Evolution of Virtual Organizations over Time: An Empirical Examination

This paper addresses the evolution of the network structure of a virtual organization over time. Data has been collected on the E-mail messages exchanged by the members of a virtual organization at two points in time, 4 years apart. Social network analysis will be used to compute, and compare across time, two measures of emergent network structure – degree of hierarchy and centralization. Structure will be assessed both at the level of the overall organization as well as for each of principal 3 task categories – design (the core task of the organization), group maintenance, and resource management

Co-authorship, Homophily, and Scholarly Influence in Information Systems Research

Information Systems (IS) researchers have increasingly focused attention on understanding the identity of our field (Hirschheim & Klein 2003; Lyytinen & King 2004). One facet of any discipline’s identity is the social aspect of how its scholars actually conduct their work (DeSanctis 2003), which is formally labeled as the study of sociology of science. Contributing to this tradition of work, we empirically examine scholarly influence (Acedo et al., 2006); scientific collaboration, including metrics that capture the prevalence of c-oauthored work; antecedents to co-authorship; and the effect of co-authorship on subsequent citations. Based on analyzing five leading IS journals for a period of seven years, we found that co-authored papers have become increasingly common in leading IS journals and that co-authoring continues to be more prevalent in journals published in North America compared to European journals. Moreover, we found significant effects of homophily related to gender, homophily/proximity, and geography. IS scholars worldwide exhibit a stronger preference for collaborating with co-authors of the same sex and those who attended the same PhD program than one would expect by chance. We also examined differences among journals and found some intriguing results for the effect of co-authorship on citations. Overall, we found evidence that the number of co-authors was positively related to citations although there was some variance across journals. These findings point to a need for more research to better understand both the processes of collaboration and the drivers and downstream benefits associated with it

The Influence of Outsourcing Models on Vendor Knowledge Integration

In this paper, we attempt to address the role of outsourcing models (Global Delivery, Global Shared-services, and Build-Operate-Transfer Models) on vendor knowledge integration, i.e., the understanding of the project requirements and client needs by the vendor. Specifically, the paper examines the role of team identification, requirements ambiguity, and infrastructure diversity in vendor knowledge integration, and the moderating effect of the type of outsourcing model on the respective relationships of these factors with vendor knowledge integration. A knowledge-based view and the theory of social exchange are utilized. Using a sample of 66 outsourced software development clients, we show that team identification and infrastructure diversity influence vendor knowledge integration, which in turn influences project success. Further, use of appropriate outsourcing model has a moderating effect on the relationship of independent variables on the outcome of Information System Development projects

Mentoring Relationships, Gender and Work-Family Conflict: The Case of IT Careers

Mentoring has long been considered important in career advancement in many fields. It is important to pay attention to issues related to mentoring because it appears to be related to a number of organizational and individuallevel outcomes. In this paper, we examine certain factors that may lead to a more effective mentoring relationship, thereby increasing the likelihood that the relationship will be lasting and beneficial for the individual and organization. Specifically, we suggest similarities based on gender and work-family conflict will be related to effectiveness of mentoring relationships. Propositions are presented with respect to these relationships. Although we do not directly link mentoring with retention, the outcomes discussed above will likely result in reduced turnover in IT-related jobs. These outcomes are likely to be negatively associated with women\u27s likelihood of remaining in IT fields and their performance and advancement in the IT field

Social Capital and Knowledge Integration in Digitally Enabled Teams

To understand the impact of social capital on knowledge integration and performance within digitally enabled teams, we studied 46 teams who had a history and a future working together. All three dimensions of their social capital (structural, relational, and cognitive) were measured prior to the team performing two tasks in a controlled setting, one face-to-face and the other through a lean digital network. Structural and cognitive capital were more important to knowledge integration when teams communicated through lean digital networks than when they communicated face-to-face; relational capital directly impacted knowledge integration equally, regardless of the communication media used by the team. Knowledge integration, in turn, impacted team decision quality, suggesting that social capital influences team performance in part by increasing a team’s ability to integrate knowledge. These results suggest that team history may be necessary but not sufficient for teams to overcome the problems with the use of lean digital networks as a communication environment. However, team history may present a window of opportunity for social capital to develop, which in turn allows teams to perform just as well as in either communication environment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116284/1/Robert et al., 2008.pd

The Influence of Social Media on Collective Action in the Context of Digital Activism: An Affordance Approach

This study examines how social media influence collective action in the context of digital activism. This is achieved by using the concept of media affordance as a theoretical lens and applying it to the collective purposes of network building and synthesis, as suggested by mobilization theory. Employing latent class logit regression, we tested the proposed hypotheses based on data from 384 digital activism events in 100 countries, classifying success in digital activism as either partial or complete success. The results show that when the purpose of digital activism is network building, media with greater affordances for promoting environmental shaping were positively related to the success of digital activism. Conversely, when the purpose of digital activism is synthesis, media with greater affordances for promoting contagion were positively related to the success of digital activism

Information Systems Research Themes: A Seventeen-year Data-driven Temporal Analysis

Extending the research on our discipline’s identity, we examine how the major research themes have evolved in four top IS journals: Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR), Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), and Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS). By doing so, we answer Palvia, Daneshvar Kakhki, Ghoshal, Uppala, and Wang’s (2015) call to provide continuous updates to the research trends in IS due to the discipline’s dynamism. Second, building on Sidorov, Evangelopoulos, Valacich, and Ramakrishnan (2008) we examine temporal trends in prominent research streams over the last 17 years. We show that, as IS research evolves over time, certain themes appear to endure the test of time, while others peak and trough. More importantly, our analysis identifies new emergent themes that have begun to gain prominence in IS research community. Further, we break down our findings by journal and show the type of content that they may desire most. Our findings also allow the IS research community to discern the specific contributions and roles of our premier journals in the evolution of research themes over time