As organizations strive to meet stakeholders’ needs for sustainability information, they convey t... more As organizations strive to meet stakeholders’ needs for sustainability information, they convey their status as sustainability leaders by publishing reports and seeking sustainability awards. Our research examines whether the extent of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation, which enables data and process integration across multiple functional areas, increases organizations’ ability to capture and integrate information for sustainability reporting. We propose that ERP systems implementation increases organizations’ ability to capture sustainability data and provides more and more favorable disclosures, resulting in better sustainability assessment scores by rating agencies and indices such as MSCI and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. We also pose research questions about the type of ERP modules that are implemented and how those impact the scores related to the social, environmental, and governance dimensions of sustainability leadership. Our study is expected t...
Despite recent advances in Internet reporting technologies and calls for the increased reporting ... more Despite recent advances in Internet reporting technologies and calls for the increased reporting of disaggregated financial information, extant accounting research has not examined the potential positive and negative effects of providing disaggregated information using interactive web-based financial statements. In an experiment with nonprofessional investors, we investigate whether an Internet technology that provides investors control over the viewing of disaggregated financial information improves investment-related judgments and decisions and whether such effects depend on the utility of the disaggregation. In support of the notion that interactivity mitigates information overload, we find some evidence that the use of the drilldown capability is associated with a decrease in investors' perceived cognitive load. Results also show that investors using a drilldown capability are less susceptible to earnings fixation compared to investors viewing the disaggregation without the ...
In the wake of recent corporate accounting scandals, auditors are encouraged to improve their met... more In the wake of recent corporate accounting scandals, auditors are encouraged to improve their method of fraud detection. Although Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 99 does not change the responsibility of the auditor for detecting fraud, it does provide new procedural requirements for assessing fraud risk, such as brainstorming among key team members about the potential for fraud. Using audit interns and internal auditors, this study empirically examines two interventions hypothesized to improve the quality of ideas generated by audit interns and internal auditors. In the first intervention, auditors use a computer-based group support system to brainstorm either non-anonymously or anonymously. For the second intervention, auditors were either trained to use a paradigm-modifying creativity technique or not trained. Additionally, it is hypothesized that the creativity training will have the greatest impact on brainstorming effectiveness when auditors brainstorm anonymously. Ho...
This study presents findings from a university-wide faculty survey on research resources at a top... more This study presents findings from a university-wide faculty survey on research resources at a top-tier research institution in the United States (U.S.). The researchers (faculty leaders) designed the original instrument, submitted it for critique and validation to a faculty senate’s research body, and solicited participation from all colleges. The principal investigators sought to identify impediments to research and scholarship, as perceived by faculty. The questions posed were: What specific types of resources do faculty members deem important to facilitate their research activities? Are financial and non-financial resources deemed equally important? Do junior and senior faculty members differ in their views on the importance of various resources as valued resources? Are there differences across academic units in the degree to which particular resources are valued? The survey also elicited faculty perceptions of the level of research support actually received and demographic infor...
A number of modeling approaches have been proposed in the literature for designing business infor... more A number of modeling approaches have been proposed in the literature for designing business information systems. This paper critiques prior data modeling approaches and presents an integrated object-oriented modeling approach that captures both the structural and the behavioral aspects of the business domain. Although there is considerable interest in object-oriented (OO) technologies in practice and in the information systems literature, there is no widely accepted OO modeling approach that facilitates the identification of objects from a business information processing perspective. Based on McCarthy’s (1982) resources, events, agents (REA) framework, the business process focused object-oriented ontology presented in this paper identifies the key resources, events, and agents in an enterprise information systems context. Termed OOREA, the ontology extends McCarthy’s REA model by capturing both the structural aspects of modeling, in terms of the objects of interest in the domain, an...
Independent auditors evaluate internal controls (IC) using internal control questionnaires (ICQs)... more Independent auditors evaluate internal controls (IC) using internal control questionnaires (ICQs). The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) recommends that rather than using generic ICQs, auditors should consider using ICQs customized for each audit client. Based on Silver's (1988, 1990) decision-aid design principles and dilution effect research, we hypothesize that the presence of irrelevant task cues in an ICQ decision aid will negatively affect auditors' task performance and that task performance will be positively affected by an ICQ decision aid in which task cues are presented one at a time (directed search) rather than all together (non-directed). We conduct an experiment with practicing auditors as participants who complete an ICQ decision-aid with either few or many irrelevant questions presented all at once or a question at a time. We find partial support for the PCAOB's recommendation, in that participants were more accurate with a directed versus...
