As consumers take greater control over products and services they consume, electronic word of
mouth (eWOM) and user generated content (UGC) are now being considered as one of the most
critical information sources not only for customers of online goods and services but also for those
who are involved in product development, marketing, and customer services in online shopping
contexts. In recent years, with the radically growing popularity of (1) social networking sites (SNS)
such as Facebook, Twitter, and KakaoTalk, (2) online review sites (ORS) such as IMDB (movies),
Tripadvisor (travel), and Yelp (restaurants), (3) UGC sharing platforms such as YouTube, Picasa, and Pinterest, and (4) online product reviews (OPR) created in e-commerce sites such as Amazon.com, it is now almost impossible for consumers to make better choices without the help of such online services (SNS, ORS, UGC sharing platforms, and OPR).

Most major companies now try to incorporate such eWOM channels by creating and maintaining
their own product/service review websites, online forums, blogs, and company accounts on SNS in an attempt to increase communication between businesses and customers (or communication
among consumers). But, only little is known about what kinds of factors contribute to the
generation and propagation of eWOM and UGC, how eWOM and UGC can change consumers
attitudes toward the products and services and even influence their purchasing intentions and
behaviors, how knowledge is created, disseminated and adopted through eWOM communication,
and how they can provide significant business value to the providers of products and services.

Thus, Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems invites submissions for a special issue on
“Electronic Word of Mouth and User Generated Content.” This special issue intends to bridge this
knowledge gap by providing an outlet for innovative and timely contributions pertaining to
eWOM and UGC, as disseminated through different kinds of online communication channels,
including (but not limited to) SNS, ORS, UGC sharing platforms, company- or 3rd-party owned
online forums, blogs, and OPR in e-commerce sites. We especially encourage contributions that
address specific topics of eWOM and UGC in diverse industries such as digital goods (e.g., mobile applications), healthcare, hospitality, tourism, entertainment, telecommunications, and etc.

Guest Editors:
Sung-Byung Yang, Ajou University, South Korea, sbyang@ajou.ac.kr
Kyung Young Lee, Bishop’s University, Canada, klee@ubishops.ca
Animesh Animesh, McGill University, Canada, animesh.animesh@mcgill.ca
Saeed Akhlaghpour, Middlesex University, United Kingdom, s.akhlaghpour@mdx.ac.uk

Important Dates:
Deadline for Submissions: 1 March 2015  30 April 2015(Extended)
First Round Author Notification: 1 June 2015
First Round Revised Version Due: 1 August 2015
Second Round Author Notification: 15 September 2015
Second Round Revised Version Due: 1 November 2015
Notification of Acceptance: 15 November 2015
Expected Publication Date: 31 December 2015

In the past few years, business analytics has emerged as one of the most popular and important issues for both researchers and practitioners with an explosion of large-scale data such as social media data and real-time and historical data. Managers across all industries are looking for opportunities to increase efficiencies and gain competitive advantage through the analysis of big data using a variety of quantitative techniques such as statistics, operations research methods, data mining, and social mining. We can clearly see that the possibilities of business analytics continue to evolve, driven by the recent advancement in knowledge management and business intelligence. The question that arises is how to best capture the value by combining business analytics and knowledge management. Building on existing work in knowledge management and business intelligence, it is essential to identify how business analytics can be used to address many of the issues currently facing knowledge management in both academia and industrial sectors.

This special issue aims to bring together scholars who investigate organizational performance and
sustainable competitive advantage in the domains of knowledge management, business intelligence, business analytics, and big data. It aims to draw together empirically-grounded and theoreticallyinformed analyses of the key issues in contemporary forms of knowledge management and business analytics across various fields and methodologies. Applied research in these areas is also welcome.

Guest Editors:

Byounggu Choi, Kookmin University, h2choi@kookmin.ac.kr
Kunsoo Han, McGill University, kunsoo.han@mcgill.ca
Zhuo (June) Cheng,  Hong Kong Polytechnic University, afzcheng@polyu.edu.hk

Important Dates:

Deadline for article submission: 1 December 2014
Reviews returned to authors: 1 February 2015
Deadline for submission of revised articles: 1 May 2015
Final articles selected: 1 July 2015
Publication of the APJIS Special Issue: September 2015

Social media describes the collection of web and mobile-based technologies that mediate human and social communication via social network. It enables individuals, groups and communities to gather, communicate and share information, to collaborate or to play. Social media research has become critical as the role of networks and other digital technologies become an anchor for change in societies as well as business domain. By facilitating access to usergenerated
contents, social media also has become a democratic, personalized, and do-it-yourself platform of communications as well as practical tools for business. Companies can sense crowd opinion on products on social media and are devising innovative methods to attain insights user-generated contents for developing their competitive strategy. Furthermore, citizens share opinions and participate in the government policy development by using social media.

