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In online social networks, because one's private information can be co-owned and disclosed by peers, a new type of privacy concern, i.e., information privacy concern about peer disclosure (IPCPD), looms large. Should a member of an online social network be offered decision control to veto ex-ante the disclosure of his/her information by peers? There has been no theoretical research on the effectiveness of decisional control to alleviate such a privacy concern. Drawing on the communication privacy management perspective and the impression management theory, this study proposes a three-way interaction effect among three important antecedents of IPCPD: 1) decisional control; 2) image discrepancy (i.e., the degree to which the disclosed information portrays an unfavorable image of the disclosed person); and 3) social network overlap between the disclosed person and the discloser. Our experimental study reveals significant findings. When image discrepancy is low, decisional control is helpful only when the social network overlap between the disclosed one and the discloser is low. When image discrepancy is high, decisional control is helpful only when the social network overlap between the disclosed one and the discloser is high. This study contributes to a theory of privacy concern about peer disclosure in the context of online social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social networking sites (SNSs) have gained immense popularity. This phenomenon has created new marketing opportunities for companies to leverage on online networks. In particular, SNSs allow the conceptualization of a new type of product endorser: the “friend.” However, the effectiveness of friends as endorsers on SNS remains unknown compared with other types of product endorsers. This paper investigates the impact of three critical factors on advertising effectiveness in SNS: tie strength, endorser expertise, and product type. Using a 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design, we found interaction effects among these factors. For hedonic products, strong-tie endorsers were more effective than weak-tie endorsers in influencing purchase intention. However, for utilitarian products, high-expertise endorsers were more effective than low-expertise endorsers. Based on these results, we discuss key theoretical and practical implications for research on SNS advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Global virtual teams (GVTs) can provide benefits in terms of lower costs and enhanced performance. However, the realization of these benefits depends on effective GVT task coordination, which faces significant challenges due to time-zone differences and geographical dispersion. Further, there is a lack of understanding of optimal information-technology (IT)-mediated coordination mechanisms for these teams. Based on an in-depth study of project tasks carried out by three GVTs, we uncovered IT-mediated task coordination portfolios (sets of mechanisms) used for effective coordination. The portfolios should fit the GVT's task dependence, members' common time frame, and perceived time constraints in order to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Interruption-based advertising has gained prominence in the online channel. Yet, little attention has been paid to deriving design principles and conceptualizations for online interruption-based advertising. This paper examines three novel design factors related to this phenomenon, namely, exposure timing, advertising intent, and brand image. Exposure timing pertains to the time by which the advertisement (ad) is launched within a website. Advertising intent refers to the explicitness of ad content in portraying the desire to induce purchase behavior. Brand image relates to consumers' overall perceptions of the advertised brand. In a laboratory experiment, participants were exposed to pop-up ads that were operationalized based on these three design considerations. Results reveal three two-way interactions among the study constructs. Online interruption-based ads shown in the predecisional shopping phase are more effective when their contents are designed with implicit advertising intent compared to explicit intent. Brand image is found to moderate the effects of advertising intent on consumer's purchase intention. Participants' responses also show that ads promoting weak brands with less favorable image tend to enjoy higher purchase intention when shown in the predecisional phase compared with the postdecisional phase. Theoretical and practical implications together with suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The turn of the century has seen a rapidly graying population concurrently with increasingly ubiquitous information technology (IT). The elderly population being less familiar with IT implies that issues pertaining to their acceptance of information systems (IS) deserve special attention. However, the IS and gerontology literatures seldom explore IS acceptance among the aged. Attempting to address this gap, a research model is developed by integrating relevant antecedents from previous literature and empirically tested in the context of an e-Government service tailored for senior citizens. Our findings reveal that consistent with previous technology acceptance studies, senior citizens' use intention is driven by their perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the service. Additionally, their Internet safety perception impacts the acceptance of this online financial service. Furthermore, resource savings and self-actualization determine senior citizens' usefulness perception, whereas computer anxiety and computing support are antecedents of perceived ease of use. Of these antecedents, self actualization and computer anxiety appear particularly relevant for the elderly as compared to younger working professionals in most previous literature for whom these antecedents have not been important. The study contributes by providing an integrative model of IS acceptance among the aged, which may facilitate theory development and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the upper echelon theory, this paper studies the relationship between the individual characteristics of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and organizational innovative usage of information technology (IT) by examining both the CIO's demographic characteristics and personality traits. Survey results from 89 CIOs strongly support our proposition. A CIO's personality traits of openness and extraversion and CIO's demographic characteristics of educational level have strong impact on the organizational innovative usage of IT even after controlling for organizational variables such as the organization's business strategy, outsourcing of IT operations, IT department age, and IT budget relative to revenue. This paper contributes to the age-old debate on whether managers matter in deciding an organization's strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainty in the external environmental context has been shown to affect organizational change and innovation. Distributed work arrangement is an organizational innovation that has the potential to enable a firm to meet the challenges of an uncertain environment more effectively. With the emergence of virtual organizations, such work arrangements are likely to gain increasing popularity. This exploratory empirical study employs a structural model to examine how environmental uncertainty affects organizational predisposition (adoption intention) toward distributed work arrangements. Environmental uncertainty has two different dimensions: environmental complexity (heterogeneity) and environmental variability (dynamism). In this paper, environmental dimensions are modeled to Influence adoption of distributed work arrangements through shaping the organizational perceptions of three innovation characteristics: perceived relative advantage, compatibility and complexity. Data analyses using partial least squares statistical technique revealed that environmental complexity is negatively associated with perceived relative advantage, and perceived compatibility. Perceived relative advantage and perceived compatibility are in turn positively Mated to adoption Intention for distributed work arrangements. However, environmental variability has no significant effect on the three innovation characteristics. Contrary to past findings that suggest organizations are more predisposed toward innovations in a complex environment, our study found that organizations in an environment of lower, rather than higher complexity are more likely to adopt distributed work arrangements. Implications for organizations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which explored the impact of national culture on the adoption of frame relay, a type of information technology infrastructure in organizations. Dimensions of national culture; Introduction of frame relay in various countries; Number of businesses which applied the infrastructure; Methodology used in the study; Discussion on the results of the study;