Showing papers by "Thomas Hess published in 2015"

Digital Transformation Strategies

Abstract: In recent years, firms in almost all industries have conducted a number of initiatives to explore new digital technologies and to exploit their benefits. This frequently involves transformations of key business operations and affects products and processes, as well as organizational structures and management concepts. Companies need to establish management practices to govern these complex transformations. An important approach is to formulate a digital transformation strategy that serves as a central concept to integrate the entire coordination, prioritization, and implementation of digital transformations within a firm. The exploitation and integration of digital technologies often affect large parts of companies and even go beyond their borders, by impacting products, business processes, sales channels, and supply chains. Potential benefits of digitization are manifold and include increases in sales or productivity, innovations in value creation, as well as novel forms of interaction with customers, among others. As a result, entire business models can be reshaped or replaced (Downes and Nunes 2013). Owing to this wide scope and the far-reaching consequences, digital transformation strategies seek to coordinate and prioritize the many independent threads of digital transformation. To account for their company-spanning characteristics, digital transformation strategies cut across other business strategies and should be aligned with them (Fig. 1). While there are various concepts of IT strategies (Teubner 2013), these mostly define the current and the future operational activities, the necessary application systems and infrastructures, and the adequate organizational and financial framework for providing IT to carry out business operations within a company. Hence, IT strategies usually focus on the management of the IT infrastructure within a firm, with rather limited impact on driving innovations in business development. To some degree, this restricts the product-centric and customer-centric opportunities that arise from new digital technologies, which often cross firms’ borders. Further, IT strategies present systemcentric road maps to the future uses of technologies in a firm, but they do not necessarily account for the transformation of products, processes, and structural aspects that go along with the integration of technologies. Digital transformation strategies take on a different perspective and pursue different goals. Coming from a business-centric perspective, these strategies focus on the transformation of products, processes, and organizational aspects owing to new technologies. Their scope is more broadly designed and explicitly includes digital activities at the interface with or fully on the side of customers, such as Accepted after one revision by Prof. Dr. Sinz.

Digital Transformation Strategies

Abstract: In recent years, firms in almost all industries have conducted a number of initiatives to explore new digital technologies and to exploit their benefits. This frequently involves transformations of key business operations and affects products and processes, as well as organizational structures and management concepts. Companies need to establish management practices to govern these complex transformations. An important approach is to formulate a digital transformation strategy that serves as a central concept to integrate the entire coordination, prioritization, and implementation of digital transformations within a firm. The exploitation and integration of digital technologies often affect large parts of companies and even go beyond their borders, by impacting products, business processes, sales channels, and supply chains. Potential benefits of digitization are manifold and include increases in sales or productivity, innovations in value creation, as well as novel forms of interaction with customers, among others. As a result, entire business models can be reshaped or replaced (Downes and Nunes 2013). Owing to this wide scope and the far-reaching consequences, digital transformation strategies seek to coordinate and prioritize the many independent threads of digital transformation. To account for their company-spanning characteristics, digital transformation strategies cut across other business strategies and should be aligned with them (Fig. 1). While there are various concepts of IT strategies (Teubner 2013), these mostly define the current and the future operational activities, the necessary application systems and infrastructures, and the adequate organizational and financial framework for providing IT to carry out business operations within a company. Hence, IT strategies usually focus on the management of the IT infrastructure within a firm, with rather limited impact on driving innovations in business development. To some degree, this restricts the product-centric and customer-centric opportunities that arise from new digital technologies, which often cross firms’ borders. Further, IT strategies present systemcentric road maps to the future uses of technologies in a firm, but they do not necessarily account for the transformation of products, processes, and structural aspects that go along with the integration of technologies. Digital transformation strategies take on a different perspective and pursue different goals. Coming from a business-centric perspective, these strategies focus on the transformation of products, processes, and organizational aspects owing to new technologies. Their scope is more broadly designed and explicitly includes digital activities at the interface with or fully on the side of customers, such as Accepted after one revision by Prof. Dr. Sinz.

How open is this platform? The meaning and measurement of platform openness from the complementors’ perspective

Abstract: Software platforms’ success largely depends on complementors’ willingness to repeatedly invest their time and effort to the development of platform applications that attract users and increase the platform’s installed base. But how can platform providers encourage desirable behaviours by complementors (i.e., application developers) in the absence of formal roles and hierarchical control structures? Although previous studies of software-based platforms have identified openness as critical instrument at the macro (i.e., platform) level and have provided initial attempts to measure the construct, no research has been dedicated to comprehensively conceptualize and operationalize platform openness at the micro level from the perspective of application developers. To go beyond these preliminary findings and to theorize about the nature and effects of platform openness as perceived by application developers, we develop a construct called perceived platform openness (PPO). Drawing on recently advanced scale development methodologies, we conceptualize PPO as a multidimensional construct and empirically validate it with important consequent variables linked to developers’ continuous platform contributions. Empirical evidence from several rounds of qualitative and quantitative steps supports the conceptual validity of the construct and empirical relevance of the scale across different smartphone platform contexts (i.e., Apple iOS and Google Android). Researchers will benefit from the study’s systematic and comprehensive conceptualization of PPO, how it is measured, and how it relates to critical application developer beliefs and attitudes. Platform managers may use our results to target the underlying facets of PPO most likely to contribute to the platform’s long-term goals.

