In recent years, several organizations have implemented non-mandatory information and communication systems that escape the conventional behavioral logic of understanding acceptance and usage from a normative perspective of compliance with the beliefs of others. Because voluntary systems require users' volitional behavior, researchers have traced recent implementation failures to a lack of user commitment. However, gaps in our understanding of volitional usage behavior and user commitment have made it difficult to advance theory, research, and practice on this issue. To validate a proposed research model, cross-sectional, between-subjects, and within-subjects field data were collected from 714 users at the time of initial adoption and after six months of extended use. The model explained between 44.1% and 58.5% of the variance in adoption and usage behavior based upon direct effects of user commitment. Findings suggest that user commitment plays a critical role in the volitional acceptance and usage of such systems. Affective commitment, i.e., internalization and identification based upon personal norms, exhibits a sustained positive influence on usage behavior. In contrast, continuance commitment, i.e., compliance based upon social norms, shows a sustained negative influence from initial adoption to extended use. Theory development based upon Kelman's social influence framework offers new empirical insights about system users' commitment and how it affects volitional usage behavior.

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The present study investigated the degree to which pay preferences influenced job search decisions in both hypothetical and actual organizations, and the degree to which preferences for particular compensation attributes depended on job seekers ' dispositional characteristics. Based on prior theory and research, we hypothesized that certain pay systems generally would be preferred by job seekers, that these pay systems would affect applicant attraction to organizations, and that different types of job seekers would be attracted to different types of pay systems. The sample comprised 171 college students who were seeking jobs during the study, and who represented six majors, three degree types, and two degree levels. Experimental policy-capturing results and results obtained about actual companies with which the job seekers would potentially interview supported hypotheses that organizations perceived to offer high pay levels, flexible benefits, individualbased pay, and fixed pay policies were more attractive to job seekers.

This study examines the use of integrated communication and engineering design tools in a distributed learning environment. We examined students' attitudes toward the technology using two different approaches. First, we utilized the technology acceptance model to investigate the attitude formation process. Then, to investigate how attitudes changed over time, we applied social information processing model using social network analysis method. Using the technology acceptance model, we were able to demonstrate that students' initial expectation affected the perceptions of, attitudes toward, and use of the system. With social network analysis, we found that one's attitude change was significantly influenced by other students' attitude changes. We discussed the uniqueness of distance learning environments in the context of social influence research and how studies of distance learning could contribute to the research on the social influence of technology use. Keywords Technology acceptance model, Social influence, Network analysis, Attitude, Distance learning

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The World Wide Web has become the medium of choice for the distribution and use of information by individuals, teams, organizations, and communities. Web sites—the collection of web pages that make up the World Wide Web—are the fundamental means by which that information is retrieved and distributed. Understanding the factors that impact the complexity of a web site is a key step toward effective retrieval and distribution of information and its ultimate use in collaborative activity. This paper proposes three major dimensions of factors that impact the complexity of a web site: (1) cognition, (2) content, and (3) form. These three dimensions and their associated factors comprise how individuals perceive a web site, the content that is located at the site, and the manner in which the web site is constructed. A model and associated propositions are presented, and implications of this approach for research and practice are discussed. This multidimensional view of web site complexity provides a richer approach to understanding how complexity might be examined and, ultimately, reduced. This paper relates to collaborative work through individuals and their interaction with a web site. This interaction is, in fact, a communication between the individual using a web site and an individual, group, or organization responsible for the design of the web site. Additionally, the individual perspective is a necessary starting point for collaborative use between and among people.

Abstract. The importance and benefits of expertise sharing for organizations in knowledge economy are well recognized. However, the potential cost of expertise sharing is less well understood. This paper proposes a conceptual framework called collective attention economy to identify the costs associated with expertise sharing and provide the basis for analyzing and understanding the cost-benefit structure of different communication mechanisms. To demonstrate the analytical power of the conceptual framework, the paper describes a new communication mechanism— Dynamic Mailing List (DML)—that is developed by adjusting certain cost factors.

TSER Contract SOE1-CT97-1072Executive Summary This report deals with the role of educational background in diffusion of management knowledge. The role of educational background as a carrier of management knowledge has been one of the main issues in the Creation of European Management Practice project (the CEMP project). This report addresses two issues on this matter: educational background as a provider of management knowledge and educational background as a legitimating factor in managerial qualification systems. The first issue is based on a study of the relationship between 551 Norwegian managers ’ educational background and their management competence. The results from the study of business education and engineering education as providers of management knowledge reveal that there are no strong relationship between type of educational background and managerial meta-competence. This suggests that the diffusion of management knowledge from so-called management education is quite meager at least regarding direct influence on managers ’ competence reservoir. The second issue conceptualizes previous research in the field. Based on these

I examine the role of explaining variance in the construction of explanatory theory. Explaining variance can be an insufficient basis for evaluating a theory (Lieberson, 1985). Starting with this insight, I suggest that models that provide explanations of variance do not necessarily provide good explanations of causal mechanisms. I then explore the utility of process models and theories (Mohr, 1982) relative to variance theories. I clarify the role of stochastic processes in such model building and discuss the implications of such processes for evaluating explanatory `adequacy'. Under some conditions, explaining variance may be neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for good explanatory theory. I then identify some implications of this argument for developing and analyzing explanatory theory. These arguments are applied to two examples: (1) meta-analysis and (2) the disposition versus situation debate (a variant on the nature vs. nurture argument) to illustrate the implications of ...

Increasingly organizations are utilizing geographically distributed teams to accomplish their goals. To a great extent this new way of working has been made possible by electronic communication technology. Yet even while managers are leveraging electronic communication technology to gain access to new knowledge and to enable new team configurations, they are concerned about the knowledge acquisition of distributed team members who interact primarily via electronic communication. The objective of this study is to deepen our understanding of the relationship of electronic communication technology use and team configuration with knowledge access in distributed teams. We do so by examining the communication networks of individuals in distributed teams, and the relationship of team configuration on those networks. We extend prior work on social networks and propose that individuals in distributed teams have two distinct communication networks that influence knowledge access: face-to-face and electronic networks. We find that these two networks differentially influence an individual’s level of knowledge access from team members. In addition, we find that the relationship of each of these networks with knowledge access level is influenced by how the team is physically configured and the size of the team. These findings suggest that achieving higher knowledge access levels in distributed teams is more complex than just increasing electronic and face-to-face communication. Rather it involves understanding how communication patterns, communication mode and team configuration interact to influence the level of knowledge access for each individual in the team. Arling Subramani Working Paper January 2006 1