Papers

The economic development of rural India requires connecting remote villages to local and global supply chains. Yet, high rates of financial exclusion inhibit rural Indians from participating in these supply networks. We review the literature on financial inclusion, adoption, and blockchain in India, and posit that to resolve financial exclusion, the four challenges of geographical access, high cost, inappropriate banking products, and financial illiteracy need to be overcome. Next, we argue that blockchain technologies hold the potential to overcome most of these challenges. However, for blockchain technologies to become the cornerstone of financial inclusion initiatives, an understanding of technology adoption in India is needed. To guide the development of such understanding, we develop a research agenda on the antecedents of adoption, adoption patterns, and outcome of adoption. Answering these research questions will lead to a nuanced understanding of adoption of blockchain-based technologies in rural India. The practical contribution of this paper is the discussion of how blockchain can alleviate the issue of financial exclusion in rural India, thereby providing a basis for a solution that could connect rural Indians to global supply chain networks. The theoretical contribution lies in the identification of knowledge gaps that should be answered to achieve financial inclusion of rural Indians.

Cognitive computing systems (CCS) are a new class of computing systems that implement more human-like cognitive abilities. CCS are not a typical technological advancement but an unprecedented advance toward human-like systems fueled by artificial intelligence. Such systems can adapt to situations, perceive their environments, and interact with humans and other technologies. Due to these properties, CCS are already disrupting established industries, such as retail, insurance, and healthcare. As we make the case in this paper, the increasingly human-like capabilities of CCS challenge five fundamental assumptions that we as IS researchers have held about how users interact with IT artifacts. These assumptions pertain to (1) the direction of the user-artifact relationship, (2) the artifact’s awareness of its environment, (3) functional transparency, (4) reliability, and (5) the user’s awareness of artifact use. We argue that the disruption of these five assumptions limits the applicability of our extant body of knowledge to CCS. Consequently, CCS present a unique opportunity for novel theory development and associated contributions. We argue that IS is well positioned to take this opportunity and present research questions that, if answered, will lead to interesting, influential, and original theories.

Agile methods are widely used in the software industry as a way to more rapidly develop and deliver new software. They define iterative work processes, advocate self-organization and openness for change, and prescribe how software developers interact with each other and external stakeholders. Despite their popularity, it is unclear how agile methods influence work exhaustion in software developers and how developer skills play into this effect. On the one hand, agile methods may reduce software developers’ work exhaustion by levelling out their workload across the entire duration of a project. On the other hand, agile methods exert a high level of pressure on software developers to continuously deliver working software, create many intensive social interactions, and to frequently adapt to changes. In light of these effects, prior research could not explain why some software developers become less exhausted from using agile methods, whereas others perceive the exact opposite. Based on the job demand-control model, we develop a theoretical model connecting agile method use to individual developer skills and to two established determinants of employee exhaustion: role conflict and role ambiguity. We tested our research model in a field study among 1894 software developers in 217 project teams that used agile methods. The random coefficient modelling results show that agile method use facilitates the achievement of clear and unambiguous role perceptions and thereby reduces work exhaustion in developers, particularly if developers possess the organizational skills to effectively interact with others in their organization. We highlight implications for theory on the individual-level effects of software development methods and provide practical insights for software companies.

