ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework of trust developing process (TDP) in electronic commerce (EC) in globally distributed contexts. The framework highlights the development of three levels of convincing: (a) technical, (b) contextual and (c) situational; and three phases of committing: (1) cognitive, (2) affective and (3) conative. An interpretive method was used to conduct a case study of HomeStay.com in China. The nine stages of TDP were identified. With the framework of TDP, one can look into the causes of success and failure in trust building process in EC. TDP framework can be used to guide and support the trust building process, to diagnose specific processes and find gaps and problems in TDP processes, and to explore and provide problem-solving solutions in EC. This could add knowledge to the understanding of how trust relationship in EC develops in a dynamic way and give implications to both academics and practitioners. Keywords Trust, electronic commerce (EC), information systems, case study, China

In this article, we explore the different roles that knowledge sharing and exploitative learning play in employees' innovative behaviour, and investigate the different moderating effects of employees' espoused national cultural values on the relationship between exploitative learning and innovative behaviour in the Chinese IT-enabled global service firms with different ownerships. We propose a theoretical model to characterize these antecedents of innovative behaviour. A structured research survey was conducted and data were collected from a sample of 484 full-time employees in 3 IT-enabled global service firms in the PRC. Results indicate that knowledge sharing is positively associated with innovative behaviour in multinational corporations and private IT-enabled global service; espoused power distance has a significant positive moderating effect on exploitative learning-innovative behaviour relationship in state-owned and private firms; espoused collectivism has a significant moderating effect only in state-owned firms in China. Last, we explore the implications of our findings for theory and practice of innovation.

This track addresses social issues related to information technology. Social issues are those research topics most aligned with the human factor in terms of information systems planning, development and utilization. The minitrack contains the following paper topic areas and addresses key topic areas related to (1) trust, (2) relationships, (3) human interaction, (4) diversity and culture in the IT workforce, among other social and IT issues.

ABSTRACT Corporate social responsibility has been regarded as an effective means to improve corporate reputation. Based on attribution theory and correspondent inference theory, this study proposes and tests a model that explains how consumers evaluate and respond to CSR strategies adopted by a company. One experiment was carried out in this study. The findings show the meditating role of consumer attributions in affecting the outcome of CSR strategies. The results also demonstrate that types of CSR activities conducted by a company amplify the impact of CSR strategies on consumer attributions. Reactive CSR strategy leads consumers to assign stronger egoistic-driven attributions to a company when it is involved in cause-related marketing (CRM), while greater values-driven attributions are ascribed to the company by consumers when it participates in philanthropy. Keywords consumer attribution, CRM, CSR, philanthropy, strategy

Knowledge sharing has been described as a key aspect of knowledge management. Most previous studies have examined knowledge sharing among employees from the same nationality but studies on knowledge sharing among multi-nationalities employees is rare. This study investigated factors that influence knowledge sharing among employees of diverse nationality in a multinational setting. The survey method via the use of the questionnaire was employed to collect data from 189 employees working with a multinational organization in Saudi Arabia. The data was analysed using the structural equation modelling (smart PLS). The result indicated that trust and management support are significant factors that influence knowledge sharing among employees of multi-nationality. This paper concludes that factors that affect knowledge sharing could differ in an organization with diversity of employees. Employees' diverse culture, languages, beliefs, and experiences could affect the knowledge sharing process especially in a multi-nationalities organization. The implications of the findings were discussed.

Organizations investing in information technology (IT) over the past decades have categorically seen the uses of IT change. At one point, IT was considered a key strategic tool to gain competitive advantage; however, today, acquiring basic IT functions is a necessity in order not to be at a competitive disadvantage. It takes advanced IT systems, coupled with good strategy to develop an IT competitive advantage. With good strategy and advanced IT systems, some organizations can use IT as a weapon to secure market share and/or eliminate the competition. We suggest in this article that there are strategic points of which organizations should be aware during the implementation and use of information technology. These lessons come from the strategic lesson plans of the ace aviation fighter pilot, the Red Baron.

Organizations investing in information technology (IT) over the past decades have categorically seen the uses of IT change. At one point, IT was considered a key strategic tool to gain competitive advantage; however, today, acquiring basic IT functions is a necessity in order not to be at a competitive disadvantage. It takes advanced IT systems, coupled with good strategy to develop an IT competitive advantage. With good strategy and advanced IT systems, some organizations can use IT as a weapon to secure market share and/or eliminate the competition. We suggest in this article that there are strategic points of which organizations should be aware during the implementation and use of information technology. These lessons come from the strategic lesson plans of the ace aviation fighter pilot, the Red Baron.

