The Effects of Text Complexity on Online Review Helpfulness

This research reported in this paper extends the literature on the helpfulness of online reviews. Previous research has assessed online reviews using standard unidimensional readability algorithms. This research extends previous work by investigating a multidimensional framework, and associated measures, of text complexity and its impact on the helpfulness of online reviews. Results show that as the amount of passive voice and negation in online reviews increase, the helpfulness of said review decreases. Other significant predictors of review helpfulness include word meaningfulness, lexical diversity, and the number of modifiers per noun phrase

The Role of Emotional Expression in Accessing Social Networks: The Case of Newcomers\u27 Blogs

Research has established the critical role of social networks in facilitating adjustment to foreign environments. Increasingly, social interactions are happening through computer mediated technology. This paper explores the role of emotional expression in newcomers’ blogs in developing and interacting with social networks in a new country. This research uses a dictionary-based text analytics approach to detect emotional expression in newcomers’ blog posts and their associated discussions. Blog posts with more emotional expression had more associated responses; discussions tended to be more positive than posts; and the relative amount of negative emotion in the discussions increases as posts become more negative. Results suggest that expression of emotion in blogs can facilitate access to social networks and increase engagement in online communities by increasing the amount of responses and triggering congruent emotional response from blog readers, which is a precursor to affiliation and understanding. The findings in this paper highlight the role of emotional expression in blog posts and discussions, and its connection to developing social networks and engaging in online communities which has the potential to facilitate access to social support

Online Discussion Forum And Pre-migration Information Seeking: An Affordance Perspective

Potential immigrants increasingly rely on online technologies to access needed information as they have limited access to offline sources of information at the pre-arrival stage. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of online discussion forums in facilitating potential immigrants’ access to relevant information about the host country labor market. This paper draws on extant literature on computer-mediated communication and a qualitative content analysis of 363 forum discussions to explore the phenomenon of increased use of online forums by prospective immigrants to Canada to access relevant labor market information. We draw on existing concepts of technology affordances and knowledge exchanges in online discussion forums and contextualize them to the dynamics of immigrants’ labor market integration. We found that online forums have the potential to facilitate immigrants’ labor market integration by enabling the continuous access to and exchange of needed information across time and space. For potential immigrants, online discussion forums afforded them the ability to seek employment advice, share migration experiences, establish connections with similar others, communicate with individuals in the receiving country, and exchange information about the host country labor market. The relevant information gained in online forums can help potential immigrants calibrate their expectations about the host country, make migration decisions, and plan for migration. More adjusted expectations and better preparation pre-migration can in turn facilitate better adjustment and employment integration post-migration. Overall, this paper highlights the importance of online discussion forums in facilitating information sharing and co-creation of new information resources between prospective immigrants and immigrants in the host country. We uncovered several unique discussion forum affordances enacted by potential immigrants. The findings inform policy makers of the role of online discussion forum technology in providing potential immigrants with low-cost pre-arrival information and training available across time and space that can assist with adjustment and labor market integration post migration

The Design, Development and Validation of a Persuasive Content Generator

This paper addresses the automatic generation of persuasive content to influence users’ attitude and behaviour. Our research extends current approaches by leveraging individuals’ social media profiles and activity to personalize the persuasive content. Unlike most other implemented persuasive technology, our system is generic and can be adapted to any domain where collections of electronic text are available. Using the Yale Attitude Change approach, we describe: the multi-layered Pyramid of Individualization model; the design, development, and validation of integrated software that can generate individualized persuasive content based on a user’s social media profile and activity. Results indicate the proposed system can create personalized information that (a) matches readers’ interests, (b) is tailored to their ability to understand the information, and (c) is supported by trustable sources

An Integrated Learning Approach to Teaching an Undergraduate Information Systems Course

This paper describes the redesign and implementation of an introductory Information Systems class. The redesign was guided by principles drawn from the experiential and active learning literature. Central to the redesign are two simulated companies: petGRO, a fictional ERP-enabled pet food and accessories e-tailer; and beans4all, a technology consulting company of which all registered students are employees. Students work in solution crews throughout the semester to solve a set of technology-related challenges that their client, petGRO, is facing. Initial student response to the redesign has been mixed. Survey responses indicate that students have an increased interest in IS after taking the course. There was a significant increase in students’ perception of the usefulness of the knowledge gained from the course in subsequent courses. However, this result is countered by a decrease in students’ perception of whether the course led to an improvement in their academic skills. Open-ended comments reveal the polarizing nature of the redesign but with more positive than negative comments

Inside the Black Box of Dictionary Building for Text Analytics: A Design Science Approach

The purpose of this paper is to develop and demonstrate a dictionary building process model for text analytics projects following the design science methodology. Using inductive consensus-building, we examined prior research to develop an initial process model. The model is subsequently demonstrated and validated by using data to develop an environmental sustainability dictionary for the IT industry. To our knowledge, this is an initial attempt to provide a normalized dictionary building process for text analytics projects. The resulting process model can provide a road map for researchers who want to use automated approaches to text analysis but are currently prevented by the lack of applicable domain dictionaries. Having a normalized design process model will assist researchers by legitimizing their work requiring dictionary building and help academic reviewers by providing an evaluation framework. The resulting environmental sustainability dictionary for IT industry can be used as a starting point for future research on Green IT and sustainability management

Emotional Intelligence in Computer Mediated Group Communications

This exploratory study investigated the role of emotional intelligence in shaping the email communication of a five member virtual team involved in the development and support of a proprietary information system. Over 1,200 email messages from a two-month period were coded for communicative goals and communicative form. EI abilities were related to the chosen form of email communication dependent upon the intent of the communicator. Results of this initial study justify further investigation into how EI abilities can be leveraged to improve virtual team dynamics and outcomes

The Role of Motivational Systems and Emotions in Virtual Work

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the behavioural activation system (BAS), the behavioural inhibition system (BIS) and emotions in virtual work. BIS was found to have significant positive relationships with anger, anxiety, annoyance, nervousness, and distress. There were indications of emotional contagion between research confederates and participants. Self-report skill knowledge and the skill role of the research confederate both had significant relationships with performance. Self-report skill knowledge was fully mediated by the skill role played by the research confederate. Managers of virtual teams need to be aware of individual differences such as motivational systems and how these interact with state emotions and performance

Photophysics and photochemistry of DNA molecules : electronic excited states leading to thymine dimerization

We combine quantified natural transition orbital (QNTO) analysis with large-scale linear response time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) to investigate the concerted [2 + 2] thymine dimerisation reaction. This reaction is a main cause of UV-light induced damage to DNA, but its mechanism has remained poorly understood. QNTO analysis enables the electronic excitations of a molecule to be identified on the basis of their transition origins across a wide range of molecular geometries, allowing the participating excited states to be identified relatively straightforwardly. We identify a barrierless funnel that is responsible for the ultrafast reaction previously indicated in experiments. The reactive state is found to have crossings with several bright excited states, revealing how the initially populated bright states can decay rapidly to the reactive state. We also examine the contribution of environmental factors such as inclusion of the DNA backbone, which can affect the conformation of the potential energy surfaces of the relevant states