Purpose – Retailers are implementing technology-enabled mobile checkout processes in their stores to improve service quality, decrease labor costs and gain operational efficiency. These new checkout processes have increased customer convenience primarily by providing them autonomy in sales transactions in that store employee interventions play a reduced role. However, this autonomy has the unintended consequence of altering the checks and balances inherent in a traditional employee-assisted checkout process. Retailers, already grappling with shoplifting, with an estimated annual cost of billions of dollars, fear that the problem may be exacerbated by mobile checkout and concomitant customer autonomy. The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of mobile checkout processes in retail stores on cybercrime in the form of shoplifting enabled by a technology transformed the retail environment. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted an online survey of a US sample recruited from a crowdsourced platform. The authors test a research model that aims to understand the factors that influence the intention to shoplift in three different mobile checkout settings − namely, smartphone checkout settings, store-provided mobile device checkout settings, and employee-assisted mobile checkout settings − and compare it with a traditional fixed location checkout setting. Findings – The authors found that, in a smartphone checkout setting, intention to shoplift was driven by experiential beliefs and peer influence, and experiential beliefs and peer influence had a stronger effect for prospective shoplifters when compared to experienced shoplifters; in a store-provided mobile devices checkout setting, experiential beliefs had a negative effect on shoplifters’ intention to shoplift and the effect was weaker for prospective shoplifters when compared to experienced shoplifters. The results also indicated that in an employee-assisted mobile checkout setting, intention to shoplift was driven by experiential beliefs and peer influence, and experiential beliefs had a stronger effect for prospective shoplifters when compared to experienced shoplifters. Originality/value – This study is the among the first, if not first, to examine shoplifters’ intention to shoplift in mobile checkout settings. We provide insights into how those who may not have considered shoplifting in less favorable criminogenic settings may change their behavior due to the autonomy provided by mobile checkout settings and also provide an understanding of the shoplifting intention for both prospective and experienced shoplifters in different mobile checkout settings.

Initiatives to leverage information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) have attracted huge investments, especially in less developed countries. However, the success rate of such initiatives has been low. Prior research on this topic has argued for various individual and network characteristics as predictors of information and communication technology (ICT) use and consequent benefits. We argue that, in order to garner potential benefits of the local information and knowledge resources embedded in citizens’ advice networks, hybrid governance from a combination of the local government and the technology sponsor is required. We further theorize that leadership by the local government or the technology sponsor for different stages of the ICT4D initiative affects the effectiveness of the pathways through which benefits of citizens’ advice networks accrue. We found support, in a longitudinal field study in ten villages in India (2,980 heads of households), for our theory that hybrid governance outperforms homogeneous governance models. Leadership by the local government for the pre-launch stage and by the technology sponsor for the post-launch stage was the most effective in promoting the behavioral pathway for economic benefits—that is, leveraging advice networks for ICT use and consequent gains in income. In contrast, leadership by the technology sponsor for the pre-launch stage and by the local government for the post-launch stage was the most effective in promoting the informational pathway—that is, leveraging information and knowledge from advice networks to directly generate gains in income. Adjacent villages that did not have a similar ICT4D intervention did not experience a comparable growth in farmer income.

This paper examines the role of parenting behaviors in influencing children’s Internet addiction and the consequences of children’s Internet addiction on parents’ job outcomes. First, we draw on attachment theory to theorize that five parenting behaviors—i.e., parental control, monitoring, unstructured time, dissuasion, and rationalization—affect children’s Internet addiction and their effects are moderated by the children’s views of parent attachment. Second, we draw on research on work-family interface to theorize that children’s Internet addiction affects parents’ job outcomes—i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work exhaustion—and the effects are mediated by family-to-work conflict. We tested our hypotheses using an integrated research approach that includes quantitative and qualitative analyses. We conducted an online survey to collect quantitative responses from 776 parent-child dyads. The model testing results showed that the effects of parenting behaviors on children’s Internet addiction, except for dissuasion, were moderated by the children’s views of parent attachment. Also, family-to-work conflict mediated the effects of children’s Internet addiction on parents’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work exhaustion. Further, we collected qualitative data via interviews from 50 parents to cross-validate our model testing results.

