Showing papers in "Management Information Systems Quarterly in 2006"
TL;DR: The essay addresses issues of causality, explanation, prediction, and generalization that underlie an understanding of theory, and suggests that the type of theory under development can influence the choice of an epistemological approach.
Abstract: The aim of this research essay is to examine the structural nature of theory in Information Systems. Despite the importance of theory, questions relating to its form and structure are neglected in comparison with questions relating to epistemology. The essay addresses issues of causality, explanation, prediction, and generalization that underlie an understanding of theory. A taxonomy is proposed that classifies information systems theories with respect to the manner in which four central goals are addressed: analysis, explanation, prediction, and prescription. Five interrelated types of theory are distinguished: (1) theory for analyzing, (2) theory for explaining, (3) theory for predicting, (4) theory for explaining and predicting, and (5) theory for design and action. Examples illustrate the nature of each theory type. The applicability of the taxonomy is demonstrated by classifying a sample of journal articles. The paper contributes by showing that multiple views of theory exist and by exposing the assumptions underlying different viewpoints. In addition, it is suggested that the type of theory under development can influence the choice of an epistemological approach. Support is given for the legitimacy and value of each theory type. The building of integrated bodies of theory that encompass all theory types is advocated.
3,070 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a longitudinal study with online consumers supports the proposed e-commerce adoption model, validating the predictive power of TPB and the proposed conceptualization of PBC as a higher-order factor formed by selfefficacy and controllability.
Abstract: This paper extends Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain and predict the process of e-commerce adoption by consumers. The process is captured through two online consumer behaviors: (1) getting information and (2) purchasing a product from a Web vendor. First, we simultaneously model the association between these two contingent online behaviors and their respective intentions by appealing to consumer behavior theories and the theory of implementation intentions, respectively. Second, following TPB, we derive for each behavior its intention, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC). Third, we elicit and test a comprehensive set of salient beliefs for each behavior.
A longitudinal study with online consumers supports the proposed e-commerce adoption model, validating the predictive power of TPB and the proposed conceptualization of PBC as a higher-order factor formed by self-efficacy and controllability. Our findings stress the importance of trust and technology adoption variables (perceived usefulness and ease of use) as salient beliefs for predicting e-commerce adoption, justifying the integration of trust and technology adoption variables within the TPB framework. In addition, technological characteristics (download delay, Website navigability, and information protection), consumer skills, time and monetary resources, and product characteristics (product diagnosticity and product value) add to the explanatory and predictive power of our model. Implications for Information Systems, e-commerce, TPB, and the study of trust are discussed.
1,969 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that integrated IT infrastructures enable firms to develop the higher-order capability of supply chain process integration, which results in significant and sustained firm performance gains, especially in operational excellence and revenue growth.
Abstract: Best practice exemplars suggest that digital platforms play a critical role in managing supply chain activities and partnerships that generate performance gains for firms. However, there is limited academic investigation on how and why information technology can create performance gains for firms in a supply chain management (SCM) context. Grant's (1996) theoretical notion of higher-order capabilities and a hierarchy of capabilities has been used in recent information systems research by Barua et al. (2004), Sambamurthy et al. (2003), and Mithas et al. (2004) to reframe the conversation from the direct performance impacts of IT resources and investments to how and why IT shapes higher-order process capabilities that create performance gains for firms. We draw on the emerging IT-enabled organizational capabilities perspective to suggest that firms that develop IT infrastructure integration for SCM and leverage it to create a higher-order supply chain integration capability generate significant and sustainable performance gains. A research model is developed to investigate the hierarchy of IT-related capabilities and their impact on firm performance. Data were collected from 110 supply chain and logistics managers in manufacturing and retail organizations. Our results suggest that integrated IT infrastructures enable firms to develop the higher-order capability of supply chain process integration. This capability enables firms to unbundle information flows from physical flows, and to share information with their supply chain partners to create information-based approaches for superior demand planning, for the staging and movement of physical products, and for streamlining voluminous and complex financial work processes. Furthermore, IT-enabled supply chain integration capability results in significant and sustained firm performance gains, especially in operational excellence and revenue growth. Managerial initiatives should be directed at developing an integrated IT infrastructure and leveraging it to create process capabilities for the integration of resource flows between a firm and its supply chain partners.