The fundamental objective of this special issue is to assimilate the best practices and insights academic and industry research to support the effective use of social media and to understand how social media impacts individual behavior and organizational/social performance. We expect to identify the key features of social media, unveil psychological and behavioral factors underlying the diffusion and growth of social media, address economic and organizational/societal impacts of social media, and explore different ways to manage user-generated data for effective business/social analyses. The special issue also expects to demonstrate innovative methods of handling data digital and social media to analyze business/social implications.

Guest Editors:

Hee-Woong Kim, Yonsei University, kimhw@yonsei.ac.kr
Hock Chuan Chan, National University of Singapore, chanhc@comp.nus.edu.sg
Sumeet Gupta, Indian Institute of Management Raipr, sumeetgupta@iimraipur.ac.in

Important Date:

Full paper submission due: September 31, 2014

Information Technologies and Information Systems have also changed the structure of the tourism
industry with new players entering the value chain. The tourism industry consists of a large number of loosely interconnected travel entities that are dependent on one another. IT enabled tourism provides greater value when it helps in collecting and pre-processing information according to personal and situational needs of the travelers. IT suggests that travel companies are predisposed to comprehend correct directions for IT development and that its elements work together in complex tourism ecosystems. For instance, mobile apps connected with social network services as well as with traditional websites allow exchanges to be informed by socially generated information and for feedback to be instantaneous. Mobile applications for a specific destination are increasingly needed for consumer reviews and recommendations of restaurants, transportation information, and supporting the entire tourist life cycle and all business ecosystems. Twitter, facebook, and other social media applications, for example, are used by travel & heritage sites, airlines, and hotels to identify service quality issues and engage in immediate service recovery.

Ultimately, IT can enable better tourism ecosystem health, increasing the destinations’ competitive
advantage, and enabling travel companies and travelers to better exchange and share vital resources. Tourism and IT convergence is generally recognized as a critical step for creating, storing, and transferring information capital. This convergence is necessary for travel companies as it allows for the creation of valuable profit and healthy tourism business ecosystems. These smart tourism ecosystems become socio-technical networks, in which IT plays the role of an intelligent service platform that regulates the responses of tourism ecosystems to internal and external stimulation Destinations may soon discover that smart tourism ecosystems are indispensable.

Guest Editors:

Chulmo Koo, Kyung Hee University, South Korea, helmetgu@khu.ac.kr
Ulli Gretzel, The University of Wollongong, Australia, ugretzel@uow.edu.au
William C. Hunter, Kyung Hee University, South Korea
Namho Chung, Kyung Hee University, United Kingdom, nhchung@khu.ac.kr

Important Dates:

Submission Deadline: 1 June 2014
Place all articles to reviewers: 14 June 2014
Return of all reviews: 14 July 2014
Check 1st Decision: 21 July 2014
Resend to authors for revisions: 3 Aug 2014
Submission Deadline for revised version: 24 Aug 2014
Place all articles to reviewers (2nd round): 1 Sep 2014
2nd round reviews in: 22 Sep 2014
2nd Decision: 29 Sep 2014
Check 2nd Decision: 1 Oct 2014
Final Decision & Notification: 11 Oct 2014

Owing to the wide propagation of social network services and smart phones, the SOLOMO (SOcial-LOcal-MObile) environment has become the common platform of life and business. Thus, it is a good opportunity for the MIS community to new businesses by synergistically synthesizing the characteristics of the SOLOMO platform. To emphasize the importance of new research on this issue, the official journal of Korea Society of Management Information Systems, APJIS calls for papers on “Creating Synergy Business on the SOLOMO Media” as a special issue of 2012.

APJIS invites contributions of both empirical and theoretical research policy, organizational and/or technical perspectives. The deadline for article submissions is June 30th, 2012. Please submit your paper to ‘APJIS@kmis.or.kr’, and address any questions to APJIS@kmis.or.kr.

Guest editors of this special issue:
Jae Kyu Lee (College of Business, KAIST, Korea)
Jaeki Song (Texas Tech University, USA)
Cheng Zhang (Fudan University, China)