Searching for “Stability” in Fluidity: A Routine-based View of Open Source Software Development Process

Open source software communities are fluid form of organizing where the constituent members and the interactions among the members are continuously and rapidly changing over time. However, certain stability such as identity and norms maintains in spite of the dynamic nature of the communities. This paper seeks to resolve the tension between the fluidity and stability that co-present in open source community through a lens of organizational routine, and proposes a two-step approach to capture routines in the context of open source software development process. Using 200 open source projects on GitHub as a preliminary analysis, this research-in-progress demonstrates the capability of the method while expecting to unleash its whole potential in a future study

How Much Method-in-Use Matters? A Case Study of Agile and Waterfall Software Projects and their Design Routine Variation

Development methods are rarely followed to the letter, and, consequently, their effects are often in doubt. At the same time, information systems scholars know little about the extent to which a given method truly influences software design and its outcomes. In this paper, we approach this gap by adopting a routine lens and using a novel methodological approach. Theoretically, we treat methods as (organizational) ostensive routine specifications and deploy routine construct as a feasible unit of analysis to analyze the effects of a method on actual, “performed” design routines. We formulated a research framework that identifies method, situation fitness, agency, and random noise as main sources of software design routine variation. Empirically, we applied the framework to examine the extent to which waterfall and agile methods induce variation in software design routines. We trace-enacted design activities in three software projects in a large IT organization that followed an object-oriented waterfall method and three software projects that followed an agile method and then analyzed these traces using a mixed-methods approach involving gene sequencing methods, Markov models, and qualitative content analysis. Our analysis shows that, in both cases, method-induced variation using agile and waterfall methods accounts for about 40% of all activities, while the remaining 60% can be explained by a designer’s personal habits, the project’s fitness conditions, and environmental noise. Generally, the effect of method on software design activities is smaller than assumed and the impact of designer and project conditions on software processes and outcomes should thus not be understated

Flourishing for Sport Consumers: The Case of Fantasy Baseball and Social Media Engagement

Digital technology transformation within the sports industry has led to increasing attention being given to how digital services can influence fans’ positive psychological perspectives. In particular, through this study I aimed to understand the effects of fantasy sports and social media engagement on positive psychological benefits, such as perceived value and flourishing. In the current study, regulatory engagement theory was applied to understand whether the digital engagement of sports consumers is positively associated with perceived value and flourishing as a form of well-being. In the implementation of the pre-, mid-, or post-consumption model, three groups were created based on the participants\u27 habits of using fantasy sports and social media before, while, and after watching television. I then attempted to explore how the aforementioned relations can differ across these three groups. Responses from a total of 629 sports fans were collected via an online Qualtrics panel. Data analysis was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling analysis (SEM), multi-group CFA, and multi-group SEM to verify the hypotheses. It was found that engagement in fantasy sports and social media had a positive effect on perceived value and well-being. In addition, perceived value mediated the relationship between fantasy sports or social media engagement and flourishing. The findings of the group comparison showed that there were no differences across the three groups in the effects of fantasy sports and social media engagement on perceived value and flourishing. This empirical study contributed to supporting that digital consumption among sports consumers plays a positive role in their lives, suggesting the need to develop strategic management in the digital sports field. In addition, the digital activity patterns of sports consumers were successfully classified based on game schedules, providing a better understanding of their digital consumption journey in the future

Face processing : the role of dynamic information

This thesis explores the effects of movement on various face processing tasks. In Experiments One to Four, unfamiliar face recognition was investigated using identical numbers of frames in the learning phase; these were viewed as a series of static images, or in moving sequences (using computer animation). There was no additional benefit from studying the moving sequences, but signal detection measurements showed an advantage for using dynamic sequences at test. In Experiments Five and Six, moving and static images of unfamiliar faces were matched for expression or identity. Without prior study, movement only helped in matching the expression. It was proposed that motion provided more effective access to a stored representation of an emotional expression. Brief familiarisation with the faces led to an advantage for dynamic presentations in referring to a stored representation of identity as well as expression. Experiments Seven to Nine explored the suggestion that motion is beneficial when accessinga pre-existingd escription. Significantly more famous faces were recognised in inverted and negated formats when shown in dynamic clips, compared with recognition using static images. This benefit may be through detecting idiosyncratic gesture patterns at test, or extracting spatial and temporal relationships which overlapped the stored kinematic details. Finally, unfamiliar faces were studied as moving or static images; recognition was tested under dynamic or fixed conditions using inverted or negated formats. As there was no difference between moving and static study phases, it was unlikely that idiosyncratic gesture patterns were being detected, so the significant advantage for motion at test seemed due to an overlap with the stored description. However, complex interactions were found, and participants demonstrated bias when viewing motion at test. Future work utilising dynamic image-manipulated displays needs to be undertaken before we fully understand the processing of facial movement