Various forms of computer-based group support systems are now commercially available. These syste... more Various forms of computer-based group support systems are now commercially available. These systems can be used for a wide range of decision-making tasks. The current study compares the performance of teams meeting face-to-face and teams meeting via a computer-based system in the context of tasks that are at opposite ends of McGrath's (1984) "task circumplex." Two tasks are employed—an integrative bargaining task requiring cooperation to yield the highest payoff for each group member and an idea-generation task requiring no coordination or cooperation among team members. The results reveal that while computer-mediated teams generate a greater number of unique ideas relative to face-to-face teams in the idea-generation task, there is no significant difference between face-to-face and computer-mediated groups on the integrative bargaining task. The findings of this study provide no basis for arguing against the use of NSS for integrative bargaining tasks, despite theoret...
This article presents an analysis of manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Information Systems ... more This article presents an analysis of manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Information Systems (JIS) that were rejected during our three years of co-editorship (Spring 1999 to Fall 2001 issues). The final rejection letters to the author(s) were examined and for each paper up to three reasons for rejection were identified and rated in terms of severity. Lack of theory, weaknesses in design, and poor motivation were the leading causes of rejection. The two most frequently employed research methods were laboratory experiments and surveys, and these were rejected most often due to theory and design problems. The findings presented in this article suggest that AIS researchers should obtain feedback from colleagues at a very early stage in the research about the appropriateness of the theory and the research design, especially for laboratory experiments and survey research.
Various forms of commercially available group support systems (GSS) have been in use for a number... more Various forms of commercially available group support systems (GSS) have been in use for a number,of years to support group work in accounting settings. While a considerable body of research in information systems has established that GSS are beneficial for brainstorming (idea-generation) tasks, less is known about the effectiveness of these technologies for more complex,decision making,tasks. This paper reports the results of two experiments comparing,the performance,of face-to-face and GSS teams in decision making tasks that move beyond brainstorming. In the first experiment, the performance of face- to-face and computer-mediated teams was,compared,in a task requiring participants to engage in convergent thinking. For comparability with prior studies and to enhance experimental control, participants in experiment one also completed,a brainstorming (idea-generation) task requiring divergent thinking. Consistent with predictions derived from McGrath’ s task circumplex model, the res...
As organizations strive to meet stakeholders’ needs for sustainability information, they convey t... more As organizations strive to meet stakeholders’ needs for sustainability information, they convey their status as sustainability leaders by publishing reports and seeking sustainability awards. Our research examines whether the extent of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation, which enables data and process integration across multiple functional areas, increases organizations’ ability to capture and integrate information for sustainability reporting. We propose that ERP systems implementation increases organizations’ ability to capture sustainability data and provides more and more favorable disclosures, resulting in better sustainability assessment scores by rating agencies and indices such as MSCI and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. We also pose research questions about the type of ERP modules that are implemented and how those impact the scores related to the social, environmental, and governance dimensions of sustainability leadership. Our study is expected t...
Despite recent advances in Internet reporting technologies and calls for the increased reporting ... more Despite recent advances in Internet reporting technologies and calls for the increased reporting of disaggregated financial information, extant accounting research has not examined the potential positive and negative effects of providing disaggregated information using interactive web-based financial statements. In an experiment with nonprofessional investors, we investigate whether an Internet technology that provides investors control over the viewing of disaggregated financial information improves investment-related judgments and decisions and whether such effects depend on the utility of the disaggregation. In support of the notion that interactivity mitigates information overload, we find some evidence that the use of the drilldown capability is associated with a decrease in investors' perceived cognitive load. Results also show that investors using a drilldown capability are less susceptible to earnings fixation compared to investors viewing the disaggregation without the ...
In the wake of recent corporate accounting scandals, auditors are encouraged to improve their met... more In the wake of recent corporate accounting scandals, auditors are encouraged to improve their method of fraud detection. Although Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 99 does not change the responsibility of the auditor for detecting fraud, it does provide new procedural requirements for assessing fraud risk, such as brainstorming among key team members about the potential for fraud. Using audit interns and internal auditors, this study empirically examines two interventions hypothesized to improve the quality of ideas generated by audit interns and internal auditors. In the first intervention, auditors use a computer-based group support system to brainstorm either non-anonymously or anonymously. For the second intervention, auditors were either trained to use a paradigm-modifying creativity technique or not trained. Additionally, it is hypothesized that the creativity training will have the greatest impact on brainstorming effectiveness when auditors brainstorm anonymously. Ho...
