The three studies that open this issue and volume of the Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS) investigate the social aspects of information technology (IT) use. The first article focuses on the online health-care communities, which have become an irreplaceable component of cure and well-being. The participants of these communities disclose more information to the community more often than they reveal to medical practitioners; community members gain comfort, and sometimes learn more steadily than in a formal encounter with physicians and other health-care providers. In toto, the knowledge accumulated through the articulations on these community sites is an important complement to codified medical knowledge. Looked at through the lens of consumer cocreation of value, the user-generated content can be aggregated and deployed as an economic resource. This has been recognized by the pharmaceutical companies and other health-care suppliers. Here, Lu (Lucy) Yan and Yong Tan study the role of social influence enacted in these health-care communities on the perceptions of participants about the effectiveness of their treatment. They find that this influence is exerted to a significant degree, and they present nuanced findings about the role of moderating factors. These results need to be recognized by all the stakeholders. No doubt, these findings will be generalized to other electronic community settings.
The success of online communities and social network sites (SNS) where communities most frequently act depends on user participation and, in particular, on the active engagement of participants in generating the content. Two author teams investigate empirically the antecedents of such behavior. The authors of the first of the works study contributory behavior: Jungwon Kuem, Soumya Ray, Mikko Siponen, and Sung S. Kim present and test a comprehensive model of this prosocial behavior on SNS. The researchers base their work on the theories of postadoption behavior and commitment to identify three mechanisms that regulate the engagement behavior of SNS users. The results, tested in the context of Facebook data, are of foundational value to further research and of practical use to SNS providers and community organizers. In the next work, Zhao Pan, Yaobin Lu, Bin Wang, and Patrick Y.K. Chau focus on social self-identity as a motivator in the general use of social media. Grounding themselves in identity theories, the authors dichotomize self-identity into the relational and social levels, and the use of social media into varied (variety-seeking) and reinforced (i.e., reinforcing a prior pattern). The authors find differential effects of social self-identity levels on this use. Again, useful implications follow.
IT adoption is not a one-way street. Disadoption can, and often does, follow—and readoption of a new generation of a technology can emerge. Why would it? This is the research question pursued by Xin Xu, James Y.L. Thong, and Kar Yan Tam. These authors present a technology readoption model that includes two driver sets: the characteristics of prior experience with the technology and the drivers related to the new generation of technology. The model proves robust in testing, and the findings will serve further research in this promising domain, as well as help firms to win back those who have given up on the previous models of their IT artifacts.
As we all know, cyberloafing is a common behavior that involves using the Internet on the job for private ends. It is deleterious in its effects beyond the misuse of the employee’s time, in that security risks can result, illegalities can open the employer to lawsuits, and morale can be lowered. Companies employ countermeasures. How effective are they? Here, Lara Khansa, Jungwon Kuem, Mikko Siponen, and Sung S. Kim empirically investigate the effectiveness of the announcement of formal organizational controls against these behaviors. These include policies and rules enforced by monitoring, and penalties for their violation. The authors propose a theoretically grounded model, which they test with pre- and postannouncement organizational surveys. The researchers find that the antecedents of cyberloafing change in the postannouncement stage. The change is significant, as discussed by the authors extensively, and its recognition will serve to control cyberloafing. The findings will also help control other deviant behavior when specialized to other settings.
Two subsequent papers present a formal analysis of IT phenomena. Shengli Li, Hsing Kenneth Cheng, Yang Duan, and Yu-Chen Yang offer a comparative study of the advantages of alternative licensing models for enterprise software. Such systems can be acquired in the contemporary setting in three ways: by purchase and installation in the data center itself (on-premises model), by use from the cloud on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, or by combining the two in a hybrid approach. What is the optimal choice from the perspective of the software vendor? Based on their analysis in the context of the common two-period deployment of enterprise software (the original version and one upgrade), the authors offer conclusive recommendations. Notably, network effects play a significant role in disposition.
