Information technology and the autonomy–control duality: toward a theory

We examine the relationship between firms’ human resources (HR) practices and their information technology (IT) practices, focusing on the dichotomy between autonomy and control. We define facilitating HR practices as those that exhibit the following characteristics: worker autonomy, connectedness, learning, valuing individuals, trust, and flexibility in business processes. We then characterize facilitating IT practices, which are practices that facilitate employee collaboration, autonomy, and wider access to information. We contrast these categories of practice to traditional HR and monitoring IT, respectively. Drawing from theories of complementarities and configuration, we propose that alignment between HR and IT strategies originates at the level of individual practices. We consider the effects of this alignment on worker performance. We then ground our discussion in exploratory empirical and qualitative results.

Commentary: how can technology help us understand the communication process?

In this commentary, the author reflects on the articles chosen for the special section on communications analysis. These articles problematize communication and raise an interesting set of questions for both human factors and communication scholars to ponder. In the end, both sets of scholars seek the same goal: How do we better examine communication to improve it? Problematizing communication requires scholars to challenge their fundamental assumptions about the phenomenon as well as to tease out the distinctions of methodological approaches typically used by both human factors and communication scholars. Human factors scholars tend to favor forms of communication in which technology or task roles control who can communicate and how. Communication scholars tend to favor contexts in which information flows more freely with fewer explicit restrictions. Creating opportunities to collaborate in research on the communication process may create the best understanding of technology that can better serve our understanding of communication.     

Online socializing: How does it affect the information seeking behavior and the educational preferences in Saudi Arabia?

There are three major issues, among others, associated with the rapid adoption of information technology in Saudi Arabia. These are the changes in online socializing (through Social Media), the information seeking behavior, and the eLearning developments in the local academic institutions. In this causal exploratory research study the main idea was to find the effect of the changes of the former on the latter two. Saudi Arabia is the geographic scope of the study as the most important and influential country in the region. A pre-tested and moderated questionnaire, administered both on- and offline, was used to gather the relevant data. Findings indicate a shift from the conventional to the online information seeking behaviors and a preference of a blended educational system, both traditional (classroom) and eLearning or similar, despite the deep and dramatic penetration of social media in the country that could lead to the false assumption that the local population, especially young people, would turn their back on the conventional education processes.     

How does the application of an IT service innovation affect firm performance? A theoretical framework and empirical analysis on e-commerce

Understanding the effects of IT-related innovations on firm performance is crucial for businesses. Extant research has investigated the implications of IT innovations and provided some important findings, but the varied theoretical approaches have produced results that are often ambiguous: thus there is a need to examine the process further. We attempted to provide a systematic, theoretically informed framework for understanding the conditions that may enhance (or hinder) the potential of IT innovations in a sample of firms. Our model included business and IT resources, both internal and external, that may influence the performance of firms which have applied a pervasive IT service innovation: e-commerce. Our empirical test of the model used a research design that takes into account time-lag effects. The model explained more than half of the variance in the performance of IT innovators and offered several explanations for why some firms succeeded in implementing IT service innovations while others did not. Several theoretical and managerial implications result from these findings.     

Does stock repurchase declaration affect stock price? Differences between the electrics industry and other industries

This study is to discuss the impact of stock repurchase declaration and purpose of repurchase on the stock price in the backdrop of listed companies on Taiwan’s stock market. Event Study Method is employed to discuss stock price fluctuations while GARCH (Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity) is applied to estimate the Market Model regressive coefficients. The samples consisted of companies declaring first stock repurchase are selected from August 9, 2000 to December 31, 2005 with a precondition that all the companies shall be listed ones 150 days prior to declaration. The study results reveal that companies from other industries have considerably bigger average CAR than companies of the electrics industry before and after the declaration of stock repurchase. Companies with application purpose of “maintain stockholders’ equities and corporate credit” have considerably bigger average CAR than companies with application purpose of “transferring stocks to employees”. In industries other than electrics, companies with application purpose of “maintain stockholders’ equities and corporate credit” have bigger accumulated abnormal return response than companies with application purpose of “transferring stocks to employees”. In case of “maintain stockholders’ equities and corporate credit” as the application purpose of stock repurchase, companies from industries other than electrics have relatively higher average CAR response. The empirical study results can serve as a reference for the listed company management and to related academic studies.     

Periocular recognition: how much facial expressions affect performance?

