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Usability—the extent to which a system can be operated to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction—is a hallmark of many successful systems. Identifying usability concerns with existing measures, however, can be problematic. We use biased competition theory (BCT) to explain how interfaces with low usability create attentional interference, which can be measured through mouse movement efficiency (MME). We tested our hypotheses in four studies. Study 1 manipulates attentional interference and examines its influence on MME using eye tracking to validate BCT as an appropriate theoretical lens for our research. Study 2 manipulates usability and shows similar markers of attentional interference in MME on a website with two different populations. Study 3 is a field test that compares the reliability of MME in ranking the usability of different components of a commercial web application to rankings produced by a common perceptual measure of usability: perceived ease of use. Collaborating with a Fortune 100 software vendor, Study 4 further demonstrates the efficacy of MME in ranking the usability of various system components compared to a standard industry measure of usability across three different products. The results consistently show that MME can help identify usability differences among parts of systems. The results have implications for facilitating more efficient and temporally precise usability research and mass-deployable usability testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article commemorating 30 years of the "Journal of Information Systems Education," we reflect on our extraordinarily lucky careers together in the academic discipline of information systems. Both our careers and our field have seen continual growth, unrelenting change, and required adaptability. We credit our enduring and strong professional relationship and friendship with each other, the fun we've had with our collaborators (and especially our doctoral students), as well as our ability to adapt, as the keys to whatever positive outcomes we have enjoyed along the way. Given the rate of change in our field over the past 30 years, we are excited to think about what might transpire for us all over the next 30 years.

Trace data—users’ digital records when interacting with technology—can reveal their cognitive dynamics when making decisions on websites in real time. Here, we present a trace-data method, analyzing movements captured via a computer mouse, to assess potential fraud when filling out an online form. In contrast to existing fraud-detection methods, which analyze information after submission, mouse-movement traces can capture the cognitive deliberations as possible indicators of fraud as it is happening. We report two controlled studies using different tasks, where participants could freely commit fraud to benefit themselves financially. As they performed the tasks, we captured mouse-cursor movement data and found that participants who entered fraudulent responses moved their mouse significantly more slowly and with greater deviation. We show that the extent of fraud matters such that more extensive fraud increases movement deviation and decreases movement speed. These results demonstrate the efficacy of analyzing mouse-movement traces to detect fraud during online transactions in real time, enabling organizations to confront fraud proactively as it is happening at internet scale. Our method of analyzing actual user behaviors in real time can complement other behavioral methods in the context of fraud and a variety of other contexts and settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring organizational regulatory and legal compliance is a challenging, high-stakes management task. Overlooking or underestimating noncompliance in organizations can result in substantial fines, damage to a company's reputation, and, ultimately, loss of business. To help alleviate this risk, we explore whether organizations can assess noncompliance by monitoring users' answers and related mouse cursor movements in an intelligent online questionnaire. Namely, we propose that noncompliant (compared with compliant) individuals will experience more cognitive dissonance on questions about (1) what constitutes noncompliance behavior and (2) what consequences for noncompliance are appropriate. We predict that increased cognitive dissonance in noncompliant individuals will influence their questionnaire responses—as well as their mouse cursor movements—when answering these questions. We collect data to test our hypotheses in a study from individuals who voluntarily chose to cheat on an online task for monetary gain. The results suggest that the responses to these two groups of questions, along with the associated mouse cursor movement, can work together as a low-cost, scalable tool to help assess noncompliance risk. This paper contributes to theory by explaining how people who are noncompliant tend to provide more lenient answers to questions about what constitutes compliance and the consequences of noncompliance. In addition, we show how mouse-cursor deviation provides theoretical insight into the level of cognitive dissonance that users experience, and that users who are noncompliant show greater deviation on compliance and consequence questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's knowledge economy, technology is utilized more than ever to deliver instructional material to the learner. Nonetheless, information may not always be presented in a manner that maximizes the learning experience, resulting in a negative impact on learning outcomes. Drawing on the Task-Technology Fit model, a research framework was developed to investigate the influence of vividness, interactivity, task complexity, and learning style on performance, satisfaction, interest, and perceived mental effort in the context of learning how to use an office productivity tool via a computer-mediated learning environment. It was hypothesized that vividness and interactivity would increase satisfaction and interest and that the affects of vividness and interactivity on performance and perceived mental effort would vary depending on the complexity of the task. It was also hypothesized that vividness and learning style would interact to influence performance and perceived mental effort when a task was more complex. A laboratory experiment was employed to test the research model. The experiment manipulated two levels of vividness, interactivity, and task complexity, resulting in six unique treatment conditions. In each of these treatment conditions, subjects viewed a computer-based tutorial on how to complete a task using a specific tool in Microsoft Excel. Subjects were then asked to complete a similar task using this same Excel tool. Overall, strong support was found in support of the hypotheses. Findings indicate that presenting information in a more vivid or more interactive learning environment will significantly increase satisfaction with the learning environment as well as interest in the topic. Furthermore, strong support was found for utilizing a more vivid or more interactive presentation to increase performance and reduce perceived mental effort when a task is more complex. Mixed support was found regarding the influence of vividness and learning style on performance and perceived mental effort for a more complex task. This research contributes to our theoretical understanding of instructional design and the influence of technology characteristics on learning outcomes. These findings also serve to guide those who design and disseminate information in computer-mediated contexts. Moreover, multimedia production is both expensive and time consuming and, as this study indicates, may not always enhance learning outcomes. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