Expert services are increasingly offered online. Medical, legal, and accounting services are just the most obvious examples. Obviously, physical service delivery still prevails. What should be the pricing structure in such multichannel delivery systems for expert services? M. Tolga Akçura and Zafer D. Ozdemir present a game-theoretic model that allows them to offer well-founded advice to experts and a foundation for analysts of social welfare to conduct further work in this area, which will soon include robo-providers of expert services.
The role of IT integration in mergers and acquisitions of firms is large enough to lead at times to the withdrawal of offers or even failures of such corporate moves. Here, a related, but different issue is studied with econometric analysis. Young Bong Chang and Wooje Cho investigate postmerger risks in their dependence on the motives for the merger or acquisition. The researchers also bring into their model the postmerger dynamics (read: potential instability) of the industry. The multifaceted analysis shows that the motives for this move by the acquirer, which may be production-side (internal activities of the firm) or customer-side (oriented toward capturing and serving the customers), entail different postmerger risks. In a more granular analysis, the authors offer guidelines for controlling these risks.
The use of game elements in nongame contexts to engage IT users, known as gamification, has moved into the workplace. While appearing attractive in more senses than one, this approach has not been an unmitigated success: such systems are frequently abandoned. Ayoung Suh, Christy M.K. Cheung, Manju Ahuja, and Christian Wagner posit that the aesthetic experience (AE) provides to users should successfully complement the previously recognized flow experience (FE) in seeking the lasting use of gamified systems. The authors proceed to define and operationalize the AE construct. By validating their model in the setting of a consulting company, the researchers show that their proposed AE has a greater effect than FE on the intention to continue the use of a gamified IT artifact. This is an interesting contribution that can be expanded to other settings.
As we open the thirty-fourth volume of JMIS, it is my pleasure and privilege to offer thanks to our referees, the primary guarantors of the quality of the articles we publish. Here are the names of our reviewers:
Marc Adam
Ashish Agarwal
Hyung Jun Ahn
Oliver Alexy
Muhammad Aljukhadar
Gove Allen
Paul Alpar
Niek Althuizen
Kemal Altinkemer
Naveen Amblee
Ofer Arazy
Ravi Aron
Kursad Asdemir
Norman Au
Yoris Au
Benoit A. Aubert
Peter van Baalen
Hyunmi Baek
Akhilesh Bajaj
Hillol Bala
Dirk Baldwin
Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay
Youngsok Bang
Gaurav Bansal
Reza Barkhi
Henri Barki
Stuart J. Barnes
Richard Baskerville
Genevieve Basselier
Dinesh Batra
Daniel Beimborn
D. France Belanger
Skip Benamati
Michel Benaroch
Alexander Benlian
François Bergeron
Ganesh Bhatt
Sudip Bhattacharjee
David Biros
Ivo Blohm
Jesse Bockstedt
Riccardo Bonazzi
Antal van den Bosch
Indranil Bose
Imed Boughzala
Randy Bradley
Tobias Brandt
Nicola Breugst
Glenn J. Browne
Sebastian Bruque
Scott Buffett
Burcu Bulgurcu
Judee Burgoon
Andrew Burton-Jones
Ashley Bush
Brian Butler
Terry A. Byrd
Sonia M. Camacho
Jinwei Cao
Lan Cao
Hasan Cavusoglu
Hsin-Lu Chang
Young Bong Chang
Mohamed-Hédi Charki
