Editorial Introduction: The Effect of Mobile Devices

Abstract

Mobile devices such as smartphones and iPads have become the next-generation information platform for most people, replacing the traditional Windows-based one. We see significant growth of using Apps on mobile devices, particularly those designed for social networking, such as Line and WhatsApp. A recent deal that Facebook acquired WhatsApp has evidenced this trend of moving toward mobile social media. In this issue, we have two papers related to social media: one is about the effect of mobile phones on user’s perception of closeness and the other reviews literature in social media research. The third paper is related to the recovery of online service. The paper by Antonio Diaz Andrade investigates the effect of mobile technology. It reports findings from a survey on the perceived co-presence with the use of mobile phones. The mobile technology not only makes possible communication at a distance but also creates a communicative environment that enables the transportation of social life within the space-time system. The findings indicate that the use of mobile phones reshapes the young adults’ perceptions of their social space-time system; mobile phones make them feel closer to the communicating partners. The second paper by Ahmed, Scheepers and Stockdale reviews research literature in social media. It surveyed several major information systems and journals to find a significant increase of social media research. For instance, the number of papers published as compared to the total number of papers under study increased from 13.92% in 2009 to 45.88% in 2012. Among all publication outlets, ICIS has the highest share of the published papers. A total of 43 theories have been used and the top three adopted for social media research are social capital theory, technology acceptance model and communities of practices. Facebook is the number one choice of social media research, followed by Twitter. The paper provides a profile for readers to understand the status of social media research. The third paper by Fang and Chiu studies the double deviation effect resulted from poor service recovery. It links the theories of psychological contract violation (PCV), emotion, and coping from the power perspective to investigate the double deviation scenario in online auction marketplaces. The result indicates that relational perceived contract deviation has a higher impact on dissatisfaction and anger. Dissatisfaction causes customer switching behavior, which, along with anger, results in destructive voices (including negative comments and e-boycott), if not well handled by the service provider. The findings provide knowledge about how consumers react to and cope with service failure in online marketplaces.