Interorganisational Information Sharing and The Use of Decision Aids in Category Management

Most research on interorganisational information systems has primarily focused on systems that support transaction processing. What is less developed, however, is research on systems that provide interorganisational decision support. In this paper, we explore the effectiveness of these types of systems, by developing a model that introduces the relationship between interorganisational information sharing, decision aids and decisions effectiveness. Specifically, we propose that information sharing will positively influence decision effectiveness if filtering and analytical decisions aids are made available. Relevance and usefulness of the propositions are demonstrated within th

REAL DECISIONS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS: TEAM COLLABORATION AND DECISION MAKING IN 3D VIRTUAL WORLDS

This study investigates how 3D virtual worlds (3DVWs) support team collaboration. Based on Media Synchronicity Theory, we pose that the shared environment and avatar-based interaction allowed by 3DVWs aid convergence processes in teams working on a decision making task, leading to increased shared understanding between team members. This increases performance of decision making teams. An experiment was conducted in which 70 teams of 3 participants had to decide on a spatial planning issue. The teams interacted using synchronous text-based chat, a 3D virtual decision room, or were present in the virtual environment mirroring the spatial planning task. Results revealed that in both the virtual decision room and the virtual environment shared understanding was higher than in the text-based chat condition. This led to higher task performance in terms of consensus, satisfaction, and cohesion. Our results show that 3DVWs offer potential for team collaboration over more traditional text-based collaboration technologies

User-generated content (UGC) in tourism: Benefits and concerns of online consumers

This study reports an attempt to enhance our understanding of the reasons behind virtual world usage. By providing a mixture of utilitarian and hedonic value, virtual worlds represent an emerging class of multipurpose information systems (MPIS). Previous research seems to fall short in explaining MPIS adoption, especially since key extrinsic and intrinsic motivators are not considered. Drawing upon IT adoption research, motivation theory and the consumer behavior literature, this research extends available works and provides insight into the influence and roles of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Hypotheses are postulated and tested using a sample of 1627 users of the virtual world Second Life. The results confirm the majority of the hypotheses and support the comprehensive model. The findings indicate instantaneous effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and highlight reinforcing effects of intrinsic motivation. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Social Media in B2B Financial Services: A Matter of Trust and Responsiveness?

This study explores satisfaction with Virtual Communities in a Financial Services setting. It presents an empirical exploration that seeks to explain how external variables, such as information quality and system quality of a VC, affect beliefs, such asusefulness, ease of use, responsiveness, and trust, which in turn shape satisfaction. As such, it contributes to the growing body of knowledge on Social Media, in particular addressing the relatively unexplored domain of Business-to-Business (B2B) when individuals act on behalf of a company instead of their own interests

Mind The Gap: Importance-Performance Gaps As Determinants Of User Satisfaction With Information Systems

This paper develops a new explanation for user satisfaction with IS. Combining insights from expectation (dis)confirmation theory (ECT) and importance-performance analysis (IPA), we focus on the gaps between the importance of particular IS attributes, and the performance of a system on those attributes, as an explanation for user satisfaction. We identify 12 relevant system attributes and theoretically argue how the gap between importance and performance with regard to these attributes may affect user satisfaction. Our empirical study is based on a survey (N=298) among student users of a newly implemented Student Information System (SIS). The results empirically support the relationship between importance-performance gaps and user satisfaction. For five out of 12 attributes, we find a significant negative influence of a negative gap (i.e., high importance, low performance) on user satisfaction. Our main contribution to the literature is that we provide an integrated perspective on ECT and IPA and empirically validate the relevance of importance-performance gaps for explaining IS user satisfaction. Our second contribution is that we make use of the difference score technique to measure the importance-performance gaps for user satisfaction. Thus, our contribution to the IS literature is both theoretical and methodological

Having belief(s) in social virtual worlds: A decomposed approach Having belief(s) in social virtual worlds: A decomposed approach

Abstract The interest in social virtual worlds with multiple functions has mushroomed during the past few years. The key challenge social virtual worlds face while attempting to anchor and serve the masses is to reflect the core beliefs of their users. As existing research lacks insight into these core beliefs, this study aims to contribute to the existing knowledge base by proposing and testing a model grounded on the decomposed theory of planned behavior. Predicated on the multipurpose nature of social virtual worlds, the model proposes medium-specific attitudinal, normative and control beliefs as determinants of continual use intention. The model is tested with a sample of 2175 users who inhabit Habbo Hotel -one of the largest social virtual worlds in the industry. The results indicate significant though different influences of attitudinal and control beliefs. The most fundamental finding is the irrelevance of normative beliefs, which puts the social character of social virtual worlds into perspective

Another pathway to complementarity: How users and intermediaries identify and create new combinations in innovation ecosystems

The value that users might derive from products and services increasingly depends on their complementarity with other products and services. Whereas prior work has emphasized how firms and complementors design for complementarity, we shift attention to how complementarity arises in use. This study is situated in the smart home market where digital products offer an unbridled range of conceivable combinations, and users may combine products in their system of use that are not initially designed for complementarity. Through a multi-method multiple case study, we distinguish a user pathway besides a producer pathway to establishing complementarity. Complementarity presupposes both the identification of complementary combinations as well as creating technical compatibility between products. In the producer pathway, firms focus mostly on creating technical compatibility while in the user pathway, users identify complementary combinations that go beyond those foreseen by firms. Intermediary toolkits can assist users in creating combinations, and we find that, ultimately, the user pathway also facilitates the producer pathway. Our findings offer insights into the important role of users and intermediaries in innovation ecosystems and extend the scope of user innovation

Social Network Influences on Technology Acceptance: A Matter of Tie Strength, Centrality and Density

This study examines social network influences on the individual technology acceptance. Since it is believed that individuals’ trust, opinions and behavior are influenced by their network, an analysis of that network may help to provide some explanations on technology acceptance. However, since social network characteristics are group-level characteristics and the technology acceptance model (TAM) is grounded on an individual level, there is a need for a mediating variable that links group-level characteristics to individual-level characteristics. According to this research the subjective norm construct, as introduced in TAM2, can be used in this mediating, linking role. This research proposes three social network characteristics (tie strength, density and centrality) and examines their influence on the subjective norm construct. As a result, this research not only extends TAM with a social perspective by introducing three antecedents of subjective norm, but also reduces the potential tension that exists between models explaining behavior at the individual level (TAM) and models that explain behavior at the group level (social network). Theoretical and managerial implications derived from the model developed are also discussed

Present it like it is here: Creating local presence to improve online product experiences

Advanced online product presentation technologies such as virtual mirrors enable consumers to experience products like they are actually present with them in the real world. This study is one of the first to address the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. Inspired by literature on media technology the concept of local presence is put forward and applied to the online consumer behavior domain. A key objective of this paper is to examine whether local presence adds to our understanding of how emerging product presentation formats influence online product experiences. To this end, a laboratory experiment (N = 366) was conducted with product presentation format as a three level (pictures, 360-spin rotation, and virtual mirror) independent variable, allowing for a comparison of the effectiveness of different presentation formats in creating perceptions of local presence. As a second objective, the influence of local presence on perceptions of product tangibility and product likability, two key facets of the online product experience, were assessed. The results, obtained with the use of analysis of variance and partial least squares modeling, show the superiority of the virtual mirror in creating local presence, and demonstrate that local presence is highly predictive of product tangibility and product likability. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed