Information Processing View Research Articles

Player Attachment to Mobile Social Network Games: An Information Processing View

This study applied the information processing view and the concept of fit to improve understanding of how attachment behaviour and continued use in mobile social network game (M-SNG) players is affected by the alignment between their motivation and technological capability. A quantitative method and a cross-sectional study design were used to evaluate the research model. Data were collected for 427 active M-SNG players in Taiwan. The proposed model was tested with fit as a covariation and with fit as a propensity score in matching method. The results of this study verified that (1) coalignment between motivation and technological capability is positively associated with attachment behaviour in M-SNG players; (2) M-SNG players who have a high coalignment between motivation and technological capability have stronger attachment behaviour compared to players with low coalignment; and (3) attachment behaviour is positively associated with continued use of M-SNGs. This study contributes to the literature by improving understanding of the antecedents of attachment and continued use in M-SNG players. For providers and developers, this study also provides insights into how to improve the business performance of M-SNGs.

Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth? Organising Boundary‐Spanning Government Affairs Units during Times of Crisis

Recent developments – including the COVID‐19 crisis, or the UK's departure from the EU – demonstrate that business is vulnerable to unpredictable political developments. How can firms respond to such challenges? For us, the answer lies in how they organise their political actions. Applying insights from the information processing view of organisation design theory to original survey data, we investigate how firms configure boundary‐spanning government affairs (GA) activities in response to Brexit. Contrary to conventional organisation design thinking, we find the ability of GA units to monitor and influence Brexit‐related developments improves when firms concentrate GA decision‐making at clearly defined organisational levels, and coordinate GA units with the rest of the business. Of interest to scholars of organisation design and boundary spanning, our research contributes primarily to corporate political activity (CPA) research by providing practical and theoretical insights into the management and organisation of firms' political actions in times of crisis.

WHO SHOULD WEAR THE PANTS? AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF FUNCTIONAL DECISION-MAKING AUTHORITY IN INNOVATION DEVELOPMENT

Effective decision-making in innovation development is decisive for innovation success, but also poses a major challenge for companies. Building on the information-processing view of organisational design, this study investigates how companies should organise functional decision-making authority in innovation development to engender innovation success. Additionally, this research explores the interplay between the design of functional decision-making authority and organisational innovativeness representing an aspect of organisational culture. Based on two datasets garnered from a survey and an experiment with managers experienced in innovation development, the study demonstrates that the dispersion of decision-making authority across functional groups positively affects the performance of an innovation. Further, the results reveal that environmental turbulence positively moderates the effect of the dispersion of decision-making authority on innovation performance. Finally, organisational innovativeness leads to a higher dispersion of decision-making authority. This study offers important implications for managers seeking to organise functional decision-making authority in innovation development more effectively.

Information Processing view of Electricity Demand Response Systems: A Comparative Study Between India and Australia

Abstract Background: In recent years, demand response (DR) has gained increased attention from utilities, regulators, and market aggregators to meet the growing demands of electricity. The key aspect of a successful DR program is the effective processing of data and information to gain critical insights. This study aims to identify information processing needs and capacity that interact to improve energy DR effectiveness. To this end, organizational information processing theory (OIPT) is employed to understand the role of Information Systems (IS) resources in achieving desired DR program performance. This study also investigates how information processing for DR systems differ between developing (India) and developed (Australia) countries. Method: This work adopts a case study methodology to propose a theoretical framework using OIPT for information processing in DR systems. The study further employs a comparative case data analyses between Australian and Indian DR initiatives. Results: Our cross case analysis identifies variables of value creation in designing DR programs - pricing structure for demand side participation, renewable integration at supply side, reforms in the regulatory instruments, and emergent technology. This research posits that the degree of information processing capacity mediates the influence of information processing needs on energy DR effectiveness. Further, we develop five propositions on the interaction between task based information processing needs and capacity, and their influence on DR effectiveness. Conclusions: The study generates insights on the role of IS resources that can help stakeholders in the electricity value chain to take informed and intelligent decisions for improved performance of DR programs. Recommended Citation Sangeeth L R, Silpa; Mathew, Saji K.; and Potdar, Vidyasagar (2020) "Information Processing view of Electricity Demand Response Systems: A Comparative Study Between India and Australia," Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems: Vol. 12: Iss. 4, Article 2. DOI: 10.17705/1pais.12402 Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol12/iss4/2

