IT Adoption Research in an Era of Prevalent Algorithmic Intelligence

The theoretical frameworks that are used to study phenomena involving information technology (IT) sometimes need to be revised to better fit the characteristics of evolving or emerging IT innovations. In this paper, we make the claim that the fast diffusion of sophisticated and adaptative algorithmic intelligence, and with it, our increased reliance on highly automated decision-making systems calls for a revision to the IT adoption paradigm. We present the key rationales to such a claim and formulate questions to facilitate a productive debate on the matter

Human-in-Control: A Human-Centered Model of Adaptation to AI Augmentation

Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) potential to augment knowledge workers\u27 jobs brings about significant transformation in their work, permeating their entire job beyond the automated tasks. Consequently, their established control perceptions can be disrupted. We therefore propose a model of worker adaptation to the AI work environment via personal control processes aimed at aligning the environment and the self. The Human-in-Control (HiC) model is a dialectical process of trust in AI’s task execution ability and direct control over tasks that synthesizes in an expectation of delegation success leading to one of four control processes—expansive, opportunistic, investigative, preventive, and disengaging. The reached control state ranges from augmenting to reducing or, in extreme cases, slides down to uncontrollability. These states are transient, with feedback potentially prompting adaptive recalibration and state changes. Our study introduces personal control as an adaptive process in augmentation, expanding adaptation’s scope and guiding human-centered empirical investigations of job-wide adaptation

Enhancing Peripheral Vision through Social Media Use: A Social Network Perspective

In today’s highly dynamic and uncertain environment, peripheral vision is critical for organizational survival and prosperity.In accessing complex and ambiguous information, managers often resort to personal sources. While IT is found to improvethe quality and quantity of information from well-structured databases and knowledge systems, its role in facilitating accessof personal information is less clear. This paper examines how social media use impacts on managers’ social networks andthereby gives them competitive advantages in peripheral vision. We propose that active social media use can improvemanagers’ position in the network and strengthen the social relationships with their contacts, which then grant them a set ofinformational benefits. These informational benefits further help enhance managers’ peripheral vision

The Responsible Adoption of (Highly) Automated Decision-Making Systems

The next-generation technological era will be marked by the prevalence of highly automated decision-making systems (ADMS), which promote technological autonomy at the expense of human agency. In this paper, we examine the role and importance of socio-ethical factors in the responsible adoption of ADMS by organizations. In doing so, we draw on the unique characteristics of ADMS and leverage the literature on social responsibility to conceptualize what a responsible adoption process and a responsible adoption decision involve. The resulting framework makes a much-needed connection between technology adoption and social responsibility and offers a progressive foundation to study ADMS adoption

IT Interruptions in Project Environments: A Taxonomy and Preliminary Performance Investigation

Despite the growing emergence of information technology interruptions–those interruptions that are mediated or induced by information technology–little is known about their nature and their consequences on performance. This paper develops a taxonomy of information technology interruptions and presents propositions that relate distinct interruption types and subtypes to individual performance in project environments. A qualitative inquiry of product development teams is used to deductively validate the taxonomy and propositions, and to develop new insights based on an inductive analysis. The paper contributes to research by developing a conceptualization of information technology interruptions in the context of individuals working on interdependent tasks that are nested in related projects. Also, it shows how distinct types of information technology interruptions exhibit differential effects on performance that vary from positive to negative

IT Interruptions and Coordination Effectiveness in Software Development Groups: A Conceptual, Multilevel Model

Research abounds on software teams enhancing their processes via IT. However, the unintended group-level effects of interruptions triggered by such IT are rarely examined. This paper develops a conceptual, multilevel model that focuses on the paths linking individually experienced IT interruptions to group coordination outcomes. Drawing on coordination theory and the work interruptions literature, we propose that different IT interruption types exhibit different effects. IT intrusions create resource constraints that emerge to the group level via interdependencies and debilitate group coordination effectiveness. To mitigate these effects, groups engage in coordination by task organization. IT interventions facilitate coordination by group problem-solving (a cross-level effect), which enhances coordination effectiveness. This research extends the IT interruptions literature by focusing on the multilevel effects, and extends the IT impacts literature by unearthing the unintended differential effects of IT via interruptions of group members’ work

Theorizing the Multilevel Effects of Interruptions and the Role of Communication Technology

Our understanding of how interrupting the work of an individual affects group outcomes and the role of communication technologies (CT) in shaping these effects is limited. Drawing upon coordination theory and the literatures on computer-mediated communication and interruptions, this paper develops a multilevel theory of work interruptions. It suggests that interruptions that target individuals can also affect other group members through various ripple effects and a cross-level direct effect. We also discuss how the usage of five CT capabilities during interruption episodes can moderate the impact of interruptions at the individual and group levels. Our theoretical model draws attention to the importance of examining the individual-to-group processes to better understand the impact of interruptions in group environments. Additionally, by accounting for the role of the use of CT capabilities during interruption episodes, our work contributes to both the interruptions literature, which dedicates scant attention to the interrupting media, and to IS research on media use and media effects

Ripples of Change – An AI Job Crafting Model for Human-in-Control

Introducing a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) system disrupts workers’ sense of control. To restore it, individual workers are likely to engage in self-initiated changes to their jobs. We build on job crafting theory and extend it to propose a theoretical model explaining the ripple effect of changes from tasks to skills, relationships, and finally job cognition. We introduce the concept of human-in-control (one’s perception of their ability to deliver desired work outcomes in a work context involving AI) as the goal of the job crafting process. Our work provides a novel and important perspective on job transformation with AI. As such, it opens numerous avenues for research in this nascent stream