A Grounded Theory of Online Shopping Flow

Abstract: With the increasing number of websites that have found their way into our daily lives, substantial resources are invested in enhancing user experience beyond mere functionality. Optimizing flow—the psychological state of deep focus while conducting a fluent activity—seems a promising approach, resulting in a win–win situation for both users and website operators. Flow has been found to result in “optimal” user experience leading to intrinsically motivated behavior, engagement, and loyalty. However, to date, there is little concrete knowledge of or advice on how to design a website for flow. This study develops a grounded theory of flow experiences in the context of online shopping, and sheds light on the theoretical relationships between concrete realizable website design options, corresponding latent constructs, and flow experience. Based on our findings we derive theoretical as well as practical implications for understanding and designing flow experience on the web.

Age Differences in the Underlying Mechanisms of Stereotype Threat Effects

Abstract: Studies of aging that have examined stereotype threat have primarily proceeded with the goal of demonstrating that age differences in certain aspects of cognitive performance or behavior may be attributable to negative aging stereotypes associated with ability (for reviews, see Chasteen, Kang, & Remedios, 2012; Hess, 2006). There has been no research, however, directly comparing the mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects across age groups within the same study. Aging studies typically focus on the disproportionate effects of negative stereotypes of old age on older versus younger adults, with the goal of identifying specific mechanisms that affect older adults’ behavior. The fact that threat effects are not induced in the younger adults in these studies precludes direct comparisons of the mechanisms underlying and moderating threat effects across age groups. The goal of the present study was to make such comparisons. Social psychological research has focused predominantly on the impact of stereotype threat on the availability of cognitive resources. For example, younger adults exposed to threat performed worse on a working memory task than those individuals in a control group (Schmader & Johns, 2003). Schmader and colleagues (Johns, Inzlicht, & Schmader, 2008; Schmader & Johns, 2003; Schmader, Johns, & Forbes, 2008) have hypothesized that when individuals are faced with negative stereotypes regarding their abilities, they devote resources to processes such as self-monitoring and emotion regulation, thereby limiting the resources needed to perform difficult cognitive tasks. For example, Cadinu, Maass, Rosabianca, and Kiesner (2005) found that young adults under threat indicate worrisome task-related thoughts, and worry has been found to mediate threat-based effects in young adults (Brodish & Devine, 2009). In addition, stereotype threat has been found to increase physiological arousal (Blascovich, Spencer, Quinn, & Steele, 2001) and reduce heart rate variability, which some consider an indirect indicator of increased cognitive load (Croizet et al., 2004). Thus, it appears that the diversion of cognitive resources to nontask-related processes is one of the primary means through which negative stereotypes operate to degrade performance in young adults. In contrast to this work with young adults, however, studies with older adults have not obtained strong or consistent evidence for the same types of mechanisms underlying threat effects on performance. For example, using a procedure that was very similar to that of Schmader and Johns (2003), Hess, Hinson, and Hodges (2009b) found no evidence that stereotype threat had a negative effect on working memory, assessed using an operation span task. A more recent study by Mazerolle, Regner, Morisset, Rigalleau, and Huguet (2012) reported contrary results, with threat negatively affecting performance on a reading span task. A potential issue in this latter study, however, relates to the fact that the working memory task was characterized as assessing memory. Hess and colleagues (2009b) argued that labeling working memory tasks in this fashion is problematic in studies of aging in that the assessment of the impact of threat on working memory is potentially confounded by threat effects associated with the actual stereotyped ability. Other studies with older adults also provide inconsistent support for the Schmader and colleagues (2008) perspective. For example, situation-based perceptions of threat do not seem to affect older adults’ cognitive resource-consuming responses (Chasteen, Bhattacharyya, Horhota, Tam, & Hasher, 2005; Chasteen et al., 2012). Similarly, threat has been shown to be inconsistently related to state anxiety, with some studies finding null effects (e.g., Chasteen et al., 2005, Experiment 2; Hess & Hinson, 2006; Hess, Hinson, & Statham, 2004), whereas others have found elevated levels of anxiety or negative affect associated with experimental inductions of threat (e.g., Abrams et al., 2008; Abrams, Eller, & Bryant, 2006; Chasteen et al., 2005, Experiment 3; Horton, Baker, Pearce, & Deakin, 2010; Swift, Abrams, & Marques, 2013). Importantly, little evidence has been found for anxiety mediating the effects of situational threat on performance. One possible explanation