A Multilevel Investigation of Participation Within Virtual Health Communities

Virtual health communities are a major channel through which health consumers share health-related knowledge and/or exchange social support with their peers. These virtual environments can be a form of, or a potential component of, integrated Patient-centered e-Health (PCEH) applications, which represent emerging healthcare information systems that emphasize the role of patients and revolve around providing patient-focus, patient-activity, and patient-empowerment services. Because of the collaborative nature of virtual health communities, user participation is a critical factor for community growth and prosperity. In this study, we examine user participation at the individual and group (thread) levels. At the individual level, we investigate the impact of reciprocity and homophily (similarity of user characteristics such as age, gender, and tenure) on user participation within virtual health communities. At the thread level, we study the role of highly active users (power users) as thread initiators as well as the role of thread initiators’ participation on the overall thread vibrancy. To do so, we analyzed 2,176 threads initiated by 130 users and 1,947 messages exchanged between these users and their peers. Our results support short-term reciprocity, but refute the positive relationship associated with long-term reciprocity. Among homophily hypotheses, our results support gender homophily, but not age or tenure homophily. At the thread level our findings suggest that a discussion thread is vibrant if the thread initiator is a power user or participates actively within the thread. These findings have important implications for future research and practice in PCEH applications

Trust and reciprocity effect on electronic word-of-mouth in online review communities

Purpose Social media developments in the last decade have led to the emergence of a new form of word of mouth (WOM) in the digital environment. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is considered by many scholars and practitioners to be the most influential informal communication mechanism between businesses and potential and actual consumers. The purpose of this paper is to extend knowledge about WOM in this new context by proposing a conceptual framework that enables a better understanding of how trust and reciprocity influence eWOM participation in ORCs. Design/methodology/approach This study applies non-probability convenience sampling technique to conduct a quantitative study of data from an online survey of 189 members of ORCs. Partial least squares (PLS) is used to analyse the correlations between individuals’ intention to seek opinion, to give their own opinion and to pass on the opinion of another within ORCs. Findings The data analysis reveals that opinion seeking within ORCs had a direct effect on opinion giving and opinion passing. Ability trust and integrity trust had a positive effect on opinion seeking, while benevolence trust had a direct positive effect on opinion passing. Reciprocity had a direct impact on opinion passing. While reciprocity did not affect opinion giving, the relationship between these two concepts was mediated by integrity trust. Research limitations/implications By studying the complexities that characterise the relationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM, the study extends understanding of eWOM in ORCs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of only a few papers that have examined the complex interrelationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM in the context of ORCs

A Research Agenda for Studying Open Source I: A Multi-Level Framework

This paper presents a research agenda for studying information systems using open source software A multi-level research model is developed at five discrete levels of analysis: (1) the artifact; (2) the individual; (3) the team, project, and community; (4) the organization; and (5) society. Each level is discussed in terms of key issues within the level. Examples are based on prior research. In a companion paper, [Niederman, et al 2006], we view the agenda through the lens of referent discipline theories

Can knowledge management save regional development?

Australia needs to create innovative regions to sustain economic prosperity and regional development. In order to do this, regions will need to systematically address their knowledge needs and identify tools that are appropriate in maximising their effectiveness. Many initiatives have focused on information and communication technology (ICT) to enable knowledge exchange and stimulate knowledge generation, but active knowledge management (KM) strategies are required if ICTs are to be used effectively. These strategies must respond to the regional economic and social environments which incorporate small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This paper outlines the importance of KM for supporting regional cluster development and the key ways in which communities of practice (CoPs), a KM technique, have been used to add value in similar contexts. How CoPs and their online counterpart, virtual communities of practice (VCoPs), can be used and developed in regional areas of Australia is considered along with a program for further research.<br /

