Two Sides of a Single Coin: Assessing the Net Effect of Organizational Mobile IS/IT Use

The rise of mobile computing devices in organizations is unabated. For example, over 94% of Fortune 500 companies currently test or deploy iPads, and a similar percentage integrate smartphones into their technological landscape. Mobile information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) use indisputably entails a number of advantages in an organizational context, such as an increase in in-formation availability and information quality. However, researchers have started to assess the draw-backs of mobile IS/IT, including work-life conflict, spillover effects, and an increase in work stress. The goal of our study therefore is to provide a balanced overview of the benefits and drawbacks of mobile IS/IT use in a conceptual research model so as to ultimately assess the net productivity impact of mobile IS/IT use in an organizational context. We use a deductive-inductive research approach to develop our model by combining an extensive literature review and 17 expert interviews in major German and Swiss public corporations. The model therefore integrates insights from theory and prac-tice to arrive at a more holistic understanding of our research topic

Interaction Processes in Collaborative Learning Networks: A Social Interdependence Perspective

Information systems and communication tools such as online discussions forums are increasingly replacing traditional instructor-led learning methods with collaborative learning networks. Collaborative learning networks emphasize the distributed nature of learning and community-based sharing of knowledge, where people connect and collectively contribute knowledge to a learning community. However, the value realized through collaborative learning depends on social interaction processes that take place among members of a learning network. The aim of this paper is to present our ongoing research on social interaction processes, their determinants, and their effects on individual and group learning performance. We investigate the role of different social interaction processes in collaborative learning networks, where students’ learning is derived from (instead of with) the learning community. As a result, we aim to offer theoretical insights into how collaborative learning networks enhance the learning outcomes of both the individual and group

It’s Just Emotion Taking Me Over: Investigating the Role of Emotions in Knowledge Management Research

The importance of emotions has increasingly been recognized in the information systems field. Emotions do not only influence the human mind, but can also be transferred to others through knowledge. This transfer of knowledge is part of the broader organizational concept of knowledge management (KM) and requires the attention of researchers interested in emotions and emotion theories. Therefore, our paper presents a systematic review of existing evidence on the emotions’ role in KM research. Our review shows that despite KM’s long tradition, there is only limited evidence as to how emotions are related to KM, most of which mention emotions as motivation for KM. As a result of our study, we identify four research opportunities to further examine certain aspects of emotions’ role in KM

Knowledge Unchained or Strategically Overseen? Knowledge Management in Open Source Software Projects

The term “open source software” was formally introduced in the early 2000s to describe source code which are available to the public to be used and modified by anyone. Like any innovative idea attaining a certain maturity level, open source communities have reached a degree of formalization in their structures and practices. This also holds for knowledge management and its related measures in open source communities. Therefore, we investigate the patterns and structures in communication and collaboration of the currently most successful open source software projects through a case study approach. Herewith, we reveal how the different knowledge management aspects are practiced in these internet communities. Due to the projects’ success, we identify similarities as good practices and derive practical recommendations for action for other open source communities as well as research opportunities regarding knowledge management in open source software projects

The Role of IT Feature Recombinations in Individuals\u27 Innovative Use of IT

Innovations do not emerge in isolation but are to some extent recombinations of previously existing building blocks. In this paper, we build on the recombination processes feature set broadening and deepening to show how individuals innovate with IT. We employ a qualitative research setting using a rich case of a self-tracker, who constantly changed his use of a stress tracking device from simple meditation to, eventually, a creative use configuration allowing him to sense stress at work, address prejudicial work-related behavioral patterns, and increase his work-related performance. Our preliminary analysis show that innovating with IT operates in constant cycles of feature set broadening and deepening, with broadening preceding the deepening. By linking feature set broadening and deepening to existing tasks as well as to new deliverables, we intend to clarify the relationships and transitions between different configurations of innovative use and show which patterns of innovative use occur over time

Industry-Specificity of Employee Portal Success: A Multi-Group Comparison

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of employee portal success and to investigate the industry differences with regard to the success factors. We introduce a theoretical model for this that is based on the DeLone and McLean IS Success Model, which considers the specific requirements of employee portals. We tested the associations between our model’s different success dimensions by using more than 6,000 employees’ responses that were collected in a survey of 22 companies across different industries participating in an international benchmarking study. Furthermore, we analyzed potential industry differences by means of a multi-group comparison. We applied structural equation modeling to carry out the data analysis. The study’s results indicate that, besides the factors contributing to the success of IS in general, other success dimensions – like the quality of the collaboration and process support – have to be considered when aiming for a successful employee portal. The results of the multi-group comparison further indicate that the impacts of the success factors differ in intensity and significance between the industries in our sample. The study’s findings make it possible for practitioners to understand the industry-specific levers with which to improve their employee portals and to prioritize their investments accordingly. By empirically validating a comprehensive success model for employee portals, the study\u27s results advance the theoretical development in this area and present a basis for further research in this field

Why Don’t You Use It? Assessing the Determinants of Enterprise Social Software Usage: A Conceptual Model Integrating Innovation Diffusion and Social Capital Theories

Social software has recently attracted the attention of organizations. Nowadays organizational social software applications are often bundled within enterprise social software platforms (ESSPs). Given the popularity of social software in the private realm (e.g., Facebook), organizations expect their employees to use the ESSPs in the same frequency right after rollout. However, employees do not always meet this expectation, leading to internal social software platforms that starve for attention. While there is some research investigating users’ motives to adopt social software in the private realm, empirical research on social software adoption in an enterprise setting is still scarce. As a step towards closing this research gap, we collected a rich set of qualitative data aiming at investigating the determinants of employees’ ESSP usage. Based on theory and the collected qualitative data, this paper proposes a conceptual ESSP adoption model combining the theoretical perspectives of innovation diffusion theory and social capital theory

A Conceptual Model for Measuring the Effectiveness of Employee Portals

Employee portals are utilized by many companies to improve information exchange and communication between their employees as well as to better support business processes. Assessing the benefits of employee portals has become important, owing to limited IT budgets and the need to justify investments in portals. In this paper, we propose a conceptual model for measuring the effectiveness of employee portals on the basis of the DeLone and McLean IS Success Model as well as an extensive review of employee portal success measurement literature. The resulting model is presented as the basis for future empirical work in this area. The development of the survey instrument is described and further validation steps are proposed

Free Ride in Rush-hour Traffic – Designing Gamified Smart Mobility Systems for Sustainable Use

A large proportion of traffic congestion can be attributed to daily commute. While smart mobility systems (SMSs) intend to address the resulting challenges by actively changing users’ behavior, many SMSs suffer from users’ meaningful engagement. Research and practice have started examining engagement factors in order to increase meaningful engagement with SMSs. The question of how traffic participants can be continuously involved with SMSs to sustainably change their behavior has not been answered satisfactorily yet. In our paper, we identify relevant gamification elements suitable to improve meaningful engagement based on a literature study and market analysis. We used a design science approach to derive design requirements. Building on these, we assume comprehensive design principles and used them to derive initial design features. With these, we started a first feature configuration and a prototypical app implementation towards designing a sustainable SMS