如何撰寫並投稿專業論文至SCI/SSCI期刊-三星統計陳建宏顧問-20130717

PUBLISHING for SUCCESS
Appalachian State University
A Workshop Offered by:
 Charlie C. Chen, Associate Professor

Charlie C. Chen, Ph.D., PMP
• Tenured associate professor
• Author of 3 books, 70+ journal
articles, book chapters and
conference proceedings
• Editor/associate editors of
international journals
• A certified Project Management
Professional (PMP)
• Research award winners
• President of International Chinese
Information Systems Association
• Conduct seminars, workshops, and
forums in reputable universities in
China, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan
• Multilingual abilities: Chinese,
English and Japanese
• Leader of study abroad trips to
Japan, Taiwan and Spain

Publishing for Success
OUR GOALS FOR THIS WORKSHOP
Our hope is that, by the end of the workshop, you will…
• Be persuaded that you will be able to write as effective
as tenured professors and begin enjoying the writing
process by employing their writing strategies.
• Be competent of mastering key elements of academic
publications and employing writing strategies to
continuously improve each element.
• Be able to improve your academic writing more
intentionally to keep your writing clear and effective
to native English readers and reviewers.

SPECIFIC GOALS for This Workshop
1.FOUNDATION KNOWLEDGE: Understand key
elements of academic publications
2.APPLICATION: Be able to use effective
writing strategies for each key element
3.INTEGRATION: Develop a coherent
relationship between each element

SPECIFIC GOALS for This Workshop (cont.)
4.TEAM IMPROVEMENT:
 SELF: Be more confident that you can do
this
 OTHERS: Work with others to write a
better paper
5. SELF IMPROVEMENT: Improve the quality of
your working paper to ensure it contains no
major content-related issues
6. PUBLISHING YOUR PAPER: Get advice on
having your papers published

Agenda for Workshop
1. Big Picture of Publishing for Success– Mastering Key
Elements of Academic Publications
2. Writing Strategies for Each Element:
-Abstract, Introduction, Literature Review,
Hypotheses, and Research Methodology
4. Application of Writing Strategies to Improving Each
Element of Your Working Paper
5. Self-Reflection of Learning
6. Conclusion

“I have received many submissions of quality papers from
non-English scholars. Unfortunately, these papers usually have
fatal flaws of clearly presenting their information to native
English reviewers. Many non-English writers have
presentation problems in their papers, not the content.”
Vldamir Zwass, Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Management Information Systems
BIG PICTURE OF PUBLISHING FOR
SUCCESS

Writing-Related Problems
• Lengthy abstracts
• Uninvited introductions
• Poor writing style
• Not enough contribution
to field
• Poorly written discussions
• Misrepresentative titles
• Inadequate references
• Poor explanations of
supporting
• figures and tables
• Lack of theoretical and
practical implications
• Failure to establish
coherence between
introduction and
conclusion

Criteria for High Quality Research &
Importance of Writing Skills
• Statistical/mathematical
analysis
• Theory
• Coverage of Significant
Literature
• Professional style and tone
• Logical rigor
• Replicability of research
• Topic selection
• Contribution to knowledge
• Contribution to practice
• Presentation level
• Research Design
• Adherence to scientific
ethics
• Manuscript length
• Reputation
• Suggestions for future
research

Which Criteria are Heavily Dependent
upon the Effectiveness of Your
Writing Skills?

• Statistical/mathematical
analysis
• Theory
• Coverage of Significant
Literature
• Professional style and tone
• Logical rigor
• Replicability of research
• Topic selection
• Contribution to knowledge
• Contribution to practice
• Presentation level
• Research Design
• Adherence to scientific
ethics
• Manuscript length
• Reputation
• Suggestions for future
research
Effective writing skills are important in the following
criteria:

Our Training Approach
1. Address one key element of academic publications at a
time
2. Benchmark papers recently published in top-tier
journals
3. Practice exercises/templates
4. Apply effective writing strategies to improving your
own work-in-progress
5. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of your paper via
team-based peer review
6. Provide constructive feedback to your paper by the
instructor
7. Self-reflection of your learning

Eight Key Elements of Academic
Publications
Abstract
Introduction
Literature
Review
Hypotheses
Testing
Research
Methodology
Data
Analysis
Discussion
Conclusion

Exercise 1.1: Assessing Writing
Problems in Your Papers
• Discuss with your team members and use
Table 1-1 in the workbook to diagnose
writing-related problems in your paper

Exercise 1.2: Writing-related
Criteria of Top Tier Journals
• Discuss with your team members and use
Table 1-2 in the workbook to match the
criteria for high quality research with the
given reviewer comment

Exercise 1.3: Mastering Eight Key
Elements of Academic Publications
• Discuss with your team members and fill
out key elements of academic publications
missing in Figure 1-1

Chapter 2 Writing
Strategies for Abstract

Chapter 2 Outline
1. An Overview of Abstract
2. Writing Strategies for Research Motivation
3. Writing Strategies for Problem Statement
4. Writing Strategies for Approach
5. Writing Strategies for Results
6. Writing Strategies for Conclusions
7. Writing Strategies for Keywords
8. Conclusion

What are Main Objectives of an
Abstract?
•(1) Provide brief but self-contained
information about your paper,
•(2) Interest potential readers into
reading your whole paper, and
•(3) Increase the reference rate of
your paper via online search
database.

Six Essential Elements of an
Abstract
Motivation
Problem
Statement
Approach
Results Conclusion Keywords

Abstract Anatomy: An Example
Motivation
Consumer reviews may reflect not only
perceived quality but also the difference
between quality and price perceived value.
Source: Li and Hitt 2010

Abstract Anatomy
Problem Statement
In markets where product prices change
frequently, these price-influenced reviews
may be biased as a signal of product
quality when used by consumers possessing
no knowledge of historical prices.

Abstract Anatomy
Approach
In this paper, we develop an analytical
model that examines the impact of price-
influenced reviews on firm optimal pricing
and consumer welfare. We quantify the
price effects in consumer reviews for
different formats of review systems using
actual market prices and online consumer
ratings data collected for the digital
camera market.

Abstract Anatomy
Results
Our empirical results suggest that
unidimensional ratings, commonly used in
most review systems, can be substantially
biased by price effects. In fact,
unidimensional ratings are more closely
correlated with ratings of product value
than ratings of product quality.

Abstract Anatomy
Conclusions
Our findings suggest the importance for
firms to account for these price effects in
their overall marketing strategy and
suggest that review systems could better
serve consumers by explicitly expanding
review dimensions to separate perceived
value and perceived quality.

Abstract Anatomy
Keywords
Online product reviews, review bias, price
effects, empirical analysis, optimal pricing

2.2 Writing
Strategies for
Research Motivation

Research Motivation
• Research motivation describes the importance
of your paper to its areas of study.
• What kind of impact will your paper have on
your field?
• Why should readers care about your
proposed research problems and solutions
to those problems?
• The more potential impacts your study can
have, the more attention readers will pay to
your study.

Strategy 2.1 State research purposes
clearlyin only one or two sentences
• Understand the following
relationships: (1) Customer
reviews vs. perceived quality,
and (2) customer reviews vs.
the difference between
quality and price perceived
value
Research
Purposes
• If proven correctly
What are the
Impacts? • “Consumer reviews may
reflect not only perceived
quality but also the difference
between quality and price
perceived value.”
Motivation

Research Motivation
Consumer reviews may reflect not only
perceived quality but also the difference
between quality and price perceived value.
Source: Li and Hitt 2010

Strategy 2.2 Avoid using too
much jargon
• Readers will quickly lose interest in
reading a paper if its abstract is full of
jargon or terminology.
• Remember, one primary objective of an
abstract is to encourage readers to make
less effort to locate your paper.

Exercise: How to Rewrite the
Research Motivation?
“We focus on customer-led supply chain coordination mechanism
including market rates, volatility and option term. Black and Scholes
provided an option equation, which is based on the stock price, the
time to maturity, the exercise price, the interest rate and the volatility
of the stock to value options. … These propositions contain several
testable implications about the difference between forward and
futures prices. Many of the propositions show that equilibrium
forward and futures prices are equal to the values of particular assets,
even though they are not in themselves asset prices. Their paper then
illustrated these results in the context of two valuation models and
discusses the effects of taxes and other institutional factors.”
Source: An Unpublished Paper

Improved Research Motivation
Companies are increasingly constructing
customer-centric supply chains in order
to cope with the unrelenting pressure of
cost reduction. The customer-centric
supply chain strategy emphasizes
improvement of key factors such as
market rates, volatility and option
pricing terms via the coordination of
supply chain partners.

Strategy 2.3 Avoid using citations
in abstract
• The abstract exists to summarize main points of your
study rather than introduce other people’s ideas or
concepts.
• Therefore, an author should rarely cite references in
the abstract.
• Make sure you use the citation only to define terms or
concepts that are central to your paper.
• Using too many citations can create an impression
that your paper is primarily based on previous studies
and your paper may have little impact on or
contribution to the present studies.

2.3 Writing
Strategies for
Problem Statement

Research Question vs. Problem
Statement
• Non-native English writers sometimes have trouble
distinguishing the difference between the words
“problem” and “question.”
• Problems are unanswered questions.
• Research question
• “Are there relationships between teacher thought
processes during planning and student time-on-
task?”
• Problem Statement
• “The extensive teacher planning may pay off in
terms of student learning, or even student learning
behaviors” (Locke, 2007).

