http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/764 Wed, 01 May 2013 16:29:21 GMT 2013-05-01T16:29:21Z http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6117 Title: Wiki-enabled emergent knowledge processes through acceleration of stigmergic collaboration Authors: Zhong, Yu (鍾鈺) Abstract: As we move further into a knowledge economy, many processes can be labelled as emergent knowledge processes" (Markus et al. 2002; Majchrzak 2006). These processes involve building knowledge in an unstructured and dynamic manner through diverse human participation. Unfortunately, such processes are generally not well supported by existing IT systems, such as executive information systems, expert systems or electronic communication systems (Davenport 2005; McAfee 2006; Wagner 2006). To address the unique requirements of IT systems supporting emergent knowledge processes, this study proposes and evaluates the use of wiki technology and the "wiki way" of collaboration (Leuf and Cunningham 2001; Reinhart 2005). As such, it combines a design theoretic approach (Markus et al. 2002) with an empirical evaluation. This research addresses the collaboration in wikis through a new lens by viewing a wiki and its participants as an emergent complex system. Previous work, in contrast, has primarily focused on understanding contributors’ activities from a psychological or internal community perspective. This dissertation draws on the literature of stigmergic collaboration (Grassé 1959; Parunak 2005) which establishes that individuals can collaborate without direct communication if the work product itself represents or contains coordination stimuli. Based on stigmergic theory, the research demonstrates the wiki way as a promising alternative to achieve more effective emergent knowledge processes through the application and acceleration of the mechanism of stigmergy. Stigmergy distinctively relies on the iterative interaction of agent and environment through ongoing and mutual modification or stimulation (Marsh and Onof 2008). The agents modify the environment through physical manipulation or encode signs directly into or upon it. In turn, the environment plays the role of medium which acts as a cue triggering further actions from agents (Elliott 2007). In such a system, wiki technology and the "wiki way" promise increased efficiency and effectiveness to motivate participants to contribute content collectively. Furthermore, the diversified contributions can be easily integrated into the environment (wiki), thus attracting additional participation. Moreover, on a level above the local interactions of participants and environment, wiki and its participants together can be considered as a stigmergic system. Such a system is often described as "self-organizing" and exhibiting "emergent behaviour" (Parunak 2005; Kelly 1995). In particular, the emergent dynamic is a distinguishing factor of stigmergy. The emergent capacity of stigmergy means that such systems are evolvable, adaptable to the dynamics and able to develop new behaviour. This dissertation tests the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach through an in-depth investigation of the phenomenon in the context of Wikipedia, one of the most popular and successful wiki applications (Tapscott & Williams 2006). Drawing on the framework of stigmergy, the study systematically identifies significant factors in Wikipedia that harness the principles of stigmergic collaboration based on empirical analysis of longitudinal data from a sample of Wikipedia articles. The "emergent behaviour" in Wikipedia is further evaluated and modelled on the system level based on the data of Wikipedia statistic websites. The statistical results strongly support the research model and expectations. The findings entail significant implications for both research and practice. In terms of research, it provides a better understanding for the underlying mechanism of the wiki way of collaboration by bringing in a stigmergic perspective. It also identifies critical features in wikis to enable and accelerate stigmergic collaboration. For practice, it offers design guidelines for building up effective wiki collaboration to support emergent knowledge processes. Notes: CityU Call Number: HD30.2 .Z863 2009; viii, 112 leaves 30 cm.; Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2009.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-112) Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6117 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6116 Title: Effects of emoticons on the acceptance of negative feedback in a virtual team Authors: Zhao, Yi (趙易) Abstract: In virtual teams, delivering negative performance feedback is very common and unavoidable, because it helps improve both individual and team performance. However, due to the negative feedback’s face-threatening nature, people usually feel uncomfortable and become defensive when receiving negative feedback. This problem is especially salient in virtual teams where many effective nonverbal strategies (aka facework) such as smile can not be used to alleviate the face-threats caused by negative feedback. Therefore, this research investigates how to deliver negative feedback effectively to make it more acceptable by virtual team members. Emoticons, surrogates for nonverbal cues, are expected to influence virtual team members' acceptance of negative feedback by extending feedback providers' abilities to conduct nonverbal facework. This research investigates how the use of two types of emoticons (i.e., liking and disliking emoticons) in negative feedback influences virtual team members' feedback acceptance, and how the effects of emoticons are affected by the specificity of the negative feedback. The research is conducted in the context of virtual teams adopting text-based computer-mediated communication. Based on the politeness theory, the feedback process model, and the dissonance reduction