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AI, Deepfakes, and the Normalization of Digital Harm: A Social Media Cultivation Perspective
Get PDFThis research-in-progress study examines how repeated exposure to AI-generated deepfake content on social media contributes to the psychological normalization of unethical behavior, particularly among young adults. Deepfakes, along with other forms of manipulated media, are increasingly perceived as trivial or entertaining, even as their ethical and legal implications remain underexamined. Extending cultivation theory to the social media context, this study proposes an emotion–cognition framework in which users’ emotional and cognitive responses shape internalized attitudes and beliefs. These internal states lead to desensitization and moral disengagement, which in turn normalize deepfake content. Young adults, whose neurocognitive and moral regulation are still developing, may be especially vulnerable to these effects. The study contributes to the IS field by illuminating how generative AI media influence morality and reshape perceptions of authenticity, credibility, and digital knowledge practices. The conceptual framework is subject to further refinement, with empirical testing forthcoming
Encouraging Knowledge Workers’ Security Practices through Psychological Empowerment
Get PDFLiterature and industrial surveys have suggested the critical role of knowledge workers in protecting organizations’ information assets. However, the programs designed to encourage knowledge workers to actively engage in securing behaviors are less effective than expected. In this study, we examine the impact of work environment factors on knowledge workers’ psychological empowerment and how psychological empowerment motivates individuals’ learning-oriented and performance-oriented security practices. The results from a sample of 75 survey participants suggest that perceived sanction and perceived value invoke knowledge workers’ psychological empowerment. Psychological empowerment motivates the individuals’ both types of security practices. The implications and future directions of the study are discussed
Multi-Stage Robust Optimization of a Wastewater Treatment Biogas Generator Participating in Day-Ahead and Real-Time Regulation Markets
Get PDFWastewater treatment plants are large, energy-intensive loads that can be optimally controlled to support grid reliability and reduce operational costs. This paper presents a multi-stage robust optimization framework to control a wastewater treatment plant equipped with a biogas generator and storage tank for participation in California’s day-ahead and real-time frequency regulation markets while managing biogas production and regulation signal uncertainty. We solve for day-ahead regulation capacity in the first stage and real-time regulation capacity over the day as the uncertainty is progressively revealed. We propose affine control policies to determine the real-time regulation capacity based on partial uncertainty realizations. This results in a tractable affinely adjustable robust counterpart. In a case study, we evaluate our proposed approach against a day-ahead-only robust formulation and found that our approach increases regulation capacity provision and lowers operational costs
Asymmetric Fragmentation: How Subscription-Based Monetization Fractures Creator Communities
Get PDFThis study examines how subscription-based monetization affects social dynamics in digital creator communities through the lens of Social Identity Theory (SIT). Using panel data from Bilibili and difference-in-differences analysis, our findings reveal that while subscriber interactions exhibit improved sentiment and engagement, the broader community suffers from reduced engagement and degraded interaction quality. We introduce the concept of asymmetric fragmentation to explain how subscription-based models simultaneously enhance insider solidarity and erode overall community engagement. We demonstrate that subscription-based access enhances interaction quality within the paying subscriber group but negatively impacts the numerically dominant non-subscriber group. These results contribute to creator economy literature by extending SIT to platform-driven economic stratification and highlighting the hidden trade-offs of monetization strategies
A Dimensionality-Reduced XAI Framework for Roundabout Crash Severity Insights
Get PDFUnderstanding the complex interaction of variables contributing to crash severity at roundabouts is essential for advancing data-driven traffic safety strategies. This study proposes a computational framework that integrates variable importance ranking, unsupervised clustering, and interpretable machine learning to uncover distinct patterns in roundabout crash data. This study applied Cluster Correspondence Analysis (CCA), a dimensionality reduction and clustering technique for categorical variables, to identify latent crash profiles from real-world crash data in Ohio. To enhance transparency and interpretability, it employed SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) to quantify the impact of key features on predicted crash severity within each identified cluster. The analysis revealed heterogeneous patterns involving geometry, lighting conditions, road user characteristics, and vehicle types that differ significantly across clusters. This integrated approach demonstrates how interpretable AI methods can support a subtle understanding of crash dynamics and guide safety interventions. The findings carry direct implications for adaptive traffic management, infrastructure design, and data-informed policy in roundabout safety. The adopted methodology also highlighted the utility of combining clustering and explainable AI to improve pattern recognition and feature attribution in complex categorical datasets
