Supporting Students\u27 Hands-On Understanding of Blockchain Concepts with \u27The Crypto\u27 Game

This paper introduces ‘The Crypto’ game, an innovative educational tool designed to enhance students\u27 hands-on understanding of blockchain concepts and principles. Despite the potential of blockchain technology to transform various industries, teaching its complex concepts to non-technical students remains a challenge. Developed for my teaching in business (MBA and Executive MBA) and information systems (IS) courses, \u27The Crypto\u27 game addresses this challenge. It is an active, experiential learning tool that simulates key elements of blockchain technology using a minimalist design and readily available tools such as Excel and Zoom. The paper details the game\u27s design, rules, learning objectives, and pedagogical underpinnings and presents qualitative feedback from its implementation in my courses. The game effectively fosters a deeper understanding of blockchain principles and ‘how it actually works’. By introducing ‘The Crypto’, this paper contributes to innovative approaches for teaching emerging technologies and offers practical support for IS, business, and other educators

Students as Reviewers and Lecturers as Editors: The Peer Review with Scaffolded Assignments Model

Well-designed peer review and assessment tasks have been shown in several studies to increase students\u27 engagement in courses and to help their ability to critique and evaluate work. These positive effects are primarily achieved through a change of hats”, from writer to reviewer. Peer assessment by three to five students has been shown to be as valid as marking by teaching staff (e.g., lecturers or tutors). In this paper, I share an information technology (IT)-enabled peer review model with scaffolded assignments. The model is based on the idea of scaffolding peer-assessed assignments. That is, reading other students’ assignments becomes relevant for the reviewing student’s next assignment to make undertaking the review more interesting and relevant. In addition, the model considers several peer review quality assurance measures, including detailed marking rubrics, marks for review quality and meta-review by teaching staff

Cultural Determinants of Organizational Social Media Adoption

In this research-in-progress paper, we present a two-step approach to measure the impact of cultural values on organizational social media adoption. We build on the GLOBE framework to measure societal culture and the Competing Values Framework to measure organizational culture. We define organizational social media adoption as the use of social networking, blogs, and media sharing tools in order to communicate and collaborate with customers, partners, and organization members. Cultural values appear to be salient factors for the ongoing adoption of social media in organizations

Organizational Learning with Crowdsourcing: The Revelatory Case of LEGO

Extant organizational learning theory conceptualizes organizational learning as an internal, member-based process, sometimes supported by, yet often independent of, IT. Recently, however, several organizations have begun to involve non-members systematically in their learning by using crowdsourcing, a form of open innovation enabled by state-of-the-art IT. We examine the phenomenon of IT-enabled organizational learning with crowdsourcing in a longitudinal revelatory case study of one such organization, LEGO (2010-14). We studied the LEGO Cuusoo crowdsourcing platform’s secret test in Japan, its widely recognized global launch, and its success in generating top-selling LEGO models. Based on an analysis of how crowdsourcing contributes to the organizational learning at LEGO, we propose the “ambient organizational learning” framework. The framework accommodates both traditional, member-based organizational learning and IT-enabled, non-member-based organizational learning with crowdsourcing

WHAT DRIVES THE CROWD? A META-ANALYSIS OF THE MOTIVATION OF PARTICIPANTS IN CROWDSOURCING

This paper presents the findings from a meta-analysis of the motivation of participants in crowdsourcing. We analysed quantitative primary studies of participation in crowdsourcing using metaanalytical statistical techniques. The findings of the meta-analysis are aggregated knowledge claims as far as they can be made based on the analysed studies and the available data. The findings show which intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors are important, to which degree they are influential, and how much they are dependent on the particular context and type of crowdsourcing

Profile information and business outcomes of providers in electronic service marketplaces : an empirical investigation

Electronic service marketplaces (ESMs) have become major exchange platforms for the online outsourcing of different services &ndash; especially software development &ndash; to providers. Provider profiles on ESMs encompass extensive information regarding the activities and transactions of providers and they are a main source of information for customers. Such profile information significantly facilitates the relationship development between customers and providers. The existing literature has focused on the impact of the ratings of providers, but so far has not investigated the impact of the other available profile information. Building on the integrated information response model, this study investigates how information presented by providers as well as information provided by the ESM influences the business outcomes of the providers. Based on data collected from one of the major ESMs, we found that profile information indeed has a significant impact on the business outcomes of providers.<br /

“Open Calls” Rather than “Fixed Assignments”: A Longitudinal Field Study of the Nature and Consequences of Internal Crowdsourcing

While the use of social IT-enabled “internal crowdsourcing” with employees in organizations has substantially increased in recent years (e.g., LEGO, IBM), internal crowdsourcing is not well understood from a theoretical point of view. In this research in progress, we build on the literature on new forms of organizing to improve our theoretical understanding of internal crowdsourcing, to consider whether it constitutes a theoretically distinct phenomenon, and to gain insights into its theoretical nature. The paper presents insights from an ongoing interpretivist field study of internal crowdsourcing at the multinational company BOSCH. Theorized as a form of organizing, we find that internal crowdsourcing is a very different form of organizing compared to work based on fixed assignments. Among the key dimensions of organizing, we identify internal crowdsourcing’s “open calls” model of work allocation as the key characteristic

Social Information Systems: Review, Framework, and Research Agenda

In this research-in-progress, we review the literature on an emerging new type of information systems: social information systems. Social information systems are information systems based on social technologies and open collaboration. The paper provides categories defining social information systems and a framework for existing and future research in this field of study

Is Information Systems Research Concerned with Societal Grand Challenges?

“Grand challenges” can provide an important orientation regarding whether research deals with societally relevant problems. Yet, many IS scholars have claimed that IS research is often dealing with issues that are of rather little relevance to societal grand challenges. In this “research-in-progress” study, we examine to which degree IS research is concerned with societal grand challenges. We approach this question by thus far analyzing 329 papers published in the leading AIS ‘Basket of Eight’ (AIS 8) IS journals in the year 2020. Using coding analysis rooted in justification theory to clarify why IS research was performed, we map the justifications given in those papers against the grand challenges as set out in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. The findings indicate that IS research seems to be contributing to some societal challenges (e.g., industrial innovation, economic growth or health), while neglecting many others (e.g., societal equality, environmental sustainability and challenges in developing countries)