Annette Mills | University of Canterbury/Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (original) (raw)

Papers by Annette Mills

Current Issues and Trends in Knowledge Management, Discovery, and Transfer, 2020

Organisations invest heavily in knowledge management technologies and initiatives which are entir... more Organisations invest heavily in knowledge management technologies and initiatives which are entirely dependent on the willingness of employees to share their knowledge. Educational and reward programs need to be informed by an understanding of what motivates people to share their knowledge at work. Prior research based on motivational theories suggests the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to encourage voluntary pro-social behaviours such as knowledge sharing. However, the literature on motivation in the context of knowledge sharing is still emerging and fragmented. This chapter therefore proposes an integrated model that brings together theoretical insights from motivational research to explain the influence of key intrinsic and extrinsic motivators on knowledge sharing. The chapter reports the results of the assessment of the model based on data collected across 10 organisations. The discussion of results contributes to the understanding of motivational factors infl...

Americas Conference on Information Systems, 2014

Information Systems (IS) offers many advantages to organizations, however, research suggests that... more Information Systems (IS) offers many advantages to organizations, however, research suggests that most users underutilize IS in organizations. To further leverage an IS, it requires users to vary, over time, how an IS is incorporated into their work practices. Using the Generalized Darwinism framework and drawing insights from a case study and survey findings, this paper introduces and conceptualizes the notion of 'Variation' (i.e. changes) in IS use, and investigates factors that facilitate variations. Intrinsic motivation, domain-related knowledge and feedback quality were shown to play a role in supporting and predicting the extent of variations, for both the case study and survey findings. Perceived resources, while playing a role in the case study was not significant in the survey findings. This study responds to calls for greater attention to changes in IS use and provides insights for practitioners on ways to encourage change in individuals' use of IS.

Management Information Systems Quarterly, Feb 2, 2018

All three stimulus sets were prepared from recorded interviews. The first set, in American Englis... more All three stimulus sets were prepared from recorded interviews. The first set, in American English, was a by-product of an experiment (Tilley 2005) in which students were interviewed about a scholarship application, which they had enhanced in their favor. The interviews were done via either VoIP or e-mail, and those done via VoIP were recorded with the camera recording only the interviewee. The second stimulus set, in Spanish, was created for another experiment (Lewis 2009). Spain was chosen because of the language difference (i.e., Spanish) and because Hofstede's measures indicate that Spaniards substantially differ from Americans across all five cultural dimensions (geert-hofstede.com/ dimensions.html). MBA students in Barcelona were asked to prepare a scholarship application and were then interviewed about it. The third stimulus set was created in 2011-2012. Indian students were asked to prepare scholarship applications and were then interviewed about them. Indians were chosen for the third stimulus set because Indians differ substantially from Americans on four of Hofstede's five cultural dimensions (all but the masculinity/femininity scale), and from Spaniards on two dimensions (i.e., power distance and uncertainty avoidance). To create each stimulus set, applicants were asked to provide their résumés, in order to establish ground truth in each case. Researchers then compared the résumé to the enhanced application in order to determine what was truthful and what was dishonest on the application. In all cases, the participants were encouraged to complete the application form so as to make themselves appear as top candidates for the scholarship. The participants were not told to lie explicitly, but they were told that they could enhance their information if they wanted to. In all cases, each student was interviewed by a third party who was ignorant of the design of the study and of the study hypotheses. As such, both the interviewers and interviewees were independent of the researchers and were equally naïve as to the research purpose of the interviews. Interviewers were told to ask any questions they wanted about the scholarship application, and interviewees were asked to defend anything

Americas Conference on Information Systems, 2013

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of many economies. However many SMEs h... more Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of many economies. However many SMEs have constraints such as limited financial resources that challenge their growth. Scholars and practitioners have therefore advocated using Information Systems (IS) to improve the competitiveness and survival rate of SMEs. Despite increasing implementation of IS in SMEs, issues of under-utilization within firms limit the potentials of the technology. This paper reports on findings from a case study on individuals’ use of an Insurance System in a Medium-Sized Enterprise in Jamaica and how such use changed and developed over time towards deeper use of the IS. Factors that enabled and inhibited use of the IS are discussed, as well as implications for fostering changes in use by individuals.

