The moderating effects of gender on e-commerce systems adoption factors: An empirical investigation

For e-commerce designers and human–computer interaction researchers, electronic commerce (e-commerce) systems adoption factors and the moderating effects of gender are important topics. Even though there are research endeavors to explain e-commerce systems adoption, one of the main questions to be answered is regarding the normative and affective factors based on the theory of reasoned action and self-determination theory. In this paper, social norms, perceived enjoyment, and their relationships to intention to adopt an e-commerce system are tested (n = 322). Furthermore, the moderating effects of gender are tested based on the sociolinguistic literature. As expected, the influence of social norms is stronger in the female group while the influence of enjoyment is stronger in the male group. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the paper.     

An empirical study of the factors affecting social network service use

Social network services are emerging as a promising IT-based business, with some services already being provided commercially such as Facebook, Cyworld and Xiaonei. However, it is not yet clear which potential audience groups will be key social network service participants. Moreover, the process showing how an individual actually decides to start using a social network service may be somewhat different from current web-based community services. Hence, the aims of this paper are twofold. First, we empirically examine how individual characteristics affect actual user acceptance of social network services. To examine these individual characteristics, we apply a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to construct an amended model that focuses on three individual differences: social identity, altruism and telepresence, and one perceived construct: the perceived encouragement, imported from psychology-based research. Next, we examine if the users’ perception to see a target social network service as human relationship-oriented service or as a task-oriented service could be a moderator between perceived constructs and actual use. As a result, we discover that the perceived encouragement and perceived orientation are significant constructs that affect actual use of social network services.     

All about me: Disclosure in online social networking profiles: The case of FACEBOOK

The present research examined disclosure in online social networking profiles (i.e., FACEBOOK™). Three studies were conducted. First, a scoring tool was developed in order to comprehensively assess the content of the personal profiles. Second, grouping categories (default/standard information, sensitive personal information, and potentially stigmatizing information) were developed to examine information pertinent to identity threat, personal and group threat. Third, a grouping strategy was developed to include all information present in FACEBOOK™, but to organize it in a meaningful way as a function of the content that was presented. Overall, approximately 25% of all possible information that could potentially be disclosed by users was disclosed. Presenting personal information such as gender and age was related to disclosure of other sensitive and highly personal information. Age and relationship status were important factors in determining disclosure. As age increased, the amount of personal information in profiles decreased. Those seeking a relationship were at greatest risk of threat, and disclosed the greatest amount of highly sensitive and potentially stigmatizing information. These implications of these findings with respect to social and legal threats, and potential means for identifying users placing themselves at greatest risk, are discussed.     

Cross-modal compensation between name and visual aspect in socially active avatars

Avatars serve for humans immersed in virtual settings as the interface between real and virtual worlds. The avatar-creation process involves numerous choices, including choice of visual representation, and choices to imbue the character with personality. Here, we hypothesised that these choices are not independent, and that a cross-modal talk may occur between the different components of the avatar identity. Specifically, we investigated whether name properties may be affected by the visual aspect (human vs. non-human) of the avatar. We analyzed names structure of players characters from the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, which display both human and non-human avatars. We selected 1261 names of characters actively engaged in the in-game and out-game social networks. Analysis of the names revealed that female names presented more variability than male names, and contained systematically more vowels than male names. However, the strategy used to enrich the vowel composition of female names differed between human-like and non-human characters, suggesting that a lesser proximity with human regular appearance was compensated by an increase of “feminization” of the name. Altogether, our results suggest that a cross-modal compensation occurs between name and visual aspect in the creation of socially active avatars.     

User goals in social virtual worlds: A means-end chain approach

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to investigate user goals in social virtual worlds; second, to introduce a methodological alternative (i.e., a means-end chain approach) for analyzing user goals in cyberspaces. The data were acquired from a web survey, and were analyzed by means-end chain analysis (MECA), which produces users’ goal structure in reference to a hierarchical system of interrelated goals (Olson & Reynolds, 1983). The results show that people come to social virtual worlds to satisfy their social and hedonic needs, and to escape from real world constraints, as do virtual community members and virtual gamers; they also pursue unique activities, such as creating virtual objects and selling them. On the other hand, by clarifying relations among users’ goals, MECA provides a richer explanation for user goals than prior research which only offers separate user goals for cyberspace users without explanation of relationship among goals.     

