The development and sale of massively multiplayer online games has emerged as a significant part of the 21st century entertainment industry. Yet, firms competing in this sector of the videogame industry vary in their ability to generate revenue from their products. We contend that social influence constitutes one primary factor that determines which massively multiplayer online game individuals consume. Using social identity theory for our theoretical underpinning, we argue that the identity that membership in important social groups provides influences individuals. We investigate the effects that two identity-related constructs, consumer-brand identification and social identity complexity, have on satisfaction and willingness to pay a subscription fee for a massively multiplayer online game. Our results suggest that social influence has a complex relationship with an individual’s willingness to pay. Consumerbrand identification and social identity complexity had significant direct relationships with willingness to pay, while consumer-brand identification had a significant indirect relationship with willingness to pay through satisfaction. Additionally, social identity complexity significantly moderated the relationship between consumer-brand identification and willingness to pay. Overall, our results support social identity theory’s ability to explain how social influence occurs for individuals that play massively multiplayer online games.

Charging subscription fees for content distributed through the Internet has emerged as a commonly adopted business model. This has drawn the attention of academics seeking to understand which factors motivate individuals' willingness to pay for online content. We assert that one important determinant is social influence. For this study, we conceptualized an individual's social environment as consisting of three levels, the micro, meso, and macro levels. We identified constructs existing at each of these levels-satisfaction, peer group preferences, and reputation, respectively-and examined the influence that they exerted on both willingness to pay and on each other in the context of online video games, specifically, massively multiplayer online games. Our results suggested that all levels of social influence play a role in an individual's product valuation process.

Organizations are investing significant amounts of resources in both internal and external web-based applications. Many of these applications must be used by either employees of the organization or by e-customers of the organization. One of the key components of any web-based application is its interface, and a key criteria in utilization of these web-based applications is the website's usability. This study investigated five criteria that have been suggested to impact an individual's assessment of a website's usability. Utilizing a multi-criteria decision making approach, we were able to assess the relative importance of these criteria as they apply to website usability. Our findings suggest that, similar to the technology adoption literature, ease of use and navigation are two critical components in determining website usability. This study also investigated the impact of specific individual differences (gender, computer anxiety, innovativeness, and computer self-efficacy).

Cyberloafing has become a pervasive problem for many organizations and some researchers have suggested that a deterrence approach utilizing acceptable use policies for Internet-based applications coupled with mechanisms designed to monitor employee Internet usage and detect unauthorized usage can be an effective way to reduce it. However, the results of studies that have examined the effects of acceptable use policies and detection mechanisms on reducing cyberloafing are mixed. This study attempts to reconcile those inconsistencies by using an experiment to show that the deterrence model affects various types of cyberloafing differently. The results reveal that individually, threats termination and detection mechanisms are effective deterrents against activities like viewing pornography, managing personal finances, and personal shopping, but must be coupled together and actively enforced to dissuade activities like personal emailing and social networking.

This study builds upon previous research by comparing and contrasting the decision to adopt wireless technologies with the decision to continue to use wireless technologies. In the context of web-enabled cell phones, we propose, test and compare the predictive ability of two value-based models using a multi-group analysis. The findings suggest that regardless of whether an individual was choosing to adopt or continue to use a web-enabled cell phone, perceived usefulness, enjoyment and perceived fee influenced perceived value. In turn, perceived value influenced the adoption or continued use decision. Technicality had a significant negative effect on perceived value in the context of continued use, but not for adoption. Our results also suggested a shift in the importance of benefits in the formation of perceived value; perceived usefulness played a greater role for adopters, while enjoyment played a better role for continued users. Lastly, our results indicated that uncertainty avoidance did not mediate the relationship between perceived value and intention in either the continued use or adoption contexts, while habit was significant in its mediation of the relationship between perceived value and continued use intention. Collectively, habit and perceived value explained 71% of the variation in continued use intention.

