The Effects of Text Complexity on Online Review Helpfulness

This research reported in this paper extends the literature on the helpfulness of online reviews. Previous research has assessed online reviews using standard unidimensional readability algorithms. This research extends previous work by investigating a multidimensional framework, and associated measures, of text complexity and its impact on the helpfulness of online reviews. Results show that as the amount of passive voice and negation in online reviews increase, the helpfulness of said review decreases. Other significant predictors of review helpfulness include word meaningfulness, lexical diversity, and the number of modifiers per noun phrase

Online Discussion Forum And Pre-migration Information Seeking: An Affordance Perspective

Potential immigrants increasingly rely on online technologies to access needed information as they have limited access to offline sources of information at the pre-arrival stage. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of online discussion forums in facilitating potential immigrants’ access to relevant information about the host country labor market. This paper draws on extant literature on computer-mediated communication and a qualitative content analysis of 363 forum discussions to explore the phenomenon of increased use of online forums by prospective immigrants to Canada to access relevant labor market information. We draw on existing concepts of technology affordances and knowledge exchanges in online discussion forums and contextualize them to the dynamics of immigrants’ labor market integration. We found that online forums have the potential to facilitate immigrants’ labor market integration by enabling the continuous access to and exchange of needed information across time and space. For potential immigrants, online discussion forums afforded them the ability to seek employment advice, share migration experiences, establish connections with similar others, communicate with individuals in the receiving country, and exchange information about the host country labor market. The relevant information gained in online forums can help potential immigrants calibrate their expectations about the host country, make migration decisions, and plan for migration. More adjusted expectations and better preparation pre-migration can in turn facilitate better adjustment and employment integration post-migration. Overall, this paper highlights the importance of online discussion forums in facilitating information sharing and co-creation of new information resources between prospective immigrants and immigrants in the host country. We uncovered several unique discussion forum affordances enacted by potential immigrants. The findings inform policy makers of the role of online discussion forum technology in providing potential immigrants with low-cost pre-arrival information and training available across time and space that can assist with adjustment and labor market integration post migration

The Role of Emotional Expression in Accessing Social Networks: The Case of Newcomers\u27 Blogs

Research has established the critical role of social networks in facilitating adjustment to foreign environments. Increasingly, social interactions are happening through computer mediated technology. This paper explores the role of emotional expression in newcomers’ blogs in developing and interacting with social networks in a new country. This research uses a dictionary-based text analytics approach to detect emotional expression in newcomers’ blog posts and their associated discussions. Blog posts with more emotional expression had more associated responses; discussions tended to be more positive than posts; and the relative amount of negative emotion in the discussions increases as posts become more negative. Results suggest that expression of emotion in blogs can facilitate access to social networks and increase engagement in online communities by increasing the amount of responses and triggering congruent emotional response from blog readers, which is a precursor to affiliation and understanding. The findings in this paper highlight the role of emotional expression in blog posts and discussions, and its connection to developing social networks and engaging in online communities which has the potential to facilitate access to social support

The Design, Development and Validation of a Persuasive Content Generator

This paper addresses the automatic generation of persuasive content to influence users’ attitude and behaviour. Our research extends current approaches by leveraging individuals’ social media profiles and activity to personalize the persuasive content. Unlike most other implemented persuasive technology, our system is generic and can be adapted to any domain where collections of electronic text are available. Using the Yale Attitude Change approach, we describe: the multi-layered Pyramid of Individualization model; the design, development, and validation of integrated software that can generate individualized persuasive content based on a user’s social media profile and activity. Results indicate the proposed system can create personalized information that (a) matches readers’ interests, (b) is tailored to their ability to understand the information, and (c) is supported by trustable sources

Investigating the Impacts of Brand Social Media Posts’ Linguistic Styles on Consumer Engagement

Enhancing consumer engagement with brand posts on social media is challenging to digital marketers. However, it is unclear what contents work better for which brand and in what way. This paper investigates the impacts of three brand post linguistic styles (i.e., emotionality, complexity, and informality) and finds that brand posts’ linguistic styles can impact consumer engagement. The findings improve our understanding of the role that language plays in brand communications on social media

Decision Making by Emergency Room Physicians and Residents: Results From a Clinical Trial

Clinical decision-making is complex and uncertain and is dependent on accurate and timely information that is typically managed through Information Technology (IT) solutions. One particular class of IT that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the medical community is Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS). This paper will discuss results of the use of a CDSS that was developed for assisting triage decision making of pediatric abdominal pain in the Emergency department. We show how different user groups (staff physicians and residents) use the CDSS input variables in their triage decision making models

Consumer Engagement with Brand Posts on Social Media: Current State and Research Agenda

Social media has become an integral part of the marketing communication mix and has changed the way that brands and consumers engage with each other. To marketers, consumer engagement with brand posts on social media is crucial because it is essential for creating social contagion effects and positively impacts consumers’ perceptions of brand. However, social media marketers are struggling with approaching the creative brand contents in a way that maximizes consumer engagement. In academia, while some research suggests that marketers can strategically design brand contents that improve consumer engagement, it is not clear what contents work better, for which brand, and in what way. This paper presents a review of previous literature on consumer engagement with brand social media posts. Through the literature review, this paper summarizes the factors that are found to impact consumer engagement with brand social media posts. As such, this paper identifies several research streams which can be pursued

An Integrated Learning Approach to Teaching an Undergraduate Information Systems Course

This paper describes the redesign and implementation of an introductory Information Systems class. The redesign was guided by principles drawn from the experiential and active learning literature. Central to the redesign are two simulated companies: petGRO, a fictional ERP-enabled pet food and accessories e-tailer; and beans4all, a technology consulting company of which all registered students are employees. Students work in solution crews throughout the semester to solve a set of technology-related challenges that their client, petGRO, is facing. Initial student response to the redesign has been mixed. Survey responses indicate that students have an increased interest in IS after taking the course. There was a significant increase in students’ perception of the usefulness of the knowledge gained from the course in subsequent courses. However, this result is countered by a decrease in students’ perception of whether the course led to an improvement in their academic skills. Open-ended comments reveal the polarizing nature of the redesign but with more positive than negative comments