- Dr. Mark Keil is a Regents’ Professor Emeritus of the University System of Georgia. Prior to his retirement, he was t... moreDr. Mark Keil is a Regents’ Professor Emeritus of the University System of Georgia. Prior to his retirement, he was the John B. Zellars Professor of Computer Information Systems at Georgia State University. He holds B.S.E., S.M., and D.B.A. degrees from Princeton University, M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, and Harvard Business School, respectively. He was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Information Systems in the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. He also held a joint appointment in GSU’s Department of Computer Science, as well as a secondary appointment in GSU’s Institute of Health Administration.
At GSU, he received Robinson College of Business Faculty Recognition Awards both for his Outstanding Teaching as well as for his Distinguished Contributions in Research. He also received the University’s Alumni Distinguished Professor Award for outstanding achievements in scholarship, teaching, and service.
Keil received a $50,000 research grant in 2016 from the Project Management Institute (PMI) for his work on judgment and decision-making in managing IT project risks and received the PMI Research Achievement Award in 2018. He also received the AIS Fellow Award in 2018 from the Association for Information Systems.
Keil’s research focuses on IT project management and decision making and includes work on preventing IT project escalation, identifying and managing IT project risks, improving IT project status reporting, IT implementation and use, and health information technology.
He has published more than 135 refereed journal articles in such outlets as the MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Sciences, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Sloan Management Review, and California Management Review.
Keil served as a Senior Editor for MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and the Information Systems Journal, Associate Editor for MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, and as an editorial board member for both the Journal of Management Information Systems and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. Keil also served as Division Chair for the Academy of Management’s OCIS Division (now CTO Division).edit
Despite the many advantages that decision support systems (DSS) provide to decision-makers, acceptance of advice from these systems has remained relatively low. This is particularly problematic in ...
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Despite its potential returns, IT product development is not without risk. One significant risk is that decision makers can become overly committed to a troubled product development project (i.e., escalation of commitment). While several... more
Despite its potential returns, IT product development is not without risk. One significant risk is that decision makers can become overly committed to a troubled product development project (i.e., escalation of commitment). While several factors have been identified as causes of escalation of commitment in new product development, what is missing in our understanding of escalation of commitment in new product development is how evaluation of system attributes and financial rewards influences escalation of commitment to troubled IT product development projects. In this study, we investigate the comparative evaluation bias and how it influences decisions involving the evaluation of system attributes and financial rewards. The findings of two experiments suggest that individuals were more likely to escalate their commitment to a troubled new IT product development project when a system attribute with comparative information was highly rated, and when one’s financial reward was equal to that of a peer. Moreov...
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This study explores how project names may influence the tendency to escalate commitment through two experiments. Our findings from Experiment 1 show that a positive project name evokes positive affective reactions to the project. These,... more
This study explores how project names may influence the tendency to escalate commitment through two experiments. Our findings from Experiment 1 show that a positive project name evokes positive affective reactions to the project. These, in turn, are associated with a greater willingness to continue a failing project. Results from Experiment 2 show that a technological project name can similarly evoke more positive affective reactions and a greater willingness to continue but only for decision makers with high technology readiness. For decision makers with low technology readiness the effect was reversed.
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This paper makes a focused methodological contribution to the information systems (IS) literature by introducing a bivariate dynamic latent difference score model (BDLDSM) to simultaneously model change trajectories, dynamic... more
This paper makes a focused methodological contribution to the information systems (IS) literature by introducing a bivariate dynamic latent difference score model (BDLDSM) to simultaneously model change trajectories, dynamic relationships, and potential feedback loops between predictor and outcome variables for longitudinal data analysis. It will be most relevant for research that aims to use longitudinal data to explore longitudinal theories related to change. Commonly used longitudinal methods in IS research – linear unobserved effects panel data models, structural equation modeling (SEM), and random coefficient models – largely miss the opportunity to explore rate of change, dynamic relationships, and potential feedback loops between predictor and outcome variables while incorporating change trajectories, which are critical for longitudinal theory development. Latent growth models help address change trajectories, but still prevent researchers from using longitudinal data more thoroughly. For instance, these models cannot be used for examining dynamic relationships or feedback loops. BDLDSM allows IS researchers to analyze change trajectories, understand rate of change in variables, examine dynamic relationships between variables over time, and test for feedback loops between predictor and outcome variables. The use of this methodology has the potential to advance theoretical development by enabling researchers to exploit longitudinal data to test change-related hypotheses and predictions rigorously. We describe the key aspects of various longitudinal techniques, provide an illustration of BDLDSM on a healthcare panel dataset, discuss how BDLDSM addresses the limitations of other methods, and provide a step-by-step guide, including Mplus code, to develop and conduct BDLDSM analyses.
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Many information systems (IS) projects encounter significant problems. The literature suggests that decision-makers can be misled by overoptimistic estimates. We argue that such overoptimism may also be present in the choice of language... more
Many information systems (IS) projects encounter significant problems. The literature suggests that decision-makers can be misled by overoptimistic estimates. We argue that such overoptimism may also be present in the choice of language in business cases. In this study, we analyzed the usage of such framing in 20 business cases for large IS projects of the Dutch government. Our findings show that newly proposed systems are systematically framed using positive adjectives, whereas the existing systems are framed using negative adjectives. This pattern of framing may subconsciously bias the decision-makers toward investing in new IS projects.
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For healthcare practitioners and policymakers, one of the most challenging problems is understanding how to implement health information technology (HIT) applications in a way that yields the most positive impacts on quality and cost of... more
For healthcare practitioners and policymakers, one of the most challenging problems is understanding how to implement health information technology (HIT) applications in a way that yields the most positive impacts on quality and cost of care. We identify four clinical HIT functions which we label as order entry and management (OEM), decision support (DS), electronic clinical documentation (ECD), and results viewing (RV). We view OEM and DS as primary clinical functions and ECD and RV as support clinical functions. Our results show that no single combination of applications uniformly improves clinical and experiential quality and reduces cost for all hospitals. Thus, managers must assess which HIT interactions improve which performance metric under which conditions. Our results suggest that synergies can be realized when these systems are implemented simultaneously. Additionally, synergies can occur when support HIT is implemented before primary HIT and irrespective of the order in w...
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We examine the role of attributions, the seriousness of wrongdoing, and emotion in shaping individuals' whistle‐blowing intentions in the context of health information privacy violations. Based on 3 studies in which the intentionality... more
We examine the role of attributions, the seriousness of wrongdoing, and emotion in shaping individuals' whistle‐blowing intentions in the context of health information privacy violations. Based on 3 studies in which the intentionality of wrongdoing and the stability of wrongdoing were manipulated independently, we found consistent evidence that the intentionality of wrongdoing affects anticipated regret about remaining silent. The findings regarding the effect of stability, however, were mixed. In study 1, the stability of wrongdoing was found to affect anticipated regret about remaining silent, and in studies 2 and 3, stability was found to have a direct effect on whistle‐blowing intention but no effect on anticipated regret about remaining silent. In the 3 studies, the seriousness of wrongdoing was found to have an effect on whistle‐blowing intentions, but this effect was mediated by anticipated regret about remaining silent. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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Information Systems (IS) project failures are frequent and expensive. Lack of proper project management (PM) is often the cause of such failures. This should not come as a surprise because many IS professionals lack formal training in PM... more
Information Systems (IS) project failures are frequent and expensive. Lack of proper project management (PM) is often the cause of such failures. This should not come as a surprise because many IS professionals lack formal training in PM concepts and techniques. To reduce the incidence of project failure, students pursuing degrees in Information Systems (IS) programs need to learn project management principles and skills. The need for PM coverage is underscored by its inclusion as a core course in the model curriculum guidelines for both IS undergraduate and graduate degree programs by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Association for Information Systems (AIS). This study examines the current status and content of Masters' level IS PM courses in the United States. The results of this study offer insights into a model curriculum and its implementation across the United States. It was found in this study that PM was a required course in 55% of the programs, but in ...
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... Volume 4, Number 2 may be quite appropriate for exchanging time-sensitive information, and in this respect it is similar to the traditional medium of the telephone (Rice, 1993; Trevino, Lengel & Daft, 1987). Based on MRT,... more
... Volume 4, Number 2 may be quite appropriate for exchanging time-sensitive information, and in this respect it is similar to the traditional medium of the telephone (Rice, 1993; Trevino, Lengel & Daft, 1987). Based on MRT, one ...
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ABSTRACT We examined 335 business process outsourcing (BPO) ventures to understand the effect of contractual and relational governance factors on BPO satisfaction from the client's perspective. While both contractual and... more
ABSTRACT We examined 335 business process outsourcing (BPO) ventures to understand the effect of contractual and relational governance factors on BPO satisfaction from the client's perspective. While both contractual and relational factors explain significant variance in BPO satisfaction, relational factors dominate. By examining interactions between key contractual and relational mechanisms, we found that elements of the two governance approaches operate as substitutes with respect to BPO satisfaction. Specifically, the relational mechanism, trust, was found to substitute for contractually specified activity expectations, goal expectations, and contractual flexibility. Similarly, the relational mechanism, information exchange, was found to substitute for contractually specified activity expectations and goal expectations. Finally, the relational mechanism, conflict resolution, was found to substitute for contractually specified goal expectations. Our results can be applied to more effectively realize controls in outsourcing contexts and to design governance systems that integrate contractual and relational governance mechanisms based on the characteristics of client-vendor relationships.
Research Interests: Business, Information Systems, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, Services, and 11 moreCorporate Governance, Outsourcing, Business and Management, Controls, Flexibility in engineering design, Relational View, Relational Governance, Hybrid Governance, Business Process Outsourcing, Vendor, and Digital Strategies for IT Business Value
Despite the many advantages that decision support systems (DSSs) provide to decision makers, acceptance of advice from these systems has remained relatively low. In this study, we leverage theoretical insights from the literature to build... more
Despite the many advantages that decision support systems (DSSs) provide to decision makers, acceptance of advice from these systems has remained relatively low. In this study, we leverage theoretical insights from the literature to build a DSS that is behaviorally similar to its user, with the aim of increasing acceptance of DSS advice. To test whether users would be more accepting of advice from a behaviorally-similar DSS, we conducted a field experiment in a complex semi-structured decision context. The results of our experiment provide empirical evidence that a behaviorally-similar DSS can increase acceptance of advice in semi-structured decision-making contexts.
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Escalation of commitment causes people to continue a failing course of action. We study the role of construal level in such escalation of commitment. Consistent with the widely held view of construal level as a primed effect, we employed... more
Escalation of commitment causes people to continue a failing course of action. We study the role of construal level in such escalation of commitment. Consistent with the widely held view of construal level as a primed effect, we employed a commonly used prime for manipulating this construct in a laboratory experiment. Our findings revealed that the prime failed to produce statistically significant differences in construal level, which was measured using the Behavior Identification Form (BIF). Furthermore, there was no effect of the prime on escalation of commitment, or on constructs that have previously been linked to construal level such as the perceived importance of feasibility considerations relative to desirability considerations, and the number of pros and cons that subjects can think of.Interestingly, however, subjects’ actual construal level scores on the BIF were found to significantly affect escalation. Specifically, our findings show that people with a low construal level...
Research Interests: Information Systems, Psychology, Social Psychology, Information Technology, Economics, and 9 moreDecision And Game Theory, IS Project Management, Construal Level Theory, IT Project Risk Management, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Trait, Escalation of Commitment, IT Project Management, and Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
Background: According to a 2020 study by the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer (CRC) represents the third leading cause of cancer both in incidence and death in the United States. Nonetheless, CRC screening remains lower than... more
Background:
According to a 2020 study by the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer (CRC) represents the third leading cause of cancer both in incidence and death in the United States. Nonetheless, CRC screening remains lower than that for other high-risk cancers such as breast and cervical cancer. Risk calculators are increasingly being used to promote cancer awareness and improve compliance with CRC screening tests. However, research concerning the effects of CRC risk calculators on the intention to undergo CRC screening has been limited. Moreover, some studies have found the impacts of CRC risk calculators to be inconsistent, reporting that receiving personalized assessments from such calculators lowers people’s risk perception.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to examine the effect of using CRC risk calculators on individuals’ intentions to undergo CRC screening. In addition, this study aims to examine the mechanisms through which using CRC risk calculators might influence individuals’ intentions to undergo CRC screening. Specifically, this study focuses on the role of perceived susceptibility to CRC as a potential mechanism mediating the effect of using CRC risk calculators. Finally, this study examines how the effect of using CRC risk calculators on individuals’ intentions to undergo CRC screening may vary by gender.
Methods:
We recruited a total of 128 participants through Amazon Mechanical Turk who live in the United States, have health insurance, and are in the age group of 45 to 85 years. All participants answered questions needed as input for the CRC risk calculator but were randomly assigned to treatment (CRC risk calculator results immediately received) and control (CRC risk calculator results made available after the experiment ended) groups. The participants in both groups answered a series of questions regarding demographics, perceived susceptibility to CRC, and their intention to get screened.
Results:
We found that using CRC risk calculators (ie, answering questions needed as input and receiving calculator results) has a positive effect on intentions to undergo CRC screening, but only for men. For women, using CRC risk calculators has a negative effect on their perceived susceptibility to CRC, which in turn reduces the intention to sign up for CRC screening. Additional simple slope and subgroup analyses confirm that the effect of perceived susceptibility on CRC screening intention is moderated by gender.
Conclusions:
This study shows that using CRC risk calculators can increase individuals’ intentions to undergo CRC screening, but only for men. For women, using CRC risk calculators can reduce their intentions to undergo CRC screening, as it reduces their perceived susceptibility to CRC. Given these mixed results, although CRC risk calculators can be a useful source of information on one’s CRC risk, patients should be discouraged from relying solely on them to inform decisions regarding CRC screening.
According to a 2020 study by the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer (CRC) represents the third leading cause of cancer both in incidence and death in the United States. Nonetheless, CRC screening remains lower than that for other high-risk cancers such as breast and cervical cancer. Risk calculators are increasingly being used to promote cancer awareness and improve compliance with CRC screening tests. However, research concerning the effects of CRC risk calculators on the intention to undergo CRC screening has been limited. Moreover, some studies have found the impacts of CRC risk calculators to be inconsistent, reporting that receiving personalized assessments from such calculators lowers people’s risk perception.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to examine the effect of using CRC risk calculators on individuals’ intentions to undergo CRC screening. In addition, this study aims to examine the mechanisms through which using CRC risk calculators might influence individuals’ intentions to undergo CRC screening. Specifically, this study focuses on the role of perceived susceptibility to CRC as a potential mechanism mediating the effect of using CRC risk calculators. Finally, this study examines how the effect of using CRC risk calculators on individuals’ intentions to undergo CRC screening may vary by gender.
Methods:
We recruited a total of 128 participants through Amazon Mechanical Turk who live in the United States, have health insurance, and are in the age group of 45 to 85 years. All participants answered questions needed as input for the CRC risk calculator but were randomly assigned to treatment (CRC risk calculator results immediately received) and control (CRC risk calculator results made available after the experiment ended) groups. The participants in both groups answered a series of questions regarding demographics, perceived susceptibility to CRC, and their intention to get screened.
Results:
We found that using CRC risk calculators (ie, answering questions needed as input and receiving calculator results) has a positive effect on intentions to undergo CRC screening, but only for men. For women, using CRC risk calculators has a negative effect on their perceived susceptibility to CRC, which in turn reduces the intention to sign up for CRC screening. Additional simple slope and subgroup analyses confirm that the effect of perceived susceptibility on CRC screening intention is moderated by gender.
Conclusions:
This study shows that using CRC risk calculators can increase individuals’ intentions to undergo CRC screening, but only for men. For women, using CRC risk calculators can reduce their intentions to undergo CRC screening, as it reduces their perceived susceptibility to CRC. Given these mixed results, although CRC risk calculators can be a useful source of information on one’s CRC risk, patients should be discouraged from relying solely on them to inform decisions regarding CRC screening.
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The confluence of digital transactions, growing cybersecurity threats, and the internet of the future (e.g., web 3.0 and the metaverse) have made information privacy increasingly important to consumers and companies that rely on consumers... more
The confluence of digital transactions, growing cybersecurity threats, and the internet of the future (e.g., web 3.0 and the metaverse) have made information privacy increasingly important to consumers and companies that rely on consumers willingly sharing their personal information. Although information privacy has been of interest to researchers for decades and much has been learned, one thing that perplexes scholars is the privacy paradox, which we define as a mismatch between stated privacy concerns and actual disclosure behaviors. In this paper, we shed light on this phenomenon and show that low-effort information processing triggered by cognitive depletion (Experiment 1), positive mood (Experiment 2), or both (Experiment 3) significantly attenuates the association between stated privacy concerns and disclosure behaviors. These findings do not indicate that individuals do not care about privacy because we find consistent evidence in the three experiments for a significant negative association between stated privacy concerns and disclosure behaviors when individuals have sufficient cognitive capacity (Experiment 1), experience a negative (or neutral) mood (Experiment 2), or have sufficient cognitive capacity coupled with a negative mood state (Experiment 3). Our findings reveal that the paradox is neither an absolute phenomenon nor a myth, but its existence is conditional on contextual factors, including psychological factors related to information processing. We discuss our contribution to privacy theory and provide implications for consumers, companies, and policymakers.
