Publications

Risius, M.; Blasiak, K. M.; Wibisono, S.; Louis, W.

The Digital Augmentation of Extremism: Reviewing and Guiding Online Extremism Research from a Sociotechnical Perspective

In: Information Systems Journal (ISJ), 2024, 34(3), pp. 931–963.

Online extremism remains a persistent problem despite the best efforts of governments, tech companies and civil society. Digital technologies can induce group polarization to promote extremism and cause substantial changes to extremism (e.g., create new forms of extremism, types of threats, or radicalization approaches). Current methods to counter extremism induce undesirable side-effects (e.g., ostracize minorities, inadvertently promote extremism) or do not leverage the full potential of digital technologies. Extremism experts recognize the need for researchers from other disciplines, like Information Systems, to contribute their technical expertise for understanding and countering online extremism. This article aims to introduce the field of Information Systems to the issue of online extremism. Information Systems scholars address technology related societal issues from a sociotechnical perspective. The sociotechnical perspective describes systems through a series of interactions between social (structure, people) and technical components (physical system, task). We apply the sociotechnical perspective to (1) summarize the current state-of-the-art knowledge of 222 articles in a systematic multi-disciplinary literature review and (2) propose specific research questions that address two questions (How do digital technologies augment extremism? How can we successfully counter online extremism?).

Find it here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/isj.12454

Xie, H.; Namvar, M.; Risius, M.
A Review of Hate Speech Detection: Challenges and Innovations
In: pre-ICIS Special Interest Group Workshop on the Adoption and Diffusion of Information Technology (SIGADIT) 2023, Hyderabad, India.

Hate speech on social media platforms has severe impacts on individuals, online communities, and society. Platforms are criticized for shirking their responsibilities to effectively moderate hate speech on their platforms. However, detecting hate speech poses a considerable challenge for various reasons (e.g., borderline content, context dependence, use of coded language[A1] ) Consequently, developing and tuning algorithms for improving the automated detection of hate speech has emerged as a crucial research topic. This paper aims to contribute to this rapidly emerging field by outlining the evolutionary progress of key technologies in automated hate speech detection until today, delving into the latest mainstream detection techniques and their performance, and offering a comprehensive review of the literature on hate speech detection online including the notable challenges and respective mitigating efforts. This paper proposes the integration of interdisciplinary perspectives into deep learning models to enhance the generalization of models, providing a new research angel for future research

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/digit2023/15/

Cumming, D.; Utting, M.; Dong, N.; Cassez, F.; Tork, S. B.; Risius, M.
EVM-Vale: Formal Verification of EVM Bytecode using Vale
In: 7th Symposium on Distributed Ledger Technology 2023 (SDLT 2023), Gold Coast, Australia

We explore the use of Microsoft’s Vale framework to guarantee correctness of low level Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode, while affording smart contract developers higher-level language and reasoning features. We encode EVM-R (a subset of EVM semantics and instruction set) into F*, and raise the EVM-R into Vale design-by-contract components in an intermediate language supporting conditional logic. The specifications of Vale procedures constructed from these verified EVM bytecodes carry integrity to the bytecode level, which is not guaranteed by current EVM compilers. Furthermore, raising the instruction set to Vale allows opportunity for refinement of the instructions, which we did ensuring safety properties of overflow protection, invalid memory access protection, and functional correctness. We demonstrate our contributions through two case study smart contracts, a simple casino, and a subcurrency coin.

Find it here: link made available once available 

Risius, M.; Breidbach, C. F.; Chanson, M.; Krannichfeldt, R. v.; Wortmann, F.

On the Performance of Blockchain-Based Token Offerings

In: Electronic Markets (EM), 2023, 33(32), pp. 1-19

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) are distinct blockchain-based token offerings. Following multiple frauds associated with decentralized and unregulated ICOs, IEOs are emerging as a novel pathway that relies on centralized crypto exchange platforms acting as intermediaries. However, the question as to how this shift affects fundraising processes in what has traditionally been a decentralized environment remains unresolved. We here address this issue by empirically comparing the performance of ICOs and IEOs through the lens of signaling theory, focussing specifically on the impact of social media information across 305 token offerings (ICOs and IEOs). Our work introduces IEOs, and explains how and why the volume and sentiment of social media signals may serve as predictors of fundraising performance. We furthermore find that the impact of these electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) media signals is reduced in the case of IEOs – in the presence of a central cryptocurrency exchange platform mediator. We delineate implications for investors, ventures, platform providers, and regulators alike.

Find it here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12525-023-00652-5

Risius, M.; Benedict, G.

Blockchain Technology and Strategic Leadership

Forthcoming in: Handbook of Research on Strategic Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Eds: Simsek, Z., Heavey, C., Fox, B., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023

Blockchain is a core technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It is a distributed ledger technology that allows automating transactions and storing tamper-evident records. Strategic leadership plays an essential role in the adoption of blockchain technologies to unfold their disruptive potential. This chapter aims to guide strategic leadership in navigating the challenges and opportunities of blockchain technologies. To that end, we build a conceptual understanding of blockchain technologies by first introducing distributed databases, consensus mechanisms, algorithmic trust, transparency, immutability, tamper-evidence, smart contracts and decentralized applications, as well as different blockchain types. Subsequently, we propose the Blockchain Value Proposition (BVP) framework. The BVP outlines the business value that blockchain can deliver against impairing organizational and technical barriers. We use the BVP to highlight six strategic leadership functions to help realize blockchain’s potential. We conclude with the extended affordances framework to guide future strategic leadership research on blockchain technologies.

Find it here: link made available once available 

Fang, Y.; Risius, M.; Cheung, C. M. K.
Understanding the Current State of Knowledge and Future Directions of Doxing Research: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective 

In: 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2023), Maui, Hawaii

Doxing is the public release of personal information with harmful intentions. It is an emergent online practice that is used in social protest movements, for personal revenge, or even as a means of cyber-warfare. To amalgamate the ambiguous multi-disciplinary research, we summarize the current state of knowledge and identify directions for doxing research. To that end, this study applies social cognitive theory in a systematic review of 28 doxing papers and provides an overview of current doxing research trends. The review shows that doxing research has been primarily focused on the environmental perspective, particularly the legal regulation of doxing while neglecting personal and behavioral factors. We identify a series of research questions to guide and inspire future research on the role of digital technologies in this emerging issue.  