for the apparent discrepancy in findings across age groups is that young and older adults may respond differently when exposed to threat. For example, there is some evidence that age is associated with enhanced emotion regulatory abilities (Phillips, Henry, Hosie, & Milne, 2008; Scheibe & Blanchard-Fields, 2009). This may result in older adults being better able than younger adults to adaptively respond to threat, perhaps accounting for the weak associations between situation-based threat and affective responses in older adults. Additionally, although reduced working memory capacity has been used as a primary explanation of threat effects in younger individuals, alternative perspectives have been proposed, which may help shed some light on older adults’ responses to threat. One such perspective is based in regulatory focus, a motivational framework that distinguishes between prevention and promotion orientations (Higgins, 1997). Seibt and Forster (2004) suggest that when one is confronted with a negative self-relevant stereotype, it sets up a negative reference point for which the best outcome is one that involves nonloss as opposed to gain. This prevention focus increases vigilance in an attempt to avoid making errors. Positive stereotypes, on the other hand, set up a positive reference point for which the desired end state reflects gain and achievement (i.e., promotion focus) as opposed to loss. In terms of performance, individuals in a prevention focus are more cautious, resulting in more deliberate, less error-prone behavior. A promotion focus, by contrast, is associated with eagerness, leading to faster performance but relatively more mistakes. Seibt and Forster found evidence that negative stereotypes induce a prevention focus, as indexed by reduced speed but increased accuracy, compared with those in the positive stereotype condition whose performance reflected a promotion focus with increased speed but reduced accuracy. It is possible that a regulatory focus perspective might prove more useful than a working memory perspective in characterizing older adults’ responses to threat. This could be due in part to age differences in emotion regulation abilities, with threat resulting in a strategic adjustment on the part of older adults as opposed to the general degradation in performance that might be characterized by working memory disruptions. There is some evidence consistent with such an explanation. For example, Hess, Emery, and Queen (2009a) found that when time was unlimited and thus speed was not a factor, older adults exposed to negative stereotypes performed equally well as their positively stereotyped peers on a memory task. (For a related finding, see Fritzsche, DeRouin, & Salas, 2009.) In contrast, when participants had to make a memory judgment under time constraints, older adults in the negative stereotype condition exhibited poorer overall performance and exhibited a higher ratio of “know” to “remember” responses. This latter pattern has been interpreted as being consistent with an adjustment in response criteria, with more stringent criteria being set for making a positive memory response (Dunn, 2004). This suggests a more cautious approach to the task. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the dominant underlying mechanisms associated with stereotype threat effects vary with age. Older and younger adults were exposed to either positive or negative self-stereotypes and then were tested on tasks designed to directly assess mechanisms hypothesized to reflect shifts in regulatory focus versus disruptions of working memory. To measure regulatory focus, speed and accuracy were assessed using a task similar to that used by Seibt and Forster (2004). Participants also completed an operation span test to examine working memory. We expected that older adults’ performance would be influenced primarily by adjustments in situational regulatory foci, with performance in the negative stereotype condition being slower and more accurate than performance in the positive stereotype condition. Consistent with our previous work (Hess et al., 2009b), we did not expect working memory performance to vary across conditions in the older adults. In contrast, we predicted that threat effects in younger adults’ performance would be based primarily in a reduction in processing resources, as indexed by worse performance on the working memory task in the negative stereotype condition. We anticipated threat would not have as strong of an impact on speed and inaccuracy in young adults as observed in the older adults. We also examined the role of emotion regulation abilities in moderating threat effects. If such effects in young adults primarily reflect diversion of working memory resources by engaging in counterproductive behaviors (e.g., worry; Cadinu et al., 2005), then those individuals with better emotion regulation abilities than their peers may be able to mitigate threat-induced negative thoughts and feelings and subsequently regain their focus for the task at hand. In contrast, if enhanced regulation abilities in later life minimize the negative consequences of affective responses, then older adults’ performance may be less likely to be moderated by regulation abilities. Thus, we also tested the hypothesis that emotion regulation abilities would buffer young adults against threat effects, as reflected in working memory efficiency.

