Task-Technology Fit and Employees’ Exploration of Enterprise Systems: Moderating Role of Local Management Commitment

Based on task-technology fit theory and adaptive structuration theory, we propose that employees’ exploration of enterprise systems is mainly influenced by three fundamental components: task, technology, and organizational environment. Accordingly, a research model is developed to interpret how task variety, system modularity, and local management commitment jointly affect employees’ system exploration. The model is tested with a survey of enterprise system users in six firms, and several meaningful findings are yielded. First, all of the three antecedents can directly affect system exploration. Second, task variety can positively moderate the effects of system modularity on system exploration. Third, local management commitment can strengthen the effects of system modularity and task variety on employees’ system exploration. The limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed

Social Capital and User Acceptance of Enterprise System: Mediating Role of Local Management Commitment

This study builds a multi-level research model to investigate how social capital between business units and the headquarters in large-scale organizations influences individual user acceptance of enterprise systems. Drawing on social capital theory and the human agency theory, this study argues that local management of business units plays the role of interpreting signals and messages from the headquarters, such that it can mediate the effect of social capital (which is composed of structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions) on symbolic adoption of the enterprise technology. To test the research hypotheses, a field study is conducted on 222 users of an enterprise system in 29 business units of a major financial institution in China. The results indicate that the effects of relational capital and cognitive capital on user acceptance are mediated by user perception of local management commitment; and relational capital and cognitive capital mediate the effect of structural capital on user perception of local management commitment. Limitations, theoretical implications are discussed, and practical guidance is suggested

Characterization of multicopper oxidase-related protein and multicopper oxidase-1 in insects

Doctor of PhilosophyBiochemistry and Molecular BiophysicsMichael R. KanostTypical multicopper oxidases (MCOs) have ten conserved histidines and one conserved cysteine that coordinate four copper atoms, which are required for oxidase activity. During our studies of insect MCOs, we discovered a gene that we named multicopper oxidase-related protein (MCORP). MCORPs share sequence identity with MCOs, but lack many of the copper-coordinating residues. We identified MCORP orthologs in many insect species, but not in other invertebrates or vertebrates. We purified recombinant Tribolium castaneum (red flour beetle) MCORP. As expected, no oxidase activity was detected. We analyzed expression profiles of TcMCORP and Anopheles gambiae (African malaria mosquito) MCORP. They are constitutively expressed at a low level in many tissues, including ovaries. TcMCORP larval RNAi led to 100% mortality before adult stage. These deaths occurred during the larval to pupal and pupal to adult molts. Pharate pupal RNAi resulted in 20% mortality during the pupal to adult molt, and 100% mortality by one month after adult eclosion. In addition, knockdown of TcMCORP in females prevented oocyte maturation, thus greatly decreasing the number of eggs laid. These results indicate that TcMCORP is an essential gene and that its function is required for reproduction. An understanding of the role MCORP plays in insect physiology may help to develop new strategies for controlling insect pests. A multicopper oxidase-1 (MCO1) ortholog has been identified in all insect species examined so far; thus, MCO1 probably has a conserved physiological function in insects. Most of the well-studied MCOs are laccases, ferroxidases, or ascorbate oxidases. Previously we found Drosophila melanogaster MCO1 has ferroxidase activity and we identified three putative iron binding residues in DmMCO1. Our kinetic analysis of recombinant MCO1 from Drosophila melanogaster, Anopheles gambiae, Tribolium castaneum and Manduca sexta showed that MCO1 orthologs are much better at oxidizing ascorbate than laccase substrates or ferrous iron, suggesting that MCO1 orthologs function as ascorbate oxidases. The putative iron binding residues are required for ascorbate oxidase activity but not ferroxidase and laccase activities. Ascorbate oxidases have been identified only in plants. This is the first identification of ascorbate oxidase in insects. Further studies are needed to understand their physiological function in insects

Norm of Reciprocity, Reciprocal Benefits, and Reciprocal Relationships: A Revisit of the Role of Reciprocity in Knowledge Sharing

