[AISWorld] The Database for Advances in Information Systems, News and Article Abstracts for November 2013

[Dave Salisbury]

*The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems*

*News and Article Abstracts for November 2013*

* *

Dear Colleagues:


The November, 2013 issue of *The Data Base for Advances in Information
Systems* will be arriving in the near future.  In addition to the great
articles in the issue, we also take this opportunity to announce a new
initiative at the journal:  Special Sections.



What is a Special Section?  We view it as an alternative to one-off special
issues.  Key individuals who are researchers held in high regard in given
areas have been named Special Section Editors with powers as
Editor-in-Chief over that department.  These individuals will create a
“manifesto” for the section, and will have power to recruit and install
associate editors within their areas to identify possible papers and
encourage submissions to be submitted and reviewed for that section.
Consistent with their mandate, the Special Section Editors have the power
to accept/reject submissions in their sections as well.



We believe that this gives us all the good things about a special issue
(e.g. focus on an specific area of importance), but rather than a one-off
issue that has deadlines and therefore may cause some work to be rushed,
the Special Section Editor can encourage papers and then bring them forward
only when they are ready for publication.  It is plausible that some papers
will be accepted earlier that would then inform and/or inspire authors of
papers that would come later. Another advantage of this approach is this –
the journal is committed only to papers that are ready; if that is less
than an issue’s worth of papers, no problem.  If it turns out that there
are more than an issue's worth of papers, we will find the space.



We have recruited some great Special Section Editors, listed below along
with their topic areas.  For space, we do not include their bios here; this
information appears on the journal’s website at the SIGMIS
website<http://www.sigmis.org/>(
http://www.sigmis.org/).



Information Assurance & Security – Gurpreet Dhillon, Virginia Commonwealth
University

Healthcare IS – Guy Paré, HEC Montreal

Methods & Scale Development – Andrew Hardin, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

*Information Technology Personnel – Jo Ellen Moore,* Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville

TechnoStress & Neuro IS – René Riedl, University of Applied Sciences Upper
Austria and the University of Linz

Social Inclusion in IS – Eileen Trauth, Pennsylvania State University



We’re really excited about this initiative, and we hope that individuals in
these areas consider Data Base for their best papers.  This said, while we
have created a few foci, we are always willing to receive excellent papers
in any IS-related theme.  As to our general call for papers, what we said a
few months ago still stands – we want good papers.  We are far less
concerned with a manuscript fitting into any particular box than we are
with finding and publishing papers that our readers will find interesting.



Speaking of good papers, we have some great papers centered about issues in
measurement for this month’s issue.  The titles, authors and abstracts are
below:

* *

Measurement of Composite Reliability in Research Using Partial Least
Squares: Some Issues and an Alternative Approach

Miguel Aguirre-Urreta, George Marakas and Michael Ellis


Abstract

The accurate estimation of reliability is of great importance to the
conduct and interpretation of empirical research as it is used to judge the
quality of reported research, often plays a role in publication decisions,
and is a key element of meta-analytic reviews. When employing partial least
squares (PLS) as the method of analysis, the reliability of the composites
involved in the model is typically the parameter examined. In this
research, we describe the existence of three important issues concerning
the accuracy of composite reliability estimation in PLS analysis: the
assumption of equal indicator weights, the bias in loading estimates, and
the lack of independence between indicator loadings and weights. We
subsequently present an alternative approach to correct these issues. Using
a Monte Carlo simulation we provide a demonstration of both the effects of
these issues on research decisions and the improved accuracy of the
alternative method.



Formative Measurement: A Critical Perspective

Roy Howell, Einar Breivik and James Wilcox

* *

Abstract

The past five years have witnessed a plethora of articles on the topic of
formative measurement, both in the IS area and in other disciplines. This
work can best be described as divergent and often contradictory. In this
paper we review the issues surrounding formative measurement and attempt to
delineate areas of agreement and to clarify points of disagreement
regarding problems with formative measurement and proposed solutions. We
provide six recommendations regarding the future use of formative
measurement in IS research.

* *

Does existing measurement theory support the use of composite and causal
indicators in information systems research?

Andrew M. Hardin and Jerry Cha-Jan Chang



Abstract

Despite lingering concerns surrounding the use of composite and causal
indicators, a significant number of information systems researchers
continue to employ them in their work. The authors suggest that
misunderstandings about the appropriateness of implementing composite and
causal indicators can be traced to the absence of measurement theory
supporting their use. Recommendations on how researchers might design
studies that avoid the use of these respective indicators are also provided.

* *

The Analysis of Formative Measurement in IS Research: Choosing between
Component- and Covariance-based Techniques

Ronald Cenfetelli, Geneviève Bassellier, and Clay Posey



Abstract

Formative measurement is a valuable alternative to reflective measurement
when developing indicators of latent variables in structural equation
models (SEM). Our goal is to further guide IS research in the application
of formative measures by comparing the two dominant analysis techniques:
component- (e.g., partial least squares - PLS) and covariance-based SEM
techniques. We demonstrate that covariance-based techniques can be
appropriate for formative measurement despite a near absence of their use
within IS research, which favors PLS. In addition, we discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of using either technique and offer six
prescriptions to consider when choosing one technique over another for
formative measurement analysis. We present these and other contributions
towards encouraging the continued and expanded use of formative measurement
in IS research and the diversity of techniques to analyze formative
measures.



We hope you find the articles as interesting as we did.  As always, we
invite you to consider submitting your best work to *Data Base Advances*.

Finally, we'd like to take this opportunity to remind our colleagues
that SIGMIS membership
<https://campus.acm.org/public/gensigqj/gensigqj_control.cfm?promo=QJSIG&offering=004&form_type=SIG>
costs $29 per year ($19 for students) and includes a subscription to
*Data Base Advances*.
(https://campus.acm.org/public/gensigqj/gensigqj_control.cfm?promo=QJSIG&offering=004&form_type=SIG).

Andy and Dave

-- 
Dave Salisbury
Associate Professor of MIS
University of Dayton
937.229.5085 (office) 937.229.1030 (fax)*
** salisbury at udayton.edu* <salisbury at udayton.edu>  (email)*
** www.davesalisbury.com* <http://www.davesalisbury.com/>  (home page)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aisnet.org/pipermail/aisworld_lists.aisnet.org/attachments/20131028/0c1543b7/attachment.html>