Sutirtha Chatterjee
Michael Chau
Patrick Chau
Aihui Chen
Andrew Chen
Daniel Chen
Guoqing Chen
Hong-Mei Chen
Hsinchun Chen
Jianqing Chen
Jin Chen
Kay-Yut Chen
Kuan Chen
Li Chen
Liwei Chen
Rui Chen
Hsing Kenneth Cheng
Mike Cheung
Robert T.H. Chi
Robert Chiang
Roger Chiang
Benjamin Chiao
Ananth Chiravuri
Alina M. Chircu
Chaochang Chiu
Jong-min Choe
Ben Choi
H. Michael Chung
Wingyan Chung
Theodore H. Clark
Isabelle Comyn-Wattiau
Randolph Cooper
Kevin Crowston
Dianne Cyr
Qizhi Dai
John D’Arcy
Ronald Dattero
Gregory Dawson
Jason Dedrick
Chrysanthos Dellarocas
Haluk Demirkan
Tianjie Deng
Xuefei Deng
Sarv Devaraj
Debabrata Dey
Jens Dibbern
Soussan Djamasbi
Su Dong
Line Dubé
Peter Duchessi
Alina Dulipovici
Deborah E. Dunkle
Kaushik Dutta
Robert Easley
Dana Edberg
Christophe Elie-Dit-Cosaque
Omar A. El Sawy
Mike Eom
Sean B. Eom
J. Alberto Espinosa
Andrea Everard
Kelly Fadel
Ming Fan
Patrick Fan
Xiaofen Fang
Yu-Hui Fang
Yulin Fang
Rei Fen
Jane Feng
Daniel R. Fesenmaier
Thomas A. Fischer
Jerry Fjermestad
Chris Forman
Chiara Francalanci
Johann Füller
Brent Furneaux
John Gallaugher
Dale Ganley
Gordon Gao
Hong Gao
Monica Garfield
Rajiv Garg
Ina Garnefeld
Edward J. Garrity
Michiel van Genuchten
Abhijeet Ghoshal
Janis L. Gogan
Kim Huat Goh
Thomas Goh
Sigi Goode
Dale Goodhue
Anand Gopal
Ram D. Gopal
Nelson Granados
Peter Gray
Dawn G. Gregg
Shirley Gregor
Ulrike Gretzel
Robert K. Griffin
Michael D. Grigoriades
Bin Gu
Ken Guo
Xunhua Guo
Zhiling Guo
Saurabh Gupta
Nicole Haggerty
Jungpil Hahn
Ingoo Han
Kunsoo Han
Shu Han
Il-Horn Hann
Matthew Hashim
Cheng-Suang Heng
Raymond Henry
Hemantha Herath
Tejaswini Herath
Traci Hess
Alan R. Hevner
Oliver Hinz
Susanna Ho
Christian P. Hoffmann
Richard Hoffman
Jason Hong
Kevin Hong
Weiyin Hong
John A. Hoxmeier
Jeffrey Hu
Nan Hu
Paul Hu
Petra Hu
Qing Hu
Chun-Yao Huang
Ming-Hui Huang
Shiu-Li Huang
Wayne Huang
Xiaowen Huang
Thomas Huber
Kai Lung Hui
Wendy Hui
Ard Huizing
Ghiyong Im
Gretchen I. Irwin
Anja Ischebeck
Varghese Jacob
Bharat A. Jain
Hemant Jain
Jeevan Jaisingh
Dietmar Jannach
Matthew Jensen
James J. Jiang
Qiqi Jiang
Zhengrui Jiang
Zhenhui Jiang
Monica Johar
Alice Johnson
Eric Johnson
Emmanuel Josserand
Surinder Kahai
Arnold Kamis
Atreyi Kankanhalli
Karthik Kannan
P.K. Kannan
Maurits Kaptein
Prasanna Karhade
Jahangir Karimi
Michael Kattan
Timothy Kayworth
Weiling Ke
Mark Keith
Peter Kenning
William J. Kettinger
Lara Khansa
Moutaz Khouja
Melody Y. Kiang
Byung Cho Kim
Dan J. Kim
Dongmin Kim
Hee-Woong Kim
Keongtae Kim
Kihoon Kim
Seung Hyun Kim
Young-Gul Kim
Ruth King
Rajiv Kishore
Gary Klein
Richard Klein
Sven Kleinknecht
Stefan Knoll
Cenk Kocas
Chang Koh
Rajiv Kohli
Tobias Kollman
Praveen K. Kopalle
Marios Koufaris
Kenneth A. Kozar
Ramayya Krishnan
Uday Kulkarni
Akhil Kumar
Ram Kumar
Subodha Kumar
Jason Kuruzovich
Juhee Kwon
Atanu Lahiri
Simon S.K. Lam
Guido Lang
Karl R. Lang
Kai R. Larsen
Benjiang Lee
ByungJoon Lee
Byungtae Lee
Dong-Joo Lee
Goonwoong Lee
Gwanhoo Lee
Heeseok Lee
Ho Geun Lee
Jong Seok Lee
Jungwoo Lee
Thomas Lee
Yang Lee
Youngjin Lee
Pierre-Majorique Léger
Jan Marco Leimeister
Natalia Levina
Chen Li
Dahui Li
Jiexun Li
Mengxiang Li
Seth Li
Ting Li
Xiaotong Li
Xin Li
XinXin Li
Yan Li
Huigang Liang
Ting-Peng Liang
Paul Licker
John Lim
Shi Ying Lim
Aleck Lin
Fu-ren Lin
Mei Lin
Zhijie Lin
Charles Zhechao Liu
Jun Liu
Ying Liu
Yipeng Liu
Alexandre Lopes
Paul B. Lowry
Benjiang Lu
Jingdu Lu
Henry C. Lucas Jr.
