Codifiability, Relationship-Specific Information Technology Investment, and Optimal Contracting - Levi, Moti; Kleindorfer, Paul R; Wu, D J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
The past few years have seen an explosion in the number of e-market-places, including a variety of electronic exchanges in the B2B arena, but many of these have also collapsed (e.g., Chemdex/Ventro). The question addressed in this paper is what are the underlying factors that affect which transactions are likely to be supportable by B2B exchanges. In particular, we identify and study three factors: supplier management, idiosyncratic investments in information systems, and codifiability (i.e., digitalizability) of product and order-fulfillment specifications underlying transactions. We show that transaction codifiability plays a fundamental role in influencing the nature of sustainable contracting and IT investments in e-markets. Hypotheses are derived from an analytical model of codifiability in e-marketplaces; these hypotheses are supported by several case studies by the authors and others on the key success factors underlying B2B exchanges.
Keywords: B2B exchanges; codifiability; electronic marketplaces; relationship-specific investments; supplier management

Consumers Prefer Bundled Add-Ins - Dewan, Rajiv M; Freimer, Marshall L (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Software such as operating systems, word processing, spreadsheets, graphics, and others often serves as a base for a number of third-party add-in products or plug-ins. These add-ins enhance the functionality of the base product. Unless protected by patents, these add-ins can potentially be bundled into the base software. The impact of this bundling on the profits of the base software producer and the consumer depends on the proportion of consumers that value the add-in and the penalty that some consumers incur from finding only a bundled product available when they do not desire the add-in. Using a model of the market, we show that the price of the bundle will be less than the sum of the prices of the base and add-in software when they are sold separately. We also show that the total consumer surplus and the social welfare increase if the base software producer's profit increases with bundling.
Keywords: bundled software; consumer welfare; information goods; software add-ins; supplemental goods

Contingency Pricing for Information Goods and Services Under Industrywide Performance Standard - Bhargava, Hemant K; Sundaresan, Shankar (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
This paper demonstrates that quality-contingent pricing is a useful mechanism for mitigating the negative effects of quality uncertainty in e-commerce and information technology services. Under contingency pricing of an information good or service, the firm preannounces a rebate for poor performance. Consumers determine performance probabilities using publicly available historical performance data, and the firm may have additional private information with respect to its future probability distribution. Examining the monopoly case, we explicate the critical role of private information and differences in belief between the firm and market in the choice of pricing scheme. Contingent pricing is useful when the market underestimates the firm's performance; then it is optimal for the firm to offer a full-price rebate for misperformance, with a correspondingly higher price for meeting the performance standard. We study the competitive value of contingency pricing in a duopoly setting where the firms differ in their probabilities of meeting the performance standard, but are identical in other respects. Contingency pricing is a dominant strategy for a firm when the market underestimates the firm's performance. Whereas both firms would earn equal profits if they were constrained to standard pricing, the superior firm earns greater profits under contingency pricing by setting lower expected prices. We show that contingency pricing is efficient as well, and consumer surplus increases because more consumers buy from the superior firm.
Keywords: contingency pricing; information goods; information technology outsourcing; money-back guarantees; pricing of IT services; quality uncertainty

Economic Implications of Variable Technology Standards for Movie Piracy in a Global Context - Chellappa, Ramnath K; Shivendu, Shivendu (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Even if bandwidth on the Internet is limited, compression technologies have made online music piracy a foremost problem in intellectual copyright protection. However, due to significantly larger sizes of video files, movies are still largely pirated by duplicating DVDs, VCDs, and other physical media. In the case of DVDs, movie studios have historically maintained different technology codes or formats across various regions of the world, primarily to control the timing of theatrical releases in these parts of the world. This paper formulates an analytical model to study the implications of maintaining different or incompatible technology standards in DVD and other optical disc players on global pricing and piracy of movie discs. Our formulation develops two distinct piracy types, namely, regional and global piracy, signifying if consumers will pirate movies released for their own region or those meant for other regions. Our results find that maintaining separate technology standards is very critical when there is piracy, as losses from global piracy can be higher than when only regional piracy exists. Further, we observe that piracy is not a victimless crime, in that not only do producers suffer losses but consumers in regions with high willingness to pay for quality also stand to lose. In addition, we find that increasing homogeneity in consumer preferences for quality across regions may not be beneficial to digital product vendors unless there is also uniformity in copyright protection laws. We conclude with recommendations for research and practice for movie studios as well as producers for other goods that are dependent on copyright protection such as books and pharmaceuticals.
Keywords: contract theory; digital products; information goods; moral rent; movie piracy; pricing; technology standards; vertical segmentation

A Taxonomy of Antecedents of Information Systems Success: Variable Analysis Studies - Larsen, Kai R T (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Research in the information systems (IS) field has often been characterized as fragmented. This paper builds on a belief that for the field to move forward and have an impact on practitioners and other academic fields, the existing work must be examined and systematized. It is particularly important to systematize research on the factors that underlie success of organizational IS. The goal here is to conceptualize the IS success antecedents (ISSA) area of research through surveying, synthesizing, and explicating the work in the domain. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, a taxonomy of 12 general categories is created, and existing research within each category is examined. Important lacunae in the direction of work have been determined. It is found that little work has been conducted on the macro-level independent variables, the most difficult variables to assess, although these variables may be the most important to understanding the ultimate value of IS to organizations. Similarly, ISSA research on success variables of consequence to organizations was found severely lacking. Variable analysis research on organizational- level success variables was found to be literally nonexistent in the IS field, whereas research in the organizational studies field was found to provide useful directions for IS researchers. The specifics of the 12 taxonomy areas are analyzed and directions for research in each of them provided. Thus, researchers and practitioners are directed toward available research and receive suggestions for future work to bring ISSA research toward an organized and cohesive future.
Keywords: antecedents of success; information systems implementation; quantitative research; taxonomy

Knowing-Why About Data Processes and Data Quality - Lee, Yang W; Strong, Diane M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Knowledge about work processes is a prerequisite for performing work. We investigate whether a certain mode of knowledge, knowing-why, affects work performance and whether the knowledge held by different work roles matters for work performance. We operationalize these questions in the specific domain of data production processes and data quality. We analyze responses from three roles within data production processes, data collectors, data custodians, and data consumers, to investigate the effects of different knowledge modes held by different work roles on data quality. We find that work roles and the mode of knowledge do matter. Specifically, data collectors with why-knowledge about the data production process contribute to producing better quality data. Overall, knowledge of data collectors is more critical than that of data custodians.
Keywords: data processes; data quality; knowing why; knowledge; knowledge modes; work roles

The Design and Implementation of a Corporate Householding Knowledge Processor to Improve Data Quality - Madnick, Stuart E; Wang, Richard; Xiang, Xian (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Advances in corporate householding are needed to address certain categories of data quality problems caused by data misinterpretation. In this paper, we first summarize some of these data quality problems and our more recent results from studying corporate householding applications and knowledge exploration. Then we outline a technical approach to a corporate householding knowledge processor (CHKP) to solve a particularly important type of corporate householding problem--entity aggregation. We illustrate the operation of the CHKP by using a motivational example in account consolidation. Our CHKP design and implementation uses and expands on the COntext INterchange (COIN) technology to manage and process corporate householding knowledge.
Keywords: context mediation; corporate household; corporate householding; database interoperability; data quality; enterprise knowledge management

Time-Related Factors of Data Quality in Multichannel Information Systems - Cappiello, Cinzia; Francalanci, Chiara; Pernici, Barbara (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Modern organizations offer services through multiple channels, such as branches, ATMs, telephones, and Internet sites, and are supported by multifunctional software architectures. Different functional modules share data, which are typically stored in multiple local databases. Functional modules are usually not integrated across channels, as channels are implemented at different times within independent software projects and are subject to varying requirements of availability and performance. This lack of channel and functional integration raises data quality problems that can impact the quality of the products and services of an organization. In particular, in complex systems in which data are managed in multiple databases, timeliness is critical. This paper focuses on time-related factors of data quality and provides a model that can help companies to evaluate data currency, accuracy, and completeness in software architectures with different degrees of integration across channels and functionalities. The model is validated through simulation based on empirical data on financial information systems. Results indicate how architectural choices on the degree of data integration have a varying impact on currency, accuracy, and completeness depending on the type of financial institution and on customer profiles.
Keywords: data accuracy; data completeness; data currency; data quality; financial information systems

Crafting Rules: Context-Reflective Data Quality Problem Solving - Lee, Yang W (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Motivated by the growing importance of data quality in data-intensive, global business environments and by burgeoning data quality activities, this study builds a conceptual model of data quality problem solving. The study analyzes data quality activities at five organizations via a five-year longitudinal study. The study finds that experienced practitioners solve data quality problems by reflecting on and explicating knowledge about contexts embedded in, or missing from, data. Specifically, these individuals investigate how data problems are framed, analyzed, and resolved throughout the entire information discourse. Their discourse on contexts of data, therefore, connects otherwise separately managed data processes, that is, collection, storage, and use. Practitioners, context-reflective mode of problem solving plays a pivotal role in crafting data quality rules. These practitioners break old rules and revise actionable dominant logic embedded in work routines as a strategy for crafting rules in data quality problem solving.
Keywords: context-reflective problem solving; data quality; data quality rules; information quality; problem solving; reflection-in-action; situated practice

Information Technology Investments and Firms' Performance--A Duopoly Perspective - Quan, Jing Jim; Qing, Hu; Hart, Paul J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Over the past two decades, numerous empirical studies have been conducted on the contribution of information technology (IT) to productivity and other measures of firm performance. However, few theoretical studies have attempted to explain the contingencies under which IT investments may or may not be valuable to a firm in a competitive market. This research proposes a duopoly competition model to study the impacts of IT investments on firm performance and productivity. We show that the extent to which a profit-maximizing firm benefits from IT investments is a function of, among other things, market sensitivities to the price and quality of the products and services offered by the firm and its competitor. We demonstrate that, under duopolistic competition, the effects of IT investments are not as deterministic as under monopolistic competition. We further show that the effect of IT investments on productivity, in a duopoly market, are contingent on market sensitivities to changes in the price and quality of products and services offered by the firm and its competitor, as well as on fixed and overhead costs being sufficiently large in relation to market size--an important condition in a monopoly market. Especially, the price sensitivity has a positive effect on the impact of IT investments on productivity and quality sensitivity has a negative effect. We submit that firms are better off making efficiency-enhancing IT investments if the market in which they operate is more price sensitive than quality sensitive.
Keywords: competitive strategy; duopoly; game theory; information technology impact; information technology investment; information technology productivity paradox

The Matrix of Control: Combining Process and Structure Approaches to Managing Software Development - Nidumolu, Sarma R; Subramani, Mani R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
The performance of firms in the software industry depends considerably on the quality of their software development processes. Managing software development is a challenging task, as management controls needs to impose discipline and coordinate action to ensure goals are met while simultaneously incorporating autonomy to motivate software developers to be innovative and produce quality work. How should such firms manage software development projects so that their development processes are flexible and predictable--resulting in products that meet quality goals and that are delivered within budget and on time? The management literature suggests two approaches to control: the process approach and the structure approach. The process approach recommends control of activities through specifying methods (behavior control) and through specifying performance criteria (outcome control). In contrast, the structure approach recommends control through centrally devised standards for activities (standardization) and by the delegation of authority for decision-making (decentralization). This study synthesizes these two approaches to suggest that formal managerial control is exerted through a matrix of control comprising four modes: standardization of methods, standardization of performance criteria, decentralization of methods, and decentralization of performance criteria. We test the association of the modes of control with performance in a sample of 56 firms in the software industry in the United States. The results suggest that performance is enhanced by establishing uniform performance criteria across projects (standardization of performance criteria) while giving each project team the authority to make decisions with respect to methods (decentralization of methods). However, standardization of methods across all projects and decentralization of performance criteria by delegating the authority to make decisions about performance criteria to project teams were both not...
Keywords: decentralization; organizational control; process performance; software development; software project management; standardization

The Role of System Trust in Business-to-Consumer Transactions - Pennington, Robin; Wilcox, H Dixon; Grover, Varun (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
It has been argued that the buyer's trust of the vendor is a critical precursor to a transactional relationship in an e-commerce environment. This study uses an experimental survey to test a model that includes a number of factors such as trust mechanisms, "system trust," and vendor reputation. The results suggest that one trust mechanism, vendor guarantees, has a direct influence on system trust. Further, within e-commerce situations, system trust plays an important role in the nomological network by directly affecting trust in vendors and indirectly affecting attitudes and intentions to purchase. These results held in the case of both firms with and without an established reputation. The results demonstrate the importance of interventions such as self-reported vendor guarantees that affect system trust in enabling successful e-commerce outcomes.
Keywords: e-commerce; intention to purchase; reputation in e-commerce; system trust; trust in vendor

An Inductively Derived Model of Leader-Initiated Relationship Building with Virtual Team Members - Pauleen, David J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
This paper seeks to add to the nascent research literature on virtual teams and virtual team leadership by investigating the issues facing virtual team leaders as they implement and lead virtual teams. In particular, the way in which leaders develop relationships with their virtual team members is explored. A research framework involving action learning was instituted, with data collection and analysis based on grounded theory approaches. In all, seven virtual team leaders from a variety of New Zealand organizations took part in the study. The data showed very clearly that the leaders considered it essential to build some level of personal relationship with their virtual team members before commencing a virtual working relationship. A unifying framework of three interrelated theoretical steps, which illustrates how a virtual leader builds relationships with virtual team members, is introduced. These three steps are assessing conditions, targeting level of relationship, and creating strategies. This study is the first to identify the steps a virtual team leader undertakes when building relationships with virtual team members. The implications for virtual team practice and research are discussed.
Keywords: action learning; grounded theory research; information technology in team building; leadership; relationship building; trust; virtual teams

A Longitudinal Field Study of Training Practices in a Collaborative Application Environment - Kang, David; Santhanam, Radhika (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2003)
Researchers have emphasized that existing training strategies must be modified in order to adequately prepare users to employ collaborative applications. We utilize findings from the vast amount of training research conducted thus far and point to some problems that might occur when existing strategies are applied to train users of collaborative applications. We test our ideas by conducting a longitudinal field study of a collaborative work flow application. As proposed in a recent knowledge-level framework, our findings indicate that training programs must not solely focus on developing users' system proficiency skills but must also educate users about the business processes that the collaborative application will support. This additional knowledge will enable users to deal with technology-induced changes in the business processes due to the deployment of the collaborative application. Furthermore, we find that training programs should sensitize users to the interdependencies that exist among their tasks and make them aware of the collective consequences of their individual actions. We also found that users have to engage in collective problem solving efforts and continuously learn new knowledge during the process of appropriation of the collaborative application. We propose a training framework that integrates these ideas to prepare users to make effective use of collaborative applications. The proposed framework calls for trainers to be continuously engaged with users and help refine their knowledge during the process of appropriation. We suggest that theoretical foundations rooted in collective learning be adopted to guide training research in collaborative applications.
Keywords: collaborative applications; end-user computing; end-user training

Integrating Collaborative Processes and Quality Assurance Techniques: Experiences from Requirements Negotiation - GrÃœNbacher, Paul; Halling, Michael; Biffl, Stefan; Kitapci, Hasan; Boehm, Barry W (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Collaboration is essential in many mission-critical activities. Consequently, numerous methods and tools are available supporting collaborative processes such as strategic planning, risk management, requirements definition, and so on. These methods typically emphasize the collaborative, value-creating activities, but there is often less emphasis on quality aspects. Quality assurance (QA) techniques have been well-known in engineering for a long time, and their effectiveness and efficiency has been empirically evaluated in many domains. In this paper, we propose to integrate repeatable QA techniques and collaborative processes. We evaluate our idea in the context of a collaborative process for requirements negotiation. We propose pre-process techniques to be used before the actual negotiation, in-process techniques for checking quality during a negotiation, as well as post-process inspection techniques. These techniques help a project team reduce unnecessary complexity and to mitigate risks stemming from defects in requirements negotiation results. We present the results of a feasibility study we conducted to test our approach.
Keywords: collaboration engineering; group support systems; quality assurance techniques; requirements negotiation

Foundation for the Study of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Requiring Immersive Presence - Sharda, Ramesh; Romano Jr, Nicholas C; Lucca, Joyce A; Weiser, Mark; Scheets, George; Jong-Moon, Chung; Sleezer, Catherine M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
The dramatic increase in distance learning (DL) enrollments in higher education is likely to continue. However, research on DL, which includes psychomotor, cognitive, and affective skills, is virtually nonexistent. Indeed, DL for psychomotor skills has been viewed as impossible. Laboratory coursework, which we define as including the acquisition of psychomotor, cognitive, and affective skills, has become a limiting factor in the growth of DL. What is needed is a synergistic integration of technologies and human-computer interface (HCI) principles from computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), collaborative learning systems, and immersive presence technologies to enable achievement of psychomotor learning objectives. This paper defines the computer-supported collaborative learning requiring immersive presence (CSCLIP) research area, provides a theoretical foundation for CSCLIP, and develops an agenda for research in CSCLIP to establish a foundation for the study of this emerging area. It also briefly describes a CSCLIP-based telecommunications lab currently under development. CSCLIP is presented as a major research opportunity for information systems researchers interested in empirical research as well as technical development.
Keywords: computer-supported collaborative learning; distance education; immersive presence; psychomotor learning objectives; situated learning

A Unified Model of Requirements Elicitation - Hickey, Ann M; Davis, Alan M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Effective requirements elicitation is essential to the success of software development projects. Many papers have been written that promulgate specific elicitation methods. A few model elicitation in general. However, none have yet modeled elicitation in a way that makes clear the critical role played by situational knowledge. This paper presents a unified model of the requirements elicitation process that emphasizes the iterative nature of elicitation as it transforms the current state of the requirements and the situation to an improved understanding of the requirements and, potentially, a modified situation. One meta-process of requirements elicitation, selection of an appropriate elicitation technique, is also captured in the model. The values of this model are: (1) an improved understanding of elicitation helps analysts improve their elicitation efforts and (2) as we improve our ability to perform elicitation, we improve the likelihood that systems we create will meet their intended customers' needs.
Keywords: requirements analysis; requirements elicitation; systems analysis

Collaborative Business Engineering: A Decade of Lessons from the Field - Den Hengst, Mariëlle; De Vreede, Gert-Jan (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Business process reengineering (BPR) projects have been carried out for many years, with varying degrees of success. Two key reasons for failure are distinguished from the literature: insufficient stakeholder involvement and poor analyses of the business processes. The purpose of this paper is to present a decade of field experiences with collaborative BPR. Nine BPR projects were executed and analyzed in detail, leading to the identification of 87 themes regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of the project. These themes were organized into 12 categories of lessons learned that provide insight into the "best practices" and together informed the evolution of the collaborative business engineering (CBE) approach to BPR. The CBE approach combines a BPR process with collaboration and simulation modeling support to address the above-mentioned reasons for failure in BPR. The field experiences show that the CBE approach can be successfully applied for BPR projects in real life.
Keywords: action research; business process reengineering; collaborative business engineering; group support systems; groupware; participatory design; simulation

Interpersonal Traits, Complementarity, and Trust in Virtual Collaboration - Brown, Houghton G; Scott Poole, Marshall; Rodgers, Thomas L (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Trust has been a focus of research on virtual collaboration in distributed teams, e-commerce, e-learning, and telemedicine. Central to several models of trust and virtual collaboration is user's disposition to trust. This construct, however, has generally been conceptualized in as a stand-alone trait without a substantive theoretical background in personality theory. This paper advances the interpersonal circumplex model (ICM) as a theoretical framework for understanding the role of personal traits in collaboration in virtual contexts. The ICM posits that tendencies in interpersonal interaction stem from personal dispositions that can be understood in terms of dimensions of power and affiliation, fundamental constituents of user's personality. We develop a model that proposes that interpersonal traits, specifically, personality type as defined by the circumplex, affect the individual's disposition to trust, perceived trustworthiness, communication, and thereby affects willingness to collaborate and the sustainability and productivity of the collaboration. The model enables us to unpack the black box concepts of disposition to trust, faith in others, and trusting stance that are currently incorporated in theories of trust in information systems. The theory also enables explanation of trust dynamics at the dyadic and group levels. We develop propositions positing that individual's traits and dyadic complementarity are mediating factors in interpersonal trust and willingness to use new technologies and significantly affect the initiation, duration, and productivity of computer-mediated collaboration.
Keywords: collaboration; computer-mediated collaboration; interpersonal traits; technology acceptance; telemedicine; trust; virtual collaboration; virtual teams; virtual trust

A Comparison of Classification Methods for Predicting Deception in Computer-Mediated Communication - Zhou, Lina; Burgoon, Judee K; Twitchell, Douglas P; Tiantian, Q I N; Nunamaker Jr, Jay F (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
The increased chance of deception in computer-mediated communication and the potential risk of taking action based on deceptive information calls for automatic detection of deception. To achieve the ultimate goal of automatic prediction of deception, we selected four common classification methods and empirically compared their performance in predicting deception. The deception and truth data were collected during two experimental studies. The results suggest that all of the four methods were promising for predicting deception with cues to deception. Among them, neural networks exhibited consistent performance and were robust across test settings. The comparisons also highlighted the importance of selecting important input variables and removing noise in an attempt to enhance the performance of classification methods. The selected cues offer both methodological and theoretical contributions to the body of deception and information systems research.
Keywords: classification methods; deception; deception detection; linguistic cues

Causal Relationships in Creative Problem Solving: Comparing Facilitation Interventions for Ideation - Santanen, Eric L; Briggs, Robert O; De Vreede, Gert-Jan (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Organizations must be creative continuously to survive and thrive in today's highly competitive, rapidly changing environment. A century of creativity research has produced several descriptive models of creativity, and hundreds of prescriptions for interventions that demonstrably improve creativity. This paper presents the cognitive network model (CNM) as a causal model of the cognitive mechanisms that give rise to creative solutions in the human mind. The model may explain why creativity prescriptions work as they do. The model may also provide a basis for deriving new techniques to further enhance creativity. The paper tests the model in an experiment where 61 four-person groups used either free-brainstorming or one of three variations on directed-brainstorming to generate solutions for one of two unstructured tasks. In both tasks, people using directed-brainstorming produced more solutions with high creativity ratings, produced solutions with higher average creativity ratings, and produced higher concentrations of creative solutions than did people using free-brainstorming. Significant differences in creativity were also found among the three variations on directed-brainstorming. The findings were consistent with the CNM.
Keywords: brainstorming; cognitive models; creativity; facilitation; group problem solving; group support systems; idea generation; ideation; thinkLets

Supporting Collaboration in Heterogeneous Environments - Krebs, Allan M; Dorohonceanu, Bogdan; Marsic, Ivan (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Heterogeneous sharing in synchronous collaboration is important with the proliferation of diverse computing environments, such as wearable computers and handheld devices. We present here a data-centric design for synchronous collaboration of users with heterogeneous computing platforms. Our approach allows clients with different capabilities to share different subsets of data in order to conserve communication bandwidth. We have built a robust middleware consisting of a distributed repository of shared data objects and a client-server-based infrastructure. Using the middleware, we have developed a framework for building collaborative applications for clients with different display and processing capabilities. We discuss the design and implementation of our middleware and framework and evaluate them by building four complex sample applications that demonstrate scalability, good performance, and high degree of code reusability.
Keywords: collaboration; heterogeneity; information systems; middleware; mobile devices

Information Technology Payoff in E-Business Environments: An International Perspective on Value Creation of E-Business in the Financial Services Industry - Zhu, Kevin; Kraemer, Kenneth L; Xu, Sean; Dedrick, Jason (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Grounded in the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, we develop a research model for assessing the value of e-business at the firm level. Based on this framework, we formulate six hypotheses and identify six factors (technology readiness, firm size, global scope, financial resources, competition intensity, and regulatory environment) that may affect value creation of e-business. Survey data from 612 firms across 10 countries in the financial services industry were collected and used to test the theoretical model. To examine how e-business value is influenced by economic environments, we compare two subsamples from developed and developing countries. Based on structural equation modeling, our empirical analysis demonstrates several key findings: (1) Within the TOE framework, technology readiness emerges as the strongest factor for e-business value, while financial resources, global scope, and regulatory environment also significantly contribute to e-business value. (2) Firm size is negatively related to e-business value, suggesting that structural inertia associated with large firms tends to retard e-business value. (3) Competitive pressure often drives firms to adopt e-business, but e-business value is associated more with internal organizational resources (e.g., technological readiness) than with external pressure to adopt. (4) While financial resources are an important factor in developing countries, technological capabilities become far more important in developed countries. This suggests that as firms move into deeper stages of e-business transformation, the key determinant of e-business value shifts from monetary spending to higher dimensions of organizational capabilities. (5) Government regulation plays a much more important role in developing countries than in developed countries. These findings indicate the usefulness of the proposed research model and theoretical framework for studying e-business value. They also provide insight
Keywords: business value; cross-country comparison; electronic business; electronic commerce; financial services industry; firm performance; information technology investment; technology diffusion; technology–organization–environment framework

Reexamining the Value Relevance of E-Commerce Initiatives - Dehning, Bruce; Richardson, Vernon J; Urbaczewski, Andrew; Wells, John D (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
This study reexamines the value relevance of e-commerce announcements using an event study methodology. Event studies have become an increasingly popular technique for information systems research by giving researchers a tool to measure the notoriously elusive value of information technology. We find evidence that the traditional event study methodology may not provide an accurate measure of abnormal returns during periods of high market volatility, and propose an alternative methodology. The alternative methodology does not use an estimation period, and takes into account extreme or unusual market movements in the period in which the e-commerce announcement was made. Using the alternative methodology, we find evidence of positive abnormal returns for e-commerce announcements made in the fourth quarter of 1998, but no abnormal returns to e-commerce announcements made in the fourth quarter of 2000. We also find significant differences in value depending on the type of e-commerce initiative. In 2000, e-commerce initiatives with a digital product were valued significantly more than e-commerce initiatives with a tangible product, while in 1998 no such difference existed. In 1998, business-to-business e-commerce initiatives, e-commerce initiatives with a tangible product, and e-commerce initiatives by pure-play Internet firms were valued more than similar initiatives in 2000. The study makes a significant contribution for understanding the value of e-commerce initiatives in highly volatile markets and demonstrates how market values of e-commerce changed from 1998 to 2000. Furthermore, this study shows the importance of carefully considering both the time frame examined and the methodology used when assessing the value relevance of e-commerce initiatives as to avoid inflating the magnitude of any observed effects.
Keywords: business value; e-commerce announcements; electronic commerce; event study; market value

Measuring Firm Performance at the Network Level: A Nomology of the Business Impact of Digital Supply Networks - Straub, Detmar W; Rai, Arun; Klein, Richard (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
For decades, information technology has been posited to have a major impact on firm performance. Investigations into this line of inquiry have almost always used constructs related to individual firm performance as their dependent measures, an approach that made sense under historical economic conditions. In recent years, however, value chains are giving way to digital supply networks with electronic interactions between tiers in the flow of goods and services. Such an environment makes it imperative to develop sophisticated measures of the performance of entire networks of firms, as opposed to individual firm performance. Using game-theoretic concepts, this paper explores several dimensions of networked organizational performance as a construct, as a set of measures, and as a construct within a nomology. It describes a program of research in which some empirical validation has already been completed and other work is now underway. We first validate measures for a dyadic view of network performance, followed by an n-firm perspective.
Keywords: business network redesign; electronic business; electronic commerce; firm performance; supply chains; supply networks

Understanding Determinants of Online Consumer Satisfaction: A Decision Process Perspective - Kohli, Rajiv; Devaraj, Sarv; Mahmood, M Adam (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
As business-to-consumer online shopping grows, e-commerce channel providers will need to explore ways to anticipate consumers' needs to deliver an efficient shopping experience. Yet the consumers' decision-making process and its relationship to the selection of the online channel are not well understood. Utilizing Simon's decision-making model, we examined support for decision-making phases using 134 online consumers. We also extended the model to include consumers' cost savings and time savings, as well as their satisfaction with the e-commerce channel. Structural equation modeling results indicate that the online shopping channel supported the overall decision-making process. In particular, we found strong support for the design and choice phases of online consumers' decision-making process. Our results also indicate that support for the decision-making process was mediated by the cost savings and time savings gained by the online consumers and led to their greater channel satisfaction.
Keywords: B2C e-commerce; business-to-consumer commerce; consumer decision-making; electronic commerce; online selling channel