The innovation diffusion theory (IDT) could be considered as one of the earliest theories that attempts to explore factors that influence an individual to adopt an innovation or a new technology. The theory suggests five key beliefs that influence the adoption of any innovation: relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, trialability, and observability. The purpose of this study was to test part of IDT’s attributes empirically. We used Internet banking as the innovation or the targeted technology. We surveyed 1164 business and MBA students in four public universities in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The results showed that relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability have a significant effect on att itude. Consequently, attitude significantly aff ects the intention to use Internet banking. Based on the findings, implications to practice

This paper analyses the role of website usability in a B2C electronic commerce environment. The authors identify dimensions of website usability that have been examined in the literature and integrate those usability dimensions within an electronic commerce acceptance model using an e-commerce simulation. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the relationship between several website usability and e-commerce variables (design credibility, content, interactivity, navigability, responsiveness, download delay, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and satisfaction with design) as well as trust, perceived risk, and intention to transact. The results demonstrate that website usability does influence several outcomes that are important for businesses to attract and retain customers.

As the use of the Internet has grown, so have new ways for employees to loaf. Cyberloafing has become a pervasive problem for firms. Information systems researchers have suggested that a deterrence approach through the use of acceptable use policies for Internet-based applications coupled with Internet monitoring mechanisms can be an effective way to reduce cyberloafing without actively blocking websites and impeding on the positive aspects of the Internet. However, the effectiveness of the deterrence approach is still in question due to inconsistent results in existing research. This study aims to reconcile these inconsistencies by exploring how other factors interact with the deterrence model. We propose that the deterrence model will affect more deviant types of behaviors differently than those that are perceived to be more socially acceptable. We also suggest that employees will self-impose expected ramifications or sanctions on themselves when they expect to get caught cyberloafing.

This study used a B2C e-commerce simulation in an effort to validate two Web site usability instruments. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis found the first instrument exhibited moderately acceptable measurement properties, while the second instrument displayed poor validity for the suggested dimensions. Attempted validation of these instruments and the subsequent development of a more comprehensive measure of Web site usability should facilitate an organization's understanding of the strengths and weakness of their B2C Web sites in an increasingly competitive environment.

Abstract External performance assessments for teachers of mathematics have traditionally been accomplished through reviews of student comments as well as through formal evaluations by superiors. Additionally, evaluating lecture-based teaching (as opposed to more active learning environments) focuses primarily on classroom performance, curriculum planning, materials development, and assessment of student performance. In this article we identify four additional qualities that are desirable when one is teaching mathematics in a problem-solving curriculum. We then offer various modes of feedback that teachers can use to help achieve a comprehensive assessment of their own teaching effectiveness.

Today information assets face more potential security breaches than at any time in history. To help mitigate the effect of the threats, information security management (ISM) is a very important part of a successful organization's strategic plan. Due to a significant increase in the number of threats over the past decade, organizations need to be proactive to protect their information assets. Unfortunately, there is a lack of experts qualified to address the area of IT security. We propose an integrated framework for ISM, in which it is conceptualized as a continuous decision-making process. The rationale of this framework is based on four guiding principles.1) Have goal in mind.2) Align security goals with business strategy.3) ISM is a multivariate system.4) ISM is a dynamic process. ISM is more about the operating procedures and processes in which crucial components such as organizational infrastructure, human factors and information security practices are all involved.Key components of the ISM framework include the following steps.1. Assess the organizational environment.2. Establish information security objectives.3. Analyze information security requirements.4. Develop information security controls.5. Train/evaluate information security controls.Researchers find that despite the seriousness of the nature and scope of the security threats posed by the environment, many organizations are under-prepared or completely unprepared to mitigate the threatsystems.Further, there appears to be a lack of consensus as to how an organization should implement an information security policy, what information security objectives should be established, or how to react when the information systems are threatened. The framework described herein could be utilized in an effort to effectively implement a holistic and successful ISM plan.

