This study is part of a doctoral thesis aimed at investigating the influence of institutional factors on utilisation of Research4Life databases by NARIs scientists in Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey design of the correlational type. The study population consists of 1,205 research scientists in the 15 NARIs from which a total of thirteen (13) institutes and 1,062 research scientists were selected adopting cluster, simple random and stratified random sampling techniques. The questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. It consists of 105 questions arranged in five sections. Simple percentage, mean, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation, multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance were used to analyse the data. Result indicates that the six institutional factors were significant and the institutional factors influenced utilisation of Research4Life databases. Accessibility of databases, availability of password and fast Internet access made significant contributions to utilisation of Research4Life databases. NARIs management has critical roles to play in providing access to Research4Life databases in research scientists’ offices and their libraries as well as providing fast Internet access and in-house-training in the institutes. The librarians should register for Research4Life databases and make the user names and passwords available to all their bona fide users.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the general and specific gratifications that drive users’ choice of different social media. Sina Weibo and WeChat in China were selected for the current study. Two separate empirical surveys were conducted and 368 valid data were collected from Chinese university students experienced in using Sina Weibo or WeChat. Exploratory factor analysis, paired t test and independent-samples t test were employed for data analysis. The results identify four general gratifications for using different social media: hedonic gratification, affection gratification, information gratification and social gratification. In addition, factor structure of information gratification is different for different social media. Furthermore, the strength of each gratification differs to varying degrees across the use of different social media. Information gratification plays the most salient role in using Sina Weibo, whereas affection gratification is the most important motive for the use of WeChat. Also, the use of Sina Weibo can better fulfill individuals’ information and hedonic gratifications, while individuals prefer to use WeChat for achieving gratifications of social and affection.
This study investigates the roles of academic libraries in propagating Open Science. The study is a qualitative survey based on literature review. Various definitions of open science from different scholars and schools of thought were examined. Research articles on the effects of open science on research and the place of academic libraries in scientific research were reviewed. Open science enhances collaborations and sharing of resources among researchers. Metadata related activities are more prevalent due to open science. Open science has increased the relevance of science to our environment and world issues like privacy and the rightful author of scientific data are still some of the challenges facing open science. Academic libraries continue to take steps to be involved as key players in the propagation of open science through advocacy, building of institutional data repositories and serving as hubs for scientific collaboration among others. Academic libraries have to do more in the area of advocacy and provision of data repositories.
This paper looks at the intersection of two growing trends in international development – use of justice in development theory, and use of data in development practice – and asks what data-justice-for-development would mean. The rationale for this can be the presence of current data injustices in developing countries, and different framings for data injustice point to three different mainstream perspectives on data justice: instrumental, procedural, and distributive/rights-based. These three perspectives are explained but they are also subject to small data, sustainability, Senian, and structural critiques. A full understanding of the mainstream perspectives and conceptualisation of the critiques is largely the task of a future research agenda. However, the paper does particularly argue that a structural approach should be the foundation for understanding data justice in a development context. It offers three potential ways to conceptualise structural data justice – through the ideas of Iris Marion Young, of political economy, and of the capability approach – and ends with some thoughts on the practical agenda when seeking to deliver structural data justice for development.
College and university websites play a vital role in promoting an institution’s identity and achievements, facilitate the recruitment of prospective students and provide information for current students through content. They are a major source of information and the largest communication tool between the university and internal or external audiences. Therefore, one of the university’s main missions is to be strategic with its valuable and useful website content and to treat it as a critical asset. The purpose of this research was to investigate the current state of the web content of the website of Abdulaziz University (KAU) and propose a web content strategy to be applied. The study includes three phases: (1) a survey of the website coordinators of KAU, which showed that 97% of them were not dedicated solely to website issues, 35% have qualifications in fields unrelated to website design, usability testing is considered the best way of assessing an audience’s needs and usage behaviour by 65%, none of the respondents have a web content strategy nor were working on one; (2) an evaluation of internal and external environments concerning KAU’s website content using SWOT analysis; and (3) the presentation of a proposed strategy using the Delphi approach. This strategy will guide the planning, creation and governance of web content in line with KAU’s strategic aims, and will support the university in achieving its vision with respect to education, research, innovation and communication.
Women farmers constitute the vast majority of agricultural producers in Tanzania; however, it is not clear where they obtain information on modern farming innovations. Knowing these sources will enable the government and international aid organizations to more effectively channel information for increased productivity, leading to national food security, increased incomes for farm families and promoting gender parity in Tanzania. This study, which was carried out among 300 women farmers in Hai and Kilosa districts of Kilimanjaro and Morogoro regions respectively, aimed at identifying their sources of agricultural information. The theory that guided this study was Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, especially Rogers and Shoemaker’s Source-Message-Channel-Receiver-Effect (SMCRE) model. The study, which yielded a high response rate of 96%, found that radio and agricultural extension workers were the primary sources of agricultural information for women farmers. Therefore, the researchers recommend that the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives (MAFC) should focus on community radio as the primary source of information dissemination to farmers and supply rural households with solar-powered radios free of charge or at subsidized cost. The finding that extension workers are women farmers’ second main source of information on farming innovations also defeats the general contention that male extension workers are inaccessible to female farmers. A peculiar finding was that even though women farmers have access to mobile phones they do not use them to obtain agricultural information, perhaps, because the MAFC does not have a system for farmers to call in for information.
The quantity and popularity of mobile cloud computing services have increased significantly. From the principal-agent perspective, this study proposes a model to determine the adoption of mobile cloud computing services. In the model, three uncertainty antecedents of mobile cloud computing utilization are included: fears of service provider opportunism, perceived information asymmetry, and information privacy and security concerns. Likewise, three motivators are included: trust, convenience, and social presence. Based on 263 observations of mobile cloud computing users, the study identifies that trust and convenience are motivators and perceived uncertainty is a mitigator for adopting mobile cloud computing services.
Various new performance evaluation indices for impact have been proposed and studied in various contexts. This study carried out a quantitative evaluation of the case of Malaysian engineering researchers at the micro level using a scientometric approach. In order to understand the behavior of new developments, a comparative performance evaluation is carried out of h-index, a set of h-type indices along with publication and citation metrics. Findings are compared with earlier major studies. We looked for institutional h-index and researchers’ h-index scores and did not find any relationship. Exploratory Factor Analysis is employed to examine the valid categorization and to study the underlying dimensions of the studied metrics and indices. The inter-correlation among h-index, its variants, and traditional metrics is probed in detail. The h, q and g-indices along with publication and citation hold the position on ‘quantity of the productive core’, while the R index showed equal loading on both cores. For the case of Malaysian engineering researchers, two conspicuous findings are observed about the total citation and g-index. These have association with the first component named as ‘quantity of the productive core.’ Our findings strengthen the point that citation count has a strong association with the ‘quantity of the productive core’ and cannot be used as sole impact evaluation measure.
This article investigates if the adoption of the Liberian Freedom of Information (FOI) law 2010 has led to a transparent government and increased the free flow of government information. Freeing government information is expected to create transparent and accountable governments. It brings forth democratic and inclusive government institutions that work for the people. Inclusivity, transparency and accountability are expected to address sustainable development challenges and democracy deficits. Transparency and accountability can only be achieved through access to government information. The right to access government information is also included in the national constitution of Liberia. The citizens of Liberia in West Africa suffered from a protracted civil war between 1989–1996 and 1999–2003 respectively. These wars were partly caused by non-accountability of the governments, endemic corruption and the mismanagement of the countries’ resources. Efforts are being made by the government with the help of the international community to embrace a new democratic dispensation. Liberia was also one of the first African countries to enact a Freedom of Information (FOI) Law that would enable Liberians to access government information.
Public libraries are important institutions to support access to information services. Many communities, especially in rural areas, cannot afford to access information services and rely on free libraries in their communities in their quest for information services. The need for libraries to serve multicultural information users should therefore be reflected in their attempts to provide access to information services in their communities. This article reports on a study of libraries as facilitators of access to information services in a developing context. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 24 conveniently selected librarians from 9 public libraries in Northern Library Region in the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Interviews were further conducted with 98 diverse information users who were randomly sampled during data collection. Findings indicate that public libraries provide diverse information services to learners, parents, general workers, students, women and young adults and children in their different age groups, occupations and general activities performed in their role of facilitating access to information services. These diverse users have diverse information needs, which create some challenges in the provision of information services. It was found that limited funding, shortage of skills and knowledge, technology and time, among others, are challenges limiting provision of information services in these libraries. Recruiting potential users, contesting for increased funding, lobbying for support, facilitation of technological training of skills are some recommendations made by this study.
The agricultural sector plays a decisive role in Ghana’s economy, employment, and food security. The study set out to assess the information needs of agricultural extension agents across all the agro-ecological zones of Ghana, in order to provide them with the right information. A structured field survey methodology was used for the study and 472 agricultural extension agents from 40 districts in Ghana served as the respondents. The findings of the study revealed that agricultural extension agents regularly sourced for information from books and reports; visual or pictorial information was the most preferred format for package of information. The AEAs used agricultural extension information to assist in the discharge of their work, and as a basis for advice to farmers on general farm planning and consultancy among others. Challenges identified in accessing information included inadequate information infrastructure and training avenues. The AEAs suggested that critical information infrastructure such as libraries, information centers, and databases be provided as measures to offset the challenges. The study recommended that efforts should be directed at improving extension agents’ access to information infrastructure and that different and wide-ranging media should be developed to supply information to the AEAs.
Cloud services have become a particular concern for modern industries and enterprises as they have been shown to change human behavior, and thereby necessitate the renewal of business models. This study proposes a conceptual model, and creates an integrated vision from the perspective of Taiwanese firms, investigating their intentions when adopting cloud services. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) are both adopted in this study in order to analyze response data (n=214). The SEM analysis results present the service characteristics: the foundation and management characteristics offered by cloud services have significant positive effects on firm trust. Perceived innovation characteristics regarding cloud services have proven to have different effects on firms’ perceived usefulness. The study connects these research findings and contributes to the theoretical development and empirical application of trust theory and cloud service marketing strategies in both academia and practice.
Despite the widespread use of digital technology in public administration, little attention has been given to understanding e-government adoption and acceptance by its employees. This paper examines the level of public administration employees’ ICT literacy and the extent to which they support e-government. The influence of background variables is also explored in the analysis. A structured online questionnaire was used to gather data from employees of Croatian central government bodies. According to the results, surveyed employees rated their general ICT literacy as high. They are more confident in their basic ICT skills than in advanced ones. The level of such skills is associated with socio-demographic characteristics. The findings also indicate that employees accept e-government, but they are less satisfied with its implementation. However, socio-demographic factors do not affect to a great extent employees’ acceptance and satisfaction with e-government. The study expands previous research by analysing the group differences at both manifest and latent levels. It also contributes to the identification of factors that may influence e-government success.
Many organizations engage in and also endeavor to report their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to placate the key stakeholders in society. This study is a cross-country analysis of CSR themes communicated by the eight top telecommunications companies in Africa using websites as a disclosure medium. The study evaluates CSR reportage in community involvement, ethical involvement, product and customer, human resource and environmental engagement in South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya. The work concludes that the telecommunications companies in Africa sampled in the study are committed to and report their CSR activities. However, significant differences do exist in how the various companies reported on their CSR. The South African firms clearly lead in reporting CSR in most of the constructs investigated. However, the sampled firms all reported their contributions to education and community engagement. The work makes significant contributions to CSR reportage, especially in the area of cross-country analysis of CSR themes.
The ubiquity of information and communication technologies (ICT) in all aspects of life has an important consequence in today’s world: shortage of skilled personnel in this area. Although the dotcom bubble in 2000 had an adverse effect in the requirement for ICT skills in industrialized countries, this is not applicable for many developing countries, where ICT skills are in high demand. Even though South Africa is one of these countries, ICT enrolments and graduations do not meet ICT skills demand. An important reason for the skills gap in this area is the negative perceptions of university students about ICT. It was found that there were substantial differences in the perceptions of ICT and non-ICT students about the ICT profession. Some of the differences are subjective, such as perceiving the ICT profession as boring, while some other are ungrounded, such as that ICT jobs are less secure and the unemployment rate is high. The findings may be pertinent not only for South Africa, but also other developing countries where negative perceptions about ICT hinder prospective students to enrol to computer-related programs.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the information needs and information-seeking patterns of users and non-users of the Internet among rural women in Tanzania. The study used mixed research sequential design, wherein the initial qualitative phase informed the design of the cross-sectional questionnaire surveys. The study was conducted in three rural districts in Tanzania that have telecentres: Sengerema, Kongwa and Kilosa districts. In 2014, the study conducted focus group discussions (FGDs): six FGDs with 37 Internet users, and six with 36 non-users. In 2015, questionnaire surveys were administered to 90 users and 90 non-users of Internet from telecenters. The findings showed that there were similarities in the major information needs and information seeking patterns of both users and non-users of Internet, although some variations were noted. Demographic characteristics related to education level, income and number of information sources played a key role in discriminating between Internet users and non-users. This study provides empirical findings for telecenters, libraries and other rural information providers to develop and offer relevant user-centered information services that are gender sensitive, to facilitate equitable access to relevant information for rational decision-making.
The purpose of the study was to explore how public libraries in Meru County, Kenya, address the information needs of small-scale business enterprises (SBEs) in the region. It was carried out from 2013 to 2015. A quantitative approach and survey research design were adopted to collect data from SBE traders and staff from three public libraries in Meru County. The study found that the business information needs of SBEs are myriad, sector-specific and cut across all stages of business development. These needs are fulfilled by consulting informal information resources and places. The few SBEs traders who were using public libraries for business information expressed high levels of satisfaction. The study concludes that public libraries have facilitative and functional roles of providing business information to SBEs by collaborating with like-minded stakeholders. The study recommends symmetrical dissemination of business information and the re-positioning of public libraries as community development centers by providing value-based and sector-specific business information solutions.
Relocation to residential care facilities by older persons (60+) can decrease their social connectedness with their primary networks. The purpose of the study was to identify the use and acceptance of technology-assisted communication to increase social connectedness in older persons (N = 103) in an urban residential care facility in South Africa. The research design was a non-experimental quantitative descriptive survey using self-administered questionnaires based on the Technology Acceptance Model. All residents were included in the study. Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness and Attitude scales were calculated and the Behavioural Intention for technology use was measured. Participants with the highest Behavioural Intention were residents in their first year of relocation, younger participants (60–74 years), divorced participants and participants with higher educational qualifications. Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness were low and were directly correlated. Perceived Ease of Use contributed significantly towards Attitudes concerning technology use. The overall Behavioural Intention for technology use was good (60/75) and the Technology Acceptance Model pathway was confirmed using Structural Equation Modelling. Video chat offered greatest appeal for future use.