Aging and decision making : empirical and applied perspectives

Abstract: Decisions large and small play a fundamental role in shaping life course trajectories of health and well-being: decisions draw upon an individual's capacity for self-regulation and self-control, their ability to keep long-term goals in mind, and their willingness to place appropriate value on their future well-being. Aging and Decision Making addresses the specific cognitive and affective processes that account for age-related changes in decision making, targeting interventions to compensate for vulnerabilities and leverage strengths in the aging individual. This book focuses on four dominant approaches that characterize the current state of decision-making science and aging - neuroscience, behavioral mechanisms, competence models, and applied perspectives. Underscoring that choice is a ubiquitous component of everyday functioning, Aging and Decision Making examines the implications of how we invest our limited social, temporal, psychological, financial, and physical resources, and lays essential groundwork for the design of decision supportive interventions for adaptive aging that take into account individual capacities and context variables. * Divided into four dominant approaches that characterize the current state of decision-making science and aging neuroscience* Explores the impact of aging on the linkages between cortical structures/functions and the behavioral indices of decision-making* Examines the themes associated with behavioral approaches that attempt integrations of methods, models, and theories of general decision-making with those derived from the study of aging* Details the changes in underlying competencies in later life and the two prevailing themes that have emerged-one, the general individual differences perspective, and two, a more clinical focus

It Is Not Just About Competition with “Free”: Differences Between Content Formats in Consumer Preferences and Willingness to Pay

Abstract: While consumption of content in offline formats continues to decline, many providers are still struggling to monetize their content online, because consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for content in online formats is low. The availability of free content on the Internet is often considered the primary reason for this issue. However, we hold that the lower WTP is also related to a lower appraisal of online formats per se. Using a conjoint analysis and the example of newspaper subscriptions, we explore differences in consumer preferences and WTP between offline and online formats. Our results show that after price, format is the second-most important attribute of a newspaper subscription. While consumers still prefer the printed newspaper to any online format, WTP differs across online formats and is strongly associated with device ownership. Our study provides a novel understanding of the previously neglected factor content format and its importance for content providers.

Managing potentially disruptive innovations in software companies

Abstract: The objective of this study is to investigate the management of disruptive innovation in the software industry using the example of SaaS. Management strategies of well-established software companies are examined who successfully entered the SaaS market.Well-established companies have to shift their focus from the (still) profitable On-premises market to an, as yet unprofitable, On-demand market to survive. Thereby nine management strategies are uncovered that may help managers successfully transform from an On-premises provider to a company focusing on SaaS.The study's findings contribute to both theory and practice. The major contribution of this study is a set of management strategies for managing potentially disruptive innovations. The description of possible dependencies and influences across different strategies leads to a more explanatory theorization and provides advice for practice. The software industry faces a fundamental change from delivering software On-premises to delivering software On-demand. Well-established companies have to shift their focus from the (still) profitable On-premises market to an, as yet unprofitable, On-demand market to survive. This requires strategies to handle the transformation process. Based on five case studies and following Christensen's disruptive innovation theory, we learn the successful strategies that software companies can adopt to handle a change from On-premises to On-demand delivery. These strategies include the general ideas that Christensen proposes and separate extensions for the software industry, suggesting an emerging area of IS research.

The Impact of Motivation and Task Difficulty on Resource Engagement: Differential Influences on Cardiovascular Responses of Young and Older Adults.

Abstract: This study examined whether the level of cognitive engagement older adults were willing to invest is disproportionately influenced by the personal implications of the task, as suggested by Selective Engagement Theory. We experimentally altered the personal implications of the task by manipulating participants accountability for their performance. Young (N = 50) and older (N = 50) adults performed a memory-search task of moderate difficulty but within the capabilities of both age groups. Both physiological (systolic blood pressure responsivity; SBP-R) and subjective (NASA-TLX) measures of cognitive effort were assessed across all difficulty levels. The results replicated findings from previous research that indicated older adults must exert more effort than younger adults to achieve the same level of objective performance. Most importantly, our results showed that older adults were especially sensitive to our accountability manipulation, with the difference in SBP-R between accountability conditions being greater for older than for young adults. Finally, we found that there was little relation between subjective measures of workload and our physiological measures of task engagement. Together, the results of this study provide continued support for the Selective Engagement Theory.

