Kevin Hill

Information Systems Project Management Risk: Does it Matter for Firm Performance?

Over the last three decades, much IS research has focused on information systems development ISD risk and its impacts on ISD success. While these studies have greatly advanced the understanding of the nomological network of ISD risk and success, the literature is still not sufficiently clear on the firm performance impacts of these concepts. Linking ISD risk and success to firm performance is important so as to better understand whether ISD projects can have broader firm-level implications, for example, in terms of providing firms with a competitive advantage. To address this research need, the present research note advances propositions regarding the linkage between ISD risk, success, and firm-level performance conceptualized as competitive advantage. This linkage sheds light on the broader effects of ISD risk, and it helps ISD research overcome the isolation in which it is often conducted. Using the concept of residual risk i.e., the risk present in the later stages of a project that remains after appropriate actions have been taken to mitigate initial risks in the early stages of a project, the authors propose that ISD risk impacts firm performance by reducing ISD success and that the value arising from ISD projects is higher when IT and business plans are synchronized i.e., when they are in alignment.

Changes in relationship conflict as a mediator of the longitudinal relationship between changes in role ambiguity and turnover intentions

Purpose – This study aims to clarify the relationship between changes in role ambiguity and turnover intentions. The authors propose that increases in role ambiguity over time can bias employees’ interpretations such that they come to view more relationship conflict at work. Because of the importance of social relationships at work, the authors propose that these increases in perceptions of relationship conflict mediate the positive effect of increases in role ambiguity on turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach – This study is a two-wave longitudinal analysis of survey responses obtained from 146 employees working in the health-care sector over a three-year period. Structural equation modeling of cross-lagged correlations was used to test the hypothesized model. Findings – The positive relationship between increases in role ambiguity and turnover intentions over time is mediated by increases in relationship conflict. Results provide an integrative explanation of the phenomenon, uniting role theo...

Helping an Old Workforce Interact with Modern IT: A NeuroIS Approach to Understanding Technostress and Technology Use in Older Workers

Older workers (defined here as 60 years of age and over) are experiencing major problems using modern information technologies (IT). These problems include greater anxiety and more stress when using IT. The proliferation of interruptions mediated by IT is especially problematic for them. Thus, this research has four objectives: (1) to develop a research model explaining which broad-spectrum cognitive mechanisms mediate the impact of age on stress in today’s interruption age, (2) to explain the importance of having interruptions appear at predictable locations on the screen so as to help older workers use IT with greater ease and efficacy, (3) to explain the importance of using calm interruptions (i.e., no animation or aural alert) to help older workers be less stressed and more productive members of the organizations they work for, and (4) to offer practical, concrete guidance regarding interruption design and organization to software engineers and managers.

A time-lagged investigation of the mediating role of person–organization fit in the relationship between leader–member exchange and employee affective organizational commitment

ABSTRACT This study provides a new perspective on the relationship between LMX and affective organizational commitment, treating person-organization fit (P-O fit) as an explanatory mechanism and identifying co-worker support and customer recognition as moderators of the first stage of this indirect relationship. Results of a three-wave time-lagged study of survey responses obtained from 137 employees working in the retail service sector over a three-year period were consistent with the proposed model. Multiple regression and moderated mediation analyses revealed that LMX indirectly and positively predicted affective organizational commitment through its positive relationship with P–O fit, suggesting that LMX provides a means by which supervisors are able to instill organizational values in employees and/or signal the degree to which their values match those of the organization. Moreover, co-worker support and customer recognition each moderated the first stage of this indirect relationship, such that the relationship between LMX and P–O fit and, in turn, its indirect relationship with affective organizational commitment is stronger as support from co-workers or customer recognition is lacking. At high levels of co-worker support and customer recognition, LMX exhibits no significant relationship with P–O fit. Together, these results provide new explanations for how and under which conditions LMX might influence employee commitment, suggesting that LMX is particularly salient when employees are lacking other sources of relational support or recognition and that high-quality relations with co-workers and/or customers may serve to compensate for low LMX quality in shaping P–O fit and affective organizational commitment.

Physiological, Psychological, and Behavioral Measures in the Study of IS Phenomena: A Theoretical Analysis of Triangulation Strategies

Recent NeuroIS research has suggested that physiological measures could contribute to an improved explanation and prediction of IS phenomena. However, few studies have examined a combination of different kinds of measures, raising the question of how the propagated improvement in explaining and predicting IS phenomena can be achieved. Therefore, research is needed that sheds light on the interrelationship amongst physiological measures (i.e., NeuroIS), psychological measures (i.e., perceptual, self-report), and behavioral measures (i.e., directly observed behaviors). Drawing on the methodological triangulation approach, this research essay endorses the use of multiple measures in the study of IS phenomena, and it discusses two strategies that can be useful in this endeavor: convergent validation and holistic representation. The former aims to explain and predict variance in IS dependent variables with greater certainty, while the latter intends to increase the amount of variance explained. The essay concludes that—although both strategies have merit—holistic representation is where NeuroIS could play an especially important role.