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Social media harassment, a cyberbullying behavior, poses a serious threat to users and platform owners of social media. In this paper, we contextualize the bystander intervention framework and reporting literature to social media in order to understand why bystanders report social media harassment. Our contextualized intervention framework focuses on three sociotechnical aspects—the online social environment, characteristics of the technology platform, and their interplay—that explain bystander reporting on social media platforms. We tested the model using data gathered from active Facebook users. Our findings direct practitioners’ attention to the role of the platform in encouraging bystanders to help stop social media harassment. For policy makers, our findings direct attention to supporting programs that encourage social media users to feel responsible for reporting harassment and making transparent the outcomes of reporting social media harassment using anonymous reporting tools. For platform owners, our findings direct attention to investing in tools that enable anonymous reporting, to fostering a climate that encourages reporting, and to ensuring that all users understand that reporting social media harassment results in swift, effective responses from platform owners. Taken together, we believe our research offer insight into how to build safer and secure social media platforms.

PurposeThis paper reports the panel discussion on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in our lives. This discussion was held at the Digitization of the Individual (DOTI) workshop at the International Conference on Information Systems in 2019. Three scholars (in alphabetical order: Ting-Peng Liang, Lionel Robert and Suprateek Sarker) who have done AI- and robot-related research (to varying degrees) were invited to participate in the panel discussion. The panel was moderated by Manuel Trenz.Design/methodology/approachThis paper introduces the topic, chronicles the responses of the three panelists to the questions the workshop chairs posed and summarizes their responses, such that readers can have an overview of research on AI and robots in individuals' lives and insights about future research directions.FindingsThe panelists discussed four questions with regard to their research experiences on AI- and robot-related topics. They expressed their viewpoints on the underlying nature, potential and effects of AI in work and personal life domains. They also commented on the ethical dilemmas for research and practice and provided their outlook for future research in these emerging fields.Originality/valueThis paper aggregates the panelists' viewpoints, as expressed at the DOTI workshop. Crucial ethical and theoretical issues related to AI and robots in both work and personal life domains are addressed. Promising research directions to these cutting-edge research fields are also proposed.

Given the intense competition in the mobile payment market, researchers have been exploring strategies to maintain brand equity and consumer loyalty. By considering the characteristics of mobile pa...

The desk rejection of submitted articles can be a hugely frustrating and demotivating process from the perspective of the researcher, but equally, a time-consuming and vital step in the process for the Editor, tasked with selecting appropriate articles that meet the required criteria for further review and scrutiny. The feedback from journal Editors within this editorial, highlights the significant gaps in understanding from many academics of the journal assessment process and acceptance criteria for progression to the review stage. This editorial offers a valuable “lived-in” perspective on the desk rejection process through the lens of the Editor, via the differing views of nine leading journal Editors. Each Editor articulates their own perspectives on the many reasons for desk rejection, offering key insight to researchers on how to align their submissions to the specific journal requirements and required quality criteria, whilst demonstrating relevance and contribution to theory and practice. This editorial develops a succinct summary of the key findings from the differing Editor perspectives, offering a timely contribution of significant value and benefit to academics and industry researchers alike.

Purpose Drawing on the control agency theory and the network effect theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of privacy assurance approaches, network externality and technology complementarity on consumers’ self-disclosure in mobile payment (MP) applications. The authors identify four types of privacy assurance approaches: perceived effectiveness of privacy setting, perceived effectiveness of privacy policy, perceived effectiveness of industry self-regulation and perceived effectiveness of government legislation. The research model considers how these privacy assurance approaches influence privacy concerns and consumers’ self-disclosure in MP applications under boundary conditions of network externality and technology complementarity. Design/methodology/approach An online survey with 647 sample users was conducted to empirically validate the model. The target respondents were current consumers of a popular MP application. The empirical data were analyzed by a structural equation modeling approach. Findings The empirical results reveal several major findings. First, privacy assurance approaches can effectively decrease privacy concerns, which ultimately formulates consumers’ self-disclosure in MP applications. Second, network externality and technology complementarity weaken the effect of perceived effectiveness of privacy setting on privacy concerns. Third, network externality and technology complementarity strengthen the relationship between perceived effectiveness of government legislation and privacy concerns, while they have non-significant interaction effect with perceived effectiveness of privacy policy and industry self-regulation on privacy concerns. Practical implications MP providers and stakeholders can harness the efficacy of privacy assurance approaches in alleviating privacy concerns and promoting consumers’ self-disclosure in MP applications. Originality/value The authors’ work contributes to the information privacy literature by identifying effective privacy assurance approaches in promoting consumers’ self-disclosure in MP applications, and by highlighting boundary conditions of these privacy assurance approaches.

