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Living in a Simulation? An Empirical Investigation of the Smart Driving Test-Simulation System
Wen Xie, Yong Jin, Ruiqi Liu, Xin Xu, Wenchao Bai, Qiang Li
Abstract
The “Internet of things” (IoT) generally refers to the embedding of computing and communication devices in various types of physical objects (e.g., automobiles) used in people’s daily lives. These devices exchange data in real time over the Internet, allowing for the development of smart services based on the real-time capture, tracking, and analysis of data streams concerning individual behaviors. The real-time analysis of IoT data streams enables immediate feedback about details of individual task performance. This is one of the key features of smart services that we focus on in the current research. In particular, we draw from feedback intervention theory (FIT) to investigate the impact of an IoT-enabled immediate feedback intervention on individual task performance.
Click To Success? Temporal Effects of Facebook Like On Crowdfunding
Yong Jin, Chao Ding, Yang Duan, and Hsing Cheng
Abstract
Small and medium-sized businesses, as well as individuals, increasingly use online crowdfunding platforms to raise funds in the fintech world. Creators of crowdfunding projects depend heavily on social networks such as Facebook to publicize their projects. Social media activities such as Facebook “like” bring massive traffic to crowdfunding projects and attract more contributions. Using data collected from Facebook and Kickstarter, our empirical tests demonstrate that social media activities significantly and positively impact the likely success of crowdfunding. Our duration model analysis reveals that social media activities’ impact on crowdfunding outcome follows a J-curve in the temporal space. We provide explanation of the J-curve by identifying two important effects of social media activities throughout the crowdfunding process: a quality-signaling effect in the opening period and a herding effect in the closing period. Especially in the “last mile”, there is a strong herding effect that helps crowdfunding projects reach their respective fundraising goals. Our results offer useful contributions to literature and implications for practitioners.
Affective Politics and Technology Buy-In: A Framework of Social, Political and Fantasmatic Logics
Edouard Pignot, Davide Nicolini, and Mark Thompson
Abstract
We propose a socially-informed explanation of technology framing, by examining technology ‘buy-in’: actors’ relative susceptibility to such framing. We draw on the field of critical social theory to introduce the 'Logics', a new framework to the IS discipline, that reveals a performative relationship between collective framing, power, and affect. The Logics enable us to study buy-in, by revealing the differing degrees of affective self-identification that underpin and colour social practices, showing their inherently political nature. We exemplify the affective, as well as social, politics of buy-in with an account of Unity 3D, a market-leading game engine which underwent a major repositioning from ‘fringe’ to ‘mainstream’ markets. We discuss four poles of affective positioning with which to conceptualize technology buy-in. We conclude by highlighting the consequent need for greater political and ethical awareness about the framing of IS, proposing a framework for conceptualizing actors’ orientations towards, and thus possible buy-in, or resistance, to technology framing.
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How Much Method-In-Use Matters? A Case Study of Agile and Waterfall Software Projects and Their Design Routine Variation
B Veeresh Thummadi and Kalle Lyytinen
Abstract
Development methods are rarely followed to the letter, and consequently many times their effects are in doubt. At the same time, information system (IS) scholars know little to what extent a given method truly influences software design and its outcomes. In this paper, we approach this gap by adopting a routine lens and using a novel methodological approach. Theoretically, we treat methods as (organizational) ostensive routine specifications and deploy routine construct as a feasible unit of analysis to analyze the effects of a method on actual, “performed” design routines. We formulate a research framework, which identifies method, situation fitness, agency, and random noise as main sources of software design routine variation. Empirically, we next apply the framework to examine to what extent waterfall and agile methods induce variation in software design routines. We trace enacted design activities in a large IT organization’s three software projects that followed an object-oriented waterfall method and three software projects that followed an agile method. These traces are analyzed using a mixed methods approach that uses gene sequencing methods, Markov models, and qualitative content analysis. Our analysis shows that method-induced variation within agile and waterfall is in both cases about ~40% of all activities while the remaining 60% is accounted for by a designer’s personal habits, the project’s fitness conditions, and environmental noise. Generally, the effect of method on software design activities is smaller than assumed and the impact of the designer’s and project conditions on software processes and outcomes should not be understated.