Tweet this: A uses and gratifications perspective on how active Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with others

Twitter is an Internet social-network and micro-blogging platform with both mass and interpersonal communication features for sharing 140-character messages, called tweets, with other people, called followers. Hierarchical OLS regression of survey results from 317 Twitter users found that the more months a person is active on Twitter and the more hours per week the person spends on Twitter, the more the person gratifies a need for an informal sense of camaraderie, called connection, with other users. Controlling for demographic variables does not diminish this positive relationship. Additionally, frequency of tweeting and number of @replies, public messages between Twitter users, mediate the relationship between active Twitter use and gratifying a need for connection. Results are discussed in light of uses and gratifications theory.     

Annotation-based access control for collaborative information spaces

Web 2.0 social platforms (e.g., Flickr, YouTube) and Collaborative Working Environments (e.g., Microsoft SharePoint, BSCW) provide Web-based collaborative information spaces which enable common users and/or professionals to work together and share their online resources. Most of these collaborative information spaces provide role-based or group-based, coarse-grained access control policies which cannot successfully cope with the requirements posed by massive and open collaboration. In this paper, we present an annotation-based access control (AnBAC) model supported by a Collaboration Vocabulary (CoVoc) as a more flexible and user-centric access control approach. Based on this, we developed two tools: Uncle-Share is a gadget that provides annotation-based access control and can be equipped with CoVoc for annotating collaborative relationships. Who-With-Whom uses CoVoc to visualize extended social networks in order to help users to select appropriate contacts to grant access to resources.     

Even in virtual environments women shop and men build: A social role perspective on Second Life

The present study examined whether traditional gender role expectations (Eagly, 1987) influence behaviors in non-traditional contexts such as online virtual environments. Participants were 352 Second Life users who reported their activities and experiences in Second Life. Results indicated that men and women differed in the types of activities they engaged in a manner predicted by social role theory. Specifically, as compared to women, men were more likely to report building things (e.g. objects), to own and work on their own virtual property, and were less likely to change their avatar’s appearance. Women, as compared to men, were more likely to meet people, shop, regularly change their avatar’s appearance, and buy clothes/objects for their avatar. The present study adds to our understanding of how traditional gender role expectations may carry over to online virtual worlds and influence online behavior.     

Investigating factors that influence social presence and learning outcomes in distance higher education

There are many factors that influence distance learning especially in higher education where collaborative and communicative discourse is necessary for pursuing knowledge. Social presence, among other factors, is an important concept to be facilitated, developed and sustained in distance higher education as it promotes and supports discourse based learning. This study examines the relationship among demographic and other variables, social presence and learning satisfaction. Results showed demographic variables, such as gender, online learning experience and work status were not significant factors in terms of influencing on either social presence or learning satisfaction. While media integration and instructor’s quality teaching were significant predictors of both social presence and learning satisfaction, interactivity among participants was a predictor of social presence but not of learning satisfaction. Along with the study findings, some implications were discussed for online learning practitioners in higher education setting.     

Should I e-collaborate with this group? A multilevel model of usage intentions

The use of online collaboration tools for virtual teamwork has been studied extensively, but mainly at the individual-level. We decided to examine the effect of macro-level factors (i.e., team attributes) and applied hierarchical linear modeling analysis to a sample of data collected from 96 individuals nested in 34 virtual teams. Our results suggested that the development of behavioral e-collaboration intentions by individual virtual team members was affected by their perceptions about the system, as described by individual-level IT use theories, and macro-level factors pertaining to the team. The collaboration technology was perceived to be less useful when employed to communicate with social loafers; and collective social loafing negatively influenced the teams’ potency assessments. After controlling for individual-level perceptions of system usefulness, team potency augmented team members’ intentions to use the online collaboration technology with similar teams. It also improved team performance.