Stephan Ludwig
Xueming Luo
Christoph Lutz
Mark Lycett
Dan Ma
Xiao Ma
Jane M. Mackay
Massimo Magni
Pruthikrai Mahatanankoon
M. Adam Mahmood
Bin Mai
Yogesh Malhotra
Deepa Mani
Ravi Mantena
Salvatore T. March
Kent Marett
Panos Markopoulos
Likoebe M. Maruping
Sabine Matook
Kurt Matzler
Jerrold H. May
Kristina McElheran
Ephraim R. McLean
Nigel Melville
Nirup Menon
Thomas Meservy
Randy Minas
Shaila Miranda
Dinesh Mirchandani
Abhay Nath Mishra
Stephanie Missonier
Sunil Mithas
Prasenjit Mitra
Kannan Mohan
Peter N.C. Mohr
William Money
Ali R. Montazemi
Ramiro Montealegre
Alan Montgomery
Greg Moody
Jolene Morrison
Michael D. Myers
Peter P. Mykytyn Jr.
Barin N. Nag
Fiona Nah
Ravi Narayanaswamy
Derek Nazareth
Matthew Nelson
R. Ryan Nelson
Boon Siong Neo
Derrick Neufeld
Dirk Neumann
Dorit Nevo
Saggi Nevo
Michael Newman
Tingting Nian
Mark Nissen
Dmitri Nizovtsev
Oded Nov
Joo Hee Oh
Lih-Bin Oh
Onook Oh
Wonseok Oh
Bob O’Keefe
Lorne Olfman
James Oliver
Ana Ortiz de Guinea
Benoit Otjacques
Bob Otondo
Peter Otto
Eric Overby
Zafer D. Ozdemir
Raymond R. Panko
Gautam Pant
Manoj Parameswaran
Michael Parent
Insu Park
SungJune Park
Craig Parker
Bhavik K. Pathak
Praveen Pathak
Ravi Patnayakuni
Souren Paul
David J. Pauleen
Kenneth Peffers
Robin Pennington
Christoph Peters
Chee-Wei Phang
Roger A. Pick
Selwyn Piramuthu
Huseyin Polat
Jean-Charles Pomerol
Jaana Porra
Constance Porter
Clay Posey
John H. Prager
David Preston
Sandeep Purao
Jessica Pye
Liangfei Qiu
Lingyun Qiu
Wen Guang Qu
Xin Xue Qu
Arik Ragowsky
Rex Kelly Rainer Jr.