Information Processing view of Electricity Demand Response Systems: A Comparative Study Between India and Australia

Abstract Background: In recent years, demand response (DR) has gained increased attention from utilities, regulators, and market aggregators to meet the growing demands of electricity. The key aspect of a successful DR program is the effective processing of data and information to gain critical insights. This study aims to identify information processing needs and capacity that interact to improve energy DR effectiveness. To this end, organizational information processing theory (OIPT) is employed to understand the role of Information Systems (IS) resources in achieving desired DR program performance. This study also investigates how information processing for DR systems differ between developing (India) and developed (Australia) countries. Method: This work adopts a case study methodology to propose a theoretical framework using OIPT for information processing in DR systems. The study further employs a comparative case data analyses between Australian and Indian DR initiatives. Results: Our cross case analysis identifies variables of value creation in designing DR programs - pricing structure for demand side participation, renewable integration at supply side, reforms in the regulatory instruments, and emergent technology. This research posits that the degree of information processing capacity mediates the influence of information processing needs on energy DR effectiveness. Further, we develop five propositions on the interaction between task based information processing needs and capacity, and their influence on DR effectiveness. Conclusions: The study generates insights on the role of IS resources that can help stakeholders in the electricity value chain to take informed and intelligent decisions for improved performance of DR programs.

Supply chain risk management and operational performance: The enabling role of supply chain integration

The academic community and practitioners widely recognize the significance of risk management and integrative practices in supply chains to deal with complexity and uncertainties faced. Firms strive to manage risk, handle unexpected disruptions and improve performance in ever changing uncertain business environments. This paper builds upon the information processing view of risk management and explores the association between supply chain integration (SCI) and supply chain risk management (SCRM) to improve operational performance. Subsequently, the mediating role played by SCRM between SCI and firms’ operational performance is examined. In this paper, covariance-based structural equation modeling is applied to test the developed hypotheses using data of 931 manufacturing companies obtained from the sixth version of International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). The findings of the study suggest that internal, supplier and customer integration positively effects SCRM whereas the impact of internal integration is also partially mediated by supplier and customer integration. Additionally, the results present that SCRM partially mediates the relationship between internal integration and operational performance and fully mediates the association between supplier and customer integration and operational performance. This paper contributes to research by proposing and empirically testing a holistic framework demonstrating the effects of SCI on SCRM, and consequently on performance outcomes to develop theoretical and managerial implications.

How to Manage Diversity and Enhance Team Performance: Evidence from Online Doctor Teams in China.

(1) Background: Traditional one-to-one online consultations with doctors often fail to provide timely and accurate treatment plans; consequently, creating cross-hospital and cross-regional teams has become a new pattern for doctors aiming to offer Internet medical services. Because the online doctor team is a new virtual organizational model, it remains to be explained and investigated. (2) Methods: Combining the information processing view and the social categorization view, this study takes the perspective of team diversity and empirically investigates the effect of team diversity on team performance. We consider four kinds of team diversity, including status capital diversity, decision capital diversity, online reputation diversity, and professional knowledge diversity, and we investigate how team composition from the diversity perspective affects online doctor team performance and how leader reputation moderates the effect of team diversity on team performance. We use secondary data from a leading online medical consultation platform in China (Good Doctor), and our research data include 1568 teams with a total of 5481 doctors. (3) Results: The results show that status capital diversity and decision capital diversity negatively affect team performance; diversity in terms of online reputation and professional knowledge positively affect team performance; and leader reputation moderates the impact of status capital diversity and online reputation on team performance. (4) Conclusions: Our study offers management suggestions on how to form a high-performance doctor team and provides advice for the future development of online doctor teams.

