Solving Case Studies through Asynchronous Learning Networks: Possibilities and Limitations

Business Schools have been using case studies to present real or hypothetical situations to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. New communication technologies can be incorporated into the case method of teaching, allowing participants to be in different locations and to work at their own convenience. An Asynchronous Learning Network is a Computer-Mediated Communication System to support "anytime/anywhere" interaction by providing a combination of database and conferencing system. A field experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness of an ALN vs. traditional manual methods at both the individual and group level for the solution of a case study. Findings indicate that groups working in an asynchronous networked environment produced better and more complete solutions to the case study, but were less satisfied with the interaction process. Further research in the implementation of ALN's promises to enhance the quality of education and to provide future managers with essential expertise in new communication technologies.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

User Satisfaction with Wearables

This study investigates user satisfaction with wearable technologies. It proposes that the integration of expectation confirmation theory with affordance theory sheds light on the sources of user’s (dis)confirmation when evaluating technology performance experiences and explains the origins of satisfaction ratings. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of online user reviews of a popular fitness wristband supports the research model. Since the band lacks buttons and numeric displays, users need to interact with the companion software to obtain the information they need. Findings indicate that satisfaction depends on the interaction’s quality, the value of digitalizing physical activity, and the extent to which the informational feedback meets users’ needs. Moreover, the results suggest that digitalizing physical activity has different effects for different users. While some appreciate data availability in general regardless of their accuracy, those who look for precision do not find such quantification useful. Thus, their evaluative judgments depend on the wearable system’s actual performance and the influence that the feedback has on their pursuit of their fitness goals. These results provide theoretical and practical contributions to advance our understanding of wearable technologies

11870.com: Tagging Site or Social Recommendation System?

Tagging sites allow users to post information and organize it with tags for future retrieval and to optionally share their entries with others or keep them private. Some tagging sites also allow users to add personal reviews to their entries. Sites that offer publicly available information that includes user-generated reviews are designed to function as social recommendation systems. However, since sharing is voluntary and reviews are discretionary and laborious to produce, it is not clear whether a site with these optional features can function as a social recommendation system. Using activity data from a site with these characteristics (11870.com), we test whether contributors use it as a social recommendation system. We find that the prevalent user profile is that of a public contributor, for whom the proportion of entries annotated with reviews is 68%. Almost 40% of the public contributor base, particularly newer users of the site, provides reviews for all of their entries. Our results indicate that this tagging site is increasingly viewed as a social recommendation system despite the discretional nature of sharing resources and adding reviews. An important implication of these findings is that optional features do not undermine the ability of a tagging site to function as a social recommendation system

Measurement of Multitasking with Focus Shift Analysis

Perhaps one of the most prevalent, yet least understood, forms of modern behavior is human multitasking aided by technology. Multitasking is both difficult to define and to measure. Based on Activity Theory and the concept of focus shifts, this study defines multitasking as shifts that occur when the flow of work is interrupted and tasks are interchanged during a session. The analysis of focus shift diversity, with respect to the tasks that receive attention, enables researchers to measure multitasking. With this approach, several indices of diversity are examined in order to provide recommendations about alternative measurement choices. This methodological study advances our understanding of the possibilities and limitations of using diversity indices for measuring multitasking

Methods for Evaluating the Usability of Web-Based Systems

Due to the widespread use of the World Wide Web, many organizations are creating web sites and developing web interfaces for their existing information systems. Surprisingly however, there appears to be little evidence that organizations systematically evaluate the usability of their web-based systems. The usability of a web site defines how well and how easily a visitor, without formal training, can use the site. Clearly, better usability will result in more efficient interaction between the user and the site and could have important implications for the acceptance of web-based systems. This paper reviews different usability testing methods and describes how protocol analysis (or think aloud ) can be used to test web site usability

Usability of Wearables without Affordances

The research question guiding this study is whether the absence of visible interaction cues in minimalist wearable devices affects the user experience. This question is answered theoretically with an affordance framework and empirically with a qualitative analysis of online user reviews about a specific fitness tracker wristband. Our theoretically-driven affordance-based analysis attributes usability challenges to affordance integration failures and contradictions. Minimalist devices with inconspicuous interfaces need compensating affordances to make them easy to use. Additionally, given the integration of affordances in the context of the user experience, there is a need for consistency among them. Integration failures and inconsistent affordances impair usability. Overall, the findings suggest that a minimalist design results in a more complex user experience if affordances are not properly balanced and integrated. These results have implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand what makes modern IoT devices transparent to use at the physical and digital level

An Entropy Index for Multitasking Behavior

This study conceptualizes multitasking in a tri-dimensional framework consisting of task, time and technology, and proposes an entropy measure called the Multitasking Entropy Index (MEI) to study multitasking behavior. Entropy indicates the level of disorder or heterogeneity in a system. In natural and social sciences, entropy measures have been used to study the dispersion of objects of interest. However, to date, these measures have not been applied to study human multitasking behavior. Multitasking is defined in terms of the focus shifts that occur when a person changes attention between ongoing tasks. MEI calculates the diversity of focus shifts that take place in a period of time. The index can also be applied to measure focus shifts across different technology devices. The results of an empirical test show the potential of the proposed index. The framework and index presented in this paper are poised to seed a new stream of research

Information Technology and Systems - III. Research Publications in Systems Development during 2000-2004

Although systems development research is at the core of the Information Systems discipline, some scholars call attention to a teaching and research gap in this area of IS. In this study, we examine the state of systems development research in IS by analyzing the articles published in three leading journals between 2000 and 2004. We propose a classification framework based on the type of research paradigm (design vs. explanatory) and the nature of the IT-artifact (conceptualization vs. instantiation). Our results show that about 20% of the articles published in this five year period are focused on systems development. In two of the three journals, there are comparable proportions of studies in the design research and in the explanatory paradigm. However, in all three publications most of the articles are focused on conceptual IT-artifacts, as opposed to algorithms or software-based artifacts. These findings are important for system development researchers when they choose journals where to send their papers

Voluntary and Involuntary Self-Disclosure in Decision-Making Virtual Teams

This study investigates the roles of visual representation and verbal self-disclosure in decision making virtual teams via a content analysis of group discussions. Findings indicate that visual representation encourages increased self-disclosure in the form of personal and universal revelations of facts and thoughts during virtual group communication. Increased revelations are in turn found to impact the nature of group decisions. These results theoretical and practical implications for virtual decision making