Length Of Cloud Application Use On Functionality Expectation, Usability, Privacy, And Security: A Case Of Google Docs

Background: Newcomers to cloud applications typically have to overcome concerns of privacy (confidentiality control) and security (safekeeping). On the one hand, end-users may be accustomed to cloud applications’ privacy and security (habituation). On the other hand, these applications quickly adapt to end-user needs on those concerns (reciprocal habituation). Does the old proverb “Custom makes all things easy” apply to privacy and security concerns about cloud application use? Method: This study focuses on Google Docs as an example of standardized, common cloud applications and collects data from 211 of its users. Results: The results show that length of use has significant associations with better usability perception and increased functionality expectation. In turn, improved usability perception leads to decreased security risk concern, while increased functionality expectation increases privacy concerns. Interestingly, usefulness perception is not influenced by privacy concern. Conclusions: Overall, the length of Google Docs use is associated with higher usefulness and increased adoption through greater usability and decreased security concern. Thus, when it comes to standardized, common cloud applications, the old proverb is valid with some exception. Also, “custom” is mutual between cloud applications and their users

Length of Cloud Application Use on Functionality Expectation, Usability, Privacy, and Security: A Case of Google Docs

Background: Newcomers to cloud applications typically have to overcome concerns of privacy (confidentiality control) and security (safekeeping). On the one hand, end-users may be accustomed to cloud applications’ privacy and security (habituation). On the other hand, these applications quickly adapt to end-user needs on those concerns (reciprocal habituation). Does the old proverb “Custom makes all things easy” apply to privacy and security concerns about cloud application use? Method: This study focuses on Google Docs as an example of standardized, common cloud applications and collects data from 211 of its users. Results: The results show that length of use has significant associations with better usability perception and increased functionality expectation. In turn, improved usability perception leads to decreased security risk concern, while increased functionality expectation increases privacy concerns. Interestingly, usefulness perception is not influenced by privacy concern. Conclusions: Overall, the length of Google Docs use is associated with higher usefulness and increased adoption through greater usability and decreased security concern. Thus, when it comes to standardized, common cloud applications, the old proverb is valid with some exception. Also, “custom” is mutual between cloud applications and their users. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol11/iss3/2

User evaluation of the performance of information systems

Information technologies (IT) are considered the primary survival factor for many organizations and the most critical success factor in businesses today. To justify the necessary investment in IT, user evaluation of information systems\u27 performance in organizations is a key consideration. This research investigated a comprehensive and convenient means for end users to assess this performance. Among the existing theories and models on the evaluation of information system performance based on intrinsic technological properties, the Web of System Performance (WOSP) model provides the most comprehensive basis for information system evaluation, and therefore merited further investigation. The research question was how well the eight WOSP performance criteria, namely functionality, usability, flexibility, reliability, security, extendibility, connectivity, and privacy, applied in the context of an individual evaluating one or more information systems for use by an organization. For this, it was important to show that, while these performance criteria were abstract concepts, they can be established and identified clearly, in a manner that is valid in the sense of the meaning and that users would consider important. Illustrative statements for each of the eight criteria were therefore obtained, which users were asked to evaluate. Next, it was necessary to show that users prefer the choice of the eight WOSP criteria to the current dominant instrument for evaluation when evaluating software. This was done using a preference questionnaire where subjects rated both the WOSP model and an alternative means of evaluation along various dimensions, the results being compared by statistical analysis. Finally, it was necessary to show that users rate at least three of the WOSP criteria as being important for evaluating information systems. For this, conjoint analysis was used. A browser was selected as the experimental software for this research. The results showed that users found illustrative statements clear, valid and important for the evaluation of browsers. They also preferred using the WOSP model for the evaluation of browsers over TAM, the current dominant model. Finally, while users attached different levels of importance to the various performance criteria for the selection of browsers, five of the criteria were important to a significant degree

Three Research Essays on the Effects of Culture Across IT Diffusion Within Social Networks, Organizations, and Hospitals

