Crowdwork, digital liminality and the enactment of culturally recognised alternatives to Western precarity: beyond epistemological terra nullius

2022 | European Journal of Information Systems | Citations: 6

Authors: Elbanna, Amany; Idowu, Ayomikun

Abstract: Research on crowdwork in developing countries considers it precarious. This repr ... Expand

Abstract: Research on crowdwork in developing countries considers it precarious. This reproduces its Western conceptualisation assuming that crowdworkers in developing countries imitate their Western counterparts, without close examination of their experiences and responses to work conditions. This study breaks this epistemological terra nullius to pursue an in-depth examination of workers’ lived experience in a developing country and provide a non-Western perspective. It questions how crowdworkers experience and respond to crowdwork and adopts an inductive approach in examining crowdworkers in Nigeria. Unlike the work precarity thesis, we find that crowdworkers in Nigeria transition and transform crowdwork into long-term employment, drawing on their own cultural heritage, social norms and traditions. Through the lens of the indigenous theory of liminality, we conceptualise crowdwork as liminal digital work and uncover three phases in this transformation process. The study concludes that the agency of workers, their culture and their own context play important roles in their experience of crowdwork. This demonstrates that the in-depth examination of the phenomenon in developing countries could destabilise the dominant knowledge, decoupling it from its origin of production and exposing and examining its implicit and explicit assumptions, and hence advance theorisation. Collapse

Topics: crowdsourcing WhatsApp platform worker IT work digital platform

Methods: qualitative interview qualitative coding theory development theoretical contribution triangulation

Trust and Distrust Network in Group Deception: An Exploratory study

2022 | Americas Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Ge, Saiying

Abstract: To investigate group deception and demote insider threats, this study leverages ... Expand

Abstract: To investigate group deception and demote insider threats, this study leverages network analysis to build a ranking of individuals' trustworthiness. Based on a large-scale, international experiment derived from an adversarial group game, we constructed directed unweighted social networks to analyze the dynamic trust and distrust interaction between individuals. By utilizing orally addressed positive and negative opinions, the networks capture the shifting of trustworthiness. As the outcome of collective group intelligence, the results support that node trustworthiness scores indicate actual trustworthiness. We also show that deception outcomes moderate the relationship between deception and node trustworthiness scores. This study contributes to the growing body of computational methods applied to trust in information systems, providing insights into deception and deception detection in small group contexts. Collapse

Topics: social network deception detection insider threat data encryption

Methods: computational algorithm network analysis experiment survey linear regression analysis

Oppositional Logics and the Antecedents of Hybridization: A Country-Level Study of the Diffusion of Islamic Banking Windows, 1975–2017

2020 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Boone, Christophe; Özcan, Serden

Abstract: Little is known about when and where hybrid organizations diffuse. We argue that ... Expand

Abstract: Little is known about when and where hybrid organizations diffuse. We argue that neo-institutional perspectives, which stress the constraining role of market categories and institutional logics, have to be complemented with demand-side perspectives that stress the enabling force of economic incentives to explain the origins of hybrids. We develop theory to predict the country-level diffusion of hybrid forms in Islamic banking in the 1975–2017 period, during which many conventional banks invaded the domain of Islamic banking by starting to sell Islamic banking services, or so-called “Islamic windows.” Our findings underscore the relevance of simultaneously studying the impact of constraining and enabling forces. Consistent with neo-institutional theory, we find strong evidence that a lack of constitutive legitimacy of the window form—only in countries where Muslims make up a large share of the population—and the ideological polarization of local audiences reify the ideological boundaries between the oppositional banking logics, which in turn hampers the diffusion of windows in the focal country. At the same time, however, it appears that the failure of local credit markets and country-level economic globalization, the latter even more in countries with a Muslim majority, provide potent economic incentives for the diffusion of windows. By stressing the role of utilitarian incentives and material exchange as drivers of hybridization, we bridge the gap between neo-institutional and more rationalist approaches of institutional change. Collapse

Topics: database system website digital media social identity

Methods: hazard function descriptive statistic robustness check regression analysis method likelihood-ratio test

Theories: institutional theory dominant logic

Sampling Social Media: Supporting Information Retrieval from Microblog Data Resellers with Text, Network, and Spatial Analysis

2018 | HICSS | Citations: 0

Authors: Buntain, Cody; McGrath, Erin; Behlendorf, Brandon

Abstract: This paper presents a computationally assisted method for scaling researcher exp ... Expand

Abstract: This paper presents a computationally assisted method for scaling researcher expertise to large, online social media datasets in which access is constrained and costly. Developed collaboratively between social and computer science researchers, this method is designed to be flexible, scalable, cost-effective, and to reduce bias in data collection. Online response to six case studies covering elections and election-related violence in Sub-Saharan African countries are explored using Twitter, a popular online microblogging platform. Results show: 1) automated query expansion can mitigate researcher bias, 2) machine learning models combining textual, social, temporal, and geographic features in social media data perform well in filtering data unrelated to the target event, and 3) these results are achievable while minimizing fee-based queries by bootstrapping with readily-available Twitter samples. Collapse

Topics: Twitter social media microblog internet technology data relevance

Methods: computational algorithm machine learning case study decision tree classification literature study

Water Wells Site Selection in East Africa Using GIS Applications

2018 | Americas Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Caceres, Claudia; Osailan, Sarah

Abstract: Safe water accessibility is a basic human right and an essential need for follow ... Expand

