Illuminating Summary Evaluations –The Importance of an Attitude’s Structural Consistency in Explaining IS Usage

Although attitudes are frequently hypothesized to guide information system (IS) usage behavior, existent empirical evidence on their explanatory power is inconclusive. We thus suggest in this paper the consideration of an attitude\u27s strength that stems from its structural consistency. First, we illuminate the structure that underlies attitudes from a theoretical perspective and hypothesize that its consistency marks strong attitudes that explain IS usage. Second, we provide empirical evidence on structurally consistent attitudes explaining IS usage intention in the specific context of social network sites. By focusing on attitude, we investigate in this paper a less-studied side of existent IS adoption theories and show the merits of considering an attitude\u27s strength as indicated by its structural consistency in explaining IS usage

What Determines User Attitudes in IS Research? A Meta-analytic Structural Equation Modeling Approach

While research in general has extensively studied the coherence between attitude and behavior, Information Systems (IS) research has paid little attention to the antecedents of attitude. Using the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) as theoretical basis, we focus on the factors that determine attitudes in IS research. We apply a meta-analytic structural equation model based on major IS-adoption models that focuses on classifying the antecedents of attitude in the studies of our meta-analysis according to the central and peripheral route of information processing proposed by the ELM. The results indicate that affect and cognition as representatives for the central route are less important as attitudinal antecedents in the IS context compared to external factors that represent the peripheral route of information processing

Stuck in the Past? The Moderation Effect of Personal Nostalgia on the Attitude Behavior Relationship in IS Adoption Contexts

Even though evidence shows that emotions influence individuals’ information processing and decision making, emotions have been merely an afterthought in IS. Indeed, few studies have investigated their influence on behavior, and those that have considered only a handful of different emotions (e.g., anxiety, enjoyment, satisfaction, or pleasure). Until recently, researchers have investigated only simple and uniformly positive (e.g., pleasure) or negative emotions (e.g., anxiety). More complex emotions such as nostalgia can be valuable additions to our understanding of technology choice because they offer a window into short-term decisions, which are subject to change in one way or another. In particular, the coping function of nostalgia can help one to understand behavior in the context of IT because some users perceive changes to their familiar environment and routine as a threat and as a stressful event. As such, we investigate the impact of nostalgia on users’ choices between two different technologies to accomplish one particular goal or task. Our study is the first to provide evidence of nostalgia’s influence on technology usage and suggests that nostalgia can provide reassurance to some users when faced with overcoming big challenges

Reflecting Attitude In It Adoption Research – Theoretical Considerations And Scientometric Evaluations

Users’ attitudes depict one of the main determinants, why individuals use information systems. However, in the basic theoretical understanding of social psychology research attitude could be shaped in two different ways; attitude formation and attitude change. Within this paper, both attitude research streams are theoretically reflected as well as observed in IT adoption literature using data of a scientometric analysis of the following 14 top journals of the IS field according to several journal rankings. The results represent a domination of attitude formation and show that 90% of the articles applied this form. Additionally, it could be revealed that the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior are the most applied underlyings for attitude formation. Furthermore, two interesting aspects could be outlined. Concerning attitude change, besides being by definition a construct to describe dynamic structures with a process-based measurement, 44% of the articles found used underlying theories for static structures with a moment-based measurement

Specialized Information Systems for the Digitally Disadvantaged

A number of specialized information systems for the digitally disadvantaged (SISD) have been developed to offset the limitations of people less able to participate in the information society. However, contributions from social identity theory and social markedness theory indicate that SISD can activate a stigmatized identity and thus be perceived unfavorably by their target audience. We identify two mechanisms by which functional limitations affect a digitally disadvantaged person’s adoption decision: (1) adoption decision as shaped through technology perceptions (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived access barriers), and (2) adoption decision as shaped through marked status awareness (i.e., stigma consciousness). We test our contextualized research model on digitally disadvantaged users with physical and/or sensory disabilities. Results of our mediation analysis show that the individuals who have the most to gain from SISD use (i.e., those with greater perceived functional limitations) are doubly disadvantaged: as a group, they find it more challenging to use SISD and are also more sensitive to the fear of being marked as disadvantaged or vulnerable

Exploring the Current State of Research on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency – Analyzing Enablers, Inhibitors, and Indeterminate Factors

