Zixiu Guo

Improving the Effectiveness of Virtual Teams: A Comparison of Video-Conferencing and Face-to-Face Communication in China

As virtual teams become more and more important in organizations, understanding how to improve virtual team relational development and meeting outcomes is vital to project success. The objective of this study was to investigate how the dialogue technique that facilitated building of shared understanding in virtual teams can be used to enhance virtual team relational development and decision outcomes in a Chinese cultural context. The results from an experiment demonstrate that the adopted dialogue technique can indeed help team members develop their team relations and enhance their perceived team meeting outcomes. Video-conferencing virtual teams with shared mental models may be engaged as effectively as traditional face-to-face teams. Moreover, this study reveals that the dialogue technique can enhance face-to-face team outcomes. Therefore, the findings of this study have both theoretical and practical implications for helping teams develop shared understanding of effective communication and enhance decision-making outcomes in the Chinese cultural context.

Students' Uses and Gratifications for Using Computer-Mediated Communication Media in Learning Contexts

Despite a growing stream of research into the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) media in higher education, there remains limited understanding about the students‘ motivations for using CMC alongside non-CMC media within a learning context. This article identifies seven dimensions of motivation from the perspective of uses and gratifications (U&G), including information seeking, convenience, connectivity, problem solving, content management, social presence, and social context cues. It was found that each CMC satisfied different motivations for its use, and that overall CMC best fulfilled information seeking, convenience, connectivity, and content management motivations. This study also identifies a number of similarities and differences between CMC and nonCMC media in terms of the motivations for their use. Finally, the study concludes with a discussion of the implications for Information Systems (IS) researchers, higher education, and organizations.

Group norms, media preferences, and group meeting success: A longitudinal study

Group norms are known to have an effect on group meeting success. But to what extent do these norms affect choice of media for communication of group members, and what role does this effect play, if any, in group meeting success? This paper empirically examines these questions. It takes a novel approach in considering these questions longitudinally to investigate the importance of the formation and affect of norms over time. The study presented here showed that group norms do influence group member media preference and that, over time, these effects grow stronger. Furthermore, a strong positive association between the similarity of group media preferences and group meeting success is revealed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance and implications of understanding the effect of group norms on technology use and meeting success.

The Influence of National and Organizational Cultures on Technology Use: An Exploratory Study within a Multinational Organizational Setting

This article presents the results of an exploratory study examining the influence of national and organizational cultures on technology use in a multinational organizational (MNO) context. Data were collected from 121 respondents of a multinational organization in the Asia Pacific with headquarters in Australia and three subsidiaries in Asia: Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. Even though significant differences were found between respondents from headquarters and subsidiaries in terms of perceived media richness and preference for telephone and written documents, very similar media preference patterns for face-to-face and e-mail between the headquarters and subsidiaries were identified. Furthermore, face-to-face and e-mail were two primary media used for most communication activities in this MNO. Follow-up interviews revealed that the universal organizational culture of this MNO may explain media use consistency between the headquarters and subsidiaries. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research considered.

Developing business analytic capabilities for combating e-commerce identity fraud

Given the significant growth in e-commerce, organizations are seeking novel capabilities and technological innovations to deal simultaneously with the volume of data generated and the need to combat potentially damaging fraudulent activity. Although recent studies identify business analytics (BA) as a potential means of combating fraud, significant inroads into the interrelationships between capabilities and the articulation of a pathway to analytical capability have yet to be made. This study presents an investigation of Trustev, a global provider of digital verification technology, and its development of the profile-based social fingerprinting fraud detection solution. Adopting an interpretive structural modeling technique for data analysis, we construct a framework and reveal a road map for organizations to become analytically capable in online fraud detection. Our study adds to the discourse of the application of BA to combat online fraud.

Analyzing consumer goal structure in online group buying: A means-end chain approach

Abstract Given the enormous growth and significant impacts of group buying on Internet business marketplaces, this study aims to understand consumer goal structure in online group buying (OGB) contexts using a means-end chain approach. Using the laddering interview technique, 52 OGB consumers were interviewed. From the interview data, we identified 27 goals consumers pursued and their goal striving paths that are summarized in the hierarchical goal structure. This study has the potential to make significant contributions to both information systems research and e-commerce by utilizing a different approach to explain consumer technology adoption behavior.

Building loyalty in e-commerce: Towards a multidimensional trust-based framework for the case of China

Purpose Although recent years have shown increasing popularity of e-commerce worldwide, there is still a lack of studies comprehensively exploring trust issue in e-commerce. Based on trust transfer theory and signaling theory, the purpose of this paper is to present an integrated research model to test the relationships between trust dimensions and e-loyalty, interactions among trust dimensions, as well as antecedents of different trust dimensions. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a web-based survey in Chinese markets and structural equation modeling with partial least squares was used to analyze the data. Findings The results identified that three trust dimensions all have significant impacts on e-loyalty, and relationships existed in different trust dimensions. Moreover, information quality and security protection are important factors determining institutional trust while store reputation is the most salient factor determining interpersonal trust. Originality/value This research contributes to the body of knowledge on trust by exploring the nature of trust with a multidimensional scale. Another theoretical contribution is the provision of a comprehensive understanding of the trust antecedents in e-commerce. Furthermore, this research benefits the companies doing e-businesses by allowing them to better understand how to improve consumers’ trust in the online environment and thus to retain and attract more loyal customers and succeed in online businesses.

The Effect of Normative Social Influence and Cultural Diversity on Group Interactions

Motivated by concerns regarding the impact of cultural diversity on group interaction processes and a desire to extend the Social Influence Model of Technology Use, this paper discusses the impact of normative social influence on enhancing group media use and group decision making performance over time in different cultural group compositions. This paper proposes that the strength of attraction to the group influences the similarity in media perception and use of group members. The similarity of group media perception and use is proposed to influence group performance. Concurrently, group cohesion, similarity of media perception and use, and group performance are positively correlated over time. Since culture affects individuals’ values, beliefs and behavior, this paper proposes that the degree of similarity in media perception and media use may differ when group composition varies by culture. Several propositions for empirical examination are highlighted. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the importance and implications of understanding cultural diversity and social influence on technology use and group performance.