Matching Items (27)
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Social media offers a powerful platform for the independent digital content producer community to develop, disperse, and maintain their brands. In terms of information systems research, the broad majority of the work has not examined hedonic consumption on Social Media Sites (SMS). The focus has mostly been on the organizational

Social media offers a powerful platform for the independent digital content producer community to develop, disperse, and maintain their brands. In terms of information systems research, the broad majority of the work has not examined hedonic consumption on Social Media Sites (SMS). The focus has mostly been on the organizational perspectives and utilitarian gains from these services. Unlike through traditional commerce channels, including e-commerce retailers, consumption enhancing hedonic utility is experienced differently in the context of a social media site; consequently, the dynamic of the decision-making process shifts when it is made in a social context. Previous research assumed a limited influence of a small, immediate group of peers. But the rules change when the network of peers expands exponentially. The assertion is that, while there are individual differences in the level of susceptibility to influence coming from others, these are not the most important pieces of the analysis--unlike research centered completely on influence. Rather, the context of the consumption can play an important role in the way social influence factors affect consumer behavior on Social Media Sites. Over the course of three studies, this dissertation will examine factors that influence consumer decision-making and the brand personalities created and interpreted in these SMS. Study one examines the role of different types of peer influence on consumer decision-making on Facebook. Study two observes the impact of different types of producer message posts with the different types of influence on decision-making on Twitter. Study three will conclude this work with an exploratory empirical investigation of actual twitter postings of a set of musicians. These studies contribute to the body of IS literature by evaluating the specific behavioral changes related to consumption in the context of digital social media: (a) the power of social influencers in contrast to personal preferences on SMS, (b) the effect on consumers of producer message types and content on SMS at both the profile level and the individual message level.
ContributorsSopha, Matthew (Author) / Santanam, Raghu T (Thesis advisor) / Goul, Kenneth M (Committee member) / Gu, Bin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
For students on a college campus, many courses can present challenges to them academically. Some universities have taken an initiative to respond to this by offering tutoring opportunities at a central location. Generally this provides help for some struggling students, but others are left with many questions unanswered. Two primary

For students on a college campus, many courses can present challenges to them academically. Some universities have taken an initiative to respond to this by offering tutoring opportunities at a central location. Generally this provides help for some struggling students, but others are left with many questions unanswered. Two primary reasons for this are that some tutoring services are broad in scope and that there may not be sufficient one-on-one time with a tutor. With the development of a mobile application, a solution is possible to improve upon the tutoring experience for all students. The concept revolves around the formation of a labor market of freelancers, known as a gig economy, to create a large supply of tutors who can provide their services to a student looking for help in a specific course. A strategic process was followed to develop this mobile application, called Tuzee. To begin, an early concept and design was drafted to shape a clear vision statement and effective user experience. Planning and research followed, where technical requirements including an efficient database and integrated development environment were selected. After these prerequisites, the development stage of the application started and a working app produced. Subsequently, a business model was devised along with possible features to be added upon a successful launch. With a peer-to-peer approach powering the app, monitoring user engagement lies as a core principle for consistent growth. The vision statement will frequently be referred to: enhance university academics by enabling the interaction of students with each other.
ContributorsArcaro, Daniel James (Author) / Ahmad, Altaf (Thesis director) / Sopha, Matthew (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
This thesis explores cybersecurity as a profession and whether it belongs in academia. It also explores exactly how it should be implemented into universities. Whether in a bachelor's program or master's program, cybersecurity degree or cybersecurity concentration, engineering school or business school, cybersecurity has a place in higher education that

