Rodney A. Pearson

Perceived security and World Wide Web purchase intention

While Web‐based consumer activity is poised on the brink of dramatic growth, concerns about security have the potential to limit this growth by arousing shopper’s concerns about the Web‐based channel. One key aspect to consumer participation in Web commerce may be the extent to which they perceive risk to their sensitive information. This study describes the creation of a scale to measure perceived Web security. We apply the scale in a causal model to investigate the relative impact of beliefs about Web shopping on intent to purchase products using the World Wide Web. Data from two samples is used to develop the scale and to perform the causal analysis. Our findings indicate the favorable psychometric properties of the scale, and the causal analysis from our sample indicates that security is a greater influence on intent to purchase using the Web than is the ease and utility of purchasing products.

Five-factor model personality traits as predictors of perceived and actual usage of technology

Understanding the adoption and use of technology is extremely important in the field of information systems. Not surprisingly, there are several conceptual models that attempt to explain how and why individuals use technology. Until recently, however, the role of personality in general, and the five-factor model (FFM) of personality in particular, had remained largely unexplored. Our study takes an interactional psychology perspective, linking components of the FFM to the use of technology within the conceptual framework of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). After empirically confirming previous research findings linking performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence to technology use, we test direct relationships between FFM personality traits and technology use in the context of a web-based classroom technological system, utilizing measures of perceived and actual use of technology. Consistent with expectations, conscientiousness and neuroticism are associated with perceived and actual use of technology, with conscientiousness demonstrating a positive association with both perceived and actual use and neuroticism, a negative association. Extraversion was also significantly associated with actual use, although not in the positive direction expected. Further, the significant relationships between the personality traits and the actual use of technology were direct and not mediated by expressed intentions to use the system.

Managerial problem-solving in the adoption of Radio Frequency Identification Technologies

This study explores the ways in which managers evaluate Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and participate in its adoption. Using in-depth qualitative focus group and published trade journal interviews, our study contributes to research on managing RFID projects in organizations by identifying salient problems and relating them to sensemaking and influencing activities across problem types and manager experience with RFID. We also identify potential dangers in applying past knowledge, cognitive patterns, and experience about information and communication technologies (ICT) to problems that arise in RFID projects. Our study provides analytic generalizability for future RFID and ICT research.

Effects of human subjects requirements on classroom research: multidisciplinary evidence.

Professors who include their students as subjects in classroom-based research projects typically must submit to a review by their universitys research ethics committee (REC) even in cases which present only minimal risks, and when the investigation is intended for evaluation of teaching approaches only, and not for publication. Results of a web-based survey with 378 respondents indicate that the perceived costs of the review process may outweigh the perceived benefits to subjects. A logistic regression analysis identifies the time it takes to complete the review application, the time it takes to receive a response, and the necessity of revising a project as significant factors in respondents viewing the REC process as a barrier to research. Instituting policies of expedited review for minimal-risk classroom research and exempting evaluations that are not to be published, both of which are permitted under the current regulations, would decrease burdens on both researchers and REC members, and foster improvement of teaching.

Developing an Instrument to Measure Computer Literacy

AbstractAlthough computer literacy is critical to functioning in today’s society, there has been little effort to develop and test adequate measures of this construct. “In point of fact, most of our measures are only measures because someone says that they are, not because they have been shown to satisfy standard measurement criteria” (Jacoby, 1978, p. 87). This study is an attempt to develop such a measurement instrument for computer literacy. The reliability and validity of an objective computer literacy measurement instrument are assessed using longitudinal and cross-sectional data. Longitudinal data have been collected from this instrument over a five-year period. In addition, results of the instrument are compared to results of another, more subjective computer literacy measurement instrument for which adequate measurement properties have been demonstrated in prior research.

Human Subjects Requirements and Economic Education Researchers

This paper presents the results of a web-based survey of economic educators who were asked about their knowledge and experience with human subjects research and the mandated federal protocols that govern such research at most American universities. The results indicate that while economic education researchers are experienced in conducting human subjects research and are aware of the federal regulations, they are not well informed about key details of the regulations. They are skeptical of the net benefits of the mandated protocols because of the perceived discouraging burdens of the paperwork that rarely result in significant modifications of their research projects. The authors conclude that recent calls for modifications to the federal regulations for classroom-based research projects may be justified given the opportunity costs of adhering to the regulations compared to the relatively low levels of perceived benefits.

The Use of a Web-Based Course Management System: Causes and Performance Effects.

This article reports the results of two studies that examined (a) students’ intentions to use a web-based course management system, (b) their actual use of a course management system, and (c) the effect of their use of a course management system on classroom performance. We found that students’ attitudes toward the course management system, perceptions of support, and perceptions of their capacity to control their actions each were associated with their intentions to use the course management system. Subsequently, intentions directly influenced actual use of the course management system and greater usage of the course management system had a statistically significant, albeit modest, positive effect on students’ performance in the course. Practical applications of the findings are discussed.