This paper investigated the relationship between staff development and job performance of the library staff of five selected universities in Ghana. The paper examined the effectiveness of staff training and development policies, programmes, methods, training needs analysis and the monitoring and evaluation methods of the university libraries in order to establish the effectiveness of staff development initiatives in library and information services. The study adopted survey design and mixed methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative approaches in a single study. Data was largely collected with a questionnaire, while interviews were used to collect data from head librarians and heads of departments. The observation instrument was also used to confirm some information provided by the respondents. The findings of the study established that there is a positive relationship between staff training and development and work performance of library staff in the selected university libraries in Ghana. The results also revealed that even though staff development contributes greatly to effective provision of library and information services, staff training alone did not contribute to staff effectiveness. Staff development must be complemented with other human resource management strategies such as reward, promotion, retooling, etc. The paper makes recommendations on how staff development can help improve upon library staff effectiveness.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to the latest figures and studies, affects a large segment of people who need more services from all fields in their countries whether they be the educational sector, health sector, or others. Public libraries are considered to be one of the most important sources of information for the whole community. Furthermore, the core aim of this type of library is to identify community needs, to provide materials, programs and technologies to meet those needs, and to cooperate with other agencies and organisations which serve the community as a whole. Although individuals with ASD are considered an important part of the population of the State of Kuwait, libraries and public libraries, in particular, do not pay attention to this segment for several reasons, such as lack of sufficient awareness of ASD. Public libraries` services to individuals with ASD are not clear and need to be investigated. This research attempts to investigate the new role of public libraries in order to serve individuals with ASD and their families in the Kuwait. Data was gathered from individuals with ASD and/or their families by using questionnaires and by interviews with 27 librarians in Kuwaiti public libraries.
This study explored the information literacy of women on family planning in rural communities of Akinyele Local Government Area, Oyo state, Nigeria. Multistage sampling was adopted. Akinyele local government was divided into 12 wards and from these, six rural communities were purposively selected. Convenience sampling was used to select respondents, who were women within the reproductive age of 18–49 years. Focus group discussion was used to collect data from 78 respondents and interview from five key informants. The data collected in the Yoruba language were transcribed verbatim and translated to English. The collected data were analysed thematically. Findings showed some basic level of knowledge about family planning among the women, although the majority were yet to adopt family planning. Acquisition of family planning information was mainly through the radio and health centres, where available. Reasons for non-adoption included husbands’ disapproval and unavailability of health facilities as well as reported complications arising from use. There were no reported cases of enlightenment programmes by the government except in one of the communities, where such programmes were introduced but stopped. Provision of fully equipped and functioning health centres with well-trained health professionals is recommended to improve information literacy on family planning.
A number of studies have examined the failures of e-government efforts from various theoretical perspectives in the domains of government-to-citizen (G2C) and government-to-business (G2B). However, only a few studies have been done in government-to-government (G2G) e-government projects. This paper examines the impasse reached during the implementation of a statewide Digital Secretariat Project in India through the lens of stakeholder theory. A qualitative case study approach employing semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders was employed to explore the issue. The results reveal the importance of power dynamics, which can stall the entire project. In a G2G project, that is interactional in nature and has to be used by multiple departments, it is crucial for the implementing agency to identify dominant stakeholder departments and take them into confidence right from the beginning of the project. In such cases intervention by higher level government offices is important to impart saliency to the implementing agency and prevent any other dominant stakeholder from stalling the project. Undertaking such widespread projects without strong government support can lead to failure of implementation and waste of important public resources. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Technology adoption has been studied extensively within the IS discipline. However, few if any have studied end users’ acceptance of newly implemented technologies within organizational contexts before end-users start using the technology. Additionally, information management motivation is one of the areas that have not yet been sufficiently integrated with the technology acceptance literature. The present research investigates the personal information management motivation and its sub-dimensions, such as proactiveness, sharing, transparency, and formality, based on the extant literature from information systems (IS), social psychology, and knowledge management fields, and their relationships to behavioral intention to adopt content management systems in a mandatory setting. The proposed model was empirically tested using the data collected from 148 end users using PLS. The study findings provide important insights on understanding information management motivation in a mandatory adoption environment.
Cloud computing essentially is a scalable, flexible and pay-per-use model for the way IT services are delivered. It can significantly improve the way a government functions, the services it provides to its citizens and institutions. This paper aims to explore the factors that influence adopting cloud computing as a part of public sector organizations’ alternatives to implement e-government services. Based on two dominant theories in the field of adoption of new technology, the Fit-Viability Model and Diffusion of Innovation Theory, a model is proposed. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire with a sample of 296 IT staff employed in public organizations in Yemen. The results clarify the need to consider factors affecting two dimensions, fit and viability, to make a decision to adopt cloud computing in an e-government context. The fitness of cloud computing to e-government tasks is affected by factors such as relative advantage, compatibility, trialability and security, but is not affected by the complexity of the technology. On the other hand, the viability is influenced by economic factors (return on investment and asset specificity) and technological readiness (IT infrastructure and IT policy and regulations), while the results do not support the relation between the organizational factors such as top management support and cloud knowledge and viability.
The success of inclusive development strategies in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda depends substantially on the adoption of common inclusive development policies among nations. Building on the relevance of a knowledge economy in the post-2015 development agenda, this study models the feasibility of common policies for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). More specifically, we investigate the complementary role of knowledge diffusion in the inclusive benefits of mobile phone penetration in SSA from 2000 to 2012 by employing the Generalised Method of Moments. Knowledge diffusion variables include educational quality, innovation and Internet penetration. The main finding is that inclusive human development is persistently conditional on mobile phones in knowledge diffusion. Moreover, countries with low levels of inclusive human development are catching-up their counterparts with higher development. Policy implications are discussed with particular emphasis on how to leverage common knowledge economy initiatives for inclusive development.
This article theorizes the functional relationship between the human components (i.e., scholars) and non-human components (i.e., structural configurations) of academic domains. It is organized around the following question: in what ways have scholars formed and been formed by the structural configurations of their academic domain? The article uses as a case study the academic domain of education and technology to examine this question. Its authorship approach is innovative, with a worldwide collection of academics (99 authors) collaborating to address the proposed question based on their reflections on daily social and academic practices. This collaboration followed a three-round process of contributions via email. Analysis of these scholars’ reflective accounts was carried out, and a theoretical proposition was established from this analysis. The proposition is of a mutual (yet not necessarily balanced) power (and therefore political) relationship between the human and non-human constituents of an academic realm, with the two shaping one another. One implication of this proposition is that these non-human elements exist as political ‘actors’, just like their human counterparts, having ‘agency’ – which they exercise over humans. This turns academic domains into political (functional or dysfunctional) ‘battlefields’ wherein both humans and non-humans engage in political activities and actions that form the identity of the academic domain.
For more information about the authorship approach, please see Al Lily AEA (2015) A crowd-authoring project on the scholarship of educational technology. Information Development. doi: 10.1177/0266666915622044.
Big data is expected to provide many benefits to healthcare organizations through cost reduction, disease prediction, and patient care improvement. Big data in healthcare at a nascent stage faces many challenges in satisfying expectations. This study investigates factors for promoting the implementation and usage of big data in healthcare in Korea, using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP). We established a research framework that considers four domains and 15 factors. We collected data by a survey of experts engaged in big data and healthcare IT. The results show that data and organization have greater impacts than technology and support domains. Organizational analytics capability, data quality, data privacy and security, organizational application capability, data standardization, and data experts are the most important factors for promoting the implementation and usage of big data in healthcare. The study presents the implications in terms of the policies and ecosystem for countries, including Korea, which intend to activate big data in healthcare.
This study explores the relationships among the following four dimensions, with a particular focus on how flow experience mediates social shopping behavior: (1) user beliefs; (2) website quality, including information quality, system quality, and service quality; (3) flow experience; and (4) social shopping behavior, as demonstrated by a sample of the online consumer population. We gathered online surveys (n = 386) in Taiwan to test the relationships among the four dimensions laid out in our structural equation model. The results confirm that flow experience has a mediating effect on social shopping behavior. They also show that there is a significant correlation between user beliefs, website quality, and flow experience. The results fill an empirical gap in the theoretical literature on social shopping behavior, especially areas involving website quality and the beliefs of users. They also offer insight into the positive effect which flow experience has on social shopping behavior. This study offers a valuable contribution by exploring in detail the way in which flow experience affects social shopping behavior through strengthening the influence of both website quality and user beliefs.
Female university students are at the age of active sexual life, but desire to delay becoming mothers, thus making the provision to them of correct and timely information on contraception crucial. This study aims to investigate the level of awareness and information behaviour on contraception among Nigerian female university students. Using simple random sampling to select participants from the university’s nine colleges at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, a total of 800 questionnaires were administered, of which 91.6% were duly completed. The findings showed that awareness of contraception among respondents was 95.2%; the most known contraceptive methods were the male condom, oral pills and injectables; most respondents (80.7%) first learnt of contraception at secondary school. Respondents’ most frequent sources of contraception information were friends, television and magazines/newspapers, but their most preferred sources were physicians/health workers, parents and university lectures/lecturers. The major barriers faced in seeking information on contraception were inability to get reliable and accurate information, lack of time and fear of embarrassment. Measures to increase the adoption of contraception among female students must take cognizance of their preferred sources of information to deliver correct and adequate information about contraceptive methods.
This paper studies the antecedents of active usage of mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications based on an attachment theory perspective. It proposes MIM identification; self-congruence, design aesthetics, interactivity, mobility and feedback can be the factors that influence active usage of MIM from a user-device attachment perspective. It also explores two working mechanisms of these factors: emotional attachment and functional dependence. By using a survey method, 294 valid responses were collected from Chinese active smartphone users and were analyzed using structural equation modelling. The results of the analysis indicate that MIM identification, self-congruence and design aesthetics influence emotional attachment significantly, and mobility and design aesthetics influence functional dependence significantly. Besides, interactivity and feedback do not have any significant impact on functional dependence. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Sierra Leone was engulfed in a destructive civil war between 1991 and 2002. The civil war was partly caused by the non-accountability of the government, endemic corruption, misrule and the mismanagement of the country’s resources. Efforts have been made by the country, with the help of the international community, to embrace a democratic dispensation. To demonstrate its commitment to the democratization agenda, Sierra Leone passed the Right to Access Information (RAI) Act in 2013. The Act guarantees access to government information and also imposes a penalty on failure to make information available. However, Sierra Leone’s state institutions are still weak due to mismanagement and lack of transparency and accountability. Freedom of expression and access to information are cornerstones of modern democracies. Public information/records are a means of power that governments and other political institutions use to exercise control over citizens, but are also a means of citizens’ empowerment. Through access to government information/records, media can play their watchdog role and people can assess the performance of governments and hold them accountable. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the fact that it is not enough to enact freedom of information laws (FOIs) if there is no political will to make government information accessible, an information management infrastructure to facilitate the creation, capture, management, dissemination, preservation and re-use of government information and investments in civil education to promote an information culture that appreciates information as a resource that underpins accountability and transparency.
We examine consumers’ early stage trust beliefs for effects on perceptions of information and system quality, later stage trust, satisfaction and usage intentions in the context of online health services. Using a longitudinal research design, data was collected from a sample of undergraduates during two time periods, approximately five weeks apart. Results show that trust in the website influences trust in the e-service provider at both early and later stages. Perceptions of system and information quality depend on trust, while trust and satisfaction are important to continued usage intentions. Results are important for understanding how trust interacts with IS success factors.
This paper reports on a qualitative study regarding electronic citizen participation. The study assessed how government agencies based in South Africa used social media applications within the government to citizen (G2C) relationship for electronic participation. Textual data was sampled from provincial and municipal government department’s social media accounts and analysed thematically. The study found that there is a discrepancy in the adoption of social media in metropolitan municipalities and provincial government departments. Contrastingly, citizens were shown to have increasing access to social media, which have become essential components of their daily lives. Furthermore citizens were willing to use the applications to engage with government departments, which were found to be responding sporadically. The paper argues that there is an opportunity for the public sector to include social media in their e-participation endeavours. Several guiding principles are also offered.
An academic library is a spiritual home to support users in their pursuit of lifelong learning. This study approaches the issues from the visually impaired students’ (VIPs) perspective towards librarians’ support. This study was conducted by using the qualitative approach. Data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions. For trustworthiness of data, member checking and audit from experts are also used. The participants of the study remarked that the librarians’ friendly behaviour provided them a sense of being accepted, valued, cared for, respected, and welcomed which fostered the creation of their sense of belonging.
Increasingly, public sector organizations are implementing records management systems with a view of improving service delivery. However, adoption and use of these systems has been found to be wanting. This study investigated the factors that influence the adoption and usage of a Document Workflow Management System at the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Botswana using a modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as a theoretical lens. The study adopted a survey research design hinged on a positivist approach. A questionnaire, with both open and closed-ended questions, was administered to all 61 Action Officers (with response rate of 87%) who were the key users of the system. The findings of the study indicate that the four major UTAUT constructs accounted for 55% of the variance in explaining behavioural intention to adopt and use the Document Workflow Management System. The study found technophobia, negative attitudes to system use, perceived system complexity and incompatibility with existing information systems as key factors contributing to low adoption and usage of the system. The study proposes a conceptual adoption framework that may be used to guide research and practice in similar contexts.
This paper presents an exploratory study whose aim was to investigate selected aspects of information needs and information seeking behavior related to the European Union (EU) by public library users in an EU acceding country. Research questions addressed the importance of European information for respondents, types and context of EU information needs, and various aspects of the information seeking process (e.g., information sources consulted, obstacles encountered while seeking information). The findings revealed a high need for information about the EU and relatively low level of knowledge about the EU among the respondents. The results indicated that respondents required different types of EU-related information, mainly for personal reasons because they wanted to better understand the European Union in general and its effects on their everyday lives. The majority of respondents preferred readily available sources to access EU information, such as the Internet and TV/radio. Libraries and official EU publications were rarely used. When searching for European information, the majority of respondents faced the same problems as respondents in long-established EU countries: they struggled with the large amount of information related to the EU and they had difficulties in where to look for EU-related information. This is the first study of EU information needs and seeking behavior in an acceding country, and the findings are expected to be of interest to European administrations charged with the development of effective communication policies, national authorities in EU candidate and acceding countries, and information professionals in general.