A clear problem statement
can draw readers’
attention, and have readers
appreciate the importance
of your study.

A Good Problem Statement
In markets where product prices
change frequently, these price-
influenced reviews may be biased as a
signal of product quality when used by
consumers possessing no knowledge of
historical prices.
Source: Li and Hitt 2010, p. 809

Figure 2-4 The process of
developing problem statement
What is the current
state?
What is the desired
state?
Combining the
current and the
desired states?
Three Criteria
1. One problem
2. No more than two
sentences
3. No suggested solutions
Final Problem
Statement

Strategy 2.4 Explain the
current state of problems
Price changes may not have
influence on a customer’s
perceived product quality.

Strategy 2.5 Explain the
desired state of the problems
Product prices may change
more frequently in the future

Strategy 2.6 Combine current and
desiredstates into a statement that
does not exceed two sentences
Rapid price changes may have a
strongerinfluence on customers’
perceived product quality

Strategy 2.7 Refine your problem
statement against three criteria
• Focus on only one problem
• Write no more than two
sentences
• Do not suggest any solutions

Final Problem Statement
In markets where product prices
change frequently, these price-
influenced reviews may be biased as a
signal of product quality when used by
consumers possessing no knowledge of
historical prices.

ApplyStrategies 2.4 to 2.7 to improvingthe
followingproblemstatement
“Through the literature we can find that previous researches
only take few factors including the cost of products, prices and
the relationship between members of supply chain into account.
But the option contract involves the cost of funds, the
opportunity cost of scheduled capacity and the uncertainty risk
of the price fluctuations. If these factors are not considered, this
supply chain option contract is clearly not enough sound. In
this paper we introduce market interest rates, the price
volatility and option deadline into supply chain option contract
model to construct more suitable model for modern industrial
economy. This model combines the Black-Scholes rule and
traditional option contract of optimizing in a supplier-led
supply chain.”
Source: An unpublished paper

What’s your
improved problem
statement?

Textbook Answer
The current literature often examines
selective factors (e.g., product cost and
prices) when designing supply chain
option contracts. An effective supply chain
option contract should be more thorough
and take into consideration additional
factors, including the opportunity cost of
scheduled capacity and the uncertainty of
price fluctuations.

2.4 Writing Strategies for
Research Approaches

Research Approaches
• Research approaches consist of three essential elements:
research methods, data sources and variables.
• The objective is for readers to understand not only the
research methods, but also the data collection methods and
variable relationships assessed in your study.
• When discussing research methods, your readers are
interested in understanding the rigor of research methods
and your rationale for adopting them.
• Depending on the method adopted, your discussion should
use corresponding methodological terms and present
different foci. You also need to discuss data sources and
their validity, followed by their usefulness in answering
your problem statement.

“Inthis paper,wedevelopananalyticalmodelthat
examinestheimpactofprice-influencedreviewson
firmoptimal pricingandconsumerwelfare.We
quantifythepriceeffects in consumerreviewsfor
differentformats ofreviewsystems usingactual
marketpricesandonlineconsumerratingsdata
collectedforthedigitalcameramarket.”
Source:LiandHitt2010,p.809

Strategy 2.7 Ask yourself if
your research method can
solve or make progress on the
problem

How to Improve the Research
Approach?
“Our work focus on the combination of B-S option pricing model and the operating
mechanism of supply chain based on the study of Guo and Yang (2006), Wang and
Liu (2007). We construct decision-making model of the customer-led supply chain
mechanism by introducing market interest rates, price volatility and option
deadline. The introduction of market interest rates, price volatility and option
deadline affects the traditional supply chain model with option contract. It is a
further restriction on option pricing.
We provide a method of option pricing which can be proved equilibrium and
optimized to supply chain members, and in line with the B-S option pricing. This
method can better adapt to the actual operation of the supply chain’s need.
According to the procedure of this method, the combination of option pricing can
also be calculated in other market circumstances. We also make programs for our
model using Matlab software. The programs can help supplier calculate their
optimal production volume, and help retailers calculate the combination of option
pricing and optimal ordering volumes.”
Source: An unpublished paper

Improved Approaches
• In this paper, we develop an option
pricing model that examines the
dynamics of customer-driven supply
chains. We develop a proposed option
pricing model using Matlab software to
help suppliers calculate optimal
production volumes, and retailers
calculate optimal ordering volumes and
option pricing.

Strategy 2.8 Think about data source
and emphasize your data collection
efforts
•You need to clarify your use of simulation,
analytic models, prototype construction or
survey methods.
•In order to get readers excited about your study,
you may also want to emphasize the extent of
your research efforts when executing the
adopted research methods (e.g. sample size,
sophistication of application programs,
interviews, and other data collection
challenges).

Strategy2.9 Informreadersof variables
yourstudycontrols,ignoresor measures
• Research methods and data collection
are vehicles to help assess the causality
among variables.
• Authors need to list all important
variables and their relationships that the
study controls, ignores, or measures.

2.5 Writing Strategies
for Research Results

Research Results
• What happens to the test results? Is there something
exciting in your results to keep readers motivated to read
your whole paper?
• For exact scientific papers, be specific about contributions
your study can make.
• It is important to ensure that research results are
congruent with problems and approaches
• For example, readers would like to know that your new
computer programs can accelerate the computing speed by
2% rather than make marginal improvement.

Strategy 2.10 Adopt a research
approach that can naturally
deliver research results

Strategy 2.11 Have answers
to research questions

A Good Example
• “Our empirical results suggest that
unidimensional ratings, commonly used
in most review systems, can be
substantially biased by price effects. In
fact, unidimensional ratings are more
closely correlated with ratings of product
value than ratings of product quality.”
• Source: Li and Hitt 2010, p. 809

A Bad Example
• “From the analysis we can find that the option price and exercise price
computing from our model is convergent. This option pricing is in line
with regulations in the Exchange, meanwhile has the function of
optimizing the supply chain profit. The combination of option pricing is
the point of intersection of two curves. One is curve of optimizing with
supplier, and the other is curve of regulation in the Exchange.
• From the viewpoint of supplier optimization, its option pricing may be
two situations besides…(148 words).
• Options have been gradually applied to the supply chain coordination
mechanism in the supply chain to improve the performance of the
downstream coordination with the development of financial
engineering ideas…(176 words).
• In numerical analysis there is the profit of supplier and retailer in
decentralized and in coordinated. From the figures we can find the
supplier tends to increase in option price and decrease exercise price.
But retailer tends to buy the option with low option price and high
exercise price. The equilibrium is the combination of option pricing
under supplier coordination. Meanwhile the total profit of supply chain
achieves maximizing.”

Improved Research Results
• Our model simulation results show that suppliers and
retailers can optimize their option pricing decision
because the option price and exercise price curves
intersect with each other in the price optimization
graph. The total price of the entire supply chain can
achieve maximization because suppliers have
preference to increasing option price but decreasing
exercise price, and retailers have the opposite
preference. Our numerical analysis affirms the
existence of the phenomenon that suppliers and
retailers are always forced to make an optimal
decision between option price and exercise price.

2.6 Writing
Strategies for
Conclusions

Conclusions
• Analysis results exist to report facts that can
lead to academic and practical implications.
• How are your research findings going to
change the world?
• Can other researchers apply your findings to
other contexts?
• Can your research results potentially be
generalized, or are they specific to a particular
situation?

Strategy 2.12 Discuss
academic and practical
implications in the
conclusion

A Good Example
“Our findings suggest the importance for
firms to account for these price effects in
their overall marketing strategy and
suggest that review systems could better
serve consumers by explicitly expanding
review dimensions to separate perceived
value and perceived quality.”

A Bad Example
• “This study designs a method to combine the Black-Scholes rule and
traditional option contract of optimizing in a retailer-led supply chain.
From the model verification, we find that there is the combination of
option pricing which can optimize the supply chain and follow Black-
Scholes rule. This method is applicable to the market in which there
are a lot of option contract in supply chain and the Exchange Trade
of option (practical implication). The option price is the decision-
making variables of retailer. This model has the only form of
coordination optimization solution. Retailer's decision can regulate
the supplier to maximize its production quantity to optimal level for
whole supply chain. And we calculate the key points and rules of the
impact of market rates and volatility to supply chain performance by
numerical example. All of this study provides the valuable conclusion
for making supply chain option contract to enterprises.”
•
• Source: An unpublished paper

Improved Conclusions
• Our findings suggest suppliers and
retailers regulate each other toward
making optimal decision on option and
exercise prices {academic implication}.
Our customer-driven supply chain model
is applicable to markets in which option
contracts are acceptable forms of supply
chain operations {practical implication}.

for Keywords

Keywords
•Keywords can serve two primary
purposes:
• (1) potential readers can efficiently
locate your paper from online search
database, and
• (2) have editors assign your paper to
right reviewers familiar with the
subject(s) of your paper.

• Key terms used in the abstract are good
candidates for keywords. Another way to
increase the chance of having your paper
searched by potential readers is to go through
your references and search a preset of
keywords and see which keywords are located
more often.
• Editors also use keywords to determine the
review category and assign reviewers to your
papers.

