Information privacy refers to the desire of individuals to control or have some influence over data about themselves. Advances in information technology have raised concerns about information privacy and its impacts, and have motivated Information Systems researchers to explore information privacy issues, including technical solutions to address these concerns. In this paper, we inform researchers about the current state of information privacy research in IS through a critical analysis of the IS literature that considers information privacy as a key construct. The review of the literature reveals that information privacy is a multilevel concept,but rarely studied as such. We also find that information privacy research has been heavily reliant on student -based and USA-centric samples, which results in findings of limited generalizability. Information privacy research focuses on explaining and predicting theoretical contributions, with few studies in journal articles focusing on design and action contributions. We recommend that future research should consider different levels of analysis as well as multilevel effects of information privacy. We illustrate this with a multilevel framework for information privacy concerns. We call for research on information privacy to use a broader diversity of sampling populations, and for more design and action information privacy research to be published in journal articles that can result in IT artifacts for protection or control of information privacy.
In today's organizations, employees have an ever-increasing variety of communication media to use in the performance of work activities. In this study, we seek to expand our understanding of media usage in organizations where there is a multiplicity of communication media available to employees. We use communication media repertoires as the lens through which we explore how media is used in the support of communication-based work performed by individuals in complex organizational settings. Data were collected in sales divisions at two large corporations in the information technology industry. We compared multiple media use within and between the two sales divisions, and identified similarities and differences in repertoires. Our findings suggest that use of repertoires is influenced by institutional conditions (e.g., incentives, trust, and physical proximity) and situational conditions (e.g., urgency, task, etc.), and by routine use of the media over time. Based on the findings, we propose a framework for investigating the use of multiple media in organizations through examination of communication media repertoires. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.
As organizations implement more and more distributed work arrangements such as telecommuting, there is a need to understand the determinants of success of this new work setting. This research investigated three variables believed to impact outcomes in telecommuting: the availability of information system technology, the availability of communication technologies, and the communication patterns of telecommuters within their work groups. Two perspectives are used in this study. The direct effects of these three variables on perceived productivity, performance, and satisfaction were tested. A second perspective, based on the concept of fit and contingency theory, posits that successful telecommuting outcomes, measured by perceived productivity, performance, and satisfaction, are predicted by interactions between these independent variables. The study was conducted by surveying multiple respondents from different organizations who were members of work groups in which some or all employees were telecommuters. The results indicate that technology variables positively impact productivity, performance, and satisfaction of telecommuters, while the interaction between the technology variables is significant in predicting perceived productivity. Work group communication, as measured by the centrality of individuals, negatively affects perceived productivity and performance. The paper presents a discussion of the theoretical significance of these findings, and offers recommendations for future research.