Older adults’ preferences for colorectal cancer-screening test attributes and test choice

Abstract: BACKGROUND Understanding which attributes of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening tests drive older adults' test preferences and choices may help improve decision making surrounding CRC screening in older adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS To explore older adults' preferences for CRC-screening test attributes and screening tests, we conducted a survey with a discrete choice experiment (DCE), a directly selected preferred attribute question, and an unlabeled screening test-choice question in 116 cognitively intact adults aged 70-90 years, without a history of CRC or inflammatory bowel disease. Each participant answered ten discrete choice questions presenting two hypothetical tests comprised of four attributes: testing procedure, mortality reduction, test frequency, and complications. DCE responses were used to estimate each participant's most important attribute and to simulate their preferred test among three existing CRC-screening tests. For each individual, we compared the DCE-derived attributes to directly selected attributes, and the DCE-derived preferred test to a directly selected unlabeled test. RESULTS Older adults do not overwhelmingly value any one CRC-screening test attribute or prefer one type of CRC-screening test over other tests. However, small absolute DCE-derived preferences for the testing procedure attribute and for sigmoidoscopy-equivalent screening tests were revealed. Neither general health, functional, nor cognitive health status were associated with either an individual's most important attribute or most preferred test choice. The DCE-derived most important attribute was associated with each participant's directly selected unlabeled test choice. CONCLUSION Older adults' preferences for CRC-screening tests are not easily predicted. Medical providers should actively explore older adults' preferences for CRC screening, so that they can order a screening test that is concordant with their patients' values. Effective interventions are needed to support complex decision making surrounding CRC screening in older adults.

Why Are Consumers Willing to Pay for Privacy? An Application of the Privacy-freemium Model to Media Companies

Abstract: Monetizing their users’ personal information instead of charging a fee has become an established revenue model for platform operators—a new form of media companies specialized in aggregating, managing, and distributing user-generated online content. However, the commodification of privacy leads to privacy concerns that might be a risk for such businesses. Thus, a new approach is to focus on consumers’ willingness to pay for privacy, assuming that monetizing privacy protection might be an alternative revenue model. Following the freemium idea, we developed an innovative research design, offering 553 online survey participants the opportunity to subscribe to a fictional premium version of Facebook with additional privacy control features in return for a monthly fee. Based on the theory of planned behavior, we developed and tested a research model to explain actual willingness to pay for privacy behavior. Our findings show that perceived usefulness and trust significantly affect willingness to pay. In contrast, perceived internet privacy risk was not found to have a significant influence. We thus conclude that consumers are willing to pay for privacy in the form of a privacy-freemium model, provided they perceive the premium version as offering added value and as trustworthy.

A Prospect Theory-Based Evaluation of Dual-Process Influences on Aging and Decision Making: Support for a Contextual Perspective

Abstract: Many treatments of aging and decision making focus on the impact of declining cognitive abilities on the ability to make effective decisions. A contextual perspective, however, emphasizes both the multidimensionality of influences and multidirectionality of age-related change. Dual-process models emphasize the interplay between affect and cognition in making decisions, and the relative influence of each may reflect both the efficiency of processing within these domains as well as changes in the value assigned to each. Using Prospect Theory as a starting point, I explore how age differences in interplay between experiential and deliberative processes—characterized in terms of four different theoretical perspectives—can be understood through reference to value and probability weighting functions. A systematic exploration of consistency of empirical findings with expectations derived from these perspectives suggests little systematic support for any single one. This emphasizes the importance of considering the context in evaluating the impact of aging on decision making.

Gains and Losses in Functionality – An Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Software Updates on Users’ Continuance Intentions

Abstract: Although software updates are ubiquitous in professional and private IS usage, their impact on user behaviors has received little attention in post-adoption research. Based on expectation-confirmation-theory and the IS continuance model, we investigate the effects of gaining and loosing features through updates on expert and novice users’ continuance intentions (CI). In a vignette based experiment, we find that updates which add features to software after its release increase novices’ CI above and beyond a level generated by a monolithic software package that contains the entire feature set from the beginning. With diminished CI, experts show a contrary reaction to the same update. Losing features through an update, on the other hand, severely diminishes CI for experts and novices alike. Mediation analysis reveals positive disconfirmation of previous expectations as psychological mechanism behind novices’ counter-intuitive and somewhat non-rational responses to gaining features through an update. Implications for research and practice are derived.

Examining the Role of Privacy in Virtual Migration: The Case of WhatsApp and Threema Full paper

Abstract: WhatsApp is a widely used instant messaging application on smartphones. However, owing to privacy deficiencies in WhatsApp, alternative services that emphasize privacy protection, such as Threema, have emerged. Thus, the question arises whether users would switch from WhatsApp to Threema for privacy reasons, and what the factors are that would affect their switching intention. To answer these questions,

The Role of Communication Types on Referral Acceptance in Social Networks

Abstract: The advancement of communication tools has changed interpersonal communication among consumers. Companies leverage different communication tools to reach customers, while it is unclear, how communication types affect online referral acceptance. This study draws on affordances and social presence theory to investigate the role of two communication types (i.e. private and public) in social networks on recipients’ intention to accept a referral. Furthermore, we examine how rewards (i.e. for the referrer or receiver) impact the likelihood of referral acceptance depending on the communication type. We conducted a 3x2 between-subjects experiment. Results demonstrate that referrals without any reward are equally accepted in both communication types. However, when a referral includes a receiver reward, consumers prefer to receive the referral through the private communication type rather than through the public communication type. This research yields empirical evidence that helps companies facilitate the selection of appropriate communica ion types for unrewarded and rewarded online referrals.