Find it here: https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstreams/79116a62-7804-497b-8ce5-765cf69beb8b/download 

Cumming, D.; Utting, M.; Dong, N.; Cassez, F.; Tork, S. B.; Risius, M.
Verification of EVM Bytecode with Vale
In: 6th Symposium on Distributed Ledger Technology 2022 (SDLT 2022), Gold Coast, Australia

We explore the use of Microsoft’s Vale framework to guarantee low level correctness of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode, while affording smart contract developers higher-level language and reasoning features. We encode a subset of EVM semantics and instruction set into Vale, raising the instruction set into design-by-contract components in an intermediate language supporting conditional logic. The specifications of procedures constructed from these verified EVM bytecodes carry integrity to the bytecode level, which cannot be guaranteed by current EVM compilers. We demonstrate our contributions through an example smart contract of an incrementing/decrementing counter.

Spohrer, K.; Risius, M.

The Affordances of Blockchain Platforms: Why Service Providers Use Blockchains

In: Dibbern, J., Förderer, J., Kude, T., Rothlauf, F., Spohrer, K. (eds) Digitalization Across Organizational Levels. Progress in IS. Springer, Cham, 2022, pp. 181-208.

Contemporary blockchain platforms differ in their technological features and are under active development as open-source projects. Nonetheless, they have the potential to fuel substantial socio-economic changes. The scale of such changes, however, requires not only blockchain platforms but also organizations that develop and provide services on top of these platforms. Yet, little is known as to why service providers use specific blockchain platforms to offer their services or how they deal with the developmental state of blockchain platforms. This study, therefore, strives to identify the general affordances of blockchain platforms for service providers and aims to understand how service providers respond to different affordances on distinct platforms. Based on Affordance Theory and grounded in the analysis of 19 cases of blockchain service providers on the three most prominent blockchain platforms, we identify five types of salient affordances (i.e., validity affordances, analytical affordances, automation affordances, decentralization affordances, generative affordances). We explain how they result from specific features of blockchain platforms and from properties of the provided service. We lastly show that service providers’ use of a blockchain platform depends not only on the salient affordances of the platform but also on the values that are enacted by the open-source community behind it.

Find it here: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-06543-9_8

Blasiak, K. M.; Risius, M.; Matook, S.

Conceptualising Social Bots for Countering Online Extremist Messages

In: 32nd Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS 2021), Sydney, Australia

Online extremism and radicalisation on social media (SM) are significant concerns of governments, SM companies, and society. The 2021 attack on the US Capitol illustrates the severity of extremism fuelled through SM communications. The literature suggests the removal of extremist messages from SM to limit online extremism. However, scholars argue that these interventions are ineffective in containing the threat of extremist messages on SM. This study draws on dual-process theory and reactance theory to conceptualize the factors that contribute to limiting online extremism. Our model proposes cognitive factors and socio-technical factors that impact how SM users respond to online extremist messages. The model is tested with an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based automated software agents (bots). The research contributes to a novel understanding of bots as social bots that are programmed as interventions to extremism. 

Find it here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356192120_Conceptualising_Social_Bots_for_Countering_Online_Extremist_Messages

Blasiak, K. M.; Risius, M.; Matook, S.

"Social Bots for Peace": A Dual-Process Perspective to Counter Online Extremist Messaging

In: 42nd International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2021), Austin, Texas, USA

Online extremism and radicalization on social media are major concerns of governments, social media companies, and civic organizations worldwide. Online extremist threats are further amplified through conspiracy theories surrounding the current pandemic, increased social isolation, and more time spent online. Evidenced by the recent extremist attack of the US Capitol, the consequences of failure to intervene are dire. Current extremist interventions online, however, are not comprehensive and timely enough to contain the threat of extremist messages. Research calls for new methods that address, both, the cognitive and technical components to counter extremism. Accordingly, we explore the potential of social bots as AI-based automated agents on social media to online counter radicalization processes online. We apply dual-process theory to social bot intervention messages in an empirical study.

Find it here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354906975_Social_Bots_for_Peace_A_Dual-Process_Perspective_to_Counter_Online_Extremist_Messaging

Shan, G.; Wattal, S.; Risius, M.; Thatcher, J. B.

How Fact-checking Affects News Engagement on Social Media Platforms: A Multi-method Study

In: Workshop on Information Systems Economics (WISE 2021), Austin, TX, USA

To combat false news, social media companies have invested in humans and AI fact-checkers to combat false news. However, users show mixed responses to these fact checking services. Some perceive such services as useful, while others do not trust them . To help social media companies realize a return on investing in fact checkers and improve the efficacy of their efforts, we investigate: whether and when does fact-checking impacts users’ news engagement?

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Risius, M.; Blasiak, K. M.; Wibisono, S.; Jabri-Markwell, R.; Louis, W.

Dynamic Matrix of Extremisms and Terrorism (DMET): A Continuum Approach Towards Identifying Different Degrees of Extremisms

In: Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) 2021 Taxonomy Expansion Briefing Paper Series 

We propose to extend the current binary understanding of terrorism (versus non-terrorism) with a Dynamic Matrix of Extremisms and Terrorism (DMET). DMET considers the whole ecosystem of content and actors that can contribute to a continuum of extremism (e.g., rightwing, left-wing, religious, separatist, single-issue). It organizes levels of extremisms by varying degrees of ideological engagement and the presence of violence identified (e.g., partisan, fringe, violent extremism, terrorism) based on cognitive and behavioral cues and group dynamics. DMET is globally applicable due to its comprehensive conceptualization of the levels of extremisms. It is also dynamic, enabling iterative mapping with the region and time-specific classifications of extremist actors. Once global actors recognize DMET types and their distinct characteristics, they can comprehensively analyze the profiles of extremist actors (e.g., individuals, groups, movements), track these respective actors and their activities (e.g., social media content) over time, and launch targeted counter activities (e.g. de-platforming, content moderation, or redirects to targeted CVE narratives).

Find it here: https://gifct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GIFCT-TaxonomyReport-2021.pdf

French, A.; Shim, J. P.; Risius, M.; Larsen, K. R.; Jain, H.

The 4th Industrial Revolution Powered by the Integration of AI, Blockchain, and 5G

In: Communications of the AIS (CAIS), 2021, 49 (10), pp. 266-286.

The 21st century introduces the 4th Industrial Revolution describing an industrial paradigm shift that alters social, economic, and political environments simultaneously. This digital revolution is powered by innovative technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and advanced mobile networks that seeks to dramatically impact the future direction of business and society. Each of these technologies provide a unique component that when integrated will establish a foundation to drive future innovation. In this paper, we summarize a 2019 Association for Information Systems Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) panel session where researchers who specialize in each of presented technologies discussed new innovations and their integration shaping our future. This topic has significant implications to business and academia alike as revolutionary change is on the forefront shaping the social, economic, and political landscape. 

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/forthcoming.html

Louis, W.; Wibisono, S.; Blasiak, K. M.; Risius, M.