Proprietary and Open Systems Adoption in E-Procurement: A Risk-Augmented Transaction Cost Perspective - Kauffman, Robert J; Mohtadi, Hamid (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
We present an economic model that enables the study of incentives for business-to-business (B2B) e-procurement systems investments that permit inventory coordination and improved operational control. We focus on the information technology adoption behavior of firms in the presence of transaction costs, agency costs and information uncertainty. We conclude that it is appropriate to rethink the prior theory and develop an extended transaction-cost theory perspective that incorporates the possibility of shocks. We distinguish among three kinds of B2B e-procurement systems platforms. Proprietary platform procurement systems involve traditional electronic data interchange (EDI) technologies. Open platform procurement systems are associated with e-market Web technologies. Hybrid platforms involve elements of both. We specify an analytical model that captures the key elements of our perspective, including the conditions under which strong conclusions can be made about the likely observed equilibrium e-procurement solutions of the firms. Our results explain the coexistence of both proprietary and open platforms, showing that larger firms tend to adopt costlier procurement technology solutions, such as proprietary EDI, which provides greater supply certainty. Smaller firms adopt less costly procurement technologies that entail greater supply uncertainties, such as open platform procurement systems. Two guidelines emerge for practitioners: (1) adoption of standard e-procurement platforms needs to be understood in terms of the controllable risk tradeoffs that are offered to small and large firms, and (2) gauging the business value impacts of exogenous shocks is critical to decision-making.
Keywords: e-procurement; information system economics; information technology adoption; information technology infrastructure; open platforms; proprietary platforms; supply chain management (SCM); transaction costs; uncertainty handling

The Complementarity of Information Technology Infrastructure and E-Commerce Capability: A Resource-Based Assessment of Their Business Value - Zhu, Kevin (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
This study seeks to assess the business value of e-commerce capability and information technology (IT) infrastructure in the context of electronic business at the firm level. Grounded in the IT business-value literature and enhanced by the resource-based theory of the firm, we developed a research framework in which both the main effects and the interaction effects of e-commerce and IT on firm performance were tested. Within this theoretical framework, we formulated several hypotheses. We then developed a multidimensional e-commerce capability construct, and after establishing its validity and reliability, tested the hypotheses with empirical data from 114 companies in the retail industry. Controlling for variations of firm size and subindustry effects, our empirical analysis found a strong positive interaction effect between IT infrastructure and e-commerce capability. This suggests that their complementarity positively contributes to firm performance in terms of sales per employee, inventory turnover, and cost reduction. The results are consistent with the resource-based theory, and provide empirical evidence to the complementary synergy between front-end e-commerce capability and back-end IT infrastructure. Combined together, they become more effective in producing business value. Yet the value of this synergy has not been recognized in the IT payoff literature. The "productivity paradox" observed in various studies has been attributed to variation in methods and measures, yet we offer an additional explanation: ignoring complementarities in business value measurement implies that the impact of IT was seriously underestimated. Our results emphasized the integration of resources as a feasible path to e-commerce value--companies need to enhance the integration between front-end e-commerce capability and back-end IT infrastructure in order to reap the benefits of e-commerce investments.
Keywords: electronic commerce; firm performance; information technology business value; resource-based theory; resource complementarity

Stopping Behavior of Systems Analysts During Information Requirements Elicitation - Pitts, Mitzi G; Browne, Glenn J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Understanding the cognitive activities of analysts during information requirements determination (IRD) has been recognized as a key indicator of IRD success. The research presented here examines one such cognitive activity: analysts' determination of the sufficiency of information gathered during the elicitation of requirements. Research in behavioral decision-making has identified various heuristics, or stopping rules, that are used to gauge the sufficiency of the information obtained and to terminate information acquisition. Despite the fact that analysts undoubtedly employ such stopping rules in requirements elicitation, no research has studied this phenomenon. In the present research, we present a classification of stopping rules appropriate for information gathering problems. Stopping-rule use was identified for 54 practicing systems analysts participating in a requirements determination problem in a laboratory setting. Results indicated that analyst experience influences the application of specific cognitive stopping rules, and that the use of these stopping rules has an impact on requirements determination outcomes. In addition, the use of certain stopping rules resulted in greater quantity and completeness of requirements elicited from users. Theoretical implications for the elicitation of information and practical implications for the training of systems analysts are discussed.
Keywords: cognitive stopping rules; information gathering; knowledge elicitation; requirements determination; systems analysis

The Meaning and Measurement of User Satisfaction: A Multigroup Invariance Analysis of the End-User Computing Satisfaction Instrument - Doll, William J; Xiaodong, Deng; Raghunathan, T S; Torkzadeh, Gholamreza; Weidong, Xia (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Although user satisfaction is widely used by researchers and practitioners to evaluate information system success, important issues related to its meaning and measurement across population subgroups have not been adequately resolved. To be most useful in decision-making, instruments like end-user computing satisfaction (EUCS), which are designed to evaluate system success, should be robust. That is, they should enable comparisons by providing equivalent measurement across diverse samples that represent the variety of conditions or population subgroups present in organizations. Using a sample of 1,166 responses, the EUCS instrument is tested for measurement invariance across four dimensions--respondent positions, types of application, hardware platforms, and modes of development. While the results suggest that the meaning of user satisfaction is context sensitive and differs across population subgroups, the 12 measurement items are invariant across all four dimensions. The 12-item summed scale enables researchers or practitioners to compare EUCS scores across the instrument's originally intended universe of applicability.
Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis; end-user computing satisfaction; factorial invariance; instrument validation; research methods; user satisfaction

What Makes an ERP Implementation Relationship Worthwhile: Linking Trust Mechanisms and ERP Usefulness - Gefen, David (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
To a large extent, trust determines expected utility derived from business transactions where the trusting party is dependent upon others, but lacks control over them. In many instances, this typifies the relationship between clients and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) customization vendor. This exploratory study examines how trust is built during an ERP implementation, and the relative weight of this trust compared with the perceived qualities of the implemented ERP itself in determining clients' assessment that the business relationship with the vendor is worthwhile. The data, collected from companies that were involved in the process of implementing a new ERP with the on-site assistance of a certain customization vendor, show that all three trust antecedents suggested by Zucker's seminal study of trust--process-based, characteristic-based, and institution-based mechanisms--contribute significantly to client trust. The data also show that client trust in this customization vendor and the perceived usefulness of the ERP both contribute to client assessment that their business relationship with the vendor is worthwhile, showing that both getting the job done and creating a trust-based relationship contribute to this assessment. The implications of the importance of creating trust in ERP implementation and the means of doing how to do so are discussed.
Keywords: Enterprise Resource Planning; ERP implementation; technology acceptance model; trust; trust antecedents

A Framework for Assessing the Business Value of Information Technology Infrastructures - Kumar, Ram L (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Information technology (IT) infrastructure investments are an extremely important part of e-business and constitute a major portion of IT investments in many organizations. IT infrastructure investments include investments in connectivity, systems integration, and data storage that may be used by multiple applications. Prior research has recognized the importance of a flexible IT infrastructure as a source of competitive advantage. Evidence regarding the value of IT infrastructures is anecdotal, and there is a realization that large investments in IT infrastructures are often difficult to justify. This paper expands on the idea that the value of an IT infrastructure depends on its use in an organizational context, and presents a relatively simple approach to understanding and assessing the value of IT infrastructure investments. This approach is based on the asset valuation literature in finance. An example is provided to illustrate the proposed approach, and managerial implications are discussed.
Keywords: asset valuation; business value; economic analysis; IT infrastructure

Prioritizing a Portfolio of Information Technology Investment Projects - Bardhan, Indranil; Bagchi, Sugato; Sougstad, Ryan (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Although the use of real options for valuation of information technology (IT) investments has been documented, little research has been conducted to examine its relevance for valuing and prioritizing a portfolio of projects. Complexities of IT projects along with the effect of project interdependencies raise several challenges in applying real options for prioritization of IT investments. We examine a large U.S.-based energy utility firm in a deregulated environment that is considering investment in a portfolio of 31 projects to provide a range of Internet-enabled energy services to customers. Using real data on expected project benefits and costs for different competitive scenarios, we develop a nested options model that extends prior research by incorporating the impact of project interdependencies to calculate the option value of all projects. Our nested options model provides a better understanding of project interdependencies on valuation and prioritization decisions, and provides insights into the business value of IT infrastructure projects that provide the managerial flexibility to launch future projects. We present a real options portfolio optimization algorithm for dynamic multiperiod portfolio optimization by incorporating the project values based on real options analysis in a portfolio management model with budget constraints.
Keywords: business value; information technology; investment evaluation; net present value; portfolio optimization; real options analysis; sequential investment

Understanding the Business Value of Information Technology Investments: Theoretical Evidence from Alternative Market and Cost Structures - Thatcher, Matt E; Pingry, David E (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
This paper develops a series of two-stage duopoly models of quality-price competition and a series of monopoly models of quality-price choice in order to examine the impact of information technology (IT) investments on firm profit, firm productivity, and consumer welfare. We solve the duopoly and monopoly models for four cost functions, where each function makes a different assumption about the form of the marginal cost of production. These models are used to conduct a two-by-four comparison [(monopoly, duopoly) x (four cost functions)] of the impact of IT investments on economic performance. The analysis reveals that together market structure and cost structure play a critical role in determining the form of the relationship between IT investment and economic measures. Specifically, moving from monopoly to duopoly and moving from zero marginal cost to marginal cost as a function of quality increase the number of economic measures for which the directional effects of IT investment are ambiguous, or depend on model parameter values.
Keywords: business value; consumer welfare; economic analysis; information technology investment; information technology value; productivity

Poaching and the Misappropriation of Information: Transaction Risks of Information Exchange - Clemons, Eric K; Hitt, Lorin M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
We address the concept of poaching, the risk that in any transactional relationship, information that is transferred between parties for purposes specified in the contract will deliberately be used by the receiving party for purposes outside the contract, to its own economic benefit, and to the detriment of the party that provided the information. We argue that this form of transactional risk, a component of transaction costs, is increasingly important in our service-centered, information-driven, postindustrial economy. Using case examples and a discussion of the related literature, we demonstrate and discuss the conditions under which shared information creates the potential for poaching, examine the impact and efficacy of traditional remedies for contractual problems in managing poaching, and identify additional mechanisms for managing poaching risk. Our analysis suggests that these risks and their remedies are fundamentally different in nature from those considered in previous theories of supplier relations and contractual governance.
Keywords: economic analysis of information; incomplete contracts; information sharing; intellectual property; managing risks; transaction cost theory

Information Exploitation and Interorganizational Systems Ownership - Kunsoo, H A N; Kauffman, Robert J; Nault, Barrie R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
We develop a model based on the theory of incomplete contracts for how ownership structure of interorganizational systems (IOS) can affect information exploitation and information technology adoption. Our model yields several propositions that suggest the appropriate strategic actions that a firm may take when there is potential for IOS adopters to question whether adopting the IOS will be value-maximizing. We analyze and illustrate the related strategic thinking in a real-world context involving a financial risk management IOS. We present a case study of the ownership and spin-off of RiskMetrics, developed by New York City--based investment bank, J.P. Morgan, in the late 1980s. The firm first gave RiskMetrics to its correspondent banking, treasury, and investment clients for free, in the context of its clearing account relationship services. Later, the bank spun off the product to an independent company that offered fee-based services. We model the bank's clients in terms of their heterogeneous portfolio risks, and their effects on the value a client can gain from adopting the technology. We also examine the value they may lose if their private portfolio risk information is exploited. A key roadblock to the adoption of the free service may have been the potential for strategic information exploitation by the service provider. When Morgan spun off RiskMetrics with multiparty ownership, wider adoption occurred. Our theory interprets this strategic move as an appropriate means to maximize long-term profits when information exploitation may occur.
Keywords: economic theory; financial risk management; incomplete contracts; information sharing; information systems; interorganizational systems; ownership; value-at-risk

The Market Structure for Internet Search Engines - Telang, Rahul; Rajan, Uday; Mukhopadhyay, Tridas (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
The Internet search engine market has seen a proliferation of entrants over the past few years. Whereas Yahoo was the early market leader, there has been entry by both lower-quality engines and higher-quality ones (such as Google). Prior work on quality differentiation requires that low-quality products have low prices in order to survive in a market with high-quality products. However, the price charged to users of search engines is typically zero. Therefore, consumers do not face a tradeoff between quality and price. Why do lower-quality products survive in such a market? We develop a vertical differentiation model that explains this phenomenon. The quality of the results provided by a search engine is inherently stochastic, and there is no charge for using an engine. Therefore, users who try out one engine may consult a lower-quality engine in the same session. This "residual demand" allows lower-quality products to survive in equilibrium. We then extend our model to incorporate horizontal differentiation as well and show that residual demand leads to higher quality and less differentiation in this market. Engines want to attract competitors' customers and therefore have a strong incentive to be "similar" to each other.
Keywords: e-commerce; market structure; product differentiation; residual demand; search engines

A Multichannel Model of Separating Equilibrium in the Face of the Digital Divide - Riggins, Frederick J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
We develop a multichannel model of separating equilibrium where a seller markets a durable good to high- and low-type consumers in two different channels--an online Internet storefront and an offline bricks-and-mortar store. We show how the digital divide, where high-type consumers dominate the online channel and low-type consumers dominate the offline channel, artificially segments the market-place, thereby mitigating the classic cannibalization problem. This allows the seller to more efficiently market its goods to each consumer segment. We show conditions under which low-type consumers are initially served in the offline channel, but subsequently bridging the divide results in their not being served in either channel. We also examine the implications of bridging the digital divide when the seller uses delay by engaging in intertemporal price discrimination.
Keywords: digital divide; electronic commerce; market segmentation; multichannel marketing; pricing strategy

Web Portals: Evidence and Analysis of Media Concentration - Dewan, Rajiv M; Freimer, Marshall L; Seidmann, Abraham; Jie, Zhang (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Although the Web has grown to several billion pages over the past few years, just a few of the Web sites get most of the visits. Such sites, called portals, attract visitors and advertisers and provide a lot of valuable content at no charge to the visitors. The portals attract a disproportionate amount of the Internet advertising dollars and have the ability to influence the success of new electronic commerce ventures. Using monthly audience data, we examine relative market shares of Web sites in search engines, travel, financial, news, and other categories. We find clear evidence of increasing disparity in page views, with the top Web sites getting an increasing share of the market. Using economic modeling, we show that this disparity is a result of a development externality that exists in this industry: the sites that have more viewers get more revenues; this in turn allows them to develop more content and attract an even greater number of viewers.
Keywords: advertising policy; electronic commerce; media concentration; page views; portals; value index; World Wide Web

Computing as Utility: Managing Availability, Commitment, and Pricing Through Contingent Bid Auctions - Bhargava, Hemant K; Sundaresan, Shankar (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Enabled by advances in grid and network computing architectures for the delivery of on-demand computing services, the vision of an e-services economy in which computing will be as ubiquitous as a utility is becoming a possibility in business computing. Major firms in the computing industry such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems are focusing on agility and flexibility of computing resources and gearing up for their own versions of on-demand computing and information technology (IT) outsourcing solutions. The successful introduction of these new computing models requires the development of appropriate pricing mechanisms that are consistent with the enabling technologies. Our paper introduces the notion of contingent auctions to address this lacuna. In contingent auctions, users bid for computing resources in an auction, but are relieved from the contract (paying a penalty) if demand is not realized. We study different mechanisms--ranging from an advance commitment (capacity reservation) to no commitment (pay-as-you-go)--under demand uncertainty. We consider markets in which the demand for computing is uncertain and, moreover, users' value of computing and demand realization may be related. We show how the different levels of commitment affect prices, revenues, and resource utilization under different market conditions. Our results reiterate the need to address the availability-commitment dichotomy in the design of business models for on-demand computing and IT outsourcing.
Keywords: computing marketplace; electronic auctions; grid computing; on-demand computing; utility computing

Coordinating for Flexibility in e-Business Supply Chains - Gosain, Sanjay; Malhotra, Arvind; El Sawy, Omar A (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
The widespread use of information technology (IT) to create electronic linkages among supply chain partners with the objective of reducing transaction costs may have unintended adverse effects on supply chain flexibility. Increasing business dynamics, changing customer preferences, and disruptive technological shifts pose the need for two kinds of flexibility that interenterprise information systems must address--the ability of interenterprise linkages to support changes in offering characteristics (offering flexibility) and the ability to alter linkages to partner with different supply chain players (partnering flexibility). This study explores how enterprises in supply chains may forge supply chain linkages that enable both types of flexibility jointly, and allow them to deal with ubiquitous change. Drawing on March and Simon's coordination theory, we propose two design principles: (1) advance structuring of interorganizational processes and Information exchange that allows partnering organizations to be loosely coupled, and (2) IT-supported dynamic adjustment that allows enterprises to quickly sense change and adapt their supply chain linkages. This study reports on a survey of 41 supply chain relationships in the IT industry. For design principle, our empirical investigation of factors shows (I) that modular design of interconnected processes and structured data connectivity are associated with higher supply chain flexibility, and (2) that deep coordination-related knowledge is critical for supply chain flexibility. Also, sharing a broad range of information with partners is detrimental to supply chain flexibility, and organizations should instead focus on improving the quality of information shared. For Industry managers, the study provides clear insights for information infrastructure design. To manage their interdependencies, enterprises need to encapsulate their interconnected processes in modular chunks, and support these with IT platforms for...
Keywords: coordination theory; information technology infrastructure; interorganizational systems; supply chain flexibility

Determinants of Sourcing During Technology Growth and Maturity: An Empirical Study of e-Commerce Sourcing - Kishore, Rajiv; Agrawal, Manish; Rao, H Raghav (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
This paper conducts a two-period dynamic analysis of sourcing mode choices for e-commerce projects implemented by large firms during 1999-2002. We differentiate e-commerce assets that are the focus of a sourcing decision in terms of whether they are in the growth or maturity stages. We also consider hybrid governance mechanisms, such as minority equity arrangements, as a potential sourcing mode in addition to the conventional distinction between insourcing (i.e.. hierarchical governance) and outsourcing (i.e., market governance). The rapid evolution in e-commerce technologies and their markets during this period allows us to test whether asset maturity plays any role in sourcing decisions. Results indicate that when the strategic intent of an e-commerce project is more business focused during the growth phase, hybrid governance is preferred over hierarchical governance for sourcing of e-commerce assets. Strategic intent is found not to influence sourcing mode choices during the technology/market maturity phase. Hierarchical governance is the preferred sourcing mode during the growth phase, when task complexity is high. For managing task complexity, as technologies and their markets mature, both hierarchical and hybrid governance modes become preferable to the market governance mode.
Keywords: asset life cycle; content analysis; e-commerce projects; e-commerce sourcing; governance forms; project strategic intent; project task complexity; sourcing determinants; sourcing modes; technology growth phase

Health of Electronic Communities: An Evolutionary Game Approach - Xianjun, Geng; Whinston, Andrew B; Han, Zhang (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Creating electronic communities is a critical venture in the digital economy. However, fraud and misrepresentation have led to widespread skepticism and distrust of electronic communities. We develop an evolutionary model to explore the issue of trust within an electronic community from a dynamic process perspective. This model emphasizes large populations, continuous change in community memberships, and imperfect information and memory. As the term trust is often used in the context of individual interaction, at a group level we propose using the term health to measure the sustained competitive advantages of honest members over cheaters throughout the evolution of a community. We find conditions under which an electronic community is healthy and attracts outside population. We find that many factors, such as information dissemination speed, honest players' payoffs and possible losses, new community members' initial trust status, and the replacement rate of community members, all affect the health of an electronic community, and that some of them also affect a community's size. We then discuss the implications of our research for e-community practices.
Keywords: dynamic process; electronic communities; evolutionary game theory; trust in e-commerce; trust status

Virtual Product Experience: Effects of Visual and Functional Control of Products on Perceived Diagnosticity and Flow in Electronic Shopping - Zhenhui, Jiang; Benbasat, Izak (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
The development of electronic commerce has been constrained by the inability of online consumers to feel, touch, and sample products through Web interfaces, as they are able to do in conventional in-store shopping. Previous academic studies have argued that this limitation could be partly alleviated by providing consumers with virtual product experience (VPE) to enable potential customers to experience products virtually. This paper discusses virtual control, a specific type of VPE implementation, and identifies its two dimensions: visual control and functional control. Visual control enables consumers to manipulate Web product images, to view products from various angles and distances; functional control enables consumers to explore and experience different features and functions of products. The individual and joint effects of visual and functional control were investigated in a laboratory experiment, the results of which indicated that visual and functional control increased the perceived diagnostic (i.e., the extent to which a consumer believes the shopping experience is helpful to evaluate a product) of their corresponding attribute factors, and that both visual and functional control increased consumer overall perceived diagnosticity and flow.
Keywords: B2C e-commerce; direct manipulation; e-commerce; e-tailing; flow; multimedia; perceived diagnosticity; virtual control; virtual product experience

The Effects of Information Format and Shopping Task on Consumers' Online Shopping Behavior: A Cognitive Fit Perspective - Weiyin, Hong; Thong, James Y L; Kar Yan, Tam (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
A feature central to the success of e-commerce Web sites is the design of an effective interface to present product information. However, the suitability of the prevalent information formats in supporting various online shopping tasks is not known. Using the cognitive fit theory as the theoretical framework, we developed a research model to investigate the fit between information format and shopping task, and examine its influence on consumers' online shopping performance and perceptions of shopping experience. The competition for attention theory from the marketing literature and the scanpath theory from vision research were employed to support the analyses. An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of two types of information formats (list versus matrix) in the context of two types of shopping tasks (searching versus browsing). The results show that when there is a match between the information format and the shopping task, consumers can search the information space more efficiently and have better recall of product information. Specifically, the list format better supports browsing tasks, and the matrix format facilitates searching tasks. However, a match between the information format and the shopping task has no effect on cognitive effort or attitude toward using the Web site. Overall, this research supports the application of the cognitive fit theory to the study of Web interface design. It also demonstrates the value in integrating findings from cognitive science and vision research to understand the processes involved. As the information format has been shown to affect consumers' online shopping behavior, even when the information content is held constant, the practical implications for Web site designers include providing both types of information format on their Web sites and matching the appropriate information format to the individual consumer's task.
Keywords: B2C e-commerce; cognitive fit theory; competition for attention theory; e-commerce; e-tailing; information format; interface design; online shopping; scanpath theory; shopping task

An Empirical Investigation of Collaborative Conflict Management Style in Group Support System-Based Global Virtual Teams - Paul, Souren; Samarah, Imad M; Seetharaman, Priya; Mykytyn Jr, Peter P (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
Virtual teams cut across national, organizational, and functional boundaries, often resulting in diversity in team composition. This paper presents the results of a laboratory study involving groupware-supported, culturally homogeneous, and heterogeneous virtual teams where collaborative conflict management style, a team's cultural orientation as measured by the degree of individualism-collectivism, and group diversity affect several group performance variables. Collaborative conflict management style was positively related to performance, group diversity was found to have a moderating influence between collaborative style and group performance, and collaborative style was influenced by the individualistic-collectivistic orientations. Consistent with prior research, we found that collectivistic orientations help enhance the level of collaborative conflict management style prevailing in teams. Our research also indicates that the process to motivate team members may differ depending on their orientation.
Keywords: collaborative conflict management; collectivism; group support systems; individualism; perceived decision quality; perceived participation in decision-making; satisfaction with decision process; team diversity; virtual teams

The Effects of Information Technology Project Complexity on Group Interaction - Roberts, Tom L; Cheney, Paul H; Sweeney, Paul D; Hightower, Ross T (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
This study investigates the effect of varying project complexity on the group interaction processes of small information technology (IT) project teams. The projects included two complex tasks (i.e., LAN and WAN development tasks) and a less complex development task (i.e.. a small business Web site development task). The study found that project complexity can affect the group interaction process. Participants reported significantly higher expectations, group integration, communication, and participation while working on less complex projects. Efforts to organize project personnel and define roles were more effective with less complex projects. Power struggles and noninvolvement remained a problem for teams regardless of project complexity. This study identifies and confirms key problem areas that can lead to project failure as IT projects become more complex. The results should interest both researchers and information systems managers, because the study is among the first to extend the common body of knowledge concerning group interaction and task complexity to IT projects.
Keywords: group interaction; group processes; project complexity; project management; technical projects

Evaluating and Timing Predictive Data Mining Models Using Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves - Sinha, Atish P; May, Jerrold H (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
In this study, we conduct an empirical analysis of the performance of five popular data mining methods--neural networks, logistic regression, linear discriminant analysis, decision trees, and nearest neighbor--on two binary classification problems from the credit evaluation domain. Whereas most studies comparing data mining methods have employed accuracy as a performance measure, we argue that, for problems such as credit evaluation, the focus should be on minimizing misclassification cost. We first generate receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the classifiers and use the area under the curve (AUC) measure to compare aggregate performance of the five methods over the spectrum of decision thresholds. Next, using the ROC results, we propose a method for tuning the classifiers by identifying optimal decision thresholds. We compare the methods based on expected costs across a range of cost-probability ratios. In addition to expected cost and AUC, we evaluate the models on the basis of their generalizability to unseen data, their scalability to other problems in the domain, and their robustness against changes in class distributions. We found that the performance of logistic regression and neural network models was superior under most conditions. In contrast, decision tree and nearest neighbor models yielded higher costs, and were much less generalizable and robust than the other models. An important finding of this research is that the models can be effectively tuned post hoc to make them cost sensitive, even though they were built without incorporating misclassification costs.
Keywords: binary classification; credit evaluation; data mining; decision analysis; misclassification costs; performance evaluation and tuning; predictive models; ROC curves

CABSYDD: Case-Based System for Database Design - Choobineh, Joobin; Lo, Amber W (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2004)
The majority of the reported research and development efforts on automated techniques and tools for conceptual database design have focused on design from first principles. Very few have used case-based reasoning, where cases of conceptual design are stored, indexed, and used for future designs. Furthermore, there is a general lack of reported research on validating and verifying such systems. In this paper, we describe our approach in using case-based reasoning for conceptual data-base design. To test and demonstrate the feasibility of our approach and its theoretical foundation, two prototype systems were constructed. In the absence of existing matching conceptual design constructs, the first system uses first principles of conceptual design to assist a human designer in arriving at a design for a new problem. In contrast, the second system uses constructs from previously stored design cases. The two are tightly integrated. A novel approach in structuring the case base was developed. Unique aspects of the case-base architecture and its learning mechanism are described. In order to measure user preference, an experiment was designed and conducted. Findings indicate that reuse of schemata not only is preferred by the users over the design from the first principles, but also results in fewer errors.
Keywords: automated database design; case-based reasoning; conceptual database design; database design

Assessing the Digital Rosetta Stone Model for Long-Term Access to Digital Documents - Heminger, Alan R; Kelley, Don M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Information that is stored digitally is at risk for being irretrievably lost if either the methods used to retrieve the bitstream or the methods used to interpret the bitstream are lost. The Digital Rosetta Stone (DRS) model was developed as a conceptual framework for capturing and maintaining the methods necessary to retrieve digital information stored on obsolete media and to properly interpret it, though the software used to create it may also be obsolete. However, the community of those professionals concerned with this issue had not yet assessed this conceptual model. This study used the Delphi method to explore these issues with those responsible for maintaining access to digital data. Overall, the Delphi group expressed concerns about the practicality of developing the DRS, but agreed that it is an important concept that should be explored further. If found to be technologically feasible and economically desirable, the DRS could well lead to a long-term solution for recovering information that would otherwise be impossible to recover.
Keywords: access to digital documents; digital storage; permanence of stored information; technological obsolescence

