INFLUENCE OF COMMUNITY DESIGN ON USER BEHAVIORS IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES

While the question how community design influences user behaviors in online communities has recently attracted considerable research, few studies empirically evaluate the influencing factors of specific user behaviors. Building on Ren et al.’s (2007) conceptual framework of identity-based vs. bond-based attachment in online communities, this study evaluates the influence of numerous antecedents on user attachment as well as attachments’ mediating role for explaining consumer behavior. Using data from a large-scale survey, we find that network effects, intergroup comparison and social categorization have a positive and significant effect on common identity attachment while this is not the case with in-group interdependence. Conversely, common bond attachment is driven by collectivism, interpersonal similarity and social interaction, while personal information has no effect on common bond attachment. Most importantly, the analysis results show that common identity attachment is the primary driver for user behaviors in online communities

The lab versus the virtual lab and virtual field - an experimental investigation of trust games with communication

We study trust games in a virtual world environment and contrast results with laboratory studies, with and without personal interaction enabled by the virtual world platform. Particular attention is given to the motives that drive behavior in the various environments and to issues that are context dependent, particularly communication and social distance. We find that allowing for personal interaction through a virtual world interface increases the amount sent relative to laboratory results, but that subjects recruited in the virtual world give and return less than the laboratory control group with the same virtual world interface

How Do They Differ? Analyzing the Motivations of Posters and Lurkers for Participation in Enterprise Social Networks

Organizations have increasingly begun to implement enterprise social networks (ESNs) due to their potential to afford enterprise-wide collaboration, knowledge sharing, and interaction. Despite their proliferation, many companies still struggle to motivate a sufficient number of employees to actively participate in these collaborative networks. Consequently, many ESNs fail due to a lack of contributions. While most employees only read and consume content (lurking), few actively create content (posting). Little research has examined the differences between posters and lurkers and their underlying motivations, particularly in the ESN context. Building on social exchange theory (SET), we identify and test a set of motivational factors that researchers have scarcely studied in corporate social networks: reputation, common identity, common bond, social interaction, and community commitment. By investigating a rich data set of 4,892 respondents in a large knowledge-intensive multinational company, we provide evidence that posters and lurkers significantly differ in why they participate in ESNs. Further, we introduce a nuanced classification of participant roles to distinguish five user groups (super frequent posters, frequent posters, infrequent posters, frequent lurkers, and infrequent lurkers) with super frequent posters showing significantly higher mean values for all motivational factors to use an ESN compared to the other user groups. Our findings yield important theoretical and practical implications regarding different usage behaviors and on how to enhance participation in ESNs

What Do I Do in a World of Artificial Intelligence? Investigating the Impact of Substitutive Decision-Making AI Systems on Employees’ Professional Role Identity

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the workplace increasingly substitute for employees’ tasks, responsibilities, and decision-making. Consequently, employees must relinquish core activities of their work processes without the ability to interact with the AI system (e.g., to influence decision-making processes or adapt or overrule decision-making outcomes). To deepen our understanding of how substitutive decision-making AI systems affect employees’ professional role identity and how employees adapt their identity in response to the system, we conducted an in-depth case study of a company in the area of loan consulting. We qualitatively analyzed more than 60 interviews with employees and managers. Our research contributes to the literature on IS and identity by disclosing mechanisms through which employees strengthen and protect their professional role identity despite being unable to directly interact with the AI system. Further, we highlight the boundary conditions for introducing an AI system and contribute to the body of empirical research on the potential downsides of AI

Algorithmic Technologies as Threat to Who We Are: The Effect an IT Identity Threat has on Employees\u27 Work Engagement

Organizations’ introduction of algorithmic technologies fundamentally affects employees’ work processes, tasks, and responsibilities in organizations. Employees often find their professional identities threatened by the introduction of IT (a phenomenon labeled as IT Identity Threat). While prior studies have examined which mechanisms employees use to deal with such a perceived threat, it remains unclear how an IT Identity Threat affects employees’ work attitude in response to advanced IT such as algorithmic technologies. Employees’ work attitude is a recognized antecedent to workers’ well-being or performance. Based on a mixed-method study in the banking industry, our study reveals that an IT Identity Threat negatively affects employees’ work engagement. Further, our study uncovers how this effect comes about by showing that an IT Identity Threat decreases employees’ perceived autonomy and experienced responsibility for their work outcomes. Overall, both factors contribute to a negative relationship between an IT Identity Threat and employees’ work engagement

A Social Network Approach to Blogs: Improving Digital Collaborative Learning

Blogs as digital collaboration tools are promising resources in higher education to impart knowledge, enhance collaboration and social interaction among students and thus, to increase their success. Despite the widespread use of blogs, little is known about blogs’ impact on students’ social networks and its effect on learning success. Therefore, based on a social network perspective, we empirically assess the change in the social network of 51 blog users. We are among the first to investigate the influence of the social network’s characteristics on students\u27 subjectively perceived performance and access to knowledge within a blog-learning environment. We find evidence that blogs significantly increase the students\u27 social networks, but are primarily a medium for reinforcing what the student has learned rather than influencing performance related outcomes. Our results yield important practical and theoretical recommendations on how blogs can be used to enhance students’ social networks and in turn increase their success

Managing Organizational Identity Challenges Caused By AI Implementation: The Role Of AI Principles

Alongside growing external pressure for implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, multi-stakeholder demands for responsible conduct have led to an increasing number of organizational AI principles. As previous research on AI principles has mainly focused on their content, restrictions, and external functions, little is known about their relevance for organization-internal stakeholders. Concurrently, while organizational identity was shown to play a central role in technology implementation’s success or failure, with respect to AI implementation, the concept has remained unexplored. Building on 25 expert interviews as part of an ongoing research that involves a qualitative, cross-industry multiple-case study with 13 organizations, we reveal AI principles’ capacities for managing organizational identity towards AI implementation by: (1) redefining organizational identity, and (2) aligning organizational identity’s facets. Our findings accentuate the relevance of organizational identity for AI implementation, and indicate AI principles’ role as a tool to manage this transformative change in an identity-conforming way

Managing Organizational Cyber Security – The Distinct Role of Internalized Responsibility

Desirable user behavior is key to cyber security in organizations. However, a comprehensive overview on how to manage user behavior effectively, in order to support organizational cyber security, is missing. Building on extant research to identify central components of organizational cyber security management and on a qualitative analysis based on 20 semi-structured interviews with users and IT-Managers of a European university, we present an integrated model on this issue. We contribute to understanding the interrelations of namely user awareness, user IT-capabilities, organizational IT, user behavior, and especially internalized responsibility and relation to organizational cyber security

How Explainable AI Methods Support Data-Driven Decision Making

Explainable AI (XAI) holds great potential to reveal the patterns in black-box AI models and to support data-driven decision-making. We apply four post-hoc explanatory methods to demonstrate the explanatory capabilities of these methods for data-driven decision-making using the illustrative example of unwanted job turnover and human resource management (HRM) support. We show that XAI can be a useful aid in data-driven decision-making, but also high-light potential drawbacks and limitations of which users in research and practice should be aware