Business Commons^™

I’M Proud Of It: Consumer Technology Appropriation And Psychological Ownership, Colleen P. Kirk, Scott D. Swain, James E. Gaskin

Faculty Publications

In this conceptual paper, using the lens of self-design we examine the relationship between consumer technology appropriation and psychological ownership, suggesting that pride plays a key and multi-faceted role. Resolving discrepancies in the literature, we propose that authentic pride operates as an antecedent of psychological ownership, while hubristic pride strengthens the effect of psychological ownership on outcomes such as economic valuation and word-of-mouth. We further enrich the conceptualization by considering the moderating effects of the technology consumption context (public versus private) as well as consumers’ perceptions of situation strength (strong versus weak behavioral constraints).

Improving Password Cybersecurity Through Inexpensive And Minimally Invasive Means: Detecting And Deterring Password Reuse Through Keystroke-Dynamics Monitoring And Just-In-Time Fear Appeals, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Mark Grimes, Jeffrey Gainer Proudfoot, Paul Benjamin Lowry

Faculty Publications

Password reuse – using the same password for multiple accounts – is a prevalent phenomenon that can make even the most secure systems vulnerable. When passwords are reused across multiple systems, hackers may compromise accounts by stealing passwords from lowsecurity sites to access sites with higher security. Password reuse can be particularly threatening to users in developing countries in which cybersecurity training is limited, law enforcement of cybersecurity is non-existent, or in which programs to secure cyberspace are limited. This article proposes a two-pronged solution for reducing password reuse through detection and mitigation. First, based on the theories of routine, …

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: Source Credibility Theory Applied To Logo And Website Design For Heightened Credibility And Consumer Trust, Paul Benjamin Lowry, David W. Wilson, William L. Haig

Faculty Publications

Websites are often the first or only interaction a consumer has with a firm in modern commerce. Because consumers tend to make decisions within the first few seconds of online interaction, the first impression given to users can greatly determine a website’s success. Leveraging Source Credibility Theory (SCT), we present a strategy for building credibility derived from a user’s initial impressions of a website, in online environments. We demonstrate that logos designed to communicate traits of credibility (i.e., expertise and trustworthiness) can trigger positive credibility judgments about the firm’s website, and that this increase in perceived credibility results in greater …

Diocletian’S Victory Column: Megethos And The Rhetoric Of Spectacular Disruption, Jonathan Mark Balzotti, Richard Benjamin Crosby

Faculty Publications

This essay explores how the powerful system of cultural references in the architecture of Alexandria is disrupted by Roman visual rhetoric. Specifically, the essay closely analyzes Diocletian’s Victory Column, a monument to the third-century Roman ruler who put down an Alexandrian uprising. The authors argue that Rome employed a visual rhetoric of spectacular disruption as a means to insert itself into the city’s historical identity even after its siege created widespread disease and starvation. The essay builds on the substantial scholarship on public memory by describing a kind of rhetoric that poses a political, existential challenge to a reigning cultural …

Partial Least Squares (Pls) Structural Equation Modeling (Sem) For Building And Testing Behavioral Causal Theory: When To Choose It And How To Use It, Paul Benjamin Lowry, James Gaskin

Faculty Publications

Problem: Partial least squares (PLS), a form of structural equation modeling (SEM), can provide much value for causal inquiry in communication-related and behavioral research fields. Despite the wide availability of technical information on PLS, many behavioral and communication researchers often do not use PLS in situations in which it could provide unique theoretical insights. Moreover, complex models comprising formative (causal) and reflective (consequent) constructs are now common in behavioral research, but they are often misspecified in statistical models, resulting in erroneous tests. Key concepts: First-generation (1G) techniques, such as correlations, regressions, or difference of means tests (such as ANOVA or …

An Empirical Examination Of Negative Economic Value Added Firms., Stoyu Ivanov, Kenneth Leong, Janis Zaima

Faculty Publications

Economic value-added or EVA is a common metric that quantifies the value of the firm. However, recent studies that examine portfolio investment strategies using EVA suggest that portfolios formed with negative EVA earn relatively higher returns compared to some positive EVA firms. This study investigates whether firms with current negative EVAs perform well in the future. A sample of firms with negative EVAs in 2003 is identified, then four portfolios are formed by ranking firms from the most negative to the least negative EVAs. The returns of the four portfolios are tracked from 2004 through 2009 and correlated to four …

Investigating The Effect Of Insurance Fraud On Mouse Usage In Human-Computer Interactions, Martin Hibbeln, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Christoph Schneider, Joseph S. Valacich, Markus Weinmann

Faculty Publications

The completion of online forms is the catalyst for many business and governmental processes. However, providing fraudulent information in such forms is pervasive, resulting in costly consequences for organizations and society. Furthermore, detecting fraudulent responses in online forms is often very difficult, time consuming, and expensive. This research proposes that analyzing users’ mouse movements may reveal when a person is being fraudulent. Namely, based on neuroscience and deception theory, the paper explains how deception may influence hand movements captured via the computer mouse. In an insurance fraud context, a study is conducted to explore these proposed relationships. The results suggest …

Craig R. Scott: Anonymous Agencies, Backstreet Businesses, And Covert Collectives: Rethinking Organizations In The 21st Century, Paul C. Godfrey

Faculty Publications

Organizational scholars have made substantial contributions in understanding organizational life; however, if we deeply examine our knowledge, we’ll find that we know a lot about large, public organizations, be they businesses, civil society, or governmental agencies. We’ve made great strides in understanding the formal, visible organizational world, and our field sports a strong base of stylized facts and even some very generalizable, law-like propositions about these organizational forms. Scott’s book invites us to turn our gaze toward another substantial, and certainly impactful, organizational context: formal or informal organizations that deliberately strive to be invisible.

The Functions Of The Executive At 75: An Invitation To Reconsider A Timeless Classic, Paul C. Godfrey, Joseph T. Mahoney

Faculty Publications

The year 2013 marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of Chester I. Barnard’s classic, The Functions of the Executive, a groundbreaking contribution to management theory. We maintain that Barnard’s work provides a valuable perspective on the causes and potential solutions to challenges facing capitalism, business, and management consequent to the scandals and financial crises of the early 21st century. We believe Barnard would see a systemic failure of the moral dimension of organization as a driver of these crises, and that management theory and practice need to focus on both the science and the aesthetics of management. We look …

The Impact Of Software Testing Governance Choices, Xihui Zhang, Colin Onita, Jasbir Dhaliwal

Faculty Publications

Software testing is becoming a critical component of software development, especially because of the proliferation of complex, interconnected, and real-time business applications. As a result, information technology (IT) managers are struggling with pragmatic governance mechanisms for integrating testing with development.Governance issues pertaining to how software testing is organized at strategic, tactical, and operational levels,however, have not received adequate attention in the literature. This study explores the impact of three specificgovernance mechanisms, including the existence of a distinct corporate testing unit, developers and testersreporting to different executives, and the existence of one-to-one matching between developers and testers,on the organizational integration of …

Performance Analysis Of Banks Headquartered In Hollywood Versus Silicon Valley., Stoyu Ivanov

Faculty Publications

In this study we examine the performance of banks headquartered in Hollywood and banks headquartered in Silicon Valley in the period - first quarter 2008 until second quarter 2012, which includes the period of the Great Recession - December 2007 to June 2009. We find that during the financial crisis both Silicon Valley and Hollywood banks suffered but Silicon Valley banks much less than Hollywood banks. After the recession, banks in both regions improved performance again Silicon Valley banks recovering faster. We also find that the level of deposits, the leverage ratio and total loan chargeoffs consistently play a role …

Macroeconomic Variables Effect On Us Market Volatility Using Mc-Garch Model, Jang Hyung Cho, Ahmed Elshahat

Faculty Publications

Forecasting equity volatility was thoroughly investigated during the past three decades. The majority based their forecasts on the dynamics of the underlying equity time series. They helped better understand the dynamics of these time series and understand different aspects of volatility. Other models went a step further to include the effect of news announcement on equity volatility. The vast majority ignored the effect of macroeconomic variable or the state of the economy. This paper proposes a volatility-forecasting model that accounts for effect of fundamental macroeconomic variables that reflect the state of the economy. The explanatory variables used measure the stage …

Early Vs. Late Adoption Of Radical Information Technology Innovations Across Software Development Organizations: An Extension Of The Disruptive Information Technology Innovation Model, Jessica Luo Carlo, James Gaskin, Kalle Lyytinen, Gregory M. Rose

Faculty Publications

This paper extends the disruptive information technology innovation model (DITIM) by exploring the impact of adoption timing on innovation outcomes within software development organizations during a disruptive innovation cycle. The DITIM suggests that radical changes in computing platforms result in pervasive and radical innovations in software development organizations across three innovation types: base technologies adopted, services produced and processes adopted. Upstream attributes (amount and radicalness) of the base innovations impact effects in-kind downstream (a.k.a., strong order effects) on services and processes. Extending these tenets of the DITIM, we posit that during disruptive information technology (IT) innovation, the temporal stage of …

Implicit And Explicit Training In The Mitigation Of Cognitive Bias Through The Use Of A Serious Game, Norah E. Dunbar, Claude H. Miller, Bradley J. Adame, Javier Elizondo, Scott N. Wilson, Brianna L. Lane, Abigail Allums Kauffman, Elena Bessarabova, Matthew L. Jensen, Sara K. Straub, Yu-Hao Lee, Judee K. Burgoon, Joseph J. Valacich, Jeffrey Jenkins, Jun Zhang

Faculty Publications

Heuristics can interfere with information processing and hinder decision-making when more systematic processes that might lead to better decisions are ignored. Based on the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) of information processing, a serious training game (called MACBETH) was designed to address and mitigate cognitive biases that interfere with the analysis of evidence and the generation of hypotheses. Two biases are the focus of this paper—fundamental attribution error and confirmation bias. The efficacy of the serious game on knowledge and mitigation of biases was examined using an experiment in which participants (N = 703) either played the MACBETH game or watched an …

Hykss: Hybrid Keyword And Semantic Search, Andrew J. Zitzelberger, David W. Embley, Stephen W. Liddle, Del T. Scott

Faculty Publications

Keyword search suffers from a number of issues: ambiguity, synonymy, and an inability to handle semantic constraints. Semantic search helps resolve these issues but is limited by the quality of annotations which are likely to be incomplete or imprecise. Hybrid search, a search technique that combines the merits of both keyword and semantic search, appears to be a promising solution. In this paper we describe and evaluate HyKSS, a hybrid search system driven by extraction ontologies for both annotation creation and query interpretation. For displaying results, HyKSS uses a dynamic ranking algorithm. We show that over data sets of short …

The Buck Stops There: The Impact Of Perceived Accountability And Control On The Intention To Delegate To Software Agents, Nathan Stout, Alan R. Dennis, Taylor M. Wells

Faculty Publications

Software agents with the ability to recommend actions, aid decision-making, and actually make decisions are becoming increasingly common. In many situations, users now choose whether or not to delegate tasks to these agents. While some research has examined software agents, relatively little is known about the factors that influence the intention to delegate decisions to them. An experiment was used to examine the influence of perceived accountability, extent of control, and trust in the agent on the intention to delegate a travel arrangement decision. Users were more likely to delegate to agents that gave them greater control by requiring them …

The Effect Of Product Category On Consumer Brand Relationships, Marc Fetscherin, Michèle Boulanger, Gustavo Q. Souki, Cid Goncalves Filho

Faculty Publications

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the effect of product category on consumer brand relationships. Design/methodology/approach - Based on a total of 800 consumers, respondents evaluated their relationship with their favorite brand in one of the four product categories studied (soft drink, mobile phone, shoes, cars). EFA, subsequent CFA, SEM and ANOVA were used to assess these relationships and the product category effect. Findings - The authors find that brand love positively influences brand loyalty and both, influence positively WOM and purchase intention. Looking at the directionality of these relationships, the results show no product category differences. However, the …

A Direct Test Of Agency Theories Of Debt, Yilin Huang, Taylor D. Nadauld

Faculty Publications

When a firm is facing default, equity holders have incentives to engage in asset substitution, underinvest, or directly transfer wealth. Few papers document investment distortions on account of debt-equity agency conflicts, only that the threat of distortions influence ex ante financing costs. A non-agency RMBS deal represents an entity that is highly leveraged where, ex ante, equity holders know they will face default. This provides an ideal laboratory for testing whether the threat of default creates any of the distortions predicted in theory. We estimate agency costs associated with direct wealth transfers to range between $.011 and $.025 per dollar.

Users Aren’T (Necessarily) Lazy: Using Neurois To Explain Habituation To Security Warnings, Bonnie Brinton Anderson, Anthony Vance, Brock Kirwan, David Eargle, Seth Howard

Faculty Publications

Warning messages are one of the last lines of defense in information security, and are fundamental to users’ security interactions with technology. Unfortunately, research shows that users routinely ignore security warnings. A key contributor to this disregard is habituation, the diminishing of attention through frequent exposure. However, previous research has examined habituation indirectly by observing its influence on security behavior, rather than measuring habituation itself.

We contribute by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to directly observe habituation as it occurs in the brain. Our results show that with repeated exposure to warnings, neural activity in the visual processing centers …

Exploring Configurations Of Affordances: The Case Of Software Development, Aron Lindberg, James Gaskin, Nicholas Berente, Kalle Lyytinen

Faculty Publications

Affordances have been increasingly used in the information systems literature to account for the usage and effects of information technology. However, a review of the literature shows that the construct has remained nebulously defined, rarely used in anything but singular forms and with little consideration of context. This has resulted in a lack of cumulative research on affordances. We propose that affordances need to be considered not only individually, but also as configurations of multiple affordances. Through a sociomaterial sequence analysis of two software development teams – one waterfall and one agile - we build a framework for the study …

The Effects Of Social Networking Site (Sns) Use On College Students’ Friendship And Well-Being, Jin-Liang Wang, Linda A. Jackson, James Gaskin, Hai-Zhen Wang

Faculty Publications

The present study was conducted with two goals in mind: (1) to examine the influence of using different types of SNS use on users’ well-being, and (2) to examine the mediating roles of online self-disclosure and friendship quality in the relationship between types of SNS use and well-being. Participants were from two large 4-year undergraduate universities in Southwestern China. The study was conducted during Spring semester, 2013, using advertisements that described the nature of the research and indicated that compensation for participation was U10 (about $1.5 U.S.). Of the 402 students approached, 337 completed the survey (i.e., response rate was …

Housing Regulation, Externalities And Residential Property Prices, Henry J. Munneke, C. F. Sirmans, Barrett A. Slade, Geoffrey K. Turnbull

Faculty Publications

This article examines the effects of quantity restrictions on residential property prices in the presence of neighborhood externalities. A Brigham Young University policy limiting students’ location choices provides a natural experiment for studying the externality and quantity restriction effects on property values. A flexible hedonic model is used to control for nonstudent population spatial sorting by type. The estimates show significant positive quantity restriction and student agglomeration effects on student housing prices. There are also significant differences in the negative student externality across nonstudent neighborhoods, with the quantity restriction reinforcing (offsetting) the student price premium (discount) at the boundary.