This article develops a theoretical model that suggests that differential levels of uncertainty, knowledge relatedness, and richness of information will have a substantial impact on the decision to engage in entrepreneurship. Effects of the individual differences fear of failure and general self-efficacy are also considered. Using a metric conjoint methodology, respondents are asked to evaluate a series of profiles with different levels of each attribute and then indicate their willingness to invest in an entrepreneurial opportunity. This approach allows for the calculation of main and interaction effects as well as the importance of each factor in the investment decision. Results indicated that all three factors and their interactions play a significant role in the decision to engage in entrepreneurial action. The degree of opportunity-related uncertainty was found to be the most important factor in the decision-making process.

E-commerce has become an important medium of exchange. Two related issues that face e-merchants are increased competition and trust development. The relationship between the vendor and the customer is an important and complex issue, especially in e-commerce settings. Many researchers have studied the issues related to e-relationships. This paper integrates the previous research into an integrative model of e-relationship. E-relationships are about attracting and maintaining customers in e-commerce settings. We integrate the commitment-trust theory with the current literature. We argue that satisfaction, trust and commitment are important mechanisms in loyalty and, thus, relationship development. We treat satisfaction and trust as antecedents of commitment. We argue that the antecedents of satisfaction and trust are website effectiveness, product performance, privacy, security and reputation.

ABSTRACT Innovation with information technology (IT) helps companies gain more from their IT investment. IT innovation by individuals can be affected by many factors (such as overload, autonomy, and work / family conflict) and developing a better understanding of these factors can help managers make better decisions about the work environment. Using Partial Least Squares (PLS) to analyze data collected via an online survey from the Pan-Pacific region (n = 233), we found that education, number of extended family members responsible for, and autonomy (work method and work criteria) had a significant effect on trying to innovate with IT. Interestingly, we found that neither work-family conflict nor family-work conflict had a significant direct effect on trying to innovate with IT. Our study found only partial support for previous studies that suggested gender was a significant moderator between perceived overload, autonomy and trying to innovate with information technology. The results of this study are important to both practitioners and researchers as they raise important questions about potential impediments to individual innovation with technology. INTRODUCTION The application of information technology (IT) has become a fundamental component of organizational competitiveness (Ahuja and Thatcher 2005; Hamel 1998). Today's hypercompetitive, global economy requires that organizations be proactive in their utilization of information technologies, or face the possibility of becoming noncompetitive (Nambisan, Agarwal, and Tanniru 1999). Information technology innovation refers to applying computer technology in new ways or acquiring IT applications that are new to a firm (Swanson 1994; Swanson and Ramiller 2004). IT innovation often results from efforts of the information systems (IS) department, but can also be initiated by users (Nambisan, Agarwal, and Tanniru 1999). Individuals can apply existing technological features to a broader range of tasks; they can apply technological features to related tasks; or these individuals can apply technology to tasks that were originally bypassed (Rogers 2003). For example, an employee introduced to new database software might develop a department-specific database application to automate recordkeeping and reporting. Because of the potential benefits from IT innovation at the individual level, it is important that organizations understand what motivates or inhibits individuals from utilizing these technologies in new and innovative ways (Ahuja and Thatcher 2005). Many factors, such as one's attitude toward applying existing technology in new applications, influence IT innovation by individuals (Fichman 2000; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, and Davis 2003). Attitude is considered an antecedent of intention, which in turn, has been suggested to predict behavior (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975). The problem with intention, however, is that it can be swayed by perceptions of environmental obstacles, and these perceptions cause the individual's goal to become more difficult to obtain (Bagozzi and Warshaw 1990). The individual intending to innovate with information technology must then decide whether to try to achieve that goal despite the perceived obstacles that exist. Research suggests that work and family environment factors influence an individual's trying to innovate (Ahuja and Thatcher 2005; Amabile and Conti 1999). Ahuja and Thatcher (2005) examined the effects of autonomy and overload and the interactions of these two constructs on trying to innovate with IT. The results indicated that autonomy was an antecedent to trying to innovate with information technology, and the relationships between autonomy and trying to innovate, and overload and trying to innovate differed between males and females. Our study is an extension of the work of Ahuja and Thatcher (2005) and investigates whether work-family conflict and/or family-work conflict influences an individual's trying to innovate with information technology. …

