Thinking Fast or slow? Understanding Answering Behavior Using Dual-Process Theory through Mouse Cursor Movements

Users’ underlying cognitive states govern their behaviors online. For instance, an extreme cognitive burden during live system use would negatively influence important user behaviors such as using the system and purchasing a product. Thus, inferring the user's cognitive state has practical significance for the commercialized systems. We use Dual-Process Theory to explain how the mouse cursor movements can be an effective measure of cognitive load. In an experimental study with five hundred and thirty-four subjects, we induced cognitive burden then monitored mouse cursor movements when the participants answered questions in an online survey. We found that participants' mouse cursor movements slow down when they are engaged in cognitively demanding tasks. With the newly derived measures, we were able to infer the state of heightened cognitive load with an overall accuracy of 70.22%. The results enable researchers to measure users' cognitive load with more granularity and present a new, theoretically sound method to assess the user's cognitive state

Designing Caring and Informative Decision Aids to Increase Trust and Enhance the Interaction Atmosphere

Decision aids have enjoyed extensive use in various domains. While decision aid research and practice have largely focused on making these aids more functional and utilitarian, we propose that one should also purposefully design them as effective interaction partners, especially when one deploys them in contexts that require a “human touch”, such as finance or healthcare. In this paper, we report on the results from an experiment we conducted on the effects that designing caring and informative decision aids have on how users evaluate them and, subsequently, their satisfaction with them. Our results show that using explanations and expressive speech acts can enhance the extent to which users perceive decision aids as informative and caring. These strengthened beliefs subsequently enhance the extent to which users view decision aids as competent and as having integrity and improve the interaction atmosphere, which, in turn, increases users’ satisfaction with their overall interaction with the decision aid. We discuss the study’s contributions to theory and practice

The Role of Design Characteristics in Shaping Perceptions of Similarity: The Case of Online Shopping Assistants

This research proposes that technological artifacts are perceived as social actors, and that users can attribute personality and behavioral traits to them. These formed perceptions interact with the user’s own characteristics to construct an evaluation of the similarity between the user and the technological artifact. Such perceptions of similarity are important because individuals tend to more positively evaluate others, in this case technological artifacts, to whom they are more similar. Using an automated shopping assistant as one type of technological artifact, we investigate two types of perceived similarity between the customer and the artifact: perceived personality similarity and perceived behavioral similarity. We then investigate how design characteristics drive a customer’s perceptions of these similarities and, importantly, the bases for those design characteristics. Decisional guidance and speech act theory provide the basis for personality manifestation, while normative versus heuristic-based decision rules provide the basis for behavioral manifestation. We apply these design bases in an experiment. The results demonstrate that IT design characteristics can be used to manifest desired personalities and behaviors in a technological artifact. Moreover, these manifestations of personality and behavior interact with the customer’s own personality and behaviors to create matching perceptions of personality and behavioral similarity between the customer and the artifact. This study emphasizes the need to consider technological artifacts as social actors and describes the specific ways in which technology design can manifest social attributes. In doing so, we show that it is possible to match the social attributes of a technological artifact with those of the user

Designing Process Guidance Systems

Process knowledge is a vital prerequisite for employees to execute organizational processes successfully in the course of their daily work. However, the lack of process knowledge, especially concerning novice users, and the need for support pose a challenge to employers. Inspired by research on spatial knowledge and navigation, we conceptualize three process knowledge types addressing the needs of employees during their process execution. On the basis of these process knowledge types, we derive three theoretically grounded design principles for process guidance systems to support employees’ process execution. We instantiate the design principles and evaluate the resulting artifacts in a laboratory experiment and in a subsequent field study. The results demonstrate the positive effects of process guidance systems on users’ process knowledge and process execution performance. Our study contributes to research and practice by proposing a new conceptualization of process knowledge and a nascent design theory for process guidance systems that builds on theories of spatial knowledge and navigation, as well as decision support research

Deskilling and Up-Skilling in an Information Systems Context

Information systems automation has been observed to cause changes in the skills of the employee ranging from loss of skills (deskilling) to learning new skills (up-skilling). This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive literature review of the prior research in the fields of deskilling and up-skilling effects caused by automation. Factors behind to the deskilling and up-skilling effects are identified and examined with frameworks and theories from prior research. The design of the automation system plays a crucial role in the way skills are affected, and thus research on the design of automation tools is also included in this review. Implementation of automation is the second key element and likewise included in the literature review. As knowledge is identified as the most valuable source of competitive advantage in many organizations, a thorough understanding of the deskilling and up-skilling effect is crucial to prevent the erosion of knowledge and skills of the employees

Decision Support Systems

Decision support systems (DSS) have evolved over the past four decades from theoretical concepts into real world computerized applications. DSS architecture contains three key components: knowledge base, computerized model, and user interface. DSS simulate cognitive decision-making functions of humans based on artificial intelligence methodologies (including expert systems, data mining, machine learning, connectionism, logistical reasoning, etc.) in order to perform decision support functions. The applications of DSS cover many domains, ranging from aviation monitoring, transportation safety, clinical diagnosis, weather forecast, business management to internet search strategy. By combining knowledge bases with inference rules, DSS are able to provide suggestions to end users to improve decisions and outcomes. This book is written as a textbook so that it can be used in formal courses examining decision support systems. It may be used by both undergraduate and graduate students from diverse computer-related fields. It will also be of value to established professionals as a text for self-study or for reference

Technology for a Smarter Planet: The Role of Cognitive Technologies and Open Innovation.

Information technology is making the human race smarter by increasing its cognitive capacity through at least two drivers: Open Innovation and cognitive computing. Open innovation allows leveraging the wisdom of the crowds by bringing in more people into the fold through open innovation platforms, open source development and citizen science. In this sense, open innovation is enabling harnessing of the latent cognitive surplus of the human race. The dawn of the cognitive computing era on the other hand, is affording new uses of computers in organizational decision making. Specifically, IT is now enabling organizations to scan, interpret and learn from larger subsets of their informational environment hitherto considered inaccessible and un-interpretable by computers. As organizations and individuals gain this sixth sense of sorts, they can make better resource allocation decisions. In my dissertation, I study both these technology developments and their role in making organizations smarter and thus better generators of value. The underlying motivation is that better organizational decisions will allow better use of scarcer resources making the planet more sustainable. In chapter 2, a purposive theoretical framework for synthesizing the role of IT in organizational decision making is attempted. The proposed interpretive model of IT, also achieves a clear delineation between the programmable and cognitive computing eras. In chapter 3, the antecedents of predictive analytics usage within firms are explored through an empirical study. In chapter 4, an empirical study of the idea selection process within an open innovation funnel is undertaken to explore the question whether open innovation funnels prefer innovative ideas over conservative ideas.PhDBusiness AdministrationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113545/1/asharmaz_1.pd