Social networking sites (SNSs) are central to social interaction and information sharing in the digital age. However, consuming social information on SNSs invites social upward comparisons with highly socially desirable profile representations, which easily elicits envy in users and leads to unfavorable behaviors on SNSs. This in turn can erode the subjective well-being of users and the sustainability of the SNS platform. Therefore, this paper seeks to develop a better theoretical understanding of how users respond to envy on SNSs. We review literature on envy in offline interactions to derive three behavioral strategies to reduce envy, which we then transfer to the SNS context (self-enhancement, gossiping, and discontinuous intention). Further, we propose a research model and examine how culture, specifically individualism-collectivism, affects the relationship between envy on an SNS and the three strategies. We empirically test the variance-based structural equation model through survey data collected of Facebook users from Germany and Hong Kong. Our findings provide first insights into the link between envy on SNSs, related behavioral strategies and the moderating role of individualism for self-enhancement.

Cyberbullying on social networking sites is an emerging societal issue that has drawn significant scholarly attention. The purpose of this study is to consolidate the existing knowledge through a literature review and analysis. We first discuss the nature, research patterns, and theoretical foundations. We then develop an integrative framework based on social cognitive theory to synthesize what is known and identify what remains to be learned, with a focus on the triadic reciprocal relationships between perpetrators, victims, and bystanders. We discuss the key findings and highlight opportunities for future research. We conclude this paper by noting research contributions and limitations.

A new generation has grown up with computers. The use of information technologies has become a part of their daily routine. Integrating technologies into students’ teaching and learning activities is widely recognized as a fundamental strategy for the next generation of learners. Despite the growing interest in advanced learning technologies and the application of immersive technologies in tertiary education, research investigating the perceived learning effectiveness (particularly in the form of learning satisfaction) has been very scarce. Thus, the objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of factors influencing learners’ perceived learning effectiveness of using one type of immersive visualization system known as cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE). Data collection consisted of quantitative and qualitative measures on a sample of 199 university students. The implications of the results and improvement proposals are also discussed in this study.

With the prevalence of social media, a great deal of research has examined consumer engagement in social media brand communities. However, we lack a holistic understanding of the phenomena. Given the importance and relevance of this topic to Information Systems researchers, this study aims to summarise the current state of research on the topic and identify research gaps. Following the descriptive search approach, this study identifies and analyses 134 articles. Our analysis shows that prior studies adopted various research approaches and methods to study consumer engagement in social media brand communities. In addition, researchers adopted varied definitions and studied consumer engagement using the attitudinal, behavioural, and motivational dimensions. Our analysis also shows that Uses and Gratifications Theory and Social Identification Theory were the most referred theories in prior studies. Finally, we conclude our study by proposing an integrative framework and suggesting research opportunities and future research directions.

Cyberdeviance, intentional use of information technology (IT) in the workplace that is contrary to the explicit and implicit norms of the organization and that threatens the well-being of the organization and/or its members, is an important research stream that has gained attention in academia and industry. Prior studies have treated different forms of cyberdeviance as different phenomena, resulting in a lack of a collective underlying conceptualization of cyberdeviance. This work inductively and empirically derives a typology of cyberdeviance with 439 respondents across three phases. Our results suggest that cyberdeviance varies along 3 dimensions: cyberdeviant behaviors that are minor versus serious; cyberdeviant behaviors that target individuals versus organizations; and cyberdeviant behaviors that require low versus high technical skill. We thus provide a comprehensive framework that fosters a logical linkage of various research programs related to cyberdeviance to guide future research investigation. The typology will help managers to distinguish different cyberdeviant behaviors and implement suitable interventions depending on the behavior. Accepted version

Detailing the opportunities and challenges of omnichannel business, this paper serves as an editorial note to the corresponding special issue. We advance a framework that delineates extant literature on omnichannel business into four predominant research streams according to their perspective (i.e., consumer versus retailer) and research orientation (i.e., diagnostic versus prescriptive). For each of the four research streams, we articulate its current state of research and describe how select articles assembled in this special issue enhance the stream.

Envy is an ancient theme of interest and various academic disciplines researched the topic in the last decades. With the advance of technologies and the popularity of social networking sites (SNSs), there is a need to comprehend what is new and unique about envy in the SNS environment. To contribute to an improved understanding of this phenomenon, we investigate academic research on envy in the context of SNSs. Particularly, in this work, we review and clarify the concept of envy in the SNS context and how users respond to envy they experienced in an SNS environment. This allows us to (1) better comprehend the conceptualization and theorization of envy in the SNS context, and to (2) identify particularities of users’ responses to envy. Based on our analysis, we observe that there exists a need to contextualize definition, operationalization and theorization further. Responses to SNS-induced envy mirror findings from the offline context with purchase intentions as an interesting and relevant behavioral response for the SNS context, since most revenues are generated by advertisement on these sites. We provide directions for future investigations on the phenomenon of SNS-induced envy.