Using information near the human eye to perform biometric recognition has been gaining popularity. Previous works in this area, designated periocular recognition, show remarkably low error rates and particularly high robustness when data are acquired under less controlled conditions. In this field, one factor that remains to be studied is the effect of facial expressions on recognition performance, as expressions change the textural/shape information inside the periocular region. We have collected a multisession dataset whose single variation is the subjects’ facial expressions and analyzed the corresponding variations in performance, using the state-of-the-art periocular recognition strategy. The effectiveness attained by different strategies to handle the effects of facial expressions was compared: (1) single-sample enrollment; (2) multisample enrollment, and (3) multisample enrollment with facial expression recognition, with results also validated in the well-known Cohn–Kanade AU-Coded Expression dataset. Finally, the role of each type of facial expression in the biometrics menagerie effect is discussed.     

Good intentions: drivers’ decisions to engage with technology on the road and in a driving simulator

Distraction-related accidents are, more often than not, due to the drivers’ voluntarily engagement with a secondary task. Therefore, the strategic management of in-vehicle tasks and the drivers’ decision to engage with them is an important aspect of the driver distraction phenomenon that needs to be addressed. While the consequences of distracting tasks are often assessed in settings where the risk of engaging is reduced (i.e., simulators), the drivers’ decision to engage with secondary tasks is often ignored. This study assessed the drivers’ decision to engage with secondary tasks using verbal protocols to provide insights into the drivers’ intention within a naturalistic driving setting, on the road, and in a simulated driving environment. This enabled an understanding of when drivers engage with technological distractions, why they choose to do so, as well as how they may go about doing it. Different road types were found to differentially impact the drivers’ intention to engage, as did the types of secondary tasks, with some tasks having an increased willingness to engage compared to others. Factors that increase and/or reduce the likelihood of engaging are presented. The decisions that drivers made to engage with secondary tasks in the simulator were found to correlate strongly to their decision to so on the road. This provides support for the use of simulators when assessing the drivers’ decision to engage with secondary tasks. The effect of verbal protocols on the drivers’ speed metrics was assessed to determine how they may have affected their driving performance.     

How does the way a weight is carried affect spinal loads?

People often have to carry a weight which increases the spinal load. Few in vivo measured spinal loading data exist for carrying a weight. The aim of this study was to measure the force increase on a vertebral body replacement (VBR) caused by carrying weights in different ways. A telemeterised VBR allowing the measurement of six load components was implanted in five patients suffering from lumbar vertebral body fractures. The patients carried different weights laterally in one or both hands, in front of the body and in a backpack. The force increase with respect to standing was more than twice as high for carrying a weight in front of the body compared with carrying it laterally. A weight of 10 kg in a backpack led to an average force increase of only 35 N. The position of the carried weight relative to the spine strongly affected the spinal load.     

How does the smartphone usage of college students affect academic performance?

The present study aims to investigate the effects of smartphone use by college students on their perceived academic performance. Using five hypotheses derived from the literature related to smartphone use, the initial model was set up for path analysis to reveal the relationships among variables regarding college students' smartphone use in the academic setting. Moreover, multiple group analyses were additionally conducted to verify whether students exhibited different relationships in the hypothesized model depending on their majors. The results from path analyses showed that all path coefficients were positive and statistically significant, which indicated that all five hypothesized paths were supported. Above all, the results from multiple group analysis showed that one path (from Behavioural Intention to Use Smartphone to Academic Performance) differed significantly across groups. The findings from the current study provide educational policymakers and educators with information on how smartphone utilization in learning activities influences students' academic performance.     

Information technology and accounting in the accomplishment of public policy — A cautionary tale

Information and accounting technologies are increasingly being applied in public policy practice. In American health care organizations, for instance, millions have been spent on new automated information systems that track resource usage, output levels, assign costs to Diagnosis-Related-Groups and calculate profitability and productivity. It is not obvious, however, that such use of these technologies will necessarily lead to “better” health outcomes. The health sector has historically entrenched concepts of disease and the roles of the doctor, hospital and state in health provision. This agenda has, in turn, influenced the rules for the compilation of records that are the primary input into information systems. In the absence of a fundamental restructuring of this agenda, it is likely that information and accounting technologies will not solve problems, merely rearrange and manage them within pre-existing parameters.     

Age and technology innovation in the workplace: Does work context matter?

Two workplace trends will become increasingly important in years to come: reliance on information technology (IT) and workforce aging. This study explores the influence of workplace context on employee reactions to the implementation of a new IT initiative to better understand innovation enhancers and inhibitors. Employees from multiple workplace departments completed a questionnaire that assessed their reactions to the implementation. Age-based differences and contextual influences were estimated to predict satisfaction with the implementation process. Hierarchical linear models indicate that younger workers reported less satisfaction than older workers—an effect that was more pronounced in relatively young departments. These findings challenge ageist notions and emphasize the role of context on attitudes formation. Multi-institutional and multilevel field-setting data are rare making this a unique research contribution.     