Purpose – Realizing value from information and communication technology (ICT) in procurement in developing countries is complex due to diverse stakeholders and intertwined procurement processes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience of the Government of Jamaica in leveraging ICTs as an intervention to transform its procurement operations and combat corruption. Design/methodology/approach – The study examines conversations with employees in the Government of Jamaica to understand key milestones in its procurement history. Based on the view that the intervention context is an ecosystem where multiple and inconsistent views of the e-procurement system evolve over time, the study analyzes milestones to reveal key actions that contributed either to the initial success of or introduced challenges to the e-procurement system. Findings – The findings suggest that inducing positive sentiments about the intervention through transparency will overcome a long history of negative sentiments about the initiatives of government bodies in general. Furthermore, positive sentiments may not be directly related to the e-procurement system. Research limitations/implications – The study offers important insights that government bodies in similar contexts can apply to guide initiatives for transforming procurement operations. For instance, training should emphasize not only the technical aspects of the system from the perspective of different stakeholders but also their job descriptions. Future research may examine other initiatives in developing countries to compare the role of sentiments over time. Originality/value – The study adopts a unique approach to understand the experience of a developing country in harnessing ICTs to transform procurement operations.

The recent phenomenon that has become known as the European refugee crisis is, in reality, a global problem. Accordingly, issues regarding refugee integration have become a central debate topic worldwide. In this paper, we examine how refugees use information and communication technology (ICT) in different regions across the world to understand how ICT supports their desperate journey to safety, their stay in temporary settlement camps, and their post-settlement inclusion in host countries. We conducted a series of interviews with Syrian refugees in Berlin, Germany, to collect preliminary insights. Then, we organized panel discussions at two key information systems conferences (ICIS 2016 and ECIS 2017) that involved participants from various countries. The panel discussions revealed seven key research themes: accessibility to information, availability of education and linguistic resources, admissibility to labor markets and entrepreneurship opportunities, communicability with home country, connectedness with local population, interactivity with host government, and volunteer coordination. We discuss how ICT might help to address issues related to each theme, present research questions relevant to each theme, and supply an illustration of how ICT has been employed to address an aspect of each theme. Insights gathered lead to theoretical implications and future opportunities for research in the information systems field, practical implications for different stakeholders interested in refugee integration to consider, and social implications related to refugee crisis that we cannot ignore.

Initiatives to leverage information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) have attracted huge investments, especially in less developed countries. However, the success rate of such initiatives has been low. Prior research on this topic has argued for various individual and network characteristics as predictors of information and communication technology (ICT) use and consequent benefits. We argue that, in order to garner potential benefits of the local information and knowledge resources embedded in citizens’ advice networks, hybrid governance from a combination of the local government and the technology sponsor is required. We further theorize that leadership by the local government or the technology sponsor for different stages of the ICT4D initiative affects the effectiveness of the pathways through which benefits of citizens’ advice networks accrue. We found support, in a longitudinal field study in ten villages in India (2,980 heads of households), for our theory that hybrid governance outperforms homogeneous governance models. Leadership by the local government for the pre-launch stage and by the technology sponsor for the post-launch stage was the most effective in promoting the behavioral pathway for economic benefits—that is, leveraging advice networks for ICT use and consequent gains in income. In contrast, leadership by the technology sponsor for the pre-launch stage and by the local government for the post-launch stage was the most effective in promoting the informational pathway—that is, leveraging information and knowledge from advice networks to directly generate gains in income. Adjacent villages that did not have a similar ICT4D intervention did not experience a comparable growth in farmer income.

The explosive growth of mobile devices and their widespread acceptance by customers along with the potential benefits of autoID technologies have prompted retailers to consider adoption of emerging technologies. Their motives are to enhance in-store customer shopping experience and to acquire an advantage in the competitive retail environment. Two inter-related issues nevertheless have been a hindrance: mobile shopping application usability and customers’ privacy concerns. Drawing on a recently developed conceptualisation of mobile application usability and the multidimensional developmental theory of privacy, we tackle these two issues. We theorise about the impact of artifact design on mobile application usability and the consequent impact of usability on customers’ privacy concerns and shop-ping efficiency. We tested our hypotheses in two retail store laboratory studies in which the participants were assigned to two different shopping tasks: general browsing (n = 194) and goal-directed shopping (n = 190). We found that adhering to mobile application usability principles could mitigate privacy concerns and consequently, improve shopping efficiency. Our findings suggest new avenues to alleviate customers’ privacy concerns using artifact design, thus complementing conventional approaches that focus on preventive measures to deal with the issue of privacy concerns.