The Effect of the Social Media Tools on Virtual Team Performance: The Mediating Role of Transactive Memory System Mapping with the Feature Richness

The communication tool is an important component of a virtual team, and virtual teams are highly dependent upon the communication tools for accomplishing their tasks and fulfilling their needs effectively. This research in progress builds upon the existing literature and employs the concept of feature richness of social media tools and a Transactive Memory System (TMS) approach to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the impact of social media tools on virtual team performance. Thus, a conceptual research model which postulates that TMS mediates the relationship between social media tools and virtual team performance, is developed. This research tries to establish an appropriate component-level mapping between the components of TMS construct and the feature richness factors to provide a deeper understanding about the effect of social media tools on TMS and consequently, the impact on virtual team performance

Trust Development in Artificial Intelligence-based Emerging Technologies: Rise of Technomoral Virtues and Data Ethics

Ethical usage of artificial intelligence and data science is a rapidly evolving topic of discussion among individuals, organizations, and society. More attention has been paid to moral rules and regulations during such discussions than these stakeholders’ moral character development. This study examines how individuals deploy their moral decision-making skills under conditions of uncertainty. What virtues are the most important or most unimportant virtues in their decision to develop trust in artificial intelligence-based emerging technologies in the presence of personal information privacy threats? Using Q-methodology, the Concourse theory, and virtue ethics, four viewpoints (i.e., virtues-based decision-making structures) of individuals are extracted from a group of 39 participants for developing trust in emerging technologies. The findings of this study are of interest to philosophers, ethicists, and other stakeholders who work in the areas of moral decision-making under uncertainty, artificial intelligence, and data ethics

Towards CRISP‐BC: 3TIC specification framework for Blockchain use‐cases

The application of Blockchain and augmented technologies such as IoT, AI, and Big Data platforms present a feasible approach for resolving the implementation challenges of trusted, decentralized platforms. This article proposes a DevOps framework for the specification of Blockchain use‐cases that enables evaluation, replication, and benchmarking. Specifically, it could be applied to specify the requirements and design characteristics of Blockchain applications in terms of key attributes such as: (i) transparency; (ii) traceability; (iii) tamper‐resistance; (iv) immutability; and (v) compliance. The article first introduces the design characteristics of Blockchain as a Platform and then examines successful use‐cases for its implementation using the above attributes. It may be conjectured that the 3TIC framework would serve as the basis of a cross industry process for Blockchain. The intended contribution is that such a standard process will support industry‐academia collaboration in the development of Blockchain platforms and services of relevance and utility as it can be applied by firms to structure their requirements and design specifications. As Blockchain technology moves from nascent to emergence, it is opportune to discuss standards in the context of use‐cases. This article provides some arguments for why and how requirements and design specifications could be standardised

The investigation of blockchain and IoT integration for designing trust-driver information systems in agricultural food supply chain.

Studies demonstrate that information sharing and trust have imposed challenges to supply chains, whereas trust extensively benefits supply chain activities and intensely affects supply chain decisions. Since the rapid development of the internet, many information technologies have been incorporated into supply chain systems. However, many centralised technologies might open the gates for trust issues such as fraud, data tampering, and falsification. On the other hand, the deployment of blockchain technology beyond cryptocurrencies has been widely discussed. Some blockchains’ most auspicious non-finance deployments will likely encompass supply chain, food, and agriculture industries. Recently, companies have strived to enhance information sharing and achieve greater efficiency through blockchain technology adoption since adopting this technology has many benefits in developing supply chain traceability and transparency. Blockchain technology improves supply chain transparency while more significantly building an immutable and distributed record of transactions - that are open to traceability by the nature of the protocol. research techniques. The stakeholders include both supply chain practitioners and food consumers. Next, Q-methodology is used to explore the stakeholders’ most important trust-oriented requirements and priorities at every agricultural food supply chain stage. Then the stakeholders are classified based on similarities and divergences in their subjective opinions, elaborate on their perspectives and examine their association with the trust dimensions. Finally, two trust driver frameworks will be proposed to formulate the mainstreams of consistent priorities and requirements that impact trust along a blockchain-enabled agri-food supply chain. The goal is to examine the structure of stakeholders' subjective opinions about trust-based requirements and priorities and then provide decision-making tools for blockchain adoption in agri-food supply chain organisations that establish trust through shared values. The findings of this study also would help top-level decision-makers systematically evaluate parts of organisations to explore potentials and resolve weaknesses. The results of this study can also help with successful technology adoption by providing guidelines to match stakeholders’ needs with the organisation's goals and blockchain capabilities. This study aims to develop abductive hypotheses and models that help enhance trust among agricultural food supply chain stakeholders. The idea is to explore and then formulate the system design requirements of a decentralised blockchain-based information system in an agri-food supply chain independent of any central authority. The driving force of this study is the idea that developing a decentralised information system based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology would create a new information platform for all supply chain parties - that is open, transparent, neutral, reliable, and secure. This study presents early evidence to support the use of blockchain in improving supply chain operations, then elaborates on the core components of blockchain technology and presents a framework based on the integration of IoT with blockchain main features and names it the 3TIC framework. This framework is designed based on traceability, transparency, tamper-evidence, immutability, and compliance (3TIC) features of blockchain technology in order to fulfil trust-based requirements across agricultural food supply chain sectors, from production to consumption. In this study, great emphasis has been put on incorporating the IoT into blockchain-based solutions and applying blockchain to verify entities and the identities of the assets. This behavioural science study develops Q-methodology tools for conducting this research. First, agri-food supply chain stakeholders are gathered to collect data relying on empirica

