A modified Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality

In this paper we propose an improvement of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality. In the current implementation of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, a sample is compared with a normal distribution where the sample mean and the sample variance are used as parameters of the distribution. We propose to select the mean and variance of the normal distribution that provide the closest fit to the data. This is like shifting and stretching the reference normal distribution so that it fits the data in the best possible way. If this shifting and stretching does not lead to an acceptable fit, the data is probably not normal. We also introduce a fast easily implementable algorithm for the proposed test. A study of the power of the proposed test indicates that the test is able to discriminate between the normal distribution and distributions such as uniform, bi-modal, beta, exponential and log-normal that are different in shape, but has a relatively lower power against the student t-distribution that is similar in shape to the normal distribution. In model settings, the former distinction is typically more important to make than the latter distinction. We demonstrate the practical significance of the proposed test with several simulated examples.Closest fit; Kolmogorov-Smirnov; Normal distribution

Why are Women Underrepresented in IT? The Role of Implicit and Explicit Gender Identity

This study demonstrates that gender identity is an important factor affecting female university students’ decisions to major in IT and join the IT profession. It introduces the concept of implicit gender identity, defined as the degree to which people unconsciously, automatically, and uncontrollably associate themselves with their biological sex. Data were obtained from 185 students by means of a survey and the Implicit Association Test. The findings reveal that gender identity plays different roles between men and women in its influence on IT major and career choices. Implicit gender identity is a strong predictor of IT major and career choices for women but not for men. Explicit gender identity influences IT career choice only for women. Males’ and females’ IT major and career choices are influenced by normative pressures to the same degree. This study shows that gender identity can be a reason driving women away from the IT field

Contextualizing the Adoption of Electric Collaboration Tools: System and Team Considerations

This study suggests that individuals’ technology adoption decisions in the context of online collaboration tools are based on individual-level assessments of the technology, as well as on group-level attributes of the team with which one needs to work. Thus, a multilevel model of online collaboration technology adoption is proposed and tested, using hierarchical linear modeling techniques applied to a sample of 96 individuals who were nested in 34 virtual teams. Our findings suggest that a team member’s perceptions regarding the usefulness of an online collaboration tool positively affect his or her behavioral intentions to use this tool in a similar context in the future. Furthermore, after controlling for individual level perceived usefulness, group potency, as a team-level concept, incrementally and positively affected team members’ intentions to use the online collaboration technology with a similar team in the future. Some implications and future research directions are discussed

Measuring Implicit Attitude in Information Systems Research with the Implicit Association Test

Information systems (IS) research has primarily focused on explicit perceptions, attitudes, and intentions of which users are largely aware. We argue that this view may be too narrow. We extend it by presenting the concept of implicit attitude, which is as a stable subconscious evaluation of an IS that is developed a priori, stored in memory, and triggered with limited or no awareness and intentional effort when users are exposed to system-related stimuli. We further discuss the theoretical aspects of implicit attitude toward IS and document a set of guidelines regarding a technique for implicit attitude measurement: the implicit association test (IAT). We further present an overview of the FreeIAT software package and offer a practical example and configuration of the IAT, which includes its administration and scoring. Overall, this tutorial builds methodological foundations for future inquiries into the role of implicit processes in IS research

The Surprising Effect of Technological Uncertainty on User Innovation: Uncertainty Can Increase Innovation by Generating Eustress

This research idea explores the role of eustress as a mediator between technological uncertainty and user innovation. Based on theories of uncertainty reduction, it develops a competitive mediation model hypothesizing that the relationship between technological uncertainty and user innovation that is generally negative becomes positive when eustress is considered as a mediator. It also indicates that the attention performance of users moderates the positive indirect effect of technological uncertainty through eustress on user innovation such that this indirect effect is greater for higher levels of attention performance. A method for testing the model is suggested, and potential contributions are discussed

Integrating Technology Addiction and Use: An Empirical Investigation of Facebook Users