Digitalization of the Banking Industry: A Multiple Stakeholder Analysis on Strategic Alignment

Today, enterprises from many industries experience that moving towards a digital business is a major challenge. The banking industry is heavily affected by the digital transformation as customers’ expectations drive the need for adapting strategies, processes and IT. So far, studies on the digitalization in the banking industry have either focused on the strategic level, the customer perspective or the internal perspective. In our study, we integrate the findings of previous studies for each perspective by employing a multiple-stakeholder analysis. The results show that the internal processes and IT systems are not yet ready for meeting the demands of the strategic and customer perspective. The banks’ digital strategy is often well-aligned with the customer needs but both are weakly aligned with the internal organization and IT. Especially the low integration of IT and the low degree of process automation are identified as inhibiting factors for the digital agenda

Digital Mesh: On the Rise of Mesh Computing

The proliferation of connected devices into every corner of the planet gives rise to a world of mesh computing. In this conceptual paper, we analyze the implications of this emerging computing environment for information systems (IS) research. We first discuss how mesh computing can be related to but differs from other views of computing that emerged along the history of IS research. We then advance a provocative perspective for studying the uniqueness of mesh computing—digital mesh. We conclude with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges for future IS research. The discussion deals with the need to expand IS use research from effective use to generative use and IS design research from substantial architecture to processual architecture. These shifts, however, come with new research challenges for which we propose process structure analytics as a valuable methodological solution

Three Empirical Essays on Health Informatics and Analytics

Health Information Technology (HIT) has an important and widely acknowledged role in enhancing healthcare performance in the healthcare industry today. A great amount of literature has focused on the impact of HIT implementation, yet the studies provide mixed and inconclusive results on whether HIT implementation actually helps healthcare providers enhance healthcare performance. Here, we identify three possible research gaps that lead to these mixed and inclusive results. First, prior IS research has exclusively examined HIT complementarity simultaneously, but ignored the temporal perspective. Second, extant HIT research has primarily examined the relationship between HIT implementation and healthcare performance in a static framework, which may neglect the dynamic relationship between HIT and healthcare performance. Third, prior HIT value studies have typically examined HIT’s impact on hospital-level outcomes, but no extant studies consider HIT impact on transition-level outcomes as disease progresses over time. This dissertation addresses these gaps in three essays that draw upon three different lenses to study HIT implementation’s impact on healthcare performance using three analytics methods. The first essay applies econometrics to study how various types of HIT complementarities simultaneously and sequentially impact diverse healthcare outcomes. In so doing, we find evidence of simultaneous and sequential complementarity wherein HIT applications are synergistic—not only within the same time period, but also across periods. The second essay uses advanced latent growth modeling to explore the dynamic, longitudinal relationship between HIT and healthcare outcomes after incorporating the nonlinear trajectory change of different HIT functions and the various dimensions of hospital performance. The third essay applies multi-state and hidden Markov models to examine how HIT functions’ implementation levels impact a finer, more-granular-level healthcare outcome. This approach includes the dynamics of the transitions, including observable transitions (chronic to acute, acute to chronic, chronic to death, and acute to death) and underlying and unobservable transitions (minor to major disease and major disease to death). This essay examines how different types of HIT can improve different transitions types as diseases progress over time

