereby jeopardizing data integrity and security by modifying working papers to hide irregularities and, by doing so, violating their professional standards, which could result in career-ending sanctions. We empirically validated and tested the theoretical model. Our results show that sanctions play an important role in reducing employees’ intentions to violate policy, but that even under extreme boundary condition, employees might seek to rationalize their unethical behavior by denying responsibility for their actions, arguing that their supervisors pressured them into those acts. However, we also establish that messages that heighten the awareness and perceptions of the certainty and severity of organizational punishment are likely to attenuate such deviant behaviors. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest future avenues for research.
Disaggregating the Differential Impact of Health Care IT in Complex Care Delivery: Insights from Field Research in Chronic Care
Ravi Aron and Praveen Pathak
Abstract
This study focuses on the impact of digitizing medical information on the efficiency and (perceived) quality of chronic care delivery at the individual physician level. This study extends the theory of Task Technology Fit to Activity Systems consisting of highly interdependent tasks. We find that the outcomes of efficiency and quality gains are driven by the structure of interdependencies between tasks that physicians perform. While structured information plays a key role in enabling both decision-making and task execution, we find that physician created semi-structured information is also an important predictor of both efficiency and quality gains. We show that the structure of Activity Systems (task interdependencies) has a strong moderating influence on the factors that drive efficiency and quality gains. We find that digitization enables physicians to preprocess patients’ records prior to their visit which in turn drives gains in both the efficiency and the perceived quality of care delivered.
How Foreign and Domestic Firms Differ in Leveraging IT-enabled Supply Chain Information Integration in BOP Markets: The Role of Supplier and Client Business Collaboration: The Role of Supplier and Client Business Collaboration
Jiban Khuntia, Abhishek Kathuria, Mariana Giovanna Andrade-Rojas, Terence J.V. Saldanha, and Nikhil Celly
Abstract
Although attractive to foreign and domestic firms, Bottom-of-Pyramid (BOP) markets pose unique challenges. Research suggests that IT-enabled supply chain information integration (IT-SCII) helps firms collaborate with suppliers and clients in broad business activities, operate in the unique context, and overcome salient challenges in BOP markets. Anecdotal evidence and research suggest that foreign and domestic firms have differing advantages: while foreign firms have considerable global experience, domestic firms have substantial local market knowledge. We draw on Ownership-Location-Internalization (OLI) framework to theorize that domestic and foreign firms leverage IT-SCII differently due to their differing ownership-based advantages in BOP markets. We hypothesize that the a) influence of IT-SCII on Client Business Collaboration, and b) influence of Client Business Collaboration on firm performance are stronger for domestic firms than for foreign firms. Conversely, we hypothesize that the a) influence of IT-SCII on Supplier Business Collaboration, and b) influence of Supplier Business Collaboration on firm performance are stronger for foreign firms than for domestic firms. We test our hypotheses in the automotive parts manufacturing BOP market comprising foreign and domestic firms in India. Partial least squares and econometric analyses of 172 firms reveal broad support for our hypotheses. By incorporating the OLI framework into IT-enabled supply chain literature, our study contributes to theory and practice by highlighting that IT-SCII has differing implications for foreign and domestic firms in BOP markets.
Social Networking Site Use Resumption: A Model of Return Migration
Christian Maier, Sven Laumer, Jason Bennett Thatcher, Heshan Sun, Christoph Weinert, and Tim Weitzel
Abstract
This research explains why individuals resume using social networking sites (SNSs) after quitting using them. Drawing on return migration theory, we developed a theory-driven model of SNS resumption, which includes two novel antecedents of SNS resumption behavior: non-use-related dissatisfaction and use-related satisfaction. We also hypothesize that dispositional resistance to change moderates the impact of non-use-related dissatisfaction and use-related satisfaction on resumption. We used a mixed-method approach to refine and evaluate the research model. Study 1 uses the critical incident method to identify SNS specific antecedents of non-use-related satisfaction and use-related satisfaction, allowing us to refine the research model. Study 2 uses structural equation modelling to evaluate our research model using two three-wave surveys: one with recent ex-users who recently decided to stop using and to delete their profile on Facebook and one with long-standing ex-users who had stopped using and deleted their profile on Facebook a long time ago. We found support for most relationships in our model: non-use-related dissatisfaction and use-related satisfaction drive resumption intentions and dispositional resistance moderates these relationships. Furthermore, we found that the time elapsed since users discontinued Facebook moderated these relationships such that the effect of non-use-related dissatisfaction on resumption intention is stronger for recent ex-users and the one of use-related satisfaction stronger for long-standing ex-users. Our findings advance understanding of resumption, an understudied behavior of the IT lifecycle and IT use and acceptance research.
