DePaul University

About: DePaul University is a education organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 5658 authors who have published 11562 publications receiving 295257 citations.

Distinguishing technologies for social interaction: The perceived social affordances of communication channels scale

Abstract: The concept of affordances in communication technology research has proven to be heuristically provocative, yet perceived affordances are rarely measured. After extracting commonly cited social affordances from the literature, we developed a measure to assess participants’ perceptions of these affordances. The scale was tested across eight communication channels in two studies (face-to-face; texting; phone; email; posts on social networking sites, specifically Facebook; instant messaging; Skype videoconferencing; and mobile app Snapchat). A factor structure was developed in Study 1 and confirmed in Study 2. The resultant Perceived Social Affordances of Communication Channels Scale includes 41 items measuring 10 communicative affordances: accessibility, bandwidth, social presence, privacy, network association, personalization, persistence, editability, conversation control, and anonymity. Potential methodological and theoretical applications are discussed.

How Much Did Banks Pay to Become Too-Big-To-Fail and to Become Systemically Important?

Abstract: This paper estimates the value of the too-big-to-fail (TBTF) subsidy. Using data from the merger boom of 1991-2004, we find that banking organizations were willing to pay an added premium for mergers that would put them over the asset sizes that are commonly viewed as the thresholds for being TBTF. We estimate at least $14 billion in added premiums for the eight merger deals that brought the organizations to over $100 billion in assets. In addition, we find that both the stock and bond markets reacted positively to these deals. Our estimated TBTF subsidy is large enough to create serious concern, since recent assisted mergers have allowed TBTF organizations to become even bigger and for nonbanks to become part of TBTF banking organizations, thus extending the TBTF subsidy beyond banking.

Feature model extraction from large collections of informal product descriptions

Abstract: Feature Models (FMs) are used extensively in software product line engineering to help generate and validate individual product configurations and to provide support for domain analysis. As FM construction can be tedious and time-consuming, researchers have previously developed techniques for extracting FMs from sets of formally specified individual configurations, or from software requirements specifications for families of existing products. However, such artifacts are often not available. In this paper we present a novel, automated approach for constructing FMs from publicly available product descriptions found in online product repositories and marketing websites such as SoftPedia and CNET. While each individual product description provides only a partial view of features in the domain, a large set of descriptions can provide fairly comprehensive coverage. Our approach utilizes hundreds of partial product descriptions to construct an FM and is described and evaluated against antivirus product descriptions mined from SoftPedia.

Critical Incidents in Communicating Culture to Newcomers: The Meaning is the Message

Abstract: Recent hires (n = 149) in 12 electronics manufacturing firms were asked to relate their experiences of formative events and the messages derived from them. Newcomers also described the behavioral norms characterizing their organization, one facet of its culture. Critical incidents newcomers reported were significantly related to their perceptions of behavioral norms. The messages newcomers interpreted from these incidents were coded in terms of positive or negative frame (emphasizing desirable or undesirable outcomes). Positively framed events were related to experiencing the organization's culture as team-oriented. Negatively framed events were related to describing the culture as more control-oriented. Analyses indicate that the critical incidents impact beliefs regarding cultural norms through their effect on the frame of the message newcomers derive from the events. Moreover, team norms were negatively related to role conflict and positively related to role clarity. Findings are interpreted with respe...