Genetic Programming-Based Discovery of Ranking Functions for Effective Web Search - Weiguo, Fan; Gordon, Michael D; Pathak, Praveen (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Web search engines have become an integral part of the daily life of a knowledge worker, who depends on these search engines to retrieve relevant information from the Web or from the company's vast document databases. Current search engines are very fast in terms of their response time to a user query. But their usefulness to the user in terms of retrieval performance leaves a lot to be desired. Typically, the user has to sift through a lot of nonrelevant documents to get only a few relevant ones for the user's information needs. Ranking functions play a very important role in the search engine retrieval performance. In this paper, we describe a methodology using genetic programming to discover new ranking functions for the Web-based information-seeking task. We exploit the content as well as structural information in the Web documents in the discovery process. The discovery process is carried out for both the ad hoc task and the routing task in retrieval. For either of the retrieval tasks, the retrieval performance of these newly discovered ranking functions has been found to be superior to the performance obtained by well-known ranking strategies in the information retrieval literature.
Keywords: business intelligence; genetic programming; information retrieval; machine learning; ranking function; search engines; text mining; Web mining

A Visual Framework for Knowledge Discovery on the Web: An Empirical Study of Business Intelligence Exploration - Wingyan, Chung; Hsinchun, Chen; Nunamaker Jr, Jay F (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Information overload often hinders knowledge discovery on the Web. Existing tools lack analysis and visualization capabilities. Search engine displays often overwhelm users with irrelevant information. This research proposes a visual framework for knowledge discovery on the Web. The framework incorporates Web mining, clustering, and visualization techniques to support effective exploration of knowledge. Two new browsing methods were developed and applied to the business intelligence domain: Web community uses a genetic algorithm to organize Web sites into a tree format; knowledge map uses a multidimensional scaling algorithm to place Web sites as points on a screen. Experimental results show that knowledge map out-performed Kartoo, a commercial search engine with graphical display, in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Web community was found to be more effective, efficient, and usable than result list. Our visual framework thus helps to alleviate information overload on the Web and offers practical implications for search engine developers.
Keywords: business intelligence; genetic algorithms; knowledge map; multidimensional scaling; visualization; Web browsing; Web community

Data Mining with Combined Use of Optimization Techniques and Self-Organizing Maps for Improving Risk Grouping Rules: Application to Prostate Cancer Patients - Churilov, Leonid; Bagirov, Adyl; Schwartz, Daniel; Smith, Kate; Dally, Michael (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Data mining techniques provide a popular and powerful tool set to generate various data-driven classification systems. In this paper, we investigate the combined use of self-organizing maps (SOM) and nonsmooth nonconvex optimization techniques in order to produce a working case of a data-driven risk classification system. The optimization approach strengthens the validity of SOM results, and the improved classification system increases both the quality of prediction and the homogeneity within the risk groups. Accurate classification of prostate cancer patients into risk groups is important to assist in the identification of appropriate treatment paths. We start with the existing rules and aim to improve classification accuracy by identifying inconsistencies utilizing self-organizing maps as a data visualization tool. Then, we progress to the study of assigning prostate cancer patients into homogenous groups with the aim to support future clinical treatment decisions. Using the case of prostate cancer patients grouping, we demonstrate strong potential of data-driven risk classification schemes for addressing the risk grouping issues in more general organizational settings.
Keywords: classification; data mining; optimization; prostate cancer; risk grouping

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Trust-Supporting Components in Virtual Communities for Patients - Leimeister, Jan Marco; Ebner, Winfried; Krcmar, Helmut (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Trust provides the foundation for the successful implementation and operation of a virtual community (VC). Trust is an especially relevant success factor in online health-care communities. A look at existing communities leads to the conclusion that many VCs fail to meet requirements upon which trust is established. Based on the findings in the literature and the researchers' experience, this paper describes how trust-enabling functionalities can be systematically designed and implemented in a VC for cancer patients. Consequently, the outcomes of these design measures are evaluated. The evaluation results show that supporting trust can be achieved following a two-step model. The presented components support the perceived competence and perceived goodwill of the operators and the other members. Perceived goodwill and competence then support the process of creating and sustaining trust between members as well as between members and the operators of the VC and contribute to the successful implementation and maintenance of the community. The paper concludes with a discussion on further trust-supporting components yet to be implemented and gives recommendations for further research in this area.
Keywords: access rights; anonymity; healthcare; online community; perceived competence; perceived goodwill; quality-assured content; transparency criteria; trust; virtual communities

Negotiation in Technology Landscapes: An Actor-Issue Analysis - Bendahan, Samuel; Camponovo, Giovanni; Monzani, Jean-Sébastien; Pigneur, Yves (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
In large-scale negotiation problems and in assessments of complex and uncertain environments, it is vital to analyze the different stakeholders involved and to evaluate their positions in the negotiations. This paper extends a model, which merges previous multi-issue and actor-focused methods, based on power relationships between stakeholders and their ability to bargain in order to increase their utility. The model has already used for assessing a public WLAN landscape. The paper emphasizes the dynamic application of the model we developed for experimenting the negotiation evolution, shifting positions on some issues, and exchanging positions between actors. We also claim that such forecasting analyses of negotiation landscapes can be significantly improved using more appropriate visualization support. We propose new visualization tools for analyzing negotiation outcomes, representing negotiation landscapes, and applying what-if simulations, using passive influence, expected outcome and dissatisfaction, power distribution, proximity, and negotiation maps.
Keywords: actor-issue analysis; collective decision-making; forecasting; negotiation; scenario planning; visualization

Choice of Transaction Channels: The Effects of Product Characteristics on Market Evolution - Sulin, Ba; Stallaert, Jan; Whinston, Andrew B; Han, Zhang (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
The capabilities of network technologies have facilitated the growth of electronic commerce. Major issues--notably, security and product quality uncertainty--still pose serious challenges to the further adoption of electronic commerce. Traditional market transactions have a long history and well-understood protections for buyers and sellers. In the electronic markets, formal and informal mechanisms such as trusted third parties (TTP) have emerged trying to ensure safe transactions . In this paper, we investigate under what conditions people will stick to the traditional market and face-to-face transactions, and under what conditions electronic transactions will be the convention of the future. Of particular interest is the role of TTPs in facilitating online transactions. Using evolutionary game theory, we present an analytical model of buyer and seller choices and examine which patterns of transactions can be sustained. We further study how the traders' adaptive behavior may influence the outcome of the market evolution. Through this analysis, we demonstrate that the market will show divergence: for commodity products, electronic transactions through TTPs will get established as the convention for market transactions when traders use historical information about other traders' past strategies. For "look and feel" products, the market evolution depends on the initial distribution of the transaction strategies in the population.
Keywords: electronic commerce; electronic markets; evolutionarily stable equilibrium; evolutionary game theory; market evolution; product characteristics; stochastically stable equilibrium; transaction channel; trusted third party

Antecedents of Information and System Quality: An Empirical Examination Within the Context of Data Warehousing - Nelson, R Ryan; Todd, Peter A; Wixom, Barbara H (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Understanding the successful adoption of information technology is largely based upon understanding the linkages among quality, satisfaction, and usage. Although the satisfaction and usage constructs have been well studied in the information systems literature, there has been only limited attention to information and system quality over the past decade. To address this shortcoming, we developed a model consisting of nine fundamental determinants of quality in an information technology context, four under the rubric of information quality (the output of an information system) and five that describe system quality (the information processing system required to produce the output). We then empirically examined the aptness of our model using a sample of 465 data warehouse users from seven different organizations that employed report-based, query-based, and analytical business intelligence tools. The results suggest that our determinants are indeed predictive of overall information and system quality in data warehouse environments, and that our model strikes a balance between comprehensiveness and parsimony. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for both theory and the development and implementation of information technology applications in practice.
Keywords: business intelligence software; data warehousing; information quality; information systems success; system quality

Effect of Information Systems Resources and Capabilities on Firm Performance: A Resource-Based Perspective - Ravichandran, T; Lertwongsatien, Chalermsak (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
We draw on the resource-based theory to examine how information systems (IS) resources and capabilities affect firm performance. A basic premise is that a firm's performance can be explained by how effective the firm is in using information technology (IT) to support and enhance its core competencies. In contrast to past studies that have implicitly assumed that IS assets could have direct effects on firm performance, this study draws from the resource complementarity arguments and posits that it is the targeted use of IS assets that is likely to be rent-yielding. We develop the theoretical underpinnings of this premise and propose a model that interrelates IS resources. IS capabilities. IT support for core competencies, and firm performance. The model is empirically tested using data collected from 129 firms in the United States. The results provide strong support for the research model and suggest that variation in firm performance is explained by the extent to which IT is used to support and enhance a firm's core competencies. The results also support our proposition that an organization's ability to use IT to support its core competencies is dependent on IS functional capabilities, which, in turn, are dependent on the nature of human, technology, and relationship resources of the IS department. These results are interpreted and the implications of this study for IS research and practice are discussed.
Keywords: competitive advantage; core competencies; information technology and strategy; resource-based theory

Expertise Integration and Creativity in Information Systems Development - Tiwana, Amrit; McLean, Ephraim R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This paper addresses the understudied issue of how individually held expertise in information systems development (ISD) teams results in creativity at the team level during the development process. We develop the idea that team creativity results primarily from integration of individually held expertise of team members at the team level. We further propose the quality of intrateam relationships and knowledge complementarities that align the work of individual team members at the project level influence creativity primarily through the process of expertise integration. We use data from a field study of 142 participants in 42 ISD projects to test the proposed model. The paper makes three new contributions to the IS literature. Its key contribution lies in developing an expertise integration view of team creativity. We demonstrate the centrality of integrating individually held tacit and explicit knowledge about the problem domain and the technology at the team level in achieving team creativity. The use of a process-focused conceptualization of team creativity is especially noteworthy here. The second contribution of the paper lies in conceptually developing and operationalizing the concept of expertise integration, a mechanism by which individually held knowledge is integratively applied at the project level. Although the importance of knowledge in the ISD process is widely recognized in prior research, this is the first study to develop the concept in a operationally meaningful way. The third key contribution lies in showing that the compositional and relational attributes of ISD project teams--diverse specialized knowledge in a team, the quality of intrateam working relationships, and members' cross-domain absorptive capacity--do not engender creativity by themselves; they do so primarily because they enhance integration of individual knowledge at the project level. We offer empirical evidence for such full mediation. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications, which are discussed in the paper.
Keywords: absorptive capacity; creativity; expertise integration; information system development; information systems innovation; integration; knowledge integration; knowledge management; knowledge transfer; software development

Complexity of Information Systems Development Projects: Conceptualization and Measurement Development - Weidong, Xia; Lee, Gwanhoo (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This paper conceptualizes and develops valid measurements of the key dimensions of information systems development project (ISDP) complexity. A conceptual framework is proposed to define four components of ISDP complexity: structural organizational complexity, structural IT complexity, dynamic organizational complexity, and dynamic IT complexity. Measures of ISDP complexity are generated based on literature review, field interviews, and focus group discussions. The measures are then refined through a systematic process and are tested using confirmatory data analyses with survey responses from 541 ISDP managers. Results support the final measurement model that consists of a second-order factor of ISDP complexity, four distinct first-order factors, and 15 measurement items. The measurement adequately satisfies the criteria for unidimensionality, convergent validity, discriminant validity, reliability, factorial invariance across different types of ISDPs, and nomo logical validity. Implications of the study results to research and practice as well as limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.
Keywords: complexity; conceptual framework; confirmatory factor analysis; information systems development project; scale development; scale validation

Measuring the Performance of Information Systems: A Functional Scorecard - Cha-Jan Chang, Jerry; King, William R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This study develops an instrument that may be used as an information systems (IS) functional scorecard (lSFS). It is based on a theoretical input--output model of the IS function's role in supporting business process effectiveness and organizational performance. The research model consists of three system output dimensions--systems performance, information effectiveness, and service performance. The "updated paradigm" for instrument development was followed to develop and validate the ISFS instrument. Construct validation of the instrument was conducted using responses from 346 systems users in 149 organizations by a combination of exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling using LISREL. The process resulted in an instrument that measures 18 unidimensional factors within the three ISFS dimensions. Moreover, a sample of 120 matched-paired responses of separate CIO and user responses was used for nomological validation. The results showed that the ISFS measure reflected by the instrument was positively related to improvements in business processes effectiveness and organizational performance. Consequently, the instrument may be used for assessing IS performance, for guiding information technology investment and sourcing decisions, and as a basis for further research and instrument development.
Keywords: functional scorecard; information systems performance measurement; instrument development; structural equation modeling

A Multidimensional Commitment Model of Volitional Systems Adoption and Usage Behavior - Malhotra, Yogesh; Galletta, Dennis F (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
In recent years, several organizations have implemented nonmandatory information and communication systems that escape the conventional behavioral logic of understanding acceptance and usage from a normative perspective of compliance with the beliefs of others. Because voluntary systems require users' volitional behavior, researchers have traced recent implementation failures to a lack of user commitment. However, gaps in our understanding of volitional usage behavior and user commitment have made it difficult to advance theory, research, and practice on this issue. To validate a proposed research model, cross-sectional, between-subjects, and within-subjects field data were collected from 714 users at the time of initial adoption and after six months of extended use. The model explained between 44.1 percent and 58.5 percent of the variance in adoption and usage behavior based upon direct effects of user commitment. Findings suggest that user commitment plays a critical role in the volitional acceptance and usage of such systems. Affective commitment--that is, internalization and identification based upon personal norms--exhibits a sustained positive influence on usage behavior. In contrast, continuance commitment--that is, compliance based upon social norms--shows a sustained negative influence from initial adoption to extended use. Theory development based upon Kelman's social influence framework offers new empirical insights about system users' commitment and how it affects volitional usage behavior.
Keywords: affective processes; cognitive processes; information systems acceptance and use; multidimensional commitment model; personal norms; psychological attachment; social influence theory; social norms; systems implementation; user commitment; volitional usage behavior

Does Information Technology Training Really Matter?: A Social Information Processing Analysis of Coworkers' Influence on IT Usage in the Workplace - Gallivan, Michael J; Spitler, Valerie K; Koufaris, Marios (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This paper develops a conceptual framework to explain employees' technology usage within organizations. Much of the prior information systems literature has assumed an underlying relationship between "facilitating conditions" for information technology (IT) adoption (e.g., user training, technical support, resource availability) and employees' technology use. Although these facilitating conditions are important, they do not provide a complete explanation of employees' IT usage. The reality of working in organizational settings suggests a different model of IT adoption and usage. Drawing from research on social information processing theory, and acknowledging the role of other individuals within the work context that shapes employees' learning, values, and behavior, we propose a framework to explain employees' adoption of IT and their level of usage within organizations, featuring both individual-level factors and factors related to the social information processing influence of co-workers. Our results show that an employee's coworkers exert an important influence on IT usage, whereas individual-level factors exhibit more modest effects.
Keywords: community of practice; end-user computing; information systems usage; situated learning; social influence; social information processing; survey research and design; end-user training

Financial Performance, CEO Compensation, and Large-Scale Information Technology Outsourcing Decisions - Hall, James A; Liedtka, Stephen L (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
The inherent riskiness of large-scale information technology (IT) outsourcing led us to investigate what motivates large-scale IT outsourcing decisions. We employed fixed-effects logistical regressions to examine publicly available data for 51 firms that announced their decisions to outsource all or a large portion of their IT function during the 1993-2001 period. Results suggest that incentives created by CEO stock options and overall compensation mix significantly influence decisions to outsource. We thus provide the first evidence of a relationship between managerial self-interest and IT outsourcing. Additional results suggest that poor overall firm performance, poor cost control, and short-term cash needs also drive large-scale IT outsourcing, but provide no evidence that firms outsource IT to reduce leverage. Overall, we conclude that CEOs consider several personal and firm-level financial factors, including factors unrelated to IT cost and performance, when making large-scale IT outsourcing decisions. Our conclusion has numerous implications regarding long-term IT performance, long-term firm performance. CEO contracting and financial reporting.
Keywords: CEO compensation; incentive compensation; information systems outsourcing; information technology outsourcing; stock options

The Relationship of E-Commerce Competence to Customer Value and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation - Saeed, Khawaja A; Grover, Varun; Yujong, Hwang (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
The advent of electronic commerce has induced many organizations to develop a Web presence and exploit the opportunities offered by the Internet. In an environment that commodities products and allows for easy imitative behavior through instant access to information on competitor's offerings, it is not clear how to build a sustainable competitive advantage. This study endeavors to facilitate an understanding of this complex issue. Electronic commerce competence is posited as a key driver of organizational performance, and it is argued that this effect is mediated by the generation of "customer value" through Web site functionality. By empirically analyzing primary and secondary data from over 100 companies, the relationship between electronic commerce competence, customer value, and both short- and long-term firm performance is examined. The results show that firms with high electronic commerce competence exhibit superior performance and that customer value generated through Web site functionality partially mediates this relationship. In addition, the results show that companies can enhance short-term performance by providing value to the customer in prepurchase situations. But in order to build customer loyalty and thus long-term performance, companies need to enhance the product ownership experience of customers.
Keywords: competitive advantage; customer value; electronic commerce; electronic commerce competence; financial measures; organizational performance

Information Processing View of Organizations: An Exploratory Examination of Fit in the Context of Interorganizational Relationships - Premkumar, G; Ramamurthy, K; Saunders, Carol S (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This study uses Galbraith's information processing theory to examine the fit between information processing needs and information processing capability in an interorganizational supply chain context and to examine its effect on performance. Information processing needs are assessed based on various characteristics of the product and procurement environment and information processing capabilities are assessed by the level of information technology support for various activities in the procurement life cycle. A taxonomy of information processing needs and information processing capabilities is developed. The effect of the fit between information processing needs and capabilities on procurement performance is examined. The study collected data on 142 products through personal interviews and surveys, used cluster analytic techniques to develop taxonomies, and analysis of" variance (ANOVA) to test the fit between needs and capability, modeled as an interaction effect. The results reveal two clusters for information processing needs and three clusters for information processing capability. ANOVA results show that the interactive effect of information needs and capability has a significant effect on performance. supporting our fit theory.
Keywords: B2B; cluster analysis; information processing capability; information processing needs; information processing theory; interorganizational systems; strategic fit; supply chains

A Game-Theoretic Model of E-Marketplace Participation Growth - Galbreth, Michael R; March, Salvatore T; Scudder, Gary D; Shor, Mikhael (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Despite their potential to significantly reduce transaction costs for both buyers and sellers, e-marketplaces have struggled. Recent literature has examined the value propositions of e-marketplaces and proposed conceptual frameworks for their analysis. In this research, we move beyond conceptual analysis by developing a game-theoretic model of return on-investment (ROI)-driven e-marketplace participation growth. This model provides insights into expected e-marketplace growth and participation, and can be used to determine both the viability and expected long-run size of a given e-marketplace. Our results indicate that the pricing policy of the e-market-place intermediary can affect the rate at which participation grows and, therefore, sentiment about its prospects. We focus on e-marketplaces that add value to buyers and sellers by increasing the efficiency of administrative tasks but also simultaneously add value to buyers and reduce value to sellers by lowering prices for goods purchased. Value to participants in these e-marketplaces is determined by the volume of transactions that can be conducted using the e-marketplace, resulting in a two-sided network effect-buyers reacting to sellers and sellers reacting to buyers. The game-theoretic model identifies an e marketplace equilibrium at which participation growth is predicted to stop.
Keywords: business-to-business e-commerce; electronic marketplaces; game theory; network effect

Effects of Relational Factors and Channel Climate on EDI Usage in the Customer-Supplier Relationship - Jai-Yeol, Son; Narasimhan, Sridhar; Riggins, Frederick J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Managing electronic trading partner relationships is a key to successful development of an interorganizational systems (IOS) network. Firms often exercise their power and offer reciprocal investments to their trading partners in developing an IOS network. However, limited effort has been made to empirically validate their effects on increasing IOS usage between trading partners. This paper gauges the effects of these two relational factors--power and reciprocal investments--within the context of an electronic data interchange (EDI) network development. Moreover, the role of channel climate in increasing EDI usage is explicated with a particular focus on its determinants and impacts. With insights obtained from social exchange and transaction cost theories, a research model is developed and tested with data collected from 233 suppliers with electronic linkages via EDI with a nationally recognized retailer of home improvement supplies and materials in the United States. The customer's reciprocal investments in the form of BDI-related support are proven to be effective in increasing EDI volume and diversity. However, power exercised is found to be not effective. Suppliers' cooperation with the customer, which is influenced by perceived uncertainty, trust, and transaction-specific investments, is found to have strong effects on EDI volume and diversity. Finally, the reciprocal investments are found to be an even more effective strategy when suppliers desire to keep a more cooperative relationship with the customer.
Keywords: buyer-seller relationships; electronic data interchange; information technology use; interorganizational relations and cooperation; interorganizational systems

Examining the Role of "Free" Product-Augmenting Online Services in Pricing and Customer Retention Strategies - Chellappa, Ramnath K; Kumar, K Ravi (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
As products on the Web are continually enhanced through "free" Web based services that add to the product purchase experience, it is important to understand how these free services may affect pricing and customer retention strategies of an online vendor. This paper argues that product competition on the Web is not for generic products but, rather, for expected and augmented product bundles. Our findings point out that even in the absence of price premiums, variance in the ability to after online services can affect pricing strategies and possibly contribute to online price dispersion. We then go on to suggest that online services affect a vendor's customer retention strategy as they influence the design of the augmented product. We characterize an online vendor's selection of augmenting services as a knapsack problem, and recommend that the online vendor should not only periodically reevaluate the set of services offered to satisfy the expected product requirements, but also assess the customer retention ability of his augmented product. A service does not contribute to customer retention when it has either lost its value to the customer or become required as a part of the expected product. Our solution recommends that a vendor should include new services based on the cost-to-value ratio of each service so as to remain above the loyalty threshold of a consumer. The results from our model partially explain the variety in product offerings of many online vendors, whose competency in providing Web-based services allows them to vary the generic product.
Keywords: consumer loyalty; customer retention; knapsack problem; online pricing; online services; product augmentation; switching behavior

Offshore Outsourcing: A Dynamic Causal Model of Counteracting Forces - Dutta, Amitava; Roy, Rahul (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Many argue that offshoring is an inexorable trend, since a variety of information technology (IT) skills have become global commodities and they are vastly cheaper in other parts of the world. According to this view, most IT work would be drained from the United States to overseas locations. However, the loss of jobs to offshoring has increased pressure to impose restrictions. On the supply side, as IT salaries in outsourcing vendor nations increase, they become less attractive for offshoring. The literature identifies multiple factors--some enhancing, others inhibiting--that affect the growth of offshoring. In this paper, we attempt to add to that knowledge by asking, "What are the mechanics by which these factors interact to produce the observed growth in IT offshoring?" We use the system dynamics methodology to build a two-country simulation model of offshoring growth that captures individual cause-effect relationships generated by its supply and demand drivers. Examined as a whole, these individual relationships reveal larger feedback loops that constitute the mechanism underlying offshoring growth between the two countries. Simulation experiments show how the dynamic behavior of offshoring is likely to evolve beyond the current high-growth period. The model contributes to our understanding of offshoring by offering a causal foundation for its growth pattern. It can also be used to computationally study different scenarios of offshoring growth.
Keywords: business policy; growth modeling; offshoring; outsourcing; simulation; system dynamics modeling

Just Right Outsourcing: Understanding and Managing Risk - Aron, Ravi; Clemons, Eric K; Reddi, Sashi (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
The risks associated with outsourcing have been the principal limitation on the growth of business process outsourcing, especially cross-border outsourcing. In addition to technological improvements in risk management, it is possible to reduce the risk of opportunistic behavior faced by the buyer by redesigning work flows and dividing work among multiple vendors, increasing the range of tasks that are now appropriate candidates for outsourcing. We provide a taxonomy of risks associated with the outsourcing of business processes. We focus on strategic risks and identify the components of this risk and the means by which it can be mitigated.
Keywords: holdup problem; interorganizational work flows; outsourcing; process design; strategic risks; transaction-cost economics

Beyond the Hype of Frictionless Markets: Evidence of Heterogeneity in Price Rigidity on the Internet - Bergen, Mark E; Kauffman, Robert J; Lee, Dongwon (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
We explore daily patterns of Internet pricing for the two major retailers, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble (BN). using data on 377 books collected over a 449-day period in 2003-4. We frame this investigation in terms of a key question; How rigid are prices on the Internet? Are there reasons to suggest that prior predictions of more flexible prices on the Internet may not have been founded on the appropriate theoretical knowledge? We find that Internet retailers, in contrast with traditional firms, adjust prices any day of the week throughout the year. Yet firms' price adjustments for books occur much less frequently than daily--every 90 days on average. For most observers of Internet-based selling, this is surprising, because most expect more frequent price adjustments--based on the quality of technological environment that supports price-setting. In fact, our results show that price-change activity appears to vary by book category, from a high of one change, on average, every 61 days for best sellers to a low of one change every 184 days, on average, for steady sellers. In addition, we learned that individual firms exhibited different patterns for their price changes: Amazon changed book prices every 222 days, whereas BN changed its book prices more frequently, every 56 days on average.
Keywords: bookselling; e-commerce; economic analysis; empirical research; empirical regularities; Internet retailing; price rigidity; strategic pricing

Effect of Electronic Secondary Markets on the Supply Chain - Ghose, Anindya; Telang, Rahul; Krishnan, Ramayya (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
We present a model to investigate the competitive implications of electronic secondary markets that promote concurrent selling of new and used goods on a supply chain. In secondary markets where suppliers cannot directly utilize used goods for practicing intertemporal price discrimination and where transaction costs of resales are negligible, the threat of cannibalization of new goods by used goods becomes significant. We examine conditions under which it is optimal for suppliers to operate in such markets, explaining why these markets may not always be detrimental for them. Intuitively, secondary markets provide an active outlet for some high-valuation consumers to sell their used goods. The potential for such resales leads to an increase in consumers' valuation for a new good, leading them to buy an additional new good. Given sufficient heterogeneity in consumers' affinity across multiple suppliers" products, the "market expansion effect" accruing from consumers' cross-product purchase affinity can mitigate the losses incurred by suppliers from the direct "cannibalization effect." We also highlight the strategic role that the used goods commission set by the retailer plays in determining profits for suppliers. We conclude the paper by empirically testing some implications of our model using a unique data set from the online book industry, which has a flourishing secondary market.
Keywords: electronic markets; information goods; market segmentation; quality degradation; supply chains; used goods markets

A Pricing Mechanism for Digital Content Distribution Over Computer Networks - Lang, Karl Reiner; Vragov, Roumen (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This paper uses modified economic growth theory to compare and contrast two currently available ways of digital content distribution: the client-server model and the peer-to-peer (P2P) model. We describe a monopolistic pricing scheme for distributing digital content over P2P networks that rewards peer users who actively participate in the distribution process. Our results show that digital distribution through a P2P network is more profitable and more efficient than in the corresponding client-server setting, if the pricing mechanism used provides strong incentives to users to share content. The basic results hold when the model is extended to include time-variant preferences across generations of consumers, and when the monopolist performs price discrimination based on generations. Some practical implications from the theoretical analysis are also discussed.
Keywords: client–server networks; content sharing; digital content distribution; information goods; monopolistic seller; peer-to-peer networks; pricing; user participation incentives

Buyer's Efficient E-Sourcing Structure: Centralize or Decentralize? - Dai, Rui; Narasimhan, Sridhar; Wu, D J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Strategic sourcing, defined as a firm's key business process to identify, evaluate, configure, and negotiate purchases in important spend categories while managing long-term supplier relationships, is playing a significant role in sourcing strategies. The adoption of e-sourcing, defined as the use of business software (for example, using application service providers to conduct online procurement auctions) to automate or augment the aforementioned key business process, has been growing rapidly in recent years. One often-cited benefit of e-sourcing is the predicted savings, which is appealing, given the increasing pressure on cost competitiveness faced by firms. Using queuing techniques, this paper develops an economic model that captures fundamental trade-offs in a firm's e-sourcing business process as characterized by communication complexity, frequency of use, and cost of delay. This allows comparisons of two widely adopted structures for e-sourcing; the centralized structure versus the decentralized structure. Conditions under which the centralized structure is favored over the decentralized structure and vice versa are identified and illustrated with numerical examples and case evidence. These findings are robust in other settings. The paper concludes with a discussion of managerial implications.
Keywords: communication complexity; economic analysis; e-sourcing; organizational structure; procurement; queuing; reverse auction

