A Critical Analysis of Inter-Coder Reliability Methods in Information Systems Research

High failure rates appear to be a norm in introductory programming courses. Many solutions have been proposed to improve the high failure rates. Surprisingly, the solutions have not brought significant improvements to the performance of students in introductory programming courses. Instead, there appears to be a gap in understanding the relationship between self-efficacy, emotional engagement and the performance of students in introductory programming courses. Enjoyment, interest, and gratification were identified as three emotional engagement factors in introductory programming courses from prior literature and from focus groups. An online survey on 433 students in introductory programming courses showed that the students’ programming self-efficacy beliefs had a strong positive impact on enjoyment, while gratification and interest had a negative impact on programming performance. These findings have implications for course instructors who design and deliver introductory programming courses

Prominence and Interpretation of Online Conflict of Interest Disclosures

Online product reviews are influential sources of information that some companies attempt to manipulate by compensating reviewers for favorable comments. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has mandated disclosure of reviewer compensation to address this potential conflict of interest, but the effect of such disclosures on consumer attitudes is unknown. By extending prominence–interpretation theory, this work reconciles conflicting empirical results by introducing two novel elements of prominence (i.e., proximity and embedding) and demonstrating the effect disclosures have on reviewer credibility through two experiments (N = 750). The effects of social consensus and prior warnings on how consumers interpret disclosures are also studied. Using a general population sample (N = 346), Experiment 1 demonstrated that proximity to review increased disclosure prominence while embedding the disclosure in the review decreased disclosure prominence. More prominent disclosures reduced reviewer credibility, but less prominent disclosures had no effect. Using a student sample (N = 404), Experiment 2 demonstrated that disclosure interpretation is affected by prior warnings about conflicts of interest and the consensus of other reviews. When there was disagreement between reviews and prior warnings were provided, disclosures reduced reviewer credibility, but when there was a consensus of positive reviews or no consensus information was provided, disclosures had no effect. Our studies show that both prominence and interpretation are important to consider in understanding the effects of disclosure statements. However, variables associated with prominence produced the most robust results. The theoretical implications of these results and the practical implications for consumers, companies, and policymakers are discussed

Vertrauen in Online-Bewertungen

In dieser Studie gehe ich aus kommunikationswissenschaftlicher Perspektive der Frage nach, wie sich Vertrauen in Online-Bewertungen gestaltet. Um diese Frage zu beantworten, führe ich zunächst eine umfangreiche Literaturstudie zu den bisherigen empirischen Befunden zu Vertrauen in Online-Bewertungen durch. Mithilfe einer disziplinäre und methodologische Grenzen überschreitenden integrativen Literaturübersicht identifiziere ich zunächst unzählige Faktoren, die mit dem Vertrauen in Online-Bewertungen zusammenhängen. Dabei wird deutlich, dass diese Faktoren theoretisch wenig integriert sind und sich Befunde häufig widersprechen. Auf Basis einer Theorie zu Vertrauen in Journalismus (Kohring, 2004) entwickle ich daher anschließend ein theoretisches Modell zu Vertrauen in Online-Bewertungen. Mit diesem Modell können die theoretischen Lücken gefüllt und manche Befunde der bisherigen Forschung erklärt werden. Um die weiter bestehenden empirischen Unklarheiten aufzulösen und die umfassende Belastbarkeit des theoretischen Modells zu demonstrieren, führe ich abschließend eine empirische Studie durch: Mithilfe von Think Aloud und Problemzentrierten Interviews untersuche ich Vertrauen am Beispiel von Arztbewertungen