Organizational mindfulness towards digital transformation as a prerequisite of information processing capability to achieve market agility

Firms are increasingly transforming themselves into agile enterprise by integrating and exploiting digital technologies. Prior research has suggested organization mindfulness would help proactively manage digital technologies and reduce the possibility of rigidity resulting from digital technologies. Although the key role of organizational mindfulness has been increasingly recognized, the impact of organizational mindfulness towards digital transformation on developing digital technology enabled information processing capacity (IPC) has not been empirically examined. In this study, we conceptualize digital technology enabled IPC based on the information processing view (IPV) and examine the relationships among organizational mindfulness, IPC, and market agility. Empirical findings from our survey of 102 managers of US companies indicates that digital transformation-mindful organizations are more likely to effectively establish a digital technology infrastructure; digital technology-enabled external and internal relationships and digital technology-business strategic alignment which, in turn, enhances their ability to respond to environmental turbulence in the markets promptly.

An Information Processing View on Joint Vendor Performance in Multi-Sourcing: The Role of the Guardian

This paper examines joint vendor performance in multi-sourcing arrangements. Using an Information Processing View, we argue that managing interdependencies between multiple vendors imposes substantial information processing (IP) requirements on clients. To achieve high joint performance, clients therefore need to possess sufficient IP capacity. We examine how three sources of IP capacity, two internal (i.e., the client’s inter-vendor governance and the client’s architectural knowledge) and one external (i.e., the guardian vendor), work together in realizing joint performance. Our results show that formal governance and architectural knowledge contribute to joint performance. The guardian vendor contributes to joint performance in settings where the client deploys strong governance but lacks architectural knowledge. This suggests that, contrary to common views in the literature, guardian vendors should not be understood as mediators (or single points of contact) who relieve clients from governance efforts. Instead, guardian vendors are more fruitfully understood as architects, who complement the client’s governance efforts by compensating for knowledge gaps. Put simply, client firms should consider using a guardian vendor to compensate for weak architectural knowledge while still maintaining strong formal and informal governance of all vendors.

Effects of Diversity on Knowledge Sharing and Creativity of Work Teams: Status Differential Among Members as a Facilitator

ABSTRACTWe investigated a plausible intermediate process and a boundary condition that elaborates the diversity–team creativity relationship to address mixed findings on the relationship between diversity and creativity. Our analysis using multi-source data collected from 128 work groups showed that age diversity and functional background diversity had negative and positive effects, respectively, on knowledge sharing and subsequent team creativity. Moreover, the effects of the four diversity attributes (age, gender, functional background, and tenure) on knowledge sharing were all negative in groups with low status differential, whereas the same effects became significantly positive in groups with high status differential. This study demonstrates a mechanism through which group diversity facilitates team creativity based on the information processing view of diversity and the functional approach to social status.

The Cognitive Lens: a primer on conceptual tools for analysing information processing in developmental and regenerative morphogenesis.

Brains exhibit plasticity, multi-scale integration of information, computation and memory, having evolved by specialization of non-neural cells that already possessed many of the same molecular components and functions. The emerging field of basal cognition provides many examples of decision-making throughout a wide range of non-neural systems. How can biological information processing across scales of size and complexity be quantitatively characterized and exploited in biomedical settings? We use pattern regulation as a context in which to introduce the Cognitive Lens-a strategy using well-established concepts from cognitive and computer science to complement mechanistic investigation in biology. To facilitate the assimilation and application of these approaches across biology, we review tools from various quantitative disciplines, including dynamical systems, information theory and least-action principles. We propose that these tools can be extended beyond neural settings to predict and control systems-level outcomes, and to understand biological patterning as a form of primitive cognition. We hypothesize that a cognitive-level information-processing view of the functions of living systems can complement reductive perspectives, improving efficient top-down control of organism-level outcomes. Exploration of the deep parallels across diverse quantitative paradigms will drive integrative advances in evolutionary biology, regenerative medicine, synthetic bioengineering, cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence. This article is part of the theme issue 'Liquid brains, solid brains: How distributed cognitive architectures process information'.