Although gamification in the workplace is burgeoning, organizations frequently have difficulty sustaining user engagement with a gamified information system (IS). The focus of this study is how a gamified IS in the workplace engages users and encourages them to continue system use. By proposing the concepts of flow experience (FE) and aesthetic experience (AE) as different ways to provide deep and meaningful user engagement, this study develops a model that explores the antecedents of FE and AE and their roles in explaining an individual’s continuance intention to use of a gamified IS. The model is tested using data collected from 178 users of a gamified IS in a global consulting company. The results demonstrate that although FE and AE are complementary forces, AE is more salient than FE for explaining continuance intention. The research proposes AE as a parsimonious yet powerful construct that extends the research on user engagement. The findings contribute to research on gamification by shifting...

Highlights • People engage in self-disclosure on social media to stay connected with others during the pandemic. • We observe a shift in which disclosures serve the public good and which are considered socially inappropriate. • We propose using the self-focus and other-focus perspectives to explain pandemic-related self-disclosure on social media. • We present a research agenda and discuss practical insights., As social distancing and lockdown orders grew more pervasive, individuals increasingly turned to social media for support, entertainment, and connection to others. We posit that global health emergencies - specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic - change how and what individuals self-disclose on social media. We argue that IS research needs to consider how privacy (self-focused) and social (other-focused) calculus have moved some issues outside in (caused by a shift in what is considered socially appropriate) and others inside out (caused by a shift in what information should be shared for the public good). We identify a series of directions for future research that hold potential for furthering our understanding of online self-disclosure and its factors during health emergencies.

This study highlights the role of directed social network and examines its impact on information sharing behavior.The model was test by analyzing data collected with both subjective and objective approaches in a longitudinal setting.This study examines customer information sharing behavior in a new social media context - social commerce sites. Social commerce sites (SCSs), a new model of social media, provide fertile ground for customers to communicate their opinions and exchange product- or service- related information. Given the significant opportunities related to the use of social media data for customers' insight, we explore the factors driving information sharing behavior on SCSs. In this paper, we propose and empirically test a comprehensive theoretical model for customer information sharing behavior through analysis of online survey data as well as network and behavioral usage data of over four months from 1177 customers in a SCS. The research model was empirically validated with the use of both subjective and objective data in a longitudinal setting. Our results show that customer information sharing is influenced by both individual (i.e., reputation and the enjoyment of helping others) and social capital (i.e., out-degrees' post, in-degrees' feedback, customer expertise and reciprocity) factors. This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the role of directed social network in customer information sharing behavior on SCSs. We believe that the results of our study offer important insights to the IS research and practice.

Social network sites (SNSs) have drawn extensive attention among scholars and practitioners. In this study, we aim at explaining the continuance of SNSs. Specifically, we propose and empirically test a research model of continuance intention to use SNSs. We also examine the relative impacts of SNS-specific motivation factors and social factors derived from the SNS environment on continuance intention to use SNSs. Building upon expectation disconfirmation theory (EDT), our research model was empirically tested with 204 Facebook users through an online survey. While prior studies focus mostly on the SNS-specific motivations, our results demonstrated that social factors derived from the SNS environment play a dominant role in explaining the continuance intention to use SNSs. In particular, this study suggested that perceived critical mass, social presence, and social norms are influential and major factors that determine continuance intention. We believe that this study provides significant contributions to both researchers and practitioners in the context of SNSs.

Drawing from trust transfer theory, this study investigates cognitive trust and emotional trust transfer from web payment (WP) to mobile payment (MP) services with the emphasis on the effect of web–mobile payment relationship, namely, perceived entitativity. By conducting an online survey (n = 491), our study shows two key findings. First, cognitive trust and emotional trust can be transferred from WP to MP services, which, in turn, formulate intention to use MP services. Second, perceived entitativity not only increases cognitive trust and emotional trust in MP, but also enhances the transfer of cognitive trust and emotional trust from WP to MP services.

