[AISWorld] Contents of Volume 19, Issue 1 (January) Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS)

[JAIS]

Contents of Volume 19, Issue 1 (January) Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), Official Publication of the Association for Information Systems
Published: Monthly Electronically
ISSN: 1536-9323
Published by the Association for Information Systems, Atlanta, USA (http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/)

Editor-in-Chief:  Professor Suprateek Sarker, University of Virginia, USA


Paper

Fast and Slow Processes Underlying Theories of Information Technology Use

Thomas W. Ferratt, University of Dayton
Jayesh Prasad, University of Dayton
E. James Dunne, University of Dayton

Abstract

Although theories of information technology (IT) use have been widely researched, organizations continue to struggle with insufficiently utilizing their IT assets. Those interested in understanding and managing IT use need both novel theoretical development and new directions for future research. In this paper, we address both of these needs. Regarding the first need, we develop novel theory by explaining two types of cognitive processes—one fast and one slow—that underlie theories of IT use. The impetus for our explanation of underlying processes (EUP) comes from studies of IT use that have found moderating effects of previous interaction with IT. With these results, researchers have concluded that cognitions are less important in determining IT use as the use of that IT increases. Consistent with that conclusion, our EUP posits that, as learning from prior use occurs, the influence of fast, automatic, unconscious (type 1) cognitive processes increases while the influence decreases for slow, controlled, conscious (type 2) cognitive processes. Type 1 processes automatically generate a default type 1 response; type 2 processes have the potential to generate an intervening type 2 response. The intervention potential is highest for initial use of the target IT and lowest when learning is high such that use of the IT has become automatic. From our EUP, we develop three insights: 1) that the cognitions that lead to a default response are not necessarily the cognitions found in extant theories of IT use, 2) that both type 1 and type 2 processes are subject to bounded rationality, and 3) that the relationship between learning and the intervention potential for a type 2 response, although negative, may not be linear. To address the second need that we note above, we suggest new directions for future research, which includes investigating the cognitive control problem (i.e., when type 2 processes intervene) and exploring the effects of heuristics, nudges, and bounded rationality on decisions to use IT. Beyond the hope that the suggested directions for research will yield solutions for addressing the underutilization of IT assets, the fundamental advances in theoretical understanding that we present here suggest notable implications for practice, including developing brief, simple, cognitively unconscious messages directed at nudging decision makers toward a default response to use the target IT.

To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss1/3 


Paper

E-commerce Product Networks, Word-of-mouth Convergence, and Product Sales

Zhijie Lin, Nanjing University
Quansheng Wang, Nanjing University

Abstract

Driven by the network theory on status, we propose an interesting argument that network connection between two products affects their word-of-mouth (WOM) rating convergence and that WOM rating convergence affects their sales. To empirically validate this argument, we analyze data from China's largest business-to-consumer platform, Tmall.com. After addressing potential endogeneity issues and performing various robustness checks to ensure the consistency of our findings in various ways, we found that network connection between two products via recommender systems was related to the convergence of WOM rating between the two products. Moreover, WOM rating convergence between two products was associated with a decrease in the sales quantity of the product with higher WOM rating, whereas it was associated with an increase in the sales quantity of the product with lower WOM rating. Overall, WOM rating convergence was associated with an increase in the total sales quantity of the two products. Our findings provide important theoretical contributions and notable implications for e-commerce product marketing and platform design.

To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
Available at:  http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss1/2 
 

Editorial

>From Project Management to Program Management: An Invitation to Investigate Programs Where IT Plays a Significant Role

James J. Jiang, National Taiwan University
Gary Klein, University of Colorado
Walter D. Fernandez Prof, The University of New South Wales


Abstract

Information technology is an inherent component of major change initiatives that organizations undertake. However, the increasing technological complexity involved in achieving the benefits of these change initiatives means that organizations must substantially revise management policies and procedures to create and deploy information technology across multiple functional areas and longer time horizons. Industries, governments, professional societies, and early researchers consider prior management practices inadequate and are moving toward practices that promote the integration of multiple functions, projects, environments, and stakeholders to best achieve the benefits of the chosen change. In this editorial, we discuss previous research, highlight key findings, and raise questions about the process of managing multiple projects in change initiatives that contain significant information technology—also known as program management.


To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
Available at:   http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss1/1




Elizabeth White Baker, PhD
Production Managing Editor, Journal of the AIS
jais at comm.virginia.edu