A Good Example
Keywords: Online product reviews,
review bias, price effects, empirical
analysis, optimal pricing

Original vs. Improved
Keywords
• Original Keywords: supply chain, option
pricing, optimization, performance
• Revised Keywords: supply chains,
optimization model, option contract, option
price, exercise price, suppliers

Strategy 2.14 Avoid writing a
lengthy abstract
• An abstract needs to be concise and only
contain key information.
• Make sure you check the word count
limitation of abstract before submitting
paper to the target journal.

Abstract Guideline
• Journal of Management Information Systems
• Every manuscript should contain an abstract (up to
150 words), and a set of key words and phrases to
serve as indicators of the paper's content. No citations
should be included in the abstract.
•
• Information Systems Research
• Papers should include an easy to read and
understandable abstract of not more than 300 words
that communicates contribution of the paper to
general readers as clearly as possible.

Abstract Guideline
Management Science
Write a text-only abstract of no more than 200
words. Do not include references in your abstract.
European Journal of Operational Research
An abstract of between 50 and 250 words.
Abstracts should not contain formulae.

What is the abstract
requirement of your
target journal?

Improved Abstract
Motivation
Companies are increasingly constructing
customer-centric supply chains in order to cope
with the unrelenting pressure of cost reduction.
The customer-centric supply chain strategy
emphasizes improvement of key factors such as
market rates, volatility and option pricing terms
via the coordination of supply chain partners.

Problem Statement
The current literature often examines selective
factors (e.g., product cost and prices) when
designing supply chain option contracts. An
effective supply chain option contract should be
more thorough and take into consideration of
additional factors, including the opportunity
cost of scheduled capacity and the uncertainty
of price fluctuations.

Approach
In this paper, we develop an option pricing
model that examines the dynamics of customer-
driven supply chains. We program the proposed
option pricing model using Matlab software to
help suppliers calculate optimal production
volumes, and retailers calculate optimal
ordering volumes and option pricing.

Results
Our model simulation results show that suppliers and
retailers can optimize their option pricing decision because
the option price and exercise price curves intersect with each
other in the price optimization graph. The total price of the
entire supply chain can achieve maximization because
suppliers have preference to increasing option price but
decreasing exercise price, and retailers have the opposite
preference. Our numerical analysis affirms the existence of
the phenomenon that suppliers and retailers are always
forced to make an optimal decision between option price and
exercise price.

Conclusions
Our findings suggest suppliers and retailers
regulate each other toward making optimal
decision on option and exercise prices. Our
customer-driven supply chain model is
applicable to markets in which option contracts
are acceptable forms of supply chain operations.

Keywords
Supply chains, optimization model, option
contract, option price, exercise price,
suppliers, retailers

Conclusions
• An effective abstract can quickly interest
people in reading your publications.
• An effective abstract consists of six elements in
sequence: motivation, problem statement,
approach, results, conclusions, and keywords
• Make sure that all the proposed strategies in
the chapter are applied to writing each
element of your paper’s abstract

Exercise 2.1 Primary Objectives
of an Abstract
• Discuss with your team members and
use Table 2.1 in the workbook to
understand submission guidelines of
your target journal
• Use Table 2.2 to improve your original
abstract to achieve three primary
objectives of an effective abstract

Exercise 2.2 Five Essential
Elements of an Abstract
• Discuss with your team members and fill
out Table 2.3 in the workbook to
remember five essential elements of an
abstract
• Read the abstract on Table 2.4 and
decompose it into five essential
elements using Table 2.5

Exercise 2.3 Improve Your Abstract
using Proposed Writing Strategies
• Use Table 2.6 to identify obvious writing
mistakes in the abstract of your paper
and check the right writing strategies to
correct those mistakes
• Use Table 2.7 to rewrite each element of
your original abstract after applying all
fifteen writing strategies

Chapter 3 Writing Strategies
for the Introduction

Chapter 3 Outline
3.1 An Overview of Introduction
3.2 Writing Strategies for Introductory Paragraph
3.3 Writing Strategies for Problem Statement
3.4 Writing Strategies for Research Purpose
3.5 Writing Strategies for Paper Outline
3.6 Writing Strategies for Research Questions
3.7 Writing Strategies for the Significance of Study
3.8 Conclusions
3.9 Exercises

3.1 An Overview of
Introduction

An Overview of Introduction
• The major objective of the Introduction
section is to convince readers the importance
of your study and hope they will have the
patience to read the rest of your paper.
• Information contained in the Introduction
section cannot be long.
• Your main job is to sell your research ideas to
prospective readers, not to educate them all
the specifics.

Six Essential Elements of an
Introduction
Introductory
Paragraphs
Problem
Statement
Research
Purpose
Significance of
Study
Research
Questions
Paper Outline

Common Mistakes Made in Each
Element of an Introduction
•Introductory paragraphs
• Cannot arouse readers’ interests
• Low visibility to an opening statement
of the question
• Begin discussion with salient theories
than interesting stories

Problem Statement
• No background information
• No rationale
• The rationale is not clear and cannot
convince readers
• Rationales focus on minor issues and
cannot help clarify and justify major
assumptions.
• Confuse readers with perplexing
argument

Research Purpose
• Do not provide answers to the question
“What is this study about?”
• No clear research direction
• Do not provide a specific and accurate
synopsis of the primary target for the
study

Significance of the Study
• Do not get to the point
• Do not present the main idea
• Include too many subtopics
• Do not offer the potential utility of results in
either or both of two domains: What might be
contributed to the evolving structure of
knowledge, or what application might be made
in a practical setting.
• Have no factual evidence in convincing readers

Research Questions
• Do not identify and define the central constructs and their
relationships
• Do not sketch the study in the bold strokes of major
constructs
• Provide too much detail for each construct
• Do not briefly note the studied relationships among
constructs
• Do not focus on constructs that are more interested by
readers
• The formulation of the research question is not supported
by explanation of why the major elements in the study
were set forth in a particular way.

Paper Outline
•Readers have no clues about
the outline of the paper

Introductory Paragraphs

Introductory Paragraph
• High visibility of these paragraphs depends on your
ability to write dramatic and general opening
statements to set the stage for your paper.
• Some authors often use dramatic illustrations,
examples or quotes to intensify the tone of their
opening statements.
• Always remember to put yourself in the reader’s
position :
• Why do I care about this study?
• What will I learn from this study? Is it worth my
time to read this paper?

3.3 Writing
Strategies for
Problem Statement

Problem Statement
• It is imperative for readers to understand your research
direction via your problem statement.
• Thus, readers can answer the question “What is this study
about?”
• Many authors do not discuss background information
before stating research problems. With the background
information missing, the rationale of deriving problem
statements becomes unclear and unpersuasive to readers.
• In addition, authors may not focus on discussing major
issues and assumptions behind each major issue.
• As a result, readers are confused with and distracted by too
many minor arguments and unrelated assumptions.

Strategy3.1 DiscussBackground
InformationbeforeDerivingResearch
Problems
• Clear background information is a precursor to
deriving your problem statement. You can help
readers understand your rationale and major
assumptions for each of your major problems.
• It is also vital not to raise issues that may be in conflict
with each other. The last thing you would like to not
do is to confuse readers with perplexing argument.
• Clarity in your argument is one of the keys to the
success when writing your problem statement.

Example 1
“Technology adoption is one of the more mature systems in
information systems (IS) research. The benefit of such maturity
is the availability of frameworks and models that can be
applied to the study of interesting problems. While practical
contributions are certain to accrue from such investigations, a
key challenge for researchers is to ensure that studies yield
meaningful scientific contributions. There have been several
models explaining technology adoption and use, particularly
since the late 1980s [76].”
Source: Brown, Dennis and Venkatesh 2010, p.10

Example 2 (Afuah and Tucci,
2012)
• “Crowdsourcing is the act of outsourcing a task to a “crowd,” rather
than to a designated “agent” (an organization, informal or formal
team, or individual), such as a contractor, in the form of an open call
(Howe, 2006, 2008; Jeppesen & Lakhani, 2010)…. Although Howe
(2006, 2008) coined the term crowdsourcing with the strong role of
the Internet in mind, the act of outsourcing a task to the public in the
form of an open call may date as far back as 1714, when the British
government offered a cash prize—the Longitude Prize—to anyone
who would come up with an elegant way to determine the position of
ships in the sea (The Economist, 2008). Sheriffs in Wild West movies
crowdsourced elements of crime solving whenever they posted
pictures of the “Most Wanted” in public places, with a reward for
anyone who would help bring the suspect to justice….
Crowdsourcing may have been around for a long time, but the advent
of the Internet and other communication technologies has opened up
many possibilities for the phenomenon to play out. For example,…”

Strategy 3.2 Write one sentence for
each problem statement
• The statement of problem sets the stage for
other parts of your paper.
• Try using one sentence to clearly state each
main problem.
• Having too many problems stated will let
readers feel your paper has no focus, thereby
distracting readers from the paper’s central
problems.
• After each main problem is stated, you need to
prepare several paragraphs for elaboration.