Microblogging is growing in popularity and significance. Although many researchers have attempted to explain why and how people use this new medium, previous studies have produced relatively inconclusive results. For instance, in most of these studies, microblogging has been considered a social networking activity; however, quantitative analyses of microblogging usage have shown that people use microblogging as an information-broadcasting platform. In this study, we identified the factors that drive microblogging and which of them lead to user satisfaction. We developed a theoretical framework and then empirically validated the factors and the emergent mechanisms value evaluation processes. We empirically tested our research model using a sample of 230 microbloggers, and the results showed that content and technology gratifications are the two key factors that drive user satisfaction with microblogging. That is, it is the value of information dissemination rather than social networking that makes people feel satisfied with the use of microblogging. We believe that this study will generate interest among researchers in social media. The results also provide platform administrators with insights into how people use microblogging and why they are satisfied with the technology.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of user engagement in the context of online brand communities. A research model is proposed to explain how brand loyalty is developed through user engagement. Design/methodology/approach – The research model was empirically tested with an online survey study of 185 current Facebook users. Findings – Results revealed that user engagement influenced brand loyalty both directly and indirectly through online community commitment. Users tend to focus on the benefits (rather than the costs) derived from the usage when they engage in an online brand community. Research limitations/implications – The selection of respondents is bound to the Hong Kong area, while Facebook members are globally distributed. In addition, this study involved a cross-sectional design instead of investigating the development of brand loyalty from a long-term perspective. Practical implications – The results inform e-marketers the importance of user engagement behaviors for building brand loyalty through online communities. Strategies that encourage members to engage in online brand communities on social networking sites such as Facebook are also provided. Originality/value – The concept of user engagement in online brand communities is still poorly understood, underscoring the need for theoretically based research of user engagement. This paper enriches the knowledge in the area of brand engagement by presenting a research model that introduces the concept of user engagement in social media research and empirically examines its role in building brand loyalty in online brand communities.

Online social shopping communities are transforming the way customers communicate and exchange product information with others. To date, the issue of customer participation in online social shopping communities has become an important but underexplored research area in the academic literature. In this study, we examined how online social interactions affect customer information contribution behavior. We also explored the moderating role of customer reputation in the relationship between observational learning and reinforcement learning as well as customer information contribution behavior. Analyses of panel data from 6,121 customers in an online social fashion platform revealed that they are significant factors affecting customer information contribution behavior and that reinforcement learning exhibits a stronger effect than observational learning. The results also showed that customer reputation has a significant negative moderating effect on the relationship between observational learning and customer information contribution behavior. This study not only enriched our theoretical understanding of information contribution behavior but also provided guidelines for online social shopping community administrators to better design their community features.

Conscious and automatic information processing modes represent two approaches to deal with IS continuance. Existing IS studies mostly viewed them as two independent systems and examined IS continuance through either a cognitive deliberating process or an automatic process. In this study, we attempt to clarify the complex nature of IS continuance by examining various interactions between the two information processes. Particularly, we argued that habit activates the heuristic information processing mode and facilitates consumers’ decision making through interacting with key elements of the rational decision process. We conducted a longitudinal study to empirically test the research model with 385 consumers of an e-commerce website. The results show that the two information processing modes work in parallel to explain consumers’ continuance decision. Satisfaction, perceived enjoyment, and alternative attractiveness have significant direct effects on continuance intention. Furthermore, habit exhibits a significant negative moderating effect on the relationship between alternative attractiveness and continuance intention. We believe that this study provides new insights to both IS research and practice.

Personal informatics technologies (PITs) have become popular tools that enable people to monitor and track themselves. By providing self-knowledge, PITs increase self-control, foster insight, and promote positive behavioral changes. The pursuit of knowledge about self, excellence, and self-growth is eudaimonic because it makes a person more capable and well informed. Considering the unique technological characteristics, research suggests that eudaimonic motivation should be considered in explaining PIT usage. However, despite increasing scholarly attention being paid to the eudaimonic nature of PITs, a systematic approach to developing a research construct that reflects a PIT user’s eudaimonic motivation is lacking in computer-human interaction research. To fill this gap, drawing on the theory of aesthetic experience, we propose a multi-dimensional construct of aesthetic experience to conceptualize eudaimonic motivation for PIT usage. Based on its conceptual definition, we develop the measures to capture the extent of a PIT user’s aesthetic experience and empirically examine the construct validity. Compared with widely examined antecedents of technology usage—perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment—this study shows that a PIT user’s aesthetic experience is a key determinant for intention to use. Notably, perceived enjoyment loses its predictive value in favor of aesthetic experience. Our findings suggest that the eudaimonic nature of a PIT should be considered in understanding technology usage.