Social commerce is growing as a new critical hub of product sourcing for both businesses and individuals. It has become an important strategy that helps companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to connect with customers and to gain competitive advantages. Still, there is a scarcity of frameworks for evaluating social commerce system success and identifying what significantly contributes to success. This study aims to investigate the determinants of social commerce system success in the context of Thai SMEs. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the proposed model. The empirical results provide support for the relationship among six dimensions of the proposed model. System use and user satisfaction relate significantly to the success of a social commerce system, which is measured in terms of organizational benefits. Three factors associate positively to system use, namely system quality, service quality, and trust, all of which lead to user satisfaction. Further research can investigate other social factors or empirically test the model at different levels of success.
This study assesses sources of information for vegetable farmers in urban part of Accra, Ghana. One hundred vegetable farmers in the study area were sampled and interviewed using structured questionnaires. Findings revealed that urban vegetable farming is regarded as the business of men. Most of the urban vegetable farmers use radio as a source of agricultural information. Farmers use information on agrochemicals acquired in applying fertilizer, weedicides and pest control. A challenge to the urban vegetable farmers in Accra is poor public relations on the part of agricultural extension agents. The study recommends that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture roll out a programme to educate urban vegetable farmers on the various sources of agricultural information and sponsor adult education programmes in the local languages on national radio and television for farmers to help them make use of different sources of agricultural information effectively.
This study is motivated by the initiative to implement mobile learning to promote world heritage site awareness among young adults living in the world heritage town of Luang Prabang in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). Mobile learning is still in its infant stage in Laos. The objective of this study is to investigate the drivers of mobile learning acceptance among young adults in Luang Prabang. Structural equation modeling analysis based on 349 students of higher education indicates that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment directly affected their behavioral intention to use mobile learning. Social influence and self-efficacy indirectly affected mobile learning acceptance through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use respectively. Findings from this study yield insights for policy recommendations for mobile learning implementation in Luang Prabang, and also contribute to the understanding of mobile learning acceptance from the perspectives of a least developed country.
This paper empirically examines the effects of critical determinants such as universal access, satisfaction, reputation, and familiarity on purchase intentions for wearable devices through a paradigm of trust and social benefit. Data was collected from an online survey. The formal questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first section measured respondent perceptions of each construct in the research model. The second section interpreted the basic personal data of respondents. The study results indicate that both trust and social benefit can positively influence purchase intention for wearable devices. Universal access and familiarity fail to influence trust directly but can influence purchase intention by way of social benefit, as expected. The research extends existing purchase intention literature for wearable devices by identifying the importance of universal access, context-awareness, reputation, and familiarity, and by probing the relationship of trust, social benefit, and purchase intention. The results suggest prescriptive strategies for sellers of wearable devices.
Cloud services have been widely regarded as a useful tool to support collaboration. However, exploring the intention to use cloud services in collaboration contexts among students who enroll in private vocational universities in Taiwan has received little scholarly attention. Most of these students are low academic achievers or not very interested in learning, which has become a great challenge to their teachers. Previous studies have indicated that collaboration among students is beneficial to their learning. Accordingly, in this study, cloud services were used to facilitate student collaboration and to further understand their intention to use such services. The results show that facilitating conditions significantly influence perceived ease of use and attitude toward using and social influence greatly affects perceived usefulness and behavioral intention. These results imply that the educational training or problem solving involved in using cloud services can help make students aware that the services are easy to use and can generate a positive attitude toward using them and that the opinions expressed by teachers or classmates are valuable with regard to leading to a belief that the services are useful for learning and contribute to behavioral intention.
The successful assimilation of group decision support systems (GDSS) in the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) systems of military organizations is critical for making fast and accurate modern military operations decisions. This study empirically examines factors affecting military group decision support systems’ (MGDSS) assimilation and the mediating effect of structural appropriation in the Korean Army in a technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework. Two hundred and forty-eight users or former users of the Army Tactical Command Information System (ATCIS) participated in the survey and a partial least squares (PLS) analysis was used to analyze the data. The results found that institutional pressure (IP) has the strongest effect on structural appropriation, followed by IT infrastructure (ITI) and top management support (TMS). Structural appropriation plays a significant mediating part between the TOE factors and MGDSS assimilation. The results provide implications and contribute valuable insights for military organizations’ successful assimilation of MGDSS.
Persona is increasingly used to create a model that represents user behaviour. This requires a thorough understanding of users’ information-seeking behaviour, their goals, their expectations, their needs, and their forms of action. The objective of this study is to use personas to gain insight into the information seeking activities of humanities scholars. The humanities scholars at Yarmouk University Jordan, which is situated in an ICT-enriched setting, are selected as a case. Five models of information seeking behaviour are integrated to be the conceptual model of this study. Seven modes of active information seeking emerged from the research findings: a) decision to seek information by the scholars or intermediary, b) exploration, c) monitoring, d) accessing, e) categorization, f) purification, and g) satisfaction. The four personas uncovered in this study had different judgments of information seeking, depending on their computer literacy and the types and formats of information sources needed. Similarly, the personas had different priority lists on exploring, monitoring, accessing, categorizing and purifying information. However, the reaction of satisfaction after the search closure was similar in all personas. Using personas as a precise description of a typical library user and what he or she wishes to accomplish provides a clear picture of humanities scholars’ information seeking behaviour. This may lead to a better understanding of the information seeking activities and strategies they believe can address their information needs. Knowing users’ information seeking behaviour is crucial for librarians in order to provide suitable information sources and desirable library services. The library management can use the personas to focus on the unique goals of a specific person to develop a product and service that satisfies the needs of various library users.
Many banks worldwide are making substantial investments to offer access to banking services through mobile devices. However, due in part to customers’ concerns about security and trust issues, the adoption rate of mobile banking (MB) has been lower than banks have expected. Disclosure of MB security on banks’ websites can be one way to minimize customers’ risk perception and improve trust in this technology. Nevertheless, there are no studies that investigate how information about MB security disclosed on bank websites affects trust in MB. In order to fill this gap, the main objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between disclosure of MB security on bank websites and trust in MB, under conditions of information asymmetry. In addition, we also examined how other factors such as perceived risk, personal innovativeness, social influence, age, and gender affect trust in MB. The sample of the study comprised 307 Brazilian undergraduate students. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were used to analyze the research model. The main results show that disclosure of MB security on bank websites has a positive relationship with trust in MB, but this relationship is significant only for the respondents that have already visited the website of their banks to get information about MB security. We also observed that the relationship between trust and perceived risk is less significant for students who have already consulted the website of their banks, in comparison with students who have not consulted the website. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are presented in the paper.
The characteristics of postgraduate supervisors in library and information science in Nigerian universities and their perceptions of the timely completion of doctoral programmes were investigated, employing a questionnaire as data collection instrument. Thirty-eight supervisors from 11 university-based library schools that had already produced doctoral graduates were used for the study, and 23 respondents completed the questionnaire. The findings reveal that the supervisors are highly qualified and experienced in terms of their academic qualifications, employment status, experience in supervisory work, and their involvement in all types of research activities, including serving as external examiners both within and outside the country, and their involvement in managing journals, peer-review of journal articles, etc. The supervisors identified poor writing skills as the major obstacles to the timely completion of doctoral programmes. A t-test analysis and Spearman rho coefficient were used to determine factors that could possibly affect timely completion of doctoral programmes. The results show that gender and the experience of supervisors in term of the number of past and present supervisees had significant relationships with the timely completion of doctoral programmes.
Customers’ participation is crucial to the brand micro-blog. However, many brand micro-blogs still face the challenge of low interactive or non-interactive participation. In this paper, we propose a conceptual model that specifies four facilitators (information quality, entertainment value, service quality, and social interaction) and two inhibitors (information overload and advertising reactance) as the key determinants of brand micro-blog participation intention, and we propose that these facilitators and inhibitors in combination determine followers’ identification with the brand micro-blog, and identification eventually determines whether the followers will participate in the brand micro-blog. The data of this study was collected through a quasi-experiment conducted within the Sina micro-blog. The findings confirm that information quality, entertainment value, service quality, and social interaction are four significant facilitators of brand micro-blog participation intention. The findings also show that information overload is a significant inhibitor of brand micro-blog participation intention.
In recent years, cloud computing services have developed rapidly and are being widely used, but most applications focus on consumers. However, a few successful cases of enterprise application systems have been constructed and adopted by companies. To understand the factors that affect the adoption by a company of cloud Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which is an enterprise application system, this study used a Technology Organization Environment Framework (TOE) as a theoretical framework, reviewed related literature on the relevant factors affecting the adoption of a cloud service, and then constructed a three-level hierarchical table of the factors. A pairwise comparison questionnaire was then designed and issued to top managers of firms in the machinery industry in Taiwan that have adopted cloud CRM. A fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) was then used to calculate the weights of the factors, based on the returned questionnaires. The results show that enterprises in the machinery industry gave priority to the factor, ‘support of senior managers’, followed by the factors ‘organizational policies’ and ‘system information security’. Some implications of the findings are discussed, which can serve as a guide for the successful adoption of cloud CRM in machinery industry if firms allocate their resources appropriately to these important factors. These results can also be used by the service providers of cloud CRM to devise effective marketing strategies.
This study adapted the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and innovation diffusion to show how virtual community building, website performance expectancy, effort expectancy, trialability, and two mediators (familiarity and perceived risk) interact and affect online shopping intention. A total of 430 valid participants were collected, all of whom had the goal of buying a smart phone. The results of the structural equation model analysis show that performance expectancy and effort expectancy positively affect website familiarity; virtual community building and trialability positively influence product familiarity; and perceived risk negatively affects purchase intention. In addition to the effects demonstrated by the regression results, website familiarity and product familiarity also have mediation effects. Finally, this study suggests that managers should provide a complete community to consumers in order to enable them to share information; furthermore, they should also provide details of product trials on the website, so that consumers can increase their familiarity with both the website and the products, as this can then raise consumer purchase intention.
It is argued that the ICT sector offers greater ease of access to employment for women than traditional sectors. This is reflected in the high representation of women employees in the ICT sector in India. Considering the importance of the ICT sector in India, policy makers and industry leaders are continuously debating on women’s work and working conditions in this sector. In this paper an attempt has been made to understand the critical issue by using a modified version of the decent work framework and discussing both favourable and unfavourable results of women’s employment in the Indian ICT sector.
As a killer application of the mobile Internet, location-based services (LBS) have been popular among users. However, due to the collection and utilization of users’ location information, LBS have raised users’ privacy concern, which may negatively affect their usage. From the perspective of perceived justice, this research examined LBS users’ privacy concern and continuance usage. Perceived justice includes three dimensions: distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice. The results indicated that perceived justice has significant effects on privacy concern, satisfaction and flow. These three factors determine continuance usage. The results imply that service providers need to improve users’ perceived justice in order to mitigate their privacy concern and facilitate their continuance usage of LBS.
Academic cognition and intelligence are ‘socially distributed’; instead of dwelling inside the single mind of an individual academic or a few academics, they are spread throughout the different minds of all academics. In this article, some mechanisms have been developed that systematically bring together these fragmented pieces of cognition and intelligence. These mechanisms jointly form a new authoring method called ‘crowd-authoring’, enabling an international crowd of academics to co-author a manuscript in an organized way. The article discusses this method, addressing the following question: What are the main mechanisms needed for a large collection of academics to collaborate on the authorship of an article? This question is addressed through a developmental endeavour wherein 101 academics of educational technology from around the world worked together in three rounds by email to compose a short article. Based on this endeavour, four mechanisms have been developed: a) a mechanism for finding a crowd of scholars; b) a mechanism for managing this crowd; c) a mechanism for analyzing the input of this crowd; and d) a scenario for software that helps automate the process of crowd-authoring. The recommendation is that crowd-authoring ought to win the attention of academic communities and funding agencies, because, given the well-connected nature of the contemporary age, the widely and commonly distributed status of academic intelligence and the increasing value of collective and democratic participation, large-scale multi-authored publications are the way forward for academic fields and wider academia in the 21st century.
The expansion of higher education (HE) institutions and their increased emphasis on strategic planning have raised the demand for integrated information systems that can support strategic analysis. A data warehouse (DW) provides decision data for managers in a form that facilitates their access, using business intelligence (BI) tools to enhance their decision making process. However, available DW models and design methods do not address the HE industry’s specific needs. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by providing a methodological framework that encompasses methods tailored to meet the needs of HE. Also, a prototype has been developed using actual student data to validate the framework. It shows the efficacy of the framework in supporting strategic analysis at universities, leading them to develop effective strategies and policies. The paper further provides guidelines for researchers on the important issues to be considered for designing efficient DWs.
The purpose of this research is to understand and analyze the role of perceived usability and perceived usefulness influencing customer satisfaction towards online shopping in India. Findings of the study reveal that website functionality has a significant and positive impact on perceived usability. Additionally, perceived usefulness and perceived usability has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. The scale has been extended to include satisfaction with the ‘Cash-on-delivery’ mode of payment being adopted by Asian countries. This paper builds a foundation for researchers to extend online retailing research in developing countries where the switch over to Internet shopping is more of a recent phenomenon as compared to its adoption by developed countries.
The purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate the ethical practices of oral history archivists at the National Archives of Zimbabwe when undertaking oral history interviews. Every aspect of oral history work has an ethical dimension. It is important that archivists identify and become aware of ethical issues most pertinent to them. There is a lack of knowledge regarding the ethical challenges that oral history archivists at the National Archives of Zimbabwe face when carrying out their work. Evidence from the face-to-face interviews and documents revealed that the activities of oral history archivists are not governed by a code of ethics for oral historians and they have limited ethical competence. The oral history professional association has not actively advocated a professional code of ethics. The research findings may help oral history archivists to develop ethical astuteness. Furthermore, the study will contribute to the growing body of literature about the role of archival professionals in shaping recorded social memory through their ethical responsibilities.
