Matthias Söllner

Designing socio-technical applications for ubiquitous computing: results from a multidisciplinary case study

A major challenge for ubiquitous system design is creating applications that are legal-compatible and accepted by their intended users. Todays European data protection principles contradict the ideas of ubiquitous computing. Additionally, users have to deal with unconventional interaction concepts leading to a low amount of trust and acceptance in such systems. Current development approaches do not sufficiently cover these concerns, as they do not systematically incorporate expertise from the relevant disciplines. We present a novel development approach for ubiquitous systems that explicitly addresses these concerns. Our primary task was to manage the increased number of stakeholders and dependencies, respectively conflicts between requirements of the particular disciplines. The approach incorporates predefined artifacts and a defined workflow with responsibilities, as well as suggesting how to develop mutual understanding. We apply this multidisciplinary approach to develop the ubiquitous application Meet-U.

Incorporating behavioral trust theory into system development for ubiquitous applications

Trust has been shown to be a key factor for technology adoption by users, that is, users prefer to use applications they trust. While existing literature on trust originating in computer science mostly revolves around aspects of information security, authentication, etc., research on trust in automation—originating from behavioral sciences—almost exclusively focuses on the sociotechnical context in which applications are embedded. The behavioral theory of trust in automation aims at explaining the formation of trust, helping to identify countermeasures for users’ uncertainties that lead to lessened trust in an application. We hence propose an approach to augment the system development process of ubiquitous systems with insights into behavioral trust theory. Our approach enables developers to derive design elements that help foster trust in their application by performing four key activities: identifying users’ uncertainties, linking them to trust antecedents from theory, deducting functional requirements and finally designing trust-supporting design elements (TSDEs). Evaluating user feedback on two recommender system prototypes, gathered in a study with over 160 participants, we show that by following our process, we were able to derive four TSDEs that helped to significantly increase the users’ trust in the system.

Why Different Trust Relationships Matter for Information Systems Users

Technology acceptance research has shown that trust is an important factor fostering use of information systems (IS). As a result, numerous IS researchers have studied factors that build trust in IS. However, IS research on trust has mainly focused on the trust relationship between the user and the IS itself, largely neglecting that other targets of trust might also drive IS use from a user’s point of view. Accordingly, we investigate the importance of different targets of trust in IS use. Therefore, we use the concept of a network of trust and identify four different targets of trust that are prevalent from a user’s point of view. Afterwards, we develop our research model and evaluate it using a free simulation experiment. The results show that multiple targets of trust are important in the context of IS use. In particular, we highlight the importance of a second target – trust in the provider – which is equally important as trust in the IS itself. Consequently, IS providers should focus not only on fostering users’ trust in their IS but also on positioning themselves as trustworthy providers. In addition, we show that a third target – trust in the Internet – has significant indirect effects on multiple constructs that impact IS use.

Understanding the Formation of Trust

Ubiquitous computing systems often take the role of a trustee in a trust relationship between users and ubiquitous computing systems. The goal of this chapter is to increase the understanding of the formation of trust in such trust relationships. Instead of using the predominant theoretical foundation of interpersonal trust, we use the theoretical foundation of trust in automation from the HCI discipline. Since we aim at creating insights on the formation of trust and its dimensions, we develop a formative first-order, formative second-order measurement model for trust. To evaluate the impact of the single indicators and dimensions on trust, we conduct a free simulation experiment. Our results show that the dimensions performance, process and purpose have a comparable impact on trust, and that indicators related to user data are especially important. The results complement existing insights, deepening the understanding of the formation of trust in ubiquitous computing systems. (The complete version of this chapter has been presented at the 33rd International Conference on Information Systems 2012 in Orlando, FL, USA, and is also published in the proceedings of the conference as: Sollner, M., A. Hoffmann, H. Hoffmann, A. Wacker, and J.M. Leimeister, Understanding the Formation of Trust in IT Artifacts, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2012: Orlando, Florida, USA.)

Understanding Diversity – The Impact of Personality on Technology Acceptance

Technology is becoming increasingly automated, aiming to ease the life of its users. However, besides the advantages of this trend, users are also faced with increasing risks, e.g., regarding their privacy. Examples are seamless online payments that come with the requirement to provide sensitive, e.g., credit card information, or social networks trying to elicit private information for its users. Research on technology acceptance identified two important factors for the individual decision to accept such kinds of risk: trust and personality traits. In this paper we present a model that integrates research findings for personality traits and for trust in the context of technology acceptance. We show that specific personality traits have a distinct direct or moderating effect. We, e.g., found that two personality traits moderate the relationship between perceived ease of use and intention to use. This moderation could explain the inconsistent findings on this relationship in prior research.

How to use behavioral research insights on trust for HCI system design

Trust has been shown to be a major antecedent of technology acceptance and usage. Consequently, behavioral research has created vast insights on trust building. However, only a small fraction of the existing literature also shows ways of systematically including these insights into system design. Hence, the potential of most behavioral insights on trust for developing new systems often remains only partly realized. To alleviate this problem, we present a way to systematically derive trust-supporting design elements using trust theory. Using a laboratory experiment, we show that the trust-related design elements derived from theory are regarded as being important by the participants, and significantly increased their trust in a restaurant recommendation system as well as in their intention to use it in the future.

