EMPLOYER BRANDING VIA SOCIAL NETWORK SITES - A SILVER BULLET TO ATTRACT IT PROFESSIONALS?

Due to a shortage of IT professionals, many companies intensify their efforts to be perceived as attractive employers in this field, especially by means of social network sites (SNS) such as Facebook. However, it is unknown whether these presences do really attract IT professionals, and if so, whether this is more due to the utilitarian (job search-related) characteristics or to the hedonic (entertaining) characteristics of the SNS. In our study, we compared the usage behavior of IT graduates with that of a different group of graduates (in this case: humanities graduates). Our results reveal that corporate SNS presences are suitable to effectively attract IT professionals. Our study proves that the usage behavior of IT graduates is predominantly driven by utilitarian aspects of the SNS presences, while we could verify that humanities graduates use such SNS presences predominantly for entertainment purposes. Therefore, it seems advisable that companies choose the design for their SNS presence with particular regard to the target group that they want to attract and recruit

An experimental analysis of bounded rationality: Applying insights from behavioral economics to information systems

The paradigm of bounded rationality considers the limited ability of individuals to make consistent and rational choices. Due to the scarcity of research on this phenomenon in information systems, we conducted an experimental study investigating decision-making regarding risk preferences and social preferences. Moreover, we explored the stability of these preferences under different conditions and uncovered the role of information retrieval in individual decision-making. We find that although individuals are generally risk-averse and egoistic, none of these preferences is stable under the conditions tested which provides indices of boundedly rational decision-making. Although the information retrieved by participants generally allows to infer their preferences, the increasing amount and complexity of this information again often results in boundedly rational behavior.bounded rationality, experimental design, information retrieval, stability of attitudes and behavior, cognitive tracing, behavioral economics, behavioral information systems

Advising Customers on Products in Navigating Online Shops – An Empirical Analysis

Most online shops do not provide advisory services that take advantage of expert product knowledge. Therefore, consumersmay spend a higher search effort than necessary to find products that serve their needs. This study investigates to what extentan ontology-based, “advisory” navigation menu can decrease a consumers’ search effort. For this purpose, we conducted alaboratory experiment with 159 participants to assess the impact of an ontology-based navigation menu on participants’information behavior in an online shop. Our log file-based comparison with a conventional navigation menu showed asignificant decrease of search effort for the advisory navigation menu. Comparison criteria include the number of productresult pages viewed, the number of detail pages viewed, and the amount of filters used in a session. Implications of thisresearch concern the development of online shop interfaces that use ontology-based product catalogues and therefore supportconsumers in their information search

Corporate blogging today – usage and characteristics

In the much-observed field of weblogs, corporate blogs are of particular relevance and interest. This study1 empirically examines the corporate blog phenomenon by reviewing the blog status of 250 companies from the consumer goods industry. Their blogs – if any – were tested with the help of different variables, such as the location of the company, the blog’s updating frequency or its interactivity. This allowed for testing certain hypotheses, in particular concerning the existence of corporate blogs in certain companies, industries and regions, or whether a blog’s traffic rank depends upon these variables. This survey suggests that a blog\u27s traffic rank is significantly influenced by the frequency of blog postings and its interactivity features. These factors seem to greatly depend upon the sales volume of a company. However, the data sample at hand suggests that there is not yet a widespread usage of corporate weblogs

Shopping Online – Determining Consumer Acceptance of Online Shops

After more than ten years of widespread use of e-commerce, there are still only a few models to specify the connectionbetween consumer acceptance and the characteristics of an online shop. In particular, the available literature does not provideany constructs to evaluate the most basic functionality of an online shop: its search features. In this paper we describe ashopping experiment to validate a model that includes consumer characteristics as well as consumers\u27 evaluations of a shop’ssearch features. Results demonstrate that (i) contrary to consumer research findings, only consumer involvement influencesthe consumers’ evaluation of the online shop, not the prior product knowledge; (ii) the relevance of search results and theevaluation of filtering mechanisms have a major impact on the perceived usefulness of the shop; and (iii) the ease of use ofthe shop does not affect perceived usefulness, as this relationship is fully mediated by the perceived costs of the informationsearch process

COMMUNICATION ANONYMIZERS: PERSONALITY, INTERNET PRIVACY LITERACY AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE

Despite the fact that many individuals are concerned about privacy issues on the Internet and know about the existence of communication anonymizers, very few individuals actually use them. This discrepancy can only partially be explained by evident factors such as a small degree of knowledge about Internet privacy issues, or the latency of the Internet connection caused by communication anonymizers. In this study, we determine factors that influence the acceptance of communication anonymizers: the role of personality traits of individuals, the actual knowledge about privacy issues on the Internet and how much individuals really know about them, as well as the time an individual is willing to wait when using a communication anonymizer. Our study shows that the personality traits ?Agreeableness,? ?Extroversion? and ?Conscientiousness? do not influence an individual?s acceptance of communication anonymizers. Further, we can show that individuals with a strong personality trait of neuroticism are more likely to have strong privacy concerns and that individuals that can be characterized as ?open? are more likely to use communication anonymizers. With regard to the knowledge about privacy issues on the Internet, we find that individuals generally possess a low knowledge. Surprisingly, we find a negative correlation between an individual?s ?stated? and his/her ?actual? knowledge of privacy issues. Last, we find that individuals are willing to wait slightly longer (3.5 seconds) when using communication anonymizers

‘Generation Facebook’ – A Cognitive Calculus Model of Teenage User Behavior on Social Network Sites

With the growing popularity of Facebook, the number of teenage users has significantly increased. Parents and teachersobserve this development critically as they fear that teenagers are prone to over-engage in pleasant activities and neglectthe risks connected with information revelation. This paper adopts an explorative approach in order to investigate whatmotivates and hinders teenagers to use SNS and how using this medium affects their identities. By applying GroundedTheory to analyze data obtained in interviews, we formulate a conceptual model of teenage behavior on Facebook. Wefind that teenagers behave rationally on SNS, consciously weighing the benefits against the costs and acting inaccordance with their preferences. Shared information and the diversified network structure allow teenagers to obtainsupport in school-related matters, broaden their horizon and intensify relationships with their peers. At the same time,peer and parental pressure play a significant role in this process

ARE YOU WILLING TO WAIT LONGER FOR INTERNET PRIVACY?

It becomes increasingly common for governments, service providers and specialized data aggregators to systematically collect traces of personal communication on the Internet without the user’s knowledge or approval. An analysis of these personal traces by data mining algorithms can reveal sensitive personal information, such as location data, behavioral patterns, or personal profiles including preferences and dislikes. Recent studies show that this information can be used for various purposes, for example by insurance companies or banks to identify potentially risky customers, by governments to observe their citizens, and also by repressive regimes to monitor political opponents. Online anonymity software, such as Tor, can help users to protect their privacy, but often comes at the prize of low usability, e.g., by causing increased latency during surfing. In this exploratory study, we determine factors that influence the usage of Internet anonymity software. In particular, we show that Internet literacy, Internet privacy awareness and Internet privacy concerns are important antecedents for determining an Internet user’s intention to use anonymity software, and that Internet patience has a positive moderating effect on the intention to use anonymity software, as well as on its perceived usefulness

Distributed Performance Measurement and Usability Assessment of the Tor Anonymization Network

While the Internet increasingly permeates everyday life of individuals around the world, it becomes crucial to prevent unauthorized collection and abuse of personalized information. Internet anonymization software such as Tor is an important instrument to protect online privacy. However, due to the performance overhead caused by Tor, many Internet users refrain from using it. This causes a negative impact on the overall privacy provided by Tor, since it depends on the size of the user community and availability of shared resources. Detailed measurements about the performance of Tor are crucial for solving this issue. This paper presents comparative experiments on Tor latency and throughput for surfing to 500 popular websites from several locations around the world during the period of 28 days. Furthermore, we compare these measurements to critical latency thresholds gathered from web usability research, including our own user studies. Our results indicate that without massive future optimizations of Tor performance, it is unlikely that a larger part of Internet users would adopt it for everyday usage. This leads to fewer resources available to the Tor community than theoretically possible, and increases the exposure of privacy-concerned individuals. Furthermore, this could lead to an adoption barrier of similar privacy-enhancing technologies for a Future Internet. View Full-Tex

Using Ontologies in an E-Commerce Environment: Help or Hype?

Even though online shopping is becoming increasingly popular, many consumers are still reluctant to buy online, especially when it comes to apparel. One approach to improve adaption is to base e-commerce search engines on ontologies to allow a more intuitive search process. This paper1 presents the results of an analysis how a sample of online shoppers perceived various ontology-based features in an online shop. The data was gathered in two focus groups with panelists coming from different socio-demographic backgrounds (middle-aged women, students in their twenties). Most of the middle-aged women panelists actively shopped for apparel by means of catalogues. However, across the focus groups, most panelists are very reluctant buying apparel online. Our study suggests that age has a higher influence on the information search behaviour of consumers in online shops than gender. The study concludes with suggestions for adapting ontology-based systems to these findings