While expansive literature of information-related fields presents Paul Otlet (1868-1944) as one of the founders and prolific writers of information research, it displays a lean coverage of Otlet’s works. Indeed, despite his reflections on information and technology as a conduit of human development, Otlet tends to be caricatured with the concept document and related subjects such as book, library, bibliography, etc. One of the reasons for this shortcoming is that development represents one of the least researched themes of information studies on the one hand and of information and communication technology for development [ICT4D] on the other. It follows that, although integral to human actualization, development is seen as alien to or unfit for information-related fields. Another consequence is that development is taken to mean the development of and access to information technologies. Applying qualitative content analysis, the present paper canvasses Otlet’s works, and features the notion of development. Otlet saw information as a service toward people’s development. For him, people’s development implies the totality and expansion of human life. The paper captures some of the salient themes under which Otlet approached development. The goal is to bring to the forefront of information research, the development, not just of information systems and forums, but also that of people.
This paper attempts to highlight the factors causing anxiety among non-native speakers of English when using academic library resources, services and facilities. This is crucial now that academic libraries worldwide are increasingly building up their collections of electronic journals and databases, which are predominantly in the English language. Findings from studies among non-native speakers of English reveal that they are susceptible to anxiety factors, which are rarely reported in studies in the native English-speaking countries. Some of these barriers include: insufficient resources, language, retrieval, lack of library skills, technology, network, environment and services, computer and physical comfort, and emotional barriers. A search was conducted to analyze the literature published in Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) from 1986 until 2014 using the keyword ‘library anxiety’. The sample selected was limited to literature on non-native speakers of English. The distinct anxiety-causing factors typically reported in these studies are recommended to be included in the library anxiety measure for future research.
Attempts have been made to explore the impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on the entire gamut of the library and information sector and to conceptualise the transformation of conventional libraries into Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and Librarian 2.0, which will bring a changing scenario to the information industry. In the last few years, discussion and debate about the ‘core competencies’ needed by Librarian 2.0 have appeared in the academic environment. This investigation aims to identify the key skills, knowledge and attributes required by Librarian 2.0 in academic libraries in Kuwait. Twenty librarians from four academic libraries in Kuwait participated in a series of focus groups. The five themes discussed as being crucial to Librarian 2.0 include: communication, teamwork, technology, learning and education, and personal traits. This article provides a detailed discussion of each of these themes. The results show that in the age of Web 2.0 librarians in Kuwait academic libraries need more knowledge and awareness of communication and teamwork skills. Furthermore, they need to shift their attitude towards the concept of Librarian 2.0 by developing a clear understanding of the key factors that must be present in any Librarian 2.0. The study findings contribute to providing a framework towards the concept of Librarian 2.0 in academic libraries in the State of Kuwait. This framework will contribute to improving their awareness of and attitude to this topic in the future.
There are strong arguments about the positive effect of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on companies’ performance. This effect is also extensive for micro and small enterprises (MSEs), which tend to adopt ICTs in lower levels in comparison with large companies. In this context, this paper has two goals: to analyze the effect of firms’ size on (a) the relationship between strategic planning and ICTs use; (b) the relationship between ICTs use and interaction with customers. The sample of the study comprises 171 Brazilian MSEs, and we used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. The main results indicated that even in small companies, size is an important variable to explain the antecedents and consequents of ICTs use. The positive effect of ICTs use was stronger among small companies, reinforcing the relevance of technology for them.
This paper presents a project evaluation framework for capacity building ICT projects, and describes an action research initiative in which the framework was piloted. The framework is a five stage process that draws on soft systems thinking and best practice in areas like ICTs for development and information systems evaluation. The action research was a collaborative undertaking between the author and an international non-governmental organization, and involved a project to develop information management solutions for four non-governmental organizations in Armenia.
This research examines the information seeking and use behaviour of Filipino domestic workers (FDWs) in Singapore, who collectively make up around 40% of about 173,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in this city state. It is based on the premise that low-paid migrants are generally typecast as ‘information poor’, who are left with very common, limiting, and homogeneous information sources. The FDWs are drawn to their co-equals to form an information ground where they can exchange information serendipitously. A survey questionnaire was administered to 138 FDWs to learn about their information behaviour and problems encountered during information seeking. A 5-day ethnographic study in their off-work context supplemented the quantitative data. The study found that FDWs inadequately meet the requisites for digital and information literacy, which are indispensable yet lacking among many low-skilled migrants. Implications about public governance, education, and the pedagogical component of technology use through streamlined information dissemination are discussed to benefit these FDWs.
There is currently a trend towards the integration of business intelligence (BI) systems with existing information systems in order to improve decision-making capabilities in organizations. Even though much attention has been paid to the factors influencing the adoption of BI systems, in practice there is still limited research investigating the business value of BI systems in a post-adoption environment. The motivation for this study is to examine the impact of BI system usage on organizational performance. This study develops a multidimensional measurement for assessing organizational performance, based on the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach developed by Kaplan and Norton. Data for the study were collected from 139 companies in the semiconductor industry in Taiwan and the relationships proposed in the framework were tested using Partial Least Squares method. The results indicate that higher levels of BI system usage will lead to improved financial performance indirectly through enhanced internal process, learning and growth and customer performance (non-financial performance). Moreover, higher levels of BI system usage can also lead to improved internal process, customer, and learning and growth performance in organizations. The results also show that internal process and customer performance have positive significant impact on financial performance. While learning and growth does not directly lead to the improvement of financial performance, it indirectly influences financial performance through the mediating effect of internal process performance. The findings of this study provide initial evidence that the adoption of BI systems leads to increased financial performance. The results indicate that these four BSC performance measures for BI system usage are interrelated, supporting the core premise of the BSC.
Palestine is one of the developing countries that have recently realized the benefits of e-commerce (EC), but several barriers are impeding its adoption there. This study highlights the major barriers to EC adoption in Palestine using a TOE framework, the model of innovation resistance, and other related theories such as diffusion of innovation (DOI). An online survey collected data from 161 business owners in Palestine, and the model has tested through structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the survey respondents. The study has found that the occupation restrictions and the political factors are the major barriers that prevent the adoption of ecommerce in Palestine, while it has found that some barriers have weakly affected the adoption or had no influence, such as perceived financial losses. It is expected that this research will benefit many parties in Palestine, by being the first of its kind to tackle the occupation’s impact on EC in Palestine, and that by avoiding such barriers investment in EC will increase in Palestine in the future.
Through examining the example of commercial small-scale horticultural farmers in Mt. Kenya region and Mwanza region, this empirical study aims to provide an explanation for why different perspectives on the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Global South exist. A mixed methods approach was used to show that ICT usage can lead to significant improvements, including access to simple and complex knowledge and the development of business linkages. However, the influence of ICT depends on the different ICT usage types and the capabilities of farmers to use them. This paper gives a differentiated view on factors influencing the effects of ICT on small-scale farming. It provides a typology of ICT that helps to explains some of the potential effects of ICT usage in the Global South. The results contribute to the current applied and conceptual debate on market access for smallholders and Information and Communication Technologies for Development.
This paper discusses the relationship between good record keeping and its impact on the delivery of justice and human rights in the Bulawayo Magistrates’ Courts. It defines the concepts of court records management and justice delivery, and explores the link between records management and the discharge of justice. The study was conceived against a background of poor record keeping and management in the judiciary. The law (Criminal Procedures Act and the Constitution of Zimbabwe) states that an accused person must be tried within a reasonable time period and yet this has not been achieved in some cases. A survey research design was used on a purposively selected sample of 30 participants employed in various sections of the court that completed the questionnaires and were interviewed. The findings indicate that the Bulawayo Magistrates’ Court uses a range of records to administer justice, which are necessary for upholding individual rights. In some situations citizens have been denied the right to fair trial, right to entitlement, right to freedom of movement, right to association and as a result of missing or incomplete records individuals have been detained for long periods without trial. To achieve justice in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UN MDGs) magistrates’ courts need to have in place professional recordkeeping systems, improve on the security of court records, employ professionally qualified records managers and embark on aggressive fundraising activities in order to obtain adequate funding to upgrade record storage, cater for environmental threats to records, and replenish record keeping resources among other issues.
In India, men own around 70% of mobile phones, creating a gender digital divide for the most widely owned information and communication technology (ICT) in the world. This study investigates the factors responsible for the inability of 245 female slum-dwellers in India earning less than $2 a day to own a mobile phone. Open, axial and selective coding of survey responses shows that socio-cultural, economic, demographic, psychological, communication-related, and health related inequalities in the lives of the respondents create eight economic barriers precluding respondents from owning some of the least expensive mobile phones worth $15 or so on installments of $1 a month.
The relationship between environmental uncertainty (EU) and interorganizational information sharing (IIS) remains equivocal. Existing research has investigated the phenomenon from only one partner’s perspective, based on either resource dependence theory (RDT) or transaction cost economics (TCE). This study assesses the relative strengths of RDT and TCE simultaneously by accommodating both partners’ perspectives in the same dyad. Our results show that TCE has greater explanatory power for the manufacturer position, but not for the supplier. Supplier EU does not influence supplier information sharing. RDT arguments are not fully supported for the whole paths. Interestingly, supplier EU influences joint dependence negatively.
Inter-organizational knowledge sharing and innovation are critical for organizational survival, and innovation processes involve not only techniques and experiment, but also knowledge-based processes to promote new behavioral models. However, there are limited studies on how different types of knowledge management (KM) applications fit the business context and achieve innovation through inter-organizational knowledge sharing. This paper studies the effects of inter-organizational KM on strategic knowledge sharing among allied organizations for innovation to understand the correlation between inter-organizational KM applications in line with factors of KM governance and inter-organizational innovation. A multiple-case study on two Asian companies, with multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) questionnaire design for interviews and focus group discussion was adopted to collect and analyze the data. The findings address how organizations could adopt inter-organizational KM approaches and practical principles to improve the realization of innovation and serve as guidance for organizations in strategic alliances to employ inter-organizational KM for improving innovative performance.
The objective of the study was to assess how banks adopt a two-way communication approach in communicating with their customers. It further examined the difference that exists between the websites of locally and foreign owned banks operating in Ghana with respect to their dialogic potentials. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data was obtained from the contents of the websites as well as from customers of the banks considered. A two-sample t-test was used to test the hypotheses. The results show that all the banks incorporate ease of interface, usefulness of information and conservation of visitors’ features in their websites. Again, the results show that significant differences exist between locally-owned banks and foreign-owned banks with regards to user perceptions of the conservation of visitors’ principles on bank websites. The findings are that user perceptions must be taken into consideration in the development of websites. Firms should avoid the temptation of blindly imitating other websites without considering the input of specific users and other stakeholders. The novelty of the research stems from the data triangulation approach used.
Facebook is the most popular social network in most nations and in Turkey. It is argued that it can involve insecure behavior in adolescents. Teenagers in Turkey are to receive tablet computers nationwide through the FATIH project. Personal availability is likely to impact Internet and Facebook habits. Also, with lack of social support, teens might more intensely engage in Facebook. This study identifies teens who are more likely to perform less secure Facebook activities. A survey was conducted on 4,261 middle and high school students in Turkey. Logistic regressions were run to predict the likelihood of Facebook-related behaviors. Results showed that teens who perceive support from significant others, males, metropolitans, and teens who have more tablet computer opportunities, competencies and beliefs were more likely to engage in risky activities. Family support significantly reduced the likelihood of risky behaviors. Results call for promoting family support and monitoring tablet computer habits. Teens should be educated about social network threats and privacy.
Following the narrow definition of the mobile Internet, ‘mobile libraries’ refers to digital libraries accessed by users through mobile phones and wireless networks. In order to explore users’ adoption of mobile libraries, a research model is developed focusing on two psychological factors (flow experience and innovativeness) and two factors oriented to the mobile context (ubiquitous connection and use context). Data collected from digital library users who are also users of the mobile Internet were used to test the model. The findings show that use context not only has a direct impact on users’ intention to adopt mobile libraries, but also partially mediates the effect of flow experience and ubiquitous connection on usage intention. Meanwhile, innovativeness both significantly affects usage intention and negatively moderates the effect of use context on usage intention. Findings and implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Previous studies have identified that social influence and personal preference are two key mechanisms to understand users’ social media adoption behavior. However, whether or not these two mechanisms play equal roles under different contexts has rarely been empirically investigated. To fill this gap, in this study, we propose sociability as a criterion to classify social media and examine the determinants of usage intention across social media with different sociability. An empirical study of 118 low-sociability and 123 high-sociability social media users found that social influence factors play a more important role for high-sociability media users while attitude has stronger impacts on intention for low-sociability media users. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.
B2C e-commerce is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide. A lot of studies were carried out by both scholars and practitioners in order to assess online consumers’ behavioral issues in B2C e-commerce platforms. This paper aims to organize and classify the accumulated literature on B2C e-commerce in order to determine less-researched areas and provide future research directions. For that purpose 208 peer-reviewed articles from 71 journals published between 2005 and 2014 were retrieved and analyzed. The findings of the studies are discussed within the scope of developed framework.
A sound follower base is a prerequisite for the survival of a brand micro-blog. Thus, determining how to enhance followers’ continuance intentions to follow is critical. We integrated the value-based adoption mode and social identity theory to test a conceptual model. The proposed model identified three sets of blog utilities (information, social, and service) affecting followers’ continuance intention through perceived value and brand micro-blog identification. Using a Chinese sample drawn from the Sina micro-blog, we sought to clarify why followers continue to follow a brand micro-blog. The concluding section discusses our findings in terms of implications for theory and practice.
This study aims to investigate the initial perceived knowledge and skills of high school students in information technology (IT) security and the effect of an online security support tool, the Security Portal (SP), on students’ perceived knowledge and skills in IT security. The SP is a website designed and developed as an extracurricular learning tool to improve high school students’ knowledge and skills in IT security. An exploratory research design with descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was conducted to answer the research questions. The data were collected from the participants through the Perceived Knowledge and Skills in IT Security questionnaire, administered as pre-test and post-test before and after using the SP. The results of the study indicated that the majority of students were not aware about their schools’ IT security policies and rules. Similarly, students had limited knowledge of the rules for using IT devices at their homes. Students’ perceived knowledge and skills in (i) virus infection, (ii) awareness about IT crimes and unlicensed products, (iii) security settings of operating systems, (iv) Windows firewall and defender, (v) security settings of Android OS except adding owner information (vi) security issues related to e-mails, except risk associated with opening e-mails from unknown senders, (vii) security issues of web browsers and SNSs except security and privacy settings of SNSs, could be improved by using such tools.