Literature Review of Terrorist and Violent Extremist Use of the Internet

In: 2021 Report for the Department of Home Affairs, Online Terrorism and Violent Extremism Policy - Cyber, Digital and Technology Policy Division, Canberra, Australia

The present report summarises a systematic literature review of 574 academic, governmental, and non-governmental reports on terrorist and violent extremist use of online media. We performed an in-depth analysis of 313 articles relevant to the research objectives: to assess the current state of knowledge regarding terrorist and violent extremist use of online platforms; to identify the existing research gaps; and to summarise the key implications for future research and regulatory approaches.

The report begins with a broad summary analysis of the literature, with visualisations of the data and its key themes.  A narrative summary of the research gaps is then presented.  Third, a granular review is given for the themes of the relevant articles, categorised into sections examining: terrorists and violent extremists as advocates (their search for audiences, online content, and networks); users of terrorist content (their exposure, radicalisation, and CVE); and platforms that serve as gatekeepers (the diversity of the platforms; their content monitoring and removal; regulatory challenges).  In a final section, we synthesize the studies’ implications regarding CVE measures to develop an overview of recommendations emerging from various professions.

Treiblmaier, H.; French, A.; Risius, M. 

Towards a Feasibility Framework for Blockchain Acceptance

In: Blockchain Research eWorkshop - Blockchain: Beyond the Horizon at 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2020), Marrakesh, Morocco 

Blockchain technology has been simultaneously labeled as a revolution (Tapscott & Tapscott, 2016) and as a hype (Kaminska, 2018).  After the initial enthusiasm that accompanied the rise of Bitcoin and the subsequent disillusionment that followed its fall in value, there seems to be some agreement that blockchain offers several promising characteristics such as immutability, programmability and the option to create distributed systems without dedicated authority (Treiblmaier, 2019), but at the same time technological shortcomings exist which might have severe legal and organizational repercussions.  In this research project our focus is on several feasibility dimensions as shown in Figure 1. We use specific organizational needs as our starting point and contrast them with existing blockchain solutions. Most importantly, we evaluate every need and its corresponding solution according to different feasibility types, namely technical, cultural, economic, legal and operational.

Treiblmaier, H.; Risius, M.; French, A.

Blockchain transformation as a socio-technical phenomenon

In: 6th International Workshop on Socio-Technical Perspective in IS (STPIS'20) 

Blockchain technology promises features such as data immutability and traceability, which can not only help to create numerous novel use cases but also fundamentally reorganize organizations’ business processes and structures. The potential transformations do not stop there but might also translate to societies and economies as a whole. Previous research has mainly focused on transformational processes from a technological perspective but largely neglected the interplay between people and technology. In this research project we take a holistic perspective and suggest various feasibility attributes in order to comprehensively evaluate the impact of a transformational process triggered by blockchain technology. 

Anaraky, R. G.; Knijnenburg, B. P.; Risius, M.

Exacerbating Mindless Compliance: The Danger of Justifications During Privacy Decision Making in the Context of Facebook Applications

In: AIS Transactions on Human Computer Interaction (THCI), 2020, 12(2), pp. 70-95

Online companies exploit mindless compliance during users’ privacy decision-making to avoid liability while not impairing the individual’s willingness to use their services. These manipulations can play against users, since they subversively influence their decisions by nudging them to mindlessly comply with disclosure requests, rather than enabling them to make deliberate choices. In this paper, we demonstrate the compliance-inducing effects of defaults and framing in the context of a Facebook application that nudges people to be automatically publicly tagged in their friends’ photos and/or tag their friends in their own photos. By studying these effects in a Facebook application, we overcome a common criticism of privacy research, which often relies on hypothetical scenarios. Our results are consistent with previous findings on framing and default effects, indicating a reduction in privacy-preserving behaviors (i.e., a higher tagging rate in our case) in positively framed and accept-by-default decision scenarios. Moreover, we tested the effects of two types of justifications – information that implies what other people do (normative) or what the user ought to do (rationale-based) – on framing- and default-induced compliance. Existing work suggests that justifications may increase compliance in a positive (agree-by-) default scenario, even when the justification is irrelevant to the decision. In this study, we expand this finding and show that even a justification that is opposite to the default action (e.g., a justification suggesting not to use the application) can increase mindless compliance with the default. Thus, when companies abide by policy makers’ requirements of obtaining informed user consent through providing explanations for the privacy settings, they will paradoxically induce mindless compliance and further threaten user privacy. 

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/thci/vol12/iss2/2/

French, A.; Treiblmaier, H.; Risius, M.

Blockchain: Technical Feasibility for Assessing Organizational Fit

In: 26th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2020), Salt Lake City, Utah

Find it here: Information will be provided once available

Risius, M.; Baumann, A.; Krasnova, H.

Developing a New Paradigm: Introducing the Intention-Behaviour Gap to the Privacy Paradox Phenomenon

In: 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2020), Marrakesh, Morocco

Internet users commonly agree that it is important for them to protect their personal data. However, the same users readily disclose their data when requested by an online service. The dichotomy between privacy attitude and actual behaviour is commonly referred to as the “privacy paradox”. Over twenty years of research were not able to provide one comprehensive explanation for the paradox and seems even further from providing actual means to overcome the paradox. 

We argue that the privacy paradox is not just an instantiation of the attitude-behaviour gap. Instead, we introduce a new paradigm explaining the paradox as the result of attitude-intention and intention-behaviour gaps. Historically, motivational goal-setting psychologists addressed the issue of intention-behaviour gaps in terms of the Rubicon Model of Action Phases and argued that commitment and volitional strength are an essential mechanism that fuel intentions and translate them into action. Thus, in this study we address the privacy paradox from a motivational psychological perspective by developing two interventions on Facebook and assess whether the 287 participants of our online experiment actually change their privacy behaviour. The results demonstrate the presence of an intention-behaviour gap and the efficacy of our interventions in reducing the privacy paradox.

Find it here: Information will be provided once available

Treiblmaier, H.; French, A.; Risius, M.

Cultural Feasibility as a Moderator of Blockchain Acceptance in Academia

In: 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2020), Marrakesh, Morocco

The salient features of blockchain technology, such as transparency, immutability, availability of a historical log and programmability, have led to the emergence of numerous innovative use cases across industries, many of which are still in a development and testing stage. In this regard, academia is no exception. Blockchain has been suggested as a remedy for numerous problems of the academic submission and review process and several projects have been launched to create more effective and efficient publication systems. In this research-in-progress paper, we present the concept of ResearchChain, an ideal publishing system that comprises all the features requested by academia, and systematically list as well as critically assess useful features that blockchain can potentially enable. Furthermore, we introduce cultural feasibility as an important moderator for acceptance in the academic community and briefly present our future research strategy.

