ABSTRACT:
The Special Section on Applied Science Research in Information Systems that opens this issue of the Journal reminds us, very usefully, that our field is expected to inform the decision makers who solve problems and run teams, organizations, and, indeed, countries. The knowledge we produce and elaborate is the ever-higher foundation for the never-ending quest---and it also needs to be the source of practical insights. Each of the papers in the Special Section tackles a real problem and demonstrates how our field contributes to its solution, while also accumulating models, techniques, and insights to solve future problems and generate new theories. The Guest Editors of the Special Section, Robert O. Briggs, Jay F. Nunamaker Jr., and Ralph Sprague, will introduce these papers to you, helping you see them through their lens of ‘the last’ mile in information systems (IS) research.
Having dispensed with the productivity paradox, if there ever was one, we now see more profound effects of information technology (IT), and we see them in a more textured way. Kunsoo Han, Young Bong Chang, and Jungpil Hahn empirically demonstrate here significant spillovers from IT investments by supplier industries to those downstream in the supply chains. The more competitive and IT-intense downstream industries benefit more, and as seen before in other IT productivity studies, there is a learning period. This study is important in demonstrating another, and weighty, category of value rendered by the proper deployment of IT.
In a study that ranges over wide swaths of our cultural heritage, Fatemeh ‘Mariam’ Zahedi and Gaurav Bansal investigate the cultural content of Web site images. Using the research methodology of grounded theory, the authors develop a theory of Web-image signifiers classified into five categories, which they proceed to test in a quantitative study, rooted in the Hofstede cultural attributes. Echoing the theme of the Special Section, the results of the study are immediately useful in Web site design, particularly as cross-cultural audiences are addressed, we hope, with increased frequency. Beyond that, the extensive study forms a foundation for further research into cultural signification on the Web and elsewhere.
IS move into the ever-expanding domains of our lives. Automated decision aids are used to assess the credibility of statements made in a variety of contexts that include negotiation and auditing. The credibility of the automated credibility assessments is, of course, in question. Here, Matthew L. Jensen, Paul Benjamin Lowry, and Jeffrey L. Jenkins present a theory-based design of a decision aid based on both automated linguistic analysis and on the elicitation and analysis of perceptual cues. Fine-grained conclusions are reached with respect to the contribution of each of the analyses to the accuracy of the assessment and to the acceptance of the aid’s recommendations, adding to our knowledge in the detection of deception.
The contemporary IS environment is frequently characterized by constant software modifications, as agile IS are aimed at new business opportunities. Agile systems development methods include a broad range of methodologies and techniques that result in frequent system releases and a user environment of permanent change. These methods have been extensively studied from the developers’ point of view. It behooves our discipline to study their effects from the users’ vantage point. This is what the authors of the next paper in the issue, Weiyin Hong, James Y.L. Thong, Lewis C. Chasalow, and Gurpreet Dhillon, have done. Utilizing several theories of acceptance, use, and continuance, they investigate the users’ intentions to continue using the new systems, as well as to use the newly released features as a proxy for the systems’ success. The authors develop and validate a model of agile systems’ acceptance that takes into account the cognitive, behavioral, and affective dimensions of users’ attitudes. Based on this, the researchers also offer specific advice to the developers and organizational implementers of agile systems, which have become the not-so-new normal in many environments.
The issue concludes on a strong note by an emergent special section on virtual teams (VTs). VTs have become integral to the functioning of many organizations, and we have seen a flowering of research aiming to learn about them. In the first of three papers, Saonee Sarker, Manju Ahuja, Suprateek Sarker, and Sarah Kirkeby investigate how communication and trust influence the outcomes in the operation of a VT. Notably, the authors use social network analysis to compare competing models that can explain the interrelationships among the constructs conditioning the performance of individuals in such teams. The result that emerges to inform both theory and practice is trust as the sine qua non of the VTs’ performance outcomes.
Ananth Chiravuri, Derek Nazareth, and K. (Ram) Ramamurthy study the process of knowledge capture in the context of global VTs of experts. The authors focus on the management of conflict and the generation of consensus. Cognitive, task-based conflict is unavoidable if a team is to generate creative solutions. This conflict is also more difficult to manage in the absence of continuing face-to-face communications. In an extensive field experiment, the authors compare two well-known cognitive consensus-generation techniques, Delphi and repertory grid. Although the better-known Delphi is found to perform better in the short run, the use of repertory grid produced more and higher-quality knowledge in the long run. The result is of obvious importance to practice.
