Knowledge that Transforms

Using a data set on individual investments in an online crowdfunding platform for mobile applications, this study examines whether an early investor’s experience within the platform serves as a credible signal of quality for other investors in the crowd and, if so, under what conditions. We find that early investors with experience—particularly investors with app development experience and investors with app investment experience—have a disproportionate influence on later investors in the crowd. Investors with app development experience are likely to have better knowledge of the product and are therefore found to be more influential for “concept apps” (apps in the pre-release stage), while investors with app investment experience with a better knowledge of market performance are found to be more influential for “live apps” (apps that are already being sold in the market). Our findings show that the majority of investors in this market, the crowd, although inexperienced, are rather sophisticated in their ability to identify and exploit nüanced differences in the underlying expertise of the early investors, informational signals that align well with the informational needs they face in the different stages of a venture. In examining the ex post performance of apps, we find that apps with investments from investors with experience are positively associated with ex post app sales. More importantly, we find that investors with experience indeed have the ability to select better apps, making their investment choices credible signals of quality for the crowd. Contrary to popular perceptions of crowdfunding platforms as substitutes for traditional expert-dominated mechanisms, our findings indicate that participation by individuals with experience can be beneficial to these markets.

Prompted by perceived shortcomings of prevailing conceptualizations of digital technology in IS, we propose a theory aimed at capturing both the ontological complexity of digital objects qua objects, and how their identity and use is bound up with various social associations. We begin with what it is to be an object, the differences between material and nonmaterial objects, and various categories of nonmaterial objects including syntactic objects and bitstrings. Building on these categories we develop a conception of digital objects and a novel “bearer” theory of how material and nonmaterial objects combine. The role of computation is considered, and how the identity and system functions of digital objects flow from their social positioning in the communities in which they arise. Various implications of the theory are identified, focusing on its use as a conceptual frame through which to view digital phenomena, and its potential to inform existing perspectives with regard both to how digital technology per se and the relationship between people and digital technology should be theorized. These implications are illustrated with reference to secondary markets for software, the treatment of digital resources in the resource-based, knowledge-based, and service-dominant logic views of organizing, and recent work on sociomateriality.

This paper examines the role of parenting behaviors in influencing children’s Internet addiction and the consequences of children’s Internet addiction on parents’ job outcomes. First, we draw on attachment theory to theorize that five parenting behaviors (i.e., parental control, monitoring, unstructured time, dissuasion, and rationalization) affect children’s Internet addiction and their effects are moderated by the children’s views of parent–child attachment. Second, we draw on research on the work–family interface to theorize that children’s Internet addiction affects parents’ job outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work exhaustion) and the effects are mediated by family-to-work conflict. We tested our hypotheses using an integrated research approach that includes quantitative and qualitative data. We conducted an online survey to collect quantitative responses from 776 parent–child dyads. The results of our model showed that the effects of parenting behaviors on children’s Internet addiction, except for dissuasion, were moderated by the children’s views of parent–child attachment. Also, family-to-work conflict mediated the effects of children’s Internet addiction on parents’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work exhaustion. We collected qualitative data via interviews from 50 parents to cross-validate the results from the quantitative study.

Open source software (OSS) communities are dependent on the code contributions of developers who, in many cases, never meet face-to-face and collaborate primarily through technology-enabled means. With their fluid membership, such communities often rely on engaging the commitment of developers to their cause. Given the changing nature of OSS communities, developers face barriers in appreciating appropriate ways of contributing to the collaborative effort. Such uncertainty about how to contribute results in OSS communities losing developers as they devote their attention to other, more welcoming, communities. In this research, we draw upon uncertainty reduction theory to argue that developers have two alternative avenues at their disposal to gain certainty about how to contribute: passive and interactive. Leveraging the person–environment fit perspective, we argue that congruence and incongruence in the OSS values of a developer and an OSS community serve as an avenue for passive approaches to gaining certainty, to the degree that appropriate ways of contributing are encoded in these values. Further, leveraging social network theory, we argue that centrality within a community’s communication network constitutes an avenue for interactive approaches for gaining certainty about how to contribute. Using polynomial regression analysis, we analyze survey and archival data from 410 developers in an OSS community. Results suggest that developer centrality moderates the impact of congruence and incongruence in OSS values on commitment. Moreover, commitment fully mediates the impact of OSS value congruence and incongruence on developer contribution activity. We discuss the implications of our findings for research and practice.