Find it here: Information will be provided once available

Heavey, C.; Zeki, S.; Kyprianou, C.; Risius, M. 

How Do Strategic Leaders Engage with Social Media? A Theoretical Framework for Research and Practice

Forthcoming in:  Strategic Management Journal (SMJ), 2020, 41, pp. 1490–1527

RESEARCH SUMMARY

Social media is a powerful environment for experiencing strategic leaders’ novel interactions and influence within and outside the firm. But, while studies on social media are popping up like kettle corn across disciplines, no conceptual framework for organizing, guiding, and inspiring research on social media engagement among strategic leaders has yet appeared. Towards this end, we first clarify the construct and develop a typological conceptualization of strategic leaders’ social media engagement behaviors. Next, we introduce a theoretical framework and corresponding propositions for explaining the variations, mechanisms, and consequences of social media engagements. We conclude with implications for future research including data collection and measurement. 

MANAGERIAL SUMMARY

With the growing proliferation of social media platforms, today’s executives are faced with a vast array of choices about how to use social media to engage with diverse stakeholders and online communities. Although avoidance continues to be a preference for many executives, the scale and scope of social media platforms offer executives unprecedented opportunities—as well as risks—to engage stakeholders. We develop and illustrate a framework of six archetypal engagement behaviors through which executives may leverage social media to reach, communicate, and interact with stakeholders in developing and executing strategy—for both good and ill. We then discuss the implications of these alternative playbooks for executive decision-making and firm outcomes. 

Find it here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smj.3156

French, A.; Risius, M.; Shim, J. P.

The Interaction of Virtual Reality, Blockchain, and 5G New Radio: Disrupting Business and Society

In: Communications of the AIS (CAIS), 2020, 46 (1),  pp. 603-618

The three cutting-edge technologies Virtual Reality, blockchain and 5G are continuously growing in public attention. Virtual reality was popularized in the 1990's but recent advances in technology and decrease costs have create a resurgence in the technology. With significant funding and early adoption, blockchain and 5G are both ready to make their mark on the world. Each of these technologies alone are primed to disrupt business and society but together they provide a multitude of opportunities waiting to be explored. A panel of IS researchers and industry practitioners tackled important topics related to the culmination of these technologies. This article summarizes the 2018 Association for Information Systems Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) panel session that makes the case for IS research that focuses on the intersection of these technologies. Each panelist presented their perspectives based on experience and knowledge along with current issues and future directions. This topic has significant business implications as practitioners continue to take notice of their advancements and develop strategies to adapt in a rapidly changing environment. The paper also present researcher perspectives and implications that will inform and describe opportunities for future research as these technologies continue to become more prevalent. 

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol46/iss1/25/

French, A.;  Shim, J.P.;  Risius, M.;  Larsen, K. R.; Jain, H.

The 4th  Industrial Revolution - Powered by the Integration of 5G, AI, and Blockchain

In: Panel at the 25th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2019); Cancun, Mexico

The fourth industrial revolution is characterized as the integration of technology axiomatically transforming organizational and societal actions and behaviours (Schwab, 2016). The culmination of increased mobile network capabilities provided by 5G, blockchain technology which is redefining the way we transact and artificial intelligence supporting cognitive automation will be the foundational technologies driving this revolution. The result is an ubiquitous high-speed distributed network creating a hyper-connected web of devices and people that intelligently share information and knowledge in secured and trusted manner. The benefits of high-speed mobile network and AI are well known.  The blockchain technology adds to them reduced transaction cost, increased security, and reduced fraud risk (Budko, 2018). Benefits created through blockchain technology can be expanded with the integration of 5G service and artificial intelligence (AI). 

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1489&context=amcis2019

Risius, M.; Aydingül, O.; Haug, M.

Towards an Understanding of Conspiracy Echo Chambers on Facebook

In: 27th European Conference on Information Sytems (2019); Stockholm-Uppsala, Sweden

Selective online exposure to information that serves to only affirm people’s opinions or is strongly aligned with their interests is considered to be a major issue in modern societies. Echo chambers, for example, are online environments in which users are only exposed to confirming opinions and alternative voices are excluded or discredited. Echo chambers are considered to be particularly dangerous, because they may lead to polarization and even radicalization. Social media facilitate the formation of echo chambers as described in the Social Identity Theory by means of homophily and depersonalization. This can be especially harmful in the case of conspiracy beliefs, where particularly extreme opinions lead to a stronger seclusion from society, encourage socially destructive actions, and curate Fake News. In our research we will assess different echo chambers in terms of actively established common patterns of consumed online information sources. To that end, we analyse the news source Likes from over 7,000 users with their approximately 1,450,000 Likes on Facebook. We intend to identify different types of Facebook echo chambers with a focus on conspiracy groups, understand distinguishing characteristics in communicative behaviour of the conspiracy groups on Facebook and explore unique characteristics of users in conspiracy echo chambers. 

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=ecis2019_rip

Pedersen, A.; Risius, M.; Beck, R.

A Ten-Step Decision Path to Determine When to Use Blockchain Technologies

In: MIS Quarterly Executive (MISQE), 2019, 18 (2), pp. 99-115

A wide range of socioeconomic hopes are pinned on the transformative power of blockchain technologies. However, blockchain databases have noticeable drawbacks (i.e., scalability, capacity, latency, privacy) that clearly indicate that blockchain is not a silver bullet for all problems. The application and selection of blockchain need to be carefully assessed, depending on the problem and use case at hand. To support IT decision-makers, we develop a ten-step decision path that can help determine whether or not the application of blockchain is justified and, if so, which kind of blockchain to use. We apply this decision path to the case of the maritime shipping industry, and develop a blockchain prototype for this case. 

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/misqe/vol18/iss2/3/ 

Anaraky, R. G.; Nabizadeh, T.;  Knijnenburg, B. P.; Risius, M.

Reducing Default and Framing Effects in Privacy Decision-Making 

In: Proceedings of the 17th Annual Pre-ICIS Workshop on HCI Research in MIS  (SIGHCI 2018); San Francisco, USA 

Framing and default effects have been studied for more than a decade in different disciplines. A common criticism of these studies is that they use hypothetical scenarios. In this study, we developed a real decision environment: a Facebook application in which users had to decide whether or not they wanted to be automatically publicly tagged in their friends’ pictures and/or tag their friends in their own pictures. To ensure ecological validi­ty, participants had to log in to their Facebook account. Our results confirmed previous studies indicating a higher tagging rate in positively framed and accept-by-default conditions. Furthermore, we introduced a manipulation that we assumed would overshadow and thereby reduce the effects of default and framing: a justification highlighting a positive or negative descriptive social norm or giving a rationale for or against tagging. We found that such justifications may at times increase tagging rates. 

