The role of theory in gender and information systems research

What Google-based data can tell us about information systems theory: A review

The aim of this study is to examine the attention and acceptance of popular information systems (IS) theory. Both Google Scholar (GS) and Google Trends (GT) data related to popular IS theories from 2006 to 2020 are collected. The study provides an overview of popular IS theories and tests the pair data to show changes in GS’s total publications and GT’s public interest. Correlation analyses are conducted to investigate the relationships between GS and GT data, as well as between GS and GT data. Trend analysis reveals that there are certain IS theories that researchers and practitioners should pay attention to. In addition, this study provides an overview of recent and future directions in this field. Despite the significant increase in research using Google data, the use of big data to explore the interests and applications of IS theories has been rarely explored.

Born digital or fossilised digitally? How born digital data systems continue the legacy of social violence towards LGBTQI + communities: a case study of experiences in the Republic of Ireland

The AI and Society discourse has previously drawn attention to the ways that digital systems embody the values of the technology development community from which they emerge through the development and deployment process. Research shows how this effect leads to a particular treatment of gender in computer systems development, a treatment which lags far behind the rich understanding of gender that social studies scholarship reveals and people across society experience. Many people do not relate to the narrow binary gender options of male or female, and many people express their gender identity in much richer ways than the sex/gender binary female/woman and male/man Boolean terms will allow. We ask: are “born-digital” gendered datasets in digital systems experienced as marginalising by those who express their identity beyond the male/female binary? Case Study: Ireland. To answer this universal question, this paper presents the findings of an empirical case study of people in Ireland with diverse gender identities and expressions, and their experiences with public data systems and new technologies. In spite of great social changes in Ireland which have led to constitutional change in favour of LGBTQI + people, born-digital systems were experienced by respondents as embodying socio-cultural values which were no longer accepted in society at large. For many of the respondents, digital technologies routinely marginalise them in all kinds of ways. These systems keep alive violence and oppression long after civil rights have been enshrined in constitutional law. This study is just one example of the way assumptions about digital are disengaged from society-at-large. It is a call to arms to all who are passionate about socially-responsible technology.

Gender plays different roles? Examining the dark side of ubiquitous connectivity enabled by personal IT ensembles usage

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore the negative consequences of ubiquitous connectivity enabled by personal IT ensembles (PITEs) usage; and second, to investigate the gender differences in the adverse effects of ubiquitous connectivity.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs a socio-technical approach to identify the technical and interpersonal dimensions of PITE-enabled ubiquitous connectivity and develops a theoretical model to investigate their stress-inducing effects based on the framework of technostress. Furthermore, the moderating role of gender is examined based on the social role theory. The authors test the model on a sample of 439 Chinese netizens.

Findings

Ubiquitous technical and interpersonal connectivity induce four stressors: information overload, communication overload, life invasion and privacy invasion. These stressors further lead to psychological exhaustion and reluctance to try new ITs. The ubiquitous technical connectivity exerts stronger effects on stressors for female users than male users, and interpersonal connectivity exerts a stronger effect for male users than female users.

Originality/value

This study primarily contributes to the small amount of research on PITE-enabled ubiquitous connectivity by considering ubiquitous connectivity from a socio-technical perspective and examining the stress-related effects and outcomes of both technical and interpersonal dimensions of ubiquitous connectivity. This study also provides valuable insights into the gender differences in the stress-inducing effects of the two dimensions of ubiquitous connectivity.

Knowledge management: does gender matter? A systematic review of literature

Purpose

This paper aims to review for the first time existing research literature about the role of gender in creating, sharing and using knowledge in organizations and proposes a conceptual framework to guide future research directions.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the systematic literature review method this study collects, synthesizes and analyses articles related to knowledge management (KM) and gender published in online databases by following a pre-defined review protocol. The paper analyses 41 papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

Findings

The role of gender in KM has been rarely addressed in KM journals and journals with specific emphasis on gender. The existing literature is fragmented, but existing research suggests that knowledge sharing might be influenced by gender. Based on the analysis and synthesis, a conceptual framework is proposed to guide further research on determining if gender matters in KM.

Research limitations/implications

Academic researchers should aim to include gender-related variables into their KM research to further explore if gender matters in KM.

Practical implications

The practical implication suggests that managers and knowledge managers should raise awareness about how stereotypes and gendered expectations about role behaviour affect how knowledge and experiences are created and shared within the organization.

Social implications

The authors believe that a better understanding of knowledge handling and gendered role expectations at the workplace could also have an impact beyond organizational boundaries.

Originality/value

The paper presents the first comprehensive systematic literature review of the article published on knowledge creation, sharing and usage and gender and provides a conceptual framework for future research.

Parenting and management skills: The mediator role of empathy

The present study aimed to test the effect of sex as well as the experience of parenting at the level of empathy and management skills and the mediating effect of empathy on the relationship between the experience of parenting and management skills. No differences were found between men and women concerning management skills. Women had higher empathy levels than men. Being a father or mother increased management skills and empathy levels. However, the experience of parenting interferes with management skills by increasing levels of empathy only in men. Career counselors need to considerer not only the processes inherent to each management task, but also the variables that intensify these competences, integrating emotional and relational dimensions.