X-IM Framework to Overcome Semantic Heterogeneity Across XBRL Filings
Dapeng Liu, Ugochukwu Etudo, and Victoria Yoon
Abstract
Semantic heterogeneity in XBRL precludes the full automation of the business reporting pipeline, a key motivation for the SEC’s XBRL mandate. To mitigate this problem, several approaches leveraging Semantic Web technologies have emerged. While some approaches are promising, their mapping accuracy in resolving semantic heterogeneity must be improved to realize the promised benefits of XBRL. Considering this limitation and following the design science research methodology (DSRM), we develop a novel framework, XBRL Indexing-based Mapping (X-IM), which takes advantage of the representational model of representation theory to map heterogeneous XBRL elements across diverse XBRL filings. The application of the representation theory to the design process informs the use of XBRL Label Linkbases as a repository of regularities constitutive of the relationships between financial item names and the concepts they describe along a set of equivalent financial terms of interest to investors. The instantiated design artifact is thoroughly evaluated using standard information retrieval metrics. Our experiments show that X-IM significantly outperforms existing methods.
Basic Classes in Conceptual Modeling: Theory and Practical Guidelines
Arturo Castellanos, Roman Lukyanenko, Binny Samuel, and Monica Tremblay
Abstract
Since 1970s many approaches of representing domains have been suggested. Each approach maintains the assumption that the information about the objects represented in the Information System (IS) is specified and verified by domain experts and potential users. Yet, as more IS are developed to support a larger diversity of users such as customers, suppliers, and members of general public (such as many multi-user online systems), analysts could no longer rely on a stable single group of people for complete specification of domains –to the extent that prior research has questioned the efficacy of conceptual modeling in these heterogeneous settings. This paper aims to bridge this gap by providing theoretical foundations rooted in psychology for the existence and the importance of special classes termed in psychology basic level categories. We formulate principles for identifying basic classes in a domain. These classes can guide conceptual modeling, database design, and user interface development in a wide variety of traditional and emergent domains such as UGC settings.
Performance Outcomes of Test Driven Development - An Experimental Investigation
Vikram Bhadauria, Radha Mahapatra, and Sridhar P. Nerur
Abstract
Despite the growing popularity of Test Driven Development (TDD), there is no empirical affirmation of the benefits that this agile practice confers on its users. Findings of prior research on its efficacy have largely been inconclusive. A laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the impact of TDD on software quality and task satisfaction through rigorous empirical means. Additionally, we investigated the productivity aspect of TDD as compared to the traditional method of software development. Results show that software quality and task satisfaction are significantly improved when TDD is used. In spite of additional requirements of testing, TDD is not more resource intensive than the traditional method. Post hoc, we also examined TDD’s impact on learning. Implications of our findings and directions for future research are discussed.
Commentary on “Demystifying the Influential IS Legends of Positivism”
Allen S. Lee
Abstract
This commentary questions the argument made in the article, “Demystifying the Influential IS Legends of Positivism” (Siponen and Tsohou, 2018). Contrary to the article, this commentary fully accepts that logical positivism, as a school of thought in the philosophy of science, has fallen into disrepute, points out that the IS researchers who have characterized positivism in their own ways never said that they were following logical positivism, interprets what these researchers had in mind when characterizing positivism in the ways that they did, and ponders what difference Siponen and Tsohou’s discussion on logical positivism actually makes to the future of IS research.
New Guidelines for Null Hypothesis Significance Testing in Hypothetico-Deductive IS Research
Willem Mertens and Jan Recker
Abstract
The objective of this Research Perspectives article is to promote policy change amongst journals, scholars and students with a vested interest in hypothetico-deductive information systems (IS) research. We are concerned about the design, analysis, reporting and reviewing of quantitative IS studies that draw on null hypothesis significance testing (NHST). We observe that debates about misinterpretations, abuse, and issues with NHST, while having persisted for about half a century, remain largely absent in IS. We find this an untenable position for a discipline with a proud quantitative tradition. We discuss traditional and emergent threats associated with the application of NHST and examine how they manifest in recent IS scholarship. To encourage the development of new standards for NHST in hypothetico-deductive IS research, we develop a balanced account of possible actions that are implementable short-term or long-term and that incentivize or penalize specific practices. To promote an immediate push for change, we also develop two sets of guidelines that IS scholars can adopt right away.
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Bringing context inside process research with digital trace data
Brian T. Pentland, Jan Recker, Julie Ryan Wolf, and George Wyner
Abstract
Context is usually conceptualized as “external” to a theory or model and treated as something to be controlled or eliminated in empirical research. We depart from this tradition and conceptualize context as permeating processual phenomena. This move is possible because digital trace data is now increasingly available, providing rich and fine-grained data about processes mediated or enabled by digital technologies. We introduce a novel method for including fine-grained contextual information from digital trace data within the description of process (e.g., who, what, when, where, why…). Adding contextual information can result in a very large number of fine grained categories of events, which is usually considered undesirable. However, we argue that larger numbers of categories can make process data more informative for theorizing. Including contextual detail enriches our understanding of processes as they unfold. We demonstrate this by analyzing electronic medical records (EMR) audit trail data using ThreadNet, an open source software application developed for the qualitative visualization and analysis of process data. The distinctive contribution of our approach is the novel way to contextualize events and action in process data. By providing new, usable ways to incorporate context, it can help researchers ask new questions about the dynamics of processual phenomena.
Method Engineering As Design Science
Göran Goldkuhl and Fredrik Karlsson
Abstract
In this paper, we motivate, devise, demonstrate and evaluate an approach for research-based development of information systems development methods (ISDMs). The approach – termed “method engineering as design science” (ME-DS) – emerged from the identified need for scholars to develop ISDMs using proper research methods that meet the standards of both rigor and relevance. ISDMs occupy a position of central importance to information systems development and scholars have therefore invested extensive resources over the years in developing such methods. The method engineering (ME) discipline has developed different frameworks and methods to guide such development work, and for that purpose, they are well-suited. Still, there is also a need for applications and evaluations of ISDMs based on demands for knowledge justification. Unfortunately, in many cases scholars come up short with regard to how ISDMs are generated and empirically validated. Design science (DS) on the other hand stresses the knowledge justification. However, prominent DS approaches seem to be biased towards development of IT artifacts and these approaches are thus not well-suited for development of method artifacts. We therefore propose eight principles that marry ME and DS; a marriage that resulted in a process model with six activities to support research-based development of ISDMs. We demonstrate and evaluate ME-DS by assessing three existing research papers that have proposed ISDMs. These retrospectives show how ME-DS directs attention to certain aspects of the research process and provides support for future ISDM development.
Leveraging the Wisdom of Crowd to Address Societal Challenges: A Revisit to the Knowledge Reuse Process for Innovation Through Analytics
Yue Han, Pinar Ozturk and Jeffrey V. Nickerson
Abstract
Societal challenges can be addressed not only by experts, but also by crowds. Crowdsourcing provides a way to engage the general crowd to contribute to the solutions of the biggest challenges of our times: how to cut our carbon footprint, how to address worldwide epidemic of chronic disease, and how to achieve sustainable development. Isolated crowd-based solutions in online communities are not always creative and innovative. Hence, remixing has been developed as a way to enable idea evolution and integration, and to create reusable innovative solutions. Understanding the generativity of remixing is essential to leveraging the wisdom of the crowd to solve societal challenges. At its best, remixing can promote online community engagement, as well as support comprehensive and innovative solution generation. Organizers can maintain an active online community, community members can collectively innovate and learn, and as a result society may find new ways to solve important problems. What affects the generativity of a remix? This question is addressed by using the knowledge reuse process for innovation (KRI) model. Several analytical methods are used to study factors that may contribute to the generativity of a remix. The analysis focuses on the reuse of proposals in an online innovation community which aims to address global climate change issues, Climate CoLab. Remixes that include prevalent topics and integration metaknowledge are more generative. The findings suggest strategies and tools that can help online communities to better harness collective intelligence for addressing societal challenges.
Designing Cost-Effective Telemedicine Camps for the Underprivileged in Less Developed Countries: A Decomposed Affordance-Effectivity Framework
Xixi Li, Arun Rai, and Krishnan Ganapathy
Abstract
Free telemedicine camps (telecamps) are emergent joint initiatives of healthcare organizations, national and local governments, and not-for-profit non-government organizations (NGOs) with the goal of alleviating the health divide for the underprivileged in rural areas of less developed countries. Our study seeks to understand the effectiveness of physician-patient communication in telecamps with several salient characteristics: rural underprivileged patients, physicians in remote cities, and frugal telemedicine technology—specifically, videoconferencing—deployed and appropriated by operators in hospitals on wheels. We adopt a multiple-actor perspective, propose a decomposed affordance-effectivity framework, and combine variance and process perspectives to examine the phenomenon of interest. We collaborated with Apollo Hospitals, a leading hospital system in India, and collected multi-source data from two major telecamps in rural South India. Based on an analysis of survey data from 216 telecamp participants through a variance perspective, we find support for the fit of patient perceived media richness with two contingency factors—(a) disease diagnostic complexity and (b) patient healthcare needs fulfillment—in influencing patient satisfaction with teleconsultation. Based on an analysis of 46 sessions of teleconsultation video archives through a process perspective, we find that technology appropriation is realized through verbal and non-verbal communication events between patients and physicians, with onsite operators playing multiple roles that serve as “compensatory user effectivity.” Our findings yield theoretical and practical implications for how effective telemedicine encounters using frugal technologies can be designed in combination with other cost-effective support personnel resources to broaden healthcare access for the underprivileged in less developed countries and, more broadly, to actualize technology affordances in use situations involving multiple actors.