Abstract: Safe water accessibility is a basic human right and an essential need for following a healthy lifestyle around the globe. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can serve as a development tool that provides solutions to facilitate easier access to water well locations. However, several methodologies suggest different processes to identify the optimal locations for water wells while at least 1.8 billion people around the world use a fecally contaminated source of drinking water. Since this dilemma is still occurring in the eastern region of Africa, it was necessary to investigate the best practices used to discover locations for drilling wells based on experimental knowledge and updated datasets provided by World Vision. This research utilizes (GIS) to identify the best locations for drilling wells based on empirical knowledge. A web application was created to display the layers generated and to facilitate data access for users. Collapse

Topics: web application geographic information system productivity

Methods: longitudinal research autocorrelation analysis ordinary least square literature study

A usability assessment of e-government websites in Sub-Saharan Africa

2018 | International Journal of Information Management | Citations: 0

Authors: Verkijika, Silas Formunyuy; De Wet, Lizette

Abstract: E-government holds enormous potential for improving the administrative efficiency ... Expand

Abstract: E-government holds enormous potential for improving the administrative efficiency of public institutions, encouraging democratic governance, and building trust between citizens/private sector and governments. However, most e-government initiatives to date have failed to attain their full potential, because they are increasingly plagued by usability issues. Consequently, there have been increasing calls for evaluating the usability of e-government websites, as they are widely considered to be the primary platform for government interaction with citizens. This study, therefore, seeks to contribute to extant knowledge by evaluating the usability of egovernment websites from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This is particularly important as little is known about the usability of e-government websites in the region, and worst still, it is the least advanced region in terms of egovernment development. This study evaluated a total of 279 e-government websites from 31 SSA countries. The findings showed that most e-government websites in SSA were characterised by poor usability. The average usability score for the websites was 36.2%, with the most usable website having a score of only 64.8%. The study also showed that the usability of e-government websites was positively associated with the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and the E-Participation Index (EPI). Collapse

Topics: government system website usability

Methods: usability testing theoretical contribution survey triangulation

A CAPABILITIES APPROACH TO INNOVATION: A CASE STUDY OF A TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION HUB IN ZAMBIA

2016 | European Conference On Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Jimenez, Andrea

Abstract: This paper critically examines the linear claim, often made, that innovation lea ... Expand

Abstract: This paper critically examines the linear claim, often made, that innovation leads to development. The orthodox view embedded in this claim, which equates development with industrial development and economic growth, is problematized in this paper partly by counter posing this orthodox concept of economic growth with Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s heterodox conceptualisation of human development, which advances a comprehensive view of development that requires evaluation not only of income and wealth, but also of other aspects of well-being and agency that people have reason to value. This research uses interpretive research methods including semi-structured interviews and participant observation to gain insight into technology and innovation hub dynamics. Findings include that those working at tech hubs value belonging to a community of shared interest and contributing to social enterprises. We argue that tech hubs, as collaborative spaces, may contribute to human-centred development processes in ways not directly leading to employment or market-based innovative products. Collapse

Topics: innovation management IT career entrepreneurship IT skill online learning system

Methods: qualitative interview participant observation triangulation case study personal interview

Theories: theory of economic growth theory of economic development

A Tutorial on Empirical ICT4D Research in Developing Countries: Processes, Challenges, and Lessons

2016 | Communications of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Wowak, Kaitlin D; Adjerid, Idris; Angst, Corey M; Guzman, Juan Carlos

Abstract: Humanitarian operations research holds a considerable allure for researchers, of ... Expand

Abstract: Humanitarian operations research holds a considerable allure for researchers, often promising interesting contexts to develop and extend current theory, large pools of data to validate theory and generate new insights, and, more generally, the opportunity to conduct “research that matters”. For many of these reasons, we embarked on several research initiatives over the past several years with mixed results. In this tutorial, we draw on several studies (some abandoned) to explore the use of information and communication technologies for humanitarian purposes, and we synthesize and highlight the distinct features of humanitarian operations research. Specifically, we draw attention to differences between “the process” of conducting these studies relative to traditional research and focus on challenges and opportunities for researchers. Collapse

Topics: information and communication technology for development electronic mail reference discipline public good sensemaking

Methods: operations research qualitative interview experimental group literature sample natural experiment

Theories: game theory behavioral economics

An alternative measure of the ICT-Opportunity Index

2010 | Information & Management | Citations: 0

Authors: Emrouznejad, Ali; Cabanda, Emilyn; Gholami, Roya

Abstract: We developed an alternative approach for measuring information and communication ... Expand

Abstract: We developed an alternative approach for measuring information and communication technology (ICT), applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) using data from the International Telecommunications Union as a sample of 183 economies. We compared the ICT-Opportunity Index (ICT-OI) with our DEA-Opportunity Index (DEA-OI) and found a high correlation between the two. Our findings suggest that both indices are consistent in their measurement of digital opportunity, though differences still exist in different regions. Our new DEA-OI offers much more than the ICT-OI. Using our model, the target and peer groups for each country can be identified. Collapse

Topics: decision making IT policy information technology infrastructure communication service infrastructure

Methods: descriptive statistic trade-off analysis method data envelopment analysis

The Prospects for eGovernment and eGovernance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study of Zambia

2009 | Americas Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Nyirenda, Joshua; Cropf, Robert

Abstract: eGovernance and eGovernment are critical tools for Good governance and economic ... Expand

Abstract: eGovernance and eGovernment are critical tools for Good governance and economic development, and are therefore critical for Highly Indebted Poor Countries a majority of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper reviews literature in order to discuss the prospects of eGovernance and eGovernment in Sub Saharan Countries, and chooses the nation of Zambia as an in-depth case study. Issues of investment climate, market structure, infrastructural capacity, social contexts and political and cultural resistance factors are identified as impediments but also key components (if well understood and tackled) for effective initiation and implementation of eGovernance and eGovernment projects. Collapse

Topics: government system communication service infrastructure

Methods: case study