This dissertation focuses on two research streams: IT diffusion and culture, and each can be examined in various contexts. Specifically, this study investigates IT diffusion through online social network use, knowledge sharing towards the general organizational information systems, and hospital information systems usage. In terms of culture, espoused national cultural values, IT occupational subculture, and organizational cultural variables are examined in the following essays. Essay1: Espoused National Cultural Values and Online Social Network Use: Towards an Extension of UTAUT Prior research has developed a number of models for examining the acceptance and use of technology. This paper extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) beyond the established demographic and contextual variables. Building upon research from social psychology and technology adoption, our proposed model incorporated three constructs into UTAUT: information privacy concerns, hedonic motivation, and relationship expectancy. Motivated by research where individual differences were shown to moderate the relationships of the UTAUT model, this paper investigated the effect of espoused national culture values on social network adoption. Integrating these findings into UTAUT, we formulated a model to examine the individual use of social network sites. Using data from 379 respondents, the model explained over seventy percent of the variance in intentions to use online social networks. Overall, all hypotheses were supported. The findings from this research generated both theoretical and practical implications. Essay2: Development and Testing of a Scale to Measure the Effect of IT Occupational Subculture on Knowledge Sharing within Organization Personnel Based on an existing conceptual framework in culture, this study developed a scale to measure IT occupational subculture. The relationship between the occupational subculture of information technology personnel and knowledge sharing in organizations was investigated. It was suggested that knowledge sharing among IT personnel and business end-users was positively affected by some elements of IT occupational subculture. Overtime, IT occupational subculture is positively affected by knowledge sharing among IT personnel and business end-users. Drawing upon cross-cultural psychology, the study presented one possible approach through which occupational subculture manifests at the organizational level of analysis and impacts the knowledge sharing process. In doing so, behaviors related to knowledge sharing and IT diffusion at the organizational level were better understood beyond the limitations of previous IT diffusion studies. Essay3: Differentiating Eustress from Distress: An Examination of Stress Associated with HIS Use across Organizational Culture An interesting but not yet investigated research issue is why some users complain that they are tired of using information systems while some other users actively embrace the use of such systems in their daily routine, and that this taste and associated behavior varies from person to person. Based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, a framework was developed to explore the antecedents of distress (negative stress) and eustress (positive stress). This study was based within the context of using hospital information systems (HIS) and we investigated two different psychological processes that played a role in the development of HIS-use strain and motivation. Additionally, espoused organizational cultural values were found to be antecedents of perceived HIS-enabled job resources (literacy support, technical support provision, technology involvement facilitation, and innovation support). While HIS-enabled job resources were positively related to eustress, HIS-enabled job demands (HIS-complexity, HIS-overload, and HIS-uncertainty) were positively related to distress. Furthermore, HIS-enabled job resource (literacy support) was found to buffer the intensity and outcome of HIS-enabled use demands - distress

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Design Science in Human-Computer Interaction: A Model and Three Examples

Humanity has entered an era where computing technology is virtually ubiquitous. From websites and mobile devices to computers embedded in appliances on our kitchen counters and automobiles parked in our driveways, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and IT artifacts are fundamentally changing the ways we interact with our world. Indeed, the world itself changing, becoming ever more artificial. It is a designed world that we have created for ourselves. Human-computer interaction (HCI) scholars are concerned with the interactions that occur between people and technology in this new world: how do IT artifacts impact the human experience, and how can knowledge of the human experience impact the design of new computer-based systems? At the same time, HCI is design-oriented, a community where scholars seek to shape the design of new IT artifacts, and make real improvements to the world we live in. It remains an unresolved challenge to bring these scholarly and design perspectives together. Various models and approaches have been proposed, but current thinking on a design science for HCI is in flux. This multi-paper dissertation draws upon existing literature from HCI, various design communities, and information systems (IS) to develop a new model of design science: the theory, design, and evaluation (TDE) model. The TDE model, informed by an included research paper, envisions that scholarly activities and design activities can occur in parallel across the three stages of theory, design, and evaluation. The TDE model is demonstrated using an additional three included papers, each one taken from a separate TDE design science project. These ongoing projects occur in widely varied contexts - gaming for citizen science, online nuisances, and military history education - but each has the TDE model as its central organizing structure. The papers are examples of TDE knowledge outcomes, but also address design outcomes from each project. The three projects are analyzed and connected directly to various elements of the TDE model itself. In addition, the final chapter describes future directions for the three projects and the TDE model, as well as thinking on the importance of design science in HCI scholarship