No abstract

Despite a decade since the inception of B2C e-commerce, the uncertainty of the online environment still makes many consumers reluctant to engage in online exchange relationships. 1 Elena Karahanna was the accepting senior editor for this paper. D. Harrison McKnight and Jonathan D. Wareham served as reviewers. The associate editor and the third reviewer chose to remain anonymous.

Purpose-The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of knowledge sharing (KS) on firm performance and the mediating role of intellectual capital (IC). Design/methodology/approach-A research model was developed based on prior KS and IC studies. A survey was administered to a sample of high technology firms in China and 228 usable responses were collected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the research model. Findings-Tacit KS significantly was found to contribute to all three components of IC, namely human, structural and relational capital, while explicit KS only has a significant influence on human and structural capital. Human, structural and relational capital, enhance both operational and financial performance of firms. The effect of KS on firm performance is mediated by IC. Explicit KS has a greater effect on financial performance than operational performance, whereas tacit KS has a greater impact on operational performance than financial performance. Research limitations/implications-The sample of high technology firms in China might limit the generalization of the findings. Nonetheless, this study takes its lead from and extends prior research, thus providing a deepened understanding of the role of KS in organizational settings. Practical implications-The paper suggests that managers can enhance firm performance by enhancing their KS and IC. Managers can develop corresponding strategies based on the findings to achieve their specific performance goals. Originality/value-This is one of the first papers to examine how KS contributes to firm performance through the mediation of IC. It will add significant value for organizations trying to enhance their performance though KS practices.

This study aims to understand the IT threat avoidance behaviors of personal computer users. We tested a research model derived from Technology Threat Avoidance Theory (TTAT) using survey data. We find that users' IT threat avoidance behavior is predicted by avoidance motivation, which, in turn, is determined by perceived threat, safeguard effectiveness, safeguard cost, and self-efficacy. Users develop a threat perception when they believe that the malicious IT is likely to attack them (perceived susceptibility) and the negative consequences will be severe if they are attacked (perceived severity). When threatened, users are more motivated to avoid the threat if they believe that the safeguarding measure is effective (safeguard effectiveness) and inexpensive (safeguard cost) and they have confidence in using it (self-efficacy). In addition, we find that perceived threat and safeguard effectiveness have a negative interaction on avoidance motivation so that a higher level of perceived threat is associated with a weaker relationship between safeguard effectiveness and avoidance motivation or a higher level of safeguard effectiveness is associated with a weaker relationship between perceived threat and avoidance motivation. These findings provide an enriched understanding about personal computer users' IT threat avoidance behavior.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 144.82.Abstract This paper describes the development of the technology threat avoidance theory (TTAT), which explains individual IT users ' behavior of avoiding the threat of malicious information technologies. We articulate that avoidance and adoption are two qualitatively different phenomena and contend that tech nology acceptance theories provide a valuable, but incom plete, understanding of users ' IT threat avoidance behavior. Drawing from cybernetic theory and coping theory, TT AT delineates the avoidance behavior as a dynamic positive feedback loop in which users go through two cognitive pro cesses, threat appraisal and coping appraisal, to decide how to cope with IT threats. In the threat appraisal, users will perceive an IT threat if they believe that they are susceptible to malicious IT and that the negative consequences are severe. The threat perception leads to coping appraisal, in which users assess the degree to which the IT threat can be avoided by taking safeguarding measures based on perceived effectiveness and costs of the safeguarding measure and self efficacy of taking the safeguarding measure. TT A posits that users are motivated to avoid malicious IT when they perceive a threat and believe that the threat is avoidable by taking safeguarding measures; if users believe that the threat cannot be fully avoided by taking safeguarding measures, they would engage in emotion-focused coping. Integrating process theory and variance theory, TT AT enhances our under standing of human behavior under IT threats and makes an important contribution to IT security research and practice.