A Grounded Theory of Online Shopping Flow

Abstract: With the increasing number of websites that have found their way into our daily lives, substantial resources are invested in enhancing user experience beyond mere functionality. Optimizing flow—the psychological state of deep focus while conducting a fluent activity—seems a promising approach, resulting in a win–win situation for both users and website operators. Flow has been found to result in “optimal” user experience leading to intrinsically motivated behavior, engagement, and loyalty. However, to date, there is little concrete knowledge of or advice on how to design a website for flow. This study develops a grounded theory of flow experiences in the context of online shopping, and sheds light on the theoretical relationships between concrete realizable website design options, corresponding latent constructs, and flow experience. Based on our findings we derive theoretical as well as practical implications for understanding and designing flow experience on the web.

Theories of Age Stereotyping and Views of Aging

Abstract: Stereotypes are cognitive representations – or schemata – of beliefs regarding the characteristics of a group of people that are typically shared by individuals within a culture or social group. These representations play an important role in social interactions by influencing our perceptions of others based upon their membership in stereotyped groups, thereby allowing us to draw inferences about their behavior. Of course, the accuracy of such inferences is dependent upon the accuracy of the stereotype and its appropriate application to a specific target individual. Given the relative inaccuracy of many social stereotypes, however, their influence often leads to biased perceptions of others. The information contained in these representations is also evaluative in nature, and thus stereotypes form the basis for attitudes that we may have toward members of specific social groups. In other words, the content and evaluative components of stereotypes can play an important role in howwe perceive and respond to others in social situations, which in turn can influence the nature of social interactions and the behavior of others. Although most early social psychological theory and research focused on such effects, more recent work has addressed self-stereotyping influences reflecting the degree to which stereotypical beliefs or situational activation of stereotypes affects an individual’s behavior independent of the behavior of others. Research on self-stereotyping effects forms the bulk of much recent aging research and thus is the focus of this section.

Chapter 1 – The Present, Past, and Future of Research on Aging and Decision Making

Abstract: In this chapter, we orient the reader to the emerging field of aging and decision making portrayed in this edited volume. We trace recent progress made in addressing issues identified by the National Research Council (2000, 2006) in three general areas: neurobiological mechanisms, behavioral mechanisms (including cognition, affect, and motivation), and applied perspectives that address decision making in specific contexts of everyday life. We then provide an overview of each of the chapters in the volume and highlight how each contributes to advances in current knowledge of aging and decision making.

The Convergence of Content and Commerce: Exploring a New Type of Business Model

Abstract: Media companies and retailers make increasing efforts to integrate content-oriented and commerceoriented business models online. This has led to the emergence of a new type of business model called content-driven commerce, which has yet to be examined in any depth. In this study, we adopt a phenomenon-based approach and investigate how both media companies and retailers implement content-driven commerce. Using the business model concept as a framework, we conduct a dual case study on an outdoor retailer and a gardening magazine, both of which offer products as well as content online. Our results indicate that the value proposition and the customer relationships of the companies’ online business models are similar, whereas their organizational infrastructure and revenue model differ. When pursuing content-driven commerce, media companies have to ensure not to harm their credibility, while retailers have to overcome the problem of free riding.

Examining the Role of Privacy in Virtual Migration: The Case of WhatsApp and Threema

Abstract: WhatsApp is a widely used instant messaging application on smartphones. However, owing to privacy deficiencies in WhatsApp, alternative services that emphasize privacy protection, such as Threema, have emerged. Thus, the question arises whether users would switch from WhatsApp to Threema for privacy reasons, and what the factors are that would affect their switching intention. To answer these questions, we develop a research model examining the role of privacy in virtual migration, using the push-pullmooring (PPM) migration framework as a theoretical lens. Based on the results of an online survey of 220 German-speaking smartphone users, we found that privacy protection is relevant to users’ switching intention in two ways: as a push effect encouraging users to leave WhatsApp, and as a pull effect attracting users to Threema. However, while our results suggest that peer influence facilitates WhatsApp users’ switching intention, switching costs appear to be a strong barrier.