The compass of the last paper transcends the VT focus, as it ranges over the influence of different levels of IT mediation on social networks in organizations. VTs emerge here as one of the possible configurations in virtual work design. Ayoung Suh, Kyung‑shik Shin, Manju Ahuja, and Min Soo Kim unpack the group-level virtuality attributes into geographic dispersion, temporal dispersion, and technological support and empirically study them in conjunction with the use of personal and communal IT in individual-level virtuality. The prism of social network formation helps the authors to arrive at conclusions and recommendations that can lead to higher effectiveness of VTs, and of technology-mediated work in general.
As we start the new JMIS volume, it is my duty and it brings me great pleasure to acknowledge the contribution of our referees, the primary guarantors of the Journal’s quality. On behalf of our Editorial Board, thanks go to:
Niv Ahituv
Hyung Jun Ahn
Pervaiz Alam
Muhammad Aljukhadar
Gove Allen
Omar Alnuaimi
Paul Alpar
Kemal Altinkemer
Naveen Amblee
Hayward P. Andres
Corey Angst
Ofer Arazy
Kursad Asdemir
Norman Au
Yoris Au
Benoit A. Aubert
Peter van Baalen
Barbro Back
Akhilesh Bajaj
Dirk Baldwin
Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay
Gaurav Bansal
Ravi Bapna
Indranil R. Bardhan
Reza Barkhi
Henri Barki
Stuart J. Barnes
Anitesh Barua
Richard Baskerville
Dinesh Batra
Skip Benamati
Michel Benaroch
Raquel Benbunan-Fich
François Bergeron
Ganesh Bhatt
Anol Bhattacherjee
Jesse Bockstedt
Wai Fong Boh
Indranil Bose
Nicola Breugst
Glenn J. Browne
Sebastian Bruque
Scott Buffett
Judee Burgoon
Andrew Burton-Jones
Ashley Bush
Terry A. Byrd
Jinwei Cao
Sven Carlsson
Erran Carmel
Susy Chan
Yolande E. Chan
Hsin-Lu Chang
Jerry Cha-Jan Chang
Mohamed Hédi Charki
Patrick Chau
Daniel Chen
Hong-Mei Chen
Hsinchun Chen
Jianqing Chen
Jin Chen
Kay-Yut Chen
Kuan Chen
Li Chen
Yuanyuan Chen
Hsing Kenneth Cheng
Lei Chi
Robert T.H. Chi
Roger Chiang
Benjamin Chiao
Ananth Chiravuri
Alina M. Chircu
Jong-min Choe
H. Michael Chung
Wingyan Chung
Theodore H. Clark
Randolph Cooper
Kevin Crowston
Dianne Cyr
Qizhi Dai
Ronald Dattero
Gregory Dawson
Sergio De Cesare
Jason Dedrick
Chrysanthos Dellarocas
Didem Demirhan
Sarv Devaraj
Rajiv M. Dewan
Debabrata Dey
Soussan Djamasbi
Wenjing Duan
Peter Duchessi
Deborah E. Dunkle
Alexandra Durcikova
Kaushik Dutta
Robert Easley
Christophe Elie-Dit-Cosaque
Omar A. El Sawy
Mike Eom
Sean B. Eom
Tae-In Eom
J. Alberto Espinosa
Ming Fan
Patrick Fan
Xiaofen Fang
Yulin Fang
Steven Feiner
Jane Feng
Daniel R. Fesenmaier
Eliezer M. Fich
Edmond P. Fitzgerald
Jerry Fjermestad
Chris Forman
Chiara Francalanci
Mark Fuller
Brent Furneaux
John Gallaugher
Dale Ganley
Gordon Gao
Edward J. Garrity
Judith Gebauer
Michiel van Genuchten
Joey George
Anindya Ghose
Janis L. Gogan
Kim Huat Goh
Thomas Goh
Jahyun Goo
Dale Goodhue
Anand Gopal
Ram D. Gopal