1,759 citations
TL;DR: A review of the organizational and cross-cultural IT literature is provided in order to lend insights into the understanding of the linkages between IT and culture and develops a theory of IT, values, and conflict.
Abstract: An understanding of culture is important to the study of information technologies in that culture at various levels, including national, organizational, and group, can influence the successful implementation and use of information technology. Culture also plays a role in managerial processes that may directly, or indirectly, influence IT. Culture is a challenging variable to research, in part because of the multiple divergent definitions and measures of culture. Notwithstanding, a wide body of literature has emerged that sheds light on the relationship of IT and culture. This paper sets out to provide a review of this literature in order to lend insights into our understanding of the linkages between IT and culture. We begin by conceptualizing culture and laying the groundwork for a values-based approach to the examination of IT and culture. Using this approach, we then provide a comprehensive review of the organizational and cross-cultural IT literature that conceptually links these two traditionally separate streams of research. From our analysis, we develop six themes of IT-culture research emphasizing culture's impact on IT, IT's impact on culture, and IT culture. Building upon these themes, we then develop a theory of IT, values, and conflict. Based upon the theory, we develop propositions concerning three types of cultural conflict and the results of these conflicts. Ultimately, the theory suggests that the reconciliation of these conflicts results in a reorientation of values. We conclude with the particular research challenges posed in this line of inquiry.
1,591 citations
TL;DR: A trust-centered, cognitive and emotional balanced perspective to study RA adoption is taken, and the effects of perceived personalization and familiarity on cognitive trust and emotional trust in an RA are examined.
Abstract: In the context of personalization technologies, such as Web-based product-brokering recommendation agents (RAs) in electronic commerce, existing technology acceptance theories need to be expanded to take into account not only the cognitive beliefs leading to adoption behavior, but also the affect elicited by the personalized nature of the technology. This study takes a trust-centered, cognitive and emotional balanced perspective to study RA adoption. Grounded on the theory of reasoned action, the IT adoption literature, and the trust literature, this study theoretically articulates and empirically examines the effects of perceived personalization and familiarity on cognitive trust and emotional trust in an RA, and the impact of cognitive trust and emotional trust on the intention to adopt the RA either as a decision aid or as a delegated agent.
An experiment was conducted using two commercial RAs. PLS analysis results provide empirical support for the proposed theoretical perspective. Perceived personalization significantly increases customers' intention to adopt by increasing cognitive trust and emotional trust. Emotional trust plays an important role beyond cognitive trust in determining customers' intention to adopt. Emotional trust fully mediates the impact of cognitive trust on the intention to adopt the RA as a delegated agent, while it only partially mediates the impact of cognitive trust on the intention to adopt the RA as a decision aid. Familiarity increases the intention to adopt through cognitive trust and emotional trust.
1,161 citations
TL;DR: Influence processes are introduced as policy tools that managers can employ to motivate IT acceptance within their organizations, benchmarks alternative influence strategies, and demonstrates the need for customizing influence strategies to the specific needs of a user population.
Abstract: This study examines how processes of external influence shape information technology acceptance among potential users, how such influence effects vary across a user population, and whether these effects are persistent over time. Drawing on the elaboration-likelihood model (ELM), we compared two alternative influence processes, the central and peripheral routes, in motivating IT acceptance. These processes were respectively operationalized using the argument quality and source credibility constructs, and linked to perceived usefulness and attitude, the core perceptual drivers of IT acceptance. We further examined how these influence processes were moderated by users' IT expertise and perceived job relevance and the temporal stability of such influence effects. Nine hypotheses thus developed were empirically validated using a field survey of document management system acceptance at an eastern European governmental agency. This study contributes to the IT acceptance literature by introducing ELM as a referent theory for acceptance research, by elaborating alternative modes of influence, and by specifying factors moderating their effects. For practitioners, this study introduces influence processes as policy tools that managers can employ to motivate IT acceptance within their organizations, benchmarks alternative influence strategies, and demonstrates the need for customizing influence strategies to the specific needs of a user population.
1,093 citations
TL;DR: This study examines the relationship between information technology features, specifically information transparency features, and consumer willingness to share information for online personalization and indicates that customers who desire greater information transparency are less willing to be profiled.