This study presents findings from a university-wide faculty survey on research resources at a top... more This study presents findings from a university-wide faculty survey on research resources at a top-tier research institution in the United States (U.S.). The researchers (faculty leaders) designed the original instrument, submitted it for critique and validation to a faculty senate’s research body, and solicited participation from all colleges. The principal investigators sought to identify impediments to research and scholarship, as perceived by faculty. The questions posed were: What specific types of resources do faculty members deem important to facilitate their research activities? Are financial and non-financial resources deemed equally important? Do junior and senior faculty members differ in their views on the importance of various resources as valued resources? Are there differences across academic units in the degree to which particular resources are valued? The survey also elicited faculty perceptions of the level of research support actually received and demographic infor...
A number of modeling approaches have been proposed in the literature for designing business infor... more A number of modeling approaches have been proposed in the literature for designing business information systems. This paper critiques prior data modeling approaches and presents an integrated object-oriented modeling approach that captures both the structural and the behavioral aspects of the business domain. Although there is considerable interest in object-oriented (OO) technologies in practice and in the information systems literature, there is no widely accepted OO modeling approach that facilitates the identification of objects from a business information processing perspective. Based on McCarthy’s (1982) resources, events, agents (REA) framework, the business process focused object-oriented ontology presented in this paper identifies the key resources, events, and agents in an enterprise information systems context. Termed OOREA, the ontology extends McCarthy’s REA model by capturing both the structural aspects of modeling, in terms of the objects of interest in the domain, an...
Independent auditors evaluate internal controls (IC) using internal control questionnaires (ICQs)... more Independent auditors evaluate internal controls (IC) using internal control questionnaires (ICQs). The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) recommends that rather than using generic ICQs, auditors should consider using ICQs customized for each audit client. Based on Silver's (1988, 1990) decision-aid design principles and dilution effect research, we hypothesize that the presence of irrelevant task cues in an ICQ decision aid will negatively affect auditors' task performance and that task performance will be positively affected by an ICQ decision aid in which task cues are presented one at a time (directed search) rather than all together (non-directed). We conduct an experiment with practicing auditors as participants who complete an ICQ decision-aid with either few or many irrelevant questions presented all at once or a question at a time. We find partial support for the PCAOB's recommendation, in that participants were more accurate with a directed versus...
Various forms of computer-based group support systems are now commercially available. These syste... more Various forms of computer-based group support systems are now commercially available. These systems can be used for a wide range of decision-making tasks. The current study compares the performance of teams meeting face-to-face and teams meeting via a computer-based system in the context of tasks that are at opposite ends of McGrath's (1984) "task circumplex." Two tasks are employed—an integrative bargaining task requiring cooperation to yield the highest payoff for each group member and an idea-generation task requiring no coordination or cooperation among team members. The results reveal that while computer-mediated teams generate a greater number of unique ideas relative to face-to-face teams in the idea-generation task, there is no significant difference between face-to-face and computer-mediated groups on the integrative bargaining task. The findings of this study provide no basis for arguing against the use of NSS for integrative bargaining tasks, despite theoret...
This article presents an analysis of manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Information Systems ... more This article presents an analysis of manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Information Systems (JIS) that were rejected during our three years of co-editorship (Spring 1999 to Fall 2001 issues). The final rejection letters to the author(s) were examined and for each paper up to three reasons for rejection were identified and rated in terms of severity. Lack of theory, weaknesses in design, and poor motivation were the leading causes of rejection. The two most frequently employed research methods were laboratory experiments and surveys, and these were rejected most often due to theory and design problems. The findings presented in this article suggest that AIS researchers should obtain feedback from colleagues at a very early stage in the research about the appropriateness of the theory and the research design, especially for laboratory experiments and survey research.
Various forms of commercially available group support systems (GSS) have been in use for a number... more Various forms of commercially available group support systems (GSS) have been in use for a number,of years to support group work in accounting settings. While a considerable body of research in information systems has established that GSS are beneficial for brainstorming (idea-generation) tasks, less is known about the effectiveness of these technologies for more complex,decision making,tasks. This paper reports the results of two experiments comparing,the performance,of face-to-face and GSS teams in decision making tasks that move beyond brainstorming. In the first experiment, the performance of face- to-face and computer-mediated teams was,compared,in a task requiring participants to engage in convergent thinking. For comparability with prior studies and to enhance experimental control, participants in experiment one also completed,a brainstorming (idea-generation) task requiring divergent thinking. Consistent with predictions derived from McGrath’ s task circumplex model, the res...
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