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We examine how physicians’ perceptions of two computerized provider order entry (CPOE) capabilities, standardization of care protocols and documentation quality, are associated with their perceptions of turnaround time, medical error, and... more
We examine how physicians’ perceptions of two computerized provider order entry (CPOE) capabilities, standardization of care protocols and documentation quality, are associated with their perceptions of turnaround time, medical error, and job demand at three phases of CPOE implementation: pre-go-live, initial use, and continued use. Through a longitudinal study at a large urban hospital, we find standardization of care protocols is positively associated with turnaround time reduction in all phases but positively associated with job demand increase only in the initial use phase. Standardization also has a positive association with medical error reduction in the initial use phase, but later this effect becomes fully mediated through turnaround time reduction in the continued use phase. Documentation quality has a positive association with medical error reduction in the initial use phase and this association strengthens in the continued use phase. Our findings provide insights to effectively manage physicians’ response to CPOE implementation.
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If managers assume a normal or near-normal distribution of Information Technology (IT) project cost overruns, as is common, and cost overruns can be shown to follow a power-law distribution, managers may be unwittingly exposing their... more
If managers assume a normal or near-normal distribution of Information Technology (IT) project cost overruns, as is common, and cost overruns can be shown to follow a power-law distribution, managers may be unwittingly exposing their organizations to extreme risk by severely underestimating the probability of large cost overruns. In this research, we collect and analyze a large sample comprised of 5,392 IT projects to empirically examine the probability distribution of IT project cost overruns. Further, we propose and examine a mechanism that can explain such a distribution. Our results reveal that IT projects are far riskier in terms of cost than normally assumed by decision makers and scholars. Specifically, we found that IT project cost overruns follow a power-law distribution in which there are a large number of projects with relatively small overruns and a fat tail that includes a smaller number of projects with extreme overruns. A possible generative mechanism for the identified power-law distribution is found in interdependencies among technological components in IT systems. We propose and demonstrate, through computer simulation, that a problem in a single technological component can lead to chain reactions in which other interdependent components are affected, causing substantial overruns. What the power law tells us is that extreme IT project cost overruns will occur and that the prevalence of these will be grossly underestimated if managers assume that overruns follow a normal or near-normal distribution. This underscores the importance of realistically assessing and mitigating the cost risk of new IT projects up front.
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Increasingly, the development of today’s “smart” products requires the integration of both software and hardware in embedded systems. To develop these, hardware firms typically enlist the expertise of software development firms to offer... more
Increasingly, the development of today’s “smart” products requires the integration of both software and hardware in embedded systems. To develop these, hardware firms typically enlist the expertise of software development firms to offer integrated solutions. While hardware firms often work according to a plan-driven approach, software development firms draw on Agile development methods. Interestingly, empirically little is known about the implications and consequences of working according to contrasting development methods in a collaborative project. In response to this research gap, we conducted a process study of a collaborative development project involving a software firm and a hardware firm, within which the two firms worked according to contrasting development methods. We found that the software firm was gradually compelled to forgo its Agile method, creating a role conflict in terms of its way of working. As such, our results contribute to the literature on Agile–Stage-Gate hybrids by demonstrating how, in collaborative embedded systems development, hybridization of development methods may cause projects to fail. Our main practical implication entails the introduction of the “sequential Agile approach.”
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Many information systems (IS) projects encounter significant problems. The literature suggests that decision-makers can be misled by overoptimistic estimates. We argue that such overoptimism may also be present in the choice of language... more
Many information systems (IS) projects encounter significant problems. The literature suggests that decision-makers can be misled by overoptimistic estimates. We argue that such overoptimism may also be present in the choice of language in business cases. In this study, we analyzed the usage of such framing in 20 business cases for large IS projects of the Dutch government. Our findings show that newly proposed systems are systematically framed using positive adjectives, whereas the existing systems are framed using negative adjectives. This pattern of framing may subconsciously bias the decision-makers toward investing in new IS projects.
Research Interests:
This paper makes a focused methodological contribution to the information systems (IS) literature by introducing a bivariate dynamic latent difference score model (BDLDSM) to simultaneously model change trajectories, dynamic... more
This paper makes a focused methodological contribution to the information systems (IS) literature by introducing a bivariate dynamic latent difference score model (BDLDSM) to simultaneously model change trajectories, dynamic relationships, and potential feedback loops between predictor and outcome variables for longitudinal data analysis. It will be most relevant for research that aims to use longitudinal data to explore longitudinal theories related to change. Commonly used longitudinal methods in IS research – linear unobserved effects panel data models, structural equation modeling (SEM), and random coefficient models – largely miss the opportunity to explore rate of change, dynamic relationships, and potential feedback loops between predictor and outcome variables while incorporating change trajectories, which are critical for longitudinal theory development. Latent growth models help address change trajectories, but still prevent researchers from using longitudinal data more thoroughly. For instance, these models cannot be used for examining dynamic relationships or feedback loops. BDLDSM allows IS researchers to analyze change trajectories, understand rate of change in variables, examine dynamic relationships between variables over time, and test for feedback loops between predictor and outcome variables. The use of this methodology has the potential to advance theoretical development by enabling researchers to exploit longitudinal data to test change-related hypotheses and predictions rigorously. We describe the key aspects of various longitudinal techniques, provide an illustration of BDLDSM on a healthcare panel dataset, discuss how BDLDSM addresses the limitations of other methods, and provide a step-by-step guide, including Mplus code, to develop and conduct BDLDSM analyses.
