Self-Regulation for Online Auctions: An Analysis

The most prevalent form of Internet fraud is auction fraud. As fraud affects both the profits of Internet auction houses as well as honest traders of auction goods, they have a mutual incentive to reduce fraud. However, existing research suggests that little effort has been made by the Internet auction industry to control fraud. As a result, there have been increasing calls for government intervention to regulate the Internet auction marketplace. In this study, we perform a grounded theory analysis of fraud in the Internet auction marketplace. Specifically, this research explores the institutions that experienced traders and auction houses employ to reduce the incidence of fraud. Preliminary evidence suggests that, contrary to common perception, the Internet auction industry has developed many sophisticated institutions for combating fraud. These institutions operate primarily by reducing information asymmetries that con artists exploit. However, due to the ease of entry into Internet auction markets, new entrants become easy prey for con artists

Issues and Guidelines in Modeling Decomposition of Minimum Participation in Entity-Relationship Diagrams

The entity-relationship model has long been employed for conceptual modeling of databases. Methodologies and heuristics have been developed, both for effective modeling and for translating entity-relationship models into relational models. One aspect of modeling that is often overlooked in design methodologies is the use of optional versus mandatory participation (i.e., minimum participation) on the development of relational databases. This tutorial complements existing instructional material on database design by analyzing the syntactic implications of minimum participation in binary, unary, and n-ary relationship sets and for the special case where the E-R diagram depicts a database where 3NF is not in BCNF. It then presents design modeling guidelines which demonstrate that (1) for binary 1:1 and 1:M relationship sets, the presence of optional participation sometimes means that the relationship set should be represented in the relational model by a separate relation, (2) unary relationship sets cannot have a (1,1) participation, (3) n-ary relationship sets that have a (1,1) participation can be simplified to be of lower connectivity, and (4) decomposition is not a substitute for normalization. Illustrative examples and modeling guidelines are provided

Effect of Frame of Mind on Users’ Deception Detection Attitudes and Behaviours

As the World Wide Web grows, the number and variety of deceptive attacks targeting online consumers likewise increases. Extant research has examined online deception from an information processing perspective, that is, how users process information when they encounter deceptive attacks. However, users’ ability to process information is based on what the users are thinking or their frame of mind while engaged with that information. Frame of mind has not been well studied in the security domain. This study proposes the effect of users’ frame of mind on their attitude towards online deception and their actual deception detection behaviour. Specifically, we propose that human information needs and the framing (positive or negative) of important information such as warnings are significant components of users’ frames of mind that impact their vulnerability to online attacks. We conclude the paper by discussing in detail the experimental setup and expected contributions from the analysis

Investigating Organizational Self-control: A Willpower Perspective

Behavioral control theory attempts to explain how controllers can ensure controlees work towards controller goals. Prior studies underinvestigate organizational self-control, and produces mixed results. This paper theorizes and elaborates on the construct of organizational self-control, and how controllers can encourage controlees’ organizational self-control. Organizational self-control differs from “personal” self-control in that organizational self-control focuses on getting another individual (e.g., employee) to exert self-control to perform a controller’s task. Consonant with the personal self-control literature, we argue organizational self-control comprises (self) goals, (self) monitoring, and willpower. We further argue organizational self-control is a mediator between external controls (formal and clan control) and controlee performance. While the literature considers external controls’ influence on one’s goal and self-monitoring, it does not consider external controls’ impact on willpower. We demonstrate through a case study in product development that how control is enacted can impact willpower positively, leading to positive control outcomes

Framing Group Norms in Virtual Communities

Organizations have started to realize the economic value of virtual communities. Unfortunately, traditional management methods of control do not work on virtual communities. Often, group norms are the principal method of virtual community governance. However, it is not clear how group norms are formed in virtual communities, and how managers can shape norm evolution. This research in progress paper presents our initial analysis of norm formation in virtual communities. We use framing analysis on two virtual communities focused on recreational drug use to explain how managers of virtual communities construct, and community members interpret frames to develop group norms

Central IT or Shadow IT? Factors Shaping Users’ Decision to Go Rogue With IT

Shadow IT occurs when users develop systems outside of the central information technology department. It provides both benefits and risks- users procuring Shadow IT often do not consider integration with existing enterprise architecture, privacy and security protection, maintenance cost, and legal ramifications. Problems with shadow IT must often be resolved by central IT. It is, thus, important for central IT to determine when users will consider shadow IT, and how shadow IT can be managed. This research performs paired interviews with CIOs and senior users to identify factors causing Shadow IT. Two main arguments are advanced. First, the form the shadow IT/central IT duality takes is based on: (a) an alignment/non-alignment between the organization, central IT, and user function; and (b) the ability of user departments to procure IT independently. Second, top management support is not necessary for successful IT implementation, especially given the presence of enterprise shadow IT systems

A TEST OF A COMPUTER-ADAPTIVE SURVEY USING ONLINE REVIEWS

Traditional surveys are excellent instruments for establishing the correlational relationship between two constructs. However, they are unable to identify reasons why such correlations exist. Computer-Adaptive Surveys (CAS) are multi-dimensional instruments where questions asked of respondents depend on the previous questions asked. Assessing the validity of CAS is an underexplored research area as CAS differs from traditional surveys. Therefore, validating a CAS requires different techniques. This study attempts to validate the conclusion validity of a CAS about café customer satisfaction using online customer reviews. For our CAS to have conclusion validity, there should be a high correspondence where most respondents in CAS and online reviewers both agree that certain constructs are the cause of their dissatisfaction. We created a Computer-Adaptive Survey (CAS) of café satisfaction and used online customer reviews to assess its conclusion validity. Our research thus contributes to the measurement literature in two ways, one, we demonstrate that CAS captures the same criticisms of cafes as that in online reviews, and two, CAS captures problems about customer satisfaction at a deeper level than that found in online reviews

Computer-Adaptive Surveys (CAS) as a Means of Answering Questions of Why

Traditional surveys are excellent instruments for establishing the correlational relationship between two constructs. However, they are unable to identify reasons why such correlations exist. Computer- Adaptive Surveys (CAS) are multi-dimensional instruments where questions asked of respondents depend on the previous questions asked. Their principal advantage is they allow the survey developer to input a large number of potential causes. Respondents then roll down through the causes to identify the one or few significant causes impacting a correlation. This study compared a café satisfaction CAS to a traditional survey of the same item bank to test whether CAS performs its intended task better than a traditional survey. Our study demonstrates that when one is trying to find root cause, CAS achieves a higher response rate, requires fewer items for respondents to answer, has better item discrimination, and has a higher agreement among respondents for each item