Development and validation of the Scale of Motives for Using Social Networking Sites (SMU-SNS) for adolescents and youths

Over the past decade, the Uses and Gratifications theory has driven research on the motives behind social media use. The three most commonly explored motives have been: maintaining relationships, seeking information, and entertainment. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Scale of Motives for Using Social Networking Sites (SMU-SNS), a measure to assess a wider range of motives for using Social Networking Sites than have previously been researched. A multi-method design with different samples of high-school and university students was used. First, to develop the pool of items, a literature review and a focus group study (n = 48, age range = 16-21) was conducted. Second, to reduce and refine the pool of items a pilot study (n = 168, age range = 14-24) was performed. Third, a validation study (n = 1102, age range = 13-25) was conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the SMU-SNS. Cross-validation using EFA and CFA resulted in a final version comprising 27 items distributed in nine factors (Dating, New Friendships, Academic Purposes, Social Connectedness, Following and Monitoring Others, Entertainment, seeking Social Recognition, Self-expression, and seeking Information). Internal consistency was excellent and evidence of measurement invariance across gender and age was largely achieved. The SMU-SNS scores significantly correlated with other relevant variables, including age, gender, certain personality traits, social support, loneliness, and life satisfaction. Overall, findings supported the SMU-SNS as a valid and reliable measure to assess youth's motives for using Social Networking Sites. Psychometric and general implications are discussed.

Exploring gender discursive struggles about social inclusion in an online gaming community

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to adopt a critical relational dialectics framework to identify and explore gender discursive struggles about social inclusion observed in an online gaming community, in South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a technique called contrapuntal analysis to identify and explore competing discourses in over 200 messages on gender struggles about social inclusion posted in the local community’s gamer discussion board, based on seven threads initiated by women gamer activists.

Findings

The findings show how four interrelated gender discursive struggles about social inclusion and social exclusion animated the meanings of online gamer relations: dominance vs equality, stereotyping vs diversity, competitiveness vs cooperativeness and privilege vs empowerment.

Practical implications

Game designers should reinforce more accurate and positive stereotypes to cater for the rapidly growing female gamer segment joining the online gaming market and to develop a less chauvinistic and more diversely representative online gaming community. Enlightened gamers should exercise greater solidarity in fighting for gender equality in online gaming communities.

Originality/value

The critical relational dialectics analysis adopted in this study offers a promising avenue to understand and critique the discursive struggles that arise when online gamers from the different gender groups relate. The findings highlight the unequal discursive power and privilege of many white male gamers when discussing social inclusion. Advancing our understanding of these discursive struggles creates the possibilities for improving social inclusion in online gaming communities.

A Research Agenda for Social Inclusion in Information Systems

This research agenda for social inclusion in the information systems (IS) field reflects on its emergence and considers the possibilities and pitfalls for future research. This background information will be useful to students and scholars who are interested in conducting social inclusion research, and to readers who are not conducting social inclusion research themselves but who want to support those who do. The publication of this research agenda is also an opportunity to record institutional knowledge about social inclusion research in the information systems field. The focus is on both information systems and technology developers, and on those who use and are affected by information technology. In view of strong voices emerging that would drown out the message of social inclusion, it is all the more important that members of the IS field strengthen their commitment to this research area. In considering social inclusion work going forward, it is important to remember that this research topic is ultimately action-oriented. To resist the forces that would suppress social inclusion in the IT field and in society, it is more important than ever to situate our work "on the ground" so that the real lives of real people will permeate our research. This orientation has implications for the research methods employed as well as for the actions and interventions that follow.

Women in management: Are family firms somehow special?

Firms managed by women present some differences in organizational conditions in terms of type of business and manager profile. The aim of this study is to check if those differences persist in family firms where the presence of female managers is higher, especially in second or subsequent generation family firms, than in non-family firms. The results reveal that family firms run by women are not smaller, but are concentrated in the services sector like non-family firms. Regarding the manager profile there are no differences either in the level of training or the age of female managers. They possess, however, less management experience but only in first generation family firms. In sum, gender differences in the type of business and in the manager profile found in the management literature disappear in family firms, only a sectoral gender effect persists.

The Influence of Gender-Ethnic Intersectionality on Gender Stereotypes about IT Skills and Knowledge

One line of investigation in attempting to better understand the gender imbalance in the information technology (IT) field is to examine gender stereotypes about the skills and knowledge in the IT profession. A survey of 4046 university students in the United States was conducted to examine gender stereotypes held by contemporary university students (White, Black and Latino men and women) about the skills and knowledge in the IT profession. The Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT was used as the motivating theory for this study because it enabled the incorporation of gender-ethnic intersectionality in the research design. The results revealed that while gender stereotypes about the skills and knowledge involved in the IT profession do exist, they are not uniform across all members of a gender group. The men tended to rate all of the skills as more masculine than did the women respondents. Technical skills were more consistently stereotyped by both men and women in each of the gender-ethnic groups than were nontechnical skills. However, gender stereotypes about nontechnical skills were more contested and revealed both within-gender and within-ethnicity variation. The women students' rating of nontechnical skills as less masculine than the men suggests that these nontechnical skills are being incorporated into the women's sense of gender identity. These results show that gender-ethnic intersectionality provides one important explanation for within-gender variation in gender stereotypes that are held by contemporary university students. These findings suggest promising avenues for interventions to address not only the masculine gender stereotyping of skills in the IT profession, but also differential gender stereotyping of technical vs. nontechnical skills and variation in gender stereotyping by the intersectionality of gender-ethnic groups.