Akmal Mirsadikov’s research while affiliated with Wichita State University and other places

Purpose With the widespread use of online communications, users are extremely vulnerable to a myriad of deception attempts. This study aims to extend the literature on deception in computer-mediated communication by investigating whether the manner in which popularity information (PI) is presented and media richness affects users’ judgments. Design/methodology/approach This study developed a randomized, within and 2 × 3 between-subject experimental design. This study analyzed the main effects of PI and media richness on the imitation magnitude of veracity judges and the effect of the interaction between PI and media richness on the imitation magnitude of veracity judges. Findings The manner in which PI is presented to people affects their tendency to imitate others. Media richness also has a main effect; text-only messages resulted in greater imitation magnitude than those viewed in full audiovisual format. The findings showed an interaction effect between PI and media richness. Originality/value The findings of this study contribute to the information systems literature by introducing the notion of herd behavior to judgments of truthfulness and deception. Also, the medium over which PI was presented significantly impacted the magnitude of imitation tendency: PI delivered through text-only medium led to a greater extent of imitation than when delivered in full audiovisual format. This suggests that media richness alters the degree of imitating others’ decisions such that the leaner the medium, the greater the expected extent of imitation.

Virtual Lies and Digital Truths: A Review of Research on Deception in Online Communication reviews previous research that lies at the intersection of deception and computer-mediated communication and examines future directions that this research may be attuned to. As new varieties of online deception attract new researchers to the research effort, particularly within the field of management information systems, reviewing where the research stream originated and where it appears to be heading could be enlightening to those who hope to engage further with the topic. This monograph is organized as follows. Following discussion defining and contextualizing deception within the field of information systems research, the authors review some of the prominent theories that have helped inform studies on the topic. These include seminal theories developed in the fields of communication, IS theory and other relevant disciplines that have helped explain deceptive communication and its detection across computer-based modalities. Key findings and implications from across research disciplines are reviewed. Then, the incidence of deceptive communication across generations of media and technology platforms is discussed. Finally, the monograph concludes with an overview of potentially important research gaps and a call for interested researchers to continue investigating deception in computer-mediated communication.

Supplementary file of Harrison, A., Mirsadikov, A., & Luu, T. (2023). Influence of Media Capabilities on Trust in the Sharing Economy. Journal of Management Information Systems, 40(3), 953-982.

Media capabilities influence consumers’ trust in online exchanges. However, in the sharing economy, where consumers interact with service providers through a platform, conventional models of trust must be revisited. Our research identifies how media synchronicity and anonymity influence the relative importance of institution-based trust in sharing economy exchanges. We collected data from 248 ride-hailing customers and 288 cryptocurrency users to test a moderated mediation model of trust. We find that in the sharing economy media synchronicity and anonymity lead customers to develop trust toward service providers directly and undermine the impact of institutional trust mechanisms. This indicates that in sharing economy exchanges, trust can be built directly with the service provider, or alternatively, indirectly through the platform. Consequently, organizations in the sharing economy can strategically design their systems to engender trust by choosing between (1) emphasizing the platform’s reputation or (2) encouraging direct communication between the consumer and service providers.