This paper discusses the value of context in theory development in information systems (IS) research. We examine how prior research has incorporated context in theorizing and develop a framework to classify existing approaches to contextualization. In addition, we expound on a decomposition approach to contextualization and put forth a set of guidelines for developing context-specific models. We illustrate the application of the guidelines by constructing and comparing various context-specific variations of the technology acceptance model (TAM)—i.e., the decomposed TAM that incorporates interaction effects between context-specific factors, the extended TAM with context-specific antecedents, and the integrated TAM that incorporates mediated moderation and moderated mediation effects of context-specific factors. We tested the models on 972 individuals in two technology usage contexts: a digital library and an agile Web portal. The results show that the decomposed TAM provides a better understanding of the contexts by revealing the direct and interaction effects of context-specific factors on behavioral intention that are not mediated by the TAM constructs of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. This work contributes to the ongoing discussion about the importance of context in theory development and provides guidance for context-specific theorizing in IS research.
Internet privacy concerns (IPC) is an area of study that is receiving increased attention due to the huge amount of personal information being gathered, stored, transmitted, and published on the Internet. While there is an emerging literature on IPC, there is limited agreement about its conceptualization in terms of its key dimensions and its factor structure. Based on the multidimensional developmental theory and a review of the prior literature, we identify alternative conceptualizations of IPC. We examine the various conceptualizations of IPC with four online surveys involving nearly 4,000 Internet users. As a baseline, study 1 compares the integrated conceptualization of IPC to two existing conceptualizations in the literature. While the results provide support for the integrated conceptualization, the second-order factor model does not outperform the correlated first-order factor model. Study 2 replicates the study on a different sample and confirms the results of study 1. We also investigate whether the prior results are affected by the different perspectives adopted in the wording of items in the original instruments. In study 3, we find that focusing on one's concern for website behavior (rather than one's expectation of website behavior) and adopting a consistent perspective in the wording of the items help to improve the validity of the factor structure. We then examine the hypothesized third-order conceptualizations of IPC through a number of alternative higher-order models. The empirical results confirm that, in general, the third-order conceptualizations of IPC outperform their lower-order alternatives. In addition, the conceptualization of IPC that has the best fit with the data contains a third-order general IPC factor, two second-order factors of interaction management and information management, and six first-order factors (i.e., collection, secondary usage, errors, improper access, control, and awareness).Study 4 cross-validates the results with another data set and examines IPC within the context of a nomological network. The results confirm that the third-order conceptualization of IPC has nomological validity, and it is a significant determinant of both trusting beliefs and risk beliefs. Our research helps to resolve inconsistencies in the key underlying dimensions of IPC, the factor structure of IPC, and the wording of the original items in prior instruments of IPC. Finally, we discuss the implications of this research
As one of the most commonly experienced problems on the Internet, download delay is a significant impediment to the success of e-commerce websites. While some research has examined how such delays can be reduced and how much delay online users will tolerate, little research has taken a theoretically grounded approach to managing perceptions of the wait. Based on time perception theories, we develop a research model of the effects of actual wait time, amount of information, and direction of attention on perceptions of the wait. Two empirical studies were conducted using an experimental travel website to test the proposed hypotheses. The results show that with shorter waits, providing additional visual content, such as a travel picture, may make the wait feel longer. However, with longer waits, additional visual content that distracts the user from the passage of time makes the wait feel shorter and reduces users' negative affect toward the wait. Further, the benefits of providing visual content in longer waits are enhanced as more content is provided. Visual content should also be chosen to distract the user from time and temporal processing, as reminding users of the passage of time can encourage temporal processing and make the wait feel longer, especially in longer waits or when the amount of temporal visual content is high. Our findings extend time perception theories and contribute to the literature by identifying a potential paradigm shift, from the retrospective to the prospective paradigm, when waiting times are prolonged. Post hoc study results confirm the practical contribution of our research, demonstrating that several key findings are counter-intuitive to professional web designers.