This thesis explores cybersecurity as a profession and whether it belongs in academia. It also explores exactly how it should be implemented into universities. Whether in a bachelor's program or master's program, cybersecurity degree or cybersecurity concentration, engineering school or business school, cybersecurity has a place in higher education that plays an integral role in helping fix the issue of a lack of cybersecurity professionals. At Arizona State University, a cybersecurity concentration currently exists in the engineering school at both the bachelor's and master's level as well as the business school at the bachelor level. The one location it is missing from is the master's level of the business school. The goal of this report is to suggest a change to the specific curriculum in the Information Systems Department at the W.P. Carey School of Business. This thesis compares the curriculum of the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) program at Arizona State to eight other programs around the country that either offer a cybersecurity concentration option, offer cybersecurity degrees, or have highly ranked MSIM programs. A new curriculum is recommended that includes greater flexibility for students in customizing their education to specific career fields within information systems, offers multiple certificate options including cybersecurity, and better matches what the other highly ranked programs are offering to students. This curriculum is not only better for students attending or seeking Arizona State University but better for the University itself. It offers a more well-rounded scope of topics than the current program does while maintaining the identity and strengths of the current program.
ContributorsWelcome, Anthony (Author) / Sopha, Matthew (Thesis director) / Mazzola, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
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Data has quickly become a cornerstone of society. Across our daily lives, industry, policy, and more, we are experiencing what can only be called a “data revolution” igniting ferociously. While data is gaining more and more importance, consumers do not fully understand the extent of its use and subsequent capitalization

Data has quickly become a cornerstone of society. Across our daily lives, industry, policy, and more, we are experiencing what can only be called a “data revolution” igniting ferociously. While data is gaining more and more importance, consumers do not fully understand the extent of its use and subsequent capitalization by companies. This paper explores the current climate relating to data security and data privacy. It aims to start a conversation regarding the culture around the sharing and collection of data. We explore aspects of data privacy in four tiers: the current cultural and social perception of data privacy, its relevance in our daily lives, its importance in society’s dialogue. Next, we look at current policy and legislature in place today, focusing primarily on Europe’s established GDPR and the incoming California Consumer Privacy Act, to see what measures are already in place and what measures need to be adopted to mold more of a culture of transparency. Next, we analyze current data privacy regulations and power of regulators like the FTC and SEC to see what tools they have at their disposal to ensure accountability in the tech industry when it comes to how our data is used. Lastly, we look at the potential act of treating and viewing data as an asset, and the implications of doing so in the scope of possible valuation and depreciation techniques. The goal of this paper is to outline initial steps to better understand and regulate data privacy and collection practices. Our goal is to bring this issue to the forefront of conversation in society, so that we may start the first step in the metaphorical marathon of data privacy, with the goal of establishing better data privacy controls and become a more data-conscious society.
ContributorsAnderson, Thomas C (Co-author) / Shafeeva, Zarina (Co-author) / Swiech, Jakub (Co-author) / Marchant, Gary (Thesis director) / Sopha, Matthew (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Description
The Internet has brought along countless benefits to society and for the case of this thesis, especially educational benefits. Students can now have endless resources to whatever they wish to learn. This is especially beneficial in a time where a clear majority of studies show that the U.S.'s financial literacy

The Internet has brought along countless benefits to society and for the case of this thesis, especially educational benefits. Students can now have endless resources to whatever they wish to learn. This is especially beneficial in a time where a clear majority of studies show that the U.S.'s financial literacy is in a concerning state. However, even though there may be a bounty of websites and programs available non-exclusively, they do not all effectively teach accounting and finance. In fact, many websites aimed at teaching accounting or finance simply replicate textbooks and glossaries, even though there are ways to make them more effective learning tools. Since the scope of this empirical observation is too large to confront, this thesis is mainly concerned with students currently learning accounting and finance who wish to have more supplemental learning information. Accordingly, the overarching argument of this thesis, is that college students aiming to learn accounting do not have enough resources to fully understand the classroom formulas and concepts. The creative solution for this problem is a website, name FIN-WIT aimed at providing financial content in plain language and with real-world examples.
ContributorsDitore, Heather Beatrice (Author) / Orpurt, Steven (Thesis director) / Sopha, Matthew (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Our lives are documented and facilitated by the internet. Given that an increasing proportion of time is being spent online, search and browsing history offers a unique frame of reference to conduct a qualitative study since it contains individual goals, day-to-day experiences, illicit thoughts, and questions, all while capturing sentiments