The study assessed the oral history projects undertaken between 1994 and 2014 within the Pietermaritzburg Cluster of Theological Libraries to ascertain the depth and breadth of their collections in as far as documenting the voice of the indigenous clergy is concerned. Data collection instruments used for the study were interviews, both face-to-face and telephonically, documentary analysis, email correspondence and database checks. The findings revealed that the School of Theology, now the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics (SRPC), at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, was at the forefront in this collection drive and that theological libraries were generally lagging behind; that ethnographical, literacy and content challenges are prevalent and that there is a dearth of material pertaining to religious archives on the National Register of Oral Sources (NAROS) database, which does not bode well with regards to the management of this ecclesiastical heritage. The study also revealed that there was a need for a co-ordinated oral history collection strategy to avoid duplication of effort. The study recommended that for religious archives to be effectively managed, private archives need to be properly legislated like their public counterparts, hence the need for a new national model in this regard irrespective of the perceived institutional imperatives.
There is currently a trend for companies to invest in business intelligence (BI) systems to enhance their management decision-making capability. Even though a great deal of attention has been paid to the practical decision-making benefits of BI system adoption, there is still a lack of research to investigate factors that affect users’ intention to continue using BI systems after they had already adopted the systems. Therefore, the aim of the study is to examine post-adoption cognitive beliefs and factors influencing users’ intention to continue using BI systems. This study compares three theoretical models, namely, the Expectation-Confirmation Model of IS Continuance (ECM), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and a synthesized model combining ECM and TAM to examine which model can best explain users’ intentions to continue using BI systems. Survey data collected from 330 respondents in the Taiwanese electronics industry were examined using structural equation modeling. Our findings indicate that the synthesized model was the most parsimonious and had a greater explanatory power than the TAM and ECM models. The results suggest that users’ continuance intention is determined by perceived usefulness and satisfaction. Several implications and limitations of this study are discussed.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of nomophobia (the fear of being out of mobile phone contact) among young adults in Turkey. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was administered to 537 Turkish college students. The results revealed 42.6% of young adults had nomophobia, and their greatest fears were related to communication and information access. The study also found that gender and the duration of smartphone ownership had an effect on young adults’ nomophobic behaviors, whereas age and the duration of mobile phone ownership had no effect. Based on these results, implications, limitations, and further studies were discussed.
In this study the perceived value construct of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) is investigated in the context of a learning management system (LMS), in which the construct is redefined from its original price value conceptualization. It was found that many researchers simply ignore the price value construct when applying the UTAUT2 model in technology use studies in the educational context. This study extends the UTAUT2 framework by integrating the learning value construct and provides fresh insight about predictors of students’ intentions towards LMS and its use. A quantitative research approach was employed by utilizing a closed-ended questionnaire to collect data from Malaysian university students who were users of LMS. Probability proportional stratified sampling was employed to select an appropriate sample. The results indicated a good measurement and structural model fit and suggested the significant influence of performance expectancy, social influence and learning value on students’ intention towards LMS and also confirmed the influence of facilitating conditions and behavioral intention on LMS use. The extended UTAUT2 framework helps in understanding students’ perceived value in the LMS context. Furthermore, this study will help institutions to consider the factors for successful implementation of an LMS in an academic setting.
This paper sets out a mechanism for delivering information to Community Rice Centers in Thailand using information kiosks. The planned information kiosks will serve rice farmers by providing both online and offline data to support rice production from pre-harvest to post-harvest. With the help of a pilot project we established the utility of information kiosks in enhancing the knowledge and skills of rice farmers throughout the rice production process, and also observed their satisfaction with kiosks and an improvement in their attitude toward government services in general. Finally, this study proposes a new technology for improving rice farming in Thailand, namely information kiosks, to link government agencies to rice farmers.
The main objective of this study was to enhance the understanding of users’ motivation to engage in word-of-mouth behavior on social network sites. This study conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to examine the motivations of social and personal constructs that may influence users’ engagement in word-of-mouth. The results posited that not only social constructs (tie strength, expressiveness, social enhancement, relationship management, normative influence, and informational influence), but also personal constructs (altruism, narcissism, image building, and achievement) positively affect users’ engagement in word-of-mouth. These findings can provide useful implications for theory in relation to the motives to disseminate word-of-mouth, and be a useful resource and reference for marketing practice.
This study extends the application of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) to investigate the nature of Weibo posting anxiety and its determinants (i.e., micro-blogging self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and prior experience) among well-educated youth in China. Analyzing semi-structured interviews with Chinese Weibo users, this study identified four dimensions of microblogging posting anxiety, including social-, writing-, technology-, and safety-related anxiety. Fear of receiving negative evaluation from offline friends and leaking personal information to unknown/dangerous readers were the main reasons for their Weibo posting anxiety. Prior experiences of obtaining undesirable comments and disappointing feedback were found to create negative outcome expectations of Weibo usage (e.g., deteriorating self-presentation and causing misunderstanding), which may indirectly induce Weibo posting anxiety. However, self-efficacy did not play a significant role in generating anxious reactions towards Weibo posting. Theoretically, this study uses an SCT analytical lens to enhance the understanding of Weibo posting anxiety among Chinese users. Practically, the findings provide insights to services operators and system designers about users’ anxiety in using social media like Weibo so as to improve the service and boost the usage. Note: An oral presentation of this article was made at the 2014 annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Montreal, Canada.
Iran’s fifth Four Year Development Plan (2011-2015) and other high level acts in recent years have paid more attention to the topic of knowledge management. This in turn has encouraged the government agencies to pay special attention to this topic for the development of their regulations and future plans. The information technology field has not been an exception to this trend, and in September 2014 an Administrative and Technical Criteria Act (ATCA) was approved for the development of an agile and effective e-government in Iran. Under Article 40 of ATCA all executive bodies of government are required to design and implement a comprehensive knowledge management system within the next 2 years. In this paper, by developing and using a four-phased methodology, a knowledge flow framework is designed for the development of Iranian e-government, based on the contents of ATCA. The proposed framework specifies a total of 30 horizontal and vertical knowledge flows in five distinct layers: inter-organization, organization, group, role, and machine. These knowledge flows occur among 14 different knowledge agents in the mentioned layers. The subjects of the knowledge packets which are transferred in these knowledge flows are developed based on the articles of ATCA. By presenting such a knowledge flow framework, the role and place of knowledge management systems of the executive bodies in support of the e-government is recognized. Also in this framework the interaction of these knowledge management systems with other knowledge management systems, knowledge agents and knowledge bases is determined.
This study examines the current status of 21 virtual university libraries in Korea and explores the possibilities of establishing a national-level central digital library through which these libraries could share resources. Interviews were conducted with 16 virtual university administrators to investigate their opinions and requirements of a central digital library. It was found that many virtual university libraries do not provide sufficient library resources and services due to a lack of qualified librarians and necessary funds. The interviewed administrators were willing to participate in a central digital library initiative to benefit from joint acquisition of databases and resource sharing, but they wanted to ensure local autonomy and control in managing their digital library sites. Therefore, the present study proposes a hosting model in which shared applications and resources reside on a central server and users from different universities access them remotely through the interfaces of individual library sites.
The aim of this paper is to develop the findings of previous research on policies regarding online proactive information disclosure, both voluntary and mandatory. We present and analyze new evidence on the factors that influence decisions taken in this respect. This study is focused on Central America, a region that has received little previous research attention on these issues. To achieve the study goals, we analyze the online information disclosure made by local authorities, regarding both the degree of compliance with legal requirements and the volume of information provided voluntarily. Finally, with respect to the same two types of information provision, we determine the influence of environmental factors on online information disclosure. The results obtained show that transparency is more an issue of attitude than of laws, and highlight the existence of a large gap between legal requirements and actual performance.
Global competitiveness in the 21st century is essentially based on improving business by employing information and communication technologies (ICT). Therefore, it is necessary to establish comparable and reliable ICT statistics for measuring the development of information society. One of the possible solutions is the Networked Readiness Index (NRI). The NRI is the degree of ICT implementation in a country’s economy with the aim of increasing its competitive advantage. In particular, the NRI provides a thorough overview of the top-ranked countries with a highly developed ICT infrastructure. The statistical foundation of the NRI composite index is based on a policy that assigns the same weight to all indicators. Starting from here, our aim was to contribute to the official methodology by providing an alternative weighting scheme. Consequently, our paper presents an alternative NRI framework based on the application of multilevel I-distance methodology. Our approach helps to overcome the issue of employing biased weighting factors in the process of creation composite indexes. We also provide an overview of potential corrections of the official NRI weighting procedure, aimed at sparking debate among researchers and policymakers.
Acceptance and use of a system is known as a major measure of success from an information systems (IS) perspective. However, within organizations where most system use is mandatory, intention-to-use or usage by and large does not provide a full picture of how such use came to be or if it is truly representative of how end-users really feel about using the system. This study summarizes the theories and models on technology acceptance in the mandatory environment in the IS literature and identifies the critical research based on broader research perspectives. The paper provides an important insight into IS acceptance in the mandatory environment. Theoretical and practical implications and future research directions are discussed in the paper.
Many e-government interventions in resource-constrained countries fail because of the cost involved in setting up appropriate, robust and responsive e-government programmes and platforms. The failure of these projects results into paying a higher opportunity cost owing to missing out on socio-economic benefits that e-government has to offer. To avert the higher failure rate of e-government interventions, it is vital that effervescent e-government design be informed by context-aware conceptual frameworks and models. Using the Mixed Methods Research (MMR) approach, this paper explores the contextual factors that influence e-government design and development and proposes a conceptual framework with due reference to local contextual characteristics. The proposed framework may act as a blueprint for designing e-government interventions in contextually similar environments endowed with complex cultural setups. The paper brings out pointers to understanding critical factors that influence e-government development especially in a developing world context. The results indicate that effervescent e-government design needs to be informed by the unique contextual characteristics in the area in which it is implemented.
Despite the significance of IT for small-scale agribusinesses (SSAs) in rural areas, little work has been done to identify the determinants of their informationization. Prior studies also overlook the social influences of informationization among SSAs in rural areas. Therefore, this study presents a model to explore and describe the roles played by institutional forces in the informationization of rural SSAs. To empirically test the presented model, partial least squares (PLS) analysis was conducted using the survey responses of 180 ginseng farmers. The results show that mimetic forces related to other farmers’ successful adoption and usage of IT positively affect states of informationization and intentions towards future informationization among rural SSAs. Innovative SSAs are less likely to be affected by these forces, and normative forces from partners and customers are positively related to states of informationization. For the government, the results suggest that policy interventions should focus on mimetic forces rather than coercive forces to aid in creating more effective SSAs and foster rural development.
While Nigeria began its e-government initiatives in the early 2000s, the country is still in the early stages of e-government development, with very low e-government diffusion among its population. Through the administration of survey questionnaires, this paper first identifies the benefits of e-government, and then examines factors of e-government diffusion in Nigeria via three theoretical models of innovation diffusion (Technology Acceptance Model, Diffusion of Innovation theory, and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology). Results of the study suggest that the anticipated benefits of e-government in Nigeria are similar to those found in other studies in the e-government literature. Prominent factors of e-government diffusion found in the study capture the dimensions of the three theories. However, due to the unique nature of the Nigerian context, two factors (trust in government and reliable electricity supply) of e-government diffusion identified in the study are not within the dimensions of the theoretical models. The paper suggests that the Nigerian government should address the factors identified in the study (such as reliable electricity supply, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, relative advantage, etc.) in order to facilitate e-government diffusion in the country. The study therefore provides a basis within which policy makers should aim to improve the deployment and diffusion of e-government in Nigeria.
The purpose of this research is to investigate factors affecting users’ continuance intention in the context of mobile instant messaging (IM). Drawing upon the social cognitive perspective, the study builds a theoretical model to illustrate the relationships between perceived user base, habit, resistance to change and continuance intention. An empirical study is conducted to test the research model by surveying Chinese mobile IM users. The results show that habit and resistance to change both play important roles in intention to continue use of mobile IM. More specifically, resistance to change is found to have the largest effect on continuance intention. The results also show that habit directly and indirectly affects continuance intention through resistance to change. In addition, perceived user base has a significant effect on continuance intention. Extant information system (IS) continuance research has mainly focused on contexts other than mobile IM. Furthermore, prior IM-related studies have tended to focus more on investigation of factors affecting IM usage behavior and have paid less attention to user continuance of mobile IM services. This current study attempts to address this research gap. Specifically, the study proposes a model that integrates factors such as resistance to change, habit, perceived user base, and continuance intention in the context of mobile IM services. In addition, the study empirically demonstrates the effects of resistance to change and habit on continuance intention, as well as the influence of habit on resistance to change.
The importance of disaster management plans for library staff rests on their effective and efficient utilization to confront library-related disasters. This study seeks to evaluate the preparedness of Ghanaian polytechnic libraries towards disasters, with respect to measures put in place. Based largely on a qualitative approach, the study interviewed five head librarians and 25 other staff members of selected polytechnics, who were chosen using purposive and convenience sampling techniques. Data was analysed using interpretative techniques. The results showed general absence of security policies and disaster plans. Polytechnic libraries were found to be ill-prepared with respect to disasters. Therefore, it is recommended that libraries develop policies for disaster management, organise training programs for staff in order to increase their awareness about disasters and be involved in cooperative networks.
Self-efficacy in getting information, which is defined as individuals’ judgments of their own capabilities to search, compare and evaluate information they need, is critical given the negative effects of information overload in the modern information society. This study focuses on digital library users with the purpose of identifying the user groups with lower levels of self-efficacy in getting information so as to provide insights for targeted user training. Specifically, this study explores the effect of individual differences on self-efficacy in getting information in terms of gender, current position, field and experience with using the digital library. The findings suggest that there are no significant differences between male and female users regarding self-efficacy in getting information. Undergraduate students as well as master or doctoral students and the users coming from the fields of arts and humanities as well as social sciences perceive lower levels of self-efficacy in getting information. The users who have longer experience with using the digital library perceive higher levels of self-efficacy in getting information. These findings and implications are discussed.