A rich stream of research has identified numerous antecedents to employee compliance (and noncompliance) with information security policies. However, the number of competing theoretical perspectives and inconsistencies in the reported findings have hampered efforts to attain a clear understanding of what truly drives this behavior. To address this theoretical stalemate and build toward a consensus on the key antecedents of employees’ security policy compliance in different contexts, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relevant literature. Drawing on 95 empirical papers, we classified 401 independent variables into 17 distinct categories and analyzed each category’s relationship with security policy compliance, including an analysis for possible domain-specific moderators. A meta-analytic relative weight analysis determined the relative importance of each category in predicting security policy compliance, while adding robustness to our findings. At a broad level, our results suggest that much of the security policy compliance literature is plagued by suboptimal theoretical framing. Our findings can facilitate more refined theory-building efforts in this research domain and serve as a guide for practitioners to manage security policy compliance initiatives.

Improving the state of citizens’ health is an urgent priority in many low and middle income countries (LMICs), and health management information systems (HMIS) are widely seen as valuable tools for pursuing this priority. Yet, the potential of HMIS has been difficult to materialize in the LMIC context since routines and practices that work against effective use of HMIS are often deeply embedded in historical institutions and, consequently, are difficult to change. Using a longitudinal case study of HMIS in Kenya, we investigate the crucial role of identity work as a mechanism that links information technology (IT) affordances to institutions. In particular, our study revealed four types of identity work (disruptive, legitimizing, reinforcing, and transformative) that, through different affordances, led to distinct institutional consequences in terms of either maintaining or deinstitutionalizing existing dysfunctional HMIS-related routines and practices. We demonstrate the importance of context for theorizing the societal and development impact of IT and the role of IT materiality in influencing deinstitutionalization.

Popular knowledge management platforms such as community-based question answering sites (CQAs) and electronic networks of practice (ENPs) rely on accurate quality assessment of user-contributed content to ensure effective knowledge creation and exchange. However, quality assessment is subjective by nature. Based on the politeness theory, we hypothesize that answers written more politely are more likely to be perceived as high quality answers by the question asker due to the low face threat. We first test our hypotheses through a random coefficient logit model with data obtained from Stack Exchange, a popular CQA platform. We then conduct a randomized experiment where we exogenously manipulate the politeness level of otherwise similar answers. Our analyses, based on both the Stack Exchange dataset and the randomized experiment, lend strong support to the existence of a politeness bias, which affects question askers’ subjective evaluation of answer quality. This study contributes to the literature in knowledge management, cognitive bias, and behavioral issues in information systems.

This paper investigates how individuals cope with IT security threats by taking into account both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. While problem-focused coping (PFC) has been extensively studied in the IT security literature, little is known about emotion-focused coping (EFC). We propose that individuals employ both PFC and EFC to volitionally cope with IT security threats, and conceptually classify EFC into two categories: inward and outward. Our research model is tested by two studies: an experiment with 140 individuals and a survey of 934 respondents. Our results indicate that both inward EFC and outward EFC are stimulated by perceived threat, but that only inward EFC is reduced by perceived avoidability. Interestingly, inward EFC and outward EFC are found to have opposite effects on PFC. While inward EFC impedes PFC, outward EFC facilitates PFC. By integrating both EFC and PFC in a single model, we provide a more complete understanding of individual behavior under IT security threats. Moreover, by theorizing two categories of EFC and showing their opposing effects on users’ security behaviors, we further examine the paradoxical relationship between EFC and PFC, thus making an important contribution to IT security research and practice.