The purpose of this study was to conceptually replicate the model proposed by Turel, Serenko, and Giles (2011) in the new context of social networking websites. For this, the original instrument was adapted, data from 186 social networking website users were collected, and the model was analyzed by means of Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results supported the ideas advanced in the original study and show that addiction distorts user perceptions of usefulness and enjoyment attributed to the system, which in turn, influence behavioral usage intentions. In contrast to study 2 in the original paper, and in line with study 1 in the original paper, no relationship between addiction and perceived ease of use was observed. Comparing central tendencies across studies, it seems that users of social networking websites are more likely to exhibit technology addiction symptoms than users of online auction websites. The results ultimately imply that context matters in technology addiction research since it can alter some aspects of the measurement model, nomological network, and construct means

Too Busy to Help: Antecedents and Outcomes of Interactional Justice in Web-Based Service Encounters

Web-based live-chat support services are one promising means toward improving customer service. However, such services and their success factors have been rarely studied. This study bridges this gap. It builds on justice and service marketing theories, and examines key factors that drive intentions to continue using web-based live-chat support services and to provide positive word-of-mouth. The study suggests that these outcomes are increased through interactional justice perceptions, which are diminished by the perceived busyness of the service provider. It is also suggested that the latter effect is moderated by the duration of live-chat session; when the session is long the effect is stronger. Data collected from 86 users of a library web-based live-chat service were analyzed with SEM techniques and support this view. Implications for research and practice are discussed

A Business Analytics Maturity Perspective on the Gap between Business Schools and Presumed Industry Needs

Business analytics is a fast-growing job market for business school graduates. Hence, researchers have made many calls to enhance business analytics training in business schools to meet the growing market demand for analytics-savvy employees. A growing set of business analytics courses have begun to address these calls. In this paper, we examine the maturity of business analytics offerings in business schools in the United States by analyzing current business analytics-related course offerings of the top 104 business schools (363 courses) and 20 unranked business schools (51 courses) in the United States. We analyze these data by examining the types of courses offered and rank the schools based on their maturity levels in terms of business analytics offerings. Our findings indicate that, to the extent that these schools reflect what is happening across the nation, business schools still have a long way to go before they reach higher levels of business analytics maturity and that they are not yet in an ideal position to serve the presumed industry needs. We offer actionable recommendations

Developing a (Bad) Habit: Antecedents and Adverse Consequences of Social Networking Website Use Habit

IS habit has emerged as an important determinant of continued use. In this study, we advance our understanding of thisconcept by shifting attention from desired IS use outcomes, which have been the focus of past IS continuance and habitresearch, to potential adverse outcomes of IS habit, namely technology addiction and high engagement. We argue that “bad”IS habits can also develop, and explore their nomological net. We do so with SEM techniques applied to data collected from197 social networking website users

CEOs’ appraisals of venture capitalists’ external and internal support: a transaction cost economics perspective

Previous research has established that, in addition to provision of financing, venture capitalists (VCs) may add value to new ventures via different types of management support. In this paper, we propose that transaction cost economics (TCE) may complement other theoretical frameworks (e.g., agency theory, the resource-based view, knowledge-based theory, and resource dependence perspective) in explaining CEOs’ polar and ambivalent appraisals of the benefits and costs of different types of VC support and the overall value of VC assistance. Following TCE, we approach VC-funded new ventures as hybrids of markets and hierarchies. Hence, we assume that VCs help their portfolio companies both to externalize, or learn to better operate under the market mode of governance, and internalize, or learn to better operate under the hierarchy mode of governance. We propose that VCs use external support to facilitate venture externalization and use internal support to facilitate venture internalization. Based on structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis of data from an online survey that generated 104 valid responses from CEOs of VC-funded new ventures, we establish that CEOs associate VCs’ external support positively with the perceived benefits of VC assistance and negatively with the perceived costs of VC assistance. In contrast, CEOs associate VCs’ internal support positively both with the perceived benefits and costs of VC assistance. We also demonstrate that CEOs’ assessments of the perceived benefits and costs of VC assistance are, respectively, associated positively and negatively with their appraisals of the overall value of VC assistance. Finally, we ascertain that CEO experience is related negatively to CEOs’ appraisals of the overall value of VC assistance. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed