Saji K Mathew

We develop a framework for understanding the mechanisms of information privacy assimilation in information technology (IT) organizations. Following neo-institutional theory, we develop a broad conceptual model and further build a detailed theory based on a multi-site, multi-case study of 18 organizations. We treat information privacy as a distinct dimension separate from information security. As in the case of information security, senior management support emerged as a mediator between the external influences of coercive, mimetic, and normative forces and information privacy assimilation. Privacy capability emerged as a distinct construct that had a moderating effect on the influence of coercive and normative forces on privacy assimilation. Similarly, cultural acceptability also moderated the effect of external forces on privacy assimilation. We produce a theoretical model that future research can empirically test. The findings would enable senior managers identify and respond to institutional pressures by focusing on appropriate factors in the organizations.

E-Commerce firms have adopted Web Personalization techniques extensively in the form of recommender systems for influencing user behavior for customer retention. Although there are numerous studies in this area, academic research addressing the role of Web Personalization in user acceptance of technology is very scant. Further, owing to the potential of recommender systems to attract and retain customers, most studies in web personalization have been done in E-Commerce setting. In this research, the ‘Consumer Acceptance and Use of Information Technology’ theory proposed in previous research has been extended to include web personalization as a moderator and has been tested in an E-Government context. Data collection involved conducting a laboratory experiment with the treatment group receiving personalized web forms for requesting an E-Government service. Our analyses show that personalizing the Web by self-reference and content relevance has a significant moderator role in influencing the relationship between determinants of intention to use and behavioral intention in certain cases.

With the advent of wearable devices, we leave a huge digital footprint with every step taken in our daily lives. Though these devices positively impact health and lifestyle of users, violations of health information privacy have become ubiquitous, diverting academic attention towards these issues. This study focuses on understanding the coping behavior of fitness tracker users when confronted with the fear appeal of data privacy breach. A survey is conducted with 225 fitness tracker users using an adapted multi-item scale. A conceptual model drawn from Extended Parallel Process Model, privacy concern, and coping behavior literature is tested using SEM. The study shows, privacy concern has a strong influence on an individual's threat perception, affecting one's choice of coping behavior. The novelty of the study lies in the understanding of the impact of fear over loss of one's health-data privacy and the resulting shift in the attitude towards the technology itself.

Information privacy at the organizational level is receiving increased attention due to the huge amount of personal information being stored, transmitted across national boundaries, and ownership being shared between organizations due to change in business dynamics. This study develops a framework for understanding the mechanisms of information privacy assimilation in Information Technology (IT) organizations. There is a great need for investigating the interplay between external forces and internal influencers that impact the privacy assimilation practices within an organization. To fill this gap, we empirically examined the interplay between the external forces and internal influencers following the institutional theory. Specifically, we have examined the nature and relative significance of influencing forces, and the mediating role of senior management participation. Also, the moderating effects of process capability and cultural aspects have been investigated. This study treats information privacy as a distinct dimension separate from information security. Our findings show that mediating role of senior management participation for coercive and normative forces. Mimetic forces appears to have direct impact on assimilation. Also, positive moderating effect of process capability and negative moderating effect of cultural aspects is observed for coercive forces. These findings would enable senior managers identify and respond to institutional pressures by focusing on appropriate factors within the organization.

Information privacy concerns have been rising over a few decades. As per the recent General Data Protection Regulation, organizations need to implement the highest-possible privacy settings by design and default. Following the neo-institutional theory, this study develops a model for understanding the mechanism of information privacy assimilation in Information Technology (IT) organizations. This study treats information privacy as a distinct dimension separate from security. After analyzing a sample survey data of 214 respondents from the IT industry, privacy capability and organizational culture emerged as influencing factors with a statistically significant influence on information privacy assimilation. The findings from this study support the mediating role of senior management participation between the external coercive forces and privacy-related business strategy. Business strategy also plays a mediating role between coercive/normative forces and privacy-related activities within an organization. Here the mimetic forces show a direct influence on privacy-related activities. A positive moderating effect of organizational culture on normative forces and privacy-related activities relationship; and a negative moderating effect of privacy capability on mimetic forces and privacy-related activities relationship are observed. These findings could enable senior managers to respond to institutional pressures by focusing on appropriate factors within an organization for developing effective privacy strategies and actions. This work is an extension of the pilot work that was published in Communications of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS), 2018. The prior work focuses on developing the propositions qualitatively. Building on that, we have formally defined the hypotheses, developed the appropriate survey instrument and collected the primary data which is large enough to do adequate analysis. Adopted a quantitative approach using an extensive sample survey of IT organizations, followed a more rigorous process for data collection, analysis, and discussion of the results. In addition, based on the lessons learned from the pilot study, we have updated the research model and hypotheses with a focus on privacy-related business strategy and activities.

Consumer acceptance of technology is vital for understanding the motivating factors involved in technology acceptance and adoption. Whereas most academic attention has gone to understanding user acceptance of technology in organizations, some recent studies have extended this research to consumer context. The evolution of Internet commerce and its wide adoption resulted in academic research on recommendation systems and web personalization. This study seeks to understand how web personalization influences consumer technology acceptance in an E-Government setting. A recent theory of consumer acceptance was extended to study the impact of Web Personalization as a moderator. Our results show that personalizing the web by self-reference and content relevance has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between the determinants of intention to use and user acceptance in certain cases. © (2013) by the AIS/ICIS Administrative Office All rights reserved.

Software project outcomes characterized by meeting goal achievement and performance triad of budget, schedule and quality have been shown to be contingent upon project environment factors. However, choice of methodology and its implications on project outcomes still remain under-investigated. Following contingency theory, we empirically examine the effect of the fit between the choice of development methodology and project environment on the project outcome. We analysed a sample of 163 software development projects using PLS-SEM and our results show that the use of traditional methodology strongly countered the negative effect of requirement volatility on project outcome compared to agile methodologies and use of hybrid methodologies showed a stronger positive effect of project complexity on goal achievement. Further, for critical projects, use of agile methodologies favoured goal achievement.