Balaraman Rajan
Vandana Ramachandran
Arkalgud Ramaprasad
Bala Ramesh
H.R. Rao
R. Ravichandran
Gautam Ray
Louis Raymond
Blaize Horner Reich
Bruce Reinig
Fei Ren
Yuqing Ren
Paul Resnick
Hyuen-Suk Rhee
Amir Riaz
William B. Richmond
Christoph Riedl
René Riedl
Lionel Robert
Nicholas Roberts
Daniel Robey
Michael Rogich
Huaxia Rui
Sherry D. Ryan
Young U. Ryu
Michael Sacks
Khawaja Saeed
Rajib Saha
Otavio Sanchez
G. Lawrence Sanders
Radhika Santhanam
Pallab Sanyal
Saonee Sarker
Surendra Sarnikar
Carol Saunders
Kevin Scheibe
George Schell
Hans J. Scholl
Petra Schubert
Judy Scott
Eric See-To
Ravi Sen
Sagnika Sen
Sylvain Sénécal
Alexander Serenko
Nainika Seth
Vikram Sethi
Theresa M. Shaft
Zhe Shan
Tushar Shanker
Michael Shaw
Jim Sheffield
Hong Sheng
Zhan Shi
Hung-Pin Shih
Siew Kien Sia
Keng Siau
Anna Sidorova
Mark Silver
Harpreet Singh
Param Vir Singh
Atish P. Sinha
Sumit Sircar
Bernd Skiera
Stefan Smolnik
Jaeki Song
Ryan Sougstad
Scott Spangler
William E. Spangler
Rajendra P. Srivastava
Shirish C. Srivastava
Thomas F. Stafford
Eric W. Stein
Dick Stenmark
Stefan Stieglitz
Theofanis C. Stratopoulos
Diane M. Strong
Mani Subramani
Chandra Subramaniam
Ramanath Subramanyam
Eung-Kyo Suh
Daewon Sun
Heshan Sun
Arun Sundararajan
Shankar Sundaresan
Juliana SutantoPaul P. Tallon
Chuan-Hoo Tan
Yao-Hua Tan
Xinlin Tang
Mohan R. Tanniru
Monideepa Tarafdar
Nolan Taylor
Orkun Temizkan
Gary F. Templeton
Hock Hai Teo
Thompson Teo
Matthew Thatcher
Dominic Thomas
Ron Thompson
James Y.L. Thong
Ryad Titah
Torrie Wu Tong
Monica Chiarini Tremblay
Yanbin Tu
Ofir Turel
Tuure Tuunanen
Doug Twitchell
Nathan W. Twyman
Sonja Utz
Rustam Vahidov
Ganesan Vaidyanathan
Anthony Vance
Goetz Viering
Padmal Vitharana
Radu Vlas
Douglas Vogel
Sebastian Voigt
Jan vom Brocke
Heinz-Theo Wagner
Steven Walczak
Eric Walden
Jeffrey Wall
Joseph Walls
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
Deepa Wani
Sidne Ward
Mary Beth Watson-Manheim
Sunil Wattal
Thomas Weber
Chih-Ping Wei
Markus Weinmann
Tim Weitzel
John Wells
Robert West
J. Christopher Westland
Jonathan Whitaker
Michael E. Whitman
Jeffrey L. Whitten
George Widmeyer
Rolf Wigand
Fons Wijnhoven
E. Vance Wilson
Robert Winter
Christopher Wolfe
Christina Wong
Charles A. Wood
Hans Wortmann
Ryan Wright
Dazhong Wu
Choon Ling Xia
Lan Xia
Weidong Xia
Mingdi Xin
Heng Xu
Hongjiang Xu
Kefeng Xu
Lizhen Xu
Peng Xu
Yunjie (Calvin) Xu
Ling Xue
Lucy Yan
Yinping Yang
Zhiyong Yang
Oliver Yao
Cheng Yi
Denny Yin
Zhitao Yin
Byungjoon Yoo
Yufei Yuan
Wei T. Yue
Fatemeh (Mariam) Zahedi
Chun Zeng
Dongsong Zhang
Han Zhang
Jennifer Zhang
John Zhang
Ping Zhang
Xiaoquan Zhang
Yulei Zhang
Zhu Zhang
Huimin Zhao
J. Leon Zhao
Kang Zhao
Kexin Zhao
Xia Zhao
Dmitry Zhdanov
Lina Zhou
Yilu Zhou
Zhongyun Zhou
Hongwei Zhu
Wenqi Zhu
Youlong Zhuang
Moshe Zviran
Let us proceed to the articles.