Example 1
“Venkatesh et al. identified several important
directions for future research and suggested that
“one of the most important directions for future
research is to tie this mature stream [technology
adoption] of research into other established
streams of work” [76, p. 470] (see also [70]).”
Source: Brown, Dennis and Venkatesh 2010,
p.10

Example 2 (Afuah and Tucci,
2012)
• “These fascinating examples raise some interesting
questions for scholars of management. For example,
when might crowdsourcing be a better mechanism
for solving problems than the alternatives of either
solving them internally or designating an exclusive
contractor to solve them? What type of organization
is likely to successfully pursue crowdsourcing? What
types of internal and external environments are
conducive to crowdsourcing? If a firm decides to
crowdsource a problem, how should it go about it?”
• Source: Afuah and Tucci 2012, p. 356

Effective Methods to
Strengthen Your Argument
•You can include facts, examples or opinions from the
applicable authority (e.g. reputable journals and
scholars) in your arguments.
•You should explain the potential impact of your study
on your field (e.g. business, IS, social, politics, etc.) by
demonstrating the scope and depth of the problem.
•The more dramatic and concrete this illustration, the
more clearly your problem statements are to readers.
•Your presentation is successful if your readers can
quickly identify your problem statement in one
sentence

Research Purpose

Research Purpose
• Research purpose is a single paragraph that explains
the final deliverables of your study.
• Your study’s final deliverables could be a validation of
your proposed research model, development of a
survey instrument, or a model simulation of scenarios.
• The primary goal of this study is to …
• … discover
• … understand
• --- investigate
• --- test the model
• This study aims to …

Example 1
“Given this background, the primary objective of
this paper is to develop and test a model to
understand collaboration technology adoption
that integrates UTAUT with key constructs from
theories about collaboration technologies.”
Source: Brown, Dennis and Venkatesh 2010,
p.12

Example 2
• “In this article we focus on the first
question: When might crowdsourcing be a
better mechanism for solving problems
than the alternatives of either solving them
internally or designating an exclusive
contractor to solve them?”

3.5 Writing Strategies for the
Significance of the Study

The Significance of the Study
• Your job is to convince readers to agree with the
rationale of your study and to relate your study to
larger issues by addressing the following questions:
• Why is your study important to your field or to the
world?
• Will your study make contributions to the evolving
structure of knowledge?
• What practical contributions can your findings
make to individuals, business or society?
• Who should be concerned with your research
questions?
• What benefits can be accrued to beneficiaries?

Strategy3.3Answerhowyourstudymakecontributionsto
theevolvingstructureorknowledge
“Our paper offers a sociocognitive theory to predict that different safe
context factors may have different relationships with perceived success
of collaborations. In particular, drawing on dual process theories of
cognitive processing, we hypothesize that the ability and motivation of
an individual to engage in deeper cognitive processing during the ad
hoc collaboration (an ability and motivation that becomes salient when
the collaborating parties are physically more proximal) moderates the
positive effect of safe context factors on perceived collaboration
success. Our focus on micro-forces that facilitate collaboration success
among security professionals complements the extant information
systems (IS) security literature that has focused on the effectiveness of
formal policies at the national and firm level [69, 85] as well as the
economics of security detection technologies [84] and other
countermeasures [47].”
Source: Majchrzak and Jarvenpaa 2010, p. 57

Example 2 (Continued)
• “There is a well-established tradition of exploring such “firm
boundary” questions using transaction cost economics (TCE; e.g.,
Williamson, 2002). However, TCE’s primary focus is on the
characteristics of isolated transactions—some of which may or may
not be relevant to solving a problem (Ghoshal & Moran, 1996). In
addition, in focusing on the attributes of transactions, TCE often
neglects firm-specific factors—such as routines, prior commitments,
cognitive frames, knowledge, and absorptive capacities—that are
often critical for solving problems (Ghoshal & Moran, 1996; Leiblein
& Miller, 2003; Nelson, 1991; Nelson & Winter, 1982, 2002).
Consequently, we explore the question by drawing primarily on the
behavioral and evolutionary theories of organizations, especially the
search literature (e.g., Cyert & March, 1963; Dosi & Marengo,
2007; March & Simon, 1958; Nelson & Winter, 1982; Simon, 1955).”

Example 2
• “In particular, we argue that under certain
circumstances crowdsourcing transforms distant
search into local search, thereby enabling firms
to enjoy the many benefits of distant search
without having to endure many of its costs.
Therefore, crowdsourcing may be a better
mechanism than either internal sourcing or
designated contracting for solving problems for
which solutions require distant search.”

Strategy3.4 Answer howyour studycan
makeany practicalcontributionsto
individuals,businessor society
“Despite the value of collaboration in helping to solve
these security threats, reports continue to surface that
security professionals fear that the act of collaborating
with other parties will create more problems than it
solves because of the possibility that collaborating parties
may misuse information shared during the collaboration
[22, 24, 28, 41, 44, 56]. Collaborations that are successful,
then, are those that not only resolve the security threat
but do so in a way that ensures that the information
shared is not misused.”

Strategy3.5 Answer whowouldbe
concernedwithyour researchquestions
“Because security professionals often face a wide variety
of threats, personal networks are likely to include
individuals with whom the professional has not as yet
collaborated and with whom collaborations may not
necessarily recur often [28, 82]. Not only do these
conditions inhibit the development of interpersonal trust
[51], but they engender the possibility of incidents in
which information is inappropriately used even within the
personal network [56].”

Strategy 3.6 Answer what benefits
your readers can have
“Our theoretical explanation may also generalize to other
interorganizational collaborations in which sensitive
information is shared, particularly via electronic channels
(e.g., [73]). The interorganizational relations literature
describes numerous incidents of collaboration between
and within firms with harmful consequences (e.g., [7, 42,
48, 52, 60, 63]). Our paper suggests a more nuanced view
of interorganizational collaborations involving sensitive
information than what currently exists in the literature.”

Example 2
• “Put simply, extant theory suggests homogeneous
complementary resources across firms and a strong
form of labor market efficiency. Thus, our discussion
of boundary conditions highlights the need for a
more robust framework connecting human capital
and competitive advantage. Accordingly, after
articulating the boundary conditions, our second
contribution is developing a more comprehensive
framework predicting when human capital may lead
to sustained advantages….”
• Source: Campbell, Coff and Kryscynski 2012, p. 376

Example 3
• “When might that be the case? It depends on the type of problem, the
difficulties that the focal agent faces in performing distant search to
solve the problem, the type of crowd to which the problem can be
crowdsourced, and the ease with which the final solution can be
evaluated. Specifically, the probability a focal agent (individual,
group, or organization) will use crowdsourcing to solve a problem is
high when (1) the problem is easy to delineate and broadcast to the
crowd, (2) the knowledge required to solve the problem falls outside
the focal agent’s knowledge neighborhood (requires distant search),
(3) the crowd is large, with some members of the crowd motivated
and knowledgeable enough to self-select and solve the problem, (4)
the final solution is easy to evaluate and integrate into the focal
agent’s value chain, and (5) information technologies are low cost
and pervasive in the environment that includes the focal agent and
the crowd.”

Research Questions

Research Questions
• Readers would like to know specific
research questions that your study can
help address after appreciating the
importance of your study.
• Since journal papers need to present
scientific findings, authors need to learn
to formulate research questions in a
systematic and scientific manner.

Strategy3.7 Discussmajor constructsof
yourstudyand theirrelationships
• Your goal is to sketch your study in the bold strokes
of major constructs. Doing so is just like sketching
your pictures before applying any colors to a canvas.
• The goal is to entice readers to read the rest of your
paper.
• If space is limited, you may want to consider not
discussing any constructs that readers are already
very familiar with or will not interested in.
• Often the most serious mistake authors make is that
they formulate research questions without
including major elements of their research question.

Strategy 3.8 Write
sentences to glue these
constructs and present
them in a question form

An Example
“When a security professional enters into a
collaboration with members of a personal
network, what is the relationship between safe
context factors and perceived success of that
collaboration?”
• What constructs are to be discussed in this study?
• What are central constructs of this study?
• What are the relationships to be studied?

3.7 Writing
Strategies for Outline

Outlining the Rest of Your
Paper
• Written communication is no different
from oral communication.
• You tell readers what you plan to discuss.
Then you discuss and firmly conclude by
summarizing what you just discussed.

Strategy3.9 Outlinethe rest of yourpaper
foryour readers
• Toward the end of introduction, many
authors forget to tell readers what they
will discuss next.
• As a result, readers could be agitated
because they have no clue about the
paper outline.

