Information Management and Business Analytics

The disparities in access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) comprise a divide between those who can and cannot reap the benefits of the information superhighway. Electronic commerce appears to enable this divide to be overcome. This ...

The ability to exchange opinions and experiences online is known as online word of mouth (WOM). Due to the high acceptance of consumers and their apparent reliance on online WOM it is important for organizations to understand how it works and what kind of impact it has on product sales. Using the well established notions of volume and valence to describe online WOM, we empirically evaluate the hypothesized relationship between online WOM in a retail e-commerce site and actual product sales. Our analysis of the data shows that there is a significant change in the number of products sold following the addition of online WOM to a retail e-commerce site's product pages. Additionally, only the volume dimension of online WOM, measured by the number of customer review comments, is shown to have an influence on product sales.

The rise of e-commerce in emerging economies has presented a number of opportunities for micro-enterprises which include access to information and expertise, competitiveness and access to markets, administrative efficiencies, and productivity through learning about innovations. The occurrences of these factors suggest a rise in income and reduction in poverty. However, there are certain challenges that need to be overcome before the promise of e-commerce can be reached. This paper addresses the challenges in achieving the benefits of e-commerce. Following an analysis of the effects of e-commerce on development, this paper provides a framework for evaluating the factors that effect e-commerce in micro-enterprises. The expected contribution of this research is in formulating a lens through which micro-enterprises may implement e-commerce into their business processes.

The use of virtual project teams (VPTs) is increasingly prevalent in organizations today. This increasing reliance on VPTs introduces obvious challenges relating to virtual team members' ability to communicate and effectively share knowledge particularly when the project is highly complex. These tasks are further exacerbated by the nature of virtuality itself and the attributes of the collaboration technology used. In view of this, some researchers have argued that mutual knowledge is an important factor in engendering effective virtual team interactions which in turn can ultimately impact VPT performance. This paper presents an exploratory empirical study of how mutual knowledge develops in VPTs through transactive memory processes and the role of information technology in facilitating this development. Our results show that transactive memory theory is an important theoretical lens for explaining mutual knowledge development in VPTs and virtual organizations.

This study examines convergence under differing divergent starting conditions in order to identify techniques which could lead to more creative outcomes and more satisfied session participants. Specifically our research asked whether or not groups in a convergence activity are more creative and satisfied based on whether they start with pre-defined ideas (i.e., examples to start with) or brainstorm on their own first. The results of the lab experiment suggest that groups who rely on pre-defined ideas when working on a convergence activity are both more creative and more satisfied than groups who brainstorm to start.

This paper describes the notion of mutual knowledge and its potential impact on virtual team performance. Based on a review of the literature, including proponents and opponents for the concept of mutual knowledge in group interaction, we suggest that there is a gap in our understanding of what is known about mutual knowledge as it impacts team dynamics and ultimately virtual team performance. We conclude the paper by discussing the importance of mutual knowledge for virtual team performance and the research issues that need to be addressed in this domain.

Metaverses, like Second Life and Teleplace, and the inherent technology capabilities that they offer continue to be of interest for rese:u-chers, practitioners, and educators. Due to this trend, and the uncertainty regarding immersive virtual experiences as contrasted with face-to-face experiences, there is a need to further tmderstand the ethical challenges associated with this virtual context. Tllis paper presents a starting point for discussing ethics in virtual worlds. Specifically, we review virtual worlds and their unique technology capabilities as well as the ethi.cal considerations tl1at arise due to these tulique capabilities.

At least a decade ago, researchers recognized the importance of leaders being able to effectively execute interventions in teams. Now, advances in collaboration technologies have changed the way teams work together in addition to the challenges they face with regard to technology and collaboration. Due to these changes, it is important to take a look at interventions and how they can be technology driven or administered. Advances in technology-driven interventions can have a substantial impact on virtual project management and online education. In this article, we explore the role of interventions in improving technology choice in a virtual setting. We argue that both proactive and reactive interventions can be used to address virtual team challenges when it comes to technology choice. We identify six interventions (proactive and reactive) that were used to lead seven global offshore development teams, as well as the findings from their use. We also advise managers and online educators on ways to effectively identify and use interventions in virtual settings.

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The rise of the global marketplace and the advancing of the World Wide Web have given impetus to rapid advances in groupware. Hundreds of products now exist in the groupware marketplace, and more appear monthly. To ease the cognitive load of understanding what groupware technologies are, what capabilities they afford, and what can be done with them, we analyzed hundreds of computer-based collaboration-support products and distilled their attributes into two complementary schemas-a classification scheme and a comparison scheme. The classification scheme provides a way to organize the many products from the rapidly expanding groupware arena into a small set of relatively stable categories. The comparison scheme provides the means to compare and differentiate collaboration technologies within and across categories. Taken together, the classification and comparison schemas provide a basis for making sense of collaboration technologies and their potential benefits to the collaboration community.

