Information Systems Journal最新文献

Online learning platforms increase opportunities for learners to participate in learning out of interest, without any external incentives such as fulfilling requirements for degree programmes or certificates. However, such forms of online learning often suffer from low sustained learning engagement. Building on theories related to normative influences, this study extends the literature by focusing on the effect of peer information on learning engagement and outcomes in an online learning setting without external incentives. A field experiment was conducted through a leading massive open online course platform in China, and information interventions were manipulated in social media groups associated with the course. Surprisingly, the results revealed that the presence of peers' active learning behaviour information did not always lead to enhanced learning engagement. Specifically, it had a positive influence only when question intervention was applied, that is, when the learners were also presented with questions related to the course content prior to learning. Moreover, question intervention alone was effective in enhancing learning engagement. Our results also showed that the learners with question interventions were more likely to pay attention to their peers' behaviour and align their learning pace with that of their peers. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Online platform businesses can grow massively and rapidly. But what if a company's business model features both an online platform application and a physical product, as is the case in logistics (e.g. container distribution), consumer retail (e.g. food delivery), or mobility (e.g. booking of shared rental vehicles)? Online-to-offline platform businesses must synchronise online platform growth with offline product transaction growth because online platforms may attract users, but value generation and capture occur through offline product transactions. If one outpaces the other, either demand cannot be satisfied, or costs increase disproportionally. How do online-to-offline platform businesses navigate this dilemma? We report on the exemplary case of Vytal, an innovative startup that has managed to become the world-largest provider of smart reusable packaging solutions in the food retail sector. Vytal couples the distribution of offline food containers with an online transaction platform application that connects restaurants, canteens, and supermarkets with consumers. We trace how Vytal strategically organised and orchestrated their growth online and offline. Based on our analysis, we offer a framework containing practical lessons for how companies can grow online-to-offline platform business models and navigate the trade-offs between the online and offline components of such business models.

Digital technologies are playing an increasingly central role in crisis management. Despite concerted efforts by information systems (IS) scholars to explore the capabilities of digital technologies to foster resilience against crises, very few have investigated the dynamics of building digital resilience in turbulent times. This study, drawing upon the resource orchestration view (ROV) and through an empirical investigation of Taiwan's COVID-19 pandemic management, unpacked the black box process of governments leading heterogeneous societal entities to promote resource orchestration actions for the development of digital resilience. The research findings revealed four patterns of digital resource orchestrations—dual-purposing existing IS, balancing data exploitation, enacting online co-production, and augmenting social network effects—that led to rapid and effective pandemic crisis management in Taiwan. We incorporated our findings into a research model of digital resilience in the making, thereby providing a mechanism for building digital resilience at a societal level. The research outcomes foreground temporal and societal aspects of digital resilience that contribute to the literature by adding new insights to the currently limited research on the operational process of building digital resilience.

Employees want to be able to telework and organisations want to provide the ideal environment to make it a success story. While some teleworkers experience telework success, that is, are satisfied and perform well, others do not. To understand the drivers of successful and unsuccessful telework, we used a mixed methods approach, taking a stress-theoretic and configurational perspective. In Study 1, we conducted a quantitative analysis of data collected in a survey of 375 teleworkers to identify configurations of information and communication technology (ICT), work and family related challenge and hindrance stressors that lead to high and low telework success. In Study 2, we analysed qualitative data collected in interviews with 52 teleworkers to shed light on the interplay among ICT, work and family related challenge and hindrance stressors in the configurations that lead to high and low telework success. We contribute to telework research by showing that high and low telework success results from configurations of ICT, work and family related challenge and hindrance stressors. We extend the literature by showing that teleworkers benefit from challenge stressors only when they do not experience hindrance stressors. Methodologically, we provide a blueprint for an innovative approach using deductive fsQCA to refine, extend and delimit theory.

Digital technologies have a recognised potential to build more efficient, credible, and innovative public institutions in Latin America. Despite progress, digital transformation in Latin American governments remains limited. In this work, we explore a peculiar yet largely understudied opportunity in the region: pursuing digital government transformation as a collaborative process between the government and civil society organisations. To do so, we draw from information systems research on digital government and platforms for development, complemented with governance theory from political science and conduct an interpretive in-depth case study of an urban reporting platform in Montevideo called ‘Por Mi Barrio’. The study reveals three mutually reinforced orders of governance in the trajectory of the project and explain how the collaboration unfolded over time: (i) a technical decision to use open platform architectures; (ii) the negotiation of formal and informal rules to make the project thrive and (iii) a shared, long-term ideology around the value of open technologies and technical sovereignty grounded in years of political history. Using a contextual explanation approach, our study helps to improve our understanding on the governance of collaborative digital government platforms in Latin America, with specific contributions to practice.

Many companies gain external expertise, lower their costs and generate publicity by using crowdsourcing platforms to complete tasks by leveraging the power of the crowd. However, the number of solvers attracted by crowdsourcing tasks varies widely. Although some well-known crowdsourcing contests have attracted large numbers of participants, many tasks still suffer from low participation rates. Prior research aimed at solving this problem has focused on factors such as task rewards and durations while overlooking whether a well-written description might motivate solvers to choose a task. Based on signalling theory, this study investigates the effect of task descriptions on solvers' participation by focusing on informational and affective linguistic signals. Our model is validated by analysing 13 929 descriptions posted in single-winner tasks on epwk.com, a Chinese competitive crowdsourcing platform. For informational linguistic signals, the results reveal that there are inverted U-shaped relationships between both concreteness and specificity and solver participation, whereas linguistic accuracy has a positive effect on solver participation. For affective linguistic signals, positive emotional words have a positive relationship with solver participation, whereas negative emotional words have the opposite effect. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Platformization is gathering pace because it is capable of restructuring the value creation process for ecosystems. Despite its merits, the failure rate of platformization is alarming for incumbents because it demands collective commitment from ecosystem partners who are already intricately connected due to their embeddedness in pre-existing value networks. Consequently, the question of how incumbents can prepare for platformization has attracted attention from both academics and practitioners alike. By conducting multiple case studies of three distinct ecosystems that have successfully embraced platformization, we arrive at three separate process patterns of preparation for ecosystem platformization that elucidate the dimensions of organisational readiness required of the initiating firm and its partners. Particularly, we delineate between shared readiness and situated readiness, each with its own constituent sub-dimensions underlying ecosystems' preparedness for platformization.

Digital entrepreneurship relies not only on the individual entrepreneurs' skills and effort but also on rules and structures related to institutions, especially in developing contexts such as Latin America. Considering this, we analyse how institutional factors can affect digital entrepreneurship by SMEs and startups and what types of institutional changes are needed to support digital entrepreneurship by these companies. Based on institutional theory as a theoretical lens, we conducted two case studies in Brazil. The research results indicate that the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem's actors perform institutional work that generates changes related to the regulative, normative, and cultural/cognitive institutional pillars. These changes affect both the legitimacy of digital innovations created by SMEs and startups and the legitimacy of these companies as ecosystem players, which is vital for them to access the resources needed to innovate and thrive. Based on these results, we propose a theoretical framework and provide suggestions for practice and public policies related to digital entrepreneurship by SMEs and startups in the context studied.