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=sighci2018

Chanson, M.; Gjoen, J.; Risius, M.; Wortmann, F.

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): The role of Social Media for Organizational Legitimacy and Underpricing

In: 39th International Conference of Information Systems (ICIS 2018); San Francisco, USA 

Recently, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have developed substantial influence as a funding mechanism while being largely neglected by research. In parallel, microblogs were identified as a source of organizational legitimacy and underpricing in Initial Public Offerings. In this paper, we investigate the influence of different types of social media, specifically microblogs and discussion forums, on organizational legitimacy in the realm of ICOs. As legitimacy cannot be measured directly, we follow renowned scholars and use underpricing as the dependent variable and an established proxy for legitimacy. We analyze data of 95 ICOs and provide first results indicating that discussion forum activity confers organizational legitimacy. Additionally, we show that the influence of strategic twitter management by the legitimacy-accruing organization is mediated by the activity of independent users on discussion forums. Furthermore, we introduce the phenomenon ICO as a funding mechanism fundamentally based on information technology and motivate further research on this topic. 

Find it here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328064803_Initial_Coin_Offerings_ICOs_The_role_of_Social_Media_for_Organizational_Legitimacy_and_Underpricing

Wenxi, P.; Risius, M.; Sun, H.; Thatcher, J.

Multiple Identity Activation: An Attention Draining State that Reduces Stress

In: Digitization of the Individual Workshop at 39th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS DOTI 2018); San Francisco, USA 

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) become deeply embedded in the social structure, shaping the ways we interact with each other. At the same time, they are creating constant interruptions. Understanding the interruptive effect of ICTs on our social life is necessary to provide guidance to companies and individuals on how to mitigate the negative effects and leverage the positive effects from ICTs. However, our understanding of such interruptive effects is still at its initial stage despite the continuous efforts of IS researchers. This study aims to push forward our understanding of such interruptive effects from ICTs on productivity and psychological well-being related factors from the identity perspective. Identity helps individuals to define the meanings of a certain situation and provides guidance on their behavior and cognition. Thus, identity is potentially an important perspective to look at ICT interruptions, which carry identity cues with them. However, these symbolic cues are largely ignored in the literature of ICT interruptions. Thereby, we propose a new concept that captures a psychological state in which an individual is actively aware of more than one role identities. We term this concept Multiple Identity Activation (MIA), which focuses on the symbolic cues (i.e., identity cues) from ICT interruptions and takes a novel approach towards understanding ICT interruptions that current literature has not yet revealed. Thus, Multiple Identity Activation has important implications for literature on ICT interruptions. We build upon Identity theory to conceptualize MIA and draw from the literature on ICT interruptions to explain how MIA relates to the factors such as mind wandering and mindful information consumption as well as stress. The implications for both individuals and companies are discussed.

Find it here: Link will be provided when available

Risius, M.; Aydingül, O.

Facebook User Segmentation to Enable Targeted Social Advertisement

In: 39th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2018); San Francisco, USA

Social media platforms provide unique opportunities for brands to directly engage with customers and advertise their products. As the largest social network, Facebook gains the majority of its revenue by having companies pay for their messages to appear in the users' newsfeeds. The foundation for most marketing activities has been shown to be proper market segmentation. To that end, marketers can specify a targeted Facebook user group by selecting particular demographic characteristics and like objects. Currently, however, no research has provided any guidance on how to differentiate various target groups. We intend to analyze and classify the Facebook profiles based on their demographic, psychometric, lifestyle and value, as well as geographic information that can be derived from their profiles. Thereby, we will identify key marker items that determine the distinct user segments. Marketers can then apply these items in order to properly target their advertisement campaigns. 

Find it here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328041182_Facebook_User_Segmentation_to_Enable_Targeted_Social_Advertisement

French, M.;  Shim, J.P.; Parsons, J.; Risius, M.;Bordnick, P. S.; Holtman, D. (2018)

Virtual Reality and Blockchain Technology in the Era of 5G: Disrupting Business and Society

In: Panel at the 24th Americas Conference on Information Systems, New Orleans, USA

With the introduction of blockchain technology and advancements in the mobile infrastructure with 5G networks, virtual reality is resurfacing from previously discussed theoretical developments to actual implementations that are set to disrupt business and society alike. The past few years have shown an increase virtual reality equipment manufacturing and technical capabilities. With high speed networks capable of providing ubiquitous access virtual and augmented reality platforms being developed on distributed blockchain network, new societal transformations are ready to take place. This panel will address the technological foundation driving new trends and discuss their impacts on business and society.

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2018/Workshops/Presentations/1/

Chanson, M.; Risius, M.; Wortmann, F. (2018)

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): An Introduction to the Novel Funding Mechanism Based on Blockchain Technology

In: 24th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2018), New Orleans, USA

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are a novel form of funding mechanism that is based on blockchain technology. While ICOs are already the dominating financing paradigm in the blockchain industry, they might also disrupt well-established industries that rely on incumbent funding systems. ICOs are a recent phenomenon. Hence, research on the topic is scarce and the phenomenon not yet well-understood. In order to address this research gap, we try to build a basic understanding of ICOs in this paper. More specifically, we identify constituent ICO building blocks by drawing on financialization theory. In addition, we analyze 96 ICOs with respect to these constituent building blocks. Our analysis provides first evidence that ICOs differ considerably regarding the identified building blocks. Based on these insights, we specify future research plans that encourage the development of a well-founded taxonomy and highlight limitations of our initial study.

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1536&context=amcis2018

Heavey, C; Kyprianou, C.; Simsek, Z.; Risius, M.

Strategic Leadership in the Digital Age: A Multidisciplinary Review, Framework, and Research Agenda 

In: 38th Strategic Management Society Conference (SMS 2018); Paris, France; nominated for the Best Conference Paper Award

Social media has emerged as one of the more important communication and influence tools available to strategic leaders. Despite a growing volume of research, strategic management scholars have been slow to conceptualize and theorize about the characteristics, causes and consequences of strategic leaders’ social media engagements. And yet both empirical evidence and everyday experience suggest social media engagements of strategic leaders – CEOs, top executives, and board members – can have significant consequences for firm outcomes. Synthesizing insights from a systematic research review with the upper-echelons view of the firm, we develop an encompassing conceptualization and framework of strategic leaders’ social media engagements and advance a set of novel propositions to stimulate research inquiry. We trace the implications of the proposed framework and identify key priorities for future research.

Find it here: link will be provided here as soon as possible

Glaser, F.; Risius, M.

