Decision, Operations & Information Technologies Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2761
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Item Practices and Strategies of Distributed Knowledge Collaboration(2010) Kudaravalli, Srinivas; Faraj, Samer; Agarwal, Ritu; Business and Management: Decision & Information Technologies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Information Technology is enabling large-scale, distributed collaboration across many different kinds of boundaries. Researchers have used the label new organizational forms to describe such collaborations and suggested that they are better able to meet the demands of flexibility, speed and adaptability that characterize the knowledge economy. Yet, our understanding of the organization of such collaborative forms is limited. In this dissertation, I study distributed knowledge collaboration in the context of a unique setting - a large, distributed, professional legal association, where practice involves knowledge that is complex, highly contextualized and failures have extremely consequential results. The first essay focuses on knowledge sharing at the individual level. Differing approaches have been developed for the study of knowledge sharing - I distinguish between approaches that focus on knowledge transfer and those that highlight the need to transform knowledge to be effective. The former emphasizes availability of and access to knowledge sources while the latter argues that knowledge is difficult to share since it is `localized and embedded in practice.' In this study, I empirically examine the notion that, in the presence of novelty, knowledge sharing involves not simply the transfer of information but rather the transformation of knowledge and understanding. I proposed a theoretical model and tested it by gathering 160 survey responses from individuals who answered questions about two specific cases they encountered - one routine and one novel. The results largely support the key arguments presented here. The second essay examines, at the organizational level, the practices used to mitigate the challenges of distributed collaboration. For example, since larger geographic dispersion may result in pockets of local expertise, how is such knowledge shared with the community? What practices are used to mobilize members for collective action? I undertook a field study using a grounded theory approach and a practice lens to investigate the every day activities that are used to coordinate knowledge work. I found evidence for two distinct sets of practices - one with an internal focus and the other with an external focus. I describe these in detail and suggest that the way in which distributed communities balance the two is essential for their continued viability.Item IT is Risky Business: Three Essays on Ensuring Reliability, Security and Privacy in Technology-Mediated Settings(2010) Anderson, Catherine Long; Agarwal, Ritu; Business and Management: Decision & Information Technologies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Today's interconnected technical environment creates unprecedented opportunities while simultaneously introducing risks. With economic, social and personal interactions increasingly occurring in technology-mediated settings new vulnerabilities are continually being introduced. In this dissertation, I develop 3 essays which seek to improve extant understanding of how organizations and individuals respond to such risks and manage the new vulnerability. The common thread underlying the studies is that the focal risk is inherently caused by the rapid digitization and dependence on information technology that has permeated economic and social activity. Essay 1 addresses the increasing dependence of organizations on the reliability of their information technology (IT) infrastructure. I draw on organizational reliability literature to classify IT infrastructure failures and theorize how collective mindfulness can change the way organizations respond to each type of failure. The results support the necessity of examining collective mindfulness at the level of its processes (versus using the omnibus measure) and provide insights into the value of collective mindfulness depending on the failure type. Essay 2 synthesizes research from information systems, communication, and psychology to form a conceptual model explicating the role played by type of information requested, the purpose for which it is to be used, and the requesting stakeholder in an individual's willingness to disclose personal health information. Further, the model incorporates the impact of emotion linked to one's health condition on willingness to disclose. Results show that emotion plays a significant role in the disclosure decision and suggest that contextual factors related to the requesting stakeholder and the intended purpose of use moderate the relationships between concern and trust on willingness to disclose personal health information. Essay 3 explores ways to minimize the perception that one is invulnerable to a security violation through an examination of the influence of message cues on computer user security-related optimistic bias and security behavior intentions. Results from experiment 1 confirm an interactive influence of self-view and risk domain frame (social or financial) on security-related intentions. Experiment 2 suggests an interactive relationship between self-view and goal frame on optimistic bias but that influence did not translate into similar changes to intentions.