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Summer 2009 (Vol 49, Issue 4) Table of Contents Trust VIOLATIONS IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE: CUSTOMER CONCERNS AND REACTIONS The positive relationship between trust and purchase-related variables (such as willingness to buy) has been widely reported in literature. By implication, it is sometimes suggested that violation of trust will lead to negative consequences. However, there is a dearth of empirical support for the consequences of trust violation. In the current study, we examine a research model that proposes that the three characteristics of a trust violation (magnitude of negative outcome, causal attribution to seller, and perceived fairness of seller response) will influence psychological contract violation (PCV), which will affect customer trust (both affect-based and cognition-based trust) and which, in turn, will influence customer repurchase intentions with the offending seller, customer intentions to engage in negative word of mouth communication, and, customer intention to continue purchases on the Internet. The results indicate significant support for the research model. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed. Keywords: trust violation, psychological contract violation, perceived fairness, causal attribution, magnitude of negative outcome, repurchase intentions, word of mouth communication WEB TRUST — A MODERATOR OF THE WEB’S PERCEIVED INDIVIDUAL IMPACT The Web impacts every facet of business and also impacts the individual. This study seeks to determine what role trust plays in the impact the Web has on the individual by testing a model with satisfaction, usability, trust and ease of use as direct effects on perceived individual impact. The model also includes trust as a moderator between usability and perceived individual impact and between satisfaction and perceived individual impact. Our findings indicate that the Web’s perceived individual impact is influenced by trust directly as well as the moderation of trust on usability and satisfaction. Keywords: Influencers of Web Trust, Perceived Individual Impact, Structural Assurance THE EXAMINATION OF TWO WEB SITE USABILITY INSTRUMENTS FOR USE IN B2C E-COMMERCE ORGANIZATIONS This study used a B2C e-commerce simulation in an effort to validate two Web site usability instruments. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis found the first instrument exhibited moderately acceptable measurement properties, while the second instrument displayed poor validity for the suggested dimensions. Attempted validation of these instruments and the subsequent development of a more comprehensive measure of Web site usability should facilitate an organization’s understanding of the strengths and weakness of their B2C Web sites in an increasingly competitive environment. Keywords: Web site usability, B2C e-commerce, Confirmatory factor analysis, Instrument validation THE ROLE OF WIKI TECHNOLOGY AND ALTRUISM IN COLLABORATIVE KNOWLEDGE CREATION Collaborative knowledge creation is presently being reshaped by the use of Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis. Wikipedia, arguably the most successful application of wiki technology, demonstrates the feasibility and success of this form of collaborative knowledge creation (in a broad sense) within self-organizing, open access community. The study seeks to understand the success of the public wiki model, with Wikipedia as the test case, assessing both technology and participant motivations. The study finds that, contrary to the motivation in open source software development, altruism is a prevalent driver for participation, although mixed motives clearly exist. In particular, while participants have both individualistic and collaborative motives, collaborative (altruistic) motives dominate. The success of the collaboration model embedded in Wikipedia thus appears to be related to wiki technology and the “wiki way” (i.e., social norms) of collaboration. Keywords: collaborative knowledge creation, altruism, wiki, open source EXAMINING THE SUCCESS OF WEBSITES BEYOND E-COMMERCE: AN EXTENSION OF THE IS SUCCESS MODEL As the use of the Internet continues to grow in all aspects of daily life, there is an increasing need to better understand what makes websites successful. A long standing model of success in the Information Systems literature is the DeLone and McLean IS Success Model. Addressing the call for research of existing theoretical models in different contexts, this research proposes an investigation of an adapted version of the IS Success Model in website contexts beyond e-commerce. The model is tested using Partial Least Squares with data from 2007 actual users of two categories of websites. Consistent with our predictions that website success cannot be measured with a “one size fits all” model, we find that success factors vary across website types. Implications of these results for practice and research are discussed. Keywords: IS Success Model, Website Success, Website Satisfaction, Website Contexts CONCEPT-GUIDED QUERY EXPANSION FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT WITH SEMI-AUTOMATIC KNOWLEDGE CAPTURING In the knowledge economic era, enterprises have realized the importance of knowledge assets and endeavored to think how to improve their competitive abilities by managing and using knowledge assets effectively in the fast-changing environment. The usability of knowledge is limited due to its difficult access, sharing and visualization; however knowledge management systems (KMS) have proven to be efficient and effective in organizing knowledge of high complexity and in large amounts. Despite, the issue of how to effectively retrieve the desired knowledge from vast knowledge bases still remains due to the difficulty to express conceptual ideas with appropriate queries. To tackle this critical matter, we propose a new KMS solution powered by a concept-guided query expansion scheme. In addition, repertory grid analysis is conducted to semi-automatically elicit and model the structure of domain experts’ tacit knowledge and build up a hierarchical concept structure. With this mechanism, availability of tacit knowledge is increased and its access and navigation facilitated, allowing users to acquire the desired knowledge and contribute to knowledge dissemination. Keywords: Knowledge conceptualization, Knowledge capturing, Query expansion, Knowledge management, Repertory grid analysis THE IMPACT OF CONFLICT AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLE ON DEADBEATS AND DESERTERS IN VIRTUAL TEAMS Individuals face additional challenges when interacting in virtual teams. The lack of media richness and the asynchronous nature of technologically transmitted messages make communication more difficult. Conflicts may be more likely to arise in virtual teams. In this study, team members who were identified as deadbeats by other team members and those who deserted the team were studied. Deadbeats and deserters reported experiencing more conflict and less trust, group cohesion, and satisfaction when working in virtual teams. Analysis of two conflict management approaches showed that deserters were significantly more likely to use an avoidance conflict management style than active team members. Active team members were more likely to use an integrative approach to conflict management. Results of the study suggest that conflict, and the way in which individuals deal with it, may impact the likelihood of social loafing and desertion in virtual teams. Keywords: Virtual teams, conflict management, conflict management style, deserters, deadbeats, social loafing USING SOCIAL NETWORK SITES: THE EFFECTS OF PLAYFULNESS, CRITICAL MASS AND TRUST IN A HEDONIC CONTEXT The use of Internet social network sites has become an international phenomenon. These websites enable computer-mediated communication between people with common interests such as school, family, and friendship. Popular sites include MySpace and Facebook. Their rapid widespread usage warrants a better understanding. This study contributes to our understanding by empirically investigating factors influencing user adoption of these sites. We introduce the Social Network Site Adoption model to examine the effect of perceptions of normative pressure, playfulness, critical mass, trust, usefulness, and ease of use on usage intention and actual usage of these sites. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the patterns of inter-correlations among the constructs and to empirically test the hypotheses. All the hypothesized determinants have a significant direct effect on intent to use, with perceived playfulness and perceived critical mass the strongest indicators. Intent to use and perceived playfulness have a significant direct effect on actual usage. Keywords: critical mass; social network sites; structural equation modeling; technology adoption FACTORS AFFECTING THE INTENTION TO DOWNLOAD MUSIC: QUALITY PERCEPTIONS AND DOWNLOADING INTENSITY Illicit music downloading is a problem for music industry groups. A rational theory of delinquency holds that actors weigh the costs and benefits before committing a deviant act. However, theory developed for physical goods may not apply to digital products. In addition, cultural products have uncertain quality prior to consumption. The intention to acquire such products may be affected by perceived quality. This paper explores the intention to illegally download music from the Internet, focusing on perceptions of quality and cost in the context of heavy downloaders and light downloaders. This study builds and tests an intention model using factors from the behavioral, economic and technological literature. The results indicate that individuals’ attitude, ability to download online music, and the price of legitimate music are the most significant factors affecting individuals’ music downloading behavior. The study finds that both price and quality is important for heavy downloaders but only price is significant for light downloaders. Implications of these findings for the music industry are discussed. Keywords: Music piracy, behavior, internet, downloading THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF CONFLICT ON THE INFORMATIVE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, PRODUCT AND PROJECT Prior research in information systems generally finds that conflict during development can only have a negative impact and cannot be controlled even through effective processes. However, the literature examines direct impact to project success measures without considering the process as a mediator nor possible beneficial effects on criteria other than traditional measures of project budget and schedule. We extend the study of conflict by considering the quality of the software product in addition to the project measures and include the process as a specific mediator. Results from a survey of system developers finds that conflict does indeed impact both measures negatively and is not fully mediated by effective processes. Researchers and practitioners should turn their attentions earlier in a development project to prevent the detrimental effects of conflict. Keywords: Project Management, Conflict, System Development, System Quality, Process Performance, Project Success STUDENT INTENTION TO USE EXPERT SYSTEMS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY This paper examined factors that influenced end-user intention to use expert systems (ES). In this study, we proposed and empirically tested an extension of the technology acceptance model (TAM) by including the factors of perceived reliability and perceived quality of ES. Our extended TAM was built on the premise that individuals’ attitudes toward ES impact their intentions to use ES. The perceived reliability of ES is hypothesized to influence the perceived quality of ES, which in turn impacts the attitude toward ES. Perceived ease of use directly and indirectly impacts attitude through perceived usefulness of ES. Additionally, control variables, such as end-user knowledge about ES and prior experience with ES, were considered in the proposed model. A Structural Equation Model (SEM), using LISREL, was employed to test the measurement and structural model using a convenience sample of students. Strong support was found for all proposed hypotheses. The results showed that perceived reliability of ES had an indirect effect on attitudes toward use of ES, through the perceived quality of ES, which had a direct impact on attitude. Additionally, the findings indicated that perceived ease of use had direct and indirect effects on attitude toward using ES through perceived usefulness of ES, which had direct impact on attitude. Moreover, attitude toward ES had a direct impact on behavioral intention to use ES. Research and managerial implications were reported. Keywords: None supplied A MODEL FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT Environmental issues have proved to be neither an important concern nor a major topic in the process of developing information systems (IS). The focus, if there is one, is often limited to the recycling of printing supplies and outdated hardware items. This paper argues that recycling alone is inadequate to address the increasing environmental impact of information technology (IT) or information systems (IS), and that it is too late to address, let alone solve, the problem at the end of the product lifecycle: Environmental issues need to be addressed throughout the lifecycle of the IT/IS system, including practices regarding hardware, software, and users. This paper proposes a revised systems development lifecycle (SDLC) that considers environmental issues at every stage of the process and proposes the addition of a disposal stage as a formal, final stage of the systems development process. Environmental issues and potential actions for each stage of the new model are discussed. Keywords: Systems development, SDLC, environment, green IT, sustainable, sustainability, corporate responsibility, disposal PERFORMANCE TESTING OF PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC INFERENCE ENGINES Speed is a significant factor in the implementations of rule-based systems, and many inference engines slow dramatically as the size of the problem increases. Test sets such as Waltz and Manners measure the speed of first order logic inference engines. However, to our knowledge, no test sets for propositional logic inference engines have heretofore been identified. Keywords: expert systems, propositional logic, inference, performance
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