From the editors

Abstract

Welcome to the third issue of Volume 36. This issue provides five insightful manscripts covering a range of topics and methodologies. The first paper, by Yao and Murphy, lays out in helpful detail the differences between total outsourcers and application service providers. Drawing upon insights from a particular ASP, the paper develops a novel model of the transition in ASP vendor-client relationships and builds propositions about the state of the relationship as well as the transitioning of the relationship. This paper is what we would label a theory-building conceptual manuscript. Such papers are very useful in expanding our understanding of a particular topic that has not been the subject of heavy empirical research (unlike outsourcing, the more specific topic of ASP vendor-client relationships has not been the subject of extensive research). We hope to receive other theory-building conceptual paper submissions on various topics and publish them in future issues.The second paper in this issue, by Chung, Byrd, Lewis, and Ford, develops and tests a model of the relationship between IT infrastructure flexibility, mass customization and business performance. Using data collected from a sample of IS managers across a subset of Fortune 2000 firms, the study provides empirical evidence of the importance of IT infrastructure flexibility towards helping a firm achieve mass customization.The third paper, by Travica, uses a case study to lend evidence to a model on virtual organization and e-Commerce. Discussing virtual organization in terms of its assumptions, characteristics, and forms, the paper provides a holistic view of the various instanciations of virtualization in the context of organizations and then ties virtualization to the area of e-Commerce.This fourth paper, by Wade and Tingling, provides a comparison of web-based experimentation to lab-based experimentation. Drawing insights from a meta-analysis of the literature, the paper discusses the many scientific advantages of web experimentation, by which the authors refer not to web-based survey collection, but the actual manipulation of constructs offered in an experiment conducted over the web. This paper contributes to advances in the methodologies available to IS researchers.This issue closes with the paper by Serva, Benamati, and Fuller. Disbanding the myths, or perhaps merely the misguided understandings, of the constructs of trust and trustworthiness, the authors compare first, second, and third order effects of the constructs across three separate data sets dealing with trust and e-Commmerce. The authors provide a thoughtful analysis of the basis for determining the circumstances under which trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity) should be treated as a first or second order construct.We wish to thank our five editorial board members who served as Senior Editor on the papers in this issue: David Gefen, Sajda Qureshi, Detmar Straub, Leyland Pitt, and Antonis Stylianou. We greatly appreciate their service to Data Base! Finally, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to the following senior editors who have now completed their three year terms: Maryam Alavi, Leyland Pitt, Laurie Schatzberg, Al Segars, and Rick Watson. Collectively, they helped us greatly during the past three years and we appreciate having the opportunity to have worked with each of them.