Research Interests:
To realize their strategic goals and maintain a competitive advantage in the digital era, organizations must periodically renew their digital platforms and infrastructures. However, knowledge about such technology renewal is scattered... more
To realize their strategic goals and maintain a competitive advantage in the digital era, organizations must periodically renew their digital platforms and infrastructures. However, knowledge about such technology renewal is scattered across diverse research streams, so insights into the process are both limited and fragmented. In this article, we consolidate insights from previous research to conceptualize technology renewal as an inherently paradoxical digital transformation process that requires organizations to simultaneously remove their technological foundation and build on the practices that depend on it to implement a new technological foundation. Previous research suggests that technology renewal initiatives are driven by three paradoxical tensions: (a) established vs renewed technology usage, (b) deliberate vs emergent renewal practices and (c) inner vs outer renewal contexts. We apply this framing to a longitudinal case study in which we analyse and explain how an organization's responses to manifestations of these tensions eventually led to a vicious cycle of continued investments into two overlapping and largely incompatible digital platforms over a 9-year period. Based on these conceptual and empirical insights, we theorize technology renewal as a paradoxical, and increasingly critical, digital transformation process that forces managers to make decisions in complex and ambiguous choice situations.
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This research focuses on information technology (IT) project managers' growth mindset concerning IT project management (PM) ability and investigates how such a mindset can promote escalation of commitment to a troubled IT project.... more
This research focuses on information technology (IT) project managers' growth mindset concerning IT project management (PM) ability and investigates how such a mindset can promote escalation of commitment to a troubled IT project. Specifically, we suggest that the growth mindset of IT PM ability promotes prospective achievement motivation and can lead IT project managers to escalate their commitment to an IT project despite negative feedback suggesting that the project may not be completed successfully. Through a series of three experiments with 351 IT project managers, we obtained consistent support for our hypotheses suggesting that the growth mindset of IT PM ability promotes IT project escalation and this effect is partially mediated by anticipated regret about project failure and anticipated likelihood of project success. In addition, in the three experiments we found that when the project involves an unfamiliar technology the indirect effect of the growth mindset of IT PM ability through anticipated likelihood of project success is stronger than when the project involves a familiar technology.
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Purpose: Information system projects often go awry and when they do internal auditors are often in a position to bring the problems to management’s attention. However, managers are not always receptive to risk warnings, even when internal... more
Purpose:
Information system projects often go awry and when they do internal auditors are often in a position to bring the problems to management’s attention. However, managers are not always receptive to risk warnings, even when internal auditors who are role prescribed to carry out this function deliver such warnings. This phenomenon is known as the deaf effect. This paper aims to examine the actions that internal auditors take to resolve the deaf effect and how these actions affect the auditor–manager relationship.
Design/methodology/approach:
Based on a multiple case study approach, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with auditors and examined ten cases of the deaf effect from the auditor’s perspective.
Findings:
The findings revealed three categories of actions that auditors took in response to the deaf effect and how these actions immediately affected the auditor–manager relationship. Further, by analyzing the subsequent sequence of actions taken by the auditor in each case, the authors identified three distinct patterns that capture the dynamics of the auditor–manager relationship over time until the deaf effect was, ultimately, resolved.
Originality/value:
Several practitioner studies have shown that internal auditors and managers struggle to build effective relationships, even under the most favorable circumstances and the authors suggest that deaf effect situations are likely to pose an even greater challenge to the auditor–manager relationship. The study contributes to the discourse on internal audit effectiveness in several ways. First, the authors identified three categories of actions that internal auditors took in response to the deaf effect. The authors found that two of these categories of action are related to the two distinct roles that internal auditors can play (inspector or consultant). Second, the authors examined how these categories of actions played out over time, influencing the auditor–manager relationship dynamics.
Information system projects often go awry and when they do internal auditors are often in a position to bring the problems to management’s attention. However, managers are not always receptive to risk warnings, even when internal auditors who are role prescribed to carry out this function deliver such warnings. This phenomenon is known as the deaf effect. This paper aims to examine the actions that internal auditors take to resolve the deaf effect and how these actions affect the auditor–manager relationship.
Design/methodology/approach:
Based on a multiple case study approach, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with auditors and examined ten cases of the deaf effect from the auditor’s perspective.
Findings:
The findings revealed three categories of actions that auditors took in response to the deaf effect and how these actions immediately affected the auditor–manager relationship. Further, by analyzing the subsequent sequence of actions taken by the auditor in each case, the authors identified three distinct patterns that capture the dynamics of the auditor–manager relationship over time until the deaf effect was, ultimately, resolved.
Originality/value:
Several practitioner studies have shown that internal auditors and managers struggle to build effective relationships, even under the most favorable circumstances and the authors suggest that deaf effect situations are likely to pose an even greater challenge to the auditor–manager relationship. The study contributes to the discourse on internal audit effectiveness in several ways. First, the authors identified three categories of actions that internal auditors took in response to the deaf effect. The authors found that two of these categories of action are related to the two distinct roles that internal auditors can play (inspector or consultant). Second, the authors examined how these categories of actions played out over time, influencing the auditor–manager relationship dynamics.
