Panel: IS has outgrown the need for reference discipline theories, or has it?

In the decade since the creation of wireless handheld devices, mobile commerce (m-commerce) has become a ubiquitous channel for accessing information and conducting business. Mobile users can now access information anytime and anywhere. Mobile advertising, retailing, and gambling are popular, and gradually the competition among mobile services providers turns fierce. Hence, some services providers adopt personalization technologies to customize content for their users. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges of the use of personalization technologies in m-commerce. Although the effectiveness of personalization on the web is well-examined, there is little work on personalization in mobile services. The debates regarding the effectiveness of personalization and technological limitations and privacy concerns motivate us to conduct focus groups with mobile users, and explore the opportunities and challenges of personalized mobile services. The focus groups findings illustrate that mobile users are very concerned about their privacy and spam. We then extract a list of personal information from the focus groups findings. This list of personal information is highly related to mobile users’ privacy concerns. We conduct an online survey to gain a better understanding of which piece of information mobile users are more willing to share with services providers and we perform a multi-dimensional scale analysis

Estrogen, Progesterone and Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian carcinoma (OCa) continues to be the leading cause of death due to gynecologic malignancies and the vast majority of OCa is derived from the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) and its cystic derivatives. Epidemiological evidence strongly suggests that steroid hormones, primarily estrogens and progesterone, are implicated in ovarian carcinogenesis. However, it has proved difficult to fully understand their mechanisms of action on the tumorigenic process. New convincing data have indicated that estrogens favor neoplastic transformation of the OSE while progesterone offers protection against OCa development. Specifically, estrogens, particularly those present in ovulatory follicles, are both genotoxic and mitogenic to OSE cells. In contrast, pregnancy-equivalent levels progesterone are highly effective as apoptosis inducers for OSE and OCa cells. In this regard, high-dose progestin may exert an exfoliation effect and rid an aged OSE of pre-malignant cells. A limited number of clinical studies has demonstrated efficacies of antiestrogens, aromatase inhibitors, and progestins alone or in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of OCa. As a result of increased life expectancy in most countries, the number of women taking hormone replacement therapies (HRT) continues to grow. Thus, knowledge of the mechanism of action of steroid hormones on the OSE and OCa is of paramount significance to HRT risk assessment and to the development of novel therapies for the prevention and treatment of OCa

Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling Approach for Analyzing a Model with a Binary Indicator as an Endogenous Variable

In this paper, we focus on PLS-SEM’s ability to handle models with observable binary outcomes. We examine the different ways in which a binary outcome may appear in a model and distinguish those situations in which a binary outcome is indeed problematic versus those in which one can easily incorporate it into a PLS-SEM analysis. Explicating such details enables IS researchers to distinguish different situations rather than avoid PLS-SEM altogether whenever a binary indicator presents itself. In certain situations, one can adapt PLS-SEM to analyze structural models with a binary observable variable as the endogenous construct. Specifically, one runs the PLS-SEM first stage as is. Subsequently, one uses the output for the binary variable and latent variable antecedents from this analysis in a separate logistic regression or discriminant analysis to estimate path coefficients for just that part of the structural model. We also describe a method—regularized generalized canonical correlation analysis (RGCCA)—from statistics, which is similar to PLS-SEM but unequivocally allows binary outcomes

Personalization: Is It Effective on New and Repeat Users?

This work studies personalization from the perspective of human computer interaction. The objectives are to examine the effects of various personalization strategies on users’ information processing and decision-making. We commence by reviewing the literature on personalization in the five research domains defined by Banker and Kauffman (2004), and then highlight the debates regarding the effectiveness of personalization in influencing users’ decision-making. To bridge the gap between the proliferation of personalization technologies and the uncertainty of their effectiveness, this work addresses the following research question: What are the effects of different personalization strategies on users’ information processing? We examine two common personalization strategies: preference matching and set size of personalized content. We explore how these strategies affect users’ decision-making. An information processing model rooted in the Heuristic-Systematic Model is developed. We formulate 10 hypotheses on the relationship between personalization strategies and users’ information processing. Data collected from two online field studies are used to assess the validity of the proposed hypotheses. The results of the studies indicate that personalization can capture users’ attention, and, personalization is also associated with an increase in users’ exploration of other content. This effect becomes less salient when the amount of non-personalized content increases

Environmental Epigenetics and Asthma: Current Concepts and Call for Studies

Recent studies suggest that epigenetic regulation (heritable changes in gene expression that occur in the absence of alterations in DNA sequences) may in part mediate the complex gene-by-environment interactions that can lead to asthma. The variable natural history of asthma (i.e., incidence and remission of symptoms) may be a result of epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation, covalent histone modifications, microRNA changes, and chromatin alterations, after early or later environmental exposures. Findings from multiple epidemiologic and experimental studies indicate that asthma risk may be modified by epigenetic regulation. One study suggested that the transmission of asthma risk may occur across multiple generations. Experimental studies provide substantial in vitro data indicating that DNA methylation of genes critical to T-helper cell differentiation may induce polarization toward or away from an allergic phenotype. Despite this initial progress, fundamental questions remain that need to be addressed by well-designed research studies. Data generated from controlled experiments using in vivo models and/or clinical specimens collected after environmental exposure monitoring are limited. Importantly, cohort-driven epigenetic research has the potential to address key questions, such as those concerning the influence of timing of exposure, dose of exposure, diet, and ethnicity on susceptibility to asthma development. There is immense promise that the study of environmental epigenetics will help us understand a theoretically preventable environmental disease