With technology advances, the interaction between organisations and consumers is evolving gradual... more With technology advances, the interaction between organisations and consumers is evolving gradually from 'human-to-human' to 'human-to-machine', due, in part, to improvements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). One such technology, the AI-enabled digital human is unique in its combining of technology and humanness and is being adopted by firms to support customer services and other business processes. However, a number of questions arise with this new way of interacting, among which is whether people will trust a digital human in the same way that they trust people. To address this question, this study draws on technology trust theory, and examines the roles of social presence, anthropomorphism, and privacy to understand trust and people's readiness to engage with digital humans. The results aim to benefit organisations wanting to implement AI-enabled digital-humans in the workplace.

International Conference on Information Systems, 2014

Information Systems (IS) play a critical role in supporting business processes within organizatio... more Information Systems (IS) play a critical role in supporting business processes within organizations. There is concern however that IS underutilization by individuals is hindering efforts to exploit its benefits and infuse it into workplace practices. To extract the benefits from an IS requires users to change how they incorporate the IS in their work, progressing towards deeper use. This paper draws on evolutionary theory, that is, Generalized Darwinism and its principles of variation, selection and retention, motivational theory and findings from a case study and survey to better understand how individuals' IS use change over time. Furthermore, it discusses the impact of change on deep use, in particular, extended use. Moreover, the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and feedback as triggers of change are highlighted. The findings provide useful insights that further our understanding of post-adoption IS use and the mechanisms by which IS use changes over time.

Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2019

Home computer users are solely responsible for implementing security measures on their devices. A... more Home computer users are solely responsible for implementing security measures on their devices. Although most computers have security software installed, the potential remains for security breaches, which makes it important for home users to take additional steps, such as not sharing one's password and using strong passwords, to secure their devices further. Drawing on protection motivation theory and findings from prior research, this study evaluates factors that influence individuals to implement additional security measures to protect their home computers. Using SmartPLS and responses from 72 home computer users, the results show that response efficacy, self-efficacy and subjective norms were significant in encouraging persons to implement additional security measures. Maladaptive rewards on the other hand acted as a significant detractor, while neither perceived vulnerability nor perceived severity was significant in relation to willingness to implement additional security measures.

This study investigates teaching with active learning techniques, as a means of enhancing student... more This study investigates teaching with active learning techniques, as a means of enhancing student motivation and learning in large IS classes. The combination of traditional lectures with active learning techniques to promote participation in large classes is explored. Implications for IS teaching, student learning, and future research are also presented.

European Conference on Information Systems, 2011

One of the key success factors for the implementation of "Lean" concepts is the successful introd... more One of the key success factors for the implementation of "Lean" concepts is the successful introduction of Information Systems (IS). However, a number of negative outcomes resulting from the implementation of Lean (and its corresponding IS) can lead to strong user resistance to Lean implementation. Using a case study approach supported by interviews with different user groups, this study investigates typical types of user resistance together with strategies for overcoming these resistances. Drawing from prior research on IS and Lean resistance the preliminary findings suggest that Lean IS implementation is not very different from other IS implementations, confirming prior research in this area. However, it also contributes new findings. First, the results showed that information transparency may play an important role in two ways, both as a trigger for user resistance and as a strategy to overcome user resistance. It therefore balances negative and positive effects of user resistance. Second, we found that the order of implementation may have a more significant impact on implementation success than suggested in prior literature.

IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Jun 1, 2023

Americas Conference on Information Systems, 2007

Organizations depend on the creativity of their employees in order to get the best possible outco... more Organizations depend on the creativity of their employees in order to get the best possible outcome from the technologies that have been put into place. Yet IT research exhibits few studies in understanding the types of behaviors that yield new and useful ways of using organizational systems. This research therefore examines the creative use of technologies by individuals, that is, the implementation of novel and useful ways of applying organizational systems to solving business problems. Drawing on a wellestablished body of literature on creativity/innovation, a theory-based conceptualization of creative use is developed. Creative use is then assessed as the dependent variable in the context of Bandura's (1986) self-efficacy theory, which posits the necessity of domain-related self-efficacy and knowledge as prerequisites for creative use. The results support the theorized model and further suggest that breadth of knowledge is the most influential for creative use. We are therefore confident that the concept of creative use represents a new way for IS researchers to look at post-adoption in organizations. Research Model Creative use in organizations therefore begins with the creative idea. Although many users may not perceive themselves as creative, research suggests that creativity is present in everyone. Given the right conditions and stimuli, all individuals (with at least normal capacities) have the potential to generate and implement creative ideas in some domain (Amabile, 1983). While not

Journal of Information Systems, Jun 1, 2023

ABSTRACT With the publication of this article, we are making available the dataset collected for ... more ABSTRACT With the publication of this article, we are making available the dataset collected for and analyzed in our 2018 MIS Quarterly article “The Effects of Communication Mode and Culture on Deception Detection Accuracy.” Our article examined the relationships between computer-based modes of communication and national culture on deception detection success. We provide additional information about the dataset and how it was collected, as well as suggestions for future research. This additional information should help any scholar interested in further analysis of the dataset or extending our study.

