Invited Paper: Growth, Adaptability, and Relationships within the Changing Landscape of IS Education

In this article commemorating 30 years of the Journal of Information Systems Education, we reflect on our extraordinarily lucky careers together in the academic discipline of information systems. Both our careers and our field have seen continual growth, unrelenting change, and required adaptability. We credit our enduring and strong professional relationship and friendship with each other, the fun we’ve had with our collaborators (and especially our doctoral students), as well as our ability to adapt, as the keys to whatever positive outcomes we have enjoyed along the way. Given the rate of change in our field over the past 30 years, we are excited to think about what might transpire for us all over the next 30 years

Conducting Experimental Research in Information Systems

This article presents a summary of key success factors for publishing research in top-tier IS journals; it is not intended to be an introduction to research, but to go beyond the rational model presented by most introductory works. The paper begins by discussing the processes by which research projects are identified and developed, specifically focusing on where project ideas are found and how projects are selected and refined. Next, we discuss the fundamental role that theory development, testing and refinement plays in research. This discussion is followed by an examination of several interrelated research design issues, including maximizing publication potential, and executing the study\u27s activities. Next, the importance of writing quality as well as the cultivation and refinement of a project\u27s message is discussed. Finally, a checklist is provided on how to be rejected which summarizes the central themes of this article

A Replication Manifesto

Replication is one of the main principles of the scientific method. The social sciences, and in particular the information systems discipline, has lagged behind the physical sciences which have more established traditions of independently replicating studies from other labs. In this essay, we outline the need for replication in the information systems discipline, identifying three possible approaches for executing such studies. There are numerous benefits to the discipline from embracing and valuing replication research. Replication will either improve confidence in our research findings or identify important boundary conditions. Replications also enhance various scientific processes and offer methodical and educational improvements. Collectively, these benefits will help the information systems discipline mature and prosper

Rigor, Relevance, and Practical Significance: A Real-life Journey to Organizational Value

In this essay, we describe a research journey focusing on how to analyze mouse cursor movements, typing fidelity, and data from other human-computer interaction (HCI) devices to better understand the end-user online experience. We begin by defining organizational value and how it relates to other aspects that researchers use to assess academic research quality. We then describe and contrast our research journey by demonstrating key research milestones: from achieving statistical significance to achieving practical significance and, finally, to reaching relevance to practice. We then explain how we crossed the chasm between academic research and technology commercialization (i.e., the last research mile). We conclude by describing the process one can follow to develop an initial prototype—the minimal viable product (MVP)—and how demonstrations with potential customers provides continuous insight and validation for evolving the commercial product capabilities to meet constantly changing and evolving customer and industry needs

Introducing a Draft Version of the Revised ACM/AIS Undergraduate IS Curriculum Recommendation

Group work encourages creative thinking and provides more efficient problem-solving approaches. The main problem identified in this paper is that students involved in systems analysis courses on tertiary level, struggle to apply theory to real-time situations and find it difficult to generate appropriate modelling solutions. The purpose of this study is to determine whether group work is an effective means to use in the teaching of a systems analysis course, and whether it will improve the effectiveness of how students acquire knowledge of the course content. The perceptions of both facilitators and second year Informatics students were recorded by means of interviews and questionnaires used respectively. It was found that group work positively contributes and adds immense value to the learning experience of students taking a systems analysis course

An Exploration of Trust in Virtual Teams Using Three Perspectives

With the recent advancements in technology and the development of sophisticated tools for collaborative work, the use of computer-mediated groups in organizations has increased rapidly. Further, the need for globalization has forced members of such teams to be dispersed in both time and space, and has paved the way for the development and implementation of the concept of “virtual teams.” In this paper, we examine one of the primary factors leading to virtual team effectiveness, namely, the issue of trust. One of the objectives of this paper is to investigate the applicability of the research findings on trust in traditional face-to-face teams in a virtual context. Drawing on prior literature, the present study uses three perspectives to trust and proposes a model for trust development in virtual teams. Further, prior research has always treated trust as a static concept, and researchers appear to have assumed that it is always the same factors that influence trust at any point in a cooperative interaction. In this paper, a more dynamic model is proposed, which suggests that, different factors explain the level of trust in different points of team development. By uncovering some unique concepts leading to trust development in virtual teams, it is hoped that a contribution will be made to the existing literature on factors leading to virtual team effectiveness and success. Future research directions include an attempt to validate this dynamic model in a quasi-experimental setting of virtual teamwork

Technology Adoption by Groups: A Valence Perspective

While past research has contributed to an understanding of how organizations or individuals adopt technologies, little is known about how such adoption occurs in groups. Given the widespread acknowledgment that organizations are moving to group-based structures and that groups often utilize technologies for performing their tasks, it is critical that we understand how such collective social entities adopt technologies. Such an understanding can better guide investment and implementation decisions. In this paper, we draw on existing literature about groups, technology characteristics, and valence to conceptualize a model of technology adoption by groups (referred to as the TAG model). We view the TAG phenomenon as a process of communication and negotiation in which analytically distinct factors-such as the individual members\u27 a priori attitudes toward the technology, the majority subgroup\u27s opinion, high-status members\u27 opinions, substantive conflict, and relevant characteristics of the technology play an important role. We develop several theoretical propositions regarding the nature of the contribution of these factors toward an adoption decision and discuss measurement tradeoffs and guidelines

Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction: Informing Design Utilizing Behavioral, Neurophysiological, and Design Science Methods Minitrack

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