Category Archives: Information Systems

Electronic Word of Mouth and Knowledge Sharing on Social Network Sites: A Social Capital Perspective

Jae H. Choi and Judy E. Scott
Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research, VOL 8 / ISSUE 1 / APRIL 2013

Social network sites (SNSs) have attracted millions of users who interact with each other and with companies. However, few studies have examined the impact of knowledge sharing through electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in the context of SNSs. This paper investigates the relationship among the use of SNSs, users’ social capital, knowledge sharing, and eWOM. The results show that the intensity of use of SNSs is positively related to trust and identification which have a positive effect on eWOM quality. In addition, eWOM quality has a positive effect on knowledge sharing. Female users feel more strongly about eWOM quality when they trust others, or when they perceive that they belong to their SNS community when they use their SNS. Furthermore, female users feel more strongly about knowledge sharing when they perceive that eWOM quality is good. This study provides the theoretical framework of the relationship between eWOM and knowledge sharing on SNSs from the perspective of social capital. Practitioners could use this study as a rationale to utilize SNSs internally for organizational use, and externally for marketing purposes.

The Influence of Open Source Software Volunteer Developers’ Motivations and Attitudes on Intention to Contribute

Chorng-Guang Wu, James H Gerlach, Clifford E Young
Open Source Software Dynamics, Processes, and Applications, pp. 231-259

This study differs from previous studies on open source software (OSS) developer motivation by drawing upon theories of volunteerism and work motivation to investigate the motives and attitudes of OSS volunteer developers. The role of commitment is specifically interesting, which is well established in the volunteerism and work motivation literature as a predictor of turnover and positively related to work performance, but has been overlooked by OSS researchers. The authors have developed a research model relating …

Examining the determinants of effort among open source software volunteer developers

Chorng–Guang Wu, James H. Gerlach, Clifford E. Young
International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, Vol 5 No. 2/2013

This study explores the relationships between open source software (OSS) volunteer developers’ motivations, commitment to the OSS community and effort spent on OSS development. The study considers multiple extrinsic and intrinsic motivations that are expected to influence developer effort, and also measures the extent to which developers commit themselves to the OSS community, which in turn is expected to cause them to exert effort on behalf of OSS projects. The model is empirically tested using a field survey of OSS volunteers. The results show that the major motivational forces driving OSS volunteer developers’ effort are helping others (intrinsic motivator), fun for coding (intrinsic motivator) and peer recognition (extrinsic motivator), while developer commitment has a direct and significant effect on their effort decisions. Findings also suggest that time availability moderates the relationship between commitment and effort.

Dynamic Interaction in Decision Support: Effects on Perceived Diagnosticity and Confidence in Unstructured Domains

Brandon Beemer and Dawn G. Gregg
IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, 3(1), January 2013, pp. 74-84.

The evolution of eCommerce over the past decade has resulted in a wide range of tools that enable consumers to make better decisions about the products or services that they are purchasing. One class of tools that are now widely used in a variety of eCommerce domains are mashups, which combine disparate sources of information (e.g. price, product reviews, seller reviews) to support buyer decision making. Previous academic studies examining decision support tools for eCommerce domains have focused on how these tools affect information search, consideration set size, and the impact on the quality of the decision made. This paper discusses dynamic interaction, the degree to which a user can revisit and revise their inputs and consider alternative solutions during a decision. The effects of dynamic interaction on confidence and intention was investigated in an experiment, the results of which indicated that increasing dynamic interaction increased the perceived diagnosticity (i.e., the extent to which the user believes the tool is useful to evaluate a product) of the mashup and the overall confidence in the decision. In addition, a post-hoc analysis of decision quality suggests that increased levels of dynamic interaction also improve the overall quality of the decision made.

Rules of crowdsourcing: Models, issues, and systems of control

Gregory D Saxton, Onook Oh, Rajiv Kishore
Information Systems Management,Vol. 30, Issue 1, Pages: 2-20.