An Example of the Paper
Outline
“The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Next, we
discuss related work. The third section introduces our
theoretical framework and develops our hypotheses. In
the fourth section, we introduce our data set. The fifth
section describes our model and presents our findings.
Finally, we discuss managerial implications and outline
opportunities for further research.”
Source: Dellarocas et al. 2010, p. 129

Example 2
• “In §2 we study the bullwhip effect theoretically. We
first develop a model of firm production, a context in
which to study the bullwhip. We then show that the
bullwhip decomposes by information transmission
lead time into an infinite set of lead l bullwhips. In
§3, we construct a consistent estimator of the lead l
bullwhip from differences in the variances of demand
and order forecast errors. In §4, we present our
bullwhip estimates. In §5, we provide robustness
checks. In §6, we provide our concluding remarks.”
• Source: Bray and Mendelson 2012, p.860

Minor Writing Mistakes in the
Introduction Section
• Writing a lengthy, tedious statement without focus or
with too much detail information
• Introducing too many technical details
• Spending too much time discussing salient theories
• Having detailed or thorough discussion
• Using unnecessary technical language
• Not communicating clearly to readers the study’s main
idea
• Using quotations and extensive references: What are
the main ideas of this study?
• Using of too many citations

• The primary purpose of introductory paragraphs is to
arouse reader’s interests to read the rest of your
paper, not to conduct detail literature review.
• Ten writing strategies are available for you to improve
six elements of the Introduction section: (1)
introductory paragraph, (2) problem statement, (3)
research purpose, (4) significance of the study, (5)
research questions, and (6) paper outline.
• These ten writing strategies are effective at avoid
making major and minor writing problems often made
in each section of the Introduction section

of an Introduction
Discuss with your team members and
fill Table 3.1 with six essential
elements of an introduction

Exercise 3.2 Decompose a sample
introductioninto six elements
Study the sample introduction on
Figure 3.2 with your team members
and decompose it into six essential
elements using Table 3.2

Exercise 3.3 Identify Major Mistakes
Made in Each Essential Element of an
Introduction
• Use Table 3.3 to identify major and
minor mistakes made in each essential
element of an introduction
• Use Table 3.4 to describe effective
writing strategies for each element of an
introduction

Exercise3.4 Applying effectivewriting
strategiesto improvingeach elementof
yourpaper’sintroduction
• Use Table 3.5 to rewrite your paper’s
introduction to ensure that it contains
information for six essential elements
• Make sure you apply effective writing
strategies to improving each element
• After each application, check the writing
strategies you use

References
• Afuah, A., and Tucci, C.L. (2012). Crowdsoucing as a solution
to distant search, Academy of Management Review 37(3), 355-
375.
• Campbell, B.A., Coff, R., and Kryscynski, D. (2012).
Rethinking sustained competitive advantage from human
capital, Academy of Management Review 37(3), 376-395.
• Bray, R.L., and Mendelson, H. (2012). Information
transmission and the Bullwhip effect, Management Science
58(5), 860-875.

Chapter 4 Writing
Strategies for
Literature Review

OUTLINE
• 4.1 An Overview of Literature Review
• 4.2 Formulate Problems
• 4.3 Search Relevant Literature
• 4.4 Evaluate Literature
• 4.5 Analyze and Interpret Literature
• 4.6 Exercises

4.1 An Overview of
Literature Review

An Overview of Literature
Review
• The purpose of the literature review is to
provide readers with an overview of salient
literature pertinent to your research topic and
prepare your research questions to be stated
in testable form.
• Literature ranges from scholarly articles,
books, dissertations, conference proceedings,
white papers, magazines, newspapers, and
encyclopedia, to online resources.

• The key to reviewing literature is to use
reliable and relevant literature to
support the process of forming your
research questions.
• Once you have identified the right
literature, you need to have the ability to
analyze it critically through summary,
synthesis, comparison and classification

Benefits of a Well-Written
Literature
• Bring the reader up to date with current literature on your topic
• Help readers understand the specific contribution of your
literature to the subject under review
• Discuss central constructs of your study and their relationships
under consideration
• Identify and resolve conflicts among previous studies
• Specify the knowledge gap between the past literature and your
study
• Discover innovative ways to close the knowledge map
• Discuss original works in your context and create relevance to
your study
• Form the basis for your research questions

The Development of Literature
Review
Formulate
Problems
Search
Relevant
Literature
Evaluate Data
Analyze and
Interpret Data

Common Mistakes Made in the
Literature Review
• Formulate Problems
• Review literature without having your
research questions in mind
• Search Relevant Literature
• Organize literature review around the
sources
• Include outdated and irrelevant references
• Fail to evenly weight different perspectives
of references

Common Mistakes Made in the
Literature Review
• Evaluate Data
• Do not check the quality of the works used
• Do not use any references from your target
journal
• Analyze and Interpret Data
• Poor analysis and interpretation of the
literature
• Disorganized presentation of literature
• Use outdated literature without explaining
its application to current subjects.

Formulate Problems
• Organizing literature around the sources rather than
the ideas has become a common mistake.
• Non-native English writers are not used to having
clear research questions in mind when conducting a
literature review
• Non-native English writers have a tendency to choose
a few salient sources and discuss these sources in
detail one at a time.
• Literature needs to foreshadow the formulation of
your research questions, not simply to report
interesting findings from the past.

Strategy4.1 Haveclear researchquestions
inmindbeforeconductingliterature
review
• Readers want to learn about your study, rather than learn
about other scholars’ studies through your paper.
• Writers must constantly evaluate whether or not the sources
are closely connected with your research themes and if they
can make substantial contributions to the questions of the
study.
• Literature that fails the quality test should be put aside.

An Example
•Van Der Lans’ (2010) study aims to
“develop a model that predicts how
many customers a viral marketing
campaign reaches, how this reach
evolves, and how it depends on
marketing activities” (p. 348).
•What literature should be reviewed?

• First the authors review literature related to
six viral marketing campaign activities:
• (1) receiving an invitation to a viral
campaign,
• (2) reading the campaign’s invitation,
• (3) visiting the landing page of the viral
campaign,
• (4) participating in the viral campaign,
• (5) expanding the reach of the viral
campaign with more friends, and
• (6) closing the viral campaign.

• Second, the authors propose a decision tree to
sequence these six activities based on the
literature as follows:
• (1) Receive invitation to viral campaign at t1,
• (2) Read invitation at t2,
• (3) Visit landing page viral campaign at t3,
• (4) Participate in viral campaign in t4,
• (5) Invite x=0, 1, 2….friends x~arbitary
distribution with mean μ . Second, the
• authors sequence the identified activities, and
• (6) Exit.

• Third the literature review enabled the
authors to derive the viral branching
process equations. These equations can
help calculate the conditional expected
number of unopened emails, unopened
viral emails, and participants in the viral
campaign, as well as estimate the
average number of forwarded emails.

4.3 Search Relevant
Literature

Major Mistakes Made in Searching
for Relevant Literature
• (1) organize the literature review
around the sources,
• (2) include outdated and irrelevant
references, and
• (3) do not evenly weigh different
perspectives of references.

Strategy 4.2 Discussliterature around
your researchquestions
• Answer the following questions for every possible
literature source before including them into the body of
your literature:
• What are the objectives of the literature review?
• Which of these sources is in support of your position?
• Which of these sources is against your position?
• What are alternative literature sources that could be used to
bridge opposing positions?
• How is the literature source similar to or different from the
others?
• Which literature sources can make the greatest contribution to
the understanding and development of your research
questions in testable forms?

Cheung et al.’s Example (2010)
• The purpose of Cheung et al.’s study is to
investigate if global environmental factors and
partnering firms’ inter-organizational
properties can facilitate relationship learning,
there by improving relationship value as a
strategic outcome.
What central constructs are involved in the
proposed relationships?

Four Central Constructs are
Involved in the Relationships
•Global environmental factors,
•Inter-organizational properties,
•Relationship learning, and
•Relationship value.

Which five categories of literatureare
pertinentto these constructs:
“{1}Building from the resource-based view (Barney,
1991; Wernerfelt, 1984), {2} transaction cost analysis
(Williamson, 1985, 1993), {3}the perspective of
transaction value (Zajac and Olsen, 1993), {4} the
relational view (Dyer and Singh, 1998) and {5}
interfirm relationship theories (Cannon and
Perreault, 1999; Heide, 1994; Morgan and Hunt,
1994), this research examines the facilitating
conditions relating to global environmental factors
and partnering firms’ inter-organizational properties
that enhance the level of relationship learning among
global supply chain partners.

The authors conduct literature
review by discussing the
literature around their research
ideas instead of around the
literature.

Cheung et al’s Literature
Review
• Relationship learning and supply chain collaboration
• “Following Selnes and Sallis (2003), this study defines
relationship learning as “a joint activity between a
supplier and a customer in which the two parties
share information…”
• Relationship Value
• “Relationship value is defined from a managerial
perspective as the received benefits perceived by
buyers/suppliers in terms of their expectations from a
business exchange relationship, i.e., their needs and
wants ([Flint et al., 2002] and [Ulaga and Eggert,
2006]).

Data Evaluation
• All literature that is for or against your scientific
inquiry needs to be weighted evenly in order to have
research questions derived naturally from your logical
discussion of both sides of the argument.
• The quality of your sources also has influence on the
quality of your literature review.
• Data quality can be assessed with respect to many
attributes.
• After data quality is improved, authors also need to
learn how to paraphrase other authors’ statements
properly in order to avoid plagiarism.

DeRueandAshford’s(2010)exampleofevaluating
dataquality
• The purpose of their paper is to investigate the impact of
leadership identity and the respective identities of leader and
follower on the quality of leader-follower relationships
• “A strong leadership identity implies that there is clarity in the
leader follower relationship and individuals’ identities as
leader and follower. When this clarity exists, there is greater
acceptance of the right of the person constructed as leader to
exert influence over the person constructed as follower. When
this clarity is missing, we expect increased conflict and tension
in the relationship (Collinson, 2005). In this sense, the
construction of a leadership identity and the respective
identities as leader and follower are inputs into the quality of
leader-follower relationships (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995).”