Research Interests:
Prior research on escalation in online auctions neglects the role of product involvement, despite the importance of involvement in shaping purchasing decisions. In this study, we develop and test a research model in which product... more
Prior research on escalation in online auctions neglects the role of product involvement, despite the importance of involvement in shaping purchasing decisions. In this study, we develop and test a research model in which product involvement moderates the effects of two key escalation drivers—sunk cost and completion—on an individual’s online bidding behavior. Results indicate that when product involvement is high, completion drives escalation behavior, but when product involvement is low, sunk cost drives escalation behavior. Consistent with prior work, the interaction of sunk cost and completion was a significant predictor of willingness to continue bidding.
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With the growing role of information technology (IT), many organizations struggle with IT-related risks. Both IT managers and IT auditors are involved in assessing, monitoring, and reporting IT risks, but this does not necessarily mean... more
With the growing role of information technology (IT), many organizations struggle with IT-related risks. Both IT managers and IT auditors are involved in assessing, monitoring, and reporting IT risks, but this does not necessarily mean that they share the same views. In this study, we draw upon the actor–observer asymmetry perspective to understand differences in IT managers’ vs. IT auditors’ perceptions of risks. Through a quasi-experiment with 76 employees of a financial institution, we found that IT managers and IT auditors showed the expected actor–observer differences. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.
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Internet-enabled reverse auctions (RAs) are touted as a means of making the procurement process more effective and efficient, but as is often the case with information technology (IT), there can be risks that managers need to be aware of... more
Internet-enabled reverse auctions (RAs) are touted as a means of making the procurement process more effective and efficient, but as is often the case with information technology (IT), there can be risks that managers need to be aware of and mitigate in order to realize the benefits. Using the Delphi methodology followed by semistructured interviews, we identify buyer and supplier perspectives on risk factors associated with RAs and the controls that can address key risk factors. We find that the risk factors map to (1) auction process governance, (2) organizational contingency, (3) buyer–supplier relationship, and (4) agency and transaction cost. Drawing on the findings, we advance an RA risk-control integrative model and formulate corresponding propositions (1) comparing buyers’ and suppliers’ perspectives on risks associated with RA use and (2) identifying controls to mitigate the risks. Our research contributes to theory by (1) surfacing that RAs introduce novel risks and that buyers and suppliers can have either similar or remarkably different views regarding particular risks, (2) showing how both buyers and suppliers can create information asymmetry and act opportunistically, and (3) uncovering the role of input controls, a type of control that has not received much attention in the literature on controls for IT initiatives, as an effective means of addressing most of the key risk factors. For practitioners, our study provides guidance about a wide range of risk factors that both parties could face when using RAs, the adverse consequences of these risk factors, and the controls that can be established to mitigate the key risk factors.
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Prior research suggests that information technology (IT) project escalation can result from the deaf effect, a phenomenon in which decision makers fail to heed risk warnings communicated by others. Drawing inspiration from stewardship... more
Prior research suggests that information technology (IT) project escalation can result from the deaf effect, a phenomenon in which decision makers fail to heed risk warnings communicated by others. Drawing inspiration from stewardship theory, we posited that when messengers carrying risk warnings about a project are seen as collaborative partners, decision makers are more likely to heed the message. Conversely, we theorized that when messengers are seen as opponents, decision makers are more likely to exhibit the deaf effect. We further posited that certain psychological factors (i.e., framing and perceived control) would moderate the effect of the messenger-recipient relationship on the deaf effect. To test these ideas, we conducted two experiments. When messengers were seen as collaborative partners, recipients assigned more relevance to the risk warning and perceived a higher risk, making them less willing to continue the project. Framing the outcomes associated with redirecting or continuing the project in terms of losses (rather than gains) weakened this effect. However, when recipients perceived a high degree of control over the project the effect was strengthened. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.
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Digital inequality, or unequal access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICT), is a severe problem preventing the socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) from participating in a digital society. To understand the... more
Digital inequality, or unequal access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICT), is a severe problem preventing the socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) from participating in a digital society. To understand the critical resources that contribute to digital inequality and inform public policy for stimulating initial and continued ICT usage by the SED, we drew on capital theories and conducted a field study to investigate: (1) the forms of capital for using ICT and how they differ across potential adopters who are SED and socioeconomically advantaged (SEA); (2) how these forms of capitals are relatively impacted for the SEA and the SED through public policy for ICT access; and (3) how each form of capital influences the SED's intentions to use initially and to continue to use ICT. The context for our study involved a city in the southeastern United States that offered its citizens free ICT access for Internet connectivity. Our results show that SED potential adopters exhibited lower cultural capital but higher social capital relative to the SEA. Moreover, the SED who participated in the city's initiative realized greater positive gains in cultural capital, social capital, and habitus than the SEA. In addition, we find that the SED's initial intention to use ICT was influenced by intrinsic motivation for habitus, self-efficacy for cultural capital, and important referents' expectations and support from acquaintances for social capital. Cultural capital and social cultural capital also complemented each other in driving the SED's initial use intention. The SED's continued use intention was affected by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for habitus and both knowledge and self-efficacy for cultural capital but was not affected by social capital. We also make several recommendations for future research on digital inequality and ICT acceptance to extend and apply the proposed capital framework.
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This study compared the effects of using voice mail files sent as electronic mail (e-mail) attachments versus text-based e-mail to provide student feedback. Social Presence Theory (SPT) was used as the theoretical framework for assessing... more
This study compared the effects of using voice mail files sent as electronic mail (e-mail) attachments versus text-based e-mail to provide student feedback. Social Presence Theory (SPT) was used as the theoretical framework for assessing the two modes of delivering feedback. SPT would predict that voice mail would be perceived as higher than e-mail in terms of social presence. In accordance with SPT, the results indicate that voice mail was perceived to have significantly higher social presence than text-based e-mail. Both e-mail and voice mail were perceived as capable of providing a reasonably high quality of feedback. The results of this study indicate that students in the voice mail group appreciated the higher social presence of the medium, whereas students in the e-mail group appreciated receiving the text-based feedback because it could be printed and then later accessed and referenced in a non-sequential manner.