Along with the growth of Internet and electronic commerce, online consumer reviews have become an important source of information that assists consumers to make purchase decision. However, theoretical development and empirical testing in this area of research are still limited, which greatly hinder us from understanding the influence of online reviews. Drawing upon the heuristic-systematic model from the literature of dual-process theories, we develop a research model to identify factors that are important to consumers' purchase decision-making. The model is empirically tested with 191 users of an existing online review site. We find that argument quality of online reviews (systematic factor), which is characterized by perceived informativeness and perceived persuasiveness, has a significant effect on consumers' purchase intention. In addition, we find that source credibility and perceived quantity of reviews (heuristic factors) have direct impacts on purchase intention. The two heuristic factors further demonstrate positive influences on argument strength. This result is consistent with the proposition of bias effect in the heuristic-systematic model, which elucidates the interrelationship between heuristic and systematic factors. Based on the findings, we discuss implications for both researchers and practitioners. We develop a heuristic-systematic model to examine the influence of online reviews.Three systematic and heuristic factors are proposed to affect behavioral intention.Argument quality is defined with informativeness and persuasiveness dimensions.Source credibility and perceived quantity of reviews are the two heuristic factors.The two heuristic factors produce significant bias effects on argument quality.

Today, organizations require additional efforts to develop new streams of revenue as competition is intense and new customers are hard to secure at a mature stage. The advent of social networking sites serves as an alternative tactic for organizations to form online brand communities, engage customers and hence foster brand loyalty. This article presents a research model of antecedents and consequences of customer engagement in online brand communities on social networking sites. Specifically, we examined how system support, community value, freedom of expression, and rewards and recognition encourage customer engagement, as well as how customer engagement influences repurchase intention and word-of-mouth intention. We tested the research model with a sample of 276 online brand community members. Empirical data supported our hypotheses, and revealed that customer engagement mediates relationships between community characteristics and brand loyalty. The current study validated the propositions from prior conceptual frameworks, and shed light for practitioners and scholars.

This study theorized and validated a model of knowledge sharing continuance in a special type of online community, the online question answering (Q&A) community, in which knowledge exchange is reflected mainly by asking and answering specific questions. We created a model that integrated knowledge sharing factors and knowledge self-efficacy into the expectation confirmation theory. The hypotheses derived from this model were empirically validated using an online survey conducted among users of a famous online Q&A community in China, “Yahoo! Answers China”. The results suggested that users’ intention to continue sharing knowledge (i.e., answering questions) was directly influenced by users’ ex-post feelings as consisting of two dimensions: satisfaction, and knowledge self-efficacy. Based on the obtained results, we also found that knowledge self-efficacy and confirmation mediated the relationship between benefits and satisfaction.

The notion of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication has received considerable attention in both business and academic communities. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the effectiveness of eWOM communication. The scope of published studies on the impact of eWOM communication is large and fragmented and little effort has been made to integrate the findings of prior studies and evaluate the status of the research in this area. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of eWOM research. Building upon our literature analysis, we used the social communication framework to summarize and classify prior eWOM studies. We further identified key factors related to the major elements of the social communication literature and built an integrative framework explaining the impact of eWOM communication on consumer behavior. We believe that the framework will provide an important foundation for future eWOM research work.

Online abuse has emerged as a huge problem across the Internet and especially on social networking sites (SNSs). To combat this unacceptable online behavior, many SNS providers begin to implement built-in reporting functions/systems on their platforms. However, the effectiveness of this new function on SNSs depends on users' willingness to adopt and use. Thus, the main objective of this study is to identify the factors driving people to use the built-in reporting functions on SNSs. Drawing upon Theory of Cognitive Appraisal and the literature of social appraisal, we identified three major appraisal processes related to the use of online reporting functions on SNSs: primary appraisal (perceived emergency and perceived responsibility), secondary appraisal (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) and social appraisal (evaluation apprehension). We tested our research model with 117 Facebook users. Our findings suggest that perceived responsibility of the incident and perceived usefulness of the reporting functions are important factors promoting the use of built-in online reporting functions, whereas evaluation apprehension is an obstructing social factor to the use of built-in reporting functions. We expect that the results of this study make significant contributions to research and practice.

As competing technological choices emerge in the marketplace, an inevitable consequence is user switching from one IT product or service to another. However, we know very little of this phenomenon or the key drivers of user switching. We examined the reasons for IT switching by proposing a model that synthesized and extended current theories of IT acceptance and customer satisfaction. We believed that IT switching was driven by user dissatisfaction with an incumbent product or service and the fact that the customer was aware of the availability of a potentially superior product or service. Further, to explain differential switching patterns across an adopter population, we posited personal innovativeness as an individual difference variable that moderated the effect of user dissatisfaction and relative advantage of a new IT on users' switching intention. Our model was empirically validated using a longitudinal survey of web browser switching among student subjects. We hope that our study will generate researchers' interest in an understudied area of research and that the model will serve as a starting point for furthering our understanding of IT switching.