Concept and Design Developments in School Improvement Research

This open access book discusses challenges in school improvement research and different methodological approaches that have the potential to foster school improvement research. Research on school improvement and accountability analysis places high demands on a study’s design and method. The potential of combining the depth of case studies with the breath of quantitative measures and analyses in a mixed-methods design seems very promising. Consequently, the focus of the book lies on innovative methodological approaches. The book chapters address design, measurement, and analysis developments as well as theoretical and conceptual developments. The relevance of the research presented in the chapters for educational accountability is discussed in the book’s discussion chapter. More specifically, authors present one specific innovative methodological approach and clarify that approach with a concrete example in the context of school improvement, based on empirical data when possible. In this way, this book helps researchers designing complex useful studies

The Effect of Parceling on the Measurement Invariance of Us Students’ Trends in International Mathematics And Science Study (Timss) 2015 Math Attitude Scores

Measurement invariance is crucial for making valid comparisons across different groups (Kline, 2016; Vandenberg, 2002). To address the challenges associated with invariance testing such as large sample size requirements, the complexity of the model, etc., applied researchers have incorporated parcels. Parcels have been shown to alleviate skewness, improve reliability, reduce the number of indicators, and produce a more stable solution (Bandalos & Finney, 2001; Matsunaga et al., 2021; Nasser & Takahashi, 2003). Despite these benefits, limited methodological research has been conducted on the effects of parcels on tests of measurement invariance. This dissertation investigated the effects of different total sample sizes, types of indicator variables (including indicator variable techniques), and ratio of group sample sizes on tests of measurement invariance between gender and race. Empirical data from eighth-grade U.S. students\u27 responses on four different math attitude subscales using a Likert-type rating scale from TIMSS 2015 were used to build a CFA model (Tang & Averett, 2018). The study found that using a smaller number of items as indicators with the highest factor loadings can better assess measurement invariance tests, providing a middle way for applied researchers to conduct tests of measurement invariance without the need for extremely large sample sizes or the use of parcels. Furthermore, the study found that item-based models detected a lack of invariance better than parcel-based models. Three-item indicator models provided stronger evidence of configural invariance than nine-item indicator and parcel-based models, with all three-item indicator models exhibiting full configural invariance. Higher CFI and TLI values and lower chi-square and SRMR values supported the use of three-item indicator models in tests of configural invariance. Three-item indicator models-based analyses were found to be better at identifying items with significant differences in factor loadings than parcel-based analyses. These findings provide researchers with a way to conduct tests of measurement invariance without requiring extremely large sample sizes and address the challenges associated with testing measurement invariance, making it more accessible for applied researchers. However, further research is required to determine the optimal number of items with highest factor loadings to use as indicators that can improve and facilitate the testing of measurement invariance for applied researchers

Detection of dynamic form in faces and fire

Moving natural scenes pose a challenge to the human visual system, containing diverse objects, clutter, and backgrounds. Well-known models of object recognition do not fully explain natural scene perception, ignoring segmentation or the recognition of dynamic objects. In this thesis, we use a familiar natural stimulus, moving flames, to evaluate the human visual system’s ability to match and search for complex examples of dynamic form. What can analysis in the image domain tell us about dynamic flame? Using image statistics, Fourier analysis and motion evaluation algorithms, we analysed a highresolution dataset typical of moving flame. We characterise it as a motion-rich stimulus with an exponential power spectrum and few long-range spatial or temporal correlations. Are observers able to effectively encode and recognise dynamic flame stimuli? What visual features play an important role in matching? To investigate, we set observers matching tasks using clips from the same dataset. Colour changes do not affect matching on short clips, but inversion and reversal do. We show that dynamic edges are a key component of flame representations. Can observers search well for flame stimuli? Can they detect targets (short flame clips) in equally-sized longer clips? Using temporal search tasks, we show that observers’ accuracy drops quickly as the search space grows; there is no pop-out. Accuracy is not so strongly affected by a blank ISI, however, showing that search difficulties, rather than representational decay, are to blame. In conclusion, we find that the human visual system is capable of matching the complex motion patterns of dynamic flame, but finds search much harder. We find no evidence of category orientation specialisation. Combining several experimental results, we suggest that the representation of dynamic flame is neither snapshot-based nor dedicated and high-level, but relies on the encoding of sparse, local spatiotemporal features