Society’s growing dependence on computers and information technologies has been matched by an escalation of the frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks committed by criminals operating from the Darknet. As a result, security researchers have taken an interest in scrutinizing the Darknet and other underground web communities to develop a better understanding of cybercriminals and emerging threats. However, many scholars lack the capability or expertise to operationalize Darknet research and are thus unable to contribute to this increasingly impactful body of literature. This article introduces a framework for guiding such research, called Darknet Identification, Collection, Evaluation, with Ethics (DICE-E). The DICE-E framework provides a focused reference point and detailed guidelines for scholars wishing to become active in the Darknet research stream. Four steps to conducting Darknet forum research are outlined: (1) identification of Darknet data sources, (2) data collection strategies, (3) evaluation of Darknet data, and (4) ethical concerns related to Darknet research. To illustrate how DICE-E can be utilized, an example empirical study is reported. This exemplar illustrates how DICE-E can guide scholars through key decision points when attempting to incorporate the Darknet within their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.2010.00291.x Byline: Saonee Sarker (1[dagger]), Suprateek Sarker (1), Sutirtha Chatterjee (2), Joseph S. Valacich (3) Keywords: Computer-Mediated Communication; Group Dynamics; Group/Team Decision Making; Laboratory Experiments; Team Effectiveness Abstract: ABSTRACT Even though it is widely acknowledged that collaboration underlies much of the decision-making efforts in contemporary organizations, and that organizational groups are increasingly making decisions that have ethical implications, few studies have examined group ethical decision-making processes and outcomes. In addition, while there is increasing evidence that groups often collaborate/communicate using different mediating technologies, few studies have examined the effect of the characteristics of the media in group ethical decision-making contexts. Finally, there is a clear paucity of studies that have investigated group decision making pertaining to information technology (IT)-related ethical dilemmas, an area of rising importance for information systems (IS) and decision science researchers. This article seeks to address the gaps described above through an experimental study where groups collaborating either in a face-to-face context or in a computer-mediated context (using NetMeeting or Wiki) were required to make a decision with respect to a scenario with an IT-related ethical dilemma. Results indicate that media characteristics (e.g., anonymity, immediacy of feedback, parallelism) do not have an effect on whether groups make ethical (or unethical) decisions. However, several media characteristics were found to play a significant role on downstream variables, such as the quality of a follow-up task (i.e., creation of a decision justification document), and overall process satisfaction of the group members. Author Affiliation: (1)Department of Information Systems, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, e-mail:ssarker@wsu.edu,sarkers@wsu.edu (2)Department of Accounting, Finance and MIS, College of Business, Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, e-mail:suchatterjee@pvamu.edu (3)Department of Information Systems, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, e-mail:jsv@wsu.edu Article History: [Received: March 2010. Accepted: June 2010.] Article note: ([dagger]) Corresponding author.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.2010.00292.x Byline: John D. Wells (1[dagger]), Damon E. Campbell (2), Joseph S. Valacich (3), Mauricio Featherman (3) Keywords: Affective Beliefs; Behavioral Intention; Biometrics; Innovativeness; IT Innovations; Novelty; Personal Innovativeness in IT; Structural Equation Modeling; Technology Acceptance Abstract: ABSTRACT A fundamental characteristic of any innovation is its novelty, the newness or freshness of the innovation in the eyes of the adopter. Past research has often considered novelty to be inherent to an information technology (IT) innovation, yet it is also likely that perceptions of novelty differ widely across individuals. Nevertheless, the role that the novelty of an IT innovation plays in adoption is not well understood. The primary goal of this research effort is to frame the perceived novelty of an IT innovation as a salient affective belief in the nomological network related to adoption. Further, we examine how perceived novelty influences the way individuals reconcile their perceptions of risk versus reward when considering the adoption of an IT innovation. Two empirical studies with 424 and 138 participants, respectively, examine the effect of perceived novelty on IT innovations from a risk/reward perspective. Results indicate that perceived novelty is a salient affective belief that plays a significant role in the adoption of IT innovations. Implications for both theory and organizational decision making are examined. Author Affiliation: (1)Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 121 Presidents Drive, Amherst, MA 01003, e-mail:jwells@som.umass.edu (2)Else School of Management, Millsaps College, 1701 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39210-0001, e-mail:damon.campbell@millsaps.edu (3)Department of Information Systems, College of Business, Washington State University, Todd Hall, Room 442, Pullman, WA 99164-4743, e-mail:jsv@wsu.edu,featherman@wsu.edu Article History: [Received: March 2009. Accepted: July 2010.] Article note: ([dagger]) Corresponding author.