In this article, the authors first provide a practical yet rigorous definition of crowdsourcing that incorporates “crowds,” outsourcing, and social web technologies. They then analyze 103 well-known crowdsourcing web sites using content analysis methods and the hermeneutic reading principle. Based on their analysis, they develop a “taxonomic theory” of crowdsourcing by organizing the empirical variants in nine distinct forms of crowdsourcing models. They also discuss key issues and directions, concentrating on the notion of …
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An experimental comparison of real and artificial deception using a deception generation model

Yanjuan Yang and Michael V. Mannino
Decision Support Systems, Vol 53 Issue 3, June, 2012, Pages 543-553

To develop a data mining approach for a deception application, data collection costs can be prohibitive because both deceptive data and truthful data are necessary to be collected. To reduce data collection costs, artificially generated deception data can be used, but the impact of using artificially generated deception data is not well understood. To study the relationship between artificial and real deception, this paper presents an experimental comparison using a novel deception generation model. The deception and truth data were collected from financial aid applications, a document centric area with limited resources for verification. The data collection provided a unique data set containing truth, natural deception, and boosted deception. To simulate deception, the Application Deception Model was developed to generate artificial deception in different deception scenarios. To study differences between artificial and real deception, an experiment was performed using deception level and data generation method as factors and directed distance and outlier score as outcome variables. Our results provided evidence of a reasonable similarity between artificial and real deception, suggesting the possibility of using artificially generated deception to reduce the costs associated with obtaining training data.

Comparing Semi-Automated Clustering Methods for Persona Development

Brickey, J.; Walczak, S.; and Burgess, T.
IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol 38 , Issue: 3, Page(s): 537 – 546

Current and future information systems require a better understanding of the interactions between users and systems in order to improve system use, and ultimately, success. The use of personas as design tools is becoming more widespread as researchers and practitioners discover its benefits. This paper presents an empirical study comparing the performance of existing qualitative and quantitative clustering techniques for the task of identifying personas and grouping system users into those personas. A method based on Factor (Principal Components) Analysis performs better than two other methods which use Latent Semantic Analysis and Cluster Analysis as measured by similarity to expert manually defined clusters.

Information Technology and Intangible Output: The Impact of IT Investment on Innovation Productivity

Landon Kleis, Paul Chwelos, Ronald V. Ramirez, and Iain Cockburn
Information Systems Research, Vol. 23 Issue 1, March 2012, pp. 42–59

Prior research concerning IT business value has established a link between firm-level IT investment and tangible returns like output productivity. Research also suggests that IT is vital to intermediate processes like those that produce intangible output. Among these, IT’s use in innovation and knowledge creation processes are perhaps the most critical to a firm’s long-term success. However, little is known about the relationship between IT, knowledge creation, and innovation output. In this study, we contribute to the literature by comprehensively examining IT’s contribution to innovation production across multiple contexts, using a quality-based measure of innovation output. Analyzing a panel of large U.S. manufacturing firms between 1987 and 1997, we find a 10% increase in IT input is associated with a 1.7% increase in innovation output for a given level of innovation-related spending. This relationship
between IT, R&D and innovation production is robust across multiple econometric methodologies and found to be particularly strong in the mid to late 1990s, a period of rapid technological innovation. Our results also demonstrate the importance of IT in creating value at an intermediate stage of production, in this case, through improved innovation productivity. However, R&D and its related intangible factors (skill, knowledge, etc.) appear to play a more crucial role in the creation of breakthrough innovations.

Methodological triangulation using neural networks for business research

Steven Walczak
Advances in Artificial Neural Systems, January 2012, # 1

Artificial neural network (ANN) modeling methods are becoming more widely used as both a research and application paradigm across a much wider variety of business, medical, engineering, and social science disciplines. The combination or triangulation of ANN methods with more traditional methods can facilitate the development of high-quality research models and also improve output performance for real world applications. Prior methodological triangulation that utilizes ANNs is reviewed and a new triangulation of ANNs with structural equation modeling and cluster analysis for predicting an individual’s computer self-efficacy (CSE) is shown to empirically analyze the effect of methodological triangulation, at least for this specific information systems research case. A new construct, engagement, is identified as a necessary component of CSE models and the subsequent triangulated ANN models are able to achieve an 84% CSE group prediction accuracy.

Audience gatekeeping in the Twitter service: An investigation of tweets about the 2009 Gaza conflict

K Hazel Kwon, Onook Oh, Manish Agrawal, H Raghav Rao
AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction,Vol. 4, Issue 4, Pages: 212-229.