Characteristics of Advertisements and Interactivity of Videos in Online Video Websites

This research-in-progress intends to investigate the characteristics of online advertisements and online videos in the online video websites. Specifically, we investigate how advertisements with different types and sizes can cause online users to perceive the advertisements to be intrusive and lead them to closing the advertisements. Based on the psychological reactance theory, we theorize how the interactivity of online videos can strengthen the effects of perceived intrusiveness of advertisements. We will conduct an experiment to test the hypotheses and evaluate the proposed research model. This study intends to contribute to the human-computer interaction literature by investigating how advertisements’ characteristics can interact and jointly influence online users’ perception of advertisements in the online video websites. Moreover, it intends to contribute to the digital advertising literature by studying the aversive effects of advertisements in the specific context of online video websites

Opportunities and Challenges in Healthcare Information Systems Research: Caring for Patients with Chronic Conditions

To prepare for the 2030 “baby-boomer challenge”, some governments have begun to implement healthcare reforms over the past two decades. These reforms have led healthcare information systems (HIS) to evolve into a major research area in our discipline. This research area has an increasing individual, organizational, and economic impact. Due to the 2030 “baby-boomer challenge”, the number of elderly individuals continues to increase, and they may have chronic illnesses, such as eye problems and Alzheimer’s disease. Given the practical need for HIS that support chronic care, we decided to conduct a literature synthesis and identify opportunities for HIS research. Specifically, we present the chronic care model and analyze how IS researchers have discussed HIS to address the needs of patients with chronic illness. Further, we identify research gaps and discuss the research topics on HIS that future work can extend and customize to support these patients. Our results stimulate and guide future research in the HIS area. This paper has the potential to strengthen the body of knowledge on HIS

ICT Business Case Approach in Public-Sector: A Case Study of the Australian Federal Government

Many private organisations and public sector agencies develop information and communication technology (ICT) business cases, and utilise them for better ICT investment decision making. The development of ICT business cases in private sector is relatively ad hoc and compact in size. In contrast, agencies in public sector are accountable to taxpayers for their use of public funds and to ensure that public money is spent efficiently and value for money is obtained. This accountability in the public sector has cultivated a norm of increased control over public agencies’ spending and led to the requirement for a robust and evidence-based ICT business cases. So far, scant research has investigated the development and utilisation of ICT business cases in the public sector. To fill this gap, this research-in-progress proposes a study to take a closer look at ICT business case approach in the public sector and its related benefits and disadvantages perceived by ICT business case experts. Preliminary data was collected from archival data and interviews with ICT business case experts working at a professional services firm. Our preliminary findings show that a structured and complex two-pass ICT business case approach was adopted in the Australian Federal Government. This research-in-progress briefly outlines benefits and disadvantages which business case practitioners can adopt to enhance their related ICT business case approach

Transaction-Driven Personalization: The Moderating Effects of Personality Traits

With transaction-driven personalization engines online merchants can use knowledge gained from an individual customer’s past transactions to match web content to the customer’s individual interests and preferences. Prior research in this area has focused on how to maximize knowledge mined from transaction logs to generate recommendations which are highly similar to the individual’s past preferences. However, it remains an empirical question as to whether a recommendation closely matched with previous transactions is most likely to influence choice behavior? In this study, we postulate that a recommendation closely matched with previous transactions may not be the most efficient in biasing an individual. In the consideration and choice process, an individual’s personality traits play a pivotal role in moderating the effect of personalized content. Drawing on prior work in marketing, we examine two key personality traits, need for cognition and variety seeking, and explore their effects on choice behavior in the context of transaction-driven personalization. Research hypotheses are tested using 2,294 pre-selected subjects in an online field experiment based on a ring tone download website. Our findings establish that personality traits of an individual moderate content consideration and choice. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed

The Effects Of Malfunctioning Personalized Services On Users’ Trust And Behaviors

Online merchants adopt web personalization to customize web content to match online users’ needs. Prior research has only looked at the “success” side of web personalization. Little research examines the “problematic” side of web personalization. The objective of this research is to explore how “malfunctioning” personalized web services influence an online user’s trust in the personalization agent and the behavioral intention of that user. In particular, this research looks at two types of malfunctioning personalization: irrelevant recommendations and biased recommendations. We draw on trust theories to develop seven hypotheses to predict the effects of malfunctioning personalized web services. We conducted a study with a personalized music download website. We found that irrelevant recommendations led to low trust in the personalization agent’s competence and integrity, and biased recommendations led to low trust in the integrity of the personalization agent. These findings provide empirical evidence of the possible problems of malfunctioning personalization and help firms understand and quantify the challenges and limitations of incorporating web personalization in their websites