Abstract: Firms today use information about customers to improve service and design personalized offerings. To do this successfully, however, firms must collect consumer information. This study enhances awareness about a central paradox for firms investing in personalization; namely, that consumers who value information transparency are also less likely to participate in personalization. We examine the relationship between information technology features, specifically information transparency features, and consumer willingness to share information for online personalization. Based on a survey of over 400 online consumers, we examine the question of whether customer perceived information transparency is associated with consumer willingness to be profiled online. Our results indicate that customers who desire greater information transparency are less willing to be profiled. This result poses a dilemma for firms, as the consumers that value information transparency features most are also the consumers who are less willing to be profiled online. In order to manage this dilemma, we suggest that firms adopt a strategy of providing features that address the needs of consumers who are more willing to partake in personalization, therefore accepting that the privacy sensitive minority of consumers are unwilling to participate in personalization, despite additional privacy features.
1,021 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that individuals espouse national cultural values to differing degrees and that social norms are stronger determinants of intended behavior for individuals who espouse feminine and high uncertainty avoidance cultural values.
Abstract: Prior research has examined age, gender, experience, and voluntariness as the main moderators of beliefs on technology acceptance. This paper extends this line of research beyond these demographic and situational variables. Motivated by research that suggests that behavioral models do not universally hold across cultures, the paper identifies espoused national cultural values as an important set of individual difference moderators in technology acceptance. Building on research in psychological anthropology and cultural psychology that assesses cultural traits by personality tests at the individual level of analysis, we argue that individuals espouse national cultural values to differing degrees. These espoused national cultural values of masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance are incorporated into an extended model of technology acceptance as moderators. We conducted two studies to test our model. Results indicated that, as hypothesized, social norms are stronger determinants of intended behavior for individuals who espouse feminine and high uncertainty avoidance cultural values. Contrary to expectations, espoused masculinity/femininity values did not moderate the relationship between perceived usefulness and behavioral intention but, as expected, did moderate the relationship between perceived ease of use and behavioral intention.
1,010 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the open source software phenomenon has metamorphosed into a more mainstream and commercially viable form, which the author labels as OSS 2.0, and how the bazaar metaphor has actually shifted to become a metaphor better suited to the OSS 1.0 product delivery and support process.
Abstract: A frequent characterization of open source software is the somewhat outdated, mythical one of a collective of supremely talented software hackers freely volunteering their services to produce uniformly high-quality software. I contend that the open source software phenomenon has metamorphosed into a more mainstream and commercially viable form, which I label as OSS 2.0. I illustrate this transformation using a framework of process and product factors, and discuss how the bazaar metaphor, which up to now has been associated with the open source development process, has actually shifted to become a metaphor better suited to the OSS 2.0 product delivery and support process. Overall the OSS 2.0 phenomenon is significantly different from its free software antecedent. Its emergence accentuates the fundamental alteration of the basic ground rules in the software landscape, signifying the end of the proprietary-driven model that has prevailed for the past 20 years or so. Thus, a clear understanding of the characteristics of the emergent OSS 2.0 phenomenon is required to address key challenges for research and practice.
837 citations
TL;DR: A framework of the OSS community ideology (including specific norms, beliefs, and values) and a theoretical model to show how adherence to components of the ideology impacts effectiveness in OSS teams are developed.
Abstract: The emerging work on understanding open source software has questioned what leads to effectiveness in OSS development teams in the absence of formal controls, and it has pointed to the importance of ideology. This paper develops a framework of the OSS community ideology (including specific norms, beliefs, and values) and a theoretical model to show how adherence to components of the ideology impacts effectiveness in OSS teams. The model is based on the idea that the tenets of the OSS ideology motivate behaviors that enhance cognitive trust and communication quality and encourage identification with the project team, which enhances affective trust. Trust and communication in turn impact OSS team effectiveness. The research considers two kinds of effectiveness in OSS teams: the attraction and retention of developer input and the generation of project outputs. Hypotheses regarding antecedents to each are developed. Hypotheses are tested using survey and objective data on OSS projects. Results support the main thesis that OSS team members' adherence to the tenets of the OSS community ideology impacts OSS team effectiveness and reveal that different components impact effectiveness in different ways. Of particular interest is the finding that adherence to some ideological components was beneficial to the effectiveness of the team in terms of attracting and retaining input, but detrimental to the output of the team. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
593 citations
TL;DR: This research has been supported by grants from the CISE/IIS/CSS Division of the U.S. National Science Foundation and the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center to the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO) at the University of California, Irvine.
