Clayton Arlen Looney

Emerging business models for mobile brokerage services

Business models designed specifically for the mobile arena are reshaping the industry. But each model has unique advantages and disadvantages---potential adopters should take care in choosing among them.

Inspiring students to pursue computing degrees

Their aspirations are our possibilities.

Paradoxes of Online Investing: Testing the Influence of Technology on User Expectancies*

At an increasing rate, individual investors are taking personal control over their financial destinies by investing their money online. Compared to offline do-it-yourself approaches, evidence suggests that investors exhibit lofty expectations and perform significantly worse after going online. However, little is understood about the mechanisms fueling expectancies, the role technologies play in their formation, or how technologies shape investment decisions. Therefore, this article explores the paradoxical nature of online investing technologies, which can give rise to a heightened state of conviction in ones capability to invest successfully. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, the concepts of encapsulation and combination are introduced to develop a research model describing how functional and technical self-efficacy judgments independently and collectively shape and influence outcome expectancies. The results suggest that perceptions about what one can accomplish through online investing technologies can lead investors to exaggerate their capabilities, which, in turn, produces elevated expectancies of financial payoffs and nonmonetary rewards. These findings carry important implications. In tasks requiring both computing and functional skills, the principals of encapsulation and combination highlight the importance of comprehensively capturing self-efficacy beliefs across skill domain boundaries. Moreover, online investing represents a paradoxical case that challenges the traditional assumption that fostering a robust sense of efficacy represents a purely noble enterprise. In fact, strong self-efficacy beliefs can prove counterproductive, leading to severe, irreversible, and unintended consequences. Going forward, these discoveries provide a solid foundation to enhance systems designs and facilitate a deeper understanding of user psychology.

To share or not to share? Examining the factors influencing local agency electronic information sharing

The ability of local government agencies to effectively utilise technologies to share information constitutes a critical element in nationwide efforts to fight terrorism, combat crime, and protect citizen safety. Alarmingly, current practices have neither effectively transferred information that local government agencies need, nor adequately captured and propagated information generated by local authorities. The objective of this study is to understand the factors influencing local agency electronic information sharing. The results of an in-depth case study provide a comprehensive understanding of the technological, agency and environmental factors that promote or inhibit electronic information sharing by local agencies. An extensive set of recommendations is put forth to enable government officials to enhance the success of electronic information sharing initiatives. Moreover, the findings carry several important implications for theory and practice.

Understanding the Determinants of Service Channel Preference in the Early Stages of Adoption: A Social Cognitive Perspective on Online Brokerage Services*

In today’s increasingly technology-mediated world, individuals are often confronted with a decision of whether to obtain services through online, self-service technologies or traditional, nontechnological alternatives. Understanding the mechanisms by which consumers choose among these competing service channels represents an important concern for organizations, consumers, and Web site designers. This study develops a research model based on Social Cognitive Theory to explain and predict service channel preferences that arise in the early stages of adoption, before a consumer conducts business using a particular channel. The model is subsequently tested in the brokerage services context, using observations obtained via survey. Given the growing popularity of online investing combined with the challenging prospect of making optimal decisions in an inherently risky environment, the context offers insights of practical and theoretical importance. The results suggest that task-specific self-efficacy beliefs serve as the activating mechanism kicking off a chain of psychological events that entice consumers to favor a particular service channel. Higher levels of self-efficacy induce individuals to prefer the online approach. In addition to its direct effect on preference for the online service channel, higher levels of self-efficacy influence one’s propensity to take risks and expectations of performance-oriented rewards, which, in turn, sway consumers to favor the online service channel. Furthermore, self-efficacy and perceptions concerning the credibility of online information interact to affect service ∗ This article is dedicated in memory of the corresponding author’s mother, Margaret A. Looney, who recently lost a courageous battle with cancer. The corresponding author would like to thank Ron and Judy Paige, who provided resources and funding for this research through a faculty fellowship. The authors sincerely appreciate the insightful comments of the editors and reviewers on earlier versions of this manuscript. † Corresponding author.