Twitter is a social news service in which information is selected and distributed by individual members of the tweet audience. While communication literature has studied traditional news media and the propagation of information, to our knowledge there have been no studies of the new social media and their impacts on the propagation of news during extreme event situations. This exploration attempts to build an understanding of how preexisting hyperlink structures on the Web and different types of information channels …
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Surplus deferred pension compensation for long-term K-12 employees: an empirical analysis for the Denver Public School Retirement System and four state plans

Michael V Mannino, Elizabeth S Cooperman
Journal of Pension Economics & Finance,Vol. 10, Issue 3, Pages: 457-483.

This study uses a unique data set of retiree characteristics and salary histories for administrators, teachers, and non-professional employees of the Denver Public School Retirement System (DPSRS) to analyze surplus deferred compensation for DPSRS and four state K-12 defined benefit pension plans. We find sizable levels of surplus deferred compensation for each plan, with significant differences across plans, job classes, and age groups. Across plans, differences in cost of living allowances impact the expected present …
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Patient perceptions of electronic medical records: physician satisfaction, portability, security and quality of care

Christopher Sibona, Steven Walczak, Jon Brickey, and Madhavan Parthasarathy
International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, Vol. 12, Number 1, Pages 62-84

Physicians are adopting electronic medical records in much greater numbers today and are escalating the rate of adoption. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides incentives for physicians to adopt this technology. The objectives of this paper are to determine whether patient satisfaction is affected by computer use in the exam room and whether patients who have experienced computers in the exam room perceive differences in the utility of electronic medical records. Physicians received higher overall satisfaction scores when a computer was used to retrieve patient information. Physicians received similar satisfaction scores when a computer was used to enter patient information. Patients who have experienced electronic medical records perceive benefits such as increased portability of the record but do not believe that physicians who use electronic medical records produce better health outcomes. Patients who have experienced electronic medical records do not desire more control over their record than those who have traditional medical records.

An Exploratory Study of Website Information Content

Joseph Hasley and Dawn G. Gregg
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, December 2010, 5(3), pp. 27-38.

This study describes and demonstrates the Website Information Content Survey (WICS), which is intended to provide practitioners and researchers with a means of systematically describing website information content. In an exploratory survey of twenty business-to-consumer websites across five e-commerce domains, we demonstrate how the survey can be used to make cross-website comparisons that can identify potential gaps in a website’s information content. The results of this study offer actionable guidance to practitioners seeking to match their website’s information mix to customer’s demands for product, company, and channel information. The WICS tool enables future investigation of hypothesized relationships between website information content and user-website interaction outcomes

Dynamic interaction in knowledge based systems: An exploratory investigation and empirical evaluation

Beemer, Brandon and Gregg, Dawn
Decision Support Systems Vol. 49 Issue 4, November 2010, pp. 386-395.

In response to the need for knowledge based support in unstructured domains, researchers and practitioners have begun developing systems that mesh the traditional attributes of knowledge based systems (KBS) and decision support system (DSS). One such attribute being applied to KBS is dynamic interaction. In an effort to provide a mechanism that will enable researchers to quantify this system attribute, and enable practitioners to prescribe the needed aspects of dynamic interaction in a specific application, a measurement scale was derived from previous literature. Control theory was used to provide the theoretical underpinnings of dynamic interaction and to identify its conceptual substrata. A pretest and exploratory study was conducted to refine the derived scale items, and then a confirmatory study was conducted to evaluate the nomological validity of the measurement scale.

Information technology infrastructure, organizational process redesign, and business value: An empirical analysis

Ramirez, Ronald, Melville, Nigel and Lawler, Edward
Decision Support Systems; Nov. 2010, Vol. 49 Issue 4, pp. 417-429

We extend current research examining synergies between information technology, process redesign, and firm performance in three ways: analyze a firm”s entire IT and BPR portfolio, examine production and market value performance implications, and conduct analysis using a unique dataset of 228 firms between 1996 and 1999. We find a contingent association between IT, process redesign, and performance. The interaction of IT and BPR portfolios is positively associated with firm productivity and market value. However, we find mixed evidence of a difference in these impacts across different types of BPR. Insights for business investment in IT and process redesign are discussed.

