Opportunity Creation in Innovation Networks: Interactive Revealing Practices

Innovating in networks with partners that have diverse knowledge is challenging. The challenges stem from the fact that the commonly used knowledge protection mechanisms often are neither available nor suitable in early stage exploratory collaborations. This article focuses on how company participants in heterogeneous industry networks share private knowledge while protecting firm-specific appropriation. We go beyond the prevailing strategic choice perspectives to discuss interactive revealing practices that sustain joint opportunity creation in the fragile phase of early network formation.Center for Business, Technology and La

Developing Individuals\u27 Transactive Memories of Their Ego-Centric Networks to Mitigate Risks of Knowledge Sharing: The Case of Professionals Protecting CyberSecurity

A memory of who knows what, so called transactive memory, can be an important cognitive structure in facilitating knowledge sharing in situations where successful collaboration depends on simultaneously maximizing sharing while mitigating its risks. We examine the development of transactive memory in cross- organizational networks—or ego-centric networks—that individuals build and maintain in their work. How do individuals develop transactive memory about who knows what in personally driven social networks that operate at the boundaries of cross-organizational work? In this paper, we advance a model of factors affecting the development of an individual’s transactive memory of his/her ego-centric work network and test the model with a group of professionals engaged in responding to unforeseen events related to national security. Overall, we find that frequent use of dialogic practices explain much of the degree to which an individual has developed a transactive memory of his/her ego-centric network. Dialogic practices are, in turn, affected by the degree to which the task is perceived as interdependent on the knowledge and actions of others and organizational support for learning. We note theoretical extensions to the literatures of transactive memory and information systems design for ego-centric networks

Using Electronic Media for Information Sharing Activities: A Replication and Extension

This article reports a replication and extension of a study that explored individual perceptions of factors that underlie the use of electronic media (electronic mail, world-wide-web, list serves, and other collaborative systems). The original study was conducted in a single Australian university. The study was replicated in a Canadian university. The replication allowed testing of the enlarged research model that involves organizational culture variables as well as attitudes toward information policies. Overall, the expanded research model includes culture variables, task and technology related variables, as well as individual attitudes and beliefs. We found that task and technology related variables explained more of the use of electronic media for sharing than culture related variables or the individual attitudes and beliefs. Specifically, task interdependence, perceived information usefulness and the user’s computer comfort were most strongly associated with the person’s use of electronic media. Two dimensions, employee orientation and need for achievement, of organizational culture had a significant influence on the use of electronic media for information sharing activities although less strongly than the task and technology related variables. Of the individual attitudes and beliefs, attitudes about information policies had a significant influence on the use of electronic media for information sharing activities. Besides the value of replication of a research model in another culture, the study contributed to the information systems literature by developing initial scales for two new constructs: attitudes about information policies and information culture

New Frontiers in Information Systems Theorizing: Human-gAI Collaboration

The Journal of the Association for Information Systems has long had a reputation for promoting theory development. Yet theory development can be experienced as risky and frustrating because of a lack of divergence and convergence—both in terms of ideas and in the social dynamics among human theorists. These dichotomies can stymie progress and lead to unfinished works. Misconceptions about theory can also hamper advances. We examine the ways in which generative artificial intelligence (gAI) tools may be useful in developing theory in information systems (IS) through human-gAI collaboration, thus forging new frontiers in IS theorizing

HOW FORMAL STRUCTURE OF ELECTRONIC KNOWLEDGE SHARING NETWORKS INFLUENCES PARTICIPATION BEHAVIOR IN A GLOBAL ENTERPRISE

The literature on organizational electronic knowledge sharing networks depicts the networks as self-organizing and self-sustaining, comprised of volunteers. Rarely does the literature examine them embedded in formal structures of the organization. Yet, in global enterprises, there is a real challenge to ensure that experts continue to dedicate time to participate in the networks despite of many demands on their time and despite of being distant and geographically isolated from the other network members. To maintain sustained participation, the firms no longer rely solely on the voluntary nature of the sharing activity, but rather integrate the networks in the formal structures of the organization. Grounding our study in motivation theories, we examine how the formal structure impacts participation and how does the geographical distance from other members and the geographical diversity of the network moderate this relationship? By analyzing posted inquiries and contributed responses in over 100 different knowledge sharing networks in a global company, we show that embedding network in the formal structure is a double edged sword. On one hand, formal structure increases participation of members within the structure. On the other hand, formal structure seems to have little impact on those not part of the formal structure. One key implication is that organizations need to give special consideration to the size of the formal and informal aspects of the electronic knowledge sharing networks

Review of Research on Privacy Decision Making from a Time Perspective

Managing privacy is a process in which people continuously negotiate the boundaries of their personal space. Time is embedded in and influences this continuous negotiation. Digital technologies increasingly incorporate temporal elements, such as allowing users to define the expiration date of social network postings. Yet, researchers have not systematically examined the effects of temporal elements in privacy decision making. In this paper, we review how existing information privacy research has related to time in terms of three dimensions: duration, timing, and past, present, and future modalities. Our findings suggest that 1) duration has a negative influence on information disclosure; 2) timing, in the form of personal and external events, influences how people make privacy decisions; and 3) sensemaking that involves prior experience and planning for the future affect privacy decisions. We discuss how privacy decision making frameworks need to be adjusted to account for a time perspective