MY PAPERS

We address a grand economic challenge faced by women in rural India. We hypothesized about the interplay of women�??s social networks (ties to family, ties to community, and ties to men in power), information and communication technology (ICT) use, and time in relating to the initiation and success of women�??s entrepreneurial ventures. The results from a 7-year field quasi experiment in 20 rural villages in India provided substantial support for the model. Ties to family and community positively, and ties to men in power negatively, related to ICT use, entrepreneurial activity, and entrepreneurial profit. The ICT intervention also had a strong effect on entrepreneurship, with 160 new businesses in the 10 intervention villages compared to 40 new businesses in the control villages. The results also provide evidence of the dynamic interplay of social networks and ICT use. For ties to family and community, an amplification effect was found such that the highest levels of entrepreneurial activity and success were observed among women with high centrality and ICT use, effects that were stronger over time. For ties to men in power, ICT use was associated with increased entrepreneurial activity only when ties to men in power were low, but these interactive temporary temporal patterns did not emerge for profit. We address the implications of our research for the grand challenges of empowering women in less developed countries.

A key objective of knowledge management system (KMS) implementations is to facilitate job outcomes, such as job performance and job satisfaction. Prior KMS research indicates many KMS implementations have failed to achieve their intended job outcomes, such as job performance and job satisfaction, and one important reason for failure could be that employees do not know how to use a KMS to enhance job outcomes. Given that research on this topic is scant and the findings inconsistent, this paper sought to develop a better understanding of the topic. Specifically, we examine how employees can use a small number of KMS features to get a majority of their job tasks done. Limited research has used a systematic approach to identify these features, examined drivers of using these features, and impacts of the use of such features on job outcomes. Based on a literature review, we first identified several KMS features. Then, these features were examined using a qualitative study among 35 employees in a large organization in the finance industry to identify the key KMS features that could contribute positively to job outcomes. We then developed a nomological network of KMS feature use. Leveraging social network theory, we present peer support ties in general, and help-seeking ties and help-providing ties in particular, as key drivers of the use of these features and job outcomes. We also present various competing hypotheses for the effects from peer support to KMS feature use, KMS feature use to job outcomes, and peer support to job outcomes. We conducted a quantitative study (n = 1,441) in the same organization (noted above) to validate our model. Results indicated that our model was largely supported.

This paper draws from communication research and negative asymmetry theory to examine how employee social network ties at work affect deep structure use and job performance in the context of an enterprise system implementation. Specifically, we examine how the content�??i.e., advice and impeding�??and source�??i.e., friends and acquaintances�??of social network ties interact with one another to influence both deep structure use of the new ES and employee job performance. A longitudinal field study was conducted, with data collected from 145 employees and their supervisors in a business unit of a large multinational telecommunications firm. Results show that both source and content of social network ties influenced deep structure use of the new ES as well as employee job performance. This work contributes to the ES implementation literature by examining the influence of both positive and negative social ties. This work also identifies an important boundary condition of negative asymmetry theory by showing that not all negative stimuli influences behavior equally.

Drawing on expectation confirmation research, we develop hypotheses regarding the effect of compensation on key customer outcomes following a major data breach and consequent service recovery effort. Data were collected in a longitudinal field study of Sony customers during their data breach in 2011. One hundred forty-four customers participated in the two-phase data collection that began when the breach was announced and concluded after reparations were made. Using polynomial modeling and response surface analysis, we demonstrate that a modified assimilation-contrast model explained perceptions of service quality and continuance intention and a generalized negativity model explained repurchase intention. The results of our work contribute to research on data breaches and service failure by demonstrating the impacts of compensation on customer outcomes. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Drawing from a total rewards perspective, we introduce three work outcomes�??namely, extrinsic, social and intrinsic�??as determinants of person-organization (PO) and person-job (PJ) fit perceptions of new IT employees. Gender is proposed as a moderator of the relationships between valuations of different work outcomes and fit perceptions. We found support for our model in three separate studies. In each of the studies, we gathered data about the work outcomes and fit perceptions of IT workers. The studies were designed to complement each other in terms of cross-temporal validity (studies were conducted at difference points in time over ten years, in periods of differing economic stability) and in terms of prior work experience (entry-level workers in studies 1 and 2, and those with prior work experience starting new jobs in study 3). All three studies also included data both pre- and post-organizational entry in order to further validate the robustness of the model. The studies largely supported our hypotheses that: (a) the effect of extrinsic outcomes on PO fit was moderated by gender, such that it was more important to men in determining their PO fit perceptions; (b) the effects of social outcomes on both PO fit and PJ fit was moderated by gender, such that it was more important to women in determining their fit perceptions; and (c) intrinsic outcomes influenced perceptions of PJ fit for both men and women. We discuss implications for research and practice.

There has been widespread use of auto-ID technologies for firm-side applications and operations, such as inventory control. With the increasing diffusion of smartphones, the potential to serve content to shoppers using auto-ID technologies is starting to receive interest among technology firms and retailers alike. Using a design science approach, we design-and-build, theorize about, and compare six shopping assistance artifacts by manipulating the hardware design�??barcode scanner vs. radio frequency identification (RFID) reader�??and content design�??product information vs. product review vs. both. We theorize about how these artifact conditions will compare to a control condition (no shopping assistance artifact available) across three sets of outcomes: technology adoption, security beliefs, and shopping. We tested our propositions in two experiments�??wherein the task was varied: general browsing and shopping (n=227) vs. goal-directed shopping (n=221)�??conducted in a retail store laboratory. We found support for the propositions that the RFID reader was most favorably received in terms of technology adoption outcomes and shopping outcomes, although it was most negatively viewed in terms of security beliefs. We also found support for the propositions that the content design conditions�??i.e., product information, product reviews, and both�??were favorably received. In a post-hoc analysis, we found a two-way interaction of hardware and content designs such that content fueled by RFID was most favorably received in terms of technology adoption and shopping outcomes, whereas most negatively viewed in terms of security beliefs. Interestingly, the two-way interaction was most pronounced in the goal-directed shopping condition such that the most positive effects were observed for RFID in combination with both product information and reviews.