Nelson Granados
Dawn G. Gregg
Ulrike Gretzel
Robert K. Griffin
Michael D. Grigoriades
Bin Gu
Kemal Guler
Zhiling Guo
Saurabh Gupta
Nicole Haggerty
Jungpil Hahn
Ingoo Han
Kunsoo Han
Paul Hart
Matthias Häsel
Khaled Hassenein
Jun He
Raymond Henry
Traci Hess
Alan R. Hevner
Starr Roxanne Hiltz
Richard Hoffman
Weiyin Hong
John A. Hoxmeier
Pei-fang Hsu
Jeffrey Hu
Nan Hu
Paul Hu
Qing Hu
Ming-Hui Huang
Wayne Huang
Kai Lung Hui
Wendy Hui
Ard Huizing
Yujong Hwang
Ghiyong Im
Gretchen I. Irwin
Varghese Jacob
Bharat A. Jain
Radhika Jain
Jeevan Jaisingh
Matthew Jensen
Bao-Jun Jiang
James J. Jiang
Zhengrui Jiang
Alice Johnson
Eric Johnson
Emmanuel Josserand
Surinder Kahai
Ajit Kambil
Arnold Kamis
Gerald Kane
Keumseok Kang
Atreyi Kankanhalli
Karthik Kannan
P.K. Kannan
Jahangir Karimi
Evangelos Katsamakas
Michael Kattan
Timothy Kayworth
Weiling Ke
William J. Kettinger
Moutaz Khouja
Melody Y. Kiang
Sia Siew Kien
Byung Cho Kim
Dan J. Kim
Dongmin Kim
Young-Gul Kim
Ruth King
Rajiv Kishore
Gary Klein
Richard Klein
Cenk Kocas
Chang Koh
Rajiv Kohli
Tobias Kollman
Sherrie Komiak
Praveen K. Kopalle
Marios Koufaris
Kenneth A. Kozar
Ramayya Krishnan
Gillian Ku
Uday Kulkarni
Akhil Kumar
Ram Kumar
Jason Kuruzovich
Atanu Lahiri
Karim Lakhani
Simon S.K. Lam
Guido Lang
Karl R. Lang
Nancy Lankton
Kai R. Larsen
Tor J. Larsen
Gwanhoo Lee
Heeseok Lee
Ho Geun Lee
Jungwoo Lee
Matthew Lee
Thomas Lee
Yang Lee
Yen-Hsien Lee
Christine Legner
Jan Marco Leimeister
Natalia Levina
Chen Li
Dahui Li
Jiexun Li
Na Li
Ting Li
Xiaotong Li
Xin Li
XinXin Li
Ting-Peng Liang
Paul Licker
John Lim
Fu-ren Lin
Lihui Lin
Ming Lin Yihwa
Irene Liou
Jacqueline Lipton
Ying Liu
Yipeng Liu
Alexandre Lopes
Paul B. Lowry
Henry C. Lucas Jr.
Mark Lycett
Jane M. Mackay
Simha R. Magal
Pruthikrai Mahatanankoon
M. Adam Mahmood
Bin Mai
Yogesh Malhotra
Arti Mann
Michael V. Mannino
Ji-Ye Mao
Salvatore T. March
Kent Marett
Likoebe M. Maruping
Jerrold H. May
William McCarthy
Roy McKelvey
Harrison McKnight
Ephraim R. McLean
Nirup Menon
Shaila Miranda
Dinesh Mirchandani
Abhay Nath Mishra
Sunil Mithas
Prasenjit Mitra
William Money
Ali R. Montazemi
Ramiro Montealegre
Jolene Morrison
Benjamin Mueller
Michael D. Myers
Peter P. Mykytyn Jr.
Barin N. Nag
Fiona Nah
Derek Nazareth
Matthew Nelson
R. Ryan Nelson
Boon Siong Neo
Derrick Neufeld
Michael Newman
Ralitza Nikolaeva
Mark Nissen
Dmitri Nizovtsev
Oded Nov
Lih-Bin Oh
Wonseok Oh
Bob O’Keefe
Lorne Olfman
James Oliver
Benoit Otjacques
Peter Otto
Yasin Ozcelik
Zafer D. Ozdemir
Carl Pacini
Raymond R. Panko
Gautam Pant
Manoj Parameswaran
Michael Parent
Insu Park
Sungjune Park
Craig Parker
Bhavik K. Pathak
Ravi Patnayakuni
Souren Paul
David J. Pauleen
Paul A. Pavlou
Kenneth Peffers
Robin Pennington
Roger A. Pick
Selwyn Piramuthu
Huseyin Polat
Jean-Charles Pomerol
Jaana Porra
Gerald Post
John H. Prager
David Preston
Sandeep Purao
Wen Guang Qu
Arik Ragowsky
T.S. Ragu-Nathan
Arun Rai
Rex Kelly Rainer Jr.
