Brenda Eschenbrenner

Gamification of Education: A Review of Literature

We synthesized the literature on gamification of education by conducting a review of the literature on gamification in the educational and learning context. Based on our review, we identified several game design elements that are used in education. These game design elements include points, levels/stages, badges, leaderboards, prizes, progress bars, storyline, and feedback. We provided examples from the literature to illustrate the application of gamification in the educational context.

Role of Social Media in Public Accounting Firms.

Social media has been widely used for both professional and personal communications. Businesses recognize the importance of social media and are using them to fulfill various business objectives. In this paper, we focus on analyzing the business objectives of public accounting firms that have both a firm-wide main page and a career page on Facebook. More specifically, we compare the business objectives they are achieving with their firm-wide main pages versus career pages. We not only find differences in the objectives that are being achieved, but also identify other objectives that are not actively being pursued on either page but may be considered in the future.

Enhancing IS User Empowerment and Problem-Solving Behavior Through Training and Prompting

Information systems (IS) users may learn to use IS through training, but may not be able to solve IS problems that arise. This may be because of limited skills and knowledge of IS problem-solving strategies to resolve these issues. Although previous IS research has studied various aspects of training and trainers as well as the influence on performance outcomes, research has not specifically focused on training problem-solving techniques or behaviors. Considering the potentially negative outcomes from being unable to resolve IS problems, such as inaccuracies or inefficiencies in performance outcomes, this research proposes to address this gap. Research studies have demonstrated that behavioral interventions, such as prompting and transfer of stimulus control, have influenced the use of desired behaviors in specific as well as novel situations. Prompting encourages the desired behavior to be utilized, the desired behavior can then be reinforced for continuous use, and prompting is eventually removed and stimulus control is transferred to a natural stimulus (e.g., IS problem). This research intends to evaluate the effectiveness of prompting and transfer of stimulus control to enhance users’ sense of empowerment, efforts to solve IS problems, and performance outcomes. Therefore, this study intends to provide insights on methods of improving IS users abilities to solve IS problems by increasing users’ sense of empowerment and problem-solving behaviors when utilizing software applications with the use of specific behavioral interventions (i.e., prompting and transfer of stimulus control).

Collaboration in Virtual Worlds: Impact of Task Complexity on Team Trust and Satisfaction

Virtualworldsarethree-dimensional,computer-generatedworldsinwhichteamcollaborationcanbe facilitatedthroughtheuseofsharedvirtualspaceandmediatedusingavatars.Thisarticleexamines theeffectoftaskcomplexityonteamcollaboration.ApuzzlegameinSecondLifewasusedasthe collaborative taskand taskcomplexitywasmanipulatedbyvarying thenumberofpieces in the puzzle.Thehypothesesare that taskcomplexity influences teamtrust,andteamtrust influences teamprocesssatisfactioninvirtualteamcollaboration.Theexperimentalresultsindicatethattask complexityhassignificanteffectsonteamtrustandteamprocesssatisfaction,andteamtrustfully mediatestherelationshipbetweentaskcomplexityandteamprocesssatisfaction. KeyWoRDS Chaos Theory, Complexity Theory, Dyad, Process Satisfaction, Task Complexity, Team Collaboration, Team Satisfaction, Trust, Virtual Teams, Virtual Worlds

Information Technology Adoption: Do Performance Objectives and Incentive Structures Make a Difference?

User adoption of information technology (IT) is important to organizations to maximize their return on investment. However, if appropriate support is not structured to encourage this endeavor, subsequent IT usage may be problematic. Of the various types of organizational support, performance objectives may be structured to influence user IT learning and adoption efforts. Although previous research has addressed adopting IT and deciding when to learn IT, research has not looked at the impact that performance objectives, along with the appropriate incentives, can have on this endeavor. This research study proposes to explore this issue to lend insights into the influence that performance objectives and incentive structures can have on a user’s decision to learn and adopt IT, as well as subsequent performance outcomes. The potential contribution includes suggestions for appropriate support structures to establish that contribute to IT adoption and proficient IT usage.

Social Media in Health Care

To identify existing streams of research and develop an agenda for future research, we reviewed and synthesized the existing literature relevant to social media in health care. In particular, our review encompassed two themes - Patient Use of Social Media and Healthcare Organization/Professional Use. Within these overarching themes, we focused on four subthemes (i.e., two under each main theme): community/public health and patient support/use, as well as medical litigation & compliance risk and health education & information sharing. From this review, we have also proposed future research topics and questions to further cultivate this salubrious research domain.