Digital Diversity in Software Development Companies: Is It for Real ?

This study introduces the concept of ‘digital diversity’ to refer to the increasing workforce heterogeneity that stems from the recent rise of digital natives in the workforce. While digital diversity is expected to promise innovation and efficiency, it may also give rise to organizational challenges. The nature of the promise and challenge of digital diversity as well as how it is perceived across diverse groups, however, remain unexplored. Through a multisite study of software development companies, this study provides a deeper understanding of digital diversity and its promise and challenge in the particular context of software development workforce. Furthermore, drawn upon empirical data and insights from generational and diversity research, a model distinctly suited to studying digital diversity in software development workforce, is developed. Contributions to theory and implications for software development companies are discussed and new avenues for future research are outlined

How to Manage Crowdfunded Projects: Empirical Evidence from a Comparative Study of Game Development Projects

This study expands current understanding of the crowdfunding phenomenon by explaining how crowdfunding initiatives that have succeeded in hitting their financial target— referred to as crowdfunded projects— can continue to succeed by delivering their promise within the schedule, budget, and quality guidelines. The study develops propositions that elaborate the importance of undertaking four broad strategies—namely, project management, communication, community, and open innovation— during crowdfunded projects. It then reports the results of an in-depth, comparative qualitative study of two exemplary game development projects to evaluate the applicability of the propositions and create a better understanding of their underlying concepts. The findings confirm the propositions by demonstrating how the two projects differed greatly in the use of strategies. Furthermore, the exploratory nature of the comparisons enriches the propositions by revealing new concepts that need to be considered in the successful implementation of the identified strategies

The Employment Of Online Communities Of Practice For Manifesting Feminist Behaviors Among Eastern Women

There is a growing body of literature on the concept of gender and women empowerment through information and communication technologies. However, there is no considerable effort to investigate how information technology affects feminism movements particularly in eastern countries. Drawn from the findings in the current body of literature and using activity theory, this paper postulates the significant moderating impact of online communities of practice in transforming feminist-related attitudes into feminist-related behaviours of eastern women. It then uses quantitative data from an eastern cultural context to check the applicability of the proposed proposition

Information Sharing Under Mixed Cooperative and Competitive Reward Structures

With regard to the increased application of team-based organizational structures, great attention has been devoted to research on work groups. A growing body of literature indicates the crucial role of cooperative or competitive reward structures in determining information sharing patterns, and in turn group performance. The real situations are, however, a mixture of cooperative and competitive- coopetitive- reward structures in different intensities and mix. This study aims to provide a better understanding of coopetitive structures and their impact on group interactions. More specifically, this study investigates how two types of coopetitive reward structures (dominant cooperative and dominant competitive reward structures) are different in terms of determining the quality of information sharing among group members over time. Drawn upon the extant literature, a theoretical model of coopetitive reward structures is proposed. The model postulates that the relationship between coopetitive reward structures and high-quality information sharing is contingent upon task complexity and group dynamics. Laboratory experimental research is proposed as the research methodology. The details of the proposed research methodology including the experiment procedures, variables, and participants are discussed for validation and testing of the conceptual model

Application of Activity Theory in Understanding Online Communities of Practice: A Case of Feminism

The extant literature has frequently acknowledged the crucial potential of Information and Communication Technologies for women empowerment. This study targets feminism as an important indicator of women empowerment. It then investigates the challenges of feminism in eastern countries from a novel angle that questions: “why those eastern women who already have feminist attitudes fail to demonstrate feminist behaviours?” The paper draws upon activity theory and proposed the moderating impact of online women-related communities of practice in transforming feminist-related attitudes into feminist-related behaviours of eastern women. The analysis of quantitative data collected from an online community of practice confirms the postulated proposition.  The results present regarding the use of online women-related in the examined population as well as how Information Technology can be applied for facilitation of women empowerment in eastern societies

How Far We Can Go: A Model of Online Activism, Enabling Dynamics, and Social Change

Social movement organizations increasingly leverage online activism to pursue socio-political change. While research in this area has focused on explaining the role of online activism in developing social movements, less is understood about the underlying dynamics that facilitate change that endures. I draw upon an embedded case inquiry into the online campaigns of a large social movement organization to explore what these campaigns tell us about online activism that commands organizations’ attention and prompts social change. I present a theoretical model that is developed using the critical mass approach to online activism and the fundamental elements of communication theories. The model provides a systematic account of communication tactics that encourage target organizations to go beyond seeing urgency in meeting activists’ demands and embrace long-term opportunities in joining social movements. The model fills important gaps in our understanding of the relationship between online activism, social movements and their consequences