A BLOCKCHAIN TRACEABILITY INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR TRUST IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY CHAIN

Across organizations, the integration of business processes and information is crucial for all involved parties. However, the lack of trust is often a roadblock. Researches show that supply chains have incurred challenges in information sharing and trust, while trust widely works in supply chain practices and deeply affects supply chain decisions. On the other hand, Blockchain as an emerging technology for decentralized and transactional data sharing across a network of untrusted participants has appeared to have many applications. The main purpose of this research is trying to increase trust among agricultural supply chain parties to guarantee the food quality, safety and sustainability from a supply chain management perspective, and the key issue is using a decentralized technology which is not dependent on the trust of a central authority or organization for the whole supply chain. Using Design Science Research method, this research is going to develop an artifact to explore the most important trust requirements and priorities at every stage of agricultural supply chain, required to implement a blockchain information system for real-time agricultural food traceability. Special emphasis has been placed on the roles of the incorporation of the IoT in Blockchain-based solutions

Patterns of Sociotechnical Design Preferences of Chatbots for Intergenerational Collaborative Innovation : A Q Methodology Study

Chatbot technology is increasingly emerging as a virtual assistant. Chatbots could allow individuals and organizations to accomplish objectives that are currently not fully optimized for collaboration across an intergenerational context. This paper explores the preferences of chatbots as a companion in intergenerational innovation. The Q methodology was used to investigate different types of collaborators and determine how different choices occur between collaborators that merge the problem and solution domains of chatbots’ design within intergenerational settings. The study’s findings reveal that various chatbot design priorities are more diverse among younger adults than senior adults. Additionally, our research further outlines the principles of chatbot design and how chatbots will support both generations. This research is the first step towards cultivating a deeper understanding of different age groups’ subjective design preferences for chatbots functioning as a companion in the workplace. Moreover, this study demonstrates how the Q methodology can guide technological development by shifting the approach from an age-focused design to a common goal-oriented design within a multigenerational context.peerReviewe

Enabling affordances of blockchain in agri-food supply chains: A value-driver framework using Q-methodology

The application of blockchain beyond cryptocurrencies has received increasing attention from industry and scholars alike. Given predicted looming food crises, some of the most impactful deployments of blockchains are likely to concern food supply chains. This study outlined how blockchain adoption can result in positive affordances in the food supply chain. Using Q- methodology, this study explored the current status of the agri-food supply chain and how blockchain technology could be useful in addressing existing challenges. This theorization leads to the proposition of the 3TIC value-driver framework for determining the enabling affordances of blockchain that would increase shared value for stakeholders. First, we propose a framework based on the most promising features of blockchain technology to overcome current challenges in the agri-food industry. Our value-driver framework is driven by the Q-study findings of respondents closely associated with the agri-food supply chain. This framework can provide supply chain stakeholders with a clear perception of blockchain affordances and serve as a guideline for utilizing appropriate features of technology that match organizations’ capabilities, core competencies, goals, and limitations. Therefore, it could assist top-level decision-makers in systematically evaluating parts of the organization to focus on and improve the infrastructure for successful blockchain implementation along the agri-food supply chain. We conclude by noting certain significant challenges that must be carefully addressed to successfully adopt blockchain technology