Changing the role of the air traffic controller: how will free flight affect memory for spatial events?

At present, air traffic controllers (ATCOs) exercise strict control over routing authority for aircraft movement in airspace. The onset of a free flight environment, however, may well result in a dramatic change to airspace jurisdictions, with aircraft movements for the large part being governed by aircrew, not ATCOs. The present study examined the impact of such changes on spatial memory for recent and non-recent locations of aircraft represented on a visual display. The experiment contrasted present conditions, in which permission for manoeuvres is granted by ATCOs, with potential free flight conditions, in which aircrew undertake deviations without explicit approval from ATCOs. Results indicated that the ATCO role adopted by participants impacted differently on short-term and long-term spatial representations of aircraft manoeuvres. Although informing participants of impending deviations has beneficial effects on spatial representations in the short term, long-term representations of spatial events are affected deleteriously by the presentation of subsequent information pertaining to other aircraft. This study suggests strongly that recognition of the perceptual and cognitive consequences of changing to a free flight environment is crucial if air safety is not to be jeopardized.     

Load spatial pathway and spine loading: how does lift origin and destination influence low back response?

While heavy lifting has been identified as an important risk factor for low back disorders, little is known about workplace spatial layout – the relative positions of shelves and the impact of this on spine loads. The objective of the current study was to investigate how the relative positions of the load origin and destination impact three-dimensional spine loads. Seven females and seven males lifted an 11.4?kg box from an origin shelf to a destination shelf, each defined by height (elbow, knee and shoulder level) and asymmetry (60° clockwise, sagittally symmetric, 60° counter-clockwise) while their spine loading was assessed by an electromyographic-assisted model. The results indicated that the starting and destination heights and starting task asymmetry all had significant impact on spine compression (with an increase of between 400 and 1900?N when compared to the most neutral position) and lateral shear (with a 100 to 150?N increase) while the destination height impacted the anterior?–?posterior shear forces (with up to 400?N increase). The results of the current study emphasize the importance of proper workplace spatial layout, specifically the importance of specifying starting position of the load relative to the destination. Adjustment of the starting position will impact the three-dimensional spine loads while the destination height and asymmetry influence the shear forces. Furthermore, the influence of the specific pathway (origin relative to destination) indicates there may be a potential preparatory muscle response leading to the loads on the spine. Thus, the pathway of the box plays an important role in the spine responses during lifting, in that longer and non-neutral pathways increase spine loads – indicating the importance of the relative position of the origin and destination shelf.     

Load spatial pathway and spine loading: how does lift origin and destination influence low back response?

While heavy lifting has been identified as an important risk factor for low back disorders, little is known about workplace spatial layout - the relative positions of shelves and the impact of this on spine loads. The objective of the current study was to investigate how the relative positions of the load origin and destination impact three-dimensional spine loads. Seven females and seven males lifted an 11.4 kg box from an origin shelf to a destination shelf, each defined by height (elbow, knee and shoulder level) and asymmetry (60 degrees clockwise, sagittally symmetric, 60 degrees counter-clockwise) while their spine loading was assessed by an electromyographic-assisted model. The results indicated that the starting and destination heights and starting task asymmetry all had significant impact on spine compression (with an increase of between 400 and 1900 N when compared to the most neutral position) and lateral shear (with a 100 to 150 N increase) while the destination height impacted the anterior - posterior shear forces (with up to 400 N increase). The results of the current study emphasize the importance of proper workplace spatial layout, specifically the importance of specifying starting position of the load relative to the destination. Adjustment of the starting position will impact the three-dimensional spine loads while the destination height and asymmetry influence the shear forces. Furthermore, the influence of the specific pathway (origin relative to destination) indicates there may be a potential preparatory muscle response leading to the loads on the spine. Thus, the pathway of the box plays an important role in the spine responses during lifting, in that longer and non-neutral pathways increase spine loads - indicating the importance of the relative position of the origin and destination shelf.     

Sexual self-presentation on social network sites: Who does it and how is it perceived?

The aims of this study were to investigate (a) the role of peer factors in adolescents’ sexual self-presentation on social network sites, and (b) how adolescents who present themselves sexually online are evaluated by others. 238 high school students (aged 12–18) evaluated either a sexual or non-sexual online presentation of same-sex and opposite-sex peers. Moreover, they filled in a questionnaire about their own self-presentation behavior. Findings showed that peer norms played a crucial role in whether adolescents posted sexual pictures of themselves online. Moreover, need for popularity was a strong predictor for posting such pictures. Girls who presented themselves in sexual ways were evaluated more negatively by other girls but more positively by boys. Similarly, boys who presented themselves in sexual ways were evaluated more positively by girls but not by boys.