Human-computer Interaction and Management Information Systems: Foundations

Foundations

Ping Zhang, Dennis F. Galletta

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781317468370
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

"Human-Computer Interaction and Management Information Systems: Foundations" offers state-of-the-art research by a distinguished set of authors who span the MIS and HCI fields. The original chapters provide authoritative commentaries and in-depth descriptions of research programs that will guide 21st century scholars, graduate students, and industry professionals. Human-Computer Interaction (or Human Factors) in MIS is concerned with the ways humans interact with information, technologies, and tasks, especially in business, managerial, organizational, and cultural contexts. It is distinctive in many ways when compared with HCI studies in other disciplines. The MIS perspective affords special importance to managerial and organizational contexts by focusing on analysis of tasks and outcomes at a level that considers organizational effectiveness. With the recent advancement of technologies and development of many sophisticated applications, human-centeredness in MIS has become more critical than ever before. This book focuses on the basics of HCI, with emphasis on concepts, issues, theories, and models that are related to understanding human tasks, and the interactions among humans, tasks, information, and technologies in organizational contexts in general.

CHAPTER 1

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FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION IN MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

An Introduction

PING ZHANG AND DENNIS GALLETTA

Abstract: We begin this introduction to this first of two complementary volumes by providing a general context for both volumes and by giving a brief historical view of management information systems (MIS) scholars’ interest in human-computer interaction (HCI) research. We then integrate various HCI issues into an overarching framework that can encompass broad HCI concerns from multiple disciplines. After presenting the classification of HCI topics that guides our organization of the collection, we preview the papers collected in this volume, together with a variety of additional ideas, evidence, and insights. Topics in this volume include different disciplines’ perspectives on HCI; our evolving understanding of who users are; theoretical understanding of how to design systems to support humans; theories and models of the cognitive and behavioral aspects of information technology (IT) use; and fundamental understanding of the affective, aesthetic, value sensitive, and social aspects of HCI. Overall, this introduction brings together many literatures and highlights key points in the research’s evolution; it thus augments the collected papers to provide readers with a rich picture of HCI research’s foundations.

Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction, MIS, Disciplinary Perspective, Computer Users, Design Theory, Fit, Belief and Behavior, Affect, Aesthetics, Socialization, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Computer-Human Interaction (CHI), Human Factors, Ergonomics, MIS History

INTRODUCTION

This book is the first of two complementary volumes that present scholarly works from a variety of leading thinkers in HCI, including those who have ties to the field of management information systems (MIS). Volume 1 covers concepts, theories, and models, and general issues of human-computer interaction studies relevant to MIS. Topics in this volume include interdisciplinary perspectives on HCI; our evolving understanding of who users are; theoretical understanding of how to design systems to support humans; theories and models of the cognitive and behavioral aspects of information technology (IT) use; and fundamental understanding of the affective, aesthetic, value sensitive, and social aspects of HCI. Volume 2 covers applications, special case studies, and HCI studies in specific contexts. Topics in the second volume include HCI studies in the areas of electronic commerce and the Web; HCI studies for collaboration support; issues relating to culture and globalization; specific HCI issues in IT learning and training; theoretical understandings of the system development processes; HCI issues in health care and health informatics; and, finally, methodological concerns in HCI research. Each volume concludes with thoughtful reflections by well-known authors. In Volume 1, Fred Davis discusses the connection between the technology acceptance model (TAM) and HCI, and Jonathan Grudin reflects on the historical development of three closely related disciplines. In Volume 2, an early, influential, and visible debate on soft versus hard science in HCI studies is revisited and updated from the perspective of one of the original debaters, John Carroll.

We begin this introduction by providing a general context for both volumes, along with a brief historical view of MIS scholars’ interest in HCI research. Then we integrate various HCI issues into an overarching framework introduced by Zhang and Li (2005) that can encompass broad HCI concerns from multiple disciplines. We present the classification of HCI topics that guides the organization of this volume; we then preview the papers collected in this volume. We integrate this preview with a variety of additional ideas, evidence, and insights. Overall, we intend this introduction to augment the collected papers in this volume, thus providing readers with a rich picture of the foundations of HCI research.