Debate abounds over whether the virtual team is an effective substitute for the traditional F2F team and can sustain itself. Drawing upon literature on leadership, trust, computer-mediated communication, and teams, we propose a theoretical model of online learning team effectiveness. A quasi-experiment was conducted to empirically test the impact of trust, trust propensity, leadership effectiveness, and communication frequency on virtual learning team satisfaction and performance. The results of PLS support the majority of our hypotheses. Trust serves a mediating role in the relationship between leadership effectiveness and team satisfaction and performance. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed at the end of the paper.

An experimental study examined effects of knowledge map-based learning, a form of computer assisted instruction (CAI), on assisting novice users in acquiring software knowledge and skills. Fifty five subjects participated in this experimental study. Two classes of students in a webpage development course were randomly chosen to receive different treatments. Twenty four students received the knowledge map-based training, while thirty one students received the traditional face-to-face training. Target software acquired by students in this study is ASP.NET. This study focuses on the data-access component ADO.NET (ActiveX Data Objects) of this target software. ADO.NET is a database access component and allows users to interact with database systems from browsers. A pre-test and post-test was administered to assess the effect of knowledge map-based learning on learning outcomes, with the traditional F2F training group as a controllable group. Results showed that students who receive the knowledge map-based training slightly outperformed those students who receive the traditional face-to-face training. Statistical evidences show that both training approaches are effective to help students acquire object-oriented software, such as ADO.NET, based on the mean scores of pre- and post-tests. Recommendations were made to instructor and practitioners to improve the efficacy of knowledge map-based training.

Using electronic voting systems is divisive as some countries used such systems and others did not. Electronic voting (e-voting) is relatively a new concept based on its application that aims at reducing errors and improving the convenience and integrity of election process. This paper tried to explore the factors that influence the adoption of such systems in a university environment. The study utilized a sample of 302 bachelor degree students in a public Jordanian university and in relation to students' council election process. Results indicated that students were keen on the concepts of trust and usefulness of e-voting when adopting such systems. The study supported the findings of TAM in the area of technology acceptance. Conclusions are at the end of this paper.

The Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) is a professional organization that offers students, especially those majoring in Computer Information Systems (CIS) and related majors, a number of opportunities and benefits.We have discovered that a majority of CIS majors at our university, as well as other schools, have not joined their local AITP student chapter.To better understand why some students have not joined AITP, we first conducted interviews with CIS majors, both AITP members and non-AITP members, to elicit their perceptions and opinions about AITP.Based upon the findings from the interviews, we then surveyed 105 CIS students at our institution.We tested for significant differences between AITP members and non-AITP members.We discovered that some students have misperceptions about AITP.We also found that several factors, such as lack of time and money, may deter students from joining AITP.Some students have strong feelings, both positive and negative, about AITP.We used the Theory of Planned Behavior, along with Cognition and Affect constructs, to determine what factors significantly influence students' intentions to join or remain an AITP student member.As expected, Attitude and Perceived Behavioral Control significantly influence Intention.We also discovered that both Affect and Cognition are important predictors of Attitude.However, we were surprised to find that Subjective Norm does not significantly influence students' intentions.The model shows an impressive amount of variance explained for Behavioral Intention (R 2 = .743).Our findings provide us evidence of which cognitive, affective, attitudinal, and control beliefs to target in order to better influence students to join their AITP student chapter.

