Sung S. Kim

Common Method Variance in IS Research: A Comparison of Alternative Approaches and a Reanalysis of Past Research

Despite recurring concerns about common method variance (CMV) in survey research, the information systems (IS) community remains largely uncertain of the extent of such potential biases. To address this uncertainty, this paper attempts to systematically examine the impact of CMV on the inferences drawn from survey research in the IS area. First, we describe the available approaches for assessing CMV and conduct an empirical study to compare them. From an actual survey involving 227 respondents, we find that although CMV is present in the research areas examined, such biases are not substantial. The results also suggest that few differences exist between the relatively new marker-variable technique and other well-established conventional tools in terms of their ability to detect CMV. Accordingly, the marker-variable technique was employed to infer the effect of CMV on correlations from previously published studies. Our findings, based on the reanalysis of 216 correlations, suggest that the inflated correlation caused by CMV may be expected to be on the order of 0.10 or less, and most of the originally significant correlations remain significant even after controlling for CMV. Finally, by extending the marker-variable technique, we examined the effect of CMV on structural relationships in past literature. Our reanalysis reveals that contrary to the concerns of some skeptics, CMV-adjusted structural relationships not only remain largely significant but also are not statistically differentiable from uncorrected estimates. In summary, this comprehensive and systematic analysis offers initial evidence that (1) the marker-variable technique can serve as a convenient, yet effective, tool for accounting for CMV, and (2) common method biases in the IS domain are not as serious as those found in other disciplines.

Research Note-Two Competing Perspectives on Automatic Use: A Theoretical and Empirical Comparison

Although much research has examined conscious use, which involves deliberate evaluation and decision making, we know less about automatic use, which occurs spontaneously with little conscious effort. The objective of this study is to compare two contrasting views in the literature on the nature of automatic use, namely, the habit/automaticity perspective (HAP) and the instant activation perspective (IAP). According to HAP, automatic use occurs because of the force of habit/automaticity without the formation of evaluations and intention; thus, past use-which is a proxy for habit/automaticity-is believed to weaken the evaluations-intention-usage relationship. In contrast, IAP posits that automatic use is simply an expedited form of conscious use; accordingly, as with conscious use, automatic use is still a function of evaluations/intention, so past use will not weaken the evaluations-intention-usage relationship. We tested the competing hypotheses using 2,075 cross-sectional and 990 longitudinal responses from actual users of two online news sites. Our results show that the evaluations-intention-usage relationship is generally weaker among heavier users than among lighter users. These findings suggest that with an increase in past use, user behavior becomes less evaluative and less intentional, in support of the argument that automatic use is driven more by habit/automaticity than by instant activation of cognitions. Overall, this research shows an initial piece of evidence of the moderating role of past use in postadoption phenomena, and it is expected to help the information systems community systematically investigate the important yet underexplored subject of habit/automaticity.

The Central Role of Engagement in Online Communities

Online communities are new social structures dependent on modern information technology, and they face equally modern challenges. Although satisfied members regularly consume content, it is considerably harder to coax them to contribute new content and help recruit others because they face unprecedented social comparison and criticism. We propose that engagement-a concept only abstractly alluded to in information systems research-is the key to active participation in these unique sociotechnical environments. We constructed and tested a framework that demonstrates what engagement is, where it comes from, and how it powerfully explains both knowledge contribution and word of mouth. Our results show that members primarily contribute to and revisit an online community from a sense of engagement. Nonetheless, word of mouth is partly influenced by prior satisfaction. Therefore, engagement and satisfaction appear to be parallel mediating forces at work in online communities. Both mediators arise from a sense of communal identity and knowledge self-efficacy, but engagement also emerges from validation of self-identity. Nevertheless, we also found signs that the contributions of the most knowledgeable users are not purely from engagement, but also from a competing sense of self-efficacy. Our findings significantly contribute to the area of information systems by highlighting that engagement is a concrete phenomenon on its own, and it can be directly modeled and must be carefully managed.

Security Assurance: How Online Service Providers Can Influence Security Control Perceptions and Gain Trust

Security researchers agree that security control is a difficult to observe credence quality of online services that Internet users cannot easily assess through research or experience. Yet there is evidence that users form perceptions of security control that strongly determine how much trust they put in online services. This study investigates whether users’ security control perceptions arise solely from their predispositions or whether online service providers can influence them. The study also examines whether these seemingly undependable perceptions of security control lead to trust or whether more traditional factors might offer a better explanation of trust under security risks. To address these issues, this study proposes a new theory of security assurance that integrates the frameworks of trust and quality signals. The results show that rather than being guided by predispositions, users appear to mainly assess security control based on indirect cues controlled by service providers. Importantly, Internet users do not treat the credence quality of security the same way they treat qualities that can be understood through search and experience. Although returning users develop security control perceptions and trust from the usual heuristics of ongoing relationships, they also continue to evaluate market information about service providers like they do in new relationships. The proposed model offers a new perspective of how users respond to the uncertain and technically challenging qualities prevalent in online services.