This paper reports an analysis of the proportion of faculty publishing articles in premier business journals (i.e., the ratio of authors of premier business journal articles to total faculty of […]

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.2006.00122.x Byline: Clayton Arlen Looney (1[dagger]), Joseph S. Valacich (2), Peter A. Todd (3), Michael G. Morris (4) Keywords: Electronic Commerce; Expectancy; Online Investing; Paradox; Self-Efficacy; Social Cognitive Theory Abstract: ABSTRACT At an increasing rate, individual investors are taking personal control over their financial destinies by investing their money online. Compared to offline do-it-yourself approaches, evidence suggests that investors exhibit lofty expectations and perform significantly worse after going online. However, little is understood about the mechanisms fueling expectancies, the role technologies play in their formation, or how technologies shape investment decisions. Therefore, this article explores the paradoxical nature of online investing technologies, which can give rise to a heightened state of conviction in one's capability to invest successfully. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, the concepts of encapsulation and combination are introduced to develop a research model describing how functional and technical self-efficacy judgments independently and collectively shape and influence outcome expectancies. The results suggest that perceptions about what one can accomplish through online investing technologies can lead investors to exaggerate their capabilities, which, in turn, produces elevated expectancies of financial payoffs and nonmonetary rewards. These findings carry important implications. In tasks requiring both computing and functional skills, the principals of encapsulation and combination highlight the importance of comprehensively capturing self-efficacy beliefs across skill domain boundaries. Moreover, online investing represents a paradoxical case that challenges the traditional assumption that fostering a robust sense of efficacy represents a purely noble enterprise. In fact, strong self-efficacy beliefs can prove counterproductive, leading to severe, irreversible, and unintended consequences. Going forward, these discoveries provide a solid foundation to enhance systems designs and facilitate a deeper understanding of user psychology. Author Affiliation: (1)School of Business Administration, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, e-mail:clayton.looney@business.umt.edu (2)College of Business, Washington State University, P.O. Box 644743, Pullman, WA 99164-4743, e-mail:jsv@wsu.edu (3)Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University,1001 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G5, e-mail:peter.todd@mcgill.ca (4)McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400173, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4173, e-mail:mgm3p@virginia.edu Article History: [Received: June 2005. Accepted: May 2006.] Article note: ([dagger]) Corresponding author.

Interruptions while performing an important task affect the quality of work and project delivery. The way in which interruptions can affect overall performance and influence relationship between information presentation format and type of task performed is discussed.