The growth and popularity of online social networks has created a new world of collaboration and communication. More than a billion individuals around the world are connected and networked together to create, collaborate, and contribute their knowledge and wisdom. Despite the importance of online social networks, there is relatively little theory-driven empirical research available to address this new type of communication and interaction phenomena. In this paper, we explored the factors that drive students to use online social networks (e.g., Facebook). Specifically, we conceptualized the use of online social networks as intentional social action and we examined the relative impact of social influence, social presence, and the five key values from the uses and gratification paradigm on We-Intention to use online social networks. An empirical study of Facebook users (n=182) revealed that We-Intention to use online social networks is strongly determined by social presence. Among the five values, social related factors had the most significant impact on the intention to use. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The study is one of the very few attempts to investigate antecedents and consequences of user satisfaction with an e-learning portal. Building on prior literature, the research model postulates a positive link between overall satisfaction and intention to continue to use an e-learning portal. Data collected from 504 undergraduate students are examined through the Structural Equation Modeling approach with Partial Least Squares (PLS). Empirical findings demonstrate that our research model provides a relatively high explanatory power. Moreover, all associated hypotheses are found to have statistically significance. The implications of this study are noteworthy for both researchers and practitioners.

The proliferation and advance of Internet-based technologies create expanded opportunities for educators to provide students with better learning experiences. Although current studies focus mostly on the learning processes and learning outcomes, this article examines the students' usage behaviour with Internet-based learning technologies across time. A research model of continued usage of Internet-based learning technologies was developed by extending the information systems (IS) continuance model. Specifically, the research model attempted to explain the fact that frequently performed behaviours tend to be automatic over time, and habit was posited as a moderating effect on determining student's continued use of the Internet-based learning technologies. The proposed research model was empirically validated using a longitudinal survey of the use of Internet-based learning technologies among student subjects. The research model explained 20% of the variance in IS continuance usage and 50% of the variance in IS continuance intention. Habit was found significantly moderating the relationship between IS continuance intention and IS continuance usage. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications of results for research and practice.

Popular interest in online communities has grown rapidly in recent years as a result of the widespread diffusion of Web 2.0 applications. However, the full values and potential of online communities cannot be realised without users' ongoing participation. Thus, this study aims at developing and empirically testing a research model to examine users' continuance intention to participate in an online community based on an extended information systems (IS) continuance model. Specifically, entertainment value and affective commitment are included in the IS continuance model and empirically examined in the context of online communities. A total of 240 returns collected from an online survey, which was conducted among users of a website bulletin board-based community in China, were analysed using partial least squares. The results reveal that users' continuance intention to participate in an online community is determined by both satisfaction and affective commitment. Satisfaction and affective commitment are, in turn, influenced by positive disconfirmations of purposive and entertainment values. The findings of this study contribute not only to theory building in online community continuance but also inform online community moderators in their effort to develop strategies for retaining their users.

The growth and popularity of Web 2.0 applications help people to build and maintain their social networks online and further encourage social network-facilitated team collaboration. In this study, we conceptualized the use of Instant messaging in social network-facilitated team collaboration as an Intentional social action and further Investigated the effect of gender differences In the development of we-intention (I. e. collective intention) to engage In such collaboration. A research model was developed and empirically tested with 482 university students In Mainland China. The results demonstrated that the effects of attitude, positive anticipated emotions, and group norms on we-intention were more Important for men, whereas the effects of social Identity and negative anticipated emotions were more significant for women to collectively participate In social network-facilitated team collaboration. We believe the Implications of this study would shed considerable light on both research and practice.

Blog has become an increasingly popular form of social networking technology in recent years. Many world famous web sites (e.g., Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google) are providing blog services on the Internet. Bloggers, therefore, can easily establish and maintain their blogs through such services. However, research on blogs' adoption and diffusion is rare. In this study, we attempt to study bloggers' post-adoption behaviors. We examine bloggers' intention to switch their blog services by building upon studies in the marketing and IS literature. Particularly, the role of gender is explored and an online survey is conducted to test the research model. Findings confirm that bloggers' intention to switch their blog services is strongly associated with three factors: satisfaction, sunk costs, and attractive alternatives. Meanwhile, moderating effects are found in gender, but not in sunk costs. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are provided.