Abstract: As firms seek to improve coordination through the use of electronic interorganizational systems (IOS), open standards are becoming increasingly important. To better understand the process of standards diffusion, we investigate firms' migration from proprietary or less-open IOS (i.e., electronic data interchange or EDI) to open-standard IOS (i.e., the Internet). Theoretical work in economics suggests that network effects are a determinant of network adoption, yet the extant literature falls short of empirical testing of the theory. We develop a conceptual model that features network effects, expected benefits, and adoption costs as prominent antecedents. We examine the model on a large dataset of 1,394 firms. The empirical results demonstrate the significant impacts of network effects on open-standard IOS adoption. We find that adoption costs are a significant barrier to open-standard IOS adoption, but EDI users and nonusers treat this very differently: EDI users are much more sensitive to the costs of switching to the new standard. This finding illustrates that experience with older standards may create switching costs and make it difficult to shift to open and potentially better standards, a phenomenon called "excess inertia" in technology change. Further testing the underlying factors that contribute to network effects and adoption costs, we find that trading community influence is a key driver of network effects, while managerial complexity, as opposed to financial costs, is a key determinant of adoption costs. Overall we believe that this study, based on a rigorous empirical analysis of a unique international dataset, provides valuable insights into a set of key factors that influence standards diffusion.
TL;DR: The study identifies the relatedness and complementarity of IT resources as two major sources of cross-unit IT synergy and argues that IT relatedness-the use of common IT infrastructure technologies and common IT management processes across business units-creates sub-additive cost synergies, whereas complementarities among IT infrastructure and management processes create super- additive value synergies.
Abstract: Unlike technologies that are applicable in a few specific industries, information technologies have a wide range of applicability across almost all industries. The fundamental principles of good IT management are also applicable in many industries. Thus, firms whose business units operate in different industries have an opportunity to exploit cross-unit IT synergies by applying their IT resources and management processes across multiple units. This study examines sources of cross-unit IT synergy and the conditions under which cross-unit IT synergies improve the performance of multibusiness firms. Building on the resource-based view of diversification and the economic theory of complementarities, the study identifies the relatedness and complementarity of IT resources as two major sources of cross-unit IT synergy. It argues that IT relatedness-the use of common IT infrastructure technologies and common IT management processes across business units-creates sub-additive cost synergies, whereas complementarities among IT infrastructure technologies and IT management processes create super-additive value synergies. In a sample of 356 multibusiness Fortune 1000 firms, the study finds that sub-additive cost synergies arising from the use of related IT resources or management processes do not have any effects on corporate performance, whereas the super-additive value synergies arising from the use of a complementary set of IT resources and management processes have significant effects on corporate performance. The diversification level of the firm moderates the relationship between IT synergies and corporate performance. As the diversification level increases, the performance effects of IT synergies remain positive, but they become weaker. The IT governance mode of the firm (centralized, decentralized, hybrid) does not make a difference in the performance effects of IT synergies.
TL;DR: This study provides a more comprehensive conceptual definition of compatibility that disaggregates the content of compatibility into four distinct and separable constructs: compatibility with preferred work style, compatibility with existing work practices, Compatibility with prior experience, and compatibility with values.
Abstract: Theoretical and empirical research in technology acceptance, while acknowledging the importance of individual beliefs about the compatibility of a technology, has produced equivocal results. This study focuses on further conceptual development of this important belief in technology acceptance. Unlike much prior research that has focused on only a limited aspect of compatibility, we provide a more comprehensive conceptual definition that disaggregates the content of compatibility into four distinct and separable constructs: compatibility with preferred work style, compatibility with existing work practices, compatibility with prior experience, and compatibility with values. We suggest that the form of the multidimensional compatibility construct is best modeled as a multivariate structural model. Based on their conceptual definitions, we develop operational measures for the four compatibility variables. We assess the nomological validity of our conceptualization by situating it within the technology acceptance model. In contrast to prior research, which has regarded beliefs of compatibility as an independent antecedent of technology acceptance outcomes, we posit causal linkages not only among the four compatibility beliefs, but also between compatibility beliefs and usefulness, and ease of use. We test our theoretical model with a field sample of 278 users of a customer relationship management system in the context of a large bank. Scale validation indicates that the operational measures of compatibility developed in this study have acceptable psychometric properties, which support the existence of four distinct constructs. Results largely support the theorized relationships.