LiteratureReviewas the Groundworkof
ResearchQuestions
The construction of a leadership identity and the
respective identities as leader and follower are inputs
into the quality of leader-follower relationships
The quality
of leader-
follower
relationship
Leader and
follower
identities
Leadership
Identity

Strategy 4.3: Check the
Quality of Sources
“Identity involves the meaning attached to the self (Gecas,
1982). Any particular identity can be conceptualized along
three levels of self-construal: individual, relational, and
collective (Brewer & Gardner, 1996). Because leadership
involves multiple individuals engaged in a process of
interpersonal and mutual influence that is ultimately
embedded within some collective (Hollander, 1978; Parry,
1998), it is necessary to integrate across these three levels to
fully capture the process of constructing a leadership identity.”
Source: DeRue and Ashford 2010, p. 629

References Used to Support the
Authors’ Argument
• Gecas, V. 1982. The self-concept. Annual Review of
Sociology, 8: 1–33.
• Brewer, M. B., & Gardner, W. 1996. Who is this“ we”? Levels
of collective identity and self representations. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 71: 83–93.
• Hollander, E. P. 1978. Leadership dynamics: A practical
guide to effective relations. New York: Free Press.
• Parry, K. W. 1998. Grounded theory and social process: A
new direction for leadership research. Leadership
Quarterly, 9: 85–105.

Strategy 4.4: Use current and
relevant literatures
“What it takes to be a leader or follower, as well as who is a
leader or follower in any given social context, is ambiguous,
dynamic, and contextual. These attributes make the leadership
identity high in what Hoang and Gimeno (2010) term identity
complexity and strongly suggest a role for social processes in
its creation. While the idea of social interactionism is not new
to the identity literature (Goffman, 1959; Mead, 1934), the
identity literature is only beginning to explain when social
interaction is more or less important for identity construction
(Ibarra & Barbulescu, 2010). Our theory suggests that the
nature of the identity itself (in terms of its ambiguity or other
attributes) impacts the process by which that identity is
constructed.”

Reference Dates
• Hoang, H., & Gimeno, J. 2010. Becoming a founder: How
founder role identity affects entrepreneurial transitions
and persistence in founding. Journal of Business
Venturing, 25: 41–53.
• Ibarra, H., & Barbulescu, R. 2010. Identity as narrative:
Prevalence, effectiveness, and consequences of narrative
identity work in macro work role transitions. Academy
of Management Review, 35: 135–154.

Strategy4.5 Create an argument by
weighingdifferentperspectives
DeRue and Ashford (2010) try to establish the process
of claiming a leader identity by referencing literature
based on interpersonal, instrument, and image-based
rewards. Rather than making an argument that one
reward is better than another reward in motivating
individuals to claim a leader identity, the authors evenly
weigh their contribution to the claiming process of a
leader identity.

Perspective 1
“A well established tenet in our
understanding of human motivation is that
self-interest shapes human behavior and
action (Miller, 1999; Miller & Ratner, 1998;
Schwartz, 1986) {perspective 1}.

Perspective 2
• Acting leader-like and being seen as a leader is
a socially valued and rewarded “ideal self”
(Higgins, 1987; Markus & Nurius, 1986) in
many organizational settings (Day et al., 2009;
Kempster, 2006; Van Vugt, 2006) {perspective
2}.

Perspective 3
It may lead to instrumental rewards such as promotions,
interpersonal rewards such as power or status, or image-
based rewards such as a positive reputation. These
rewards create a motivation to claim this identity. In
addition, individuals are often simply motivated to get
things accomplished and claim a leader identity because
it helps facilitate that accomplishment (Quinn,
1996){perspective 3}.

4.5 Analyze and
Interpret Data

Major Mistakes Made in Data
Analysis and Interpretation
• Many writers choose to give a full tour for each source
and end up becoming a travel agent showing
highlights of numerous trips to different sources.
• Discussing the literature without having your own
voice is an obvious symptom for poor data analysis.
• Disorganized presentation of literature is another
serious mistake.
• The third mistake is using outdated literature without
explaining its application to current subjects.
• Summarizing literature without being able to
synthesize it to support and clarify your arguments
cannot provide readers with new insight.

Strategy 4.6 Summarize and
synthesize the literature via the
decomposition process
• Spears and Barki’s (2010) paper as an
example
• The purpose of their paper is to “examine
what user participation is in security contexts
and how it influences the performance of IS
security controls in organizations” (p.504).

Decomposition Process
What roles does user participation
play in security contexts?
How will user participation
influence the performance of IS
security controls in organizations.
User participation in
the Information
Systems
Development (ISD)
Buy-in theory
System qualiy theory
Emergent interaction
theory
Security Risk
Management
The process of
managing security
risks
The controls
(technological and
manual) as the
outputs of that
process

of Literature Review
use Table 4.1 to fill out four essential
elements of literature review

Exercise 4.2 Decomposition
Process
•Read the introduction of a literature
review on Figure 4.2 and then
decompose the literature review on
Figure 4.3 into each element. Use
Table 4.2 to fill out each element.

Exercise 4.3 Identify Major Mistakes
Made in Each Essential Element of a
Literature Review
use Table 4.3 to describe major mistakes
made in each essential element of a
literature review
• Use Table 4.4 to describe effective
writing strategies designed to correct
each major mistake

Exercise 4.4 Improving the Literature
Review of Your Working Paper
• Your final job is to use your working paper and
continuously improve each element of its
Literature Review section using Table 4.5.
• Make sure your group checks your writing for
each element against a checklist of strategies
before moving to the next element. Mark the
strategies you use for each element using the
checklist.

Chapter 5 Writing
Strategies for
Hypotheses

OUTLINE
5.1 An Overview of Hypothesis Formulation
5.2 Writing Strategies for Hypotheses
• Strategy 5.1 Have a clear transitional
paragraph before stating each hypothesis
• Strategy 5.2 Think potential research method
in the process of clarifying hypotheses
• Strategy 5.3 Divide a large hypothesis into
smaller, unitary hypotheses
5.3 Conclusions
5.4 Hypothesis Formulation Exercises

5.1 An Overview of
Hypothesis Formulation

Hypotheses
• Hypotheses are the product of conducting
literature review, defining variables and
theorizing the relationships of variables.
• A useful hypothesis should be in the form of a
testable statement which can help explain
some phenomena or series of events based on
the relationships of the identified variables.
• Although a good literature review can help
construct hypotheses, it does not guarantee
that the writer will successfully state them.

Themost common mistake is that the
transitionis missing from theoretical
propositionsbased on theliteraturereviewto
theformulationof testablehypotheses.

for Hypotheses

Strategy 5.1 Have a clear
transitional paragraph before
stating each hypothesis

Short and Toffel’s (2010)
Paper as An Example
The purpose of their paper is to
investigate how information activities of
regulators can influence the likelihood
that organizations will effectively
implement their self-regulatory
commitments.

Rightbeforetheformulationof thehypothesis,
hereiswhat ShortandToffelstate,
“A recent review of the literature on corporate social
responsibility also reported a strong consensus among
researchers that stakeholder monitoring is a key
ingredient in responsible corporate behavior, including
effective corporate self-regulation (Campbell, 2007). For
these reasons, we expect regulatory surveillance to
promote meaningful implementation of self-regulation
commitments:
Hypothesis 2 (H2): Among heavily monitored facilities,
those that commit to adopting internal compliance
auditing will improve regulatory compliance outcomes.”

Anotherparagraphfollowsthediscussionand
helps deriveanotherhypothesis.
“More intensive industry-wide surveillance also
signals to would-be self-regulators that their
competitors are being watched too, providing greater
assurance that investments in compliance will not
disadvantage them vis-à-vis their competitors
(Gunningham and Rees, 1997).
Hypothesis 3 (H3): Within heavily monitored
industries, facilities that commit to adopting internal
compliance auditing will improve regulatory
compliance outcomes.”

Strategy 5.2 Think
potential research
method in the process of
clarifying hypotheses

As the purpose of the literature review is
to prepare hypotheses; hypotheses exist
to prepare research procedures (e.g.
experiment,case study, survey, and
interview).

How to Rewrite the Following
Hypotheses in a Testable Form
•Excessive information technology use
may trigger anger.
•Social group support may release anger
caused by IT use.

Improved Hypotheses in a
Testable Form
•Anger will be negatively associated with
IT use
•Anger will be positively associated with
IT use through social support.

Creating a Virtuous Cycle with the
Improved Hypotheses
• Forward thinking can help you not only
formulate effective hypotheses but also
prevent research process problems from
occurring in the future.
• Anger can be measured with emotion intensity
through a survey with IT users. Beaudry and
Pinsonneault (2010) use a five-point Likert
scale ranging from “not at all” to a “great deal”
to measure the intensity of anger (Lazarus and
Folkman, 1984).

Improved Hypotheses
Social support is a task adaptation effort of new
users to obtain moral and emotional support
with regard to the use of new IT. The authors
measure the frequency with which users seek
social support using a 7-point Likert scale from
“never” to “many times a day.”

Improved Hypotheses
IT use is the extent to which users actively
interview with the new IT to perform five
managerial tasks: collecting information,
disseminating information, figurehead,
resource allocation, and negotiation. The
authors measure the variable using a 7-point
Likert scale ranging from “never” to “many
times a day.”

An Effective Hypothesis
Hypotheses that cannot actually be tested
need to be further modified until they can
be stated in a testable form and can help
predict the outcomes if research process is
rigorously implemented.

• “A hypothesis is an educated guess about how
things work….You need to be able to measure
both “what you do” and “what will happen.”
(Science Buddies, 2010). “What you do” and
“what will happen” represent the independent
and dependent variables, respectively.
• An effective hypothesis must indicate that a
cause-and-effect relationship or some degree
of associations between the independent and
dependent variables exists.

An effective hypothesis has strong
implications on the research
process and the measurement
instrument.