An Investigation of Interaction Patterns in Emergency Management: A Case Study of The Crash of Continental Flight 3407

The nature of emergency response operations varies based on agency, county, population, leadership, etc., which leads to serious challenges to interactions between emergency responders during routine emergencies. There have been very few studies that have provided direct insights into the emergency interactions from an information processing view based on real experience from the field. With the help of a case study, this paper aims to explore inter-agency interactions by addressing two research questions: (a) how do emergency agencies interact? (b) what characterizes interactions in the different stages of an emergency? This paper develops a framework for identifying emergency interactions that illustrate the templatic and dynamic styles as well as the active and passive patterns of interactions by examining data from the emergency reports. To summarize, this paper contributes to research in areas of inter-agency cooperation and emergency management.

Information-Processing Support Index: A New Perspective on IT Usage

ABSTRACT Because they are so important, the factors that drive information technology (IT) usage decisions in organizations have been a topic of perennial investigation in IS research. This article develops a new framework, the Information-Processing Support Index (IPSI), which can be used to examine IT usage decisions from the perspective of the information-processing view of the firm. The new framework is then demonstrated by examining issues that impact decisions made by employees when considering alternative mobile computing systems. Data were gathered through three empirical studies at academic institutions in the USA and in China. These data were used to refine and validate a new instrument to measure the IPSI construct. The IPSI framework offers valuable insights about IT usage decisions. Also, the IPSI instrument presented in this article provides a new tool for both IT researchers and IT managers to better understand and support employees’ information-processing needs.

The effect of individual task conflict on employee creativity: A moderated mediation model

Adopting conflict as a multilevel phenomenon, we theorized and tested how and when individual level task conflict relates to individual creativity. Integrating the motivated information processing view of conflict with social self-preservation theory, we make the case for employee information elaboration being the mediator between individual task conflict and individual creativity. Multisource data were collected from 374 members and their leaders within 57 engineering teams. The results indicated that individual task conflict was positively related to individual creativity through employee information elaboration. Furthermore, we found a curvilinear relationship that individual task conflict has with both individual creativity and employee information elaboration. Finally, we also found that the curvilinear relationship between individual task conflict and employee information elaboration was moderated by team reflexivity, such that a positive relationship was strengthened and a negative relationship weakened, in higher team reflexivity, but not in lower team reflexivity.

Issues in teaching and learning for older adults in Hong Kong and Australia

ABSTRACTThere has not been ample recent research on teaching older adults. However, as described below, there is mounting research in how and why older adults want to learn. This brief discussion is derived from work undertaken for a workshop in Hong Kong on issues in teaching older adults. It combines recent research on learning and teaching in higher education as it applies to older adults. The paper addresses: learning and ageing, learning choices, an information processing view of learning, deep and surface learning, teaching and learning approaches, formal, non-formal and informal learning, teaching roles, evaluation, and technology. Some sections are exemplified with information from teaching older adults in Australia and Hong Kong

The Role of Functional Diversity, Collective Team Identification, and Task Cohesion in Influencing Innovation Speed

This article opens up the black box of innovation and examines the relationship between functional diversity in software teams and the often neglected dimension of innovation – speed, over the two phases of innovation: creativity and idea implementation. By combining information processing view and social identity theory, the authors hypothesize that when collective team identification is low, functional diversity positively affects the time spent in the creativity phase; however, when collective team identification is high, this relationship is inverted U-shaped. When task cohesion is high, functional diversity negatively affects the time spent in the idea implementation phase; however, when task cohesion is low, this relationship is U-shaped. Results from 96 IT software-teams confirmed the authors' hypotheses. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Reasoning about redundant and non-redundant alternative causes of a single outcome: Blocking or enhancement caused by the stronger cause.