Information Technology Standards Choices and Industry Structure Outcomes: The Case of the U.S. Home Mortgage Industry - Wigand, Rolf T; Steinfield, Charles W; Markus, M Lynne (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Vertical IS standards prescribe data structures and definitions, document formats, and business processes for particular industries, in contrast to generic information technology (IT) standards, which concern IT characteristics applicable to many industries. This paper explores the potential industry structure effects of vertical information systems (IS) standards through a case study of the U.S. home mortgage industry. We review theoretical arguments about the potential industry structure effects of standards for interorganizational coordination, and we compare the characteristics of XML-based vertical IS standards with those of electronic data interchange (EDI) to gauge the applicability of prior literature. We argue that the lower costs and wider accessibility of XML-based standards that use the Internet can result in significant changes to the structure of the mortgage industry. However, the nature of industry change will depend on the specific ways In which standards are implemented by organizations in the industry--there are many patterns of implementation with potentially different effects at the industry level of analysis. We illustrate these theoretical arguments with data from our case.
Keywords: adoption; effects of standards; implementation; industry-level effects; industry structure; IS standards; IT choices; vertical standards

Person-Job Cognitive Style Fit for Software Developers: The Effect on Strain and Performance - Chilton, Michael A; Hardgrave, Bill C; Armstrong, Deborah J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Software developers face a constant barrage of innovations designed to improve the development environment. Yet stress/strain among software developers has been steadily increasing and is at an all-time high, while their productivity is often questioned. Why, if these innovations are meant to improve the environment, are developers more stressed and less productive than they should be? Using a combination of cognitive style and person-environment fit theories as the theoretical lens. this study examines one potential source of stress/strain and productivity impediment among software developers. Specifically, this paper examines the fit between the preferred cognitive style of a software developer and his or her perception of the cognitive style required by the job environment, and the effect of that fit on stress/strain and performance. Data collected from a field study of 123 (object-oriented) software developers suggest that performance decreases and stress increases as this gap between cognitive styles becomes wider. Using surface response methodology, the precise fit relationship is modeled. The interaction of the developer and the environment provides explanatory power above and beyond either of the factors separately, suggesting that studies examining strain and performance of developers should explicitly consider and measure the cognitive style fit between the software developer and the software development environment. In practice, managers can use the results to help recognize misfit, its consequences, and the appropriate interventions (such as training or person/task matching).
Keywords: adaption–innovation theory; job performance; person–job fit; software developers; software development; strain

The Effect of Communication Frequency and Channel Richness on the Convergence Between Chief Executive and Chief Information Officers - Johnson, Alice M; Lederer, Albert L (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Convergence (i.e., mutual understanding) between an organization's CEO and CIO is critical to its efforts to successfully exploit information technology. Communication theory predicts that greater communication frequency and channel richness lead to more such convergence. A postal survey of 202 pairs of CEOs and CIOs investigated the effect of communication frequency and channel richness on CEO/ CIO convergence, as well as the effect of convergence on the financial contribution of information systems (IS) to the organization. Convergence was operationalized in terms of the current and future roles of information technology (IT) as defined by the strategic grid. Rigorous validation confirmed the current role as composed of one factor and the future role as composed of three factors (i.e., managerial support, differentiation, and enhancement). More frequent communication predicted convergence about the current role, differentiation future role, and enhancement future role. The use of richer channels predicted convergence about the differentiation future role. Convergence about the current role predicted IS financial contribution. From a research perspective, the study extended theory about communication frequency, media richness, convergence, and the role of IT in organizations. From a managerial perspective, it provided direction for CEOs and CIOs interested in increasing their mutual understanding of the role of IT.
Keywords: CEO/CIO communication; channel richness; communication frequency; managerial communication; media richness; strategic grid

Types of Information Technology Capabilities and Their Role in Competitive Advantage: An Empirical Study - Bhatt, Ganesh D; Grover, Varun (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
During the past two decades, both business managers and academic researchers have shown considerable interest in understanding how information technologies (IT) help to create competitive advantage for a firm. While recently the idea of competitive differentiation through IT has been challenged, this study contrasts the traditional thinking about competitive advantage with the re source-based view. Specifically, it is argued that by demarcating specific types of capabilities, we can contribute to better understanding of the sources of IT-based competitive advantage. Conceptually, we distinguish here between value, competitive, and dynamic capabilities as three distinct types of capabilities. Within each type, we identify specific capabilities. such as quality of the IT infrastructure. IT business experience, relationship infrastructure, and intensity of organizational learning, and present a model that describes relationships between these capabilities and competitive advantage. We then empirically test the model using data collected via a national mail survey from chief IT executives from 202 manufacturing firms. While the quality of the IT infrastructure is hypothesized as a value capability and expectedly did not have any significant effect on competitive advantage, the quality of IT business expertise and the relationship infrastructure (competitive capabilities) did. The results of the study also indicate that the intensity of organizational learning (dynamic capability) was significantly related to all of the capabilities. These results point to the importance of delineating capabilities such as relationship infrastructure that can facilitate differentiation in the marketplace, and dynamic capabilities such as organizational learning as an important antecedent to IT capability building.
Keywords: competitive advantage; competitive capabilities; dynamic capabilities; firm performance; IT business experience; IT capabilities; IT infrastructure; organizational learning; relationship infrastructure

Information Technology as an Enabler of Growth in Firms: An Empirical Assessment - Mitra, Sabyasachi (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This research provides empirical evidence of the role of information technology (IT) as an enabler of growth in firms. We postulate that as a firm grows larger, a superior IT infrastructure increases the productivity of other inputs by controlling the complexity-related costs that the firm incurs as it increases in size. In the empirical analysis to support this view, we find that firms with high-growth expectations increase their IT spending as their free cash flow increases, whereas low-growth firms maintain a constant level of IT spending, irrespective of their free cash flow. Further, we analyze the effect of IT investments in one period on growth-related metrics in subsequent periods. We find that a superior IT infrastructure significantly reduces the cost of operations for high-growth firms in subsequent periods. In summary, the theory and empirical evidence presented in this paper point to an indirect but important contribution of the IT infrastructure to a firm's growth.
Keywords: business value of information technology; firm growth; free cash flow; Tobin’s q

Involvement and Decision-Making Performance with a Decision Aid: The Influence of Social Multimedia, Gender, and Playfulness - Hess, Traci J; Fuller, Mark A; Mathew, John (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This research explores how multimedia vividness and the use of computer-based social cues can influence involvement with technology and decision-making outcomes. An experiment is conducted that examines the effect that increased levels of vividness (text, voice, and animation) and decision aid personality have on decision-making involvement. In addition, the influence of two individual differences, gender and computer playfulness, on decision aid involvement are investigated. The cost-benefit framework of decision making and related research on consumer information processing provide the theoretical foundation for the study and suggest how increased involvement may influence decision making. Several decision-making outcomes are measured, including decision effort, decision quality, satisfaction with the decision aid, and understanding of the decision aid. Findings indicate that personality similarity (between the user and the decision aid) and computer playfulness result in increased involvement with the decision aid. In addition, women report higher levels of involvement with the decision aid. Increased levels of multimedia vividness are found to have a contradictory effect, with animation actually reducing involvement with the decision aid. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical contributions and practical interface design implications.
Keywords: computer-based social cues; computer playfulness; decision aids; decision making; decision performance; multimedia in computing

How Presentation Flaws Affect Perceived Site Quality, Trust, and Intention to Purchase from an Online Store - Everard, Andrea; Galletta, Dennis F (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Although there has been a great deal of research on impression formation, little application of that research has been made to electronic commerce. A research model was constructed that hypothesized errors, poor style, and incompleteness to be inversely related to the users' level of perceived quality of an online store. Further, this perceived quality of the online store's Web site would be directly related to users' trust in the store and, ultimately, to users' intentions to purchase from the store. An experimental study with 272 undergraduate and graduate student volunteers supported all the hypotheses. In addition, it was found that the relationship between the factors and perceived quality was mediated by the perception of the flaws. The perception of flaws rather than the actual flaws influenced users' perception of quality. Supplemental analysis also seemed to indicate a pattern of diminishing effects with each subsequent flaw.
Keywords: intention to purchase; trust in e-commerce; Web site credibility; Web site presentation flaws; Web site quality

Investigating Coherence and Multimedia Effects of a Technology-Mediated Collaborative Environment - Gemino, Andrew; Parker, Drew; Kutzschan, Adrienne Olnick (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This paper presents an experiment investigating the impact of context-relevant graphics on a knowledge sharing task in a technology-mediated collaborative (TMC) environment. The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) is introduced as the theoretical base for the hypotheses. The principles of multimedia and coherence from the CTML are used to hypothesize about the effectiveness of graphics embedded in TMC environments. Comprehension and transfer are used as dependent measures. Three TMC interface treatments were considered (no graphic, irrelevant graphic, relevant graphic). Hierarchical analysis of covariance (HANCOVA) comparing TMC treatments indicated no significant differences in comprehension; however, transfer scores for the TMC teams with context-relevant graphics were significantly higher than the other TMC teams. Although adding graphics to the collaborative interface improves the level of understanding developed within a group, the graphics need to be context relevant to be effective. These findings support the coherence and multimedia principles and provide guidance for designers of TMC environments.
Keywords: cognitive theory; collaborative learning; computer-mediated communication (CMC); human-computer interaction; knowledge sharing; technology-mediated collaborative environments

Moderating Effects of Task Type on Wireless Technology Acceptance - Xiaowen, Fang; Chan, Susy; Brzezinski, Jacek; Shuang, X U (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
The technology acceptance model (TAM) is one of the most widely used models of information technology (IT) adoption. According to TAM, IT adoption is influenced by two perceptions: usefulness and ease of use. In this study, we extend TAM to the mobile commerce context. We categorize the tasks performed on wireless handheld devices into three categories: (1) general tasks that do not involve transactions and gaming, (2) gaming tasks, and (3) transactional tasks. We propose a unified conceptual model for wireless technology adoption. In this model, task type moderates the effects of four possible determinants: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived playfulness, and perceived security. We postulate that, under the mobile context, user intention to perform general tasks that do not involve transactions and gaming is influenced by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, user intention to play games is affected by perceived playfulness, and user intention to transact is influenced by perceived usefulness and perceived security. A survey was conducted to collect data about user perception of 12 tasks that could be performed on wireless handheld devices and user intention to use wireless technology. Multiple regression analyses supported the proposed research model.
Keywords: mobile commerce; perceived ease of use; perceived playfulness; perceived security; perceived usefulness; technology acceptance model; task performance; task type; user intention; wireless handheld devices

The Role of Knowledge Repositories in Technical Support Environments: Speed Versus Learning in User Performance - Gray, Peter H; Durcikova, Alexandra (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Knowledge repositories are commonly used by technical support analysts in call center environments as a way of capturing and reusing solutions to common problems, and are generally expected to improve service quality, reduce costs, and enhance analyst learning. This study investigates why technical support analysts seek out and access knowledge from these repositories, as opposed to more traditional sources of such knowledge—colleagues and manuals. Focusing on the demand for—rather than supply of—knowledge in organizations, our research elaborates the role played by analysts' learning orientation, perceived work demands, and risk aversion in predicting their knowledge sourcing behavior. Our results include several counterintuitive findings that suggest there is not very much learning going on via technical support knowledge repositories. Analysts seem to be focused on finding recipes for solving customers' problems rather than building a better understanding of the products they support. Implications for research and practice highlight the need for more effective technologies to speed searches, the utility of a formal and visible mechanism for validating knowledge, and the inherent tension between efficiency and learning in these environments.
Keywords: knowledge management systems; knowledge repositories; knowledge sourcing; learning orientation; risk aversion; technical support help desks

An Empirical Examination of the Influence of Organizational Culture on Knowledge Management Practices - Alavi, Maryam; Kayworth, Timothy R; Leidner, Dorothy E (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Knowledge management to facilitate the creation, storage, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations has received wide attention in practice and research in the past several years. Often cited as a significant challenge in knowledge management practices is the issue of organizational culture. Although many studies raise the issue of organizational culture's influence on knowledge management success, few investigate the way in which this influence manifests itself. This paper aims to explore how organizational culture influences knowledge management practices. Using a case study method, we examine the cultural values and knowledge management approaches within a large global information services company and one of its knowledge communities. The findings highlight the influence of culture on the use of knowledge management technologies and the outcomes of such use.
Keywords: impact of culture on knowledge management; knowledge management; knowledge management tools; organizational culture; values in organizations

Dynamic Knowledge Patterns to Inform Design: A Field Study of Knowledge Stocks and Flows in an Extreme Organization - Nissen, Mark E (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Knowledge represents a critical resource in the modern enterprise. But it is dynamic and distributed unevenly. Capitalizing on this dynamic resource for enterprise performance depends upon its rapid and reliable flows across people, organizations, locations, and times of application. From a technological perspective, this points immediately to the design of information systems to enhance knowledge flows. The problem is, the design of information systems to enhance knowledge flows requires new understanding. The research described in this paper concentrates on understanding the dynamics of knowledge phenomenologically and on developing and applying techniques for modeling and visualizing dynamic knowledge flows and stocks. We draw key, theoretical concepts from multiple literatures, and we build upon integrative modeling work that composes a parsimonious, multidimensional, analytical framework for representing and visualizing dynamic knowledge. We then conduct field research to learn how this theoretical framework may be used to model knowledge flows in practice. By focusing this empirical work on an extreme organization and processes that involve and rely upon tacit knowledge, we illustrate how dynamic knowledge patterns can inform design in new ways. New chunks of kernel theory deriving from this fieldwork are articulated in terms of a propositional model, which provides a basis for the development of testable design theory hypotheses.
Keywords: case study; dynamics; information systems; knowledge design; knowledge flow; knowledge management; knowledge transfer; military; organizational learning

Coauthorship Dynamics and Knowledge Capital: The Patterns of Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Information Systems Research - Wonseok, O H; Jin Nam, Choi; Kimin, K I M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
From the social network perspective, this study explores the ontological structure of knowledge sharing activities engaged in by researchers in the field of information systems (IS) over the past three decades. We construct a knowledge network based on coauthorship patterns extracted from four major journals in the IS field in order to analyze the distinctive characteristics of each subfield and to assess the amount of internal and external knowledge exchange that has taken place among IS researchers. This study also tests the role of different types of social capital that influence the academic impact of researchers. Our results indicate that the proportion of coauthored IS articles in the four journals has doubled over the past 25 years, from merely 40 percent in 1978 to over 80 percent in 2002. However, a significant variation exists in terms of the shape, density, and centralization of knowledge exchange networks across the four subfields of IS—namely, behavioral science, organizational science, computer science, and economic science. For example, the behavioral science subgroup, in terms of internal cohesion among researchers, tends to develop the most dense collaborative relationships, whereas the computer science subgroup is the most fragmented. Moreover, external collaboration across these subfields appears to be limited and severely unbalanced. Across the four subfields, on average, less than 20 percent of the research collaboration ties involved researchers from different subdisciplines. Finally, the regression analysis reveals that knowledge capital derived from a network rich in structural holes has a positive influence on an individual researcher's academic performance.
Keywords: coauthorship patterns; knowledge capital; ontology of IS research; research impact; social networks; SSIC index; structural holes

An Assessment of Electronic Information Transfer in B2B Supply-Channel Relationships - Kyu Kim, K; Umanath, Narayan S; Bum Hun, K I M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
The basic premise of the extant literature related to electronic integration has been that the higher the integration, the higher will be the organizational performance. However, excessive electronic integration can be dysfunctional too. We make a conceptual argument that more is not always better and that the fit between contextual factors and electronic information sharing should be achieved to seek optimal channel performance. We empirically examine the fit between electronic information transfer (EIT) and contextual factors of a supply channel, our specific contribution being the assessment of fit in terms of multivariate congruence. The data required for this field study was collected from 124 managers/buyers responsible for supplier relationships in six multinational enterprises in two different industries (automobile and heavy shipbuilding) headquartered in Korea. The results ratify our hypothesis that multivariate congruence between EIT components and supply-channel contextual factors indeed exists. Follow-up drill-down analysis indicates that the monitoring component of EIT has a significant influence on demand uncertainty, and complexity-in-use is influenced by the coordination aspect of EIT. However, both the coordination and monitoring aspects of EIT are significantly relevant to interdependence of partners in a supply channel. A post hoc exploratory analysis suggests that the supply-channel performance is influenced by the fit between the contextual factors and the channel design factors. An inference of practical value that emerges from our findings is that more or less electronic integration is not the real issue. What is critical is the fit between supply-channel context and the level of electronic integration.
Keywords: B2B procurement; electronic information transfer; empirical research; organizational information processing theory; supply chain management (SCM); survey methods

Information Technology Investment Strategies Under Declining Technology Cost - Demirhan, Didem; Jacob, Varghese S; Raghunathan, Srinivasan (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
Investments in information technology (IT) have become crucial for firms to improve the quality of their products and services. Typically, IT cost for the same performance level declines over time. In a competitive market, a decline in IT cost over time provides a cost advantage to the later entrant, making the early entrant's investment decision problem challenging. In this paper, we study the problem of strategic IT investments in the declining cost scenario using a sequential duopoly model. Our results show that declining IT cost intensifies or relaxes competition between firms depending on whether they are serving quality- or price-sensitive markets. In both cases, the average price per unit quality decreases when the IT cost declines, which benefits consumers. We also show that if the first entrant is uncertain about the extent of its cost disadvantage, the first entrant overinvests (underinvests) in a price-sensitive (quality-sensitive) market as the degree of uncertainty increases.
Keywords: cost advantage; declining IT cost; economic analysis; game theory; IT investment; information technology strategy

Negotiation Support Systems in Budget Negotiations: An Experimental Analysis - Wolfe, Christopher J; Murthy, Uday S (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2005)
This paper reports the results of an experiment investigating the differences between budget negotiations conducted on an electronic negotiation support system (NSS) and those conducted face-to-face. The negotiation setting consisted of a supervisor and a subordinate negotiating a performance budget for the subordinate. Results revealed that when supervisor performance expectations were incongruent with subordinate capability, face-to-face negotiations hit impasse at a significantly higher rate than NSS negotiations. These results held regardless of the amount of concession needed to reach consensus, and they support the contention that single-issue distributive negotiations, such as budget negotiations, can benefit from the use of an NSS. In a secondary analysis of subordinate performance after the budget negotiation, we found that NSS subordinates perceived more task conflict, which positively influenced postnegotiation performance, whereas face-to-face subordinates perceived less relational conflict, which worked through satisfaction to positively influence postnegotiation performance. This result adds to the literature by clarifying the roles that communication mode plays in a negotiation and a negotiation's aftermath.
Keywords: budget negotiation; distributive negotiations; negotiation impasse; negotiation support systems

Turning a Community into a Market: A Practice Perspective on Information Technology Use in Boundary Spanning - Levina, Natalia; Vaast, Emmanuelle (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
This paper examines how information technology (IT) transforms relations across fields of practice within organizations. Drawing on Bourdieu's practice theory, we argue that the production of any practice involves varying degrees of embodiment (i.e., relying on personal relationships) and objectification (i.e., relying on the exchange of objects). We subsequently characterize boundary-spanning practices according to their relative degrees of embodiment and objectification. We distinguish between ‘market-like’ boundary-spanning practices, which rely primarily on an objectified mode of practice production, from ‘community-like’ practices, which involve mostly the embodied mode of practice production. IT is then conceptualized as a medium for sharing objects in the production of practices. As such, IT use allows for the sharing of objects without relying on embodied relationships. We use data from an in-depth ethnographic case study to investigate how IT was used to transform community-like boundary-spanning practices within an organization into market-like ones. Moreover, we demonstrate how, as IT was used to support the exchange and combination of depersonalized objects, other aspects of the practice (such as the roles of intermediaries and the nature of meetings) also changed. The related changes in these diverse aspects of a boundary-spanning practice supported the trend toward greater objectification. IT use also increased visibility of the terms associated with object exchange. This increased visibility exposed the inequity of the exchange and encouraged the disadvantaged party to renegotiate the relationship.
Keywords: boundary objects; boundary spanners; boundary spanning; communities of practice; coordination mechanisms; information technology use; practice theory; qualitative methods

Field Experiences with eXtreme Programming: Developing an Emergency Response System - Fruhling, Ann; De Vreede, Gert-Jan (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
eXtreme Programming (XP) is a well-known agile software development method. While a number of reports have been published on explaining the XP methodology and the perceived benefits when using XP for system development in recent years, less is known about the actual operationalization of the XP principles. This paper presents an action research study reporting on the experiences of implementing the XP methodology in a development project for a Web-based, distributed information system. The goal of this research was to increase the understanding of how to effectively operationalize XP techniques so that the system being developed catered to today's fast-paced technological environment by allowing the developers to respond quickly to innovative and changing requirements. Overall, the research indicates that most of the XP principles could be effectively implemented; however, three of the principles required modification (i.e., testing, pair programming, customer collocation). Several benefits resulted from the usage of XP. The rapid prototyping enabled information technology developers and users to clarify system requirements, communicate openly, quickly build rapport, and create an interface that was easy to use and learn. Further, the research found that where the technology was new or foreign to the development team and the user, the XP process was flexible enough to support several iterations of technology and produce prototypes in a timely manner. Pair programming appeared to work effectively and offer value; however, it is not always practically feasible.
Keywords: action research; agile methodologies; emergency response; eXtreme programming; pair programming; rapid prototyping; software testing

Evaluating the Adoption of Enterprise Application Integration in Health-Care Organizations - Khoumbati, Khalil; Themistocleous, Marinos; Irani, Zahir (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
The integration of heterogeneous information systems has always been problematic in health-care organizations, as it is associated with the delivery of key services and has high operational costs. Therefore, health-care organizations are looking for new means to increase their functional capabilities and reduce integration cost. In addressing this need, enterprise application integration (EAI) technology has emerged to facilitate systems integration, enhance the quality of services, and reduce integration costs. Despite the application of EAI in other sectors, its adoption in health care is slow. In seeking to build on the limited normative research surrounding EAI, the authors of this paper focus on the evaluation of factors that influence EAI adoption in the health-care sector. In doing so, using fuzzy cognitive mapping as a technique to identify causal interrelationships among the EAI adoption factors. This approach will enhance the quality of the evaluation process and emphasizes the importance of each factor and its interrelationship with other factors. The outcomes shown in this paper will support health-care organizations' decision makers in exploring the implications surrounding EAI adoption.
Keywords: enterprise application integration; health-care organization; information system adoption; information system evaluation

An Information Systems Security Risk Assessment Model Under the Dempster-Shafer Theory of Belief Functions - Lili, Sun; Srivastava, Rajendra P; Mock, Theodore J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
This study develops an alternative methodology for the risk analysis of information systems security (ISS), an evidential reasoning approach under the Dempster-Shafer theory of belief functions. The approach has the following important dimensions. First, the evidential reasoning approach provides a rigorous, structured manner to incorporate relevant ISS risk factors, related countermeasures, and their interrelationships when estimating ISS risk. Second, the methodology employs the belief function definition of risk—that is, ISS risk is the plausibility of ISS failures. The proposed approach has other appealing features, such as facilitating cost-benefit analyses to help promote efficient ISS risk management. The paper elaborates the theoretical concepts and provides operational guidance for implementing the method. The method is illustrated using a hypothetical example from the perspective of management and a real-world example from the perspective of external assurance providers. Sensitivity analyses are performed to evaluate the impact of important parameters on the model's results.
Keywords: belief function theory; cost-benefit analysis; evidential reasoning; information system security; risk analysis; sensitivity analysis

Collaborative Activities in Virtual Settings: A Knowledge Management Perspective of Telemedicine - Paul, David L (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Advances in information and communications technology have made possible collaborative activities in virtual settings. Virtual settings can significantly expand the knowledge resources available, yet they also create additional challenges to the already difficult activities of collaborating. The purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of how collaborative activities in virtual settings enable the different parties to achieve their desired objectives by examining them from a knowledge management perspective. Three aspects of knowledge management—knowledge transfer, knowledge discovery, and knowledge creation—are examined in the context of telemedicine projects. The findings indicate that an association exists between the types of collaborative activities engaged in virtual settings and the effects such projects are perceived as having. While this research focuses only on virtual collaborative activities in health care, it is likely that these findings are applicable to other industries engaged in such activities in virtual settings.
Keywords: collaboration; knowledge management; telemedicine; virtual teams

Digital Inclusiveness--Longitudinal Study of Internet Adoption by Older Adults - Lam, Jolie C Y; Lee, Matthew K O (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
In order to build a digital inclusive society, both government and nongovernment organizations in countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States have been offering training programs to the general public and establishing communitywide public access computer facilities in recent years. However, offering training programs and enabling access to facilities are not sufficient on their own if, due to other reasons, the socially disadvantaged groups do not choose to make use of the facilities. As an exploratory investigation, this study focuses on the voluntary adoption of these facilities (typified by the Internet) by one such disadvantaged group—older adults. In particular, this study investigates the role of Internet self-efficacy and outcome expectations in older adults' usage of the Internet through a three-part longitudinal study, involving almost 1,000 participants. A theoretical model based on social cognitive theory was developed and empirically tested through both surveys and lab experiments. Behavioral modeling training courses were offered to adults age 55 or older in the study over a one-year period. Questionnaire surveys and cognitive knowledge assessments were conducted. In general, the findings in the longitudinal study (including three repeated measures) validated the affects of Internet self-efficacy and outcome expectations on usage intention, and the important roles of support and encouragement in the formation of self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Limitations and implications are discussed.
Keywords: behavioral modeling; computer training; digital divide; digital inclusiveness; information system adoption; Internet self-efficacy; social cognitive theory

Interactions Between System Evaluation and Theory Testing: A Demonstration of the Power of a Multifaceted Approach to Information Systems Research - Jinwei, Cao; Crews, Janna M; Ming, Lin; Deokar, Amit; Burgoon, Judee K; Nunamaker Jr, Jay F (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Historically, information systems (IS) researchers have questioned which research paradigms, activities, and methods IS research should follow. In this paper, we argue that different research methods and activities may interact with each other, different research paradigms may complement each other due to such interactions, and therefore, a multimethodological, cross-paradigm research approach may result in better IS research than a singular approach. Three existing multimethodological IS research frameworks are reviewed and summarized into an integrated approach. Two types of interactions between different research methods across system evaluation and theory testing research activities are identified. A three-year research study about a computer-based training system for deception detection (Agent99 Trainer) provides a concrete example to demonstrate the existence and research benefits of these two types of interactions, as well as the benefits of a multimethodological, cross-paradigm IS research approach.
Keywords: IS research framework; research activity; research methods; research paradigm

Discovering Cues to Error Detection in Speech Recognition Output: A User-Centered Approach - Lina, Zhou; Yongmei, Shi; Dongsong, Zhang; Sears, Andrew (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
The great potential of speech recognition systems in freeing users' hands while interacting with computers has inspired a variety of promising applications. However, given the performance of the state-of-the-art speech recognition technology today, widespread acceptance of speech recognition technology would not be realistic without designing and developing new approaches to detecting and correcting recognition errors effectively. In seeking solutions to the above problem, identifying cues to error detection (CERD) is central. Our survey of the extant literature on the detection and correction of speech recognition errors reveals that the system-initiated, data-driven approach is dominant, but that heuristics from human users have been largely overlooked. This may have hindered the advance of speech technology. In this research, we propose a user-centered approach to discovering CERD. User studies are carried out to implement the approach. Content analysis of the collected verbal protocols lends itself to a taxonomy of CERD. The CERD discovered in this study can improve our knowledge on CERD by not only validating CERD from a user's perspective but also suggesting promising new CERD for detecting speech recognition errors. Moreover, the analysis of CERD in relation to error types and other CERD provides new insights into the context where specific CERD are effective. The findings of this study can be used to not only improve speech recognition output but also to provide context-aware support for error detection. This will help break the barrier for mainstream adoption of speech technology in a variety of information systems and applications.
Keywords: cues to error detection; speech recognition; taxonomy; verbal protocol analysis

