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Hate crimes, which stem from prejudiced attitudes, have a distributionally detrimental impact on societal stability. Although inter-group contacts are potentially an effective means for reducing prejudice and subsequently decreasing the number of hate crimes, scholars have recently recognized the possibility of negative contacts that might actually amplify prejudice. As a result, the question of whether intergroup contacts truly possess the ability to effectively decrease hate crime numbers remains inconclusive. In addition, prior contact research primarily relies on laboratory experiments because the establishment of intergroup contacts in a field setting is challenging. Examination of the effectiveness of intergroup contacts hence merits further investigation in a real-world setting. In this article, we propose that ride-hailing services, which naturally connect individuals from different backgrounds, offer an avenue to facilitate intergroup contacts in practice, which could potentially reduce prejudice and the volume of hate crimes. Leveraging the staggered introduction of this technology into counties in the United States, we conducted a series of analyses to empirically evaluate the contact effects in the open field. Our analysis reveals a notable decrease in the number of hate crimes (particularly a 5.75% reduction in racial hate crimes) after the introduction of ride-hailing services. These findings remained consistent across various robustness tests. Additional moderation analysis suggests that the increased interaction between different groups, facilitated by ride-hailing services, is the most likely explanation for the observed decrease in hate crimes. We further conducted an extensive survey involving real ride-hailing drivers and passengers. The results from our survey provide direct evidence that ride-hailing services create natural and constructive environments where positive interactions and mutual understanding can develop among diverse groups of people. This, in turn, helps mitigate prejudice and hate crimes within society, as observed in our analysis. This study not only extends the existing body of literature on contact theory but also sheds light on how modern technologies can play a pivotal role in curtailing hate crime, yielding both theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate adoption of information technology (IT) infrastructure is a critical management issue that may be affected by national culture. Prior research has shown that dimensions of national culture affect development of national IT infrastructure as well as adoption and impact of IT applications. This study explores the impact of two dimensions of national culture (uncertainty avoidance and power distance) on the adoption of a type of IT infrastructure (frame relay). A multinational survey was carried out, and it yielded useable responses from 153 businesses from 24 countries. The results demonstrated that businesses from higher uncertainty avoidance countries were less likely to adopt frame relay. A one-point increase in Hofstede's [15] uncertainty avoidance index for the country of incorporation was associated with a 3% lower likelihood of adopting frame relay. Power distance was not significantly correlated with adoption of frame relay. These results highlight the relevance of dimensions of national culture as factors affecting corporate adoption of IT infrastructure. Implications for practice and further research are presented. Index Terms--Frame relay, information technology (IT) infrastructure, national culture, power distance, uncertainty avoidance.

This article opens up the black box of innovation and examines the relationship between functional diversity in software teams and the often neglected dimension of innovation - speed, over the two phases of innovation: creativity and idea implementation. By combining information processing view and social identity theory, the authors hypothesize that when collective team identification is low, functional diversity positively affects the time spent in the creativity phase; however, when collective team identification is high, this relationship is inverted U-shaped. When task cohesion is high, functional diversity negatively affects the time spent in the idea implementation phase; however, when task cohesion is low, this relationship is U-shaped. Results from 96 IT software-teams confirmed the authors' hypotheses. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations are setting up online forums to obtain inputs and feedback from key stakeholders, such as employees, customers, and citizens. Examples of such virtual spaces are online policy deliberation forums (OPDFs) initiated by government organizations to garner citizens' views on policy issues. Incorporating the inputs from these forums can result in more inclusive policies for societal benefit. Yet, as with other such forums, a common issue facing OPDFs is the sustainability of participation. When examining this issue, previous research has mostly explored the participation antecedents of existing contributors. However, engaging lurkers is also important, because these forums need to compensate for contributor attrition and become more effective with greater reach. Thus motivated, this study develops a model to explain the antecedents of both contributors' and lurkers' participation deriving from public participation and information technology-enabled public goods theories. It hypothesizes differences in the antecedents for contributors versus lurkers based primarily on construal level theory. The model was empirically validated through a survey of contributors and lurkers in a nationwide OPDF. The results reveal significant differences in the participation antecedents of the two groups as hypothesized. Specifically, contributors are influenced by political career benefit and political efficacy motives, whereas lurkers' future participation intention is driven by collective benefits, possession of civic skills, and mobilization. Furthermore, perceived connectivity of the OPDF directly influences participation intention for contributors and indirectly impacts participation intention for both groups via perceived communality. Perceived communality, on the other hand, influences collective and persuasion benefits for both contributors and lurkers. These findings are useful for understanding and promoting participation through differential strategies for contributors and lurkers in OPDFs in