This study assessed the information needs of poultry farmers in three rural districts of Tanzania. Methodological triangulation was used. Data from questionnaires were triangulated with data from interviews and focus group discussions to validate quantitative with qualitative findings. The findings indicated that poultry farmers had varying information needs including poultry disease management, poultry protection, shelter for poultry and poultry production. The key sources of information used by famers were family, friends, neighbours, extension officers, researchers and radio. There was very low identification and prioritization of farmers’ information needs. The findings implied that information providers were not aware of the farmers’ information needs and as a result they disseminated information that would not satisfy farmers’ needs. The key issues that constrained information providers from identifying and prioritizing farmers’ needs were inadequate resources, unfavourable working conditions, lack of facilities, and inadequate support from the government. Understanding the information needs of poultry farmers is crucial to effectively satisfying the felt information needs. It is recommended that information providers should conduct regular assessments of information needs, and ensure the information disseminated takes farmers’ needs into consideration.
The primary goal of this study was to present the summative evaluation findings of an initial implementation to investigate the impact, effectiveness and perceived benefits of the Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) on the performance of Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) officers in Turkey. A sequential explanatory strategy as a procedure of mixed method design was used to collect data through a survey, interviews, and computer logs. While 191 CSI officers participated in the quantitative part of the study, the researchers also conducted interviews with 12 officers. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The results showed that intrinsic support made a major contribution to officers’ performance with positive reactions. It revealed also that generating reports and establishing standardization were one of the main factors providing impacts on society. This study provides a viable application of Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation model for the CSI Unit; however, the model’s extended adaptations should also be carried out in different workplace settings for further studies.
This paper considers the attributes of Serbian companies in regard to their knowledge and application of e-banking, thus measuring their ability to do business with potential business partners. This, in turn, gives foreign partners the possibility to make business decisions based on reliable information about potential Serbian markets and companies. The primary hypothesis is that companies in Serbia are familiar with e-banking to the extent that enables them to use it in dealing with international companies. This paper presents the results of a survey of 104 companies in Serbia. It was found that 94 percent of companies use at least some form of e-banking in their operations. The results of this study are primarily intended to encourage researchers to focus their research toward the generation of business information that contributes to more reliable insights into the business environment. On the other hand, it presents business people the possibility and feasibility of thorough preparation for business connections, i.e. the supply of information on potential markets and channels of business operations to recover from the present economic crisis.
This research aimed to examine the current information and communication technology (ICT) skills of faculty members at the College of Basic Education, Kuwait, to find out their ICT skills level and obtain an understanding of their training needs. A survey of 187 faculty members revealed findings on Internet access, ICT teaching courses, level of ICT skills, English language proficiency, ICT use, availability of ICT resources and ICT skills. This study recommends that faculty members update their ICT skills and assign students to use ICT, while their employer should provide suitable Internet infrastructure and professional development courses based on a training plan. Research has generated an ICT-skilled faculty member list that employers would use to check faculty members’ skills before employing them. Other institutions can make use of this research as a guide to evaluating their faculty members’ ICT skills.
This research attempts to identify the factors leading to the adoption of mobile banking and the degree of influence of each one of the factors in Thailand. It proposes a comprehensive framework that extends the existing UTAUT model with important constructs such as perceived credibility, perceived cost, and perceived convenience. A three-pronged approach, consisting of an extensive review of the literature, expert interviews, and a field survey of mobile banking adoption is put forward. A field survey of respondents was undertaken with both convergent and discriminant validities being conducted. The results of the structural equation modeling show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived credibility, perceived convenience, and behavioral intention to use mobile banking posited a positive relationship. Contrary to previous studies, the hypotheses testing perceived that financial cost and facilitation conditions in the adoption of mobile banking were not supported. Discussions and conclusions including academic and practical implications are also presented.
Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is widening the concept of business from a simple transactional approach to a broader and more complex concept of inter-firm co-operation. Amidst market globalization, growing interpenetration of national economies and the increased interdependence of national economies, e-commerce adoption remains a vital yet complex and elusive phenomenon, with very little known about its determinants. This study identifies the major determining factors in Ghanaian small and medium sized enterprises’ (SMEs) e-commerce adoption, offers practical implications, and indicates the actions required. This research integrates technological, organizational, and environmental determinisms with social constructivism to build a practical framework for understanding e-commerce adoption among SMEs in Ghana. Structural equation modeling was employed for data analysis. The results indicate that government support has the greatest direct impact on intentions to use e-commerce. Managerial support and the influence of enabling and regulatory conditions also play a vital role in stimulating SME e-commerce adoption in Ghana. The results also show that Ghanaian SMEs tend to imitate successful first-movers to avoid the risks that attend e-commerce technology.
Software-as-a-Service, a new model of accessing software, presents individual users with tremendous opportunities to work and live conveniently and efficiently. Existing research has put much focus on understanding SaaS potential and risks for organizations and not much effort has been invested in understanding individual users, despite their market significance. This study aims at closing this gap by analyzing the cognitive mechanism through which individual users trade off privacy against the benefits that SaaS offers and identify salient benefits that trigger such trade-off. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Privacy-Trust-Intention model and cost-benefit theories, we developed a research framework that capture the trade-off between benefits and privacy and further analyzed data collected from an online survey of SaaS users in Korea with 290 respondents. Our findings indicate that individual users’ intention to use SaaS is negatively affected by privacy concerns and positively affected by overall perceived benefits in a relationship that is mediated by trust towards SaaS providers. Surprisingly, no direct, significant effect of privacy concerns on intention to use SaaS was found, whereas overall perceived benefits were found to have a direct effect on users’ intention to adopt SaaS. We found convenience to be the most salient benefit that users expect from adopting SaaS. Our study contributes to existing research by developing and empirically verifying a benefits-versus-privacy framework in a rather neglected segment of SaaS consumers in previous research. The findings also guide SaaS providers in mitigating privacy concerns; while efforts to minimize privacy will enhance users’ trust, it is of paramount importance to maximize salient benefits such as convenience that outweigh privacy concerns during users’ decision making to adopt SaaS.
The current study seeks to explore the nature of collaboration among different organizations for conducting training workshops to enhance the skills of library and information science (LIS) professionals in Pakistan. This study covered training activities conducted from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2013. Content analysis was used for this study. The data for the study was collected through an overview and perusal of messages shared on online Yahoo! groups of LIS professionals in Pakistan including PakLAG and LIBCOOP. The study found that universities, research and development institutes or academies, library associations and some business organizations have participated in the promotion of the skills of librarians in Pakistan. International cooperation seems lacking, as only five initiatives have attracted the cooperation of only three international organizations. The University of Punjab, Pakistan Librarians Welfare Association and the Institute of Research Promotion have played the leading role in their respective categories in enhancing the skills of LIS professionals in Pakistan.
Globally, crime is a major societal problem. To control crime effectively, police forces require new systems for analysis and monitoring. Crime analysis and monitoring integrates data from different government agencies. Many types of data are collected from multiple heterogeneous sources in different formats and from different platforms. In this study, the problems and requirements of the police in crime analysis and monitoring are summarized and solutions are presented. The primary objective of this study is to propose the design and implementation of a mobile crime analysis and monitoring system based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) that can support data exchange and model sharing from heterogeneous systems. To develop this system, the SOA-based structure is used as the foundation to design and implement the system. The system architecture, business process, and methodologies for locating the nearest police are constructed based on SOA. The developed system is evaluated to measure its efficiency and effectiveness. Time is used for measuring the efficiency and the accuracy of the reported cases is used for measuring the effectiveness of the developed system. The evaluation results confirm that the developed system increases the efficiency of police operations by approximately 60% with an effectiveness increase of 84%.
Content is the origin of communications. It is also one of the key indices in the evaluation of societies’ economic development. However, review of the literature reveals no agreed conceptualization of content. Lack of consensus regarding the definition of content, on the one hand, coupled with its significant role as a developmental determinant for an information society, on the other, were motives behind the proposed integrated definition of content presented in this study. Our suggested conceptualization of content is referred to as "Triple Cs", and is composed of 3 elements: (1) cerebral process, (2) conduit(s), and (3) conduitee.
Audit reports issued by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) yearly indicate that poor record-keeping is one of the contributing factors to disclaimer audit opinions in the public sector. Despite this, records management is often not considered or used as an essential element to facilitate an effective auditing process in the public sector in South Africa. Utilizing the auditing process of AGSA as a conceptual framework, this study sought to develop a framework to embed records management practices into the auditing process in the public sector in South Africa, with a view to reduce findings on record-keeping in the audit reports. Literature review was conducted to demonstrate the relationship between records management and auditing. The study suggests a framework that can assist governmental bodies in managing records effectively throughout the application of an auditing process that includes records management at all stages and within specific contexts of the organization. It is hoped that such a framework will help governmental bodies in South Africa towards obtaining clean audit reports.
The present study seeks to bring to the fore contextual factors that are influencing the decision-making process of corporate website adoption among micro-enterprises in the context of the developing world. We argue that the adoption of corporate websites by the decision-makers of micro-enterprises could be a strategic lever for micro-enterprises’ brands to gain visibility in the marketplace. We further opine that for micro-enterprises to gain a foothold in doing business in the present information age, it is imperative for such businesses to take advantages of the opportunities inherent on the World Wide Web. Based on our findings, there is evidence to show that aside from the applicability of the technology-organisation-environment (TOE) contexts as significant contributing factors in the adoption of corporate websites by micro enterprises, the decision-makers’ demographics equally play a significant role. The findings of the study may assist policy makers and stakeholders within the Nigerian Internet ecosystem to focus their attention on specific key areas that are aimed at supporting the diffusion and adoption of corporate websites among micro-enterprises.
Why do people help others on mobile shopping sites, even when members have never met? To answer the research question, this study applies attachment theory to investigate the relationships between formation variables (trust, enjoyment, and timesaving), transfer variables (site, group, and interpersonal attachments), and an outcome variable (reciprocal altruism). An online survey was conducted of shoppers who had purchased tourism products with smartphones. The results show that trust, enjoyment, and timesaving have significant effects on site attachment, which, in turn, have a significant effect on both group and interpersonal attachments. Interpersonal attachment also has a highly significant effect on group attachment. Reciprocal altruism is influenced by both site and interpersonal attachments. The findings not only provide theoretical contributions to the tourism literature but also practical contributions to the tourism industry.
This article sheds some light on the usage and types of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) accessible to community members in four selected multipurpose community centers (telecentres) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study was informed by the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. Through a survey, four telecentres were purposively selected. Questionnaires were used to collect data. The data was tabulated and presented using tables, frequencies, and percentiles. The results indicate that a variety of ICTs have been adopted in the telecentres to provide local communities with much-needed access to information and improved communication. The most popular recommendations from users included the need for sufficient and coherent government policies regulating the training of the local community to effectively use these ICTs. Government should ensure that adequate varieties and levels of ICT competence are offered to all citizens, and needs to find ways to gradually include ICT training in curricula at all levels, including primary education.
This study aims to analyze several legislation barriers and establish regulation policy for the task of e-government push in China. First, a stage model of e-government is proposed according to the previous models of e-government evolution. The five dimensions are: cataloging, transaction, vertical integration, horizontal integration, and e-democracy in the e-government development progress. Corresponding dominant tasks are developed for the dimensions based on literature review and interviews. Second, we test validity and reliability of the dominant tasks based on a national wide survey of 111 government CIOs, and the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) results demonstrated that the constructs are good fit. Third, key legislative points are designed to match the dominant tasks based on the survey of a scholar panel specializing in administrative law. Therefore, a full perspective on legislative policies is provided to meet the needs of e-government development.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play a key role in today’s business environment. ICTs also give small firms a competitive advantage in the new economy. However, little empirical research has addressed the issues of use, impact and adoption of ICTs in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially in rural areas of developing countries. The objective of this study is to identify the impact of ICTs and the factors that influence the adoption of ICTs in SMEs located in rural areas of Bangladesh. This article follows a qualitative and quantitative research approach based on a case study and structured questionnaires. The regression analysis showed that awareness of benefits, government support, top management support, and financial support are important determinants of the adoption of ICTs in rural SMEs in Bangladesh. This article also highlights the limitations that SMEs have in using ICTs and makes recommendations on how to overcome them.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a representative technological innovation for future computing and communications. IoT technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and sensors have garnered huge attention in both academia and industry. However, the expected rapid adoption and diffusion of IoT technologies have not yet taken place and there is still a lack of understanding about IoT and how industries can apply IoT properly. To understand IoT utilization, predict the diffusion trends of IoT, and provide reliable guidelines for potential IoT adopters, this study investigated the value configuration of IoT technologies, focusing on the utilization of specific technology attributes of IoT in particular business contexts. Based on 762 IoT business cases (2008–2012), this study explored the technology attributes and business contexts of IoT usage and identified five representative value configuration models of IoT through cluster analysis: ID-based service model, Multiple operation management model, Service-combined inventory management model, Intelligent inventory transport model, and Sensor-based multiple service model. In addition, propositions for IoT utilization in each industry were provided according to the five value configuration models. The research results provide a holistic view for understanding IoT utilization in various business areas and the value configuration framework approach provides a more elaborate frame to understand diffusion trends of new technology.
Information technology currently plays an important role in many industries and has enabled the development of different sectors and economies. Geographic information system (GIS) is an information technology that triggers improvements in many countries, and this paper presents a method of using GIS in the retrieval of lodging properties. A Lodging Property Query System (LPQS) is a novel system proposed for use by travel agencies to perform spatial queries. The proposed system was tested on a sample dataset that contains lodging properties selected from five different regions located along the shoreline of Antalya, Turkey. The data layers were prepared with the MapInfo software package, and the spatial queries and graphical user interface were developed with the MapXtreme software development kit. This study aims to contribute to the development of the travel agencies by offering useful information that fits customer expectations and needs by means of spatial context.
Well-being has rarely been used to discuss the post-adoption behavior of information technology users. Currently, satisfaction is the primary predictor of user behavior in IT post-adoption research. We live in an age when social media, mobile devices, the Internet, and other information technologies have virtually fused with our lifestyles. In discussing post-adoption behavior, focusing only on satisfaction might no longer be satisfactory. We should consider other constructs that might capture additional post-adoption factors, such as the concept of affect. In this study, we examined the influence of well-being on continuance intention and on loyalty. We compared well-being’s impact with that of satisfaction. A survey of 297 college students supplied the data that was entered into a structural equation model on social network site usage. The results showed strong support for satisfaction and well-being as influential factors for continuance intention and loyalty. Moreover, relative to satisfaction, we found well-being to have a greater impact on continuance intention and loyalty.