Effects of Transparency. Analyzing Social Biases on Trader Performance in Social Trading

In: Journal of Information Technology (JIT), 2018, 33 (1), pp. 19-30

Social Trading platforms combine the trading functionalities of classical online broker services with the communication and interaction features of social networks. Next to following other users' profiles, a main characteristic of social trading platforms is the possibility to follow other users by automatically copying their trades. By being a technologically based financial intermediary that enables individual profit maximization, social trading platforms constitute a contemporary example of financialization. Our empirical analysis of the behavior of traders on a social trading platform provides new insights on financialization related questions regarding the influence of transparency and interaction in delegated investment environments. The disposition effect is a well-studied behavioral bias of investors and traders. Human investors tend to realize returns of their winning positions too early and let unfavorable positions accumulate losses for too long. We find that on social trading platforms the traders’ sensitivity to the disposition effect is influenced by the amount of attention they receive from their followers who invested capital into the traders' strategy. These novel insights propose a link between principal-agent theory and the disposition effect induced by transparency mechanisms. We extend the literature on trader-investor interaction channels in social trading networks. The results obtained in a social network environment are of high relevance for regulators who have a strong focus on customer protection and financial services regulation. They also provide guidelines for platform designers, traders, investors and social trading platform operators.

Find it here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41265-016-0028-0

Risius, M.; Spohrer, K.

A Blockchain Research Framework - What We (Don't) Know, Where We Go From Here, and How We Will Get There

In: Business & Information Systems Engineering (BISE), 2018, 59 (6), pp. 385-409

While blockchain technology is commonly considered to be potentially disruptive in various regards, there is a lack of understanding where and how blockchain technology is effectively applicable and where it has mentionable practical effects. This issue has given rise to critical voices that judge the technology as over-hyped. Against this backdrop, we adapt an established research framework to structure the insights of the current body of research on blockchain technology, outline the present research scope as well as disregarded topics, and sketch out multidisciplinary research approaches. The framework differentiates three groups of activities (design and features, measurement and value, management and organization) at four levels of analysis (users and society, intermediaries, platforms, firms and industry). The review shows that research has predominantly focused on technological questions of design and features, while neglecting application, value creation, and governance. In order to foster substantial blockchain research that addresses meaningful questions, we identify several avenues for future studies. Given the breadth of open questions, we show where research can benefit from multidisciplinary collaborations and present data sources as starting points for empirical investigations.

Find it here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12599-017-0506-0

Hyvärinen, H.; Risius, M.; Friis, G.

A Blockchain-Based Approach Towards Overcoming Financial Fraud in Public Sector Services

In: Business & Information Systems Engineering (BISE), 2018, 59 (6), pp. 441-456

In financial markets it is common for companies and individuals to invest into foreign companies. To avoid the double taxation of investors on dividend payment – both in the country where the profit is generated as well as the country of residence – most governments have entered into bilateral double taxation treaties, whereby investors can claim a tax refund in the country where the profit is generated. Due to easily forgeable documents and insufficient international exchange of information between tax authorities, investors illegitimately apply for these tax returns causing an estimated damage of 1.8 billion USD, for example, in Denmark alone. This paper assesses the potential of a blockchain database to provide a feasible solution for overcoming this problem against the backdrop of recent advances in the public sector and the unique set of blockchain capacities. Towards this end, we develop and evaluate a blockchain-based prototype system aimed at eliminating this type of tax fraud and increasing transparency regarding the flow of dividends. While the prototype is based on the specific context of the Danish tax authority, we discuss how it can be generalized for tracking international and interorganizational transactions.

Find it here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12599-017-0502-4

Janze, C.; Risius, M.

Automatic Detection of Fake News on Social Media Platforms

In: Proceedings of the 21st Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2017); Langkawi, Malaysia

Winner of the Best Conference Paper Award

This study investigates how fake news shared on social media platforms can be automatically identified. Drawing on the Elaboration Likelihood Model and previous studies on information quality, we develop and test an explorative research model on Facebook news posts during the U.S. presidential election 2016. The study examines how cognitive, visual, affective and behavioral cues of the news posts as well as of the addressed user community can be used by machine learning classifiers to identify fake news fully automatically. The best performing configurations achieve a stratified 10-fold cross validated predictive accuracy of more than 80%, and a recall rate (share of correctly identified fake news) of nearly 90% on a balanced data sample solely based on data directly available on Facebook. Platform operators and users can draw on the results to identify fake news on social media platforms - either automatically or heuristically.

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=pacis2017

Glaser, F.; Risius, M.

The Side Effect of Scrutinising Traders in Social Trading Platforms

In: LSE Business Review, 2017

The rationality of human investors has long been questioned. Behavioural biases have been broadly investigated and are known to impair human decision-making in capital markets. Our empirical study draws on these findings regarding behavioural biases and analyses the behaviour of traders on a social trading platform to expand insights on behavioural biases and human decision-making. In particular, we have analysed the influence of real-time monitoring and real-time interaction between traders and investors on traders’ behaviour.

Find it here: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2017/03/09/the-side-effect-of-scrutinising-traders-in-social-trading-platforms/

Risius, M.

Social Media Management - Advancing Social Media Analytics and Engagement

In: Dissertation Thesis; Frankfurt am Main

This cumulative dissertation thesis comprises six empirical papers that advance knowledge on social media management. The different papers are allocated to one of the different social media activities depending on the degree to which they focus on engagement or analytics. The different activities were derived from the social media research frameworks by  Aral et al. (2013) and McFarland and Ployhart (2015). In particular, Paper 1 and Paper 2 address the first research question by analyzing how different communication based engagement behaviors of individual employees translate into knowledge exchange quality (Paper 1) and social capital (Paper 2) in enterprise microblogging. Both papers argue that the way in which users commonly communicate affect their social network which ultimately leads to different outcomes. Regarding the second overall research question, Papers 3-5 explore which different social media management strategies and tactics companies currently pursue. Specifically, these articles evaluate how these different organizational behaviors affect the public perception with a particular focus on the corporate application of social media management tools. With respect to the third major research question, Paper 6 develops and validates a sentiment analysis tool to advance social media analytics. Thereby, it provides new means of measuring user-generated content and demonstrates the value of the respectively improved intelligence.

Risius, M.; Benthaus, J.; Akolk, F.

Increasing Sales Performance through Social Media Activities

In: EFL Quarterly 4/2016; Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Social media platforms present unique possibilities for companies to interact with their customers and take up a key role in building relationships. However, little is known concerning the financial return on investment from social media engagement and specific strategies to leverage it. The analysis of over 1.5 million tweets revolving around ten car manufacturers suggests that companies can increase their sales volume through greater relationship investment and by adopting a social media strategy that promotes the users’ relationship satisfaction.