Our lives are documented and facilitated by the internet. Given that an increasing proportion of time is being spent online, search and browsing history offers a unique frame of reference to conduct a qualitative study since it contains individual goals, day-to-day experiences, illicit thoughts, and questions, all while capturing sentiments rather than statistics. Seeing this recorded daily activity mapped out over the course of several years would hopefully provide a startling reminder of how life can be accurately and simply described as a series of constantly evolving interests and intentions, as well as give a sense of how exhaustively massive internet companies collect private information online. The search engine giant Google offers its users the transparency and freedom to export and download an archive of their web activity through a service known as Google Takeout. We propose using this service to empower ordinary individuals with Google accounts by developing a comprehensive and qualitative approach to understanding and gaining insights about their personal behavior online. In this paper, we first define and analyze the need for such a product. Then we conduct a variety of intent and interest-sensitive computational analysis methods on a sample browser history to explore and contextualize emergent trends, as a proof of concept. Finally, we create a blueprint for building an interactive application which uses our approach to generate dynamic dashboards and unique user profiles from search and browsing data.
ContributorsLi, Jason (Author) / Sopha, Matthew (Thesis director) / Shutters, Shade (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor, Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
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Data is ever present in the world today. Data can help predict presidential elections, Super Bowl champions, and even the weather. However, it's very hard, if not impossible, to predict how people feel unless they tell us. This is when impulse spending with data comes in handy. Companies are constantly

Data is ever present in the world today. Data can help predict presidential elections, Super Bowl champions, and even the weather. However, it's very hard, if not impossible, to predict how people feel unless they tell us. This is when impulse spending with data comes in handy. Companies are constantly looking for ways to get honest feedback when they are doing market research. Often, the research obtained ends up being unreliable or biased in some way. Allowing users to make impulse purchases with survey data is the answer. Companies can still gather the data that they need to do market research and customers can get more features or lives for their favorite games. It becomes a win-win for both users and companies. By adding the option to pay with information instead of money, companies can still get value out of frugal players. Established companies might not care so much about the impulse spending for purchases made in the application, however they would find a great deal of value in hearing about what customers think of their product or upcoming event. The real value from getting data from customers is the ability to train analytics models so that companies can make better predictions about consumer behavior. More accurate predictions can lead to companies being better prepared to meet the needs to the customer. Impulse spending with data provides the foundation to creating a software that can create value from all types of users regardless of whether the user is willing to spend money in the application.
ContributorsYotter, Alexandria Lee (Author) / Olsen, Christopher (Thesis director) / Sopha, Matthew (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
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For my thesis/creative project, I created a prototype for a mental health app. Each section of the prototype has a purpose of instilling mindfulness and healthy habits that can promote and lead to sustainable mental health. Throughout the paper I explain my reasoning for starting this project, the science of

For my thesis/creative project, I created a prototype for a mental health app. Each section of the prototype has a purpose of instilling mindfulness and healthy habits that can promote and lead to sustainable mental health. Throughout the paper I explain my reasoning for starting this project, the science of mindfulness and how it can bring about positive mental and physical changes, and the design theory behind the prototype.

ContributorsZaja, Peter (Author) / Sopha, Matthew (Thesis director) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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User privacy in the current society is at risk. This project will emphasize the importance of calling attention to data privacy issues in regard to companies selling user data.

ContributorsBerg, Dylan Robert (Author) / Sopha, Matthew (Thesis director) / Jordan, Erin (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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Employers perceive students are not qualified to enter the workforce. Students also feel unprepared to enter the workforce, resulting in a perceived skills gap between skills taught in schools and skills demanded by employers. My study examines the actual skills gap between skills taught in five Information Systems programs and

Employers perceive students are not qualified to enter the workforce. Students also feel unprepared to enter the workforce, resulting in a perceived skills gap between skills taught in schools and skills demanded by employers. My study examines the actual skills gap between skills taught in five Information Systems programs and skills demanded by employers in nine IT professions. In the scope of my analysis, I provide a discussion of my project methodology, answers for my research questions used to complete the gap analysis, and grounded recommendations to Information Systems programs on how to close the skills gap. Lastly, I also include future considerations that researchers may utilize to study my topic in greater detail. Students and schools can both use my analysis to improve their respective weaknesses and capitalize on their strengths in terms of hard skills required for the workforce.

ContributorsShourie, Varun (Author) / Sopha, Matthew (Thesis director) / Ahmad, Altaf (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05