The Market's Perception of the Transactional Risks of Information Technology Outsourcing Announcements - Wonseok, Oh; Gallivan, Michael J; Kim, Joung W (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Despite the fact that several event studies have investigated the market's reaction to information technology (IT) investment announcements, little is known about how specific transactional risks influence the market value of a firm. This study examines stock market data to assess investors' responses to various transactional risks associated with IT outsourcing. More specifically, we develop and test several hypotheses to understand how transactional risks that arise due to a range of factors (i.e., the size of outsourcing contracts, difficulties in performance monitoring, asset specificity of IT resources, vendor capability, and the lack of cultural similarity between client and vendor firms) influence investors' reactions to IT outsourcing announcements. Our results indicate that most of these factors indeed significantly influence investors' perceptions of the risks involved in IT outsourcing. We discuss these findings in a larger organizational context and offer implications for both research and practice. In particular, our study offers a theoretical rationale for why negative reactions to IT outsourcing announcements may occur, while providing practitioners with several means by which they can increase the informational value of outsourcing arrangements.
Keywords: agency theory; asset specificity; event study; industry similarity; information technology outsourcing; resource dependency; transaction cost economics; transactional risks; vendor capability

Exploring Attribute Correspondences Across Heterogeneous Databases by Mutual Information - Huimin, Zhao; Soofi, Ehsan S (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Identifying attribute correspondences across heterogeneous databases is a critical and time-consuming step in integrating the databases. Past research has applied correlation analysis techniques to explore correspondences between attributes. These techniques, however, are appropriate for numeric attributes that are linearly related. This paper proposes an information-theoretic approach to exploring correspondences between attributes in heterogeneous databases. The proposed approach is applicable to character attributes, as well as to numeric attributes, regardless whether or not they are linearly related. It overcomes some serious shortcomings of previous approaches based on correlation analysis and has much broader applicability. The proposed procedure samples both matching and nonmatching pairs of records from the databases under consideration, applies matching functions to compare pairs of attributes, and then uses the mutual information to measure the dependency between a matching function as applied to a pair of attributes and the class (i.e., matching or nonmatching) of a pair of records. A high mutual information index implies a potential attribute correspondence, which is presented to the analyst for further evaluation. The paper also presents some empirical results demonstrating the utility of the proposed approach.
Keywords: attribute correspondence; attribute matching; composite information systems; database interoperability; heterogeneous databases; information theory; interorganizational systems; mutual information

The Use of Cognitive Maps and Case-Based Reasoning for B2B Negotiation - Kun-Chang, Lee; Soon-Jae, Kwon (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Conventional approaches to business-to-business (B2B) negotiation use primary negotiation terms (PNTs) such as price or order quantity for modeling and analysis, but pay little attention to such secondary negotiation terms (SNTs) as resource availability and corporate culture. This paper argues that SNTs also contribute to good negotiation decisions because PNTs and SNTs are closely interlinked in the form of causal relationships. Moreover, B2B negotiation demands a practical and useful framework that can reuse past negotiation knowledge and perform ‘what-if’ analysis. This paper proposes a framework that consists of formalization, reuse, and problem-solving phases. The framework first formalizes TAKBN (tacit knowledge about B2B negotiation) with both PNTs and SNTs using a cognitive map and case-based reasoning, then stores them in case bases as cases that can be retrieved for later use and problem solving. This framework provides a platform with which decision makers can study past B2B negotiation cases, apply them to current B2B negotiation problems, and simulate different negotiation situations before making decisions. The framework has been tested using two practical scenarios. A structured, 13-item questionnaire was rigorously developed and applied to evaluate the validity of the proposed framework based on 16 B2B negotiation experts' judgments. Statistical tests proved that the proposed framework could improve decision performance significantly in B2B negotiations.
Keywords: B2B negotiation; case-based reasoning; causal relationship; cognitive map; primary negotiation terms; secondary negotiation terms; tacit knowledge

Relational Antecedents of Information Flow Integration for Supply Chain Coordination - Patnayakuni, Ravi; Rai, Arun; Seth, Nainika (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
A new model of competition, where competition is among supply chain networks rather than individual firms, is transforming traditional market-based buyer supplier relations to one of competition among cooperative sets. In order to integrate and realize performance gains from participating in cooperative supply networks, the importance of information sharing across the supply chain has been emphasized in different literature streams. In this study, we examine the relational antecedents of this critical aspect of supply chain integration--that is, information flow integration. Our objective is to investigate the relationship between relational orientation of the focal firm, as characterized by (1) long-term orientation of its supply chain relationships. (2) asset specificity, and (3) interaction routines and the information flow integration between a firm and its supply chain partners. A research model was developed and data were collected from 110 supply chain and logistics managers in manufacturing and retail organizations. Our results suggest that tangible and intangible resources invested in supply chain relationships enable the integration of information flows with supply chain partners. Specifically, formal and informal interaction routines that take time and effort to develop enable integration of informational flows across a firm's supply chain. Investments in relation specific assets and long-term orientation in relationships enable the development of these interaction routines.
Keywords: information flow integration; information sharing; relational orientation; supply chain management (SCM); supply chain relationships

Understanding Business Process Change Failure: An Actor-Network Perspective - Sarker, Suprateek; Sarker, Saonee; Sidorova, Anna (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
In this paper, we use concepts from actor-network theory (ANT) to interpret the sequence of events that led to business process change (BPC) failure at a telecommunications company in the United States. Through our intensive examination of the BPC initiative, we find that a number of issues suggested by ANT, such as errors in problematization, parallel translation, betrayal, and irreversible inscription of interests, contributed significantly to the failure. We provide nine abstraction statements capturing the essence of our findings in a concrete form. The larger implication of our study is that, for sociotechnical phenomena such as BPC with significant political components, an ANT-informed understanding can enable practitioners to better anticipate and cope with emergent complexities.
Keywords: actor-network theory; business process change; case study; information systems implementation; information systems politics; interpretive research; organizational change; power; reengineering; social construction of technology

Web Documents' Cultural Masculinity and Femininity - Zahedi, Fatemeh; Van Pelt, William V; Srite, Mark (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
As online information dissemination and e-commerce transactions become globally popular, understanding the cultural aspects of Web site documents will gain critical importance. Hidden cultural dimensions could facilitate or inhibit the usability and communication effectiveness of Web sites. However, few studies have investigated the existence of cultural dimensions in Web sites. This study identifies cultural signifiers of Web documents as they relate to the masculinity-femininity dimension. We adopt an interpretive approach for investigating, identifying, and categorizing masculinity-femininity signifiers. Comparing and contrasting Web sites aimed predominantly at either men or women, we use grounded theory for constant comparison and categorization of data. The interpretive analysis is carried out within a framework of hermeneutics. Drawing from the literature of signs (semiology), we identify the signifiers and myths for the masculinity and femininity of Web documents, and report on the possible presence of masculine and feminine androgyny. Following the dictum of grounded theory, we present support for our results from theories and findings in diverse fields of study. We then report on the contributions of our research in three ways. First, the knowledge of cultural signifiers raises managers' and researchers' awareness of cultural contents of Web documents, and may lead to improvement in the clarity and communication effectiveness of Web documents..Second, our work brings forth contrasts and contradictions inherent in masculine and feminine modes of Web document development, raising questions about cultural messages within Web documents that could distort communication and promote cultural values not shared by members of the targeted community. Third, we introduce the concept of androgyny as playing a possible role in reducing such distortions.
Keywords: activity theory; critical social theory; cultural dimensions; feminine lateral convergence; grounded theory; hermeneutics; knowledge interest; masculine upward divergence; myths; semiology

Consumer Search and Retailer Strategies in the Presence of Online Music Sharing - Bhattacharjee, Sudip; Gopal, Ram D; Lertwachara, Kaveepan; Marsden, James R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Advances in online technologies and bandwidth availability have opened new vistas for online distribution of digital goods, but potential benefits for consumers are juxtaposed against challenges for retailers. Here, we investigate one type of digital experience good--music--whose market environment includes the very real presence of online piracy. Although arguments abound for and against online distribution of such digital goods, little research exists in this area. We develop a model of consumer search for such an experience good, and study different emerging market environments for retailers, where consumers can pirate music online. Retailer cost to publishers is modeled using a variety of licensing schemas. Survey results, together with data from online sharing networks, are utilized to validate a key assumption. Finally, computational analysis is used to develop insights that cannot be obtained analytically. Our results indicate that decreasing piracy is not necessarily equivalent to increasing profit, and online selling strategies can provide additional profits for a traditional retailer even in the presence of piracy. We show that leading strategies for business in such goods should include pricing options, provision of efficient search tools, and new licensing structures.
Keywords: digital experience goods; license; music; online channels; piracy; sampling; search

Market Segmentation Within Consolidated E-Markets: A Generalized Combinatorial Auction Approach - Jones, Joni L; Easley, Robert F; Koehler, Gary J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
We analyze an e-market design that allows multiple market segments to be served simultaneously with a single generalized combinatorial auction. The mechanism uses rule-based bids designed to accommodate various kinds of bidders, such as those more sensitive to price or those more restricted in their requirements. We demonstrate experimentally--using agent-based simulation of the actual market for television advertising slots--that the rule-based approach effectively handles the wide range of market segments, while maintaining buyer and seller surplus and efficiently allocating goods.
Keywords: combinatorial auction; electronic markets; market segmentation

How Hypertext Links Influence Consumer Perceptions to Build and Degrade Trust Online - Stewart, Katherine J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
This paper suggests and empirically supports the propositions that a link between two organizations' Web sites will have simultaneous effects on trust in both the link sender and the link recipient, and that these effects result from interactions among the reputation of the link recipient, trust in the link sender, and the perceived relationship of the linked organizations. The study finds that the perceived relationship caused by a link leads to positive effects for the less reputable of the linked organizations, but negative effects for the more reputable organization. These effects are exaggerated or attenuated depending on the reputation of the organization that sends the link. The effect of presenting the link as an advertisement or a link to a partner was also examined, but no effect was uncovered, raising the question of how organizations may effectively differentiate links on their Web sites.
Keywords: entitativity; hypertext links; reputation; trust; trust transfer

Buyers' Choice of Online Search Strategy and Its Managerial Implications - Sen, Ravi; King, Ruth C; Shaw, Michael J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
The Internet offers several tools such as shopping bots and search engines that help potential buyers search for lower prices. This paper defines buyers' online search strategy as using one or more of these tools to search for lower prices, and empirically investigates the validity of economics of information search theory in explaining buyers' choice of a particular online search strategy. We find that buyers' attitudes toward the price offered by their preferred online seller, their perception of online price dispersion, and their awareness of shopping agents have a significant effect on their choice of online search strategy. An understanding of buyers' choice of online search strategies can help an online seller to estimate its expected probability of making an online sale, optimize its online pricing, and improve its online promotional and advertising activities.
Keywords: e-commerce; electronic markets; multinomial logit; online pricing; online search; online search tools; price search

On the Valuation of Multistage Information Technology Investments Embedding Nested Real Options - Benaroch, Michel; Shah, Sandeep; Jeffery, Mark (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
As real options analysis (ROA) is being applied to increasingly complex information technology (IT) investment problems, a concern arises over the use of heuristic ROA models that are simpler to apply but can produce overvaluations. A good example is the application of a heuristic nested variation of the Black-Scholes (BS) model to the evaluation of interrelated IT investments as nested options. This particular heuristic BS model could overvalue by more than 100 percent. Using a binomial model that is custom-tailored to a generic IT investment embedding nested options as the "baseline," we identify conditions under which the degree of overvaluation of this heuristic BS model is severe and unpredictable. Moreover, upon examining the structure of the custom-tailored binomial model, we identify the reason for overvaluation and derive a more accurate nested variation of the BS model. These findings should serve as a cautionary message about the use of untested heuristic ROA models.
Keywords: Black–Scholes model; interdependent investments; IT investment; nested real options; real options

ERP Misfit: Country of Origin and Organizational Factors - Wang, Eric T G; Klein, Gary; Jiang, James J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
There are many benefits of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, but their implementation is both complicated and difficult because the product spans functional silos and involves many internal and external entities. An ERP system is the outcome of social processes, and different ERP systems can embody distinct social arrangements when developed in different cultural contexts. Such social arrangements are difficult to change due the closure effect of technology stabilization. This leads to various misfit problems, both during and after ERP implementation, causing adverse effects on delivered ERP quality. With a survey of 85 ERP implementation cases in Taiwan, this study derives and empirically tests the main as well as the interaction effects of the country of origin of the ERP package, consultant quality, top management support, and user support of the ERP system quality as perceived by the client after implementation. The results demonstrate the important role of the country of origin of the ERP package and consultant quality in configuring a high-quality ERP system and alleviating the negative effect of misfit problems.
Keywords: consultant quality; country of origin; Enterprise Resource Planning; implementation; misfit; social shaping

Information Processing Design Choices, Strategy, and Risk Management Performance - Fairbank, James F; Labianca, Giuseppe; Steensma, H Kevin; Metters, Richard (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
We examined the relationship between information technology (IT) and organizational performance in the U.S. life/health insurance industry by applying and testing Galbraith's information processing theory and strategic contingency theory. Rather than focusing on resource allocations in IT, we instead examined the manner in which IT is deployed in organizations through information processing design choices. Our results suggest that while some information processing design choices are generally related to organizational performance, others should be matched to a specific strategic posture. For example, we found that all organizations benefit from using IT to increase cost-effectiveness. However, other uses of IT should be more closely aligned with an organization's strategy. In particular, domain offensive organizations should align their IT systems to focus on the front end of their operations and understanding customer needs, which will spur further innovation.
Keywords: information processing; information technology; risk management performance; strategic contingency

Information Technology, Production Process Outsourcing, and Manufacturing Plant Performance - Bardhan, Indranil; Whitaker, Jonathan; Mithas, Sunil (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
What is the role of information technology (IT) in enabling the outsourcing of manufacturing plant production processes? Do plant strategies influence production outsourcing? Does production process outsourcing influence plant performance? This research addresses these questions by investigating the role of IT and plant strategies as antecedents of production outsourcing, and evaluating the impact of production outsourcing and IT investments on plant cost and quality. We develop a theoretical framework for the antecedents and performance outcomes of production outsourcing at the plant level. We validate this theoretical framework using cross-sectional survey data from U.S. manufacturing plants. Our analysis suggests that plants with greater IT investments are more likely to outsource their production processes, and that IT investments and production outsourcing are associated with lower plant cost of goods sold and higher product quality improvement. Our research provides an integrated model for studying the effects of IT and production outsourcing on plant performance.
Keywords: IT investment; manufacturing performance; outsourcing; plant performance; plant strategy; production process outsourcing

A Virtual Integration Theory of Improved Supply-Chain Performance - Wang, Eric T G; Tai, Jeffrey C F; Wei, Hsaio-Lan (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Organizing and maintaining a competent and flexible supply chain is a major challenge to manufacturers in today's increasingly competitive and uncertain environments. Virtual integration represents the substitution of ownership with partnership by integrating a set of suppliers through information technology (IT) for tighter supply-chain collaboration. From the systems and control perspectives, this study develops a theory of virtual integration with an empirical model to examine the role that virtual integration plays in facilitating manufacturers to achieve greater manufacturing flexibility and comparative cost advantage. Based on a survey of Taiwanese manufacturing firms, our results show that environmental uncertainty tends to motivate manufacturers to increase their manufacturing flexibility, with both virtual integration and supplier responsiveness playing a vital enabling role. The results demonstrate the importance of supplier responsiveness for manufacturers to gain manufacturing flexibility and comparative cost advantage in supply-chain operations. Environmental uncertainty, thus, might first appear as a threat to a manufacturer, but with the help of IT and more responsive suppliers, such a threat could be transformed into a competitive edge, as reflected in the manufacturer's higher levels of manufacturing flexibility and comparative cost advantage.
Keywords: competitive advantage; environmental uncertainty; interorganizational information systems; structural equation modeling; supply chain management (SCM)

Systems Design, Process Performance, and Economic Outcomes in International Banking - Davamanirajan, Prabu; Kauffman, Robert J; Kriebel, Charles H; Mukhopadhyay, Tridas (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Information technology (IT) value remains a serious concern of management today, especially how it should be measured and how it is created. Although we have made significant progress at the firm and aggregate levels of analysis, process-level analysis is still in its infancy, and there is a need for a systematic basis for identifying IT effects. We provide such an approach by developing two models: a process performance model of how system characteristics enhance process output and quality and an economic performance model linking process performance to the economic performance of the firm. We apply these models to global trade services in international banking. We obtained estimates for key variables in both models and general support for the approach. We interpret our results and discuss the merits of the process-level approach for the assessment of IT-reliant work systems.
Keywords: business process; business value; economic performance; financial services; international banking; IT value; process performance; technology management; trade services

Network Effects and Technology Licensing with Fixed Fee, Royalty, and Hybrid Contracts - Lin, Lihui; Kulatilaka, Nalin (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Technology innovators are faced with the question of whether to license an innovation to other firms, and if so, what type of license it should use. This question takes on paramount importance with information technology innovations that lead to new products and services that exhibit network effects. This paper explores the impact of network effects on the licensing choice. The literature suggests that without network effects, a royalty license is preferred by producer-innovators. We find that a fixed-fee license is optimal with strong network effects. For less intense network effects, the optimal license uses a royalty rate, either alone or in combination with a fee. We further derive the terms of the optimal license and discuss the impact of the investment needed to replicate the innovation and the size of the potential market. Our results provide insights for licensing decisions in industries that exhibit network effects.
Keywords: economic analysis; fixed fees; hybrid charging schemes; IT value; licensing policy; licensing royalty; network effect; technological innovation

Analyzing Complementarities Using Software Stacks for Software Industry Acquisitions - Gao, Lucia Silva; Iyer, Bala (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
The existence of product complementarities is especially relevant in network-type industries, such as information technology and communications, where systems of complementary components made by different manufacturers have to be assembled. Relying on the characteristics of software markets and drawing on the economic theory of complementarities, this paper investigates how complementarities create value in mergers and acquisitions between software companies. We introduce and empirically validate the software stack as a structure to measure complementarities. In a sample of mergers and acquisitions, in which either the acquirer or the target is a software firm, we find values of abnormal returns consistent with previous results. However, when we use the concept of stack, we find an inverse curvilinear relationship between abnormal returns and the distance between acquirers and targets in various layers of the stack.
Keywords: complementarities; empirical methods; event study; mergers and acquisitions; product complementarities; software stack; technology firms; theory development; value creation

When Online Reviews Meet Hyperdifferentiation: A Study of the Craft Beer Industry - Clemons, Eric K; Gao, Guodong Gordon; Hitt, Lorin M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
We analyze how online reviews are used to evaluate the effectiveness of product differentiation strategies based on the theories of hyperdifferentiation and resonance marketing. Hyperdifferentiation says that firms can now produce almost anything that appeals to consumers and they can manage the complexity of the increasingly diverse product portfolios that result. Resonance marketing says that informed consumers will purchase products that they actually truly want. When consumers become more informed, firms that provide highly differentiated products should experience higher growth rates than firms with less differentiated offerings. We construct measures of product positioning based on online ratings and find supportive evidence using sales data from the craft beer industry. In particular, we find that the variance of ratings and the strength of the most positive quartile of reviews play a significant role in determining which new products grow fastest in the marketplace. This supports our expectations for resonance marketing.
Keywords: differentiation; online reviews; product positioning; product variety; resonance marketing; word of mouth

Accommodating Individual Preferences in the Categorization of Documents: A Personalized Clustering Approach - Wei, Chih-Ping; Chiang, Roger H L; Wu, Chia-Chen (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
As electronic commerce and knowledge economy environments proliferate, both individuals and organizations increasingly generate and consume large amounts of online information, typically available as textual documents. To manage this ever-increasing volume of documents, individuals and organizations frequently organize their documents into categories that facilitate document management and subsequent access and browsing. Document clustering is an intentional act that should reflect individual preferences with regard to the semantic coherency and relevant categorization of documents. Hence, effective document clustering must consider individual preferences and needs to support personalization in document categorization. In this paper, we present an automatic document-clustering approach that incorporates an individual's partial clustering as preferential information. Combining two document representation methods, feature refinement and feature weighting, with two clustering methods, precluster-based hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC) and atomic-based HAC, we establish four personalized document-clustering techniques. Using a traditional content-based document-clustering technique as a performance benchmark, we find that the proposed personalized document-clustering techniques improve clustering effectiveness, as measured by cluster precision and cluster recall.
Keywords: cognitive overload; document clustering; hierarchical agglomerative clustering; personalization; personalized document clustering; supervised document clustering; text mining

Consumer Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Intrinsically Motivated Online Content - Lopes, Alexandre B; Galletta, Dennis F (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Providing profitable online content has been an elusive goal, challenging many companies such as the New York Times, Disney/ABC/ESPN, and Microsoft/Slate. Charging for content has been hit-or-miss, attributable to a lack of generally applicable models of information value. Previous studies in the management information systems literature emphasized extrinsically motivated content (addressing tangible gains), while many sites target intrinsic goals such as entertainment or education. This study examines potential factors influencing willingness to pay for intrinsically motivated online content. Data from 392 college students indicate that even when analyzing content whose potential rewards are intangible and nonquantifiable, potential consumers focus on "expected benefits" as the main antecedent for willingness to pay. Other antecedents, such as perceived quality and provider reputation, only affected willingness to pay indirectly through expected benefits. Researchers are offered a baseline model for future study, and practitioners are advised to provide initial visitors a clear message about benefits of use to entice them to pay for content.
Keywords: consumer assessment; electronic commerce; information value; online content; service quality; service value

Do I Trust You Online, and If So, Will I Buy?: An Empirical Study of Two Trust-Building Strategies - Lim, Kai H; Sia, Choon-Ling; Lee, Matthew K O; Benbasat, Izak (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
This research investigates the effectiveness of various trust-building strategies to influence actual buying behavior in online shopping environments, particularly for first-time visitors to an Internet store that does not have an established reputation. Drawing from the literature on trust, we developed a model of how trustbuilding strategies could affect trust and the consequences of trust. We investigated two trust-building strategies: portal association (based on reputation categorization and trust transference) and satisfied customer endorsements (based on unit grouping, reputation categorization, and trust transference).A series of two studies was conducted at a large public university in Hong Kong. The first study employed a laboratory experiment to test the model in an online bookstore environment, using a real task that involves actual book purchases. Of the two strategies investigated, satisfied customer endorsement by similar peers, but not portal association, was found to increase consumers' trusting beliefs about the store. This, in turn, positively influenced consumers' attitudes toward the store and their willingness to buy from the store, which ultimately led to actual buying behaviors. To gather further insights on the two Web strategies investigated, a second study was conducted using a questionnaire survey approach. Overall, the findings corroborated those in the first study. Specifically, it shows that endorsements by similar (local, nonforeign) peers, but not by dissimilar (foreign) peers, were effective means of developing trust among first-time visitors to online stores.
Keywords: electronic commerce; online shopping; theory of planned behavior; trust; Web site design

Information Systems Success in the Context of Different Corporate Cultural Types: An Empirical Investigation - Bradley, Randy V; Pridmore, Jeannie L; Byrd, Terry Anthony (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Previous studies surrounding the DeLone and McLean model of information systems (IS) success have called for future research and further examination of its measure in different contexts. We draw from the literature on strategic IS planning and organizational culture to contextualize the DeLone and McLean model. There is some evidence that a high-quality information technology (IT) plan leads to system success; therefore, we empirically examine the inclusion of the IT plan quality construct as an antecedent to IS success. We also empirically examine the relationships among constructs in the model of IS success in the context of different corporate cultural types' entrepreneurial and formal. The results provide strong support for the research model and suggest that variations in IS success are explained by the quality of the IT plan and the corporate culture exhibited by a firm. We discuss implications related to our finding that IT plan quality has a greater impact on IS success in organizations that exhibit an entrepreneurial corporate culture than in those that exhibit a formal corporate culture. Furthermore, we discuss how the relationships in the DeLone and McLean model of IS success differ in diverse corporate cultural types and the meaning of these differences.
Keywords: corporate culture; impact of information systems use; information systems success; information technology plan quality

Enabling Customer-Centricity Using Wikis and the Wiki Way - Wagner, Christian; Majchrzak, Ann (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Customer-centric business makes the needs and resources of individual customers the starting point for planning new products and services or improving existing ones. While customer-centricity has received recent attention in the marketing literature, technologies to enable customer-centricity have been largely ignored in research and theory development. In this paper, we describe one enabling technology--wikis. Wiki is a Web-based collaboration technology designed to allow anyone to update any information posted to a wiki-based Web site. As such, wikis can be used to enable customers to not only access but also change the organization's Web presence, creating previously unheard of opportunities for joint content development and "peer production" of Web content. At the same time, such openness may make the organization vulnerable to Web site defacing, destruction of intellectual property, and general chaos. In this zone of tension--between opportunity and possible failure--an increasing number of organizations are experimenting with the use of wikis and the wiki way to engage customers. Three cases of organizations using wikis to foster customer-centricity are described, with each case representing an ever-increasing level of customer engagement. An examination of the three cases reveals six characteristics that affect customer engagement--community custodianship, goal alignment among contributors, value-adding processes, emerging layers of participation, critical mass of management and monitoring activity, and technologies in which features are matched to assumptions about how the community collaborates. Parallels between our findings and those evolving in studies of the open source software movement are drawn.
Keywords: customer-centricity; knowledge creation; knowledge management; open source; wiki

Personalized Content Recommendation and User Satisfaction: Theoretical Synthesis and Empirical Findings - Ting-Peng, Liang; Hung-Jen, L A I; Yi-Cheng, K U (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Personalized services are increasingly popular in the Internet world. This study identifies theories related to the use of personalized content services and their effect on user satisfaction. Three major theories have been identified--information overload, uses and gratifications, and user involvement. The information overload theory implies that user satisfaction increases when the recommended content fits user interests (i.e., the recommendation accuracy increases). The uses and gratifications theory indicates that motivations for information access affect user satisfaction. The user involvement theory implies that users prefer content recommended by a process in which they have explicit involvement. In this research, a research model was proposed to integrate these theories and two experiments were conducted to examine the theoretical relationships. Our findings indicate that information overload and uses and gratifications are two major theories for explaining user satisfaction with personalized services. Personalized services can reduce information overload and, hence, increase user satisfaction, but their effects may be moderated by the motivation for information access. The effect is stronger for users whose motivation is in searching for a specific target. This implies that content recommendation would be more useful for knowledge management systems, where users are often looking for specific knowledge, rather than for general purpose Web sites, whose customers often come for scanning. Explicit user involvement in the personalization process may affect a user's perception of customization, but has no significant effect on overall satisfaction.
Keywords: content recommendation; personalization; recommendation systems; user satisfaction

Online Consumer Search Depth: Theories and New Findings - Jie, Zhang; Xiao, Fang; Liu Sheng, Olivia R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
The continuous growth of e-commerce makes it critical for firms to understand consumers' search behavior so that e-commerce Web sites and the underlying information systems can be designed to better cater to consumers' needs. This paper extends the classic search model to analyze online consumer search behavior. The analytical results suggest how consumers' search depth is influenced by a variety of factors such as search cost, individual consumer difference, and product characteristics. Evidence is provided using clickstream data of online searches and purchases of music CDs, computer hardware, and airline tickets during the period from July 2002 to December 2002 collected by an Internet marketing company, ComScore Inc. Compared with the search depth reported in previous works, this study finds that consumers are searching more intensely before purchasing online. This reflects the evolution of Internet users and the growth of online retail business.
Keywords: clickstream data; consumer search behavior; online search behavior; search depth; search model