Find it here: http://www.efinancelab.de/fileadmin/documents/newsletter/quarterly/efl-quarterly-16_04.pdf

Risius, M.; Benthaus, J.; Akolk, F.

Is it Worth it? Dismantling the Process of Social Media Related Sales Performance

In: Proceedings of the 24th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2016); Istanbul, Turkey

Social media platforms present unique possibilities for companies to interact with their customers and take up a key role in building relationships. A substantial body of research has demonstrated the impact of social media regarding, for example, brand awareness and corporate reputation. However, little is known concerning the financial Return on Investment from social media engagement and specific strategies to leverage it. To this end, the study draws on relationship marketing theory to develop and operationalise a research model, which understands objective firm performance in terms of sales as a result of relationship antecedents (i.e., corporate investment and dyadic similarity) mediated through the customer-perceived relationship strength. To test the assumed research model, we collect and analyse a dataset of over 1.5 million Twitter messages revolving around ten car manufacturers and measure the impact on new car registration volumes. The results of this study suggest that companies can increase their sales volume through greater relationship investment (i.e., by providing interest group-specific information) and by adopting a social media strategy that promotes the users’ relationship satisfaction (i.e., raises the share of voice within user messages).

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2016_rp/23/

Risius, M.; Akolk, F.; Beck, R.

Predicting Stock Price Movements with Social Media Sentiment (German original: “Mit Social-Media-Stimmungen Börsenkursbewegungen vorhersagen”)

In: Wirtschaftsinformatik & Management (WuM), 3/2016

Nachrichten aus sozialen Medien werden von Forschern und Praktikern zunehmend als zusätzliche Informationsquelle zur Vorhersage von Börsenkursveränderungen verwendet. Basierend auf Erkenntnissen der psychologischen Emotionslehre und einem etablierten Tool zur Messung von Stimmungen (englisch Sentiment) in Textnachrichten, haben wir ein Sentiment-Tool entwickelt, mittels dessen man die Stärke von sieben verschiedenen Emotionen in Textdokumenten erfaassen kann.

Find it here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s35764-016-0045-3

The dictionary is currently being revised and will soon be available for download again

Risius, M.; Beck, R.

Improving the Corporate Public Perception through Social Media

In: EFL Quarterly 1/2016; Frankfurt am Main

Companies use social media in general and microblogging in particular for different purposes, such as reputation management. We empirically identify different social media activities in terms of social media management strategies, account types, and communicative approaches. By analyzing a data set of over five million twitter messages, we find positive effects of social media management tools, broadcasting accounts, and conversational communication on the corporate public perception.

Find it here: http://www.efinancelab.de/fileadmin/documents/newsletter/printed/efl-quarterly-01-2016.pdf

Benthaus, J.; Risius, M.; Beck, R.

Social Media Management Strategies for Organizational Impression Management and their Effect on Public Perception

In: The Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS), 25 (2), 2016, pp. 127-139 

With the growing importance of social media, companies increasingly rely on social media management tools to analyze social media activities and to professionalize their social media engagement. In this study, we evaluate how social media management tools, as part of an overarching social media strategy, help companies to positively influence the public perception among social media users. A mixed methods approach is applied, where we quantitatively analyze 15 million user-generated Twitter messages containing information about 45 large global companies highly active on Twitter, as well as almost 160 thousand corresponding messages sent from these companies via their corporate Twitter accounts. Additionally, we conducted interviews with six social media experts to gain complementary insights. By these means, we are able to identify significant differences between different social media management strategies and measure the corresponding effects on the public perception.

Find it here:  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963868715000694

Risius, M.; Akolk, F.; Beck, R. (2015)

Analyzing the Relationship between Differentiated Online Sentiment and Company-Specific Stock Prices

In: EFL Quarterly 3/2015; Frankfurt am Main

Practitioners and researchers alike increasingly use social media messages as an additional source of information when dealing with stocks. Based on emotion theory and an established sentiment lexicon, we develop and apply an open source dictionary for the analysis of seven different emotions in 5.5 million Twitter messages on 33 S&P 100 companies. We find varying explanatory power of different emotions (esp. happiness and depression) for company-specific stock price movements over a period of three months.

Find it here: http://www.efinancelab.de/fileadmin/documents/newsletter/printed/print15-3.pdf

Risius, M.; Beck, R. (2015)

Effectiveness of Corporate Social Media Activities in Increasing Relational Outcomes

In: Information & Management (I&M), 52 (7), pp. 824-839

This study applies social media analytics to investigate the impact of different corporate social media activities on user word of mouth and attitudinal loyalty. We conduct a multilevel analysis of approximately five million tweets regarding the main Twitter accounts of 28 large global companies. Thereby, we empirically identify different social media activities in terms of social media management strategies (using social media management tools or the web-frontend client), account types (broadcasting or receiving information), and communicative approaches (conversational or disseminative). We find positive effects of social media management tools, broadcasting accounts, and conversational communication on the public perception.

Find it here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378720615000622/pdfft?md5=3127968e1d2348bc42857a6715688d4a&pid=1-s2.0-S0378720615000622-main.pdf

Risius, M.; Akolk, F. (2015)

Differentiated Sentiment Analysis of Corporate Social Media Accounts

In: Proceedings of the 21st American Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2015); Fajardo, Puerto Rico

Social media managers as well as analysts use social media messages as an additional channel to manage and measure opinions towards brands. Currently, however, sentiment tools have been predominantly focused on the binary positive-negative valence of emotions and thereby neglected the multi-dimensional structure of human emotions. Moreover, while practitioners try to address the issue of undifferentiated customer requests towards a brand by operating more interest group-specific accounts, research still lacks understanding regarding the impact of different account types. We approach this research gap by developing a classification of social media accounts and, subsequently, deploy a sentiment analysis that differentiates between seven emotions within 532,363 thousand tweets towards 641 accounts from 33 S&P 100 companies. Our results confirm the assumed necessity of considering different account types when studying corporate social media presence and assessing differentiated emotions in social media analytics.

Find it here: http://elibrary.aisnet.org/Default.aspx?url=http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1276&context=amcis2015

Risius, M.; Akolk, F.; Beck, R. (2015)

Differential Emotions and the Stock Market. The Case of Company-Specific Trading.