Who Uses The Roth 401(K), And How Do They Use It?, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Using administrative data from twelve companies that added a Roth 401(k) option between 2006 and 2010, we describe the characteristics of Roth contributions. Approximately one year after the Roth is introduced, 9% of 401(k) participants have positive Roth balances. Roth participation is more than twice as high among 401(k) participants who were hired after the Roth introduction than among 401(k) participants who were hired before the Roth introduction. In essence, once an employee joins a 401(k) she becomes passive/inattentive, thereby reducing the likelihood of reacting to the introduction of a new Roth option. Conditional on contributing to the Roth, 66% …

A Stakeholder–Human Capital Perspective On The Link Between Social Performance And Executive Compensation, Peter M. Madsen, John B. Bingham

Faculty Publications

The link between firm corporate social performance (CSP) and executive compensation could be driven by a sorting effect (a firm’s CSP is related to the initial levels of compensation of newly hired executives), or by an incentive effect (incumbent executives are rewarded for past firm CSP). Existing empirical work focuses exclusively on the incentive effect. In contrast, in this paper we explore the sorting effect of firm CSP on the initial compensation of newly hired executives. In doing so, we develop a novel theoretical approach based on an integration of stakeholder theory and human capital theory, suggesting a positive association …

Financial Freedom Through Budgeting, Annetta M. Gibson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Behavioral View On Firm Response To Ratings: How Positive Recognition Leads To Reductions In Charitable Contributions, Ben William Lewis

Faculty Publications

While many rating systems incentivize firms to improve their performance, I investigate how positive recognition from external stakeholders can lead to reductions in performance, rather than improvements. Drawing upon behavioral and performance feedback theory, I argue that positive ratings can lead firms to decrease their subsequent performance by reducing uncertainty regarding standards of acceptable or appropriate conduct. Assuming that firms will seek to avoid uncertainty, I propose that such ratings can lead high-performing firms to redefine their aspirations and thus reduce their subsequent performance. I test this main hypothesis, as well as several moderating effects, by examining how firms responded …

Individual Characteristics And The Disposition Effect: The Opposing Effects Of Confidence And Self-Regard, Kathryn Kadous, William B. Tayler, Jane M. Thayer, Donald Young

Faculty Publications

We conduct two experiments to examine potential causes of the disposition effect. In Experiment 1, we rule out beliefs in mean reversion as a cause of the disposition effect. Although a belief in the mean reversion of stock prices should be independent of whether an investor owns or only follows the stock, we show only investors who own the stock behave as though prices will reverse. In Experiment 2, participants buy and sell securities over multiple periods. We find that self-regard and investing confidence (two types of self-esteem) have opposing influences on investors’ tendency to hold losing investments. Investors with …

Are State Tax Amnesty Programs Associated With Financial Reporting Irregularities?, Neal Buckwalter, Nathan Y. Sharp, Jaron H. Wilde, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Internationalization Of Chinese Entrepreneurial Firms, Ilan Alon, Orly Yeheskel, Miri Lerner, Wenxian Zhang

Faculty Publications

This article uses the resource-based and internationalization theories to explain the export behavior of Chinese entrepreneurial firms. Based on multi-year data on Chinese firms from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), we show that contextualized resource-based theory can adequately explain some of the variation in export behavior among young Chinese firms. Exports by small Chinese firms are driven by the social and intellectual capital of the entrepreneur and their entrepreneurial proclivity, and the innovativeness/uniqueness of the product/offering.

Entrepreneurship In Emerging Markets: New Insights And Directions For Future Research, Ilan Alon, Daniel Rottig

Faculty Publications

In recent years, the entrepreneurship and emerging markets research streams have intersected. Emerging markets provide an opportunity to examine entrepreneurship in different contexts and forms. This article discusses the current literature that interconnects both research streams in general, comments on the contributions of the articles published in the special issue on entrepreneurship and emerging markets in particular, and sketches out future avenues for research. These contributions span several theoretical lenses, including institutional theory, internationalization theory, transaction cost economics, and the resource-based view, as well as multiple geographic regions, including China as the largest emerging economy and other countries in East …