Research on information technology (IT) adoption and use, one of the most mature streams of research in the information science (IS) literature, is primarily based on the intentionality framework. Behavioral intention (BI) to use an IT is considered the sole proximal determinant of IT adoption and use. Recently, researchers have discussed the limitations of BI and argued that behavioral expectation (BE) would be a better predictor of IT use. However, without a theoretical and empirical understanding of the determinants of BE, we remain limited in our comprehension of what factors promote greater IT use in organizations. Using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as the theoretical framework, we develop a model that posits two determinants (i.e., social influence and facilitating conditions) of BE and four moderators (i.e., gender, age, experience, and voluntariness of use) of the relationship between BE and its determinants. We argue that the cognitions underlying the formation of BI and BE differ. We found strong support for the proposed model in a longitudinal field study of 321 users of a new IT. We offer theoretical and practical IT implications of our findings.

Interorganizational business process standards (IBPS) are IT-enabled process specifications that standardize, streamline, and improve business processes related to interorganizational relationships. There has been much interest in IBPS as organizations from different industries implement these process standards that lead to successful organizational outcomes by integrating and standardizing intra- and inter-organizational business processes. These process standards enable data analytics capabilities by facilitating new sources of interorganizational process data. The purpose of this study is to unearth employees�?? reactions to a new type of supply chain process innovations that involved an implementation of new IBPS, a supply chain management (SCM) system and associated analytics capabilities. We gathered and analyzed qualitative data for a year from the employees of a healthcare supplier, a high-tech manufacturing organization, during the implementation of a SCM system and RosettaNet-based IBPS. In what we termed the initiation stage, there was quite a bit of confusion and unrest among employees regarding the relevance of the new process standards and associated analytics capabilities. With the passage of time, in the institutionalization stage, although the situation improved slightly, employees found workarounds that allowed them to appropriate just part of specific processes and the analytics capabilities. Finally, once routinized, employees felt comfortable in the situation but still did not appropriate the new supply chain processes faithfully. Overall, employees�?? reactions toward the SCM system and associated analytics capabilities were different from their reactions toward the new business processes. We contribute to the literature by offering novel insights on how employees react to and appropriate process innovations that change their work processes.

Information technology (IT) implementation is a major organizational change event that substantially disrupts employees�?? work environment. We develop a model of technology adaptation behaviors that employees perform to cope with a new IT that causes such disruptions. Our model posits technology adaptation behaviors as a key linking mechanism between IT implementation and employee job outcomes, thus offering a holistic nomological network of technology adaptation behaviors. Two field studies conducted over a period of six months, with four waves of data collection each, in two organizations (N = 211 and 181) implementing two different ITs supported the model. We found that employees engaged in four different technology adaptation behaviors, i.e., exploration-to-innovate, exploitation, exploration-to-revert, and avoidance, based on whether they appraised an IT as an opportunity or a threat and whether they had perceptions of control over an IT. Employees�?? experiential engagements, i.e., user participation and training effectiveness, and psychological engagements, i.e., user involvement and management support, during the implementation jointly determined their appraisal of an IT. Finally, we found that technology adaptation behaviors influenced changes in two key job outcomes, i.e., job performance and job satisfaction.

The United Nations�?? Millennium Development Goals listed high infant mortality rates as a major problem in developing countries, especially in rural areas. Given the powerful information dissemination capabilities, information and communication technologies (ICTs), they have been suggested as interventions to build infant care awareness, modify healthcare behaviors. We examine how the use of one ICT intervention�??specifically, eHealth kiosks disseminating authenticated and accessible medical information�??can alleviate the problem of high infant mortality in rural India. We investigate how mothers�?? social networks affect their use of eHealth kiosks, seeking professional medical care for their infants and ultimately, infant mortality. Drawing on social epidemiology and social networks literatures, we focus on advice and hindrance from both strong and weak ties as the conduit of social influence on mothers�?? health-related behaviors for the care of their infants. Over a period of 7 years, we studied 4,620 infants across 10 villages where the eHealth kiosks were implemented along with support resources for proxy use. The results revealed that (1) eHealth kiosk use promotes seeking professional medical care and reduces infant mortality, (2) mothers are especially vulnerable to hindrance from both strong and weak ties as they choose to maintain the status quo of traditional infant healthcare practices (e.g., reliance on untrained personnel, superstitions, fatalism) in villages, and (3) advice from both strong and weak ties offers the potential to break down misplaced beliefs about infant healthcare practices and to develop literacy on seeking professional medical care. In contrast, in a comparative group of 10 neighboring villages, the reduction in infant mortality was not as pronounced and the effect of professional medical care in reducing infant mortality was lower. Our findings suggest that an ICT intervention can effectively address one of society�??s most important problems�??i.e., infant mortality�??even in parts of the world with limited resources and deep suspicion of technology and change. Overall, we believe such an ICT intervention will complement other investments being made including the facilitation of use (proxy use) and provision of professional medical facilities to reduce infant mortality.