Illuminating Summary Evaluations –The Importance of an Attitude’s Structural Consistency in Explaining IS Usage

Although attitudes are frequently hypothesized to guide information system (IS) usage behavior, existent empirical evidence on their explanatory power is inconclusive. We thus suggest in this paper the consideration of an attitude\u27s strength that stems from its structural consistency. First, we illuminate the structure that underlies attitudes from a theoretical perspective and hypothesize that its consistency marks strong attitudes that explain IS usage. Second, we provide empirical evidence on structurally consistent attitudes explaining IS usage intention in the specific context of social network sites. By focusing on attitude, we investigate in this paper a less-studied side of existent IS adoption theories and show the merits of considering an attitude\u27s strength as indicated by its structural consistency in explaining IS usage

Disarming Prejudice: How Ease of Use Mitigates the Detrimental Effect of IT-Based Stereotype Threat on the IT Task Performance of Older Adults

We propose that although just an oversimplified picture, the stereotype that older adults cannot use IT turns into a real threat to older adults on IT tasks. We find in an experiment with 96 older adults on a municipality website that the stereotype of not being able to use IT creates a toxic cognitive load in the minds of older adults, which in turn significantly impairs their information search on the website. Based on cognitive load as a theoretical leverage point for an intervention against IT-based stereotype threat, our results furthermore highlight that increasing a website’s ease of use effectively protects older adults against the stereotype about their inability in the IS domain. We offer in this paper a theoretically-grounded starting point for disarming prejudice in the digital transformation of societies

Evaluation Criteria for Sociotechnical Systems for the Digitally Disadvantaged

This paper addresses the challenge of finding criteria to evaluate social inclusiveness of sociotechnical systems (STS). While IT offers opportunities to reduce inequalities, the digital divide is a growing challenge. This divide between individuals with access and sufficient digital literacy, has economic and social consequences. Although several factors have been identified as barriers to the use of IT or design principles for socially inclusive research, there is a gap in the literature in assessing the final STS in their social inclusivity. This paper aims to identify criteria for evaluating STS in terms of social inclusion of the digitally disadvantaged. Based on the STS perspective, design requirements and principles are derived to help design a checklist of whether needs of digitally disadvantaged have been met. The paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by adding the STS design evaluation step to the current literature

CLAIM THE NAME: NAMES OF IT SOLUTIONS AND THE INFLUENCE ON OLDER ADULTS

The number of older adults as Information Technology (IT) users is increasing. While attention is already being paid to the design of IT solutions for older adults, the names of IT solutions have received little attention. It is important that the name does not convey negative attributes. In the case of older adults, stereotypes pose a challenge since they can lead to rejection of potentially helpful IT solutions. In this paper, we therefore propose a model for a stereotype-free naming process in the conceptual background of sociotechnical systems. The model will be developed and tested according to a design science research approach. The final model will be adaptable for further target groups to name IT solutions free from stereotypes

Information Systems Avoidance Among People with Disabilities

Digital inequality is a prevalent problem for people with disabilities. Despite the capabilities embedded in information systems (IS), many people with disabilities are reluctant to use IS and even avoid the interaction. We develop a model to understand the determinants of the intention to avoid IS among people with disabilities. First, based on prior IS literature, we identify a technological perspective, indicating that the assessment of technology characteristics has important implications for individuals’ techno-related concerns, which fuel the intention to avoid. Second, we draw from stigma power theory, and identify a complementary societal perspective, indicating that people with disabilities avoid using IS because their actions could be interpreted in connection with prevalent stereotypes related to their disability status. Thus, we aim to show that overcoming digital inequality requires a holistic approach by addressing technological as well as societal factors

The Case of Digital Ethics in IS Research – A Literature Review

Due to the rapid development in technology and the increasing digitization of organizations and society as a whole, digital ethics is becoming an increasingly important topic for researchers and practitioners of information systems (IS). This literature review shows the state of the art of ethical views present in IS research, at first establishing the relevance of the topic and then showing recent developments. Using a holistic view on ethics, this article provides (1) an overview of the number of publications considering ethics in IS research and on the different ethical constructs and theories. Additionally, it provides an overview (2) on the different fields of application. The aforementioned concepts (3) are contrasted to identify research streams and derive research gaps. Additionally (4), we provide a categorization scheme to classify ethics research in IS into 4 different types and from there (5) derive research propositions for future projects

Attitude Discrepancy and Its Influence on Turnover Intention Among IS Professionals

Acquiring and retaining skilled IS professionals is a crucial success factor for organizations. Skilled IS professionals become even more important considering that organizations are constantly trying to improve through new innovative information technology. We plan to uncover the effects of conflicting explicit and implicit attitudes towards innovative technologies on job satisfaction and turnover intention, using blockchain technology as an example. We hypothesize that organizational factors such as IT capabilities and innovation support might have different effects on explicit and implicit attitudes, leading to attitude discrepancy, which negatively affects job satisfaction and increases turnover intentions. We plan to use a single concept implicit association test and a survey to assess implicit and explicit attitudes. Through our research, we expect to provide a better understanding of antecedents of job satisfaction and turnover intention on an organizational level that allows to derive better management practices for handling innovative technologies

COMPUTER-BASED STEREOTYPE THREATS AS A NEW THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE ON IS AVOIDANCE BY ELDERLY PEOPLE

Despite constituting one fifth of the population in Europe, elderly people (65+) are the least active group with respect to using the internet and computer-based services. Toward shedding light on rea-sons for this discrepancy, we adopt in this paper the theory of stereotype threat as a theoretical lens. Stereotype threat theory posits the perception of a social identity threat such as being old and cogni-tively slow, which in turn results in anxiety, low performance, and avoidance behavior when exposed to a stereotype-relevant situation. Psychological research has resulted in numerous studies that pro-vided evidence of perceived aging stereotypes and their implications on performance, anxiety, and avoidance. Within this research in progress, we transfer this knowledge to the phenomenon of infor-mation system (IS) avoidance by elderly people and propose a research model and multi-methodological experimental design in order to investigate the relationship between perceived com-puter-based stereotype threat by elderly users, computer anxiety, IS performance, and IS avoidance behavior

A stigma power perspective on digital government service avoidance

The digital-by-default policy for government services implemented in many European countries can pose challenges to marginalized citizens, such as people with disabilities. Prior research on electronic inclusion and the digital divide has mainly considered technology-related concerns, such as Internet anxiety, preventing people with disabilities from using digital government services. Yet, these concerns may insufficiently account for the fact that people with disabilities may suspect that governments provide new services only to reduce costs and forgo the need for more meaningful social change. Therefore, we draw from stigma power theory to understand how perceptions of stereotyping and discrimination contribute to the avoidance of digital government services among people with disabilities. Our results indicate that overcoming underutilization of digital government services among people with disabilities requires a holistic approach by addressing technology-related as well as stigma-related concerns

Never Too Old: A Review of the Determinants of IT Task Performance in Older Adults From a Digital Transformation Standpoint

In a process known as the digital transformation, contemporary societies continue to morph into network societies, in which social interaction gets mediated by electronic channels. Using IT well (i.e. successfully) therefore becomes a necessary precondition for participation and inclusion in society. However, old adults, who did not grow up with IT, find themselves at a disadvantage and existent explanations for their IT task performance like the deficiency approach do not seem to suffice. Informed by active aging as a theoretical lens, we propose IT task performance as an important means to the social inclusion of older adults in the digital transformation of societies. Based on a review of the existent literature, we call for greater attention to the determinants of IT task performance, especially to those that originate from the social context of use, into which the concept of social inclusion actually expects older adults to integrate