TL;DR: The findings indicate that content relevance, self reference, and goal specificity affect the attention, cognitive processes, and decisions of web users in various ways and are found to be receptive to personalized content and find it useful as a decision aid.
Abstract: Personalized information technology services have become a ubiquitous phenomenon. Companies worldwide are using the web to provide personalized offerings and unique experiences to their customers. While there is a lot of hype about delivering personalized services over the web, little is known about the effectiveness of web personalization and the link between the IT artifact (the personalization agent) and the effects it exerts on a user's information processing and decision making. To address the impact of personalized content, this article theoretically develops and empirically tests a model of web personalization. The model is grounded on social cognition and consumer research theories adapted to the peculiar features of web personalization. The influence of a personalization agent is mediated by two variables: content relevance and self reference. Hypotheses generated from the model are empirically tested in a laboratory experiment and a field study. The findings indicate that content relevance, self reference, and goal specificity affect the attention, cognitive processes, and decisions of web users in various ways. Also, users are found to be receptive to personalized content and find it useful as a decision aid. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This editorial is frustrated by sweeping statements made by some researchers that PLS modeling can or should be used (often instead of the covariance-based approach) because it makes no sample size assumptions or because somehow “Sample size is less important in the overall model”.
Abstract: We are writing this editorial because it appears to us that some researchers in the Information Systems community view partialleast squares modeling (PLS; also referred to as path analysis with composites or soft modeling) as some type of magical silverbullet. These researchers are less critical about the use of PLS than they should be. In spite of cautiously proposed rules o f thumbavailable in the PLS literature, we are frustrated by sweeping clai ms made by some researchers that PLS modeling can or shouldbe used (often instead of the covariance-based approach) because it makes no sample size assumptions or because somehow“Sample size is less important in the overall model” (Falk and Miller 1992, p. 93). We are seeing an increasing number of suchclaims in papers submitted for review. It would be nice to think that such statements would be weeded out in the review proces s.However, more and more studies across a number of disciplines ar e creeping into the literature in which the samples are dwindli ngto ridiculously small sizes, despite the inferential intentions of the studies and the magnitude of parent populations. The use ofsmall samples in these studies is frequently legitimized by refere nces to the original developers of the PLS approach. Even
Journal Article•
TL;DR: A conceptual model based on the theory of dynamic capabilities to study how manufacturing plants realize improvements in plant performance by leveraging plant information systems to enable implementation of advanced manufacturing capabilities suggests that manufacturing capabilities mediate the impact of information systems on plant performance.
Abstract: Firms have been investing over $5 billion a year in recent years on new information technology and software in their manufacturing plants. In this study, we develop a conceptual model based on the theory of dynamic capabilities to study how manufacturing plants realize improvements in plant performance by leveraging plant information systems to enable implementation of advanced manufacturing capabilities. We develop hypotheses about relationships between information systems, their impact on manufacturing practices, and the overall impact on plant performance. Analysis of survey data from 1,077 U.S. manufacturing plants provides empirical support for the dynamic capabilities model and suggests that manufacturing capabilities mediate the impact of information systems on plant performance. Our results underscore the importance of manufacturing and organizational capabilities in studying the impact of IT on manufacturing plant productivity, and provide a sharper theoretical lens to evaluate their impact.
TL;DR: This contribution examines VIS standardization through the lens of collective action theory, applied in the literature to information technology product standardization, but not yet to VIS standardized, which is led by heterogeneous groups of user organizations rather than by IT vendors.
Abstract: Vertical information systems (VIS) standards are technical specifications designed to promote coordination among the organizations within (or across) vertical industry sectors. Examples include the bar code, electronic data interchange (EDI) standards, and RosettaNet business process standards in the electronics industry. This contribution examines VIS standardization through the lens of collective action theory, applied in the literature to information technology product standardization, but not yet to VIS standardization, which is led by heterogeneous groups of user organizations rather than by IT vendors. Through an intensive case analysis of VIS standardization in the U.S. residential mortgage industry, VIS standardization success is shown to be as problematic as IT product standardization success, but for different reasons.
