Ned Kock is best known for employing biological evolution ideas to the understanding of human behavior toward technologies, particularly information technologies. He developed media naturalness theory

Media naturalness theory

Media naturalness theory was developed by Ned Kock. This theory is sometimes referred to as the psychobiological model, or compensatory adaptation theory...

, an evolutionary communication media theory. Kock is the writer of a popular blog on the intersection of evolution, statistics, and health.

He developed WarpPLS, a nonlinear variance-based structural equation modeling software tool. The underlying mathematics employed in WarpPLS builds on the method of path analysis, developed by the evolutionary biologist Sewall Wright

Sewall Wright

Sewall Green Wright was an American geneticist known for his influential work on evolutionary theory and also for his work on path analysis. With R. A. Fisher and J.B.S. Haldane, he was a founder of theoretical population genetics. He is the discoverer of the inbreeding coefficient and of...

. WarpPLS has been used to study a variety of topics, including password security risks, software testing, customer satisfaction, accounting education, and web-based homework.

He has conducted research and written on the topic of academic plagiarism. His research and writings in this area have been discussed in The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....

, and contributed to considerable debate on the topic within the Association for Computing Machinery

Association for Computing Machinery

The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...

, and to the establishment of an ethics committee within the Association for Information Systems

Association for Information Systems

The Association for Information Systems is an international professional organization serving as the premier global organization for academics specializing in Information Systems...

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Kock has also been a proponent of the use of action research

Action research

Action research or participatory action research – is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. Action research is done simply by action,...

 in the study of human behavior toward technologies, arguing that it can be used in investigations aimed at testing hypotheses in a postpositivist fashion. As a result of his action research investigations, he developed a method for systems analysis

Systems analysis

Systems analysis is the study of sets of interacting entities, including computer systems analysis. This field is closely related to requirements analysis or operations research...

 and business process redesign that places emphasis on the optimization of communication interactions in business processes.

He is a Professor of Information Systems at Texas A&M International University

Texas A&M International University

Texas A&M International University, often referred to as TAMIU, is a public, co-educational, state-supported university located in Laredo, Texas...

, and Founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of e-Collaboration

International Journal of e-Collaboration

International Journal of e-Collaboration is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes the latest notable findings related to the interdisciplinary field of e-collaboration; a new field that is at the intersection of the fields of computer-human interaction, computer-supported cooperative...

. He holds a B.E.E. in electronics engineering from the Federal Technological University of Parana at Curitiba

Curitiba

Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is the largest city with the biggest economy of both Paraná and southern Brazil. The population of Curitiba numbers approximately 1.75 million people and the latest GDP figures for the city surpass US$61 billion according to...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, a M.Sc. in computer science

Computer science

Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

 from the Institute of Aeronautical Technology, Brazil, and a Ph.D. in management with a concentration in information systems

Information systems

Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...

 from the School of Management Studies, University of Waikato

University of Waikato

The University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. It has strengths across a broad range of subject areas, particularly its degrees in Computer Science and in Management...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

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