Researching life in e-society with diary studies

To study life in an e-society, it is important to collect data in situ. One research method that provides for data to be collected as people live their e-society lives is a diary study methodology. Diary studies ask participants to record certain events, using various technological means, over a fixed period of time. While diary studies have their strengths, the most important of which is cost effective in situ data collection without the need for an outside observer, they also have their weaknesses, most notably the high level of commitment demanded from the participants. This paper reports on a 2005 diary study of lying in everyday communication, with a focus on lying via computer-mediated communication modes, such as phone, e-mail, and instant messaging. The study, which involved 25 undergraduate students logging their communication activities for seven days on personal digital assistants, serves as the vehicle from which to derive a set of lessons learned about the diary study methodology in practice

The Future of Academic MIS: Redux

As the quotes that preface this article indicate, predicting the future is tough. This article is about the future of the academic discipline called Management Information Systems, often referred to simply by the acronym MIS. Since the late 2000s, faculty who teach MIS and conduct research in this academic discipline have been concerned about issues like fluctuating enrollments, changing technologies, and concerns about the relevance of research in the discipline. This article begins by describing and examining the field of MIS in 2010, and then the analysis turns to a description of what the future looks like from the perspective of 2016. The next topic is the intellectual underpinnings of our field, with a focus on the broad research categories that have characterized MIS research in the past. This leads to a discussion of a series of research topics that are important today, to both academics and practitioners, and that will still be of great importance to both groups three to five to even 10 years in the future. The next section explores what is being published in top MIS journals currently, compared to which topics have been popular over the past few decades, and compared to the research topics identified as important now and in the future. The article ends with a few closing thoughts

Three Years as Editor-in-Chief of Communications of the Association for Information Systems

This editorial presents an overview of the three years at Communications of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS) during the term of its second editor-in-chief. Highlights of the three years include an ever-increasing submissions rate, fast turnaround times from submission to publication, and an increase in the proportion of authors preferring peer review to editorial board review. Statistics for submission and disposal for 2006-2008 are included in the editorial, as is commentary on three major changes at CAIS that occurred during those years: 1) the move to a new electronic submissions system; 2) the introduction of a new article format; and 3) the migration to a new e-library system

The Effects of Internet Experience and Attitudes Toward Privacy and Security on Internet Purchasing

Using the Theory of Reasoned Action as the theoretical base, data collected through a semi-annual survey of web users was used to determine if beliefs about privacy and Internet security helped determine attitudes towards the Internet, which were thought to affect intent to make Internet purchases. Intent, in turn, was thought to affect actual purchasing behavior. Taking Internet experience into account, general support for the model was found, although security beliefs were stronger indicators of attitude than privacy beliefs

Journal Lists are Not Going Away: A Response to Fitzgerald et al.

This essay provides a response to Fitzgerald, B., Dennis, A. R., An, J., Tsutsui, S., & Muchala, R. C. (2019). Information systems research: Thinking outside the basket and beyond the journal. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 45, 110-133

Electronic Lies: Lying to Others and Detecting Lies Using Electronic Media

Organizational life presents many situations where organizational members must determine how to manage information they possess; dilemmas related to truth and deception are not unusual events. Researchers have found that deceptive communication is part of many types of interaction, yet few researchers have explicitly addressed the issue of lying in the context of organizational life (c.f., Burgoon & Buller, 1994). Meanwhile, information technology (IT) has become pervasive in modern organizations. As the convergence between computing and communication continues at a rapid pace, more and more organizational communication takes place electronically. There is every reason to believe the deception that exists in everyday work life can be communicated just as easily, if not more so, using new computer-mediated communication channels as using traditional channels such as face-to-face communication (George & Carlson, 1999)

Deception Detection, Task complexity, and Group Member Experience in Computer-Mediated Group Settings

Due to globalization and the increased availability of online collaboration tools, individuals are now likely to work together in settings where computers are their primary mode of communication. However, because communication characteristics are different in these settings, problems can arise, such as deception. Deceptive individuals may be difficult to detect over computer-based channels because many audio and visual cues to deception are filtered and communication tendencies are different. This paper presents two experiments where groups performed a collaborative task in a text-based, computer-mediated setting with and without confederate deceivers. The results show that deceivers were very successful in this setting, that groups performing a low complexity task were better at detecting deception than were groups performing a high complexity task, and that groups with members that had experience with each other had higher task performance but did not have higher deception detection accuracy than did inexperienced groups

Measures of Software Process Maturity for Survey-based Research,

A survey instrument for measuring software process maturity is developed and validated. An empirical study of 362 software project managers is used to evaluate the performance of the survey instrument. The survey items factored into two dimensions—manageability and measureability—both of which were statistically reliable. The results also suggest that these dimensions possess convergent validity when compared to two other indicators of process maturity: a survey-based measure of software process customizability and self-reported CMM assessment level. The main implication of the study is that there are reliable and valid ways to measure software process maturity within the constraints of survey-based research designs

Online Hate and its Routes to Aggression: A Research Agenda

The Internet has provided human civilization hitherto unimaginable tools with which to connect, communicate and coexist. Unfortunately, those same tools are being viciously maneuvered to spread ethno-racial and religious hatred and romanticize violence, where mass shooters are canonized as saints. The internet is now replete with vituperative chat rooms, web pages, discussion boards, forums, videos, music, and games that denigrate and bully marginalized outgroups either blatantly or through innuendoes. To that extent, it is almost impossible now to navigate through the internet without encountering hateful ideologies and propaganda that deepen societal fissures and instigate violence. Though journalism has put the spotlight on the link between online radicalization and real-world hate crimes, it is still an open empirical question. The existing evidence has been merely anecdotal interspersed with theoretical speculation and data driven empiricism cutting across scientific disciplines. This paper lays out a research agenda that may shed more light on this causal link between online hate and hate crimes