VIS standardization involves two linked collective action dilemmas-standards development and standards diffusion- with different characteristics, such that a solution to the first may fail to resolve the second. Whereas prior theoretical and empirical research shows that IT product standardization efforts tend to splinter into rival factions that compete through standards wars in the marketplace, successful VIS standards consortia must encompass heterogeneous groups of user organizations and IT vendors without fragmenting. Some tactics successfully used to solve the collective action dilemma of VIS standardization (e.g., governance mechanisms and policies about intellectual property protection) are also used by IT product standardization efforts, but some are different, and successful VIS standardization requires a package of solutions tailored to fit and jointly resolve the specific dilemmas of particular VIS standards initiatives.
TL;DR: A model of ethical decision making that is an adaptation of the four-component model of morality is proposed and it is found that use is determined by buying, buying is determinedby intention, and intention is determinedBy judgment.
Abstract: Software piracy costs the software industry billions of dollars each year. To better understand piracy, we propose a model of ethical decision making that is an adaptation of the four-component model of morality. This model defines four internal processes that result in external moral behavior: recognition, judgment, intention, and behavior. We test our model with a sample of Information Systems students in Hong Kong who provided measures of self-reported behavior regarding levels of buying and using pirated software. Using partial least squares, we investigated the causal pathways of the model and the effects of age and gender. We find that use is determined by buying, buying is determined by intention, and intention is determined by judgment. Although respondents recognized software piracy as an infringement of intellectual property rights, this fact did not affect their judgment of the morality of the act. Significant differences are also found in the ethical decision-making process based on age but only limited differences based on gender. The implications of these results, including the development of a professional ethics program, are discussed.
TL;DR: The Cox regression results indicate both integrative dimensions significantly mitigate the duration of IT-related project delays, thus promoting timely project completion and revealing the importance of taking management structure into consideration when studying IT phenomena in networked organizations.
Abstract: Successful product and process design depends on management's ability to integrate fragmented pockets of specialized knowledge. This integrative capability has important implications for large-scale information technology projects. This article examines the relationship between timely project completion and two dimensions of management's integrative capability: access to external knowledge and internal knowledge integration. Measures of these two dimensions are used to predict on-time project completion, where completion is a function of the duration of IT-related project delays. In a longitudinal study of 74 enterprise application integration projects in the medical sector, integrative capability was measured from the point of view of the CIO and a facility IT manager. Accounting for several project controls, our Cox regression results indicate both integrative dimensions significantly mitigate the duration of IT-related project delays, thus promoting timely project completion. The analysis also reveals the importance of taking management structure into consideration when studying IT phenomena in networked organizations.
TL;DR: Based on a case study conducted over a period of three years in a Norwegian hospital on the standardization process of an electronic patient record, this paper demonstrates the socio-technical complexity of IS standards and standardization efforts and suggests a theoretical interpretation of standardization complexity.
Abstract: This paper addresses the general question proposed by the call of this special issue: "What historical or contingent events and factors influence the creation of ICT standards, and in particular, their success or failure?" Based on a case study conducted over a period of three years in a Norwegian hospital on the standardization process of an electronic patient record (EPR), the paper contributes to the current discussion on the conceptualization of standard-making in the field of Information Systems. By drawing upon the concepts of logic of ordering adopted from actor-network theory and upon reflexivity and the unexpected side effects adopted from reflexive modernization, the paper makes three key contributions: (1) it demonstrates the socio-technical complexity of IS standards and standardization efforts; (2) it shows how complexity generates reflexive processes that undermine standardization aims; and (3) it suggests a theoretical interpretation of standardization complexity by using ideas from complexity theory and the theory of reflexive modernization. These research questions are addressed by offering an historical and contingent analysis of the complexity dynamics emerging from the case.
TL;DR: A model relating Web navigation systems, disorientation, engagement,user performance, user performance, and intentions is developed and tested and two design guidelines to govern the development of future Web-based systems are suggested.
Abstract: This paper draws on research from a wide literature base to develop a model relating Web navigation systems, disorientation, engagement, user performance, and intentions. The model is tested in an experimental study examining the effects of one simple and two global navigation systems. Although well-accepted design guidelines were followed for the first global navigation system, it was not superior to the simple system. However, the second global navigation system resulted in lower disorientation than the simple system. Based on the study's results, two design guidelines to govern the development of future Web-based systems are suggested.
TL;DR: The generalizability of the MUG conceptualization, metric, and associated instrument from the United States to Finland is established and support for a model of site use that employs the Mugs categories and subcategories as predictors is found.