Digital Transformation Strategies

Abstract: In recent years, firms in almost all industries have conducted a number of initiatives to explore new digital technologies and to exploit their benefits. This frequently involves transformations of key business operations and affects products and processes, as well as organizational structures and management concepts. Companies need to establish management practices to govern these complex transformations. An important approach is to formulate a digital transformation strategy that serves as a central concept to integrate the entire coordination, prioritization, and implementation of digital transformations within a firm. The exploitation and integration of digital technologies often affect large parts of companies and even go beyond their borders, by impacting products, business processes, sales channels, and supply chains. Potential benefits of digitization are manifold and include increases in sales or productivity, innovations in value creation, as well as novel forms of interaction with customers, among others. As a result, entire business models can be reshaped or replaced (Downes and Nunes 2013). Owing to this wide scope and the far-reaching consequences, digital transformation strategies seek to coordinate and prioritize the many independent threads of digital transformation. To account for their company-spanning characteristics, digital transformation strategies cut across other business strategies and should be aligned with them (Fig. 1). While there are various concepts of IT strategies (Teubner 2013), these mostly define the current and the future operational activities, the necessary application systems and infrastructures, and the adequate organizational and financial framework for providing IT to carry out business operations within a company. Hence, IT strategies usually focus on the management of the IT infrastructure within a firm, with rather limited impact on driving innovations in business development. To some degree, this restricts the product-centric and customer-centric opportunities that arise from new digital technologies, which often cross firms’ borders. Further, IT strategies present systemcentric road maps to the future uses of technologies in a firm, but they do not necessarily account for the transformation of products, processes, and structural aspects that go along with the integration of technologies. Digital transformation strategies take on a different perspective and pursue different goals. Coming from a business-centric perspective, these strategies focus on the transformation of products, processes, and organizational aspects owing to new technologies. Their scope is more broadly designed and explicitly includes digital activities at the interface with or fully on the side of customers, such as Accepted after one revision by Prof. Dr. Sinz.

Incentives and More: Four Aspects that Every Innovation in Scholarly Communication Needs To Consider—Answer to “Kingsley/Kennan: Open access: The whipping Boy for Problems in Scholarly publishing”

Abstract: We discuss the scholarly publication model and the impact of the current technological change on knowledge and communication generally on the scholarly publication model. We propose that, rather than open access being the cause of the apparent and impending collapse of the scholarly publication industry, it is but one driver of a far wider change in scholarly publication. That change will have effects that extend well beyond the simple decision of whether a publication should be available by subscription or by one of the forms of open access. We also present several other changes to scholarly publication. The change is inevitable but its extent is as yet unclear.

Gestaltungsorientierter Kern oder Tendenz zur Empirie? Zur neueren methodischen Entwicklung der Wirtschaftsinformatik

Abstract: [Einleitung ...] Im Folgenden soll anhand empirischer Daten untersucht werden, wie sich das Profil der WI hinsichtlich der angewandten Forschungsmethoden in den letzten sechs Jahren entwickelt hat. Konkret werden folgende Ziele adressiert: - Erstens sollen die Einsatzhaufigkeiten der Forschungsmethoden erfasst und basierend darauf das aktuelle Methodenprofil der WI herausgearbeitet werden. - Zweitens soll auf dieser Grundlage und unter Berucksichtigung der Ergebnisse von Wilde/Hess (2007) die Entwicklung der methodischen Schwerpunkte im Zeitverlauf nachvollzogen werden. - Drittens soll herausgearbeitet werden, inwieweit in der WI im Rahmen einer Untersuchung mehrere Methoden eingesetzt werden. Hierfur ist nicht nur der Anteil an Mehr-Methoden-Arbeiten von Interesse, sondern auch die Frage, welche spezifischen Methoden miteinander kombiniert werden. Der Beitrag versteht sich als erweiterte Folgestudie zur Untersuchung von Wilde/Hess (2007). Somit baut er einerseits auf deren theoretischem Fundament auf und orientiert sich andererseits auch am methodischen Vorgehen in dieser Erststudie. Der Beitrag umfasst sechs Kapitel: Zunachst wird auf das theoretische Fundament in Wilde/Hess (2007) rekurriert und das Spektrum der berucksichtigten Methoden sowie deren Verortung in einem zweidimensionalen Methodenprofil erlautert (Kapitel 2). Anschliesend wird das Vorgehen zur Datenerhebung aufgezeigt (Kapitel 3). Die Darstellung des aktuellen Methodenprofils der WI sowie die Einordnung der Ergebnisse in die Entwicklung seit 1997 finden sich in Kapitel 4. In Kapitel 5 wird die Kombination von Methoden erlautert. Abschliesend werden ein Fazit gezogen, die Limitationen dieser Untersuchung diskutiert und ein Ausblick fur zukunftige Forschungsarbeiten gegeben (Kapitel 6).