In: Proceedings of the 23rd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2015); Muenster, Germany

Practitioners and researchers alike increasingly use social media messages as an additional source of information to analyse stock price movements. In this regard, previous preliminary findings demonstrate the incremental value of considering the multi-dimensional structure of human emotions in sentiment analysis instead of the predominant assessment of the binary positive-negative valence of emotions. Therefore, based on emotion theory and an established sentiment lexicon, we develop and apply an open source dictionary for the analysis of seven different emotions (affection, happiness, satisfaction, fear, anger, depression, and contempt).To investigate the connection between the differential emotions and stock movements we analyse approximately 5.5 million Twitter messages on 33 S&P 100 companies and their respective NYSE stock prices from Yahoo!Finance over a period of three months. Subsequently, we conduct a lagged fixed-effects panel regression on the daily closing value differences. The results generally support the assumption of the necessity of considering a more differentiated sentiment. Moreover, comparing positive and negative valence, we find that only the average negative emotionality strength has a significant connection with company-specific stock price movements. The emotion specific analysis reveals that an increase in depression and happiness strength is associated with a significant decrease in company-specific stock prices. 

Find it here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2015_cr/147/

Dernbecher, S.; Risius, M.; Beck, R. (2014)

Improving Job Performance in Mobile Work Environments through Mindful Organizing

In: EFL Quarterly 4/2014; Frankfurt am Main

Organizational mindfulness (OM) supports the management and employees working in the increasingly dynamic work environments driven by cloud computing or mobile devices. Specifically, in mindful organizations, such as financial institutions, reliable outcomes arise from om in the face of complex information systems. However, extant is research has disregarded the multilevel structure of mindfulness, especially the importance of mindful organizing (MO) on lower hierarchical levels. Based on data from 256 users of an organization wide cloud-based desktop-as-a-service system, we found a significantly positive influence of the combination of om and mo as well as differential effects for both on job performance.

 Find it here: http://www.efinancelab.de/fileadmin/documents/newsletter/printed/print14-4.pdf

Risius, M. (2014)

Building Social Capital via Microblogging in the Financial Services Industry

In: EFL Quarterly 2/2014; Frankfurt am Main

The way in which people communicate affects their relationships, social network structures and ultimately the social capital acquired through their connections. Social capital is a key factor for the performance of individuals and organizations. Therefore, companies in the financial services industry increasingly implement social media platforms to facilitate communication among employees and to leverage the social capital benefits. Analyzing the individual network structures of different communication types, we find that a more self-disclosing communication type (“Meformer”) benefits from a higher efficacy in building social capital compared to a primarily factual-oriented communication type (“Informer”).

Find it here: http://www.efinancelab.de/fileadmin/documents/newsletter/printed/print14-2.pdf

Risius, M. (2014)

Is it Really About Facts? The Positive Side of Meforming for Turning Self-Disclosure into Social Capital in Enterprise Social Media

In: Proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2014); Tel Aviv, Israel

Through the way in which people communicate they can affect their relationships, social network structures and ultimately the social capital acquired through their connections. We understand social capital from an ego-centric point of view as the resources obtained through the relationships among people within social networks. Social capital is a key factor for the performance of individuals and organizations. Therefore, companies increasingly implement social media platforms to facilitate communication among employees and to leverage the social capital benefits. To enhance our understanding of successfully building social capital through communication in enterprise social media, we apply human coding and quantitative analysis to the content and tone of 6,306 enterprise microblogging messages created by 136 employees of an international financial service provider. In accordance with existing information systems (IS) literature, we develop a model-based operationalization of communication styles and empirically abstract the two general communication types of In- and Meformers. Analysing the individual network structures of these communication types, we identify differences in the effectiveness building of social capital. Contrary to preliminary findings in public social media, our results suggest that a more self-disclosing communication type benefits from a higher efficacy in building social capital compared to a primarily factual-oriented communication type.

Find it here: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=ecis2014

Dernbecher, S.; Risius, M.; Beck, R. (2014)

Bridging The Gap - Organizational Mindfulness and Mindful Organizing in Mobile Work Environments

In: Proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2014); Tel Aviv, Israel

Organizational Mindfulness (OM) can support management and employees working in increasingly dynamic, mobile work environments driven by cloud computing or mobile devices. Specifically, in mindful organizations, reliable outcomes arise from cognitive processes of revealing and redirecting events and their potential negative consequences in the face of complex Information System (IS). However, despite OM’s relevance across hierarchical levels, extant IS research has not yet clearly distinguished its results depending on the different levels on which mindfulness emerges. Thus, this paper analyses OM from a multi hierarchy level perspective and thereby augments the concept by Mindful Organizing (MO). In contrast to OM as managerial process, MO evolves as a bottom-up process from the employee level of an organization. Thus, based on data from 256 users of an organization wide cloud-based Desktop as a Service system, we found significant positive influence of a differentiated effect of both, OM and MO, as well as a highly significant positive effect of the combination of both on job performance. Therefore, we suggest (1) a nuanced view on mindfulness in future IS research incorporating the influence of hierarchical levels regarding this organizational phenomenon and (2) mindfulness as concept to cognitively handle the challenges of mobile work.

Find it here: http://ecis2014.eu/E-poster/files/0885-file1.pdf

Risius, M.; Beck, R. (2014)

You Reap What You Sow! Differences in Knowledge Exchange Effectiveness Between Communication Types

In: EFL Quarterly 1/2014; Frankfurt am Main

For knowledge-intensive organizations in the finance industry, an effective knowledge exchange among employees is crucial for the competitive performance. Therefore, companies increasingly rely on social media platforms to facilitate communication and collaboration. To enhance our understanding of successful communication in enterprise social media, we apply human coding and quantitative analysis to the content and tone of 15,505 enterprise microblogging messages created by 1,166 employees of an international financial service provider. Our results suggest that a more factual-oriented communication type benefits from a higher knowledge exchange effectiveness compared to a primarily self-disclosing communication type.

Find it here: http://www.efinancelab.de/fileadmin/documents/newsletter/printed/print14-1.pdf

Risius, M.; Beck, R. (2014)

You Reap What You Sow? How Knowledge Exchange Effectiveness is Affected by Different Types of Communication in Enterprise Social Media

In: Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2014); nominated for the Best Paper Award; Big Island, Hawaii, USA

The way in which people communicate affects their relationship building, social network structures and ultimately the knowledge they receive through their connections. For organizations, an effective knowledge exchange among employees is crucial for the competitive performance. Therefore, companies rely increasingly on social media platforms to facilitate communication and collaboration. To enhance our understanding of successful communication in enterprise social media, we apply human coding and quantitative analysis to the content and tone of 15,505 enterprise microblogging messages created by 1,166 employees of an international financial service provider. Specifically, we develop a model-based operationalization of communication styles and empirically derive two general communication types. Analyzing the quality and number of answers to questions from these communication types, we identify differences in the effectiveness of knowledge exchange. Our results suggest that a more factual-oriented communication type benefits from a higher knowledge exchange effectiveness compared to a primarily self-disclosing communication type.

Find it here: http://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/hicss/2014/2504/00/2504a540.pdf