In response to the rapid changes in users' requirements, a new generation of information systems (IS), namely, agile IS, has emerged. Agile IS, defined as information systems developed using agile methods, are characterized by frequent upgrades with a small number of new features released periodically. The existing research on agile IS has mainly focused on the developers' perspective with little research into end users' responses to these agile IS. Drawing upon the tripartite model of attitude, the status quo and the omission bias theories, and the availability heuristic, we propose a model that utilizes constructs from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, the IS continuance model, habit, and individual differences to examine the drivers of user acceptance of agile IS. Further, we investigate not only users' intentions to continue using the agile IS but also their intentions to use new features when they are released, which is a surrogate for the ultimate success of agile IS. Data from 477 users of an agile IS showed that users' level of comfort with constant changes, the facilitating conditions provided, and users' habit are predictors of both types of intentions, with users' level of comfort with constant changes being the strongest predictor. Users' intentions to continue using agile IS are also determined by users' satisfaction with and perceived usefulness of the past upgrades. Finally, users who are innovative are more likely to use future releases of new features. The present work fills a gap in the software engineering literature and contributes a technology acceptance model specific to agile IS, which are becoming a mainstay of companies' IT portfolio in a fast-changing business environment.
The proliferation of information on the Internet poses a significant challenge on humans' limited attentional resources. To attract online users' attention, various kinds of animation are widely used on websites. Despite the ubiquitous use of animation, there is an inadequate understanding of its effect on attention. Focusing on flash animation, this study examines its effects on online users' performance and perceptions in both task-relevant and task-irrelevant information search contexts by drawing on the visual search literature and two theories from cognitive psychology. In the task-relevant context, flash is applied on the search target; while in the task-irrelevant context, flash is applied on a nontarget item. The results of this study confirm that flash does attract users' attention and facilitates quicker location of the flashed target item in tightly packed screen displays. However, there is no evidence that attracting attention increases recall of the flashed item, as is generally presumed in practice, and may even decrease the overall recall. One explanation is that when users have to use their limited attentional resources on suppressing the distraction of flash, they will have less mental resources to process information. Moreover, the results suggest that processing information about an item depends not only on the attention it attracts per se, but also on the attention that other items on the same screen attract. While flashing an item may not increase the recall of that item, it can reduce the recall of other items (especially the nontarget items) on the screen. Finally, flash has negative effects on users' focused attention and attitude towards using the website. These results have implications for website interface design, online product promotion, online advertising, and multimedia training systems, among others.
A feature central to the success of e-commerce Web sites is the design of an effective interface to present product information. However, the suitability of the prevalent information formats in supporting various online shopping tasks is not known. Using the cognitive fit theory as the theoretical framework, we developed a research model to investigate the fit between information format and shopping task, and examine its influence on consumers' online shopping performance and perceptions of shopping experience. The competition for attention theory from the marketing literature and the scanpath theory from vision research were employed to support the analyses. An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of two types of information formats (list versus matrix) in the context of two types of shopping tasks (searching versus browsing). The results show that when there is a match between the information format and the shopping task, consumers can search the information space more efficiently and have better recall of product information. Specifically, the list format better supports browsing tasks, and the matrix format facilitates searching tasks. However, a match between the information format and the shopping task has no effect on cognitive effort or attitude toward using the Web site. Overall, this research supports the application of the cognitive fit theory to the study of Web interface design. It also demonstrates the value in integrating findings from cognitive science and vision research to understand the processes involved. As the information format has been shown to affect consumers' online shopping behavior, even when the information content is held constant, the practical implications for Web site designers include providing both types of information format on their Web sites and matching the appropriate information format to the individual consumer's task.
The explosion in Internet usage and huge government funding initiatives in digital libraries have drawn attention to research on digital libraries. Whereas the traditional focus of digital library research has been on the technological development, there is now a call for user-focused research. Although millions of dollars have been spent on building "usable" systems, research on digital libraries has shown that potential users may not use the systems in spite of their availability. There is a need for research to identify the factors that determine users' adoption of digital libraries. Using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a theoretical framework, this study investigates the effect of a set of individual differences (computer self-efficacy and knowledge of search domain) and system characteristics (relevance, terminology, and screen design) on intention to use digital libraries. Based on a sample of 585 users of a university's award-winning digital library, the results strongly support the utilization of TAM in predicting users' intention to adopt digital libraries, and demonstrate the effects of critical external variables on behavior intention through perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. All of the individual differences and system characteristics have significant effects on perceived ease of use of digital libraries. In addition, relevance has the strongest effect on perceived usefulness of digital libraries.