Purpose -The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of team climate and empowering leadership on team members' knowledge-sharing behavior.Design/methodology/approach -A research model was developed based on prior knowledge management studies. Survey data were collected from 434 college students at a major US university, who took courses that required team projects. The partial least squares technique was applied to test the research model.Findings -Team climate and empowering leadership significantly influence individuals' knowledge-sharing behavior by affecting their attitude toward knowledge sharing. These two constructs also have significant direct effects on the knowledge-sharing behavior.Research limitations/implications -The student sample and US setting might limit the generalizability of the findings. Nonetheless, this study is based on and extends prior research, which provides a deepened understanding of knowledge sharing in the team context.Practical implications -This research has practical implications for how to design teams to facilitate knowledge sharing. It suggests that cohesive, innovative teams with members trusting one another and led by empowering leaders will have a higher level of knowledge sharing.Originality/value -This research originally examines the effects of both team climate and empowering leadership on knowledge sharing. Little prior research has carried out such an integrated analysis. This paper will have significant value for organizations trying to redesign teams to enhance knowledge management.

IS researchers worldwide based on publication in MIS Quarterly, Information SystemsResearch, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Journal of the Association for Information Systems in the past five years .jiNgHua xiao is an associate professor of management information systems at the School of Business, Sun Yat-sen university, guangzhou, China. She received her Ph.D. in management science from Sun Yat-sen university. Her research focuses on the strategic role of IT within the organization and in interorganizational relationships. Her current areas of research are supply chain management systems and interorganizational IT governance. She has published over 20 papers in research journals in China. She received a grant from the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and has provided management consulting services for governments and enterprises.abstract: This paper examines two ways to create business value of information technology (BVIT): resource structuring and capability building. We develop a research model positing that IT resources and IT capabilities enhance a firm's performance by providing support to its competitive strategies and core competencies, and the strengths of these supports vary in accord with environmental dynamism. The model is empirically tested using data collected from 296 firms in China. It is found that IT resources generate more business effects in stable environments than in dynamic environments, while IT capabilities generate more business effects in dynamic environments than in stable environments. The results suggest that the BVIT creation mechanism in stable environments is primarily resource structuring while the mechanism in dynamic environments is primarily capability building.KeY Words aNd pHrases: business value of IT, capability building, competitive strategy, core competence, environmental dynamism, resource structuring.iNformatioN tecHNoLogY (it) Has become iNdispeNsabLe to modern organizations, and worldwide IT spending grew to a remarkable amount of $3.7 trillion in 2011 [27]. The business value of information technology (BVIT) has long been identified as one of the key issues for information systems (IS) academics and practitioners [43,53]. Despite some studies suggesting that IT has little or negative effects on firm performance [25,41], many have found a positive relationship between IT and firm performance [62]. To date, consensus has been reached that IT does create business value, and BVIT manifests in many different ways [43]. Yet the mechanisms of BVIT creation remains vaguely understood.When evaluating BVIT, prior research has primarily focused on IT resources and IT capabilities and investigated their effects on organizational performance. Firm performance is found to be enhanced by both IT resources [6,102] and IT capabilities [9,11,66,74,88,104]. Yet it is revealed that IT does not always lead to positive outcomes. For example, Kettinger and grover [41] evaluated longitudinal changes in performance measures of 30 firms recognized as exemplar IT ...

This study identifies governance patterns for information technology investment decision processes and explores the impact of organizations' investment characteristics, external 1 Bernard Tan was the accepting senior editor for this paper. Christina Soh was the associate editor. Ranganathan Chandrasekaran and Albert Boonstra served as reviewers. The third reviewer chose to remain anonymous. environment, and internal context on the shaping of those patterns. By identifying the lead actors of the initiation, development, and approval stages in IT governance, the patterns of 57 IT investment decisions at 6 hospitals are analyzed. The results reveal seven IT governance archetypes: (1) top management monarchy, (2) top management-IT duopoly, (3) IT monarchy, (4) administration monarchy, (5) administration-IT duopoly, (6) professional monarchy, and (7) professional-IT duopoly. Each archetype is analyzed by taking into account four specific factors: IT investment level, external influence, organizational centralization, and IT function power. This study makes several contributions to IT governance theory and practice. First, IT governance is reframed to include pre-decision stages, highlighting the importance of participants other than the final decision maker. Second, the variation of IT governance archetypes suggests that even when top management approval is required, the IT department may not play a key role in the IT investment decision process. Third, governance of the pre-decision initiation and development stages is found to be jointly affected by several contextual factors, suggesting that the allocation of final decision rights is only a part of IT governance. While decision rights may be allocated by the organization a priori, the actual patterns of IT governance are contingent on contextual factors. It is important to understand how IT governance archetypes are shaped because they may affect desired outcomes of IT investments.