Vandana Ramachandran
K. Ramamurthy
Arkalgud Ramaprasad
B. Ramesh
Richard G. Ramirez
H.R. Rao
R. Ravichandran
Gautam Ray
Louis Raymond
Blaize Horner Reich
Bruce Reinig
Yuqing Ren
Paul Resnick
Hyuen-Suk Rhee
William B. Richmond
Christoph Riedl
Lionel Robert
Daniel Robey
Michael Rogich
Nicholas C. Romano Jr.
Sherry D. Ryan
Young U. Ryu
Khawaja Saeed
Otavio Sanchez
G. Lawrence Sanders
Radhika Santhanam
Pallab Sanyal
Suprateek Sarker
Surendra Sarnikar
Carol Saunders
Gregory Schechtman
George Schell
Petra Schubert
Judy Scott
Ravi Sen
Sylvain Sénécal
Nainika Seth
Vikram Sethi
Theresa M. Shaft
Michael Shaw
Jim Sheffield
Hong Sheng
Morgan M. Shepherd
Michael Shields
Choon Ling Sia
Siew Kien Sia
Keng Siau
Mark Silver
Param Vir Singh
Atish P. Sinha
Sumit Sircar
H. Jeff Smith
Toni M. Somers
Jai-Yeol Son
Jaeki Song
Ryan Sougstad
Scott Spangler
William E. Spangler
Rajendra P. Srivastava
Thomas F. Stafford
Stephen Standifird
Sandy Staples
Eric W. Stein
Dick Stenmark
Diane M. Strong
Besiki Stvilia
Mani Subramani
Arun Sundararajan
Shankar Sundaresan
Tae Kyung Sung
Ali Tafti
Paul P. Tallon
Vaughn Tan
Yao-Hua Tan
Xinlin Tang
Mohan R. Tanniru
Monideepa Tarafdar
Nolan Taylor
Gary F. Templeton
Hock Hai Teo
Thompson Teo
Jason B. Thatcher
Matthew Thatcher
Dominic Thomas
Ron Thompson
James Y.L. Thong
Amrit Tiwana
Leon van der Torre
Gregory E. Truman
Yanbin Tu
Ilkka Tuomi
Ofir Turel
Tuure Tuunanen
N.S. Umanath
Andrew Urbaczewski
Rustam Vahidov
Anthony Vance
Viswanath Venkatesh
Goetz Viering
Padmal Vitharana
Douglas Vogel
Roumen Vragov
Steven Walczak
Zhiping Walter
Bin Wang
Eric T.G. Wang
Jingguo Wang
Michael S. Wang
Qiu-Hong Wang
Shouhong Wang
Sophia Wang
Weiquan Wang
Yinglei Wang
Y. Richard Wang
Molly Wasko
Mary Beth Watson-Manheim
Sunil Wattal
Thomas Weber
Chih-Ping Wei
Charles E. Wells
John Wells
Larry West
J. Christopher Westland
Jonathan Whitaker
Michael E. Whitman
Jeffrey L. Whitten
George Widmeyer
Rolf Wigand
Fons Wijnhoven
Christopher Wolfe
Charles A. Wood
Hans Wortmann
Ryan Wright
Dazhong Wu
Mu Xia
Weidong Xia
Mingdi Xin
Heng Xu
Hongjiang Xu
Lizhen Xu
Peng Xu
Christopher Yang
Oliver Yao
Ulku Yaylacicegi
Byungjoon Yoo
Yufei Yuan
Fatemeh Zahedi
Dongsong Zhang
Han Zhang
Jennifer Zhang
John Zhang
Michael Zhang
Ping Zhang
Zuopeng Zhang
Huimin Zhao
Kexin Zhao
J. Leon Zhao
Dmitry Zhdanov
Lina Zhou
Yilu Zhou
Zhongyun Zhou
Hongwei Zhu
Youlong Zhuang
J. Christopher Zimmer
Moshe Zviran
Let us now turn our attention to the papers.
Vladimir Zwass
Editor-in-Chief