Research over the past few decades has identified that organizations have been faced with social/ economic pressure to utilize information technology and to facilitate communication via technological modes. These technology drive communications, under media richness theory, have been found to impact group cohesion and performance. The communications that are dependent on media richness are affected by individual user characteristics. Further group impacted by technology driven communication often experience varying levels of individual member agreeability, which further affect cohesion and performance. The individual users who participate in group projects must communicate, and ultimately can have different performance and cohesion outcomes based on the mode of communication used. This study identifies significant differences between groups, using specific media to communicate cohesion, the change in cohesion, agreeability and performance. Over the past few decades, organizations have faced increased pressure to utilize information technology (IT) to expand markets, to support increased communication between constituents, to streamline organizational decision making, and to improve employee productivity. Unfortunately, the results are contradictory as to the success IT has had in helping organizations achieve these goals. On one hand, several studies have reported beneficial returns on investment with the aforementioned implementation of information technology (Bourquard, 2004; Chienting, Jen-Hwa Hu, & Hsinchun, 2004; Dehning & Richardson, 2002; Hinton & Kaye, 1996; McGrath & Schneider, 2000; Violino, 1998; Willcocks & Lester, 1991). On the other hand, research also seems to suggest that technology can sink an organization when IT is not in alignment with the strategic goals of the organization (Arlotto & Oakes, 2003; Hinton & Kaye, 1996; PITAC, 1999; Violino, 1998; Willcocks & Lester, 1991). Adding to this dilemma, the marketplace has been turning to global expansion, becoming more demographically diverse, and relying more on the use of workgroups and teams (Stough, Eom, & Buckenmyer, 2000). These work teams historically have performed in homogenous settings and have met primarily face-to-face (FTF). These teams typically used little technology to interact. Lawler, Mohrman, & Ledford (1992) found that organizations that use teams more often have a positive outcome in decision making, employee trust and employee tenure. Considering the advances in communication media over the past twenty years, information technology has become a part of the everyday operations of most businesses. The requirement of the employee to use this technology has become essential to organizational success. With the organizational dependence on the employee to use information technology, plus the increased use of teams in the workplace, organizations may fail to provide workers with the support and training needed to develop cohesive groups resulting in improved performance and member satisfaction (Sarbaugh-Thompson & Feldman, 1998; Yoo, 2001). Several studies have concluded that teams that communicate successfully have had positive team performance (Rice, 1979; Tuckman, 1997; Zaccaro & Lowe, 1988). However, the independent variables considered in the aforementioned research vary greatly and seem to show inconsistency in identifying indicators that could be used to help with the implementation of technology that supports team performance. This study looks at face to face (FTF) and virtual teams, the personality trait of agreeability and the impact of specific communication technology on cohesion and performance. We use the media richness theory to facilitate our literature review and to guide the development of our hypotheses.

Organizational survival represents a vital objective for firms, managers, and owners. Most organizational theories regard survival as the 'correct' outcome for firms whose managers successfully navigate across a hostile competitive landscape. On the other hand, when a firm 'disappears,' scholars, managers, and owners ask, What went wrong?' Failure, exit, bankruptcy, liquidation, hostile takeovers, are largely viewed as results of managerial 'bungling.' Many theories about performance, competitive advantage, legitimacy, and leadership rest upon a core assumption that firms, at least some of them, have long, perhaps limitless, life-spans. Long-term survival is not seen as merely a random outcome or an unattainable goal. This paper surveys a broad set of empirical findings about firms' life-spans. It is consistently revealed in the empirical literature that the VAST majority of firms, even large firms, survive relatively short periods. Some themes and their implications are discussed. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

As the changing demographics of the workplace influence how organizations operate, the need to reexamine relationships between these demographic variables and their effect on the organization continues. This study provides an empirical examination of the effect of two demographic variables, age and gender, and any moderating impact anxiety, enjoyment, and/or peer pressure may have on computer usage. Based on our analysis of 292 knowledge workers, we identified no significant difference between men and women and/or young and old regarding their computer usage in the workplace. Therefore, the findings from this study do not seem to support earlier research regarding age and gender, which indicated that these variables did impact computer usage. However, the moderating construct (anxiety) did appear to be significant in the employees’ computer usage.

Organizations search for effective ways working groups or teams can communicate. With the proliferation of computer mediated technology and the increasing channel richness provided by technology, organizations, as a result of technology, have reduced face-to-face meetings. This research focuses of the importance of media richness and the cohesion a group experiences by looking at eighty-seven 5-person teams. The assigned groups were provided with the options of utilizing MSN NetMeeting, Email, or Face-to-Face options as a means of communication needs. Data collected regarded cohesion, the perceived usefulness of the communication media selected, frequency of communication, performance outcomes, and general demographics. Results demonstrate first that media type (richness), and frequency of communication does affect the cohesion of a work group, and second that technology driven communication does not enhance cohesion. Organizations eager to include IT to enhance communication within groups may find a loss in group/team cohesion and resulting performance.