1. INTRODUCTION Mentoring can take many forms. In some cases, a senior member of the organization is assigned to show the ropes to a new employee or junior faculty member; in other settings, it can be a senior faculty member that a younger, junior faculty member is comfortable with when needing advice on decisions or problems they are faced with; or it can take the form of a conversation (or series of conversations) that took place early in an individual's career. In each instance, the mentor provides advice, direction, and serves as a role model for the younger individual. These relationships can be ongoing, irregular, or of very short duration; however, these interactions have a profound impact on the future direction and decisions of the younger individual. Many times these interactions provide a roadmap for the success or failure of the younger individual. In an academic setting, mentoring requires that a senior faculty member be willing to take the time to listen and provide direction to students and/or junior faculty members. Mentoring can be a rewarding, sometimes frustrating, and time consuming process; but it is a role that should be embraced by senior faculty. It is posited that through the mentoring process senior faculty members can make their most significant contribution to future generations. There are many instances where an individual's greatest legacy is not the number of publications that he or she achieved, but their influence on the future generations through listening, providing advice, serving as a role model, and helping students or junior faculty understand what it takes to be successful. Over the past decade, there has been considerable discussion that the Information Systems (IS) academic community is facing an identity crisis. Benbasat and Zmud (2003), Agarwal and Lucas (2003), Wu and Saunders (2003), Alter (2003) and Robey (2003) have provided opinions as to whether this identity crisis actually exists, and recommendations on how the crisis can be overcome. The common theme from these discussions seems to be that faculty within the IS field must undertake research that reverberates across the business community and society in general (Agarwal and Lucas, 2003). Without this type of research, the IS discipline will not be able to achieve legitimacy within the academic community or with other important external stakeholders. Identifying and completing this type of research is difficult, especially for junior faculty members. Junior faculty members are pressured by the tenure and promotion decision that typically occurs during their sixth year of employment. These junior faculties must perform well to succeed in the academic profession. We believe the productivity of these junior faculty members typically is highly affected by their academic training and by the relationship they have developed with a senior faculty member (a mentor). A mentor who has been successful in academia and who has published can generally provide direction on topic selection, method of study, possible outlets for manuscripts, and help with the review process. This type of relationship with a mentor helps the junior faculty member produce research that has the necessary rigor and relevance to be publishable in the top-tier journals of the IS discipline. Studies have examined many factors that contribute to the success of junior faculty members and have attributed their success, failure, and productivity to a complex combination of individual, institutional, and social factors (Blackburn, Chapman, and Cameron, 1981; Bowen and Rudenstien, 1992; Cook and Swanson, 1978; de Velero 2001; Golde and Dore, 2001; Hunter and Kuh, 1987). One factor that has been overlooked, particularly in the study of business schools, is the role that mentoring can have in the productivity of the junior faculty member. The few studies that have addressed this issue have reported mixed results (Blackburn et al. …

IT departments are service providers to business users, and service quality has been proposed as one measure of IT effectiveness. Previous research has adapted the SERVQUAL scale from service marketing literature, using it to gauge business users' expected and perceived levels of IT service quality. In this research, we investigate the other side of the IT-user relationship and look inside the IT function to identify variables that could affect IT service quality.Building on research into climate from the organizational psychology literature, we propose a new construct, IT Service Climate, and a theoretical model that links IT Service Climate with antecedents and service quality. A series of propositions are derived from the model to guide future empirical research, and other potential applications of the climate construct in IT research are discussed. By focusing on the IT department's impact on service quality, we hope to assist managers to pinpoint the causes of service shortfalls.

To advance our knowledge about Internet abuse in the workplace, this study examines how deterrence mechanisms commonly used within organizations impact individual decisions to abuse the Internet. The study uses a policy-capturing approach to test the relative degree of deterrence imposed by common components of Internet acceptable use policies (AUPs). The results provide evidence that an AUP that defines acceptable Internet usage, imposes potential sanctions, and implements detection (or monitoring) mechanisms is an important deterrent of Internet abuse. In addition, these mechanisms are most effective when they are actively enforced. The study provides valuable insights and considerations for drafting and implementing an AUP in an organization.