Reciprocity has been considered one of the most important constructs in knowledge sharing literature. However, prior studies have defined and measured this construct in different ways, leading to mixed research findings about its role. To solve the controversy, based on prior reciprocity literature, we differentiate three relevant concepts namely norm of reciprocity, reciprocal benefits, and reciprocal relationships and propose the causal relationships between these constructs according to the norm internalization theory. A field survey with 386 employees in a Chinese organization is conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. The results show that reciprocal benefits and reciprocal relationships fully mediate the impacts of norm of reciprocity on knowledge sharing intention. These findings suggest that the internalization mechanism (e.g., indirect effect) works better than the compliance mechanism (e.g., direct effect) under the voluntary knowledge sharing context. This study enriches the knowledge sharing literature and provides suggestions on organizational knowledge sharing practices

3D Printing Magnetophoretic Displays

We present a pipeline for printing interactive and always-on magnetophoretic displays using affordable Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printers. Using our pipeline, an end-user can convert the surface of a 3D shape into a matrix of voxels. The generated model can be sent to an FDM 3D printer equipped with an additional syringe-based injector. During the printing process, an oil and iron powder-based liquid mixture is injected into each voxel cell, allowing the appearance of the once-printed object to be editable with external magnetic sources. To achieve this, we made modifications to the 3D printer hardware and the firmware. We also developed a 3D editor to prepare printable models. We demonstrate our pipeline with a variety of examples, including a printed Stanford bunny with customizable appearances, a small espresso mug that can be used as a post-it note surface, a board game figurine with a computationally updated display, and a collection of flexible wearable accessories with editable visuals

Drivers Of Knowledge Contribution Quality And Quantity In Online Question And Answering Communities

A large portion of previous research on knowledge sharing in virtual community focuses on organization-sponsored professional virtual communities (PVC) while nowadays numerous nonwork- related virtual communities are gaining popularity. This study investigates the phenomenon of knowledge sharing in one popular type of non-work-related virtual community, online question and answering community. Anchoring on the self-determination theory, this study identifies three types of motivations to share knowledge in the community. Particularly, rewards in reputation system, which we further divide into rewards for quantity and for quality, are classified as extrinsic motivation; learning is classified as internalized extrinsic motivation and enjoy helping is classified as intrinsic motivation. Moreover, while previous studies tend to hold a monolithic view of knowledge contribution, this study regards quantity and quality as two important parts of knowledge contribution and argues there are different underlying mechanisms leading to them. Therefore we investigate the effects of the three motivations on quantity and quality separately. An online survey with 367 participants was conducted in a leading Chinese online question and answering community to test the research model. Results show that the motivational factors do have different effects on quality and quantity of knowledge contribution. While rewards in reputation systems for quantity can effectively enhance knowledge contribution quantity, rewards for quality do not lead to high quality knowledge contribution. Learning is revealed as a crucial motivational factor in this context as it is positively related with both aspects of knowledge contribution. Finally, enjoy helping is weakly related with knowledge contribution quality and strongly associated with knowledge contribution quantity. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Does Content Relevance Lead to Positive Attitude toward Websites? Exploring the Role of Flow and Goal Specificity

It is common practice to have Websites interact with consumers by delivering personalized services, among which content relevance is most widely adopted on Internet advertising. However, little is known about the impact of relevance on consumers’ psychological states and the underlying mechanism of relationship between relevance and attitude toward Websites. Building upon flow theory and Hoffman and Novak’s (1996) conceptual model, this study investigates the role of flow and relevance in influencing attitude toward Websites. The findings show that the link between content relevance and attitude toward Web sites is mediated by consumers’ flow experience. In addition, goal specificity moderates the effect of relevance on flow experience. Under the conditions of high goal specificity, the relevance effect on flow is magnified. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed

Knowledge Contribution in Online Question and Answering Communities: Effects of Groups Membership

Online question and answering community is a popular type of online community for people to seek and share knowledge. After years of development, a recent trend of these communities is to leverage group wisdom by implementing group feature, which allows users to form self-organizing groups and contribute knowledge to the community as group members. This new pattern of user organization poses challenge to extant knowledge sharing literature which so far hasn’t considered the effect of group membership on individual knowledge contribution behavior. Drawing on social identity theory, this study proposes that group membership can both directly enhance individual users’ knowledge contribution as well as moderate the relationship between the behavioral determinants--MOA (motivation, opportunity and ability) factors and knowledge contribution. A field survey with 367 participants in a leading online question and answering community with group feature was conducted to test the research model. Results largely provide support for the model