The scope of external information-seeking under uncertainty: An individual-level study

As a first attempt to empirically investigate the scope of external information-seeking under uncertainty, this paper examines the direct and interactive effects of task uncertainty on the scope of external information-seeking. Search depth and breadth are the two components of the scope of external information-seeking in defining an individual's external information search strategy. The empirical results show that at the source portfolio level, task uncertainty exhibits positive effects on both the depth and breadth of external information-seeking. It is also found that there is a positive relationship between task uncertainty and depth-first propensity, which is defined as a seeker's propensity to acquire information through increasing search depth instead of through widening search breadth at the source portfolio level. Furthermore, the results show that the positive relationship between task uncertainty and depth-first propensity in external information-seeking is stronger when perceived source accessibility is low than when it is high. This study makes a contribution to the information-seeking literature by helping us understand how task uncertainty and source characteristics shape an individual's external information-seeking at the level of source portfolio and providing evidence of the task-source fit perspective in explaining information-seeking behaviour under uncertainty at the source portfolio level.     

Understanding career commitment of IT professionals: Perspectives of push-pull-mooring framework and investment model

Using push-pull-mooring framework and investment model as theoretical lenses, this study provides a compelling theoretical model that helps understand the important antecedents of career commitment of IT professionals. Especially, we examined the moderating role of IT career tenure. Data to test the hypotheses were drawn from a cross-sectional field study of MIS departments from top-1000 large-scale companies in Taiwan. The results generally supported the research model. Career satisfaction was the most important determinant of career commitment, followed by professional self-efficacy, threat of professional obsolescence and career investment. The moderating analysis revealed distinct patterns that IT professionals seemed to hold different attitudes about the careers at different stages. The career attitudes of senior IT professionals were largely driven by push factors. On the contrary, the expelling forces which driving people away from their current careers (push effects) and personal inhibitors and facilitators (mooring effects) seemed equally important to junior IT professionals on their attitudes toward committing to the IT career. Insight and implications on management strategy for IT/HR managers are discussed.     

‘Arrivederci CIAO.com, Buongiorno Bing.com’—Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), antecedences and consequences

The Internet facilitates access to online product reviews and comments written by consumers. This paper offers new insights on the motives and antecedents of the reading behaviour of consumer reviews in online opinion platforms. This research was carried out from 2005 to 2008 using a case study approach. The case involved working with a prominent and successful online opinion platform (CIAO.com). The company was so successful it was purchased by Microsoft for $486 million in 2008 and is now incorporated into their main search engine which is still a market leader today. The research highlights four different types of motives that drive customers to read online reviews: decision-involvement, product-involvement, social-involvement and economic-involvement motives. The outcomes also demonstrated four different new types of motives: self-involvement motives, consumer-empowerment motives, new social-involvement motives and site-administration motives. Several related themes were also investigated, such as the preference for reading or writing online reviews and the reasons for choosing one over the other. The research tested the relevance of the online reading motives and their influence on consumer buying and communication behaviour. In summary, some theoretical and practical implications are highlighted and discussed.     

In-formation on the prairie: Signs, patterns, systems and prairie dogs

The concept of information is clearly foundational to the ‘information’ disciplines but lacking in a clear conceptual foundation. In this paper we propose that the concept is clearly overloaded and suggest that a new vocabulary is needed to enhance our powers of understanding and explanation. We argue that information is better situated at the intersection of signs, patterns and systems, which involves the enactment of forma (the substance of a sign), informa (the content of a sign) and performa (the use of signs in coordinated action). Within this perspective ‘information’ is considered an accomplishment not only of humans but also of animals. This leads us to use a well-documented case from the animal kingdom, that of communication amongst Gunnison prairie dogs, to both ground and expand upon significant elements from our conceptual framework. This we believe helps shed new light on what the juxtaposition of information with behaviour actually means.     

An investigation of consumers’ webstore shopping: A view of click-and-mortar company

Consumers’ shopping intention is central to a Webstore's success. While past information system (IS) studies have examined this phenomenon extensively, they have focused on examining the single channel of e-tailing only. Knowledge of consumers’ cross-channel shopping behavior, which is common nowadays, was scarce. This study has empirically investigated a research model proposing how consumers’ brand loyalty in the retailing channel may impact on their shopping intentions at the same brand's Webstore. Specifically, in contrast to the system approach examined by past IS studies, this study has undertaken a brand perception approach and uncovered that by shaping consumers’ online perceptions of brand familiarity and Webstore reputation, consumers’ offline brand loyalty directly and indirectly enhances their trust in Webstore and lead to a higher shopping intention. Practical suggestions for click-and-mortar companies in building their channel strategies were proposed accordingly.     

Balancing technology and physician-patient knowledge through an unlearning context

The Spanish health care system has undergone important changes with regard to the development of new homecare services known as “Hospital in the Home”. This paper investigates the approaches that hospital in the home units (HHUs) have used to update physician/patient knowledge and the technology knowledge of their members and relates them to an unlearning context and improvement in the quality of health services. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 55 doctors and 62 nurses belonging to 44 HHUs. The research findings suggest that the key benefits of an unlearning context in HHUs are clear: it enables them to identify and replace poor practices and also avoids the reinvention of the wheel; it enables cost reduction by minimizing unnecessary work caused by the use of poor methods; and it enables improvements in services to patients.     

Theory-based model of factors affecting information overload

As the volume of available information increases, individuals and organisations become overwhelmed by the plethora of information. This can reduce productivity and performance, hinder learning and innovation, affect decision making and well-being and cost organisations large amounts of money. This paper develops a new theory-based model of factors affecting information overload and provides a formula for calculating the extent of overload, potentially of use as a diagnostic tool supporting individual or organisational development.     

A compact static double-array keeping character codes

A trie represented by a double-array enables us to search a key fast with a small space. However, the double-array uses extra space to be updated dynamically. This paper presents a compact structure for a static double-array. The new structure keeps character codes instead of indices in order to compress elements of the double-array. In addition, the new structure unifies common suffixes and consists of less elements than the old structure. Experimental results for English keys show that the new structure reduces space usage of the double-array up to 40%.     

Emergency knowledge management and social media technologies: A case study of the 2010 Haitian earthquake

The US response to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake was a large effort coordinated by three major agencies that worked in tandem with the Government of Haiti, the United Nations, and many countries from around the globe. Managing this response effort was a complex undertaking that relied extensively on knowledge management systems (KMS). For the first time, however, US government agencies employed social media technologies such as wikis and collaborative workspaces as the main knowledge sharing mechanisms. In this research we present a case study developed through action research of how these social media technologies were used, what influences they made on knowledge sharing, reuse, and decision-making, and how knowledge was effectively (and at times ineffectively) maintained in these systems. First-hand knowledge of the response is used, offering strategies for future deployment of social media and important research questions that remain regarding social media as knowledge management systems, particularly for disaster and emergency management.