The publisher would like to apologize for the error in the online version of the article ‘Knowledge quality: A review and a revised conceptual model’ DOI: 10.1177/0266666914539694
Information technology (IT) is increasingly playing a crucial role in managing business processes across all industries and organizations but business managers and analysts seem to underestimate the impact of usability of IT solutions on processes and people. This paper focuses on the usability of one of the most popular business process management software systems, SAP, which comes as an integrated solution that incorporates the key business functions and processes of an organization. The paper critically analyzes related issues and implications using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and semi-structured interviews. Several considerations and suggestions are drawn in terms of rethinking and pursuing usability in training when applied to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other systems supporting business process management.
Primary care physicians (PCPs) need a wide range of health information resources to manage their patients. The present study aimed to investigate the barriers that obstruct the health information seeking behavior of primary care physicians in Pakistan from their practice setting. A survey was carried out in 77 basic health units (BHUs), seven rural health centers (RHCs), and two tehsil headquarters (THQs) of Multan District, Pakistan. A three-part questionnaire containing participants’ demographic information, barriers in seeking health information, and required sources and services, was distributed to primary care physicians through post, email, and personal visits to participating healthcare facilities. The data was analyzed statistically using SPSS. Chi square and Kruskal Wallis tests were applied to determine if there were any significant differences in demographic information of different healthcare facilities participants, the barriers they faced in seeking health information, and the required sources and services available to them. The major barriers included: no onsite library, no health sciences librarian, scarcity of health information resources, inaccessibility of health information system, and lack of information and technological infrastructure. Consultation with seniors, improved connectivity and document delivery services were among the sources and services most required by primary care physicians. The study concluded that primary care physicians encounter multiple barriers that obstruct their health-related information seeking behavior, which compromises patient care. Medical librarians should design outreach library and information services in health sciences and health information literacy programs to overcome the barriers primary care physicians face while seeking health information from their practice settings.
This study explores the intrinsic and extrinsic features of Moodle learning managements system and how these features motivate students to use an e-learning portal, which subsequently influences their perceived learning effectiveness and academic performance. Theoretical underpinning of motivation theory, self-determination theory (SDT), and cognitive evaluation theory (CET) is used to design the framework. The quantitative empirical research to test the hypothesized relationships was conducted on 276 online students in Pakistan who use Moodle for online learning. By analysing the responses using AMOS, the findings reveal that both the intrinsic motivators (communication module features, course content module features and course delivery module features) and extrinsic motivator (assignment module feature) significantly influence the students’ perceived learning effectiveness, which results in improve academic performance.
A large number of studies have examined the impact of information and communication technology on governance and corruption. However, few studies have explored the situation in China. While the Chinese government is fully committed to the development of ICT, it has also invested a great amount of resources into controlling the dissemination of information. Therefore, it is worth exploring whether ICT has had a positive impact on governance and corruption in China as found in other countries in previous studies. We conducted empirical tests utilizing provincial data from 2004 to 2010 and a Dynamic Panel Data Model. The results showed that ICT had a positive impact on the governance of provincial governments in China. ICT had two different effects on corruption: ICT helped corruption cases come to light and ultimately helped reduce corruption.
Despite its long term impact on planning, evaluation and documentation of Internet development, measurement of Internet usage is largely neglected in government policy actions in rural China. For researchers interested in evaluating government policy outcomes and Internet usage patterns in rural China, the only option is collecting primary data, which is resource-intensive and often fraught with data quality issues that entail many tradeoffs. Such quality issues have not been discussed in the literature in sufficient depth; this paper fills this void by discussing the challenges of collecting primary data on rural Internet users and suggests strategies for handling these issues based on the authors’ experiences of fieldwork in rural China.
The purpose of this study was to examine the factors influencing knowledge sharing in a public sector institution in Ghana. A case study of the factors influencing knowledge sharing among employees at Afigya Kwabre District Assembly in the Ashanti Region of Ghana was used as the research design. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample. A semi-structured interview guide was used for data collection. The data was analyzed using the thematic analysis technique. The study found mutual trust, respect and care for one another, the quest for organizational success, education and experience level of employees as the significant factors influencing knowledge sharing in the Afigya Kwabre District Assembly.
Recent studies on IT (Information Technology) outsourcing reveal the growing trend and widely accepted management practice of IT outsourcing in the public sector. To achieve more from this practice it is essential to identify and examine the success factors. In this regard, this study conducts an empirical investigation on IT outsourcing projects for e-government. A framework is proposed and 13 IT outsourcing success factors from the private sector are identified through a literature review. The framework demonstrates the impact of four categories, organizational environment, contract/project characteristics, project management, and partnership management on IT outsourcing. A survey of IT managers responsible for managing IT outsourcing projects in Korean government organizations was conducted and 178 IT outsourcing projects for e-government initiated by 56 different government organizations were analyzed. The findings are then compared with general beliefs on IT outsourcing in the private sector. Findings and lessons from the empirical investigation of this study provide useful guidelines for IT managers in the public sector.
The long-term development of mobile banking (m-banking) relies on users’ continued usage. Motivated by the need to better understand the motivations and barriers of users’ continuance intention towards m-banking, this study develops a research model based on the incorporation of the technology acceptance model (TAM): task-technology fit model (TTF) and perceived risk into the expectance-confirmation model (ECM). Empirical data from 434 users who had prior experience with m-banking were tested against the proposed research model by using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate that satisfaction, perceived usefulness, perceived task-technology fit, and perceived risk are the main predictors of continuance intention, satisfaction, in turn, is determined by confirmation, perceived usefulness, and perceived risk. Perceived usefulness is affected by confirmation, perceived ease of use, and perceived task-technology fit. However, the direct effect of perceived ease of use to continuance intention is not significant. The results also show that gender significantly moderates the effect of perceived risk to continuance intention. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.
Online retailers are providing a large amount of products over the Internet for potential customers. Given the opportunity of accessing vast amounts of products online, customers usually encounter difficulties to choose the right product or service for themselves. Obtaining advice from the Internet is both time consuming and most of the time unreliable. Therefore, some kind of intelligent software is needed to act on behalf of customers in such situations. Recommender agents are intelligent software providing easily accessible, high-quality recommendations for online consumers. They either track online customer behaviour implicitly or obtain information from the customer explicitly and provide the products or services in which the customer might be interested. By utilizing such systems, online retailers not only increase their sales but also assist their customers in finding the products or services they seek. This study assessed the influence of knowledge-based recommender agents on the online-consumer decision-making process. Shopping duration, purchase of desired item, effort spent in searching for the desired product and the decision quality of online consumers were assessed by exposing the participants to a knowledge-based recommender system which has been integrated into one of the online shopping systems developed in the scope of this study. Only objective measures have been utilized in this research; that is, shopping system log data has been used to measure the influence of recommender agents on the consumer decision-making process. Study findings have shown that knowledge-based recommender agents improve the consumer decision-making process by reducing the shopping duration and effort spent in searching for suitable products. Also, it was found that decision quality and the number of consumers who purchase the desired item increase with their use of such systems. The results of this study provide additional proof of the potential benefits of integrating such systems into online web stores.
The digital divide between countries is a critical phenomenon separating the countries that ‘have’ (mostly developed countries) from the countries that ‘have not’ (mostly developing countries). It places developing countries in a disadvantaged position economically, politically, and socially that in turns affects the life and social well-being of the citizens. Current understanding of the digital divide is limited by usage of secondary data, which prompts scholars to call for more theoretically-based empirical research. Since the key to reducing the digital divide is to increase people’s access to ICT, this study developed and empirically tested a 3-tier ICT access model to determine the effect on ICT development of intention to participate in online activities among citizens in developed and developing countries. The model was founded on three existing research frameworks. In addition, this study theoretically clarified the relationship between four types of ICT access and how they contribute to intention to participate online. Survey data of university students from Korea and Cambodia was collected. The results confirm the effect of ICT development on citizens’ intention and isolate key factors that impact the two countries differently. Technological access was found to impact extrinsic motivational access and skills access. Social access influenced extrinsic and intrinsic motivational access and skills access. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
The large amounts of Facebook social network data which are generated and collected need to be analyzed for valuable decision making information about shopping firms in Turkey. In addition, analyzing social network data from outside the firms becomes a critical business need for the firms which actively use Facebook. To have a competitive advantage, firms must translate social media texts into something more quantitative to extract information. In this study, web text mining techniques are used to determine popular online shopping firms’ Facebook patterns. For this purpose, 200 popular Turkish companies’ web URLs are used. Web text mining through natural language processing techniques is examined. Similarity analysis and clustering are done. Consequently, the clusters of the Facebook websites and their relationships and similarities of the firms are obtained.
Compared to online stores, mobile stores as an emerging application have received less adoption among users. This may be for the reason that they are locked into the relationship with online stores and are unwilling to switch from online stores to mobile stores. From a dual perspective of enablers and inhibitors, this research examined user switching from online stores to mobile stores. Enablers include trust transfer and flow, whereas the inhibitor is switching barrier. The results indicate that user switching receives a dual influence from both enablers and inhibitors. Among them, trust transfer has the largest effect on switching intention. These results imply that service providers need to be concerned with both aspects of enablers and inhibitors in order to facilitate user switching from online stores to mobile stores.
With increasing usage of electronic devices, people are creating digital footprints of their everyday actions. These footprints come in the form of big data, and can provide useful insights into customer preferences, thus enabling companies to gain business benefits. However, customers may perceive usage of their personal information as a threat. The telecommunications sector is facing this issue. It is capable of collecting huge amount of data due to wide usage of smartphones and mobile Internet. Yet, it is unable to capitalize on these data. To manage customer perception of information risks in giving telecommunications companies permission to use their personal information, this study examines factors that influence customers’ risk perception. A survey of 512 Internet panel members in Korea shows that information practices play an important role in shaping information privacy concerns, trust, and perceived information risks. Information privacy concern is the strongest predictor of perceived information risks, followed by perceived data control, and trust. Perceived policy awareness and perceived information protection significantly influence perceived data control. The findings imply that telecommunications companies ought to increase the level of customer trust, improve their information practices, and reduce customers’ information privacy concerns if they want to lower customer perception toward information risks.
Social network services (SNS) provide ways for people to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences through computer-mediated communication. As SNS become increasingly more popular, studies on individuals’ usage motivations of SNS are conducted to explain the acceptance of SNS and their usage intentions. However, situations in which people become stressed with SNS are also developing. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the objectives that people are pursuing when they are using SNS. Using motivation theory and self-disclosure theory, this study in Korea examined the factors influencing self-disclosure and the mediating role of self-disclosure examined in terms of subjective well-being. Based on the results of structural equation model analysis, communication in the SNS had the biggest impacts on self-disclosure; information, entertainment, and privacy concerns also were influential. The results also indicated that self-disclosure caused subjective well-being. This study is one of the first to examine the mediating role of self-disclosure on subjective well-being in social network services.
The demographic variables of employees have been noted as important determinants of their commitment to work. This paper reports empirical research findings on the relationship between the demographic factors of medical records management personnel at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, and their commitment to work, and proposes recommendations based on the findings. The study was quantitative. One hundred and six (106) copies of a questionnaire were administered to the 106 medical records personnel in the 28 clinical departments of the KBTH, and 92 (87 percent) were obtained in complete form and used for the analysis. Regression analysis was used to investigate the extent to which the demographic variables of the respondents determined their organizational commitment. The key finding of the study was that positive relationships exist between demographic variables (age, gender, job tenure, educational level) and organizational commitment of medical records personnel at KBTH. The findings indicate the need for the management of KBTH to consider the demographic factors of the medical records staff in an attempt to improve their commitment to work.
In December 2012 South Korea completed a presidential election that exhibited a high level of political participation through podcast-based Internet use and smartphone access. Podcasts and social media in relation to political and social participation are extremely popular in South Korea. ‘Naneun Ggomsuda’ is a podcast program which is ranked first in the world among Korean-speaking users for political participation. Drawing on DeLone and McLean’s IS success model from the theoretical lens of the belief-desire-intention (BDI) framework, we propose a research model investigating the effects of three quality dimensions (systems, content, and service) of Naneun Ggomsuda’s podcast system on participation, desire and intention. Among the quality dimensions, content quality and real-time connectivity service quality have a significant impact on political participation desire. Interestingly, podcast systems quality does not show a significant effect. The study looks at critical success factors of this podcast social media system, including system quality, social content quality, service quality and social issues, and suggests practical implications encompassing the political, social, and business aspects of this program’s influence.
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) play an important role in the socioeconomic development programmes in the developing countries. For instance, donors prefer to channel development funds through CSOs rather than directly to governments. However, the lack of adequate capacity to work with governments, donors and other stakeholders has hampered the ability of local CSOs to deliver effective services. Different approaches, including mentorship and formal training, have been used to try to strengthen the capacity of CSOs, but with little apparent impact. Knowledge needs a facilitative context to be created and shared effectively. The ba concept, originally proposed by Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida in 1921, is a shared context in which knowledge is created, shared and utilized. It encompasses physical, virtual and mental spaces where participants interact. The key focus of any ba is not the individuals in it but their interactions, which lead to information creation, sharing and learning. The apomediated marketplace, as a knowledge ba, is a combination of face-to-face events and a digital interface through which CSOs, as buyers, and capacity-building consultants, as vendors, meet directly to develop partnerships, share knowledge and transact business. As opposed to intermediation, which involves ‘standing between’ the parties, or disintermediation, implying ‘standing aloof’, standing by the participants through apomediation increases the level of social interactions, which in turn enhances the quality of knowledge sharing in the ba. This paper unravels and describes the concept of knowledge marketplace and reports instances of its implementation in developing countries. It also analyzes the mediation techniques applied in existing knowledge marketplaces and their effectiveness in creating a ba suitable for sharing and learning. The study was conducted through exploratory survey. Data was collected through literature searching and analysis. The findings indicate that apomediation facilitates the creation of a safer, more versatile and effective knowledge sharing ba than its alternatives.
One key focus of the business community is determining how to combine information technology capability (IT capability) with business strategies. However, most of these studies have been based on a conceptual framework or researched the performance of e-businesses from a strictly technological point of view. This study sought to identify the factors that influence e-business IT capability using a technology-organization-environment framework. The subjects of this study were IT department heads in 1,000 large companies in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling was used to verify the validity of the research hypotheses. Results show that the key factors influencing e-business IT capability are as follows: IT maturity, IT infrastructure, IT human resources, support from top management, partnership quality, and competitive pressure. IT capability significantly affects the implementation of IT strategies. The results of this study could serve as important reference data for companies seeking to develop IT capability in the expansion of e-business.