Designing Web Sites for Customer Loyalty Across Business Domains: A Multilevel Analysis - Mithas, Sunil; Ramasubbu, Narayan; Krishnan, M S; Fornell, Claes (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Web sites are important components of Internet strategy for organizations. This paper develops a theoretical model for understanding the effect of Web site design elements on customer loyalty to a Web site. We show the relevance of the business domain of a Web site to gain a contextual understanding of relative importance of Web site design elements. We use a hierarchical linear modeling approach to model multilevel and cross-level interactions that have not been explicitly considered in previous research. By analyzing data on more than 12,000 online customer surveys for 43 Web sites in several business domains, we find that the relative importance of different Web site features (e.g., content, functionality) in affecting customer loyalty to a Web site varies depending on the Web site's domain. For example, we find that the relationship between Web site content and customer loyalty is stronger for information-oriented Web sites than for transaction-oriented Web sites. However, the relationship between functionality and customer loyalty is stronger for transaction-oriented Web sites than for information-oriented Web sites. We also find that government Web sites enjoy greater word-of-mouth effect than commercial Web sites. Finally, transaction-oriented Web sites tend to score higher on mean customer loyalty than do information-oriented Web sites.
Keywords: business value of information technology; customer loyalty; customer relationships; customer satisfaction; e-commerce; hierarchical linear modeling; Web site content; word of mouth

Strategic Alignment Between Business and Information Technology: A Knowledge-Based View of Behaviors, Outcome, and Consequences - Kearns, Grover S; Sabherwal, Rajiv (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Senior executives continue to be concerned about factors influencing the business effect of information technology (IT). Prior research has argued that business--IT strategic alignment facilitates business effect of IT and that contextual factors affect business--IT alignment. However, the role of knowledge considerations in the relationship between contextual factors and alignment, and the role of IT projects in the relationship between alignment and business effects of IT, have not been explicitly examined. Therefore, this paper pursues the following two research questions: (1) Based on knowledge considerations, how do planning behaviors (specifically, IT managers' participation in business planning and business managers' participation in IT planning) and top management knowledge of IT mediate the effects of two contextual factors--organizational emphasis on knowledge management and centralization of IT decisions--on business--IT strategic alignment? (2) How do aspects of IT projects (specifically, quality of IT project planning and implementation problems in IT projects) mediate the relationship between business--IT strategic alignment and business effects of IT? Results from a survey of 274 senior information officers indicate that organizational emphasis on knowledge management and centralization of IT decisions affect top managers' knowledge of IT, which facilitates business managers' participation in strategic IT planning and IT managers' participation in business planning, and both of these planning behaviors affect business--IT strategic alignment. Moreover, the results indicate that quality of IT project planning and implementation problems in IT projects mediate the relationship between business--IT strategic alignment and business effect of IT. These findings highlight the importance of considering the planning and implementation of IT projects when examining the effects of business--IT strategic alignment, and highlight the importance of considering...
Keywords: business effect of information technology; business-IT strategic alignment; information technology planning; IT project planning; knowledge management

Using Enterprise Architecture Standards in Managing Information Technology - Wai Fong, Boh; Yellin, Daniel (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Organizations increasingly need to build an enterprise-wide capability to leverage technology that is distributed in different business units. Some organizations establish enterprise architecture (EA) standards to enable greater compatibility of information technology (IT) components and integration of applications and data across the enterprise. Through a firm-level survey, we sought to answer two key questions about the use of EA standards: (1) How do different governance mechanisms affect the use of EA standards? and (2) To what extent does the use of EA standards help organizations to improve the sharing and integration of IT resources across the enterprise? We identified four key governance mechanisms for EA standards management and examined how each mechanism affected the use of EA standards. We also examined how the use of EA standards affects the management of IT infrastructure, applications, and data resources across business units. Our empirical results showed that the use of EA standards is effective in helping organizations to better manage their IT resources. Our study also provides detailed insights into how organizations can set up governance mechanisms to facilitate the use of EA standards in achieving enterprise-wide goals.
Keywords: enterprise architecture; information systems governance; information technology architecture; organizational standards

Efficacy in Technology-Mediated Distributed Teams - Fuller, Mark A; Hardin, Andrew M; Davison, Robert M (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
The concept of collective efficacy within virtual teams has yet to be studied. This study developed and rigorously validated a domain-specific measure of collective efficacy, entitled virtual team efficacy, within a comprehensive research framework. Over a two-year period we collected field study data from multiple samples of information systems project teams--in all, 52 virtual teams comprising 318 students from the United States, Great Britain, and Hong Kong. As we hypothesized, group potency and computer collective efficacy act as antecedents to virtual team efficacy, and virtual team efficacy is in turn predictive of perceptual and objective measures of performance. Further, consistent with efficacy theory, we also find that virtual team efficacy acts on performance outcomes through specific mediating processes. This paper contributes to the academic and practitioner communities by providing a comprehensive model of virtual team efficacy and performance and by providing validated instrumentation that can be immediately applied during further research in this area.
Keywords: collective efficacy; global virtual teams; virtual team efficacy; virtual teams

Conflict and Performance in Global Virtual Teams - Kankanhalli, Atreyi; Tan, Bernard C Y; Kwok-Kee, Wei (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Increasing globalization and advances in communication technology have fuelled the emergence of global virtual teams (GVTs). There is much potential for conflict in GVTs as members work across cultural, geographical, and time boundaries. This study examines the antecedents of GVT conflict and the circumstances under which conflict affects team performance. An in-depth study of GVT conflict episodes was carried out using interviews, observations, communication logs, and documents. Based on findings from the teams under study interpreted in the light of prior literature, propositions are developed about the antecedents and effects of GVT conflict as stated. Within GVTs, cultural diversity is likely to contribute to both task and relationship conflict while functional diversity may result in task conflict. Large volumes of electronic communication and lack of immediacy of feedback in asynchronous media can contribute to task conflict. Moreover, the relationship between task conflict and team performance is likely to be contingent upon task complexity and conflict resolution approach. The influence of relationship conflict on performance may depend on task interdependence and conflict resolution approach. The conflict resolution approach may in turn be determined by the nature of conflict attribution. These propositions have been synthesized into a model to guide future empirical research and GVT practice.
Keywords: communication technologies; conflict resolution; conflict types; diversity; global virtual teams; task characteristics; team conflict; team performance

Optimal Strategies for a Monopoly Intermediary in the Supply Chain of Complementary Web Services - Qian, Tang; Hsing, Cheng (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
Web services are interoperable and reusable software components that can be dynamically discovered and integrated over the Internet. Developed on open standards, Web services have become a promising solution to inter- and intra-organization application integration. The supply chain of Web services exhibits two distinct features that are not considered in previous literature on information and physical-good supply chain: the integration of multiple Web services and the cross-network externality effect between Web service vendors and users. In a quest to fill in the research gap, this paper studies the optimal pricing strategies of a monopolistic intermediary in the supply chain of complementary Web services. The Web service intermediary (WSI) provides both technical and aggregation services, and seeks to charge optimal subscription and listing fees. Analytical results show that in a supply chain of complementary Web services exhibiting cross-network effects, the optimal strategy for the WSI is to set the listing fee such that all service providers list on it. On the other hand, the optimal subscription fee depends on the intensity of the cross-network effect, consumers' valuation of value-added services, and the characteristics of the Web services under consideration.
Keywords: business intermediary; complementarities; network externalities; supply chains; Web services

A Knowledge Management Success Model: Theoretical Development and Empirical Validation - Kulkarni, Uday R; Ravindran, Sury; Freeze, Ronald (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2006)
We examine a knowledge management (KM) success model that incorporates the quality of available knowledge and KM systems built to share and reuse knowledge such as determinants of users' perception of usefulness and user satisfaction with an organization's KM practices. Perceived usefulness and user satisfaction, in turn, affect knowledge use, which in our model is a measure of how well knowledge sharing and reuse activities are internalized by an organization. Our model includes organizational support structure as a contributing factor to the success of KM system implementation. Data collected from 150 knowledge workers from a variety of organizations confirmed 10 of 13 hypothesized relationships. Notably, the organizational support factors of leadership commitment, supervisor and coworker support, as well as incentives, directly or indirectly supported shared knowledge quality and knowledge use. In line with the proposed model, the study lends support to the argument that, in addition to KM systems quality, firms must pay careful attention to championing and goal setting as well as designing adequate reward systems for the ultimate success of these efforts. This is one of the first studies that encompasses both the supply (knowledge contribution) and demand (knowledge reuse) sides of KM in the same model. It provides more than anecdotal evidence of factors that determine successful KM system implementations. Unlike earlier studies that only deal with knowledge-sharing incentives or quality of shared knowledge, we present and empirically validate an integrated model that includes knowledge sharing and knowledge quality and their links to the desired outcome--namely, knowledge reuse.
Keywords: information systems success; knowledge management; knowledge management success; knowledge management systems; knowledge quality; knowledge reuse; knowledge sharing; system quality; user satisfaction

Host Country Resource Availability and Information System Control Mechanisms in Multinational Corporations: An Empirical Test of Resource Dependence Theory - Rao, Madhu T; Brown, Carol V; Perkins, William C (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
The management of the information systems (IS) function is a complex task, particularly in the case of multinational corporations (MNCs), where installations dispersed across distance, time, and cultures can lead to diverse and incompatible systems spreading among foreign subsidiaries. The need to globally control and coordinate the IS management function is often met with resistance from local IS managers, who may perceive corporate standards as intrusive. Resource dependence theory (RDT) argues that control is made easier when a subsidiary unit is dependent on corporate headquarters for critical resources. This study examined the IS management relationship and the use of various mechanisms of control (formal and informal) between 54 headquarters--subsidiary pairs spread across 19 countries of varying resource-richness. While RDT appears to be valid when subsidiaries are dependent on MNC headquarters for resources, the expected relationship between the mechanisms and host country IS resource availability was not observed. Although there was a significant relationship with the use of informal mechanisms and IS resources, it was in the opposite direction to what would be expected by RDT.
Keywords: canonical correlation; control mechanisms; multinational; resource dependency

Interoperability of E-Government Information Systems: Issues of Identification and Data Sharing - Otjacques, Benoît; Hitzelberger, Patrik; Feltz, Fernand (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
In business and government organizations, information systems often handle sensitive data about individuals and other organizations, using various kinds of identifiers. The growing cooperation of organizations results in the need to share and exchange such data. This collection and sharing, however, is affected by privacy concerns, and organizational and technical issues have to be solved and taken into account. This paper describes the results of an exploratory study in the government sector, focusing on the way public organizations manage identity-related data and the sharing of such data, either with other public agencies or with private organizations. Despite significant progress in harmonizing the legal and administrative provisions and technical standards in the European Union, there are still considerable cross-country differences regarding this subject. These differences--together with the growing mobility of goods, persons, and related data within the European Union--cause particular challenges for information systems in digital government in this region. After discussing and defining the key notions and methodology of the study, we present the status quo in 18 out of 25 EU member states and compare it to the results of a prior study by the same network done in 2001. Finally, we draw conclusions about identity management in cross-border contexts.
Keywords: data sharing; e-government; identifier; identity management; information sharing; interoperability; interorganizational information systems; privacy

The Impact of Individualism--Collectivism, Social Presence, and Group Diversity on Group Decision Making Under Majority Influence - Dongsong, Zhang; Lowry, Paul Benjamin; Lina, Zhou; Xiaolan, F U (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Majority influence is the attempt by a majority of group members to impose their common position on group dissenters during group decision making. Because of globalization, the use of cross-cultural teams in group tasks is becoming increasingly common. The objective of this study was to investigate how national culture, social presence, and group diversity may affect majority influence in a group decision-making context. A total of 183 groups participated in a large-scale empirical experiment at multiple sites. The results show that the national culture of group minorities has a significant impact on majority influence and that the use of computer-mediated communication can reduce majority influence. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications for improving the outcome and the effectiveness of group decision making in cross-cultural environments.
Keywords: CMC; computer-mediated communication (CMC); culture; group decision making; group decision systems; group diversity; majority influence; social presence; virtual teams

Genre Combinations: A Window into Dynamic Communication Practices - Østerlund, Carsten (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
The notion of a genre system typically connotes sequences of interrelated communicative genres. This paper suggests that we can find other types of relationships among genres. Data from a field study in a large emergency room illustrate how doctors, nurses, and clerical staff routinely combine document genres not only in sequences but also in various accumulations achieved through proximity and movement. The combinations of genres add flexibility to the emergency room staff's genre use and allow them to employ individual genres for several purposes. The data allow us to explore how organizational members manage the tension between a need for continuity in communicative practices and a need for flexibility in managing a jumble of paper-based and digital information systems. In addition, it demonstrates how end users often tinker with genres' media and form in the process of altering combinations among specific genres.
Keywords: boundary objects; communication genres; documenting work; genre combinations; medical informatics; practice theory; qualitative methods

The Impact of Capabilities and Prior Investments on Online Channel Commitment and Performance - Hulland, John; Wade, Michael R; Antia, Kersi D (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Attracted by the promise of greater market exposure and increased revenues, firms across a wide variety of industries have undertaken significant investments in online channels. However, while some firms' entire business models revolve around this initiative, others have made only limited commitments to online channel ventures. What accounts for these marked differences in commitment to online initiatives, and do firms reap the performance benefits of increased levels of commitment? Furthermore, how do firms' internal and external capabilities affect their propensity to establish and succeed with online channel ventures? Drawing on marketing, innovation, and information systems perspectives, along with insights from the resource-based view of the firm, we propose an integrative conceptual framework that helps answer these questions. We ground our hypotheses in the context of retailers' online channel development efforts, and test our conceptual framework with data collected via a Web-based survey of 550 retailers. We find evidence of significant positive returns to investments in online channels. Furthermore, we observe the divergent effects of different sets of capabilities on commitment and performance. Importantly, although we find that the direct effect of firms' information systems capabilities on online performance appears to be negative, the indirect effect (mediated by commitment) is positive. Our study also examines the impact of firms' established distribution channels on levels of commitment to, and performance of, the online channel. We find that firms' established distribution channels act as double-edged swords, with divergent effects on commitment and performance. We also find evidence of diminishing returns to commitment as a function of established distribution presence, thereby suggesting that the rewards of commitment do not accrue equally to all firms.
Keywords: B2C e-commerce; commitment; distribution channels; e-tailing; IT capabilities; online firm performance; resource-based view of the firm; retailing

On the Measurement of Ideation Quality - Reinig, Bruce A; Briggs, Robert O; Nunamaker Jr, Jay F (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Ideation is a key step in organizational problem solving, so researchers have developed a variety of technological interventions for improving ideation quality, which we define as the degree to which an ideation activity produces ideas that are helpful in attaining a goal. In this paper, we examine the four measures typically used to evaluate ideation quality, including idea-count, sum-of-quality, average-quality, and good-idea-count, and discuss their validity and potential biases. An experimental study comparing three levels of social comparison was used to illustrate the differences in the ideation quality measures and revealed that research conclusions were dependent on the measure used. Based on our analysis of the measures and experimental results, we recommend that only good-idea-count be used as a measure to evaluate ideation treatments and call into question research that has based its findings on the other measures. Finally, we discuss implications for research and other potential approaches to evaluating ideation quality.
Keywords: construct validity; electronic brainstorming; group support systems; idea quality; idea quantity; ideation

Attention Issues in Spatial Information Systems: Directing Mobile Users' Visual Attention Using Augmented Reality - Biocca, Frank; Owen, Charles; Tang, Arthur; Bohil, Corey (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Knowledge of objects, situations, or locations in the environment can be productive, useful, or even life-critical for mobile augmented reality (AR) users. Users may need assistance with (1) dangers, obstacles, or situations requiring attention; (2) visual search; (3) task sequencing; and (4) spatial navigation. The omnidirectional attention funnel is a general purpose AR interface technique that rapidly guides attention to any tracked object, person, or place in the space. The attention funnel dynamically directs user attention with strong bottom-up spatial attention cues. In a study comparing the attention funnel to other attentional techniques such as highlighting and audio cueing, search speed increased by over 50 percent, and perceived cognitive load decreased by 18 percent. The technique is a general three-dimensional cursor in a wide array of applications requiring visual search, emergency warning, and alerts to specific objects or obstacles, or for three-dimensional navigation to objects in space.
Keywords: augmented reality; geospatial information system; location-based services; mobile computing; spatial information systems; visual attention

The Impact of Product, Market, and Relationship Characteristics on Interorganizational System Integration in Manufacturer--Supplier Dyads - Grover, Varun; Saeed, Khawaja A (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Firms are increasingly using collaborative systems to enhance supply-chain visibility. A key emphasis of these interorganizational systems (IOS) is to improve the coordination between buyers and suppliers through electronic integration. While such IOS integration is purportedly good, because it tightens linkages in the supply chain, it is not clear whether it is the best configuration under all conditions. A review of literature on adoption and use of electronic data interchange (EDI) systems (a type of IOS) shows that this issue has been examined from multiple theoretic perspectives. Researchers have examined how contingencies related to technology, organization, and environment shape EDI use. Limited attention has been directed toward understanding how conditions under which transactions are conducted impact the use of IOS. We argue that transactional characteristics are important antecedents to IOS integration and propose that demand uncertainty, complexity, market fragmentation, and market volatility capture key characteristics. These factors coupled with an open information-sharing environment are hypothesized to influence IOS integration. Data collected from the electronics industry is used to examine the research model. Results show that firms tend to deploy integrated IOS when complexity of the component is high, market fragmentation is low, and an open information-sharing environment exists. Thus, from a managerial perspective, IOS integration is the appropriate configuration under conditions of high product complexity and open information-sharing environment, but it precludes the firm from participating in the open market and gaining brokerage benefits.
Keywords: collaborative systems; electronic integration; interorganizational systems; supply chains; survey research

Recommendation Agents for Electronic Commerce: Effects of Explanation Facilities on Trusting Beliefs - Weiquan, Wang; Benbasat, Izak (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
We empirically test the effects of explanation facilities on consumers' initial trusting beliefs concerning online recommendation agents (RAs). RAs provide online shopping advice based on user-specified needs and preferences. The characteristics of RAs that may hamper consumers' trust building in the RAs are identified, and the provision of explanation facilities is proposed as a knowledge-based approach to enhance consumers' trusting beliefs by dealing with these obstacles. This study examines the effects of three types of explanations about an RA and its use--how, why, and trade-off explanations--on consumers' trusting beliefs in an RA's competence, benevolence, and integrity. An RA was built as the experimental platform and a laboratory experiment was conducted. The results confirm the important role of explanation facilities in enhancing consumers' initial trusting beliefs and indicate that consumers' use of different types of explanations enhances different trusting beliefs: the use of how explanations increases their competence and benevolence beliefs, the use of why explanations increases their benevolence beliefs, and the use of trade-off explanations increases their integrity beliefs.
Keywords: decision support; decisional guidance; electronic commerce; explanations; recommendation agents; trust

An Integrated Model of Consortium-Based E-Business Standardization: Collaborative Development and Adoption with Network Externalities - Zhao, Kexin; Mu, X I A; Shaw, Michael J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
E-business standards are critical for electronic interorganizational transactions. In many industries, firms develop e-business standards collaboratively in a standard consortium. They can choose to become a leading developer, a passive adopter, or a nonadopter. To capture firms' strategic choices at the development stage and the adoption stage, which are related due to the double-sided interactions between the two stages, we propose an integrated model of consortium-based e-business standardization. We find that firms' payoffs from standard adoption increase with the intrinsic value of the standard, but developers' benefits increase faster than passive adopters' benefits. The model examines the value of passive adopters to the standard development via network externalities, even though passive adopters do not contribute directly in the consortium. We find that passive adopters do not always exist. There are two possible equilibria for the endogenous formation of the developer network and the adopter network, one without passive adopters and one with passive adopters. How external conditions affect the endogenous formation of the consortium depends upon whether there are passive adopters in the equilibrium. Based on our analysis, we recommend strategies to e-business standard consortia to motivate firms' participation and enhance social welfare created by the standard.
Keywords: adoption; collaborative development; double-sided interactions; e-business standards; network externalities; standard consortia

Fact or Fiction?: A Sensemaking Perspective on the Reality Behind Executives' Perceptions of IT Business Value - Tallon, Paul P; Kraemer, Kenneth L (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Although research has made significant strides in recent years in evaluating the performance impacts from information technology (IT), a dearth of easily accessible objective measures, particularly at the process level, continues to limit IT research. Suggestions that researchers use perceptual measures instead are met with claims that the biased nature of perceptions renders them imperfect proxies for the true extent of IT impacts. In this paper, we use sensemaking theory to explore this claim. We outline a model relating what executives notice about process-level IT impacts with sensemaking-based perceptions of IT impacts at the firm level, and firm performance as the ultimate arbiter of perceptual accuracy. Estimating the model with survey data from executives in 196 firms, we find that executives' perceptions are more fact than fiction. While perceptions are not a perfect proxy for hard-to-find objective measures, perceptual accuracy should stimulate greater consideration of executives' perceptions in future IT business value research.
Keywords: executive perceptions; business value of information technology; IT organizational impacts; IT value measurement; objective measures; perceptual measures; PLSGraph; process orientation; sense making; value chain

Organizational Buyers' Adoption and Use of B2B Electronic Marketplaces: Efficiency- and Legitimacy-Oriented Perspectives - Jai-Yeol, S O N; Benbasat, Izak (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Despite the significant opportunities to transform the way that organizations conduct trading activities, few studies have investigated the impetus for organizational strategic moves toward business-to-business (B2B) electronic marketplaces. Drawing on transaction cost theory and institutional theory, this paper identifies two groups of factors--efficiency- and legitimacy-oriented factors, respectively--that can influence organizational buyers' initial adoption of, and the level of participation in, B2B e-marketplaces. The effects of these factors on initial adoption of and participation level in B2B e-marketplaces are empirically tested with data collected, respectively, from 98 potential adopter and 85 current adopter organizations. The results of a partial least squares analysis of the data indicate that the two groups of factors exhibit different patterns in explaining initial adoption in the preadoption period and participation level in the postadoption period. Specifically, all three of the efficiency-oriented factors investigated in this study--product characteristics, demand uncertainty, and market volatility--and their subconstructs exhibit a significant influence on adoption intent or participation level, or both. The results demonstrate that two legitimacy-oriented factors--mimetic pressures and normative pressures--and their subconstructs have a significant impact on adoption intent, but not on participation level. Our findings also indicate that clearly different patterns exist between the two groups of factors in explaining adoption intent and participation level.
Keywords: B2B electronic marketplaces; e-commerce; institutional theory; interorganizational information systems; organizational adoption and use; transaction cost theory

The Impact of ERP Implementation on Business Process Outcomes: A Factor-Based Study - Karimi, Jahangir; Somers, Toni M; Bhattacherjee, Anol (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Failures in large-scale information technology implementation are abundantly documented in the practitioner literature. In this study, we examine why some firms benefit more from enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation than others. We look at ERP implementation from a technological diffusion perspective, and investigate under what contextual conditions the extent of ERP implementation has the greatest effect on business process outcomes. Using empirical data, we find that the extent of ERP implementation influences business process outcomes, and both ERP radicalness and delivery system play moderating roles. For information systems (IS) practice, this study helps managers direct their attention to the most promising factors, provides insights into how to manage their complex interactions, and elaborates on their differential effects on business process outcomes. For IS research, it integrates innovation diffusion theory into our current knowledge of ERP implementation and provides theoretical explanations for ERP implementation failures.
Keywords: business process outcomes; enterprise systems; ERP effects; ERP implementation; ERP radicalness; information technology innovation; innovation diffusion theory

Team Knowledge and Coordination in Geographically Distributed Software Development - Espinosa, J Alberto; Slaughter, Sandra A; Kraut, Robert E; Herbsleb, James D (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Coordination is important in software development because it leads to benefits such as cost savings, shorter development cycles, and better-integrated products. Team cognition research suggests that members coordinate through team knowledge, but this perspective has only been investigated in real-time collocated tasks and we know little about which types of team knowledge best help coordination in the most geographically distributed software work. In this field study, we investigate the coordination needs of software teams, how team knowledge affects coordination, and how this effect is influenced by geographic dispersion. Our findings show that software teams have three distinct types of coordination needs--technical, temporal, and process--and that these needs vary with the members' role; geographic distance has a negative effect on coordination, but is mitigated by shared knowledge of the team and presence awareness; and shared task knowledge is more important for coordination among collocated members. We articulate propositions for future research in this area based on our analysis.
Keywords: coordination; global software development; management of the information technology function; team knowledge

Postimplementation Knowledge Transfers to Users and Information Technology Professionals - Santhanam, Radhika; Seligman, Larry; Kang, David (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Although there is substantial research on learning that occurs before adoption of a new information system, there is a dearth of research on postimplementation learning when a new system is assimilated as a routine element of users' work. Hence, during the postimplementation period of a bank's new work flow system, we conducted a longitudinal participant observation study to observe knowledge transfers of users and information technology (IT) professionals assigned to a help desk. We found that although users turned to IT professionals to obtain knowledge related to conceptual understanding and procedures to use the system, they most often turned to other users to obtain knowledge that allowed them to adapt the system to their work. IT professionals, on the other hand, often turned to their colleagues to obtain knowledge that helped them modify the system to emerging innovative uses. These patterns of knowledge transfers can be explained based upon source expertise. Our findings indicate that organizations must sustain designated sources of knowledge such as help desks, but must also establish conduits for users to acquire knowledge from other users and develop innovative uses of the system. A substantial amount of critical knowledge transfers relevant to system adaptation occurred during face-to-face discussions between users and IT professionals, and therefore future research should examine how this would be affected by the outsourcing of technical support functions.
Keywords: IT professionals; knowledge transfer; learning; postimplementation

Broken Ties: The Impact of Organizational Restructuring on the Stability of Information-Processing Networks - Kwon, Dowan; Oh, Wonseok; Jeon, Sangyong (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Information-processing networks (IPNs) denote dynamic network-based information-processing structures that operate as coordination mechanisms that transcend formal hierarchies. Despite growing interest in information technology-enabled IPNs, the literature has been silent in exploring the various ontological structures of IPNs and the structural efficiency embedded in each IPN, especially in the event of radical organizational changes. To fill this gap, this study identifies, from the perspective of graph theory, four ontological IPN archetypes that can serve as blueprints for information processing within and across organizations--random, small world, moderate scale free (MSF), and Barabasi. We then assess how each structure reacts to corporate restructuring (e.g., downsizing) and investigate, based on computer simulation, the extent to which each structure preserves a worker's efficiency and the stability of the network structure in the event of downsizing. Two moderating variables are included in the model--that is, scale of downsizing and the reconnection strategy in the presence of downsizing. In this study, downsizing is viewed not only as the simple elimination of individual workers but also as the elimination of the communication and information- processing conduits necessary for effective communication and coordination. We find that when firms implement a relatively small-scale workforce reduction, centralized coordination structures such as MSF and Barabasi are generally more resilient and facilitate better coordination. However, when the downsizing strategy involves massive and severe layoffs, decentralized coordination structures such as random and small world are more durable, and tend to provide a stronger safety net, irrespective of the strategies employed to create new ties. Although this study focused exclusively on the context of downsizing, the results of the study have important implications for other types of organizational restructuring (e.g.,
Keywords: computer simulation; information-processing networks; network theory; organizational restructuring; social networks

A Strategic Analysis of Competition Between Open Source and Proprietary Software - Sen, Ravi (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
This paper analyzes a software market consisting of a freely available open source software (OSS), the commercial version of this OSS (OSS-SS), and the competing commercial proprietary software (PS). We find that in software markets characterized by low direct network benefits, the PS vendor is better off in the presence of competition from OSS-SS. Furthermore, the OSS-SS vendor in these markets is better off by having lower usability than PS. Therefore, the PS vendor has little incentive to improve the usability of their software in these markets. On the other hand, in software markets characterized by high network benefits, a PS vendor is threatened by the presence of OSS-SS and can survive only if the PS is more usable than the competing OSS-SS.
Keywords: commercial open source; economics of open source; FLOSS; open source software; software competition; software market