Improving IS Student Enrollments: Understanding the Effects of IT Sophistication in Introductory IS Courses

The Information Systems (IS) discipline is facing a sharp downturn in student enrollments. De-spite the steady decline in students pursuing the IS major, the demand for information technology (IT) professionals continues to increase. These trends indicate that there might be a shortage of qualified IT employees in the near future. In order to overcome this dilemma, academicians have recently begun to look for mechanisms targeted at improving IS enrollments. This study investi-gates how such a mechanism – IT sophistication – influences students’ aspirations to pursue an IS degree. More specifically, the study suggests that IT sophistication, self-efficacy, outcome expec-tations, and interests are expected to independently and cumulatively affect students’ choice of IS as their major. The data utilized to investigate this issue was collected from students enrolled in introductory IS courses at two large public universities. A total of 151 usable responses were ob-tained. The results indicate that the degree to which students perceive the IT to be sophisticated affects their aspiration to major in IS. Specifically, utilizing state-of-the art technologies that re-flect current industry practices not only enhances students’ confidence in their ability to success-fully perform as an IS major, but also elevates students’ expectations that valued rewards will be received by majoring in IS. In turn, strong self-efficacy and outcome expectations foster student interest in the IS discipline. Moreover, it was found that IT sophistication does not directly affect student interest. Rather, the effects of IT sophistication on interests are channeled indirectly through self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Similarly, our results did not provide support for the direct effects of self-efficacy and outcome expectations on choice goals. In contrast, choice goals develop through strong interests, and finally, interest serves as the primary mechanism through which goals to choose the IS major emerge. Our findings suggest that deploying sophisticated IT in introductory IS classes can be used as a powerful lever to attract additional students the IS discipline. We encourage those who teach in-troductory IS courses to focus on state-of-the-art technologies that reflect cur-rent industry practices. Utilizing these technologies also has the potential to increase student success in the class-room, provide a richer and more engag-ing learning environment for students, and help students become more attrac-tive to recruiters. Despite the knowledge gained herein, the study has certain limitations. The

Self-efficacy, learning method appropriation and software skills acquisition in learner-controlled CSSTS environments

A computer‐simulated software training system (CSSTS) delivers a specific form of computer‐based training in which participants are allowed to select various training features within a simulated software environment. Given the growing use of these systems as end‐user training (EUT) aids, there is a need for greater understanding of how participants use these systems, as well as whether participant‐controlled learning environments are truly effective. The present research examines how a particular learner characteristic, software self‐efficacy, drives appropriation in a high learner control, CSSTS environment. Contrary to notions in the literature, results from spreadsheet and database software training courses reveal that pre‐training specific software self‐efficacy constitutes a significant, negative predictor of faithful appropriations of the CSSTS. This research also establishes a positive relationship between faithful appropriation and increases in software self‐efficacy (SSE). In essence, faithful appropriations lead to greater increases in SSE, which influences software skills performance. In addition, the research validates prior EUT research by extending prior findings to a database training environment. A psychometrically sound measure is put forth to capture database self‐efficacy.

Online investment self-efficacy: development and initial test of an instrument to assess perceived online investing abilities

This paper develops and tests an instrument to measure online investment self-efficacy, defined as an individuals perceived ability to utilize online technologies to accomplish investing-related tasks. A series of empirical studies were conducted to establish the measures psychometric properties. The results suggest that the measure exhibits admirable levels of reliability, as well as convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. As predicted by theory, computer self-efficacy was found to serve as an important precursor to online investment self-efficacy. Furthermore, online investment self-efficacy played a significant role in fueling investor preference for the traditional (full-service) or online investing approach. More efficacious investors tended to prefer Web-based technologies as a vehicle for investing, whereas less efficacious individuals favored the traditional method.

A Social Cognitive Perspective on Channel Preference: A Study of Online Investing

Understanding the mechanisms by which consumers choose to conduct their business activities via the online channel represents an important concern for Web designers, marketers, and public policy makers alike. This study develops a research model based on Social Cognitive Theory to explain and predict channel preference. The model is subsequently tested in an online investing context using observations obtained via survey. The results suggest that task-specific self-efficacy beliefs serve as the activating mechanism kicking off a chain of psychological events that entice consumers to favor a particular channel. In addition to its direct effects on preference for the online approach, higher levels of self-efficacy influence one’s propensity to take risks and expectations of performance-oriented rewards, which, in turn, sway consumers to favor the online channel. Furthermore, self-efficacy and perceptions concerning the credibility of online information interact to influence channel preference. Consumers are most likely to conduct their business activities online when they view themselves as capable and perceive online sources to be credible. Implications for theory and practice are discussed in light of the findings.

Mobile technologies and collaboration

This minitrack focuses rapidly changing and evolving use of wireless mobile computing technologies for human-to-human and human-to-machine collaboration. The Mobile Technologies and Collaboration minitrack focuses on the conceptual design, implementation, use, and evaluation of wireless mobile computing technologies in controlled, organizational, and broader societal settings.