Alnuaimi et al.’s (2010) Paper
as An Example
The objective of their paper was to investigate if
three cognitive mechanisms – diffusion of
responsibility, attribution of blame, and
dehumanization -- can effectively mediate the
effect of team size and dispersion on social
loafing in technology-supported team.

Alnuaimi et al’s Proposed
Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1a: Diffusion of responsibility will
mediate the relationship between team size and
individuals’ social loafing.
Hypothesis 2a: Dehumanization will mediate the
relationship between team size and individuals’
social loafing.
Hypothesis 3a: Attribution of blame will mediate
the relationship between team size and
individuals’ social loafing.

Implications on Research
Process
• These three hypotheses indicate that a laboratory study
may be adopted to manipulate the team size and those
three cognitive mechanisms.
• Each team may need to rely on the use of group support
systems to deliver team-based tasks (e.g. brainstorming
and decision-making).
• The higher the degree of social loafing, the fewer ideas an
individual will contribute to the team task.
• These hypotheses also indicate that individual’s social
loafing can be measured by counting the number of ideas
generated and contributed to the team task.
• Lastly, mediating effect can be calculated based on the path
analysis model, such as PLS analysis.

Another Example from
Siponen and Vance’s Paper
• They formulate hypotheses with the research
process in mind.
• Siponen and Vance argue that although the
neutralization theory has been long applied to
Criminology it has not been applied in the
information security context to offer insights
into how employees rationalize their behavior
and comply with security policy.

• H1: Neutralization positively affects
intention to violate IS security policy
• H2: Formal sanctions negatively affect
intention to violate IS security policy.
• H3: Informal sanctions negatively affect
intention to violate IS security policy.
• H4: Shame negatively affects intention to
violate IS security policy

Implications on Research
Design
• The research process has to do with a design of four
different scenarios: neutralization, formal sanctions,
informal sanctions, and shame.
• As expected, this paper uses a hypothetical scenario
method.
• This research method provides subjects with vignettes
that “present subjects with written descriptions of
realistic situations and then request responses on a
number of rating scales that measure the dependent
variables of interest” (Trevino 1992, pp. 127-128).
• This example demonstrates the importance of
considering the research method when formulating
hypotheses.

Strategy 5.3 Divide
a large hypothesis
into smaller,
unitary hypotheses

Long vs. Short Hypothesis
• A long, amorphous hypothesis can compound
the understanding of readers because it may
contain multiple variables and multiple
relationships.
• The rule of thumb is to create a single,
directional relationship for each hypothesis.
• Focus on three essential elements of writing:
(1) use as few words as possible to express
your exact meaning, (2) leave no room for
ambiguity, and (3) keep the tone unfailingly
respectful (Sullivan and Eggleston, 2010).

How to Compose a Hypothesis?
• To start a hypothesis, state only two variables
(one independent and one dependent variable)
and their relationships as exactly as you can.
• Add a new hypothesis to capture hidden variables
if the original variable contains them.
• Cross off those variables that contain too many
hidden variables and then go back to your
research questions and refine them.
• Dividing a large hypothesis into smaller, unitary
hypotheses to clarify directional relationships
between independent and dependent variables.

Ahypothesisis a scientificinquiryabout
possiblesolutionsto research questions.
Therefore,youneed to havestrongreasons
andstatisticaldata to supportor reject
eachhypothesis.Imagineexplainingyour
hypothesisto yourfriends.

Hypothesis 1: Improving online users’
awareness of information security can
increase their willingness to comply with
information security policy.
•What are independent and dependent
variables indicated in this hypothesis?
•How easily can the proposed relationship
be validated with statistical data?

Sykes, Venkatesh and Gosain’s
(2009) Paper as An Example
• They are interested in extending the IS acceptance
model to the social network context.
• They develop the model of acceptance with peer
support (MAPS) by incorporating key social network
constructs into the traditional IS acceptance model.
• Four hypotheses are proposed to validate if the four
key constructs – network density, valued network
density, network centrality and valued network
centrality – have a positive influence on system use.

Proposed Hypotheses
• H2(a): Network density will positively
influence system use.
• H2(b): Valued network density will
positively influence system us
• H3(a): Network centrality will positively
influence system use
• H3(b): Valued network centrality will
positively influence system use.

Strengths of These Four
Hypotheses
• Readers can clearly understand if these four
key social constructs “have” or “have no”
influence on system use.
• No hidden variables can be detected in each
hypothesis.
• The authors can easily validate and explain
their proposed relationships with statistical
data.

Interpretations for Statistical
Testing Results
“Both network density and network centrality were significant
predictors of system use…thus supporting H2 (a) and H3(a).
Model 2 explained 41 percent of the variance, a 7 percent
increase in variance beyond what is explained by prior
technology adoption constructs. Model 3 incorporated both prior
technology adoption constructs and valued network centrality
and valued network density, all of which were significant, thus
also supporting H2(b) and H3(b). Model 3 explained 50 percent
of the variance, a 16 percent improvement over Model 1. Model
4 is the proposed research model (i.e., MAPS) that incorporates
behavioral intention, facilitating conditions, and all four social
network constructs (i.e., network density, network centrality,
valued network density, and valued network centrality) as
predictors explained 56 percent of the variance in system use.”

Conclusions
• An effective hypothesis is a prerequisite to
conducting scientific inquiry.
• Good literature review does not guarantee the
formulation of effective hypotheses.
• This chapter proposes three strategies to help
you formulate effective hypotheses.

5.4 Hypothesis
Formulation Exercises

Exercise5.1HaveaClearTransitionalParagraph
beforeStatingEachHypothesis
• Study two sample transitional paragraphs for
two hypotheses on Table 5.1. Discuss with
your team members to compose a new
transitional paragraph for each of the two
hypotheses. Write down your transitional
paragraphs using Table 5.2.
• Now use your own working paper and develop
a transitional paragraph for each of your
hypotheses. Write down your transitional
paragraphs using Table 5.3.

Exercise5.2ForwardThinkingofResearchMethodinthe
ProcessofClarifyingHypotheses
• The purpose of this exercise is for you to
demonstrate that you can write an effective
hypothesis by stating it in a testable form. An
effective hypothesis should be able to prepare
research procedures (e.g. experiment, case
study, survey, and interview) for your study.
• Use Table 5.4 to improve your stated
hypotheses. Write down your original
hypotheses and then revise them to ensure
that readers can determine independent and
dependent variables and their relationships.

Exercise5.3DivideaLargeHypothesis into
Smaller,UnitaryHypotheses
• The purpose of this exercise is to equip
you with the ability to decompose a
large hypothesis into smaller, unitary
hypotheses.
• Table 5.5 shows an undivided
hypothesis, modified from Liu and
Phillips’ (2010) paper. Your job is to
decompose the large hypothesis into
manageable, unitary hypotheses.

Chapter 6 Writing
Strategies for
Research
Methodology

OUTLINE
6.1 Purpose of Research Methodology
6.2 Overview of Research Method
6.3 Data Collection Procedure
6.4 Data Collection Settings
6.5 Pre-test Instrument and Pilot Study
6.6 Conclusions

6.1 Purpose of Research
Methodology
The purpose of research methodology is to
give details of the approaches by which you
collect data from reliable instruments and
analyze data to test the proposed
hypotheses.

Four Essential Elements of
Research Methodology
Overiew of
Research Method
Data Collection
Procedure
Data Collection
Settings
Pre-Test
Instrument & Pilot
Study

6.2 Overview of
Research Method

Overview of Research Method
• You need to first introduce readers with a clear
definition of the adopted research method.
• Explain the rationale of your decision on using the
research method instead of alternative methods to
help achieve research goals.
• Discuss any distinct challenges or limitations that may
stand in the way of helping achieve your research
goals.
• A single paragraph should be dedicated to
summarizing the research method by including three
subsections: introduction, body and conclusion.

Strong and Volkoff’s (2010)
paper as An Example
• The authors seek to investigate different kinds
of misfit that can arise from an enterprise
system implementation from the critical
realism perspective.
• The authors give an overview of research
method adopted in their study as follows:

Announce and Define the
Research Method
“We approached this research from the
philosophical perspective of critical realism
{announce the adopted research method}
(Archer 1995; Bhaskar 1978, 1979, 1998;
Dobson 2001; Mingers 2004a, 2004b; Smith
2006). Critical realism bridges positivism and
interpretivism by carefully distinguishing
between its ontology and its epistemology....
{Defining the research method}

Distinct Challenges and Limitations
of the Research Method
Under critical realism, causality is not
deterministic, but real entities are assumed to
have causal effects. Specifically, entities, by
themselves or in combination with other entities,
cause events to occur through generative
mechanisms, and some of these events are
empirically observed. The entities are assumed to
exist prior to the events they generate and, in
turn, the events may lead to subsequent changes
in the entities (Archer 1995). {distinct challenges
and limitations of the research method}

Rationale of Adopting the
Research Method
These two defining characteristics of critical
realism—the nested stratification of the
empirical within the actual within the real
domain, and the horizontal stratification of
entities existing prior to the events they
generate which in turn precede the changes to
the entities—fit well with the methodological
techniques recommended for the study of
collective constructs {rationale of adopting the
research method}

A Preview of Operational
Procedure for Data Collection
A longitudinal case study employing grounded theory
procedures is appropriate for studying Org–ES fit because
it facilitates the emergence of theoretical concepts
directly related to the phenomena being observed (i.e.,
misfits), while simultaneously considering the context in
which those phenomena are embedded (i.e., the
organization and its new ES) (Orlikowski 1993). We
observed three years of a five-year phased SAP
implementation at a global corporation. By following the
project over several years, we observed both those misfits
that were apparent immediately, and addressed in the
early days of use, and those that only emerged over time.”
{a preview of operational procedure for data collection}

Strategy 6.2 Discuss step-
by-step data collection
procedure

Key Points
• You need to expand your discussion on the
main components of the adopted research
method.
• Do not get into the details of each individual
component.
• The purpose of the summary is to draw a
roadmap for readers to later discuss the
details of each individual component.
• Therefore, the goal is to summarize rather
than discuss the details of each component.