Embarrassing Exposures in Online Social Networks: An Integrated Perspective of Privacy Invasion and Relationship Bonding

Online social networks greatly facilitate social exchange among friends. At times, for amusement, individuals may be targeted by friends’ playful teases, which often involve exposing individuals’ private embarrassing information, such as information that reveals their past indecent behavior, mischief, or clumsiness. Although individuals sometimes do enjoy the humor, they might also be offended by the involuntary exposure. Drawing on social exchange theory, this paper elucidates the consequences of an embarrassing exposure in online social networks. Specifically, this study examines the effects of information dissemination and network commonality on individuals’ exchange assessment as well as how this assessment shapes their behavioral responses. The results of our experiment provide strong evidence that information dissemination and network commonality jointly influence individuals’ perceived privacy invasion and perceived relationship bonding. In addition, whereas perceived privacy invasion increases tra...

Understanding Members’ Active Participation in Online Question-and-Answer Communities: A Theory and Empirical Analysis

Abstract Community-based question-and-answer (Q&A) websites have become increasingly popular in recent years as an alternative to general-purpose Web search engines for open-ended complex questions. Despite their unique contextual characteristics, only a handful of Q&A websites have been successful in sustaining members’ active participation that, unlike lurking, consists of not only posting questions but also answering others’ inquiries. Because the specific design of the information technology artifacts on Q&A websites can influence their level of success, studying leading Q&A communities such as Yahoo! Answers (YA) provides insights into more effective design mechanisms. We tested a goal-oriented action framework using data from 2,920 YA users, and found that active online participation is largely driven by artifacts (e.g., incentives), membership (e.g., levels of membership and tenure), and habit (e.g., past behavior). This study contributes to the information systems literature by showing that active participation can be understood as the setting, pursuit, and automatic activation of goals.

To Cyberloaf or Not to Cyberloaf: The Impact of the Announcement of Formal Organizational Controls

Abstract We investigate the changing causal relationships between cyberloafing behavior and its antecedents after the announcement of formal organizational controls that, unlike informal controls, are officially imposed by organizations. Drawing on Akers’s social learning theory, we first propose neutralization, perceived risk, past cyberloafing, and peer cyberloafing as antecedents of cyberloafing. We then develop a theoretical account of how their impacts change from before to after the announcement of formal controls. The proposed model was empirically tested using data collected from two separate surveys administered a month apart. The first survey captured the preannouncement state of cyberloafing among respondents; the follow-up survey was administered after the respondents were asked to assume that their company had just announced anti-cyberloafing controls that used explicit monitoring and sanctions. We show that preannouncement, employees’ intentions to cyberloaf are mostly influenced by their past tendencies to cyberloaf and by others’ cyberloafing, but their neutralization and perceived risk play no significant role. In contrast, postannouncement, the impacts of individuals’ neutralization and perceived risk on their cyberloafing suddenly become significant. Theoretically, we demonstrate that to accurately predict noncompliant behavior, it is important to account for all four antecedents and incorporate the announcement of formal controls. Practically, understanding how this announcement affects the relationships between cyberloafing and its antecedents suggests different areas managers need to target, pre- and postannouncement, to curb cyberloafing.

Influence of Firm’s Recovery Endeavors upon Privacy Breach on Online Customer Behavior

Abstract The soaring number of privacy breaches has prompted affected firms to learn how to effectively recover damaged customer relationships. In this study we develop and test a model that explains how online customer behavior is influenced by a firm’s recovery endeavors when privacy breaches occur. Drawing on a service recovery perspective, we integrate the notions of justice perceptions and psychological responses into a theoretical framework. The proposed model was tested against data collected from 1,007 online customers based on a hypothetical scenario. Results show that three types of justice perceptions, distributive, procedural, and interactional justice, jointly affect psychological responses—that is, perceived breach and feelings of violation. In addition, psychological responses were shown to be important in shaping postincident outcomes such as post-word of mouth and post-likelihood of switching. The study gives researchers and practitioners a useful conceptual tool for analyzing the effectiveness of organizational practices in recovering customer relationship after privacy breaches.

What Leads to Prosocial Behaviors on Social Networking Services: A Tripartite Model

Abstract The major challenge for social networking services (SNS) has been in getting users to exhibit prosocial behavior by active participation in creating and sharing content. We seek to integrate and reconcile the varying, and sometimes conflicting, explanations of prosocial behaviors at SNS. Rooted in postadoption behavior and commitment theory, our study offers three distinct mechanisms that regulate how one’s experience at an SNS translates into commitment that leads to prosocial behavior. In particular, satisfaction, affective commitment, and active participation substantiate a dedication-based mechanism; past investments, continuance commitment, and resulting inattention to alternatives form a constraint-based mechanism; and social support, normative commitment and users’ intentions to moderate comments are a third, obligation-based mechanism. We empirically tested this tripartite model against data collected from actual Facebook users. The results of our analysis supported the proposed relationships between each mechanism’s experiential factor, mediating type of commitment, and prosocial outcome. Intermechanism effects were rare between commitment mediators and outcomes, they were common between experiential antecedents and commitment factors. Understanding these mechanisms allows SNS managers to fine-tune their service experience to promote specific prosocial behaviors. Meanwhile, researchers benefit from our overarching view of prosocial behavior at SNS that helps to combine and contrast emergent perspectives and theories.