STDIS 2013 Abstracts

Full Papers Short Papers
Full Papers
Paper Nr: 1
Title:

Look Me in the Eye if You're a Man - The Impact of Gender Cues on Impression Formation in Online Professional Profiles
Authors:

P. Saskia Bayerl and Monique Janneck
Abstract: Online profiles are becoming increasingly important in work contexts from recruiting to termination decisions. We conducted an experiment to investigate the effect of profile layout and more specifically gender cues on professional impression formation (n=202). The presence or absence of a photo had no impact on overall ratings or profile likability. Layout, however, interacted with gender of the profile owner in that male profiles were rated most positively with photo, female profiles without photo. Silhouette images providing only generic gender cues led to similarly low ratings for male and female profiles. Our study has implications for users managing their attractiveness on the job market as well as for HR professionals and organizations. It further extends our understanding of the gendered nature of professional online settings.
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Paper Nr: 2
Title:

Self-other Agreement on Influence Attempts in Virtual Organizations - Do Agents and Peers See Eye to Eye?
Authors:

Henning Staar and Monique Janneck
Abstract: The aim of the study was to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of self-peer reports from three different sources on the use of influence tactics in virtual organizations. Therefore, directly related triads of network members were analyzed. First, members (agents) should describe how they try to influence a certain person (target) in the joint collaboration. Second, the defined target and another network member (non-target) described how they perceive the agent’s influence attempts. All sources rated nine types of influence tactics. The resulting multitrait-multimethod design was analyzed with 243 sets of triads using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results supported evidence for convergence of agents’ and peers’ reports on influence attempts and confirmed the multidimensionality of micro-political behavior in virtual organizations.
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Paper Nr: 3
Title:

Social Media Domain Analysis (SoMeDoA) - A Pharmaceutical Study
Authors:

David Bell and Sara Robaty Shirzad
Abstract: Social media data is increasingly becoming a valuable asset for marketing teams, and businesses are regularly coming up with new and innovative ways to make use of this data. A social media network (SMN) is able to connect enterprises with their customers, partners and even competitors. Public trading and relations-oriented structures of social media networks (SMN) have encouraged organizations to engage more actively with other transactional partners. Organizations are seeking to tap into the relationship development potential these websites offer, especially the network effect of each individuals or organisations social graph. It is recognized that these relationships (when utilised) are able to create value for network participants. This paper discusses SMN tools and outlines a methodology and procedure that supports the identification of domain specific networks within a global business-to-business environment. Research is carried out using SMN data about firms in the pharmaceutical industry. We use our own methodology to uncover market participants, linkages and prominent issues that may help new firms to position themselves effectively in a new marketplace. SMNs provide a considerable source of information and new methods are required to fully leverage their potential value. This paper explores how SMNs can be used as an effective source of business intelligence by analysing a popular SMN platform.
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Paper Nr: 4
Title:

Does the Playing Field Determine the Game? - An Impact Analysis of Structural Virtual Network Characteristics on Political Actions
Authors:

Henning Staar, Monique Janneck, Frederik Metzger, Stefan Berwing and Thomas Armbrüster
Abstract: Virtual networks are often characterized as having less formal and hierarchical structures. Instead, informal actions and so-called political behaviour of individual members play an important role regarding power and decision-making. In this paper we investigate the relation between structural characteristics of virtual networks and informal influence tactics of network members. Results show that there are indeed numerous relations between the ‘playing field’ provided by the network structure and the behaviour of individual network players. Surprisingly, an increase of formalization, e.g. through the use of agreements, fixed principles and rules or even contracts, did not constrain informal political behavior. On the contrary, higher formalization was comprehensively associated with higher use of micro-political tactics.
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Paper Nr: 6
Title:

The Influence of Stressors on Usability Tests - An Experimental Study
Authors:

Monique Janneck and Makbule Dogan
Abstract: In this study we investigated whether the experience of stressors would influence the performance of users in usability tests as well as their subjective rating of the usability of an interactive system. To that end, an experimental study was conducted comparing a usability test that was performed in the lab under quiet, relaxed conditions with a test situation where several stressors (time pressure, noise, social pressure) were applied. Results show that participants in the stress condition did considerably worse regarding the completion and correctness of the tasks. The stress and negative feelings the participants experienced also influenced their view of the tested software. Participants in the stress condition rated the usability of the software and their user experience considerably more negative. Implications for the practice of usability testing are discussed.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 5
Title:

Social Networks and Pythagoreans Centres - A Two-level Social Connection for Virtual Global Research
Authors:

M. Angelaccio
Abstract: Social network are changing the way how users connect to internet and use resource to cooperate. However this type of interaction is organized in accord to a main interaction model called connect and follow in which everyone can access the community and potentially connecting to every other member autonomously in accord to a given semantic role. In this work we outline a new type of social network that can be used on internet, in which each member is connected through a multi-level paradigm instead of the typical paradigm used in Twitter and other well known social platforms. The idea comes from the need to introduce a semantic level in correspondence of topics or project research areas. The solution is inspired by viewing user connected community as participating to a virtual Pythagorean School in which every people could participate only by listening without being involved. Instead, an explicit participation will require the production of reviewed research documents and learning activities. We sketch a conceptual model of Virtual Pythagorean Research Centre integrating a web project platform with social network of researchers and apply it to an example of Web Research Centre developing a multidisciplinary ICT project in the context of Smart Cities.