Flipping the Classroom – IT-unterstützte Lerneraktivierung zur Verbesserung des Lernerfolges einer universitären Massenlehrveranstaltung

ZusammenfassungDurch steigende Studierendenzahlen prägen universitäre Massenlehrveranstaltungen nach wie vor das Bild in der deutschen Hochschullandschaft. Diese Lehrveranstaltungen sind gekennzeichnet durch hohe Anonymität und einen Mangel an Interaktion und Zusammenarbeit. Lernende bleiben sich im Lernprozess weitestgehend selbst überlassen und sind eher Konsumenten der Lerninhalte anstatt selbst im Mittelpunkt der Lernaktivitäten zu stehen. Jedoch bilden vor allem verschiedene Formen der Interaktion entscheidende Faktoren für Lernerfolg und Zufriedenheit eines Einzelnen. Der Flipped Classroom stellt eine Möglichkeit dar, den Nachteilen von universitären Massenlehrveranstaltungen zu begegnen. Der vorliegende Beitrag präsentiert ein IT-gestütztes Flipped Classroom-Konzept am Beispiel einer Wirtschaftsinformatik-Grundlagenveranstaltung. Das Konzept unterteilt die Veranstaltung in vier aufeinander ablaufende Lernphasen: Selbstlernphase, Peer-Lernphase, Transferphase und Vertiefungsphase. Durch die Integration verschiedener Lernmethoden wird sichergestellt, dass zum einen die Potentiale des IT-gestützten Lernens – beispielsweise orts- und zeitunabhängiges Lernen – adressiert und zum anderen die verschiedenen Formen von Interaktion realisiert werden. Durch die intensive Beschäftigung und den intensiven Austausch mit den Lerninhalten wird sichergestellt, dass alle kognitiven Lernzielebenen adressiert und überprüft werden. Der praktische Beitrag zeigt wie Massenlehrveranstaltungen durch Lernmethoden bereichert werden können. Zudem wird als theoretischer Beitrag die aktive Einbindung von Lernenden in den Lernprozess und deren Rolle als Prosument betont. Das Konzept sowie die Ergebnisse des vorgestellten Beitrages lassen sich auf andere Veranstaltungen im universitären Kontext oder die betriebliche Weiterbildung übertragen.

The Appropriation of Collaborative Learning -- Qualitative Insights from a Flipped Classroom

Collaborative learning is an important part of innovative learning scenarios such as flipped classrooms. However, little insights are available regarding the appropriation process of collaborative learning. Based on adaptive structuration theory, we derive insights on the appropriation process of collaborative learning by means of a qualitative approach. The results show that appropriation is characterized by initial appropriation and task-related discussions. Moreover, an analysis of the identified appropriation junctures indicates the crucial role of information technology in the learning process as well the impact of appropriation patterns on interaction. For one, the present paper theoretically contributes to the scientific discussion concerning collaborative learning appropriation and its evolving nature. Second, it also makes a practical contribution by deriving implications for collaborative learning in flipped classrooms.

Process is king: Evaluating the performance of technology-mediated learning in vocational software training

Technology-mediated learning (TML) is a major trend in education, since it allows to integrate the strengths of traditional- and IT-based learning activities. However, TML providers still struggle in identifying areas for improvement in their TML offerings. One reason for their struggles is inconsistencies in the literature regarding drivers of TML performance. Prior research suggests that these inconsistencies in TML literature might stem from neglecting the importance of considering the process perspective in addition to the input and outcome perspectives. This gap needs to be addressed to better understand the different drivers of the performance of TML scenarios. Filling this gap would further support TML providers with more precise guidance on how to (re-)design their offerings toward their customers’ needs. To achieve our goal, we combine qualitative and quantitative methods to develop and evaluate a holistic model for assessing TML performance. In particular, we consolidate the body of literature, followed by a focus group workshop and a Q-sorting exercise with TML practitioners, and an empirical pre-study to develop and initially test our research model. Afterward, we collect data from 161 participants of TML vocational software trainings and evaluate our holistic model for assessing TML performance. The results provide empirical evidence for the importance of the TML process quality dimension as suggested in prior literature and highlighted by our TML practitioners. Our main theoretical as well as practical contribution is a holistic model that provides comprehensive insights into which constructs and facets shape the performance of TML in vocational software trainings.

Development of a Peer-Creation-Process to Leverage the Power of Collaborative Knowledge Transfer

The effective transfer of existing knowledge among employees becomes increasingly important for organizations in order to remain competitive on the market. Even though the digital age allows for new ways of team collaboration, there are still unsolved problems in terms of knowledge transfer. Thus, knowledge activities as well as aspects of tool support need to be analyzed. Hence, we develop a peer-creation-process (PCP) that provokes knowledge transfer in several ways. There is a transfer of knowledge from experts to novices and among the experts, resulting in a high-quality knowledge document. We ground our research on insights from collaborative learning and collaboration engineering to develop and evaluate the PCP. We contribute to theory and practice by providing a theory for design and action, with the PCP design leveraging the power of knowledge transfer. We illustrate that our PCP is applicable with, and without, IT-support and give differentiated implications.