Perceptions of the effectiveness of a moderate probabilistic cause are influenced by the presence of stronger alternative causes. One important idea is that this influence occurs because the strong cause renders the weaker one statistically redundant. Alternatively, the causes might be contrasted to each other, so the stronger cause may simply overpower perceptions of the weaker one. Causes may have the same polarity (e.g., two generative/excitatory causes or two preventive/inhibitory causes) or be of opposite polarity (e.g., a generative cause versus a preventive or inhibitory cause). Previously, we found that the presence of a stronger redundant alternative cause of the same polarity reduces causal judgements of the moderate cause (i.e., blocking occurs) but a stronger cause of the opposite polarity enhances judgements of the moderate cause (i.e., enhancement). Experiments 1 and 2 further explored these cue competition effects with redundant and non-redundant alternative causes (i.e., correlated versus independent alternatives). We generally found that blocking and enhancement occur with both redundant and non-redundant alternative causes. This is inconsistent with an information processing view of cue competition that relies on statistical redundancy to account for blocking. Although these results are inconsistent with a redundancy information processing account of cue competition and are consistent with our earlier contrast account, we demonstrate here that a simple associative model can account for the sometimes apparently contradictory effects of cue competition.

Distinguished Scholars Invited Essay: Becoming a Good Sport and a Better Performer: A Social Information Processing View of Authentic Leadership

Drawing on social information processing theory, this study investigates the mechanisms by which authentic leadership affects subordinate task performance through subordinate attitudes and behavior. Sportsmanship, conceptualized as a behavioral indicator of employee positivity and persistence in pursuing high performance, is argued to be a potentially important outcome for authentic leadership. Data collected from 203 matched subordinate–supervisor dyads in six organizations from six diverse industries were subjected to contrast analysis with bootstrapping. The results suggest that the indirect effect of authentic leadership on subordinate sportsmanship is mainly via a cognitive process, as opposed to an affective one. Furthermore, it is the employee’s sportsmanship that transmits the effects of authentic leadership on employee task performance. Implications and future directions are discussed.

How do top- and bottom-performing companies differ in using business analytics?

PurposeBusiness analytics (BA) has attracted growing attention mainly due to the phenomena of big data. While studies suggest that BA positively affects organizational performance, there is a lack of academic research. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine the extent to which top- and bottom-performing companies differ regarding their use and organizational facilitation of BA.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses are developed drawing on the information processing view and contingency theory, and tested using multivariate analysis of variance to analyze data collected from 117 UK manufacture companies.FindingsTop- and bottom-performing companies differ significantly in their use of BA, data-driven environment, and level of fit between BA and data-drain environment.Practical implicationsExtensive use of BA and data-driven decisions will lead to superior firm performance. Companies wishing to use BA to improve decision making and performance need to develop relevant analytical strategy to guide BA activities and design its structure and business processes to embed BA activities.Originality/valueThis study provides useful management insights into the effective use of BA for improving organizational performance.

The Role of Business Intelligence and Communication Technologies in Organizational Agility: A Configurational Approach

This study examines the role that business intelligence (BI) and communication technologies play in how firms may achieve organizational sensing agility, decision making agility, and acting agility in different organizational and environmental contexts. Based on the information-processing view of organizations and dynamic capability theory, we suggest a configurational analytic framework that departs from the standard linear paradigm to examine how IT’s effect on agility is embedded in a configuration of organizational and environmental elements. In line with this approach, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze field survey data from diverse industries. Our findings suggest equifinal pathways to organizational agility and the specific boundary conditions of our middle-range theory that determine what role BI and communication technologies play in organizations’ achieving organizational agility. We discuss implications for theory and practice and discuss future research avenues.