Data Collection Procedure
• The data collection procedure is critical to an
objective evaluation of the quality of research
design.
• The first question coming to the mind of
reviewers is “Can other scholars replicate this
study?”
• The success of developing reproducibility
depends on the inclusion of important
information, including materials, participants,
and control variables.

Answers to the Following Questions
in the Data Collection Procedure
• Who are the participants ?
• Can your sample address your research
questions?
• In what context do you collect the data
that will reflect the needs of answering
the research questions?
• Do you have enough sample size?
• Are your findings potentially susceptible
to the influence of unequal sample size?

Four Essential Elements of Writing
Rigorous Data Collection Procedure
Data Collection
Procedure
Research
Method
Subject
Profile
Answer
Research
Questions
Sample
Size
Samples
in Right
Context

Choi et al.’s Paper as An
Example
Choi et al.’s (2010) study is to investigate
how IT-enabled knowledge management
practices can affect the development of
Transactive Memory Systems (TMS) in an
organization, thereby influencing team
performance.

“We conducted a survey {research method} through the
knowledge management teams {samples in right context}
at these firms. The survey was administered through the
firms’ internal websites over a period of one month. A
total of 942 individuals from 259 teams across both firms
responded {sample size}. After discarding incomplete
responses and teams with fewer than three individual
responses (without including the team leader), we were
left with 743 individuals in 139 teams {sample size}. Table
1 provides demographic characteristics of the survey
participants {subject profiles}. In order to avoid the
common-method bias, we administered surveys on team
performance to team leaders separately” {samples in
right context}

Dou et al.’s Paper as Another
Example
• Dou et al.’s (2010) study adopts the
experimental research method to
investigate the influence of key
contextual factors on brand positioning
online via search engine results pages
(SERPs).

“We recruited the participants in Experiment 1 {research
method} using an e-mail announcement system that
broadcasts messages to the campus community of a
university in Hong Kong. Student samples are suitable if
they are reasonably familiar with the domain under
investigation {samples in right context} (Gordon et al.
1987); we confirmed that students met this criterion with
pretests. We disguised the goal of the study, calling it
“Internet life of Hong Kong residents,” and each study
participant received a HK$100 gift certificate from a local
supermarket after successfully completing the study. E-
mail recipients who expressed interest could sign up
online for the experiment if they were regular Internet
users and had reached their senior year or beyond
{subject profile}.

The qualified respondents then completed an online
questionnaire consisting of a variety of items
pertaining to their demographics, common online
activities, and Internet search skills; this pre-study
questionnaire actually provides measures of each
participant’s Internet search skills. The largest group
of participants, 73 percent, was senior-level
undergraduates; 21 percent were graduate-level
students; the remaining 6 percent were university
staff” {subject profile}.

Strategy 6.3
Explain the Data
Collection Setting

A clear explanation of the data collection
setting can help other scholars understand
the context of the data collection. Thus,
other scholars would be able to create the
same data collection setting from which
the similar findings would be derived at
different times.

Seddon et al.’s (2010) Paper
• Seddon, Calvert and Yang’s (2010) study investigates
the influence of six factors on organizational benefits
from enterprise system projects: functional fit,
overcoming organizational inertia, integration,
process optimization, improved access to information,
and on-going major ES business improvement projects.
• The qualitative content analysis is conducted to assess
whether or not these six factors are important
antecedents to the success of enterprise systems.

“At Sapphire 2003 there were over 100 presentations from senior
business and IS managers from customer organizations such as
Adidas, Audi, Barclays Bank, Bosch, Chevron Texaco, Disney,
Hershey Foods, Lockheed Martin, Shell, Sony, and Texas
Instruments. Streaming video of each 45-minute presentation,
together with PowerPoint slides and full transcripts of each
presentation, were available from the SAP “community” website
for some months after the conference. From the above-
mentioned 100-plus customer presentations, we selected all 60
presentations that discussed either or both of benefits realized
from the enterprise system, and project success factors. The
organizations are quite large. Of the 30 organizations that
reported revenues in their presentations, 27 had 2002 revenues
above U.S. $1 billion per annum. Combined, the presentations
are a very rich source of information about the goals, issues, and
outcomes of ES projects in large organizations. Sapphire 2005
was similar: there were lots of presentations from many large
customers, each with detailed and interesting stories of their
experiences with their SAP software.”

Duan et al.’s (2009) Paper as
An Example
Duan et al.’s (2009) study investigates if
an online user’s adoption decisions
depend on others’ actions.

“We started collecting data in each category daily in
November 2004. Every day we extracted the following
information on every software program listed in each
category: software name, description, date added, total
download, last week download, CNET rating, number of
user reviews, average user rating, and whether the
software program has been labeled as pop (software is
designated as pop if it climbs onto the most popular list)
and new (software is defined as new for the first 15 days).
We also collected software characteristics including
operating system requirements, file size, publisher, license,
and price if its license is free-to-try. Table 3 presents the
variable definition, description, and explanation of
measurement.”

6.5 Pre-Test Instrument
and Pilot Study

Strategy 6.4 Pre-Test the
Instrument and Perform
a Pilot Study

• If the first three steps are to set up the stage for
performance, this next step is to have actors do the
rehearsal.
• “Are there any flaws in the execution?” “Have you
checked the reliability and validity of measurement
instrument?” and “Have you conducted a pilot study to
weed out potential errors in the survey instrument
that may occur in the full-scale study?”
• A careful quality checking process in the pilot-test
stage can earn trust and confidence from reviewers
when coming to the full-scale execution process.

Brown, Dennis and Venkatesh’s Paper as
An Example (2010)
“Two pretests of the instrument were conducted to ensure that
the measures were applicable in the current context. First, ten
individuals (in two groups of five) affiliated with the university
were recruited to participate in this pretest. Each individual
was asked to complete the questionnaire and then provided the
opportunity to comment on any aspect of the questionnaire.
the primary feedback from the first group was with regard to
the use of some “complex” English words/terms in the
questions. Based on this feedback, a few questions were slightly
reworded. the updated questionnaire was then validated with
the second group of pretest participants and feedback solicited.
No significant suggestions were made and, thus, no further
changes were made.

The revised survey was administered among 111
undergraduate students. the focus of the pilot study was to
examine the reliability and validity of the scales in the context
of a collaboration technology—here, SMS. We were
particularly interested in establishing the reliability and
validity of the new scales—immediacy and concurrency. The
new scales were found to be reliable, with Cronbach’s alpha
exceeding 0.80. the other scales were also highly reliable, with
similar Cronbach’s alpha scores. Next, a principal components
analysis with varimax rotation was conducted among the
multi-item constructs from collaboration technology
research—that is, social presence, media richness, immediacy,
concurrency, and familiarity with others. A clean factor
structure was obtained, with loadings greater than 0.70 and
cross-loadings less than 0.35, thus supporting internal
consistency and discriminant validity. a similar analysis was
conducted among the UTAUT predictors and a clean factor
structure was obtained there as well.
•

Given the total number of items from all multi-item
constructs in the model, the sample size in this pilot study
was not sufficient to test internal consistency and
discriminant validity of all constructs in a single test
using exploratory factor analysis. However, this concern is
somewhat alleviated for three reasons: (1) the new scales
were developed in the context of collaboration technology
research and the likelihood of overlap was more with the
constructs in that domain, (2) the technology adoption
constructs and collaboration technology constructs come
from very different bodies of research where there has
been minimal conceptual overlap thus far, and (3) the
entire model and scales will be validated in the actual
data set using confirmatory factor analysis in partial
least squares (PlS).”

Althoughmost surveyquestionsare modified
basedon questionsfrom pre-validatedand
publishedpapers,the authorsstillconduct
twopretestsof the modifiedinstrumentto
ensurethatthemeasures meetcontent
validityand instrumentreliability.

6.6 Conclusions
• A research methodology contains four
essential elements: (1) overview of research
method, (2) data collection procedure, (3)
Data collection settings, and (4) pre-test
instrument and pilot study
• Employ an effective writing strategy to
improve each element of the research
methodology section in your paper

Chapter 7 Writing
Strategies for Data
Analysis

• The purpose of a full-scale data analysis is to explain
the data analysis process.
• You, the writer, should summarize and explain your
data analysis results in a scientific way.
• Explain why and how your analysis results support or
reject the hypotheses.
• A good picture can say a thousand words. You may
want to use graphs or tables to present statistical
analysis results.
• Try not to spend more than two pages in length, not
including statistics, tables and figures, in addressing
the analysis results.

如何撰寫並投稿專業論文至SCI/SSCI期刊-三星統計陳建宏顧問-20130717

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