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In this article, we propose a probabilistic model that accounts for project manager fallibility in determining project status, and the tendency of project managers to slant the status to be better than that actually perceived. We call the... more
In this article, we propose a probabilistic model that accounts for project manager fallibility in determining project status, and the tendency of project managers to slant the status to be better than that actually perceived. We call the fallibility in determining status error, the tendency to slant perceived status bias, and the combined effect distortion. The results indicate that distortion can produce very large differences between true and reported status. In addition, the results indicate that the magnitude of this distortion is heavily influenced by the level of bias applied by the project manager. This investigation supports the notion that the reliability of status reports is not only dependent upon the skills of the project manager, but also on the culture of the organization. The model also provides a framework for further investigating status report reliability through empirical studies to determine error and bias estimates.
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While there is increasing awareness of the Year 2000 computer date problem, most organizations have yet to take sufficient action to ensure that their systems are "millennium-proof." This lack of progress is particularly troubling given... more
While there is increasing awareness of the Year 2000 computer date problem, most organizations have yet to take sufficient action to ensure that their systems are "millennium-proof." This lack of progress is particularly troubling given the profoundly negative legal, and even survival exposures that enterprises of every kind (e.g., public, private, profit-making, non-profit and government), as well as their management (e.g., directors, officers, civil servants, elected and appointed politicians), face if non-compliant software and hardware cause major disruptions to enterprise operations. For this reason, information systems audit and control professionals must play a proactive role during the next three years in helping their organizations to confront and resolve the Year 2000 date problem. IS audit and control professionals can help their organizations in five ways: 1) convincing other members of the organization, particularly senior management, that this is a serious problem requiring immediate attention; 2) helping managers overcome their initial responses to the Year 2000 date problem (usually denial and anger); 3) playing an active role in establishing a Year 2000 steering committee and program office; 4) helping to develop enterprise-wide Year 2000 compliance definitions, standards, and test plans; and 5) conducting audits to certify the completeness and appropriateness of Year 2000 project plans, as well as whether or not Year 2000 compliance has been achieved.
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Building an information system that works is an activity that is far from certain. Even experts sometimes run afoul of the technical and project management challenges in system development — a fact underscored by American Airlines and its... more
Building an information system that works is an activity that is far from certain. Even experts sometimes run afoul of the technical and project management challenges in system development — a fact underscored by American Airlines and its partners’ recent failure to deliver the Confirm travel reservation system. Failures like these are surely regrettable, but much more disturbing are failures that occur when people do not use systems that work well technically.
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Business process outsourcing (BPO) enables organizations to enhance operational capability, shorten response time, and gain strategic value. Yet, BPO risks are real and BPO initiatives can and do go awry. While prior research has... more
Business process outsourcing (BPO) enables organizations to enhance operational capability, shorten response time, and gain strategic value. Yet, BPO risks are real and BPO initiatives can and do go awry. While prior research has attempted to understand BPO risks from the client perspective, the critical risks of BPO from the vendor perspective (and how they differ from those of the client perspective) are not well understood. By using the Delphi method, this study identifies and ranks BPO risk factors from the perspective of vendors as well as clients (for comparison purposes) across two countries. We identify a list of 68 BPO risk factors perceived by vendors and clients and top-ranked risk factors perceived by vendors. We categorize these factors into six risk dimensions (i.e., organizational environment, client, complexity, contract, execution, and vendor). Our findings indicate that vendors are concerned about not only the risks that influence their own business, but also those that may impact the business of clients. However, vendors focus more on client and execution risks, whereas clients focus more on vendor and organizational environment risks. Our research contributes to the existing literature by not only investigating the top-ranked risks from the perspective of vendors, but also revealing the similarities and differences in the perceptions of vendors and clients with respect to BPO risk. Our research also has practical utility for BPO vendors and clients.
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The use of conversational AI agents (CAs), such as Alexa and Siri, has steadily increased over the past several years. However, the functionality of these agents relies on the personal data obtained from their users. While evidence... more
The use of conversational AI agents (CAs), such as Alexa and Siri, has steadily increased over the past several years. However, the functionality of these agents relies on the personal data obtained from their users. While evidence suggests that user disclosure can be increased through reciprocal self-disclosure (i.e., a process in which a CA discloses information about itself with the expectation that the user would reciprocate by disclosing similar information about themself), it is not clear whether and through which mechanism the process of reciprocal self-disclosure influences users' post-interaction trust. We theorize that anthropomorphism (i.e., the extent to which a user attributes humanlike attributes to a CA) serves as an inductive inference mechanism for understanding reciprocal self-disclosure, enabling users to build conceptually distinct cognitive and affective foundations upon which to form their post-interaction trust. We find strong support for our theory through two randomized experiments that used custom-developed text-based and voice-based CAs. Specifically, we find that reciprocal self-disclosure increases anthropomorphism and anthropomorphism increases cognition-based trustworthiness and affectbased trustworthiness. Our results show that reciprocal self-disclosure has an indirect effect on cognition-based trustworthiness and affect-based trustworthiness which is fully mediated through anthropomorphism. These findings conceptually bridge prior research on motivations of anthropomorphism and research on cognitive and affective bases of trust.
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This study explores how project names may influence the tendency to escalate commitment through two experiments. Our findings from Experiment 1 show that a positive project name evokes positive affective reactions to the project. These,... more
This study explores how project names may influence the tendency to escalate commitment through two experiments. Our findings from Experiment 1 show that a positive project name evokes positive affective reactions to the project. These, in turn, are associated with a greater willingness to continue a failing project. Results from Experiment 2 show that a technological project name can similarly evoke more positive affective reactions and a greater willingness to continue but only for decision makers with high technology readiness. For decision makers with low technology readiness the effect was reversed.
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Smartwatch applications are growing in popularity, but little is known about why people are motivated to use different smartwatch health apps. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, we propose that the fit between individuals' regulatory... more
Smartwatch applications are growing in popularity, but little is known about why people are motivated to use different smartwatch health apps. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, we propose that the fit between individuals' regulatory focus (i.e., primarily prevention or primarily promotion) and the regulatory properties of smartwatch health apps (i.e., primarily promotion apps or primarily prevention apps) helps to explain individuals' motivations related to intentions to use smartwatch health apps. Further, we show that individuals' internal health locus of control strengthens the effect of regulatory fit. This study contributes by demonstrating how regulatory focus and locus of control influence intentions to use smartwatch health apps.
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As project management scholars, we should not automatically assume that theories borrowed from other fields will produce desirable results when applied to the project management domain. To illustrate this, I focus on the problem of... more
As project management scholars, we should not automatically assume that theories borrowed from other fields will produce desirable results when applied to the project management domain. To illustrate this, I focus on the problem of project escalation and discuss how three theories that have been widely touted as producing good outcomes in other fields may produce undesirable consequences when applied to the project escalation context. I argue that when good theories backfire, this creates an opportunity for project management scholars to expose the boundary conditions of such theories.
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Information systems outsourcing has not only become prevalent but also involves an increasingly wide range of activities beyond the traditional technology-focused programming, testing, documentation and localization activities to include... more
Information systems outsourcing has not only become prevalent but also involves an increasingly wide range of activities beyond the traditional technology-focused programming, testing, documentation and localization activities to include complex business-focused project planning, process design, requirements determination, and logical and physical systems designs. Such complex IS outsourcing often requires interactions among various stakeholders across different locations and cultures, and therefore is much more difficult to manage than the traditional IS outsourcing. Effective coordination and control have been viewed as especially important project management strategies for managing project activities; however, little research has focused on how they relate to each other and how they collectively affect the performance of complex IS outsourcing projects. In this study, we examine the differential performance effects of outcome and behavior controls on coordination and show that the effect of outcome control on project performance is mediated by coordination.
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This special Issue of Information Systems Frontiers, dedicated to the memory of H. Jeff Smith (Keil et al. 2019), contains a selection of manuscripts originally accepted for the ICIS 2018 track on Cyber Security, Privacy and Ethics of IS.... more
This special Issue of Information Systems Frontiers, dedicated to the memory of H. Jeff Smith (Keil et al. 2019), contains a selection of manuscripts originally accepted for the ICIS 2018 track on Cyber Security, Privacy and Ethics of IS. Authors of all manuscripts accepted into the ICIS track were invited to submit revised versions of their manuscripts for peer-review at the journal. Six manuscripts were eventually chosen for this issue. The manuscripts encompass multiple methodologies (including meta-analysis, expert interviews, and experiments) and a plurality of topics (from information security compliance to the impact of data regulation on innovation; from identity theft to consumers’ perceptions of information security). Together, they encapsulate and showcase the richness and variety of contemporary IS research at the intersection of security, privacy, trust, and ethics.
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While performance appraisals provide an opportunity for managers to review employee performance, prior research points to potential negative consequences associated with performance appraisals. Specifically, prior IS research suggests... more
While performance appraisals provide an opportunity for managers to review employee performance, prior research points to potential negative consequences associated with performance appraisals. Specifically, prior IS research suggests that relative and criticism-based appraisals can have an undesirable impact on employee behaviour. Motivated by this, in this study we theorised and empirically investigated how relative and criticism-based appraisals can influence an IT project member’s tendency to continue working on a task despite encountering serious setbacks (i.e., task-level escalation). To shed light on the underlying mechanisms through which appraisals influence task-level escalation, we proposed and tested two mediating pathways based on goal orientation theory and prospect theory. In a laboratory experiment, we found that a relative appraisal led to greater task-level escalation as compared to an absolute appraisal. Proving goal orientation and avoiding goal orientation mediated this relationship. In addition, we found that a criticism-based appraisal led to greater task-level escalation as compared to a praise-based appraisal. Risk propensity and self-esteem mediated this relationship. Lastly, we found that the effects of both a relative appraisal and a criticism-based appraisal on task-level escalation were significantly different from a control group that did not involve any form of performance appraisal.
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We examine the role of attributions, the seriousness of wrongdoing, and emotion in shaping individuals' whistle-blowing intentions in the context of health information privacy violations. Based on 3 studies in which the intentionality of... more
We examine the role of attributions, the seriousness of wrongdoing, and emotion in shaping individuals' whistle-blowing intentions in the context of health information privacy violations. Based on 3 studies in which the intentionality of wrongdoing and the stability of wrongdoing were manipulated independently, we found consistent evidence that the intentionality of wrongdoing affects anticipated regret about remaining silent. The findings regarding the effect of stability, however, were mixed. In study 1, the stability of wrongdoing was found to affect anticipated regret about remaining silent, and in studies 2 and 3, stability was found to have a direct effect on whistle-blowing intention but no effect on anticipated regret about remaining silent. In the 3 studies, the seriousness of wrongdoing was found to have an effect on whistle-blowing intentions, but this effect was mediated by anticipated regret about remaining silent. Implications for research and practice are discussed.