A Comparison of Transaction Cost, Agency, and Knowledge-Based Predictors of IT Outsourcing Decisions: A U.S.-Japan Cross-Cultural Field Study - Tiwana, Amrit; Bush, Ashley A (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
As outsourcing evolves into a competitive necessity, managers must increasingly contend with the decision about which software development projects to outsource. Although a variety of theories have been invoked to study the initial outsourcing decision, much of this work has relied in isolation on one theoretical perspective. Therefore, the relative importance ascribed by managers to the factors from these theories is poorly understood. The majority of this work also masks interesting insights into outsourcing decisions by focusing on the information technology (IT) function rather than individual projects as the unit of analysis, where many of these decisions occur. In contrast, prior research at the project level has focused on predicting development performance in the postoutsourcing-decision phases of projects. The objective of this study is to examine the relative importance that IT managers ascribe to various factors from three complementary theories--transaction cost economics, agency theory, and knowledge-based theory--as they simultaneously consider them in their project outsourcing decisions. A secondary objective is to assess the cross-cultural robustness (United States versus Japan in this study) of such models in predicting project-level IT outsourcing decisions. We develop and test a multitheoretic model using data on 1,008 project-level decisions collected from 33 Japanese and 55 U.S. managers. Overall, our results provide novel insights into the relative importance that managers ascribe to the factors from these three theories, their complementarities and occasional contradictions, and offer new insights into the differences among U.S. and Japanese IT managers. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.
Keywords: agency theory; conjoint study; IT sourcing; Japanese software; knowledge-based theory; knowledge management; outsourcing; subcontracting; transaction cost economics; vendor selection

The Impact of Technostress on Role Stress and Productivity - Tarafdar, Monideepa; Qiang, T U; Ragu-Nathan, Bhanu S; Ragu-Nathan, T S (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Based on empirical survey data, this paper uses concepts from sociotechnical theory and role theory to explore the effects of stress created by information and computer technology (ICT)--that is, "technostress"--on role stress and on individual productivity. We first explain different ways in which ICTs can create stress in users and identify factors that create technostress. We next propose three hypotheses: (1) technostress is inversely related to individual productivity, (2) role stress is inversely related to individual productivity, and (3) technostress is directly related to role stress. We then use structural equation modeling on survey data from ICT users in 223 organizations to test the hypotheses. The results show support for them. Theoretically, the paper contributes in three ways. First, the different dimensions of technostress identified here add to existing concepts on stress experienced by individuals in organizations. Second, by showing that technostress inversely affects productivity, the paper reinforces that failure to manage the effects of ICT-induced stress can offset expected increases in productivity. Third, validation of the positive relationship between technostress and role stress adds a new conceptual thread to literature analyzing the relationship between technology and organizational roles and structure. In the practical domain, the paper proposes a diagnostic tool to evaluate the extent to which technostress is present in an organization and suggests that the adverse effects of technostress can be partly countered by strategies that reduce role conflict and role overload.
Keywords: human resource management; role conflict; role overload; role stress; role theory; structural equation modeling; survey methods; technostress

Intrusion Prevention in Information Systems: Reactive and Proactive Responses - Yue, Wei T; Çakanyildirim, Metin (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Intrusion prevention requires effective identification of and response to malicious events. In this paper, we model two important managerial decisions involved in the intrusion prevention process: the configuration of the detection component, and the response by the reaction component. The configuration decision affects the number of alarms the firm has to investigate. It is well known that the traditional intrusion detection system generates too many false alarms. The response decision determines whether alarms are going to be investigated or rejected outright. By jointly optimizing these two decision variables, a firm may apply different strategies in protecting its informational assets: slow but accurate, rapid but inaccurate, or a mixture of the two strategies. We use the optimal control approach to study the problem. Unlike previous literature, which studied the problem with a static model, in our model, the decision on balancing the desire to detect all malicious events with the opportunity costs required to do so is time dependent. Furthermore, we show how the choice of an optimal mixture of reactive and proactive responses depends on the values of cost parameters and investigation rate parameters. We find that in our model, a high damage cost does not immediately translate to a preference of proactive response, or a high false rejection cost does not translate to a preference of proactive response. The dynamics of the problem, such as how fast alarms accumulate and how fast they can be cleared, also affect the decisions.
Keywords: information security; intrusion detection; intrusion prevention; intrusion response

Overcoming Online Information Privacy Concerns: An Information-Processing Theory Approach - Il-Horn, Hann; Kai Lung, Hui; Sang-Yong Tom, L E E; Png, Ivan P L (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
The advent of the Internet has made the transmission of personally identifiable information more common and often unintended by the user. As personal information becomes more accessible, individuals worry that businesses misuse the information that is collected while they are online. Organizations have tried to mitigate this concern in two ways: (1) by offering privacy policies regarding the handling and use of personal information and (2) by offering benefits such as financial gains or convenience. In this paper, we interpret these actions in the context of the information-processing theory of motivation. Information-processing theories, also known as expectancy theories in the context of motivated behavior, are built on the premise that people process information about behavior--outcome relationships. By doing so, they are forming expectations and making decisions about what behavior to choose. Using an experimental setting, we empirically validate predictions that the means to mitigate privacy concerns are associated with positive valences resulting in an increase in motivational score. In a conjoint analysis exercise, 268 participants from the United States and Singapore face trade-off situations, where an organization may only offer incomplete privacy protection or some benefits. While privacy protections (against secondary use, improper access, and error) are associated with positive valences, we also find that financial gains and convenience can significantly increase individuals' motivational score of registering with a Web site. We find that benefits--monetary reward and future convenience--significantly affect individuals' preferences over Web sites with differing privacy policies. We also quantify the value of Web site privacy protection. Among U.S. subjects protection against errors, improper access, and secondary use of personal information is worth $30.49--$44.62. Finally, our approach also allows us to identify three distinct segments of Internet...
Keywords: conjoint analysis; expectancy theory; financial reward; information privacy; online privacy; segmentation

An Empirical Investigation of Third-Party Seller Rating Systems in E-Commerce: The Case of buySAFE - Clemons, Eric K (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
eBay's highly visible feedback-based rating system is also highly flawed, contributing to problems for buyers, which in turn creates problems for sellers. The well-known "market for lemons" phenomenon studied by Akerlof, and the even older Gresham's law effect, are contributing to loss of buyers' confidence in eBay, shrinking sellers' margins, contributing to the erosion of eBay's share price, and, potentially, leading to serious reductions in the value of eBay as an electronic auction site. buySAFE has created an alternative mechanism for reducing buyers' information deficit concerning sellers and their merchandise, involving a third-party certification system and bonding for qualified sellers; the rating is analogous to bond rating services such as Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Analysis of buySAFE's certification and bonding strategies for eBay sellers provides a basis for ongoing theory development related to organizational strategies that recognize the importance of information asymmetries in the digital marketplace and address resolution of consumers' concerns. buySAFE's original business model involves bonding sellers' transactions and protecting consumers for as much as $25,000. This has a number of beneficial effects on the buyers and sellers: it improves the information endowments of the buyers, it increases their willingness to pay for the goods and services offered, and it increases the margins and total revenues of the sellers. Although acceptance of buySAFE has been rapid, it has been slower than anticipated, and slower than theory would suggest. The company's executives are exploring adjusting their approach to the market and finding a way to achieve higher profitability, and working to limit their dependence upon eBay.
Keywords: information asymmetry; market for lemons; online auctions; online consumer fraud; online rating systems

Proximity and Information Technology Outsourcing: How Local Are IT Services Markets? - Arora, Ashish; Forman, Chris (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
We examine the question of which services are tradable within a concrete setting: the outsourcing of information technology (IT) services across a broad cross-section of establishments in the United States. If markets for IT services are local, then we should expect increases in local supply would increase the likelihood of outsourcing by lowering the cost of outsourcing. If markets are not local, then local supply will not affect outsourcing demand. We analyze the outsourcing decisions of a large sample of 99,775 establishments in 2002 and 2004, for two types of IT services--programming and design and hosting. Programming and design projects require communication of detailed user requirements whereas hosting requires less coordination between client and service provider than programming and design. Our empirical results bear out this intuition: the probability of outsourcing programming and design is increasing in the local supply of outsourcing, and this sensitivity to local supply conditions has been increasing over time. This suggests there is some nontradable or "local" component to programming and design services that cannot be easily removed. In contrast, the decision to outsource hosting is sensitive to local supply only for firms for which network uptime and security concerns are particularly acute.
Keywords: information technology outsourcing; outsourcing; service tradability; services; services outsourcing

Option-Based Risk Management: A Field Study of Sequential Information Technology Investment Decisions - Benaroch, Michel; Jeffery, Mark; Kauffman, Robert J; Shah, Sandeep (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
This field study research evaluates the viability of applying an option-based risk management (OBRiM) framework, and its accompanying theoretical perspective and methodology, to real-world sequential information technology (IT) investment problems. These problems involve alternative investment structures that bear different risk profiles for the firm, and also may improve the payoffs of the associated projects and the organization's performance. We sought to surface the costs, benefits, and risks associated with a complex sequential investment setting that has the key features that OBRiM treats. We combine traditional, purchased real options that subsequently create strategic flexibility for the decision maker, with implicit or embedded real options that are available with no specific investment required provided the decision maker recognizes them. This combination helps the decision maker to both (1) explicitly surface all of his or her strategic choices and (2) accurately value those choices, including ones that require prior enabling investments. The latter permits senior managers to adjust a project's investment trajectory in the face of revealed risk. This normally is important when there are uncertain organizational, technological, competitive, and market conditions. The context of our research is a data mart consolidation project, which was conducted by a major airline firm in association with a data warehousing systems vendor. Field study inquiry and data collection were essential elements in the retrospective analysis of the efficacy of OBRiM as a means to control risk in a large-scale project. We learned that OBRiM's main benefits are (1) the ability to generate meaningful option-bearing investment structures, (2) simplification of the complexities of real options for the business context, (3) accuracy in analyzing the risks of IT investments, and (4) support for more proactive planning. These issues, which we show are more effectively addressed by OBRiM.
Keywords: data marts; data warehouses; investment valuation; IT investment; IT services; options; risk management; services science

Comparison of Software Quality Under Perpetual Licensing and Software as a Service - Choudhary, Vidyanand (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Software is available through a number of different licensing models such as the commonly used perpetual licensing model and a relatively new licensing model called software as a service (SaaS). There are several differences between SaaS and perpetual licensing. SaaS licensing offers software using a subscription model, whereas perpetual licensing involves a one-time payment for a perpetual use license and optional additional payments for future upgrades. Prior literature has not considered the impact of these licensing schemes on the publisher's incentive to invest in software quality. We model differences in how new software features are disseminated in SaaS and perpetual licensing. We show that these differences affect the publisher's incentive to invest in product development. We find that the SaaS licensing model leads to greater investment in product development under most conditions. This increased investment leads to higher software quality in equilibrium under SaaS as compared to perpetual licensing. The software publisher earns greater profits and social welfare is higher under SaaS under these conditions.
Keywords: application service providers; information goods; monopoly; on-demand computing; pricing; product development; software as a service; software licensing; software quality

A Temporary Monopolist: Taking Advantage of Information Transparency on the Web - Dewan, Rajiv M; Freimer, Marshall L; Yabing, Jiang (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Information displayed on an e-commerce site can be used not just by the intended customers but also by competitors. While retailers enhance service quality by linking inventory systems to Web servers and making stockout information available in real time, that stockout information could also be used by competitors in determining their prices on current stocks. In this paper, we examine the effect of such proactive use of information in the setting of e-commerce retailing where duopoly retailers set their prices of a commodity that is in short supply. We show that when customer reservation value is relatively high and retailers are differentiated in fill rate, both retailers choose the dynamic pricing strategy in equilibrium. By investing in Web scraping technology, retailers automatically monitor each other's stock status and dynamically adjust prices contingent on rival's stock availability.
Keywords: contingent pricing; e-commerce; information transparency; vertical differentiation

Digital Consumer Networks and Producer--Consumer Collaboration: Innovation and Product Development in the Video Game Industry - Arakji, Reina Y; Lang, Karl R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
This paper examines new forms of collaboration between producers and consumers that are emerging in the digital entertainment space. Taking the case of the video game industry, we show how some firms have opened a portion of their proprietary content for transformation by consumers and allowed the development of consumer-designed and consumer-implemented derivative products. By reappropriating these derivatives, video game firms are successfully outsourcing parts of their game design and development process to digital consumer networks. Applying economic analysis, we explore the potential benefits and risks associated with outsourcing to networks of consumers. We also derive the optimal combination of copyright enforcement and consumer compensation. Our results suggest that profit-maximizing producers of video games have incentive to partially open game content to their users and to remunerate the most innovative ones, under the condition that the derivatives constitute complements to, and not substitutes for, the original product. We discuss the implications on firm strategy for innovation.
Keywords: digital entertainment; innovation; outsourcing; producer-consumer collaboration; user-generated content; video games

The Role of Information Systems Resources in ERP Capability Building and Business Process Outcomes - Karimi, Jahangir; Somers, Toni M; Bhattacherjee, Anol (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Many enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation projects fail despite huge investments. To explain such failures, we draw on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm to define various dimensions of information systems (IS) resources. Using resource-picking and capability-building arguments, we examine the relationships between IS resources and ERP capabilities to find out whether they have complementary effects on outcomes. Empirical results from a survey of manufacturing firms that recently implemented ERP systems support the hypothesized model. For IS research, this study further develops the complementary and capability-building roles of IS resources, integrates RBV into our current knowledge of ERP implementation, and provides theoretical explanations for when or under what conditions building ERP capabilities has the highest impact on business process outcomes. For IS practice, it emphasizes the importance of IS resources in building ERP capabilities, provides preliminary measures for IS resource dimensions, and demonstrates their impact on firms' ERP capabilities and consequent business process outcomes.
Keywords: business process outcomes; complementarities; ERP capabilities; information systems resources; resource-based view; resource-picking and capability-building mechanism

Team Cognition: Development and Evolution in Software Project Teams - Jun, He; Butler, Brian S; King, William R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
In software development, team-based work structures are commonly used to accomplish complex projects. Software project teams must be able to utilize the expertise and knowledge of participants without overwhelming individual members. To efficiently leverage individuals' knowledge and expertise, software project teams develop team cognition structures that facilitate their knowledge activities. This study focuses on the emergence and evolution of team cognition in software project teams, and examines how communication activity and team diversity impact the formation of these structures. A longitudinal study was conducted of 51 database development teams. The results suggest that some forms of communication and team diversity affect the formation of team cognition. Frequency of meetings and phone calls were positively related to the formation of team cognition, while e-mail use had no effect. Gender diversity had a strong and positive effect on the development of team cognition and the effect remained stable over time. Implications for the practical potential and limitations of purposive team construction as a strategy for improving software development team performance are discussed.
Keywords: expertise location; member familiarity; project teams; shared task understanding; software teams; team communications; team diversity

Software Process Tailoring: An Empirical Investigation - Peng, X U; Ramesh, Balasubramaniam (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
A well-defined software process is critical for success in software projects. Software process tailoring refers to the activity of tuning a standardized process to meet the needs of a specific project. We conducted two case studies that address the research question: How is a software process tailored to suit its context? This study identifies process tailoring as a key mechanism to address the challenges faced by a project and develops a model that describes how a process is tailored to resolve these challenges. The model identifies a set of environmental factors, challenges, project goals, process tailoring strategies, and their influences on each other. Specifically, the findings demonstrate the duality of the software process, showing how the project context (i.e., project goals, environmental factors, and challenges) and tailoring decisions dynamically interact with each other and construct the context in which the project is developed and the process is tailored.
Keywords: duality of software process; software development; software process; software process tailoring; software project management; software projects

A Temporal Model of Information Technology Project Performance - Gemino, Andrew; Reich, Blaize Horner; Sauer, Chris (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Efficiently delivering expected performance from information technology projects remains a critical challenge for many organizations. Improving our understanding of how various factors influence project performance is therefore an important research objective. This study proposes and tests a temporal model of information technology project performance (TMPP). It shows that performance can be better understood by separating risk factors into earlier (a priori) risk factors and later (emergent) risk factors, and modeling the influence of the former on the latter. Project performance, the dependent variable, is measured by considering both process (budget and schedule) and product (outcome) components. The model includes interactions between risk factors, project management practices, and project performance components. The model is tested using partial least squares analysis with data from a survey of 194 project managers. Our results indicate that the TMPP increases explanatory power when compared with models that link risk factors directly to project performance. The results show the importance for active risk management of recognizing, planning for, and managing a priori and emergent risk factors. The finding of a strong relationship between structural risk factors and subsequent volatility shows the need for risk management practice to recognize the interaction of a priori and emergent risk factors. The results confirm the importance of knowledge resources, organizational support, and project management practices, and demonstrate the ways in which they reinforce each other.
Keywords: information technology project management; knowledge management; project performance; software project risk

A Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems Research - Peffers, Ken; Tuunanen, Tuure; Rothenberger, Marcus A; Chatterjee, Samir (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
The paper motivates, presents, demonstrates in use, and evaluates a methodology for conducting design science (DS) research in information systems (IS). DS is of importance in a discipline oriented to the creation of successful artifacts. Several researchers have pioneered DS research in IS, yet over the past 15 years, little DS research has been done within the discipline. The lack of a methodology to serve as a commonly accepted framework for DS research and of a template for its presentation may have contributed to its slow adoption. The design science research methodology (DSRM) presented here incorporates principles, practices, and procedures required to carry out such research and meets three objectives: it is consistent with prior literature, it provides a nominal process model for doing DS research, and it provides a mental model for presenting and evaluating DS research in IS. The DS process includes six steps: problem identification and motivation, definition of the objectives for a solution, design and development, demonstration, evaluation, and communication. We demonstrate and evaluate the methodology by presenting four case studies in terms of the DSRM, including cases that present the design of a database to support health assessment methods, a software reuse measure, an Internet video telephony application, and an IS planning method. The designed methodology effectively satisfies the three objectives and has the potential to help aid the acceptance of DS research in the IS discipline.
Keywords: case study; design science; design science research; design theory; mental model; methodology; process model

Price Mechanism for Knowledge Transfer: An Integrative Theory - Ming-Hui, Huang; Wang, Eric T G; Seidmann, Abraham (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Knowledge transferred in the open market via a price mechanism enjoys the benefits of avoiding internal competition, learning from external competitors, and accumulating diversified knowledge. In the market, users can access a repository of knowledge for a single price (repository pricing) or knowledge items in the repository can be sold individually (knowledge pricing). However, users have been found to prefer repository pricing but not the knowledge in the repository. This irrationality can cause market failure because users derive a suboptimal level of utility from the knowledge repository, and vendors have contradictory pricing and knowledge strategies. We empirically examine a joint explanation from two competing theoretical perspectives that accounts for this inconsistency nicely: The mental accounting perspective endorses repository pricing because it entices users with the benefits of the whole repository, whereas the transaction decoupling perspective finds expression in individually priced knowledge because it prevents the discrete benefit of knowledge from becoming obscure. By integrating the two theoretical perspectives and considering price, knowledge, and user characteristics simultaneously, the results offer important implications for the market transfer of knowledge. Repository pricing attracts users and is essential to initiate the transfer process, whereas knowledge pricing generates knowledge preference and is thus an effective approach for learning.
Keywords: knowledge market; knowledge pricing; knowledge transfer; mental accounting; multinomial logit model; ordered logit model; transaction decoupling

Optimal Pricing of Digital Experience Goods Under Piracy - Khouja, Moutaz; Park, Sungjune (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Piracy of digital experience goods such as music recordings has received increased attention in the literature. Much of this research has focused on pricing policies, protection against piracy, and governmental policies in the software industry. In this research, we focus on pricing policies of producers of digital experience goods. We consider a heterogeneous consumer market with different segments, each having a different affinity to piracy. We analyze the effect of different producer pricing policies on the revenue of the creator of the product, who may be different than the producer. Our results indicate that the explicit incorporation of these different consumer segments will cause the producer to charge lower prices and, therefore, lead to higher legal product diffusion. We show that the royalty system does not solve the double marginalization problem and is suboptimal from a supply-chain perspective. Also, the creator of the goods prefers a lower price than the producer's optimal price, and this tendency increases with the creator's per unit royalty.
Keywords: digital experience goods; information goods piracy; music and movie piracy; online piracy; pricing; social welfare

Selling or Advertising: Strategies for Providing Digital Media Online - Ming, Fan; Kumar, Subodha; Whinston, Andrew B (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Media and network companies are increasingly providing digital media online. We develop a model to examine optimal strategies for media providers to utilize the online channel to distribute digital media. We examine a number of options for media providers. Our results suggest that media companies should sell programs online when content quality is relative high and online access cost is low. When online access cost is relative high, media providers could use the advertising strategy. Overall, companies are better off providing both pricing and advertising options to consumers. We derive the optimal price and advertising level, and analyze the factors that affect the price and advertising decisions. We find that as advertisement revenue rate increases, advertising level should be kept low. In addition, media companies should set online price and advertising level with consideration of the traditional channel in order to avoid channel cannibalization. We also analyze the advertising level in the traditional channel. Our results suggest that as digital video recorder technologies provide more convenience to consumers, media companies should increase, rather than decrease, revenues from advertising.
Keywords: advertising; digital media; distribution strategies; information goods pricing; online channels; pricing

The Optimal Number of Versions: Why Does Goldilocks Pricing Work for Information Goods? - Hui, Wendy; Byungjoon, Yoo; Kar Yan, Tam (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
The literature in general suggests that selling multiple versions is more profitable than selling only a single version. However, how many versions should be offered is not as clear. Classical pricing studies suggest providing as many versions as the number of customer types, whereas some studies in information systems suggest providing only one or two versions. In reality, firms typically provide more than one or two versions, such as three in the case of Goldilocks pricing. This study explains the discrepancies in these results and observations by showing that, although profit increases with more versions, the marginal benefit of an additional version decreases rapidly. Therefore, firms sell few versions even in the presence of very small versioning-related costs such as menu and cognitive costs. This study analyzes the effects of these costs, and shows that cognitive costs have more profound effects on versioning than menu costs.
Keywords: analytical modeling; customized bundling; economics of information systems; information goods pricing; pricing; versioning

An Economic Model of Privacy: A Property Rights Approach to Regulatory Choices for Online Personalization - Chellappa, Ramnath K; Shivendu, Shivendu (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Advances in information-acquisition technologies and the increasing strategic importance of this information have created a market for consumers' personal and preference information. Behavioral research suggests that consumers engage in a privacy calculus where they trade off their privacy costs from sharing information against their value from personalization. Through a formal economic model of this personalization-for-privacy (p4p) trade-off, we examine welfare implications by characterizing consumption utilities as "no-free-disposal" functions. We investigate the optimality of four regulatory regimes (through allowance/disallowance of usage-enforcing technologies, and private contracts) by analyzing the strategic interaction between a monopolist who offers personalization services "free of charge" and two consumer types--privacy and convenience seekers. While many privacy watchdog groups have called for technology restrictions and more regulation, our research broadly suggests that society is better off with assignment of property rights over their information to consumers and full allowance of technological control and contractual abilities for the monopolist. However, when private contracts are proscribed, the regulator should also prevent the deployment of usage-enforcing technologies, particularly when the market is predominantly composed of privacy seekers. Interestingly, unlike traditional price-instrument markets for goods with free disposal, a regulator should not only encourage this market's knowledge of consumers' p4p preferences but also the various uses and benefits of preference information to the vendor.
Keywords: economic modeling; incentives; Nash bargaining; personalization; privacy; property rights; social welfare

A Process-Oriented Perspective on the Alignment of Information Technology and Business Strategy - Tallon, Paul P (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Even after a decade of research and discussion, strategic alignment, denoting the fit between information technology (IT) and business strategy, remains an enduring challenge for firms worldwide. In this paper, we go beyond the dominant firm-level alignment paradigm by utilizing a value disciplines perspective on strategic foci to conceptualize alignment at the process level. Theory would then suggest that alignment should be tightest in processes that are considered critical to each firm's strategic focus. Using data from matched surveys of IT and business executives at 241 firms, we detect support for this locus of alignment argument when alignment is identified using profile deviation or moderation. We also find a positive link between alignment and perceived IT business value in each of five primary processes in the value chain. By bringing a process-level view to the study of alignment and its impacts, we go beyond a discussion on the extent of fit--a cornerstone of the literature--to whether firms are pursuing the right type of fit for the particular mix of processes underlying their strategy. In this way, a process-level perspective can foster a deeper and more meaningful understanding of how alignment affects firm performance. Our results also show a need for managers to reconsider the steps taken to align IT and business strategy by looking more closely at how IT can support individual processes rather than at how IT can support an entire strategy.
Keywords: information technology business value; IT--strategy fit; perceptual measures; process-level analysis; process perspective; resource-based view; strategic alignment; value chain; value disciplines

Managing Word Mismatch Problems in Information Retrieval: A Topic-Based Query Expansion Approach - Chih-Ping, W E I; Jen-Hwa Hu, Paul; Chia-Hung, T A I; Chun-Neng, Huang; Chin-Sheng, Yang (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Word mismatch represents a fundamental information retrieval challenge that has become increasingly important as electronic document repositories (e.g., Web resources, digital libraries) grow in number and sheer volume. In general, word mismatch refers to the phenomenon in which a concept is described by different terms in user queries and in source documents. Query expansion represents a promising avenue to address such problems. Previous research predominantly approaches query expansion on the basis of global or local analysis. However, these approaches emphasize a global perspective rather than taking a topic-specific view of term associations. As a consequence, their effectiveness can be severely constrained when the document corpus spans a diverse set of topics. In this study, we propose a topic-based approach for query expansion and develop and empirically evaluate two novel methods--namely, nonfuzzy and fuzzy topic-based query expansion--to address word mismatch problems. According to our evaluation results, the proposed topic-based approach is more effective than a benchmark global analysis method, particularly when user queries consist of multiple query terms.
Keywords: document clustering; fuzzy clustering; information retrieval; query expansion; text mining; topic-based query expansion; word mismatch

Determinants of the Use of Relational and Nonrelational Information Sources - Zimmer, J Christopher; Henry, Raymond M; Butler, Brian S (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007)
Although it has been argued that knowledge is an important organizational resource, little research has investigated where individuals go to search for information or knowledge. Prior work has investigated sources in isolation, but in an organizational setting, sources are encountered as an open portfolio instead of in isolation. It is important to understand how individuals perceive the wide array of sources available to them and how those perceptions affect their use of different types of sources. Building on prior work, this research looks at factors underlying the selection of sources that require direct interpersonal contact (relational sources) and those that do not (nonrelational sources) and explores factors that differentially affect the use of these types of sources. A sample of 204 working professionals recruited from graduate business studies was used to test hypotheses regarding the effects of accessibility and quality, as well as comparisons and trade-offs between relational and nonrelational sources. Consistent with prior work, source accessibility and quality significantly affect usage of a source. This relationship, however, is moderated by the type of source with accessibility having less effect on the use of relational sources. Furthermore, use of each type of source was also affected by the perceived accessibility and quality of alternative types of sources. Together these results highlight the importance of simultaneously considering the relational and nonrelational sources available to individuals. These results also have implications for the design and implementation of systems for managing information and knowledge assets.
Keywords: information accessibility; information quality; information seeking; information sources; knowledge management

Self-Perception-Based Versus Transference-Based Trust Determinants in Computer-Mediated Transactions: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Study - Kim, Dan J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
This study examines the impact of culture on trust determinants in computer-mediated commerce transactions. Adopting trust-building foundations from cross-culture literature and focusing on a set of well-established cultural constructs as groups of culture (Type I and Type II), this study develops a theoretical model of self-perception-based versus transference-based consumer trust in e-vendors, and empirically tests the model using cross-cultural data. The results show that transference-based trust determinants (i.e., "perceived importance of third-party seal" and "perceived importance of positive referral") are more positively related to consumer trust in e-vendors in a Type II (i.e., collectivist--strong uncertainty avoidance--high long-term orientation--high context) culture than in a Type I (i.e., individualistic--weak uncertainty avoidance--low long-term orientation--low context) culture. Unlike the initial hypothesized expectations, self-perception-based trust determinants (i.e., perceived security protection, perceived privacy concern, and perceived system reliability) do not show stronger roles to consumer trust in e-vendors in a Type I culture than in a Type II culture, although the stronger negative effect of perceived privacy concerns is observed on consumer trust in e-vendors in a Type I culture than in a Type II culture. Theoretical contributions for e-commerce cross-culture literature and implications for multinational online business managers are discussed.
Keywords: cross-cultural comparison; culture impacts; self-perception-based trust; transference-based trust; trust in e-vendor; Type I and Type II cultures