theory, it is hypothesized that the use of liking emoticons increases the perceived good intention of the feedback provider and decreases the perceived feedback negativity, only when the feedback is specific; and that the use of disliking emoticons decreases the perceived good intention of the feedback provider and increases the perceived feedback negativity, only when the feedback is unspecific. Perceived good intention of the feedback provider is in turn positively associated with people's feedback acceptance, while perceived feedback negativity is negatively related with the feedback acceptance. A laboratory experiment with a sample of 198 Hong Kong local undergraduate students was conducted to test all hypotheses, and all aforesaid hypotheses are supported by the empirical data. Notes: CityU Call Number: HD66 .Z47 2010; vii, 78 leaves : ill. 30 cm.; Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2010.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-70) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6116 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6113 Title: The effects of advising strength on users' trust/distrust beliefs in online recommendation agents : the moderating role of brand familiarity Authors: Jia, Yanli (賈艷麗) Abstract: Online recommendation agents are Web-based intelligent consumer decision support systems, which provide consumers with product advice based their needs and preferences. Users' trust and distrust beliefs in recommendation agents influence their use and acceptance of these agents. However, while numerous studies have investigated users' trust beliefs, such as their antecedents and consequences, few of them have focused on their conceptual counterpart: distrust beliefs. This thesis focuses on both of them and conceptualizes users' trust beliefs as their beliefs in the agents’ credibility and benevolence, whereas their distrust beliefs as their beliefs in the agents' discredibility and malevolence. In this thesis, I investigate (1) how the strength of the way a recommendation agent recommends a product (i.e., advising strength) influences users' trust and distrust beliefs while taking into account their familiarity with the recommended product (brand familiarity, in particular); and (2) the distinct and asymmetric effects of trust and distrust beliefs on several behavioral intentions, including users' intentions to reuse recommendation agents, their positive word-of-mouth (WoM) and negative WoM about the recommendation agent. A laboratory experiment was conducted to testify the hypotheses I have proposed, and the results provided support for most of the hypotheses. The effects of advising strength used by a recommendation agent on users' credibility and discredibility beliefs in the agent are moderated by users' familiarity with the brand of the recommended product. In particular, when users are familiar with the brand of the recommended product, the strong advising strength leads to higher users' credibility beliefs (lower discredibility beliefs) than the weak one. Conversely, when users are not familiar with the product brand, the weak strength, compared with the strong one, results in higher users' credibility beliefs (lower discredibility beliefs). However, users' brand familiarity doesn't moderate the effects of the advising strength on their benevolence or malevolence beliefs. Furthermore, the results confirm (1) the stronger influence of users' trust beliefs on their cooperative behaviors (i.e., intention to reuse and positive WoM) than on their punishment behaviors (i.e., negative WoM) and (2) the stronger influence of distrust beliefs on punishment behaviors than on the cooperative behaviors. Notes: CityU Call Number: HF5415.1265 .J525 2010; viii, 136 leaves : ill. 30 cm.; Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2010.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-128) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6113 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/5489 Title: Intention to learn in MMOG : examining the roles of peer intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Authors: Kong, Siu Lung (江兆龍) Abstract: As a hedonic information system, Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) is a unique categorization of electronic game which allows thousands of players to play simultaneously through the Internet in the same virtual environment. While a growing number of researchers start to examine the educational values of MMOG and use them as educational platforms, the study of motivational drivers on players’ behavioral intention to learn receives very limited attention, especially from the causes of motivations driven by the characteristics which are unique to MMOG. Motivated by such concerns, this study formulates and tests a theoretical model to explain individual player’s intention to learn by peer motivation to play. The model employs motivational theories to propose two motivational drivers, namely Peer Intrinsic Motivation to Play and Peer Extrinsic Motivation to Play, and investigate the effects of the two constructs on MMOG players’ Intention to Learn Individually and Intention to Learn Collaboratively by building on the cognitive learning theory. The result shows that individual player’s Peer Intrinsic Motivation to Play has a significantly positive influence on their Intention to Learn Collaboratively, and their Peer Extrinsic Motivation to Play has a significantly positive influence on their Intention to Learn Individually. The findings of this study indicate potential implications to researchers, educators, game developers and MMOG players. Notes: CityU Call Number: GV1469.15 .K66 2008; viii, 78 leaves 30 cm.; Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2008.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-54) Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/5489 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z