A HISTORICAL VIEW OF HCI IN MIS RESEARCH

The MIS community includes scholars who focus on the development, use, and impact of information technology and systems in broadly defined social and organizational settings. MIS has seen a steady shift from what could have been labeled techno-centrism to a broader and more balanced focus on technological, organizational, managerial, and societal problems (Baskerville and Myers, 2002). MIS-oriented HCI issues have been addressed since the earliest studies in the MIS discipline. For example, users’ attitudes, perceptions, acceptance, and use of IT have been long-standing themes of MIS research since the early days of computing (Lucas, 1975; Swanson, 1974), as have studies on programmer cognition and end user involvement in systems development. MIS scholars have identified information systems failures as the potential result of a lack of emphasis on the human/social aspects of system use (Bostrom and Heinen, 1977), have pointed out the need to attend to user behavior in information technology research (Gerlach and Kuo, 1991), and have attempted to tie human factors, usability, and HCI to the systems development life cycle (Hefley et al., 1995; Mantei and Teorey, 1989; Zhang et al., 2005). Also extensively studied are IS development theories and methodologies (Baskerville and Pries-Heje, 2004; Hirschheim and Klein, 1989), collaborative work and computer-mediated communication (Poole et al., 1991; Reinig et al., 1996; Yoo and Alavi, 2001; Zigurs et al., 1999), representations of information for supporting managerial tasks (Jarvenpaa, 1989; Vessey, 1994; Zhang, 1998), and computer training (Bostrom, 1990; Sein and Bostrom, 1989; Webster and Martocchio, 1995).

Culnan (1986) identified nine factors or subfields in early MIS publications (1972–82). Of these nine, three relate to issues in humans interacting with computers. In a second study of a later period of MIS publications (1980–85), Culnan (1987) found the field to be composed of five areas of study, of which the second, individual (micro) approach to MIS design and use is closely related to human-computer interaction. Vessey and colleagues also considered HCI as a research area when studying the diversity of the MIS discipline, although they considered HCI to be more at the user interface level, and thus placed it within the systems/software concepts category (Vessey et al., 2002). After surveying fifty years of MIS publications in the Management Science journal, Banker and Kauffman identified HCI as one of five main research streams in MIS and predicted that interest in HCI research will resurge (Banker and Kauffman, 2004).

These longtime interests in the MIS field have touched upon the fundamental issues of human interaction with technologies, or, even more generally, the broad area of human factors. From the MIS perspective, HCI studies examine how humans interact with information, technologies, and tasks, especially in business, managerial, organizational, and cultural contexts (Zhang et al., 2002). This differs notably from HCI studies in disciplines such as computer science, psychology, and ergonomics. MIS researchers emphasize managerial and organizational contexts by analyzing tasks and outcomes at a level relevant to organizational effectiveness. The features that distinguish MIS from other “homes” of HCI are its business application and management orientation (Zhang et al., 2004).

As MIS scholars’ interest in HCI has increased in recent years, HCI has gained great importance in the MIS discipline. There is evidence to support these assertions. For example, a large number of MIS scholars report their interest in researching HCI-related issues and in teaching HCI-related topics (Zhang et al., 2002). HCI courses are offered in many MIS programs (Carey et al., 2004; Chan et al., 2003; Kutzschan and Webster, 2005). HCI is considered an important topic in the most recent model curriculum for masters in information systems majors (Gorgone et al., 2005). Both the total number and the percentage of HCI studies published in primary MIS journals have increased over the recent years (Zhang and Li, 2005). Major MIS conferences—such as the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), the Hawaii International Conference on System Science (HICSS), the Americas Conferences on Information Systems (AMCIS), the Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), and the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS)—have been publishing HCI studies. Most of them have recently included specific HCI tracks (ICIS started in 2004, AMCIS in 2002, and PACIS in 2005; ECIS in 2006, and HICSS in 2007). A workshop devoted to HCI research in the MIS discipline, the pre-ICIS Annual Workshop on HCI Research in MIS, started in 2002. Several special issues on HCI research in MIS have appeared or are appearing in top MIS and HCI journals since 2003. Finally, an official organization of HCI in MIS, the AIS Special Interest Group on HCI (SIGHCI), was established in 2001 (Zhang, 2004).

BOUNDING HCI

A scientific field or discipline, such as MIS or physic...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Series Editor’s Introduction
• Foreword
• 1. Foundations of Human-Computer Interaction in Management Information Systems: An Introduction
• Part I. Disciplinary Perspectives and the Users
• Part II. IT Development: Theories of Individual and Group Work
• Part III. IT Development: Theories of Fit
• Part IV. IT Use and Impact: Beliefs and Behavior
• Part V. IT Use and Impact: Affect, Aesthetics, Value, and Socialization
• Part VI. Reflections
• Editors and Contributors
• Series Editor
• Index