Blockchain might have the potential to transform business and society. Taking a retrospective look, this literature review shows (1) that a large share of contributions is still concerned with cryptocurrencies, the first application area of blockchain technology; (2) that research on blockchain has transgressed from information systems to other domains; and (3) the current state of research using the five types of theory of Gregor (2006). Analyzing past contributions, enablers (such as crypto-friendly policies) and inhibitors (such as low-quality data sources) for the development and adoption of blockchain systems are identified. Interestingly, the impact of some factors – such as transaction costs and privacy – is not clear yet, with prior research disagreeing whether these are enabling or inhibiting

I did use it! - Assessing subjective vs objective cognitive artifact usage

For decades, IS researchers have discussed the reliability of subjective measurements to assess actual artifact usage. Especially in experimental settings, as in the design science context for instance, the participants’ usage data of the evaluated artifact represents an important point of analysis. However, collecting objective usage data, (i.e. logfiles) is often not feasible depending on the artifact. In this paper, we present the theoretical grounding of collecting cognitive artifact usage data using eye-tracking technology. Grounded in immediacy and eye-mind assumption the participants’ artifact fixations are used as objective usage measurement. The question remains if in comparison, the collection of subjective (e.g. perceptual) usage data is sufficient and reliable for such experiments. The results of our comparative analysis indicate that researchers could use subjective measurements when comparing different artifact designs and should rely on objective measurements when testing the effect of an artifact compared to a control group without artifacts

What Faces Can(not) Tell – A Multi-Channel Analysis of Emotional Responses to Computer-Transferred Stimuli

In Information Systems (IS) research, emotions are predominantly measured using self-reports of survey participants (e.g. in IS adoption) or facial expressions (e.g. in Human-Computer Interaction). In order to combine both measurement foci, we assess and compare the impact of facial emotional reactions to computer-induced stimuli on self-reported perceptive evaluations towards the respective stimulus and system by using a multi-method experimental approach with multi-channel analysis. We captured implicit emotional expressions of happiness of 176 participants using eye-tracker and webcam technology as implicit emotion measures together with a post-experimental questionnaire containing items for the explicit emotion of pleasure, social presence, and arousal. Results analyzed using the FACS procedure (Ekman and Friesen 1978) and test for mean inequality indicate that facially transmitted happiness in response to hedonic design elements in online job ads leads to an increase in self-report measures for pleasure, but not unambiguously for social presence and arousal. Furthermore, we find support for the effect of implicit emotion expression of happiness on the explicit self-report measures of pleasure and arousal being higher for the measures of pleasure. We contribute to IS research on human behavior by complementing self-reported measures of emotion with a physical emotional measure in response to system’s feature, and by linking these measured emotional physical responses to individual behavior. In addition, by comparing both implicit (physical) and explicit (overt self-reported perceptions) measures of emotional responses we provide a more detailed picture on benefits and limitations of both measures and about their internal relationship

System Characteristic or User Purpose? - A Multi-group Analysis on the Adoption of Online Shopping by Mobility Impaired and Unimpaired Users

Since van der Heijden (2004) it is widely accepted that hedonic and utilitarian information systems underlie different adoption mechanisms. Within this research, we compare two homogenous user groups and their adoption behaviors with respect to e-commerce websites. The groups thereby differ only in the fact that one of them consists of individuals suffering from mobility impairment. Consistent with theory in psychology and medical rehabilitation that suggests that disablement leads to an adapted evaluation of surroundings (including ICT) in terms of needs and purposes, we show by means of a multi-group structural equation analysis that concerning adoption determinants of a sys-tem, not only the mere system characteristics (utilitarian vs. hedonic) matter, but also the value that is attached to the system by the user in terms of his personal needs. The results indicate that although e-commerce websites are predominantly classified as hedonic system, the adoption of them by the mobil-ity-impaired group is predominantly determined by perceived usefulness. This leads to the discussion if user characteristics in terms of physical capabilities and the needs they imply should be attached more importance to in IS adoption research

Disarming Prejudice: How Ease of Use Mitigates the Detrimental Effect of IT-Based Stereotype Threat on the IT Task Performance of Older Adults

We propose that although just an oversimplified picture, the stereotype that older adults cannot use IT turns into a real threat to older adults on IT tasks. We find in an experiment with 96 older adults on a municipality website that the stereotype of not being able to use IT creates a toxic cognitive load in the minds of older adults, which in turn significantly impairs their information search on the website. Based on cognitive load as a theoretical leverage point for an intervention against IT-based stereotype threat, our results furthermore highlight that increasing a website’s ease of use effectively protects older adults against the stereotype about their inability in the IS domain. We offer in this paper a theoretically-grounded starting point for disarming prejudice in the digital transformation of societies