Innovative IT Use and Innovating With IT: A Study of the Motivational Antecedents of Two Different Types of Innovative Behaviors
Yasser Rahrovani and Alain Pinsonneault
Abstract
The paper distinguishes two different types of innovative behaviors with information technology (IT): innovative IS use (IU) and innovating with IT (IwIT). While the former focuses on changing the technology and the work process to better support one’s existing work goals, the latter focuses on using IT to develop new work-related goals and outcomes. Drawing on Parker’s theory of proactive behavior, the paper compares the motivational antecedents and consequences of these two innovative behaviors with IT. Our model hypothesizes that three generic types of motivation differentially affect IwIT vs. IU. The paper also explores the moderating role of slack resources on the effect of motivation on the two innovative behaviors with IT. Data from a survey of 427 IT users from North American companies show that social motivation affects IwIT (but not IU); intrinsic motivation is positively related to IU (but not IwIT), and internalized extrinsic motivation affects both IU and IwIT. Further, the results indicate that the moderating role of slack resources on different motivational paths is not a one-size-fits-all effect, that is, IS slack resources only moderates the relationship between intrinsic motivation and IwIT. We also differentiated the consequences of IwIT from IU. The post hoc analysis shows that IwIT is significantly related to individual mindfulness at work, but IU is not. The paper contributes to IS research by offering a rich conceptualization of IwIT and examining its motivational antecedents and consequences, compared to IU.
IT Identity: A Measure and Empirical Investigation of its Utility to IS Research
Michelle Carter, Stacie Petter, Varun Grover, and Jason Bennett Thatcher
Abstract
Because use is the critical link between information technology (IT) investments and organizational performance, IS researchers have focused attention on post-adoption – after organizational IT are installed and used by employees in their work. To that end, recent theoretical work introduced IT identity – representing the strength of individuals’ self-identification with an IT – as a means to explain richer, post-adoption, IT use behaviors. Utilizing multiple methods and surveys, and focused on use of two different technologies, this study develops theory-based measures to establish IT identity’s utility for expanding understanding of post-adoption use. Results show IT identity predicts different IT use behaviors and richer forms of use. Further, IT identity maintains its predictive validity when embedded in a model with other predictors. Given the importance of such value-creating behaviors in today’s multi-functional-platform based IT environments, our findings suggest future research consider IT identity an instrumental part of models seeking to explain IT use in post-adoption contexts.
Design Theory Indeterminacy: What is it, how can it be reduced, and why did the polar bear drown?
Roman Lukyanenko and Jeffrey Parsons
Abstract
Design science research strives to be practical and relevant. Yet few have examined the extent to which practitioners can meaningfully utilize theoretical knowledge produced by design science researchers in solving concrete real-world problems. Are design theories developed by scientists readily amenable to application by practitioners? Does the application of a theory by practitioners always lead to the outcomes predicted (by the scientists)? We examine a particularly difficult challenge – ensuring that development and deployment of an IT artifact by practitioners based on a design theory results in appropriate changes in the environment predicted by the design theory. As we show in our paper, a gulf exists between theoretical propositions and concrete issues faced in practice – a challenge we refer to as design theory indeterminacy. Design theory indeterminacy can result in considerable ambiguity when implementing a design theory in practice and reduce the potential relevance of information systems knowledge. In this paper, we articulate the problem of design theory indeterminacy, examine factors that contribute to it, and suggest fruitful directions for future research to help reduce it.
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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Who Is the Next "Wolf of Wall Street"? Detection of Financial Intermediary Misconduct
Jens Lausen, Benjamin Clapham, Michael Siering, and Peter Gomber
Abstract
Financial intermediaries are essential for investors’ participation in financial markets. Due to their position within the financial system, intermediaries committing misconduct not only harm investors but also undermine trust in the financial system, which ultimately has a significant negative impact on the economy as a whole. Building upon information manipulation theory as well as warranting theory and making use of self-disclosed data with varying levels of external verification, we propose different classifiers that automatically detect financial intermediaries committing misconduct. Therefore, we focus on self-disclosed information by financial intermediaries on the business network LinkedIn. We match user profiles with regulatory-disclosed information and use this data for classifier training and evaluation. We find that self-disclosed information provides valuable input to detect financial interme-diary misconduct. Regarding external verification, our classifiers achieve the best predictive perfor-mance when additionally taking regulatory-confirmed information into account. These results are sup-ported by an economic evaluation. Our findings are highly relevant for both investors and regulators in order to identify financial intermediaries committing misconduct and thus contribute to the societal challenge of building and ensuring trust in the financial system.
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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.