Nitza Geri

Time Management: Procrastination Tendency in Individual and Collaborative Tasks

Procrastination is the tendency to postpone an activity under ones control to the last possible minute, or even not to perform it at all. This study examines procrastination regarding completion of various parts of a task, each of which has a different deadline. Whereas from an attention economy perspective it may be better to complete all the parts at the earliest deadline, the human tendency to procrastinate results in a delay of the parts that have a later deadline. Data was collected at an online discussion board about the behavior of 120 MBA students. Their assignment included an individual part with a specific deadline for each student and a collaborative part that the students had to complete by the end of the semester. The findings suggest that usually students tended to perform their individual task on time, even when the assignment was voluntary. However, the collaborative part of the assignment was delayed to the last three weeks of the semester when the assignment was compulsory and was not completed at all when it was voluntary. The paper discusses the implications of the findings regarding effective time management of collaborative tasks in online environments.

A Theory of Constraints approach to interorganizational systems implementation

Interorganizational systems (IOS) may provide substantial benefits, however many organizations are reluctant to implement them. This empirical research takes a novel approach and develops a model of IOS feasibility, which is based on the Theory of Constraints (TOC). It introduces the notion of maximal infeasibility, which is the highest among the values of five factors: economic infeasibility, organizational infeasibility, technological infeasibility, risks, and lack of financial resources. The highest value was selected because implementation is hindered even if only one of the feasibility requirements is not fulfilled. Data collected from 139 medium and large Israeli business organizations validated the model, and indicated that strategic motivation is the main driving force for an organization to initiate or to join an IOS, while the main barriers are organizational infeasibility issues such as lack of management support or uninterested potential partners. Adopting a TOC approach to IOS implementation may assist organizations to overcome these obstacles and increase the chance of a successful implementation.

Does the medium affect the message? The effect of congruent versus incongruent display on critical reading

With the expansion of digital information resources and the increasing amount of books and articles that are available online, people frequently read texts in incongruent reading conditions. That is, text, which was designed to be read from paper, is read online, and vice versa. This study investigated the effect of incongruent reading conditions on critical reading. A group of 80 11th graders were asked to read news items in congruent and in incongruent reading situations. Results show a negative effect of incongruent reading, in which text is converted from one display to another without adjustment. The effect was strongest for reading from a computer screen text that was designed to be read in print. Findings demonstrate the importance of format-specific text design, and suggest that universities, information repositories and other text providers should consider format adjustments in making their texts accessible for readers.

The Value of Collaborative E-Learning: Compulsory versus Optional Online Forum Assignments

Online forum assignments are one of the main tools for collaborative learning. This study examines the impact of compulsory submission on the effectiveness of forum assignments. It compares the grades of 120 MBA students who studied an advanced elective course in a blended distance learning university during the years 2005-2009. Some students were required to participate in a forum assignment and their submissions were graded, whereas other students were similarly asked to participate in a forum assignment but their work was not graded. The findings suggest that the benefits of optional forum assignments are marginal, whereas compulsory forum assignments may improve student performance. The main theoretical contribution of this study is the indication that although the students had a task-oriented attitude and were not engaged in social interaction with regard to the forum assignment, compulsory posting of the assignment on the discussion board, improved their performance. Practically, the findings suggest that publishing student assignments on a course website may improve assignments’ quality and therefore enhance student performance, even if there is no further collaboration or social interaction. This finding is important since creating meaningful collaboration in online environments requires considerable instructors’ efforts in moderating the discussion.

The Intellectual Core of the IS Field: A Systematic Exploration of Theories in Our Top Journals

The information systems (IS) field has relied on a broad and varied collection of theories. The core of this theoretical landscape is an important determinant of the identity of the IS field, and has hence been discussed extensively in recent years. Nevertheless, little is known regarding the composition, consistency, and evolution of this theoretical core. Here we address these issues empirically by identifying the theories and levels of analysis which constitute the core of the IS field, and by quantifying the degree of theoretical uniformity among the fields top journals. Using a set of 87 theories in conjunction with n-gram analyses, we analyze the full text of every research article published in three top IS journals over a 22-year period in order to identify the fields most frequently and consistently used theories and theory clusters. We further identify substantial overlap among the theoretical core of the fields leading journals, but also note differences in the theoretical character of each journal.

Are Cross-Gender Conversations in Threaded Discussions Reminiscent of Communicating Across Cultural Boundaries?