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Understanding Characteristics of Popular Streamers on Live Streaming Platforms: Evidence from Twitch.tv
Keran Zhao, Yili Hong, Yuheng Hu, and J. Christopher Westland
Abstract
Live streaming platforms such as Twitch and Periscope have become some of the most popular synchronous social networking services. In order to attract viewers, streamers are motivated to broadcast exciting video content while actively interacting with viewers. The emerging stream of research on the live streaming community has examined the streamers’ motivations and how the viewers react to streamers. However, few studies have focused on understanding the characteristics of popular streamers. Popular streamers create tremendous business value for social media influencer investors, as they have high potential to create persuasive advertisements and endorsements for firms by promoting their products and services. We aim at examining the key characteristics that associate with the streamers’ viewer base, namely their personality, professionalism, and streaming affordance. Based on text mining and analyses of video content, our results show: 1) certain personality traits (such as openness) are negatively associated with both cumulative and current popularity; 2) professional players are more likely to attract a larger viewer base; 3) and the social affordance, including profile building affordance, social connectivity, and social interactivity, is positively associated with both cumulative and current popularity. Our results provide useful insights into measuring and evaluating streamers’ popularity, which in turn generates actionable strategies for social media influencer investors and platform operators.
The Effect of Risk Representation Using Colors and Symbols in Business Process Models on Operational Risk Management Performance
Tyge-F. Kummer and Jan Mendling
Abstract
The operational management of risk and internal controls (RIC) makes increasing use of visual representations to support tasks such as risk assessment and control activity definition. Strengths and weaknesses of different representations are typically assessed by cognitive theories that assume an analytical and intuitive mode of information processing. While focusing on analytical risk assessment, the influence of intuitive information processing on risk management has been largely neglected. To this end, we develop a theoretical argument based on the dual-process theory that explains why RIC representational alternatives influence different levels of information processing. We test our hypotheses with the help of an online experiment with accountants and operation managers recruited via MTurk (N=166). Our results suggest that highlighting risk and controls in business process modeling and notation (BPMN), with the help of color, improves risk understanding, control understanding, and the identification of control improvements that help reduce the risk in a given process. Furthermore, we do not find evidence that the inclusion of colors leads to perception biases. This has implications for information systems research, which has focused to a larger extent on the analytical processing of conceptual models. Our findings extend cognitive research on such models by adding an intuitive processing path that can increase the user’s risk management performance. For practitioners, our findings are particularly relevant, because colors as a secondary notation element can be easily added, without disguising the factual risk situation in processes.
The Chief Information Officer: Impact on Organizational Forecasting Outcomes
Xiaotao (Kelvin) Liu, David S. Preston, and John (Jianqiu) Bai
Abstract
Management earnings forecasts are essential sources of information for organizational shareholders. However, many companies remain in a quandary about how to develop an appropriate governance structure within top management through which quality forecasts can best be derived. This study investigates how firms that employ a Chief Information Officer (CIO) within its ranks impact organizational outcomes as reflected in both the frequency and bias of management earnings forecasts. For the theoretical basis, we integrate the following theories to formulate our hypotheses: upper echelons theory, agency theory, and information processing theory (in conjunction with strategic management literature). Using a sample of firm-years (2000 to 2010), we find robust support for the proposition that the firms with CIOs are associated with reduced opportunistic bias in earnings forecasts. In addition, we find that as information uncertainty increases, firms with CIO generate management forecasts less frequently, yet also with a reduction in optimistic forecasting bias. Collectively, these findings provide a theory-based understanding of how firms with CIOs can influence forecasting outcomes while also providing guidance to practice.
Comparing Three Theories of the Gender Gap in Information Technology Careers: The Role of Salience Differences
JKevin A. Harmon and Eric A. Walden
Abstract
The information technology (IT) field faces a skills shortage. Only 17 percent of a projected 3.5 million computing job openings are expected to be filled by 2026 (National Association for Women & Information Technology, 2018). Yet, the number of women pursuing IT careers continues to decrease—only 19 percent of IT bachelor’s degrees in 2016 were awarded to women compared to 57 percent of overall bachelor’s degrees. We compared three theories that could explain this gender gap in IT career pursuit: expectancy-value theory, role congruity theory, and field-specific ability beliefs theory. We find that women and men are similar in their levels of important factors related to career interest, but that two of these—technical learning self-efficacy and agentic goals—hold increased salience for women. This suggests that some of the gender gap in the IT field could be addressed by placing more focus on developing technical learning self-efficacy in both men and women. This could help both women and men but could have an outsized effect on the IT career pursuit of women.