Computer-supported social networks have become a significant channel for people to interact and exchange information. The success of computer-supported social networks depends on the extent to which members will stay and continue participating. Many computer-supported social networks however suffer from the problem of retaining members. Drawing from theories of user satisfaction and information adoption, we develop a model to examine how computer-supported social networks encourage members to continue participating and using the information in the network. The theoretical model is validated through an online survey of 240 users of a Bulletin Board System established by a local university in China. The results reveal that individuals will continue to use the information in a computer-supported social network when they are satisfied with their prior usage, and when they perceive that the information in the network is useful. The results also suggest that individuals' perceived information usefulness and satisfaction are determined by information quality and source credibility in the context of computer-supported social networks. Theoretical and practical implications about computer-supported social networks are discussed.

With the advent of Web 2.0, the business world is fast changing its way of communicating and collaborating. In this study, we regarded the use of instant messaging in team collaboration as a social behavior and examined the changing roles of social influence processes in the formation of usage we-intention (i.e. social intention). Building on the belief-desire-intention model and the social influence theory, an integrated model was developed and empirically tested using survey data collected from 482 students. The results demonstrated that desire partially mediates the effects of group norm and social identity on we-intention to use. In addition, the effect of group norm is more significant for users with lower usage experience, whereas the effect of social identity is more significant for users with higher usage experience. We believe this study provides several important implications for both research and practice.

Purpose – Web‐based technologies have created numerous opportunities for electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) communication. This phenomenon impacts online retailers as this easily accessible information could greatly affect the online consumption decision. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which opinion seekers are willing to accept and adopt online consumer reviews and which factors encourage adoption.Design/methodology/approach – Using dual‐process theories, an information adoption model was developed to examine the factors affecting information adoption of online opinion seekers in online customer communities. The model was tested empirically using a sample of 154 users who had experience within the online customer community, Openrice.com. Users were required to complete a survey regarding the online consumer reviews received from the virtual sharing platform.Findings – The paper found comprehensiveness and relevance to be the most effective components of the argument quality construct ...

Our research model expanded the Bhattacherjee's IS continuance model by adding a moderating effect (IS habit) to IS continuance intention and IS continued usage, postulating direct links between satisfaction and IS continued usage, as well as between prior behavior and IS continued usage. The model was tested with an Internet-based learning technology in a longitudinal setting. Data collected from 505 students were examined using partial least squares analysis. The results presented strong support for the theoretical links of IS continuance model, and for the new moderating effect. Both satisfaction and prior behavior were found to have significant impact on IS continuance. In addition, our findings confirmed the theoretical argument that the strength of intention to predict continuance was weakened by a high level of IS habit.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors associated with user satisfaction in the social network sites (SNSs), and to explore the moderating effects of gender on user satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – A research model was built upon the expectation disconfirmation model (EDM) with a focus on SNSs specific motivations (i.e. relationship maintenance and entertainment). The model was tested empirically with 221 experienced Facebook users using an online survey. Findings – The research model explained 40.5 percent of the variance in user satisfaction. In addition, the results showed that entertainment plays a more important role in determining user satisfaction with SNSs for male users, while relationship maintenance is more important in determining user satisfaction with SNSs for female users. Research limitations/implications – The current study enriched the theoretical understanding of user satisfaction in the context of SNSs. Particularly, perceptions and disconfirmations about the use of SNSs were identified and empirically tested. Furthermore, gender differences in terms of SNSs usage were empirically demonstrated. Originality/value – The present study is one of the first few studies that attempts to explain user satisfaction with SNSs as well as examine the role of gender with a theoretical foundation. It complements the empirical research in the IS literature that addresses new social communication technologies.

E-commerce has fundamentally changed during the past few years through the ability to track customers' activities, map their social networks and use social influence, approach them proactively, provide customized offerings and manage individual lifecycles. Moving from managing the community to managing its individual members within the community is the common denominator in many related developments. Customer co-created contents, service processes and virtual experiences represent some of the growing domains in this field. On a more practical level, the customer-specificity of the internet browsing experience in e-commerce applications and web stores is growing. While social media, mobile interaction and virtual worlds have already enabled customer-specific engagement, cutting edge applications using social influence, artificial intelligence and analyzing web flow user experiences represent the near future. A mini track concentrating on these core developments of ecommerce and e-business is proposed for HICSS-48.

With the advance of information technologies and widespread deployment of data services, users can access social networking sites (SNSs) almost anytime and anywhere, resulting in an incessant urge to check SNSs. Till now, little is known about the precursors of urge and its role in the development of SNS excessive use. Therefore, we proposed and tested a research model that examines the role of urge in checking SNSs. Empirical evidence from a survey of 205 respondents showed that instant gratification and withdrawal are important factors of the urge to check SNSs, the urge to check SNSs was found to have a significant impact on the excessive use. We concluded with implications to research and practice.