Many organizations have plans for incident response strategies. Despite Incident Response Planning (IRP) being an essential ingredient in conjuring security planning procedures in organizations, extensive literature reviews have revealed that there are no collaborative processes in place for such a crucial activity. This study proposes a design for a facilitated incident response planning process using technology such as GSS. Three sessions were conducted and an analysis of the sessions revealed that the facilitated IRP process design held up strongly in terms of efficiency, goal attainment, and session participant satisfaction. Future research implications entail devising an all-encompassing integrative general approach that would be applicable to any form of corporate security development planning process.

Metaverses are immersive three-dimensional virtual worlds (VWs) where people interact with each other and their environment, using the metaphor of the real world but without its physical limitations. Unique technology capabilities of metaverses have the potential to enhance the conduct of virtual projects, but little is known about virtual worlds in this context. Virtual project teams struggle in meeting stated project outcomes due to challenges related to communication, shared understanding, and coordination. One way to address these challenges is to consider the use of emerging technologies, such as metaverses, to minimize the impact on virtual project teams. Applying a theoretical foundation for virtual teams in metaverses that includes both technology capabilities and the social interaction that takes place in the metaverse environment, we conducted an empirical investigation of project teams in a virtual world setting. The study examined the interplay of communication, representation, interaction, and team process tools with behaviors that led to role clarity, shared understanding, and coordination. While each individual technology capability contributed to project execution and outcomes, much of the power of the environment emerged through the interplay of social behaviors and technology capabilities. The results have intriguing implications for how metaverse technology capabilities might provide new ways to address gaps in the current research and practice of virtual project management and virtual teams.

The dynamic nature of group process is a long-standing challenge for research and practice, and particularly so in virtual teams, which are increasingly a regular part of organizational life today. Virtual teams act in fluid environments, as they strive to make sense of how best to incorporate appropriate technology choices during on-going interaction. Interventions in group process have potential to help teams make those choices. However, one set of critical factors that has received very little attention is the timing of interventions and their presentation style and content. These factors are particularly important in virtual teams, whose members rely on information and communication technologies and where technology interplay with group processes needs particular attention. Based on empirical findings, the authors present a new perspective on the longstanding topic of team process and the use of interventions, specifically in a virtual environment. The authors use the analyses o...

This paper describes the concept of mutual knowledge and its potential impact on virtual team performance. Based on an analysis of extant literature, we argue that there is a gap in our understanding of what is known about mutual knowledge as it impacts team dynamics and virtual team performance. Supporting literature, anecdotes, and case studies are used to discuss the importance of mutual knowledge for virtual team performance and the research issues that need to be addressed in the future.

Organizational change brings about a number of behaviors that are seen to run counter to the implementation of the information systems. These behaviors may be seen as jeopardizing the success of the change process and the success of the information system. This paper investigates the resistance to change using a change management game conducted with senior level employees and partners of a top four consulting company. While the task was based on a real organizational transformation, the participants were also going through the same real experiences. Following analysis of resistance to change behaviors, this paper provides insight into the ways in which resistance to change can be mitigated. The contribution of this paper is in the discovery of change management behaviors as they relate to organizational transformation and information systems development.

Metaverses, like Second Life and Teleplace, and the inherent technology capabilities that they offer continue to be of interest for rese:u-chers, practitioners, and educators. Due to this trend, and the uncertainty regarding immersive virtual experiences as contrasted with face-to-face experiences, there is a need to further tmderstand the ethical challenges associated with this virtual context. Tllis paper presents a starting point for discussing ethics in virtual worlds. Specifically, we review virtual worlds and their unique technology capabilities as well as the ethi.cal considerations tl1at arise due to these tulique capabilities.

Metaverses are immersive three-dimensional virtual worlds in which people interact as avatars with each other and with software agents, using the metaphor of the real world but without its physical limitations. The ubiquitous availability of high speed Internet access has spurred enormous interest in virtual worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft, both in terms of user gaming and as a new technological platform for global virtual collaboration. These environments have potential for richer, more engaging collaboration, but their capabilities have yet to be examined in depth. Of particular interest in this paper is the use of metaverses for virtual team collaboration. We develop a conceptual model for research in metaverses that is based on five key constructs: (1) the metaverse itself, (2) people/avatars, (3) metaverse technology capabilities, (4) behaviors, and (5) outcomes. We present an indepth characterization of metaverse technology capabilities from a socio-technical view that recognizes the potential for variation in emergent interaction and in outcomes. Example propositions and a discussion of key issues and challenges show how the model can be used to further research and practice in virtual teams in the context of these new environments.