particular, and by extension, other feedback or online forums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to clarify the nature of control in the context of information privacy to generate insights into the effects of different privacy assurance approaches on context-specific concerns for information privacy. We theorize that such effects are exhibited through mediation by perceived control over personal information and develop arguments in support of the interaction effects involving different privacy assurance approaches (individual self-protection, industry self-regulation, and government legislation). We test the research model in the context of location-based services using data obtained from 178 individuals in Singapore. In general, the results support our core assertion that perceived control over personal information is a key factor affecting context-specific concerns for information privacy. In addition to enhancing our theoretical understanding of the link between control and privacy concerns, these findings have important implications for service providers and consumers as well as for regulatory bodies and technology developers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital divide has loomed as a public policy issue for over a decade. Yet, a theoretical account for the effects of the digital divide is currently lacking. This study examines three levels of the digital divide. The digital access divide (the first-level digital divide) is the inequality of access to information technology (IT) in homes and schools. The digital capability divide (the second-level digital divide) is the inequality of the capability to exploit IT arising from the first-level digital divide and other contextual factors. The digital outcome divide (the third-level digital divide) is the inequality of outcomes (e.g., learning and productivity) of exploiting IT arising from the second-level digital divide and other contextual factors. Drawing on social cognitive theory and computer self-efficacy literature, we developed a model to show how the digital access divide affects the digital capability divide and the digital outcome divide among students. The digital access divide focuses on computer ownership and usage in homes and schools. The digital capability divide and the digital outcome divide focus on computer self-efficacy and learning outcomes, respectively. This model was tested using data collected from over 4,000 students in Singapore. The results generate insights into the relationships among the three levels of the digital divide and provide a theoretical account for the effects of the digital divide. While school computing environments help to increase computer self-efficacy for all students, these factors do not eliminate knowledge the gap between students with and without home computers. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation examines the motivating factors associated with voluntary turnover decisions of information systems (IS) professionals within the context of two different cultures—Singapore and New Zealand. The narrative inquiry approach was employed to interview 35 IS professionals. Ninety-seven turnover episodes were identified, including 42 in Singapore and 55 in New Zealand. The findings indicate that there exist universal turnover factors which are culturally independent. However, there are also factors that are culturally sensitive, which should be considered by managers when dealing with an international workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the importance of virtual communities in business to maintain organizational boundaries and to survive competition. He cites that virtual communities are geographically or organizationally dispersed co-workers within an organization or geographic location and work together to accomplish its task. He also outlines on the importance of virtual communities in knowledge management, software development and e-commerce.

Information systems (IS) projects involving multiple organizations are very common today. Knowledge integration in such projects is a complex task of integrating diverse knowledge bases across organizations that may possess distinct strategic goals and even conflicting interests. Prior research has indicated that social capital, a resource based on social relationships, positively influences knowledge integration and interorganizational relationships, but the exact nature of the interaction has been unclear. Based on an in-depth case study, this article examines a four-organization (three clients and one IT service provider) collaborative IS project wherein the clients were business partners for 7 years when they embarked on the project. The study explicitly identifies the roles through which social capital can be leveraged for knowledge integration in a collaborative IS project. Findings suggest that social capital can be leveraged as a motivator, an integrator, and a facilitator during the various stages of a collaborative IS project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase their revenue from electronic commerce, more and more Internet businesses are soliciting personal information from consumers in order to target products and services at the right consumers. But when deciding whether to disclose their personal information to Internet businesses, consumers may weigh the concerns of giving up information privacy against the benefits of information disclosure. This article examines how Internet businesses can motivate consumers to disclose their personal information. Based on a synthesis of the literature, the article identifies seven types of extrinsic or intrinsic benefits that Internet businesses can provide when soliciting personal information from consumers. Through comprehensive conceptual and empirical validation processes, the article develops an instrument that allows Internet businesses to gauge the preference of consumers for the various types of benefits. By testing a set of nomological networks, some ideas are presented to Internet businesses about what types of benefits may be more effective given the personality traits of particular consumer populations. Besides providing a foundation for efforts aimed at developing theories on information, privacy and information disclosure, the results of this research provide useful suggestions to Internet businesses on how best to solicit personal information from consumers. Implications for research and practical application 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]