How Do I Get Students to Know My IT Products? Comparing the Academic Ecosystems of Two IT Giants: IBM & SAP
Get PDFCollaboration between academia and the IT industry benefits both sides in various ways. Most companies seek to attract high-performing students. Yet only a limited number invest in enduring academic partnerships. There are many strategic considerations and pitfalls when building lasting relationships, especially when productive IT solutions are used in teaching and research. Although such relationships involve many stakeholders, details on their structure often remain opaque. By drawing on the development of e3 value models of IBM’s and SAP’s academic ecosystems and ethnographic case study data, we compare the two ecosystems. We discuss their main differences and give five recommendations on what practitioners of IT companies must consider when (re-)designing their academic ecosystem strategy. Based on the main challenges IBM’s and SAP’s academic ecosystems face, we identify two trends: centralized learning platforms and reaching more students via intermediaries as multipliers
Reversing the Knobe Effect: AI Takes Less Blame for Harmful Decisions
Get PDFWhen a decision leads to harmful side effects, observers typically judge the action as more intentional than if it results in beneficial side effects, an asymmetry known as the “Knobe effect.” Using an online experiment, we examine whether this effect extends from human decision-makers to artificial intelligence (AI) systems. We also investigate the effects on the attribution of praise or blame to the decision-maker or the company. The results show that, with humans, harmful side effects led to greater perceived intentionality than beneficial side effects and resulted in more blame than praise. For AI systems, however, the effect reversed—beneficial outcomes led to greater perceived intentionality than harmful outcomes. We also find that the traditional Knobe effect holds true for company attribution regardless of who or what makes the decision. Our research contributes to the Knobe effect by showing that the effect reverses for AI and highlighting that organizations, not algorithms, are held publicly accountable for AI missteps
Trade Wars and Digital Transformation: Evidence from China
Get PDFThis study examines whether geopolitical uncertainty from trade wars, such as the 2018–2019 U.S.–China trade war, motivates firms to undertake digital transformation, and identifies key stakeholders driving this response in China. The research exploits the 2018–2019 trade war as a natural experiment and applies a difference-in-differences analysis on data from publicly listed Chinese firms. The trade war significantly increased firms’ digital transformation efforts. In addition, beyond top management and boards, provincial political leaders with technical backgrounds (technocrats) play a pivotal role in encouraging digital initiatives under geopolitical uncertainty. This study is among the first to link geopolitical uncertainty with increased digital transformation. It introduces a novel text-based measure of digital transformation and highlights the influence of political stakeholders in shaping firm strategy under uncertainty
Toward the Governance of Digital Platforms Operating as Social Enterprises: A Systematic Literature Review and Synthesis
Get PDFTo address societal challenges, digital platforms increasingly operate as social enterprises, combining economic and social goals. However, existing platform governance research provides limited guidance for managing settings characterized by diverse actors and plural goals. This study conducts a systematic literature review of 73 articles on governance mechanisms in digital platforms and social enterprises. It identifies distinct functions of governance mechanisms and the governance challenges they address in each stream. Based on this analysis, we develop four propositions: the first two abstract the underlying logic of governance mechanisms, highlighting how behavior-oriented mechanisms support ecosystem stability and structure-oriented mechanisms enable flexibility between competing goals. The latter two propositions synthesize these insights to inform the governance of digital platforms operating as social enterprises. The study advances theoretical understanding of platform governance and offers practical implications for platform owners and policymakers navigating the faces of creating economic and social value