As organizations continue to invest heavily in Information Systems (IS) to support business proce... more As organizations continue to invest heavily in Information Systems (IS) to support business processes, the under-utilization of such IS is a key concern that challenges efforts to exploit its benefits. What is most desirable is for users to engage in forms of deep use that effectively leverage the features of the IS for work tasks. But, too often users minimize their interactions with the IS. Yet for users how they use an IS often changes over time to become progressively deeper as the IS is embedded more in the performance of various tasks. To understand how IS use changes over time, this research-in-progress paper draws on principles of evolutionary change, that is, Generalized Darwinism, and reports the findings from a series of case studies.

Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems, 2011

Information Systems are the engine of many organizations, and investments are continuously made w... more Information Systems are the engine of many organizations, and investments are continuously made with the expectation that employees will utilize the technology to enhance performance. However, researchers have argued that the functional potential of systems are often under-utilized or not used effectively. There are calls for research that focuses on deep usage as opposed to 'mere' or 'vapid' use. This paper focuses on a deep usage, that is, infusion which is regarded as the 'highest level of use'. The operational definition for infusion in the literature frequently echoes use to its full potential; however it remains unclear as to what defines full use and in what context should it be evaluated for individuals in organizations. Understandably, the complex, broad and abstract nature of infusion has contributed to inconsistencies in its measures; furthermore, there is a lack of theory applied in understanding its nature. This research proposes a mixed method approach to gain greater insights into the nature of infusion, in terms of the process by which individuals infuse, and its antecedents.

Research suggests that over time Information Systems (IS) behavior can become routinized, making ... more Research suggests that over time Information Systems (IS) behavior can become routinized, making it difficult to extend one's use of an IS or improve work processes. To disrupt habitual IS use behavior and its inertial consequences, one of the key behavioral modification tools used in organizations is feedback. However, we know little about how feedback impacts changes in individual use of IS in organizations. This paper examines the role of the feedback environment (i.e. valence, amount, quality and timing of feedback) on variations in IS use, i.e., experimenting with different ways of using an IS for one's work. As a first step, this study proposes a conceptual model of feedback in IS use, grounded in Generalized Darwinian principles of evolutionary change. Using data from 86 users of Learning Management Systems, the preliminary results suggest the importance of various feedback mechanisms for encouraging variations in how IS is used by individuals.

Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, 2016

This paper provides a didactic example of how to conduct multi-group invariance testing distribut... more This paper provides a didactic example of how to conduct multi-group invariance testing distribution-free multi-group permutation procedure used in conjunction with Partial Least Squares (PLS).To address the likelihood that methods such as covariance-based SEM (CBSEM) with chi-square difference testing can enable group effects that mask noninvariance at lower levels of analysis problem, a variant of CBSEM invariance testing that focuses the evaluation on one parameter at a time (i.e. single parameter invariance testing) is proposed. Using a theoretical model from the field of Information Systems, with three exogenous constructs (routinization, infusion, and faithfulness of appropriation) predicting the endogenous construct of deep usage, the results show both techniques yield similar outcomes for the measurement and structural paths. The results enable greater confidence in the permutation-based procedure with PLS. The pros and cons of both techniques are also discussed.

This paper takes a new approach to IT alignment by focusing on the alignment of IT with business ... more This paper takes a new approach to IT alignment by focusing on the alignment of IT with business processes. Thus the paper focuses on operational alignment rather than strategic alignment. The paper proposes a new instrument for measuring IT alignment, based on the process view of firms. The Process Classification Framework (PCF) (APQC 2006) was used to create a 24 item instrument that formed part of a questionnaire for structured interviews with managers in 66 SMEs. Analysis using partial least squares indicated a positive relationship between IT alignment and IT Success. In addition, IT alignment was found to be low in many firms, and low for many business processes. The typical SME had about 5 business processes with insufficient IS support. However, IT alignment was at an acceptable level for the most important business processes. The study also indicates that the business process view could provide an efficient measure of IT alignment. Opportunities for further research are outlined.