Change – the only constant

Citation

Schwartz, D.G. (2011), "Change – the only constant", Internet Research, Vol. 21 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/intr.2011.17221caa.001

Change – the only constant

Article Type: Editorial From: Internet Research, Volume 21, Issue 3

We live in a changing world of E. Promoting e-commerce through e-marketing; establishing e-government through e-voting; sending e-cards in response to e-vites; depositing our e-cash through e-banking; reading e-books and e-magazines. After 13 years of editing (e-diting?) Internet Research and seeing it through its 20th volume milestone, it is with mixed feelings that I welcome you to my final editorial and last issue as Editor.

Looking back on the history of Internet Research the journal, we see the history and evolution of internet research the discipline, and that of the internet itself. Even the title of the journal has evolved – from Electronic Networking Applications and Policy in its early years, to Internet Research: Electronic Networking Application and Policy, to today’s succinct Internet Research. While the title has simplified over time, the content the journal publishes continues to grow more diverse and complex even as the internet touches more and more parts of our lives.

How fitting, then, to begin this issue with “Construction and validation of an e-lifestyle instrument”, by Chian-Son Yu. Yu’s study results in a scale of 39 items grouped across seven categories ranging from the “need-driven lifestyle” to the “novelty-driven lifestyle”. The term e-lifestyle does indeed capture the essence of what the internet has come to mean for a large part of our world.

As if one lifestyle, or e-lifestyle, was not enough we have in recent years witnessed the growth of virtual environments supporting a complete virtual online existence, such as Second Life ™. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1943), with its roots in psychology, has become doctrine in disciplines ranging from political science (Bay, 1968), to organizational behavior (Hofstede, 1980). Perhaps it was only a question of time before Maslow’s theory would be extended to virtual worlds – and indeed, Barnes and Pressey have taken this significant leap in their article “Who needs cyberspace? Examining drivers of needs in Second Life.”

Countries around the world continue to rush head-on into the era of e-government, while the possibly recursive impact of national culture on e-government and e-government on national culture remains poorly understood. Fang Zhao beings to narrow this gap with “Impact of national culture on e-government development: a global study”. By superimposing Hofstede’s (2001) Cultural Dimension Index on the United Nations (2010) e-government survey, Zhao begins to unearth important and perhaps unexpected relationships.

Moving from the theoretical and global, to the applied and local, this issue continues with two articles focused on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Ifinedo takes us to the East Coast of Canada in an investigation of “Internet/e-business technologies acceptance in Canada’s SMEs”, and Lin, Huang and Stockdale focus on “Developing a B2B web site effectiveness model for SMEs”. Both of these contributions highlight the continued need for a clearer understanding of how internet technologies are impacting this vital business layer of our national economies.

Also in this issue are two empirical studies of an industry that has felt hardest how the planning and conduct of one of the most physical of activities has developed a dominant virtual element – travel. Ku addresses the changing influences on decision making in “Recommendations from a virtual community as a catalytic agent of travel decisions”, and Manganari, Siomkos, Rigopoulou, and Vrechopoulos combine theories of consumer behavior, interface design, and environmental psychology to produce “Virtual store layout effects on consumer behaviour: applying an environmental psychology approach in the online travel industry”.

If nothing else, the development of the internet surely provides empirical evidence of Heraclitus’ doctrine that “change is the only constant” (Heraclitus of Ephesus c.535 BC-475 BC). With an unquestionably acute rate of change, it is the nature of that change that becomes interesting and the focus of “Linking generativity and disruptive innovation to conceptualize ICTs”, by Menon. Taking the polar approaches of generativity (Zittrain, 2006), and disruptiveness (Christensen, 1997), Menon carefully develops the groundwork for an integrated theory of ICT innovation, and brings to a close this issue of Internet Research.

Change. From Volume 8, Issue 4, through Volume 21, Issue 3 – over 1,800 submissions, 13 volumes, 65 issues, and 550 published articles, reviews and editorials later. The world is indeed a very different place.

I have had the pleasure to work with the dedicated and professional team at Emerald Group Publishing, starting with John Peters from whom I took over as Editor, and a series of Managing Publishers that included Eileen Breen, Rachel Murawa, Diane Heath, and Elizabeth Scott. The Editorial Advisory Board has consistently served as wise counsel in helping chart the direction of the journal and I welcome and congratulate Dr Jim Jansen, one of our experienced EAB members, who will be taking over as Editor.

It has been an honour and privilege to be entrusted with the research endeavours of so many leading and developing scientists and scholars. The internet has undergone almost inconceivable change over these past 13 years, much of it influenced by the work that has appeared in these pages. But there is something else that has been changed, enriched, stimulated, and inspired by the scholarship that has flowed through the journal’s editorial office. That would be me.

And for that I thank you.

David G. SchwartzEditor