Keeping software users on board—increasing continuance intention through incremental feature updates

Abstract: Although feature updates are a ubiquitous phenomenon in both professional and private IT usage, they have to date received little attention in the IS post-adoption literature. Drawing on expectationconfirmation theory and the IS continuance literature, we investigate whether, when and how incremental feature updates affect users’ continuance intentions (CI). Based on a controlled laboratory experiment, we find a positive effect of feature updates on users’ CI. According to this effect, software vendors can increase their users’ CI by delivering updates incrementally rather than providing the entire feature set right with the first release. However, we also find that CI diminishes when the number of updates exceeds a tipping point in a given timeframe, disclosing update frequency as crucial boundary condition. Furthermore, we unveil that the beneficial effect of feature updates on CI operates through positive disconfirmation of expectations, resulting in increased user satisfaction. Implications for research and practice as well as directions for future research are discussed.

To Develop or to Reuse? Two Perspectives on External Reuse in Software Projects

Abstract: Using existing software components is a key factor when it comes to increasing productivity and improving the quality of software. It can be regarded as a mean to manage the increasing complexity of software, as software has become prevalent in most areas of our life. Thus, this study seeks to better understand the reuse of external software components. Based on two different theoretical lenses, non-rational effects on decision-making and the transaction cost theory, we analyze the degree of external reuse in software development projects. We tested our theoretical model empirically, with data collected in Germany. The empirical evidence is generally supportive of the theory with some exceptions. We find out that the not-invented-here bias plays the most important role in this strategic decision. Whereas, transaction cost constructs show mixed results. For example, technical uncertainty does not play a role, whereas business uncertainty positively influences the degree of external reuse.

The Digitization of News Aggregation: Experimental Evidence on Intention to Use and Willingness to Pay for Personalized News Aggregators

Abstract: Historically, journalists have manually selected news. This process has been changing dramatically with the development of personalized news aggregators (PNAs), which rely on social recommender systems (SRSs) technology. PNAs provide content geared to the personal preferences of news consumers, and thus offer new business opportunities for news providers. However, little research exists on users' intention to use PNAs or their willingness to pay (WTP) for such services. We developed PNA prototypes based on hybrid and social recommender systems and tested their performance in an online experiment. While the results showed little difference in users' intention to use either system, content provided by SRSs was perceived as more accurate. Furthermore, the optimal price point for the social recommender system (a#x20AC;1.68) was 68% higher than the price point for the hybrid recommender system.

Gestaltungsorientierter Kern oder Tendenz zur Empirie? Zur neueren methodischen Entwicklung der Wirtschaftsinformatik

Abstract: [Einleitung ...] Im Folgenden soll anhand empirischer Daten untersucht werden, wie sich das Profil der WI hinsichtlich der angewandten Forschungsmethoden in den letzten sechs Jahren entwickelt hat. Konkret werden folgende Ziele adressiert: - Erstens sollen die Einsatzhaufigkeiten der Forschungsmethoden erfasst und basierend darauf das aktuelle Methodenprofil der WI herausgearbeitet werden. - Zweitens soll auf dieser Grundlage und unter Berucksichtigung der Ergebnisse von Wilde/Hess (2007) die Entwicklung der methodischen Schwerpunkte im Zeitverlauf nachvollzogen werden. - Drittens soll herausgearbeitet werden, inwieweit in der WI im Rahmen einer Untersuchung mehrere Methoden eingesetzt werden. Hierfur ist nicht nur der Anteil an Mehr-Methoden-Arbeiten von Interesse, sondern auch die Frage, welche spezifischen Methoden miteinander kombiniert werden. Der Beitrag versteht sich als erweiterte Folgestudie zur Untersuchung von Wilde/Hess (2007). Somit baut er einerseits auf deren theoretischem Fundament auf und orientiert sich andererseits auch am methodischen Vorgehen in dieser Erststudie. Der Beitrag umfasst sechs Kapitel: Zunachst wird auf das theoretische Fundament in Wilde/Hess (2007) rekurriert und das Spektrum der berucksichtigten Methoden sowie deren Verortung in einem zweidimensionalen Methodenprofil erlautert (Kapitel 2). Anschliesend wird das Vorgehen zur Datenerhebung aufgezeigt (Kapitel 3). Die Darstellung des aktuellen Methodenprofils der WI sowie die Einordnung der Ergebnisse in die Entwicklung seit 1997 finden sich in Kapitel 4. In Kapitel 5 wird die Kombination von Methoden erlautert. Abschliesend werden ein Fazit gezogen, die Limitationen dieser Untersuchung diskutiert und ein Ausblick fur zukunftige Forschungsarbeiten gegeben (Kapitel 6).