Modeling Web Site Design Across Cultures: Relationships to Trust, Satisfaction, and E-Loyalty - Cyr, Dianne (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Despite rapidly increasing numbers of diverse online shoppers, the relationship of Web site design to trust, satisfaction, and loyalty has not previously been modeled across cultures. In the current investigation, three components of Web site design (information design, navigation design, and visual design) are considered for their impact on trust and satisfaction. In turn, relationships of trust and satisfaction to online loyalty are evaluated. Utilizing data collected from 571 participants in Canada, Germany, and China, various relationships in the research model are tested using partial least squares analysis for each country separately. In addition, the overall model is tested for all countries combined as a control and verification of earlier research findings, although this time with a mixed country sample. All paths in the overall model are confirmed. Differences are determined for separate country samples concerning whether navigation design, visual design, and information design result in trust, satisfaction, and ultimately loyalty--suggesting design characteristics should be a central consideration in Web site design across cultures.
Keywords: culture impacts; electronic commerce; e-loyalty; satisfaction; trust; Web site design

Examining Trust in Information Technology Artifacts: The Effects of System Quality and Culture - Vance, Anthony; Elie-Dit-Cosaque, Christophe; Straub, Detmar W (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
The topic of trust in information technology (IT) artifacts has piqued interest among researchers, but studies of this form of trust are not definitive regarding which factors contribute to it the most. Our study empirically tests a model of trust in IT artifacts that increases our understanding in two ways. First, it sets forth two previously unexamined system quality constructs--navigational structure and visual appeal. We found that both of these system quality constructs significantly predict the extent to which users place trust in mobile commerce technologies. Second, our study considers the effect of culture by comparing the trust of French and American potential users in m-commerce technologies. We found that not only does culture directly affect user trust in IT artifacts but it also moderates the extent to which navigational structure affects this form of trust. These findings show that system quality and culture significantly affect trust in the IT artifact and point to rich possibilities for future research in these areas.
Keywords: culture impacts; institution-based trust; mobile commerce; m-commerce portals; navigational structure; system quality; systems use; trust in IT artifact; visual appeal

Establishing Trust in Electronic Commerce Through Online Word of Mouth: An Examination Across Genders - Awad, Neveen F; Ragowsky, Arik (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
This paper focuses on the cultural effect of gender on the relationship of online word of mouth and trust in e-commerce. To encourage online commerce, many online retailers use online word-of-mouth systems, where consumers can rate products offered for sale. To date, how such ratings affect trust and adoption of e-commerce across genders has been relatively unexplored. We assess whether the effect of online trust on intention to shop online is moderated by gender. Our results show that the effect of trust on intention to shop online is stronger for women than for men. In addition, we find that men value their ability to post content online, whereas women value the responsive participation of other consumers to the content they have posted. Finally, we find that online word-of-mouth quality affects online trust differently across genders.
Keywords: consumer-generated content; electronic commerce; gender; online trust; online word of mouth; sociolinguistic theory

In Justice We Trust: Predicting User Acceptance of E-Customer Services - Turel, Ofir; Yuan, Yufei; Connelly, Catherine E (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
High-quality customer service is an integral part of any successful enterprise, but providing it can be a challenge for online merchants, especially when customers are complaining about each other. This study examines how justice and trust affect user acceptance of e-customer services by conducting an online experiment involving 380 participants. The results suggest that trust in the e-customer service fully mediates the effects of trust in the service representative and procedural justice on intentions to reuse the e-customer service. Furthermore, the effect of distributive justice on trust in the e-customer service was fully mediated by trust in the e-service representative. Finally, the effect of informational justice on user intentions to reuse the e-customer service was partially mediated by trust in the service representative and trust in the e-customer service. Theoretical and practical implications are further discussed.
Keywords: e-customer service; justice; online dispute resolution; technology acceptance; trust; trust transfer

Gaining Trust Through Online Privacy Protection: Self-Regulation, Mandatory Standards, or Caveat Emptor - Tang, Zhulei; Hu, Y U; Smith, Michael D (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Trust is particularly important in online markets to facilitate the transfer of sensitive consumer information to online retailers. In electronic markets, various proposals have been made to facilitate these information transfers. We develop analytic models of hidden information to analyze the effectiveness of these regimes to build trust and their efficiency in terms of social welfare. We find that firms' ability to influence consumer beliefs about trust depends on whether firms can send unambiguous signals to consumers regarding their intention of protecting privacy. Ambiguous signals can lead to a breakdown of consumer trust, while the clarity and credibility of the signal under industry self-regulation can lead to enhanced trust and improved social welfare. Our results also indicate that although overarching government regulations can enhance consumer trust, regulation may not be socially optimal in all environments because of lower profit margins for firms and higher prices for consumers.
Keywords: consumer information; consumer surplus; Internet; privacy; social welfare; trust

Online Reverse Auctions and the Dynamics of Trust - Charki, Mohamed HÃ‰Di; Josserand, Emmanuel (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
This research explores the effect of the introduction of online reverse auctions (ORAs) on interorganizational trust between buyers and suppliers in the retail industry. Building upon the notion of the spirit of the technology and the organizing vision, we shed light on the "equivoque" nature of ORAs. In an integrative model, we show how the desocialization associated with the introduction to ORAs can lead to distrust. Our findings show specifically the importance of the role played by technical problems and rumors.
Keywords: distrust; online reverse auctions; online trust; opportunism; rumor; trust; unethical behavior

Explaining and Predicting the Impact of Branding Alliances and Web Site Quality on Initial Consumer Trust of E-Commerce Web Sites - Lowry, Paul Benjamin; Vance, Anthony; Moody, Gregory D; Beckman, Bryan; Read, Aaron (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Trust is a crucial factor in e-commerce. However, consumers are less likely to trust unknown Web sites. This study explores how less-familiar e-commerce Web sites can use branding alliances and Web site quality to increase the likelihood of initial consumer trust. We use the associative network model of memory to explain brand knowledge and to show how the mere exposure effect can be leveraged to improve a Web site's brand image. We also extend information integration theory to explain how branding alliances are able to increase initial trust and transfer positive effects to Web sites. Testing of our model shows that the most important constructs for increasing initial trust in our experimental context are branding and Web site quality. Finally, we discuss future research ideas, limitations, implications, and ideas for practitioners.
Keywords: associative network model of memory; brand awareness; brand image; branding alliance; electronic commerce; information integration theory; Internet; trust; Web site quality

Dynamics of Trust Revision: Using Health Infomediaries - Zahedi, Fatemeh Mariam; Song, Jaeki (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
This study explores the process by which trust evolves over time. There have been a number of studies underscoring the importance of trust in the online environment. However, most trust studies have concentrated on the initial trust, and there is little known about how trust beliefs evolve over time. The dynamics of trust are of particular importance in the use of infomediaries (online information providers), among which health infomediaries are the most important for Web consumers in dealing with their wellness and health issues. We investigate the evolution of trust using the case of health infomediaries. The examination of the temporal changes in trust was carried out through two approaches--comparative statics and dynamic analyses. The research method was laboratory experiment and the data were collected for two episodes of encounters. Two comparative statics models and one dynamic model were estimated in order to examine the parameter changes from one episode of encounter to the next as well as the dynamics of belief changes. The results of analysis show that the structure of trust changes over time and information quality becomes the single most important antecedent in infomediary trust building in the later stages of use. Furthermore, our study also indicates that satisfaction plays an important role in changing Web customers' trust beliefs. Contributions as well as research and managerial implications are discussed.
Keywords: agency theory; change in trust beliefs; emotional trust; information integration theory; satisfaction; trust attitude

Attributions of Trust in Decision Support Technologies: A Study of Recommendation Agents for E-Commerce - Wang, Weiquan; Benbasat, Izak (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
As organizations increasingly utilize Web-based technologies to support customers better, trust in decision support technologies has emerged as an important issue in online environments. In this study, we identify six reasons users trust (or do not trust) a technology in the early stages of its use by extending the theories of trust formation in interpersonal and organizational contexts to that of decision support technologies. We study the particular context of decision support technologies for e-commerce: online recommendation agents (RAs), which facilitate users' decision making by providing advice on what to buy based on user-specified needs and preferences. A laboratory experiment is conducted using a multimethod approach to collect data. Both quantitative data about participants' trust in RAs and written protocols that explain the reasons for their levels of trust are collected. A content analysis of the written protocols identifies both positive and negative trust attributions that are then mapped to six trust reasons. A structural equation modeling analysis is employed to test the causal strengths of the trust reasons in explaining participants' trust in RAs. The results reveal that in the early stages of trust formation, four positive reasons (i.e., knowledge-based, interactive, calculative, and dispositional) are associated with higher trust in RAs and two negative reasons (i.e., calculative and interactive) are associated with lower trust in RAs. The results also demonstrate some distinctive features of trust formation with respect to decision support technologies. We discuss the research and practical implications of the findings and describe opportunities for future research.
Keywords: decision support technology; reasons to trust; recommendation agents; trust attribution; trust in technology

A Research Agenda for Trust in Online Environments - Gefen, David; Benbasat, Izak; Pavlou, Paul A (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
We present an agenda for the future research that has the potential to extend the conceptual foundations of trust in online environments and to improve the practice in the domain. The agenda draws on the previous work on trust, the papers included in this Special Issue, and our perspective on the state of the literature. This agenda is structured into four components--nature and role of trust, moderators of trust, antecedents of trust, and empirical methods for examining trust.
Keywords: online trust; research agendas; trust

Risk Management of Contract Portfolios in IT Services: The Profit-at-Risk Approach - Kauffman, Robert J; Sougstad, Ryan (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Information technology (IT) services providers are exposed to exogenous risks faced by the industry as a whole, and endogenous risks from their current portfolio of IT contracts. This exposure may lead to cost overruns or legal responsibility for service-level breeches. Providers can leverage information about their risk positions implied by their IT services contract portfolios to gain strategic advantage over their competitors. We build theory in support of a new construct, profit-at-risk, for evaluating the trade-offs between contract profitability and service-level risk, stemming from financial economics theory and models. We simulate an IT services contract portfolio, and show how managers can reduce organizational risk by forgoing profit-maximizing contracts in lieu of more conservative service-level agreements, yet still achieve high returns. Our approach provides decision support for ex ante contract evaluation and negotiation, and a means to conduct ex post efficiency evaluation. It also aligns IT service management with best practices in financial management.
Keywords: efficient frontier; financial economics; IT contracts; IT services; managerial decision making; mechanism design; portfolio management; profit-at-risk; services science; value-at-risk

Stylometric Identification in Electronic Markets: Scalability and Robustness - Abbasi, Ahmed; Hsinchun, Chen; Nunamaker Jr, Jay F (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Online reputation systems are intended to facilitate the propagation of word of mouth as a credibility scoring mechanism for improved trust in electronic marketplaces. However, they experience two problems attributable to anonymity abuse--easy identity changes and reputation manipulation. In this study, we propose the use of stylometric analysis to help identify online traders based on the writing style traces inherent in their posted feedback comments. We incorporated a rich stylistic feature set and developed the Writeprint technique for detection of anonymous trader identities. The technique and extended feature set were evaluated on a test bed encompassing thousands of feedback comments posted by 200 eBay traders. Experiments conducted to assess the scalability (number of traders) and robustness (against intentional obfuscation) of the proposed approach found it to significantly outperform benchmark stylometric techniques. The results indicate that the proposed method may help militate against easy identity changes and reputation manipulation in electronic markets.
Keywords: anti-aliasing; electronic markets; online trust; similarity detection; stylometry

Mining Trading Partners' Preferences for Efficient Multi-Issue Bargaining in E-Business - Lau, Raymond Y K; On, Wong; Yuefeng, Li; Ma, Louis C K (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Classical negotiation models are weak in supporting real-world business negotiations because these models often assume that the preference information of each negotiator is made public. Although parametric learning methods have been proposed for acquiring the preference information of negotiation opponents, these methods suffer from the strong assumptions about the specific utility function and negotiation mechanism employed by the opponents. Consequently, it is difficult to apply these learning methods to the heterogeneous negotiation agents participating in e-marketplaces. This paper illustrates the design, development, and evaluation of a nonparametric negotiation knowledge discovery method which is underpinned by the well-known Bayesian learning paradigm. According to our empirical testing, the novel knowledge discovery method can speed up the negotiation processes while maintaining negotiation effectiveness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first nonparametric negotiation knowledge discovery method developed and evaluated in the context of multi-issue bargaining over e-marketplaces.
Keywords: Bayesian learning; electronic business; knowledge discovery; multi-issue bargaining; negotiation

Multiple Group Coordination in Complex and Dynamic Task Environments: Interruptions, Coping Mechanisms, and Technology Recommendations - Ren, Yuqing; Kiesler, Sara; Fussell, Susan R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Collaboration in complex and dynamic environments such as hospitals, airlines, and disaster response teams is challenging. High performance requires smooth coordination across multiple groups whose incentives, cultures, and routines can conflict. In this paper, we present an in-depth case study of a hospital's operating room practices to understand challenges associated with multiple group coordination and how information technology may help. We use the concept of trajectory to focus our observations and interviews on workflow across groups and critical events when coordination breaks down. A careful examination of the sources, coping mechanisms, and consequences of coordination breakdowns suggests three factors whose absence may impede effective responses to unexpected interruptions: (1) trajectory awareness of what is going on beyond a person's immediate workspace, (2) information systems integration, and (3) information pooling and learning at the organizational level. We conclude with technological recommendations to promote trajectory awareness and to automate information gathering and monitoring, so as to facilitate multiple group coordination in complex and dynamic task environments.
Keywords: collaboration; coordination breakdown; group boundary; multiple group coordination; trajectory awareness

Factors in the Global Assimilation of Collaborative Information Technologies: An Exploratory Investigation in Five Regions - Bajwa, Deepinder S; Lewis, L Floyd; Pervan, Graham; Lai, Vincent S; Munkvold, BjÃ¸rn E; Schwabe, Gerhard (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
The diffusion of innovation theory is deployed to investigate the global assimilation of collaborative information technologies (CITs). Based on the concepts of IT acquisition and utilization, an assimilation framework is presented to highlight four states (limited, focused, lagging, and pervasive) that capture the assimilation of conferencing and groupware CITs. Data collected from 538 organizations in the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, Norway, and Switzerland are aggregated and analyzed to explore assimilation patterns and the influence of decision-making pattern, functional integration, promotion of collaboration, organization size, and IT function size on the assimilation of CITs. Although most of these factors influence assimilation of CITs from nonadoption to a state of limited assimilation, and from limited assimilation to a state of pervasive assimilation, they may not be critical when assimilation of CITs deviates from the expected path. The implications of our findings are discussed for practice and research on assimilation of CITs.
Keywords: collaborative information technologies; information technology adoption; information technology assimilation; information technology diffusion; information technology innovation

Manufacturers' Distribution Strategy in the Presence of the Electronic Channel - Dazhong, Wu; Ray, Gautam; Whinston, Andrew B (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
The Internet provides an additional channel for manufacturers to provide information about and sell their products. The electronic channel has the advantage of reduced search cost and its reach is increasing, but it has limited capability to provide product information. This paper examines how Internet technology affects a monopoly manufacturer's distribution problem in an environment where product information is important for consumers to identify their ideal product. The model suggests that a manufacturer uses the electronic channel in addition to the physical channel when the product information is very valuable and product information is largely about digital attributes, or when the product information is not valuable. The model also suggests that when the manufacturer chooses to sell through both channels, there is an increase in price competition between the two channels such that the manufacturer need not sell through the electronic retailer with the highest reach. Also, when a large proportion of consumers have access to both channels, the manufacturer may sell through only one channel. The paper also examines the case where the manufacturer operates in the electronic channel and the case where the retailers are integrated.
Keywords: channel management; distribution strategies; electronic commerce; free riding; game theory; product information; search cost

An Economic Analysis of Policies for the Protection and Reuse of Noncopyrightable Database Contents - Hongwei, Zhu; Madnick, Stuart E; Siegel, Michael D (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
The availability of data on the Web and new data extraction technologies have made it increasingly easy to reuse existing data to create new databases and provide value-added services. Meanwhile, database creators have been seeking legal protection for their data, such as the European Union's Database Directive. The legislative development shows that there is significant difficulty in finding the right balance between protecting the incentives of creating publicly accessible databases (including semistructured Web sites) and preserving adequate access to factual data for value-creating activities. We address this issue using an extended spatial competition model that explicitly considers licensing provisions and inefficiencies in policy administration. The results show that, depending on the cost level of database creation, the degree of differentiation of the reuser database, and the efficiency of policy administration, there are different socially beneficial policy choices, such as protecting a legal monopoly, encouraging competition via compulsory licensing, discouraging voluntary licensing, or even allowing free riding. With the appropriate policy in place, both the creators and the reusers should focus on innovation that can increase the variety of databases and create value from database contents.
Keywords: database protection; data reuse; intellectual property; noncopyrightable data

Effect of Network Relations on the Adoption of Electronic Trading Systems - Montazemi, Ali R; Siam, John J; Esfahanipour, Akbar (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Information systems can serve as intermediaries between the buyers and the sellers in a market, creating an "electronic marketplace" that lowers the buyers' cost to acquire information about sellers' prices and product offerings. Although electronic trading systems provide potential to create an efficient market structure, we witness that a $45 trillion fixed-income market still makes little use of these systems. Low penetration of electronic trading systems in the marketplace is at odds with the existing information technology research doctrine. The reason is that the creation of efficient market structure through an electronic marketplace is based on macro-level interfirm relationships that do not take into account the recurrent micro-level, interpersonal interaction among the market actors. Our empirical investigation, based on face-to-face interviews with 90 fixed-income senior managers and traders from 25 financial institutions, provides a unique insight into the social capital based on social networks of interpersonal relationships in the fixed-income market. Our research findings show that the market structure of embedded interpersonal ties enables participants to take advantage of information asymmetry for profit taking. As a result, imposition of solely electronic trading systems on the present fixed-income market structure is at odds with the present interfirm market norms and business processes enacted for large transactions among market makers and institutional investors.
Keywords: alternative trading systems; arm’s-length relationships; electronic trading; embedded relationships; fixed-income market; information flow; network ties

How Endogenous Motivations Influence User Intentions: Beyond the Dichotomy of Extrinsic and Intrinsic User Motivations - Malhotra, Yogesh; Galletta, Dennis F; Kirsch, Laurie J (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Information technology (IT) adoption research recognizes theoretical limitations in discerning if and when user behavior results from perceived external influences or from personal volition. A clear understanding of this issue requires a precise distinction between mandatory and volitional behaviors. Consistent with organismic integration theory (OIT), this study situates the locus of user motivations inside the user. Drawing upon an endogenous view of behaviors, this research makes three key contributions. First, it develops the theoretical basis for clearly discerning if and when behavior results from perceived external influences or from personal volition. Specifically, it examines how endogenous psychological feelings of autonomy, freedom, conflict, and external pressure can predict and explain user intentions. Second, it proposes that behavior may result from combinations of perceived external influences and personal volition. Recognizing how such "collections of motivations" together influence behavior advances our understanding beyond the "dichotomy" of extrinsic versus intrinsic motivations often adopted in prior research. Third, it proposes that some desired behaviors may be thwarted or impeded by a conflict between perceived external influences and personal volition. The theoretically grounded research model was empirically validated in a field study on Blackboard, a Web-based education platform at a large university. Data collected from a sample of 211 users were tested using structural equation models of initial system adoption and experienced use. Empirical support was found for the proposed model and related hypotheses. The results of this study advance our understanding about user motivations for adopting IT.
Keywords: endogenous motivations; locus of causality; organismic integration theory; system adoption; system use; system user motivations; technology-enabled learning

The Role of User Participation in Information Systems Development: Implications from a Meta-Analysis - Jun, He; King, William R (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
This study synthesizes the research findings of 82 empirical studies on user participation in information systems development (ISD). Various ISD outcomes are addressed using a classification scheme involving two broad categories--attitudinal/behavioral outcomes and productivity outcomes. The results demonstrate that user participation is minimally-to-moderately beneficial to ISD; its effects are comparatively stronger on attitudinal/behavioral outcomes than on productivity outcomes. This attitudinal/behavioral impact may largely be the result of the emphasis that has been placed on user participation by academics and consultants. The results of this analysis are compared to those of a meta-analysis in the broader management context of participation. The results are similar in terms of attitudinal outcomes, but different, and lesser, in terms of productivity outcomes. Since the current status of research in the broad area of participation is that the effects of participation are considered to be problematic, that status and the results of this study suggest that user participation alone may not be sufficient to achieve significantly improved ISD outcomes, and that different strategies should be employed based on the specific goals of ISD projects. If system acceptance is the ultimate goal, user participation should be designed to induce more psychological involvement among potential users. If productivity benefits are the focus, user participation should be designed to provide developers the needed domain knowledge. In sum, user participation should be treated as one of a number of means for ISD projects to be more successful.
Keywords: information systems development; meta-analysis; user participation

How Information Changes Consumer Behavior and How Consumer Behavior Determines Corporate Strategy - Clemons, Eric K (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Information availability has increased consumers' informedness, the degree to which they know what is available in the marketplace, with precisely which attributes and at precisely what price. This informedness has altered the demand side of market behavior: customers now discount more heavily when comparable products are available from competitors and when products do not meet their wants, needs, cravings, and longings, but they no longer discount as heavily when purchasing unfamiliar products. Changes in the demand side are producing comparable changes in the supply side: firms earn less than their expectations when competing in traditional mass-market fat spots, while earning far more than previously when entering newly created resonance marketing sweet spots. We trace the impact of hyperdifferentiation and resonance marketing on strategy, with a clear progression from a limited number of fat spots, through reliance on line extensions, and ultimately to fully differentiated market sweet spots.
Keywords: consumer informedness; long tail; marketing strategy; online reviews; resonance marketing; word-of-mouth marketing

How Does Information Technology Shape Supply-Chain Structure?: Evidence on the Number of Suppliers - Dedrick, Jason; Xu, Sean Xin; Zhu, Kevin Xiaoguo (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
This research investigates the relationship between a manufacturer's use of information technology (IT) (particularly electronic procurement) and the number of suppliers in its supply chain. Will a manufacturer use more or fewer suppliers due to the increasing use of IT? Based on data from a sample of 150 U.S. manufacturers, we find no direct relationship between e-procurement and number of suppliers at the aggregate level. However, when we distinguish the type of goods purchased, we find that the use of electronic procurement is associated with buying from more suppliers for custom goods but from fewer suppliers for standard (or commodity) goods. It is possible that for commodity goods, an efficiently functioning transparent market ensures that a few suppliers are sufficient, whereas for custom goods the need for protection from opportunistic vendor holdup leads to the use of more suppliers. Further, the positive relationship between number of suppliers and electronic procurement for custom goods is negatively moderated by deeper buyer--supplier system integration. This implies that such integration can help buyers obtain better "fit" for their customized requirements, an alternative to increasing fit by employing more suppliers as proposed in the extant literature.
Keywords: e-procurement; information technology; interfirm coordination; number of suppliers; supply-chain structure; systems integration; transaction cost economics

How Has Electronic Travel Distribution Been Transformed?: A Test of the Theory of Newly Vulnerable Markets - Granados, Nelson F; Kauffman, Robert J; King, Bradley (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Information technology (IT) advances often create turmoil and disturb existing industry structures. In the travel industry, electronic distribution has existed for decades via the global distribution systems (GDSs), reservation systems that were introduced in the early 1980s on mainframe platforms. Yet with the Internet, new digital intermediaries have threatened the viability of these legacy GDSs. We examine this transformation of e-travel distribution to test the theory of newly vulnerable markets, which predicts how markets become vulnerable to fundamental changes triggered by IT. The tenets of newly vulnerable markets theory are supported. The GDS market became newly easy to enter due to a decrease in barriers to entry caused by the Internet and other technologies, attractive to attack due to their out-of-date and inefficient pricing mechanisms, which made opportunistic pickoff possible across customer profitability gradients, and difficult to defend due to their lack of vision and strategic inflexibility. We use our findings to expand the application of this theory to newly vulnerable e-markets, in general.
Keywords: electronic markets; meta-search agents; newly vulnerable markets; online travel agents; travel distribution

Information Risk of Inadvertent Disclosure: An Analysis of File-Sharing Risk in the Financial Supply Chain - Johnson, M Eric (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Firms face many different types of information security risk. Inadvertent disclosure of sensitive business information represents one of the largest classes of recent security breaches. We examine a specific instance of this problem--inadvertent disclosures through peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. We characterize the extent of the security risk for a group of large financial institutions using a direct analysis of leaked documents. We also characterize the threat of loss by examining search patterns in peer-to-peer networks. Our analysis demonstrates both a substantial threat and vulnerability for large financial firms. We find a statistically significant link between leakage and leak sources including the firm employment base and the number of retail accounts. We also find a link between firm visibility and threat activity. Finally, we find that firms with more leaks also experience increased threat.
Keywords: data breaches; file-sharing; information security; inadvertent disclosure; intellectual property leaks; peer-to-peer networks; risk management

The Deterrent and Displacement Effects of Information Security Enforcement: International Evidence - Png, Ivan P L; Chen-Yu, Wang; Qiu-Hong, Wang (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
We adapt the event study methodology from research in financial economics to study the impact of government enforcement and economic opportunities on information security attacks. We found limited evidence that domestic enforcement deters attacks within the country. However, we found compelling evidence of a displacement effect: U.S. enforcement substantially increases attacks originating from other countries. We also found strong evidence that attackers are economically motivated in that the number of attacks is increasing in the U.S. unemployment rate. Our findings were robust to differences in the effective time window of enforcement and the measurement of vulnerabilities.
Keywords: economics; information security; security attacks; security enforcement; unemployment rate

Does Competition Promote Trust and Trustworthiness in Online Trading?: An Experimental Study - Bolton, Gary; Loebecke, Claudia; Ockenfels, Axel (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
We investigate whether greater market competition improves or inhibits the ability of feedback systems in Internet markets to deliver trust and trustworthiness to the marketplace. Our investigation is grounded in the theory of signaling from information economics. Using methods from experimental economics, we create a laboratory online market where sellers face a moral hazard. We manipulate the level of market competition and the nature of the social network behind the feedback system and study the affect on trust, trustworthiness, and market efficiency. We find that competition in strangers networks, where market encounters are one-shot and reputation information is communicated through outside parties, improves trust, trustworthiness, and market efficiency. The efficiency advantage that partners networks, where a buyer can maintain a repeated relationship with a seller, have over strangers networks largely vanishes with the introduction of competition. This is because the difference in the pattern of social networking largely disappears. Overall, encouraging competition leads to more effective feedback systems in Internet markets. We discuss implications for trader strategy and Internet market design.
Keywords: competitive markets; experimental economics; feedback systems; information economics; moral hazard; online markets; reputation; signaling theory; social networks; trust

Design and Ownership of Two-Sided Networks: Implications for Internet Platforms - Bakos, Yannis; Katsamakas, Evangelos (Journal of Management Information Systems, 2008)
Many Internet intermediaries operate two-sided networks, that is, they provide platforms to bring together two types of participants, or "sides," such as buyers and sellers. This paper develops a model that characterizes the intermediary's pricing in two-sided networks, the value created by these networks, and the allocation of that value across the two sides. It extends the two-sided networks literature by endogenizing the level of network effects as the result of relevant investments by the intermediary, which determine the design of the network. It shows that under certain assumptions about the available technologies, the design of the two-sided network is highly asymmetric independent of its ownership structure. The paper provides insight into design strategies for Internet platforms, and it discusses their welfare implications.
Keywords: intermediation; Internet platforms; network effect; two-sided markets; two-sided networks