A Mashup Application to Support Complex Decision Making for Retail Consumers

Steven Walczak, Deborah Kellogg and Dawn Gregg
International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector, Vol. 2 Issue 4, October 2010, pp. 39-56.

Today’s purchase processes often require complex decision-making and consumers frequently use Web information sources to support these decisions.  Increasing amounts of information, however, can make finding appropriate information problematic.  This information overload, coupled with decision complexity, can increase the time to make a decision and reduce decision quality.  This creates a need for tools that support these decision-making processes. Online tools that bring together data and partial solutions are one option to improve decision-making in complex, multi-criteria environments.  An experiment using a prototype mashup application indicates that these types of applications may significantly decrease the time spent and improve the overall quality of complex retail decisions.

Utilization and Perceived Benefit for Diverse Users of Communities of Practice in a Healthcare Organization

Steven Walczak and Richard Mann
Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, Vol. 22, Issue 4, 27 pages
Communities of practice have been heralded as a powerful knowledge management tool, especially for geographically disparate workgroups. Research into knowledge management (KM) in healthcare organizations is a needed research focus, given that differences exist in knowledge and knowledge management processes between healthcare and other organization types. The research presented in this paper examines the effectiveness of communities of practice as a knowledge sharing tool in a large and geographically disparate healthcare organization. Findings suggest that job role affects community members’ perceptions of the benefit and impact of communities of practice as well as their participation in such communities.

Does Technological Progress Alter the Nature of Information Technology as a Production Input? New Evidence and New Results

Paul Chwelos, Ronald Ramirez, Kenneth L. Kraemer, and Nigel P. Melville
Information Systems Research, Vol. 21, Issue. 2, June 2010, pp. 392–408

Prior research at the firm level finds information technology (IT) to be a net substitute for both labor and non-IT capital inputs. However, it is unclear whether these results hold, given recent IT innovations and continued price declines. In this study we extend prior research to examine whether these input relationships have evolved over time. First, we introduce new price indexes to account for varying technological progress across different types of IT hardware. Second, we use the rental price methodology to measure capital in terms of the flow of services provided. Finally, we use hedonic methods to extend our IT measures to 1998, enabling analysis spanning the emergence of the Internet. Analyzing approximately 9,800 observations from over 800 Fortune 1,000 firms for the years 1987–1998, we find firm demand for IT to be elastic for decentralized IT and inelastic for centralized IT. Moreover, Allen Elasticity of Substitution estimates confirm that through labor substitution, the increasing factor share of IT comes at the expense of labor. Last, we identify a complementary relationship between IT and ordinary capital, suggesting an evolution in this relationship as firms have shifted to more decentralized organizational forms. We discuss these results in terms of prior research, suggest areas of future research, and discuss managerial implications.

Research NoteDoes Technological Progress Alter the Nature of Information Technology as a Production Input? New Evidence and New Results

Paul Chwelos, Ronald Ramirez, Kenneth L Kraemer, Nigel P Melville
Information Systems Research,Vol. 21, Issue 2, Pages: 392-408.

Prior research at the firm level finds information technology (IT) to be a net substitute for both labor and non-IT capital inputs. However, it is unclear whether these results hold, given recent IT innovations and continued price declines. In this study we extend prior research to examine whether these input relationships have evolved over time. First, we introduce new price indexes to account for varying technological progress across different types of IT hardware. Second, we use the rental price methodology to measure capital in terms of the …
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Designing for Collective Intelligence

Gregg, Dawn
Communications of the ACM Vol. 53, Issue 4, 5 pages

Collective intelligence is a fundamentally different way of viewing how applications can support human interaction and decision making. Most pre-Web 2.0 applications have focused in improving the productivity or decision making of the individual user. The emphasis has been on providing the tools and data necessary to fulfill a specific job function. Under the collective intelligence paradigm, the focus is on harnessing the intelligence of groups of people to enable greater productivity and better decisions than are possible by individuals working in isolation. The processes involved in designing and implementing specialized collective intelligence applications are discussed in the context of DDtrac, a web-based application that allows for the easy collection and summary of special education data.