Abstract: Recent research has presented a conceptualization, metric, and instrument based on Microsoft Usability Guidelines (MUG; see Agarwal and Venkatesh 2002). In this paper, we use MUG to further our understanding of web and wireless site use. We conducted two empirical studies among over 1,000 participants. In study 1, conducted in both the United States and Finland, we establish the generalizability of the MUG conceptualization, metric, and associated instrument from the United States to Finland. In study 2, which involved longitudinal data collection in Finland, we delved into an examination of differences in factors important in determining web versus wireless site usability. Also, in study 2, based on a follow-up survey about site use conducted 3 months after the initial survey, we found support for a model of site use that employs the MUG categories and subcategories as predictors. The MUG-based model outperformed the widely employed technology acceptance model both in terms of richness and variance explained (about 70 percent compared to 50 percent).
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments, and propose that examining how individuals and organizations use information systems to reliably perform work will increase both the richness and relevance of IS research.
Abstract: In a world where information technology is both important and imperfect, organizations and individuals are faced with the ongoing challenge of determining how to use complex, fragile systems in dynamic contexts to achieve reliable outcomes. While reliability is a central concern of information systems practitioners at many levels, there has been limited consideration in information systems scholarship of how firms and individuals create, manage, and use technology to attain reliability. We propose that examining how individuals and organizations use information systems to reliably perform work will increase both the richness and relevance of IS research. Drawing from studies of individual and organizational cognition, we examine the concept of mindfulness as a theoretical foundation for explaining efforts to achieve individual and organizational reliability in the face of complex technologies and surprising environments. We then consider a variety of implications of mindfulness theories of reliability in the form of alternative interpretations of existing knowledge and new directions for inquiry in the areas of IS operations, design, and management.
TL;DR: The theory that performance on a modification task is moderated by the fit between the mental representation of the software and that of the modification task, and that cognitive fit moderates the relationship between comprehension and modification is supported.
Abstract: Although there is a long tradition of empirical studies of software developers, few studies have focused on software maintenance. Prior work is predicated on the belief that higher levels of software comprehension are associated with higher levels of performance on modification tasks. This study provides a more complete understanding of the relationship between software comprehension and modification. We conceptualize software maintenance as interlinking comprehension and modification, and argue that the relationship between the two is moderated by cognitive fit. Specifically, cognitive fit exists when the software maintainer's dominant mental representation of the software and their mental representation of the modification task emphasize the same type of knowledge. We hypothesize that when cognitive fit exists, greater improvements in comprehension are associated with higher levels of performance on a modification task. When cognitive fit does not exist, however, the software maintainer's mental representations of the software and of the modification task do not emphasize the same type of knowledge, which may mean that attention is devoted to comprehension at the expense of modification, resulting in lower performance on the modification task. In these circumstances, comprehension and modification tasks may interfere with each other, an effect known as dual-task interference. We therefore hypothesize that performance on a modification task is moderated by the fit between the mental representation of the software and that of the modification task.
We tested our theory by varying cognitive fit to create matched and mismatched conditions in a single experiment that used IT professionals as subjects. Our findings support our theory: cognitive fit moderates the relationship between comprehension and modification. Specifically, changes in software comprehension and modification performance are positively related when cognitive fit exists and negatively related when cognitive fit does not exist. Our findings demonstrate the need to examine more complex relationships among the numerous types of tasks involved in software development rather than examining software comprehension alone.
TL;DR: Analysis of longitudinal data suggest that performance along a key metric motivating the ERP initiative showed a significant improvement immediately after system deployment, and suggests that the system implementation gave rise to an ongoing trend of performance improvement, in contrast to a stable performance trend prior to go-live.
Abstract: This paper investigates the influence of enterprise systems implementation on operational performance. The work extends the literature on enterprise systems by focusing on changes in process dynamics as a source for ongoing firm-level performance improvement. A case discussion of Tristen Corporation, a firm that implemented ERP and subsequently experienced benefits through gains to its continuous improvement efforts, is examined in light of theorized impacts of such implementations on process dynamics. Analyses of longitudinal data suggest that performance along a key metric motivating the ERP initiative (i.e., order fulfillment lead-time) showed a significant improvement immediately after system deployment. The data further suggest that the system implementation gave rise to an ongoing trend of performance improvement, in contrast to a stable performance trend prior to go-live.