[AISWorld] CFP: AMCIS 2013 Minitrack - Affect and social processes in virtual communities and virtual worlds (Second and Final call)

[Carte, Traci A.]

CALL FOR PAPERS

19th Americas Conference on Information Systems

Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013
Track: Virtual Communities and Virtual Worlds

Mini-track: Affect and social processes in virtual communities and virtual worlds

Abstract:

Virtual collaboration has become commonplace in organizations, many of whom are seeking to leverage technology to better access their customers and create better work environments for their employees. A potentially overlooked area of research related to virtual collaboration is how affect shapes social processes in virtual contexts. The intent of this mini-track is to bring together researchers interested in social processes within virtual communities and worlds to develop better understanding of: 1.) how individuals communicate, sense, and interpret the affective states and social processes in their community; 2.) how collective affect emerges and diffuses; and 3.) how affect and the social processes impact the groups/communities/worlds being studied.

Description:

Literature on affect has examined both affective traits and affective states (i.e. emotion and mood) (Kelly and Barsade, 2001). While little is known about the interplay between emotion and computer-mediated communication, affective social processes - the regulation of team members' emotional responses to a variety of stimuli - have received some attention in the virtual teams/worlds literature. For example, negative emotional responses - i.e., emotional distress - can result in poor team performance, reduced cohesion, low member satisfaction, increased relational conflict, and low trust among team members (Maruping and Agarwal, 2004). Further, negative affect (e.g., computer anxiety) may negatively impact an individual's intent to engage in virtual collaboration (Brown, et al., 2004).  Conversely, collaborative technologies can be used to manage affective social processes such as relational conflict (Hinds & Bailey, 2003) and certain features of collaborative technologies may increase the tendency for emotional contagion to occur; for example, synchronicity may lead individuals to be emotionally "in tune" with others (Bartel and Saavedra,2000) .

The recent Affect Response Model (Zhang, forthcoming) provides a comprehensive review of affect for IS researchers. Solid theories and discussions are needed to further understanding and guide practice. This mini-track welcomes both conceptual and empirical research on affective states and social processes in virtual collaboration or virtual worlds at various levels.

Possible topics:

*         How is affect conveyed in virtual worlds? Do avatars convey emotion? How do emotional responses toward technology impact technology acceptance in virtual collaboration?

*         Are emotions or affective states antecedent to or consequence of conflict, cohesion, trust or satisfaction in virtual collaboration?

*         What role does mood play in social media use?

*         How is affect (e.g. conflict, cohesion, trust, and satisfaction) expressed in virtual environments?

*         How might emotion or mood contribute to a sense of community identity?

*         How do leaders effectively manage mood (or affective processes such as conflict or cohesion) in virtual collaboration?

*         How does technology affect the diffusion and contagion of emotions, mood, or affect?



IMPORTANT DATES

Jan 4, 2013                  Paper submissions open on BePress system
Feb 22, 2013               Paper submissions deadline 11:59 p.m. Central Time
April 17-19, 2013        Notification of paper acceptance
May 9, 2013                Camera-ready copy of accepted papers due

Instructions for authors and more information about the conference is available on the conference website at http://amcis2013.aisnet.org/.

Mini-track chairs contact information

Traci Carte

University of Oklahoma

Norman, OK 73019

tcarte at ou.edu<mailto:tcarte at ou.edu>


Nan (Tina) Wang

University of Oklahoma

Norman, OK 73019

tinawang at ou.edu<mailto:tinawang at ou.edu>


Amber Young

University of Oklahoma

Norman, OK 73019

amberyoung at ou.edu<mailto:amberyoung at ou.edu>




References:
Bartel, C. A., & Saavedra, R. 2000. The collective construction of work group moods. Administrative Science Quarterly: 197-231.
Brown, S., Fuller, R., and Vician, C. 2004. Who's afraid of the virtual world? Anxiety and Computer-Mediated Communication.  Journal of the AIS, 5(2).
Hinds, P. J., & Bailey, D. E. 2003. Out of sight, out of sync: Understanding conflict in distributed teams. Organization Science: 615-632.
Kelly, J. R., & Barsade, S. G. 2001. Mood and emotions in small groups and work teams. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 86(1): 99-130.
Maruping, L. M., & Agarwal, R. 2004. Managing team interpersonal processes through technology: a task-technology fit perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(6): 975.

Zhang, P. forthcoming. The Affective Response Model: A Theoretical Framework of Affective Concepts and Their Relationships in the ICT Context. Management Information Systems Quarterly.

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