At the core of sociolinguistic theory is the recognition that men and women when engaging in an open conversation communicate differently because of their different respective social objectives in communication. Oral conversations are, according to sociolinguists, akin to cross cultural conversations and hence the tendency toward same-gender conversations. Extrapolating to the realm of threaded discussions in online courses, these gender differences, it is hypothesized, should translate into mild gender segregation in the threaded discussions as well as men showing a greater proclivity to dominate the discussion. Data from 233 students in 27 courses support these hypotheses and allow a significant identification of the gender of the student based on whom they reference in the threaded discussion and the way they reference others. Implications on managing threaded discussions are discussed.

Crowdsourcing as a business model: Extrinsic motivations for knowledge sharing in user-generated content websites

Purpose The purpose of this empirical study is to investigate extrinsic motivations that may affect adding or acknowledging user-generated content (UGC) on business websites, which are based on voluntary crowdsourcing. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model of extrinsic motivations for knowledge sharing in UGC-based websites was developed, suggesting reciprocity, awareness of rewards and prestige as main extrinsic motivations for adding content. The model was examined via an online survey of users of three websites that varied in the attributes of knowledge shared and reward type: The Traveler (tangible rewards), Stack Overflow (virtual rewards) and Waze (virtual rewards). Findings Importance of extrinsic motivations varied among websites, as it may be affected by attributes of the knowledge shared. Reciprocity positively affected recommending the website, and adding content affected acknowledging content. Research limitations/implications Investigating extrinsic motivations is important because websites may take actions that affect them. Further research is required to reveal the potential of voluntary crowdsourcing in business contexts addressing both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, prosumption and open innovation. Practical implications When reciprocity is a major aspect of a UGC website, badges and similar mechanisms may serve as a main extrinsic motivation to share knowledge. Originality/value The novel empirically validated model provides theoretical and practical insights for designing mechanisms for increasing extrinsic motivation for knowledge sharing according to specific characteristics of UGC websites.

Daily Deals Websites: Mostly but not all about Location

This study examined the main factors that affect purchasing of coupons on daily deals Websites. The study included a survey of attitudes toward pictures, trust in suppliers, and trust in the intermediary, and also examined exposure to coupons, as recalled by visitors of the Website. A/B testing analyzed 34 offered deals, and compared the actual purchased coupons when the offer was positioned relatively high, and when it was located lower. The findings suggested authentic pictures of the deal are the most important. A negative correlation between perceived trust in suppliers and trust in the intermediary indicated that intermediary good reputation is valuable and may enable deals with unknown suppliers. Offers located among the first 10 deals received the highest exposure, and when the offer was displayed higher, significantly more coupons were purchased.

The U-Curve of E-Learning: Course Website and Online Video Use in Blended and Distance Learning.

Procrastination is a common challenge for students. While course Websites and online video lectures enable studying anytime, anywhere, and expand learning opportunities, their availability may increase procrastination by making it easier for students to defer until tomorrow. This research used Google Analytics to examine temporal use patterns of course Websites, with an emphasis on online video lectures. We analyzed pageview data of 8,977 students enrolled in two compulsory undergraduate courses, one of which is offered exclusively fully online, and three elective courses, one for undergraduates, and two for master of business administration (MBA) students, over a period of two years. Our findings showed a significant u-curve of e-learning for all courses, during all the examined semesters, for courses’ homepage views, as well as for their main video page. We evaluated the depth of the mid-semester decline in e-learning and generally found no significant differences among courses, or over time. However, the relative decline in access to the main video page of undergraduates enrolled in compulsory courses was significantly larger than that of undergraduate and MBA students in elective courses, thus, suggesting that procrastination of video views was slightly higher in compulsory courses. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Developing a Financial Statement-Based Effectiveness Measure of Interorganizational Systems' Contribution

Measuring the contribution of interorganizational systems (IOS) is challenging, and mainly based on subjective surveys. The purpose of this study is to objectively examine the effectiveness of IOS, through data from corporate financial statements. We developed a novel performance measure: an effectiveness ratio that reflects changes in average inventory level in comparison with change in annual sales. This measure reflects a certain aspect of improvement in supply chain management achieved by the evident developments of IOS, while considering external events that affected the companies. Two samples of American and Israeli companies were used for developing and empirically examining the suggested effectiveness ratio over 20 years (1993-2012). The results show considerable improvement as measured by the average effectiveness ratio of randomly selected American international companies in the cosmetics and toiletry products sector. However, the Israeli sample of food suppliers and importers, showed average marginal improvement, and major variance among the companies.