DRAFT Report:Community Systems Strengthening Toward a Research Agenda

Communities have a long history of acting to preserve and promote the health of their members. Public health researchers, programmers, and funders are increasingly recognizing that community involvement is essential to improving health, especially among populations that are disproportionately affected by HIV. The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, together with civil society organizations and other development partners, created the Community Systems Strengthening (CSS) Framework to help Global Fund applicants frame, define, and quantify efforts to strengthen community contributions engagement (Global Fund 2011). Although the use of a CSS approach in health programming implementation shows promise, it lacks a theoretical framework to guide collaborations with communities. Additionally, it suffers from a paucity of program designs and evaluation practices, an incomplete evidence-based rationale for investing in CSS, and imprecise definitions (e.g., what is meant by “community” and “CSS”).The purpose of this paper is to highlight promising areas for future research related to CSS. Toward this objective, we propose to lay a foundation for a CSS research agenda by using theories and approaches relevant to CSS, reinforced with evidence from projects that employ similar approaches

Who Motivates My Participation in Virtual Interorganizational Communities of Practice: Self, Peers, or the Firm?

Virtual interorganizational communities of practice (IOCoPs) enable professionals in different organizations to exchange and share knowledge via computer-mediated interactions. Prior literature mainly focuses on internal motivating factors at the individual level. However, knowledge sharing requires social interactions thus influences from external entities play an important role in individuals’ community participation. In this research, we study external motivating factors generated from two different channels: peer effects within and organizational influences outside the virtual community. We apply a novel econometric identification method to analyze a virtual IOCoP in the financial trading sector. We find that external motivating factors from online peers and offline organizations are influential in determining community participation. In addition, our results suggest that virtual IOCoPs and organizations are two complementary learning channels. Differentiating motivating factors across multiple levels enables us to shed new light on various mechanisms with which IOCoPs can engage collective learning and knowledge management across organizations

Editors’ Introduction to the Special Section on Patient-centered e-Health: Research Opportunities and Challenges

We initiated the CAIS Special Section on Patient-Centered e-Health (PCEH) to provide support for the PCEH discipline, which has recently emerged to meet the practical need of supporting patients in managing their health. Because there are significant challenges in designing, developing, and using PCEH applications, there are many opportunities for IS researchers to study familiar topics, but in the very different healthcare delivery context. As an emerging discipline, PCEH is struggling with reconciling ambiguous definitions across studies, defining the discipline boundaries (how they overlap and are distinct from related research areas), and developing the exemplary research studies that can guide future research. Thus, the goal of this Special Section, as far as possible, is to gather a set of research articles that will move the PCEH discipline forward by providing resources and examples to support future PCEH research that is theory-based, is focused, and can build a cumulative literature and research tradition. In this Introduction to the CAIS Special Section, we argue that IS researchers are especially well-equipped to undertake PCEH research and thereby overcome the many challenges unique to PCEH study. We discuss the challenges in the emerging PCEH discipline and present approaches that IS researchers might take to meet these challenges and produce the exemplary studies needed to further the discipline. Our arguments and observations are supported by the fourteen articles that make up the Special Section. These fourteen articles represent four areas of emerging PCEH research, namely PCEH and the Healthcare Delivery Context; Models of Acceptance, Use, and/or Outcomes; Patient-centered Design Research; and Assessment of PCEH websites

Prompting meaningful analysis from pre-service teachers using elementary mathematics video vignettes

Learning from video vignettes is a theoretically grounded and popular professional development activity. In online professional development communities, however, responses to video are often shallow and lack meaningful commentary about the issues that surround teaching and learning mathematics. Given the lack of apparent involvement with the video content in online commentaries, this investigation examined whether more deeply analytical comments could be elicited from pre-service teachers in response to video clips posted to the Everyday Mathematics Virtual Learning Community (VLC). By altering the framing conditions that accompany video clips on the VLC, this experiment tested whether differences in prompts caused variations in pre-service teachers' depth of commentary. Findings highlight the malleability of pre-service teachers' commentary, as responses were more analytical when asked to focus on the teacher portrayed in the video; when asked to focus on students' understanding, contrary to expectations, pre-service teachers' responses tended to be descriptive. Yet these descriptions were not simple, but rich and detailed. This may be a fundamental precursor to analysis of student thinking—and perhaps an appropriate first step for novice or pre-service teachers