This study is one of the few attempts to investigate students' acceptance of an Internet-based learning medium (ILM). By integrating a motivational perspective into the technology acceptance model, our model captured both extrinsic (perceived usefulness and ease of use) and intrinsic (perceived enjoyment) motivators for explaining students' intention to use the new learning medium. Data collected from 544 undergraduate students were examined through the LISREL VIII framework. The results showed that both perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment significantly and directly impacted their intention to use ILM. Surprisingly, perceive ease of use did not posit a significant impact on student attitude or intention towards ILM usage. Implications of this study are important for both researchers and practitioners.

Empirical research on online consumer theory has been examined under diverse contexts over the years. Although researchers from a variety of business disciplines have made significant progress over the past few years, the scope of these studies is rather broad, the studies appear relatively fragmented and no unifying theoretical framework is found in this area. In view of this, this study attempts to provide an exhaustive review of prior theoretical literature and to provide an integrative model of online consumer behavior. This framework not only provides us with a cohesive view of online consumer behavior, but also serves as a salient guideline for researchers in this area. The paper is concluded with a research agenda for future studies.

Social shopping communities, a special form of social media, have offered fertile ground for customers to communicate their opinions and exchange product information. Although social shopping communities have the potential to transform the way online customers acquire knowledge in everyday life, research in information systems has paid little attention to this emerging type of social media. Thus, the goal of this paper is to enhance our understanding of user behavior in this new form of community. We propose and empirically test an integrative theoretical model of customer knowledge contribution based on social capital theory. By analyzing panel data collected over two weeks from 2,251 customers in a social shopping community, we found that reputation, reciprocity, network centrality, as well as customer expertise have significant impact on customer knowledge contribution. These results contribute significantly to the literature and provide important implications for future research and practice.

Social media are online platforms that facilitate global collaboration and sharing amongst users. New social media applications in e-business and e-commerce appear on a daily basis and result in enormous shocks to the ecosystem of individuals and businesses. This minitrack provides a forum for the exchange of research ideas and best practices related to social media in e-business environments. It also aims to raise awareness in terms of the latest developments in social media, and address the challenges of using social media. This year, eight papers were selected for inclusion in the proceedings. The first paper, "Social Media at Socio Systems Inc.: A Socio-technical Systems Analysis of Strategic Action" by Don Heath, Rahul Singh and Jai Ganesh proposes an analytic framework to explain organizational strategies for directed action in social media. The next paper by Eric T.K. Lim, Dianne Cyr, and Chee-Wee Tan, "Understanding Members' Attachment to Social Networking Sites: An Empirical Investigation of Three Theories", constructs a theoretical model of members' communal attachments within SNSs. The model is then empirically validated via an online survey of 787 active members of SNSs. Drawing from the push-pull-mooring model and uses and gratification theory, Fei Liu and Bo Xiao proposed and empirically tested a theoretical model explaining SNS users' switching behavior in their paper, "Do I Switch? Understanding Users' Intention to Switch between Social Network Sites". The fourth paper by Alexander Richte, David Wagner and Andrea Back, "Leadership 2.0: Engaging and Supporting Leaders in the Transition Towards a Networked Organization", illustrates the concept of Leadership 2.0 through a series of interviews with the persons who are responsible for the implementation of social software at publicly listed, multinational organizations in Germany. The next paper, "Understanding Information Adoption in Online Review Communities: The Role of Herd Factors" by Xiao-Liang Shen, Kem Z.K. Zhang, and Sesia J. Zhao, extends prior research on information adoption by incorporating the perspective of herd behavior to explain the influence of massive online reviews in online communities. The research model was empirically tested with 376 users of a Chinese online review community. "Impact of Online Firm Generated Content (FGC) on Supply Chain Performance: An Exploratory Empirical Analysis", by Ajaya Swain and Qing Cao uses an advanced sentiment analysis approach to examine the impact of FGC effect on supply chain performance. Information sharing and collaboration are identified as two key FGC elements affecting supply chain performance. Based on an experimental investigation of the judgment ability of 478 subjects, Christian Wagner and Ayoung Suh found that collective size and expertise transfer effects are moderated by task difficulty and are strongest for tasks in a medium difficulty range in their paper, "The Wisdom of Crowds: Impact of Collective Size and Expertise Transfer on Collective Performance". The final paper, "Assessing the Effects of Navigation Support and Group Structure on Collaborative Online Consumers' Consensus and Mutual Understanding" by Yanzhen Yue and Zhenhui (Jack) Jiang, explores an emerging phenomenon of collaborative online shopping by investigating the effects of navigation support and group structure on collaborative online consumers' consensus and mutual understanding. We thank the authors for submitting their work to make this another engaging minitrack. We hope you enjoy the papers and their presentation at the conference.