The significance of agility is widely accepted because agile organizations are more successful in changing and competitive environments. Although the relationship of information technology (IT) capability and knowledge capability with organizational agility has been documented, limited information is available on the extent to which these two capabilities affect organizational agility. Attempts to understand the effect of IT and knowledge capability on organizational agility in the presence of contextual factors have also been few. Based on data collected from 123 organizations in China, we examine the moderating effects of two contextual factors (environmental uncertainty and information intensity) on the relationship of IT and knowledge capability with organizational agility. We contribute to current knowledge by showing that environmental uncertainty positively moderates the effects of IT capability and knowledge capability on organizational agility and that information intensity positively moderates the effects of knowledge capability on organizational agility. IT capability and knowledge capability are more effective in the presence of high environmental uncertainty and information intensity. While we find that both IT and knowledge capabilities have positive effects on organizational agility, knowledge capability is more effective than IT capability.
This paper reviews and analyzes the development of Multipurpose Community Telecenters (MCTs) in rural Bangladesh. The core of the paper builds on bringing together relevant literature review and field study. The findings of the paper suggest that the development of telecenters in Bangladesh is still in its formative stage. MCTs have fared well in improving rural people’s livelihood at large, and the emerging middle class have been the major beneficiaries. Evidence suggests that the telecenters did not work much for the hardcore poor. The paper argues that MCTs as knowledge hubs have facilitated not only narrowing the digital divide but also contributing to the socio-economic development of rural Bangladesh.
This paper presents a review on Knowledge Management (KM) performance measurement in the past two decades. Various tools and techniques that have been developed are discussed and presented chronologically to show how KM performance measurement has changed during this period. Each tool and technique is evaluated and classified based on the types of measures and approaches used. This paper also proposes six new categories: traditional, advanced, deterministic, stochastic, general result oriented, and specific result oriented, to complement the previous classification schemes. Future research directions for KM performance measurement are identified and presented in a holistic framework to act as a guideline for new researchers who wish to embark on this field.
Libraries all over the world are utilizing the latest Information and Communication Technologies to assist in their objective of providing clients with effective and efficient services, as well as timely access to needed information. The implementation of social media and the use of mobile technologies for service delivery are trends that have, however, not yet been fully embraced by academic libraries in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This article reports on a study aimed at investigating the possibility of using mobile technologies to implement social media based services to graduate students at the University for Development Studies Library in Ghana. This article provides a short overview of the various technologies and services available, discusses the opportunities and challenges for implementing such services at the University Library, and provides a number of recommendations to support this goal.
Rural library and information centres could play a significant role in the socio-economic development of rural areas by providing information and communication services to the rural people. In most parts of the world, especially in the developing countries, these centres are plagued with various problems like insufficient funds, lack of government and community support, uncertainty about sustainability, etc. The centres are trying to solve these problems in various ways, although it has proved to be a very difficult task. This article highlights the problems and prospects of rural library and information services in different parts of the world by reviewing relevant literature contributed by development practitioners, library and information professionals, academics and others. It contains valuable insights and observations for making the rural library and information initiatives successful in the long run. The field of rural library and information services is changing continuously with the advent of new techniques and technologies. This paper will help achieve a better understanding of this changing landscape and provide specific directions for making this endeavour worthwhile and sustainable in the long run.
This study attempts to discover the pattern of rural library usage among rural youth in Malaysia and to determine the problems that are associated with such usage. The findings of this study provide an insight into youth usage of rural library services. The most obvious pattern that resulted from the findings is the connection between library usage and the availability of reading materials. Furthermore, it was found that some of the respondents raised their concern with regard to rural libraries being congested with children. A number of recommendations have been highlighted and it is expected that these can be used by concerned parties to further improve and develop rural library services.
Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) scholars have often criticised that most researchers in this field tend not to use theory to build, test or extend further concepts in their projects (Ogan et al., 2009, Heeks, 2007) while Burrell and Toyama (2009) reflected that it is precisely because of its breadth and range of research that ICT4D lacks a common foundation of concepts and terms. Heeks (2007) lamented that very little work has been deduced from the ‘D’ of ICT4D. In this paper, the author will attempt to review recent literature which contributed to arguably the two most contentious concept-based researches in ICT for Development – Amartya Sen’s and philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach (Sen, 1999a, Nussbaum, 1988) against a very different vulnerabilities approach of poverty and debate the validity of both approaches to ICT4D research. This paper posits that both paradigms can be applied to the same development project depending on its enthymeme and suggests the acceptance that all of these viewpoints will and should continue to coexist within the realms of the academic and practitioner communities for the benefit of this new and emerging field called ICT4D.
Timely diffusion of IT products is critical to the success of technology companies. However, many IT products fail to attain the critical mass required for profitability. Although several studies have identified perceived usefulness as the primary factor in IT adoption, statistics indicate that some Korean consumers avoid IT products despite understanding their utility. This study empirically examines the effects of perceived risks and switching barriers on Korean non-adopters’ intention to use smartphones. The results indicate that the intention to use smartphones is generally influenced by perceived usefulness, financial risk, and cost effectiveness. Those who choose to avoid smartphones despite perceiving their usefulness have additional concerns regarding the perceived non-attractiveness of other service providers. This study samples non-adopters and analytically compares individuals with high levels of smartphone utility perception and varying levels of smartphone usage intention, thereby providing insights to organizations for customizing products and marketing approaches to tap into this market niche.
The scientific work of researchers or research institutes is generally assessed by the quality of resulting research publications. Therefore, a need arises to maintain information on publications in an organized and accessible manner. Existing software tools for information management of publications are not well suited for evaluation purposes, particularly for agricultural research, with interdisciplinary aspects. We implemented an Agricultural Publications Information System (AgriPubInfo) prototype for the documentation of research publications and evaluation of performance of institutions involved in agricultural research. This prototype, which supports a wide range of publication types, is designed to meet the specific requirements of agricultural research institutions and has features like advanced search option, extraction of publications statistics based on a variety of visual form based queries, etc. For filtering and effective searching, metadata formats suitable for describing scientific publications have been used in creating the database. Several workflow procedures maintain data quality and the system allows the researchers / users to enter the publication data in the database themselves. Public search facility has also been provided for searching records, dynamic browsing of publication lists and exporting the contents to various formats for creation of reports. This AgriPubInfo prototype can serve as a versatile tool for monitoring progress and facilitating evaluation of research quality at the individual and institutional levels.
This study analyses the relationship between the e-government transformation success in Turkey and the 18 success factors commonly assumed to be the causes of transformation success in the literature. The study uses a quantitative methodology previously developed by the same researchers, which considers transformation success as the dependent variable and the 18 success factors as the independent variables in a relational model and applies correlation, regression and factor analyses to the collected data to search for the probable relationships between these variables. The results of these analyses show that there are significant and positive correlations between the success factors and transformation success, but none of these correlations could be attributed to a cause and effect relationship, as assumed in similar studies. The results also show that classifying similar success factors under common headings to analyze transformation success is not statistically meaningful.
Although the Web has been seen as a critical source of information in K–12 education, Iranian educators’ acceptance for the web technology to become mainstream in the classroom remains a big challenge. Quality of information might be taken into account towards successful use of web-based learning resources. This study identifies the perceived information quality problems of Farsi web resources to be used in classroom instruction. This qualitative study employs focus group and interviews as the data collection technique, involving 10 secondary school teachers in Iran. It analyzed the information quality problems and information quality assurance applied or suggested by the participants in the context of web resources used in classroom instruction. Eleven dimensions of information quality problems emerged from the focus group discussion, seven of which are associated with content quality. Educators’ perceptions about the quality of web resources might be considered as critical in terms of usage of web resources in the Iranian school context. Not only the information quality dimensions highlighted in this study may help them, but also increased theoretical understanding can translate into practical insights that will benefit professionals who seek to design educational websites for credibility.
In spite of exponential growth projections of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) market value, many companies are reluctant to adopt RFID and RFID vendors are complaining that the business is not growing as fast as expected. The existing challenges and deep skepticism that RFID is facing remains around the return on investment, the incompleteness of RFID technology, and the lack of trust in the result of performance improvement. To fill these voids identified in previous research, from the perspective of business productivity and efficiency, this paper investigates what factors affect RFID-driven task performance, based on the extended Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model. To empirically evaluate the proposed model, a total of 63 usable responses were collected from companies in Korea, and the data is analyzed by Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results obtained pointed out the importance of the fit between the technology and users’ tasks in achieving individual performance impact. Moreover, negative perceptions toward RFID have no direct effect on continuing RFID utilization. Knowing these factors, potential technology users are able to evaluate if it is reasonable to adopt RFID under certain conditions and at a certain point in time. Furthermore, they can attempt to actively influence these variables in order to reduce the failure probability of RFID deployments.
There is a severe shortage of healthcare provision in Africa. e-Health, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support healthcare, may help to ease this problem. e-Health projects support a wide range of applications ranging from telemedicine to global research collaborations made possible via e-Infrastructures, worldwide systems of integrated advanced high performance networking and computing ICT. To try to understand the state of e-Health in Africa, this paper aims to create a picture and to present an analytical review of some of these initiatives in Africa. A review framework composed of multiple search methods is developed and applied to yield a broad coverage of e-Health projects over the African continent. Seven quantitative analyses on the projects are presented. Major observations include that there is a tendency for e-Health projects to grow in number in some African countries over time; that African countries with larger Gross National Incomes tend to attract more e-Health projects; that e-Health projects in Africa focus on telemedicine, health education and health-related research; that there is a wide range of funding bodies, some of which have a geographical focus, and that the number of m-Health projects has been rising sharply.
Enterprise information systems (IS) are systems that integrate and streamline business processes that involve volumes of data. They also assist managers in making better decisions across organizations. In these ISs an upstream action has a bullwhip effect on downstream activities. The knowledge required to conduct operations with IS includes system interface navigation and tacit business processes. Although short-term training has been an essential part of implementing IS, it has been difficult to convey the cross-functional process knowledge required to operate an IS when errors occur. On the other hand, mentoring has long been employed by organizations to transfer and propagate tacit knowledge. Notwithstanding that no research has been done on the impact of mentoring on IS successful adaptation, the present study examines the mentoring theory used in successful organization and IS success models in a second-order modelling to argue, and verify, that mentoring plays an important role in IS adaptation through users’ perceived usefulness, satisfaction, and continuous intention.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the dialogic features of university websites in Ghana and their potential for interacting with existing students while wooing potential students. This study was executed via a content analysis of university websites in Ghana. The results of the study show that Ghanaian universities adequately utilize the dialogic principles as proposed by Kent and Taylor (1998) in designing their websites. The findings show a preponderance in use of the dialogic loop principle by the sampled institutions in Ghana. However, the results also show poor performance by the sampled institutions on return visit principle. The research paper contributes to the scarce literature on dialogic potential of websites in a developing country context.
The study sought to ascertain the factors influencing knowledge application in Ghanaian industries. The study employed a survey technique as the research design. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to select 300 respondents. Questionnaire was the main data collection tool. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis. The study found that organizational culture, trust and absorptive capacity are the factors influencing knowledge application in Ghanaian industries. The strategic implications of the findings are discussed in the paper.
This study provides an initiative for reflecting from a new perspective on academic libraries in Arab countries and their value to the institutions they serve. Depending on the pivotal role of databases in all educational and research activities, the study had two phases; first, demonstrating return on investment based on total downloads by King Abdulaziz University (KAU) faculty and students, which found that researchers would have to pay more than six times as much for articles if they had to purchase them rather than getting them through library databases; and secondly, measuring the usage of 52 funded research report citations drawn from library databases during the year 2011, which found that the return on investment was negative (– 0.99). The study showed that the proposed model can be applied in many Arab academic libraries.
The purposes of this research are to explain why Thai university students use social media and how differences between groups of respondents moderate the structure of relationships. Four core latent constructs were investigated in this study: behavioural intention (BI), subjective norms (SN), perceived ease of use (PEOU), and perceived usefulness (PU). Two moderating variables, gender and age, were employed to answer the research questions. Respondents (n = 600) in three universities in Bangkok, Thailand, were selected and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to analyse the data. The results show that behavioural intention is influenced by perceived ease of use, subjective norm, and perceived usefulness respectively. Perceived usefulness is also influenced by perceived ease of use. Moreover, our study affirms that the path from subjective norm to behavioural intention is moderated by age. This path is stronger for older people than for younger people. Discussions, limitations, and recommendations for future research are addressed.
This paper presents findings from a study conducted in Swaziland on the role of the public library in the provision of HIV and AIDS information. Its findings resonate with the findings of other studies carried out in a number of public libraries in African countries, viz. the disappointingly low visibility of the efforts to intervene, and the failure of the librarians to leverage greater impact through partnerships with related agencies. It suggests that public libraries need to change their behaviour in order to resolve the disparity between espoused positions and actual impact. The paper concludes by giving an account of how an information centre was established in a rural area in response to the findings of the investigation which pointed out the disadvantages experienced by rural people as a result of the inefficacy of the information flows between the centre and the margins.
Tracer studies are one of the tools that educational institutions may use to gauge the applicability of the courses they offer to their work environments. This study traced records and archives management (RAM) alumni who graduated from the National University of Science and Technology between 2008 and 2012. The main purpose of the study was to find out where RAM graduates were and what they were doing and establish if the skills they acquired during their education placed them in jobs relevant to their profession. A quantitative survey with a triangulation of data collection methods was employed. Data were collected through the use of questionnaires, interviews and document analysis. Data was analysed using quantitative methods with the assistance of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The results indicate that 67 percent of RAM graduates were employed, with the greatest number employed in parastatals, that is, agencies which are quasi-governmental. Skills that graduates acquired during their education were relevant to their jobs though they were not happy with the limited industrial attachment and exposure to practical training, and the sketchy coverage of aspects of information technology in the curriculum. Results also indicate that some organizations in industry did not appreciate the essence of the RAM profession. It is recommended that the Department of Records and Archives Management should involve stakeholders such as employers when designing the curriculum so that they may appreciate what the Department was doing, and should equip its graduates with skills that are always relevant to industry. Information technology aspects of the curriculum and industrial attachment for students need a rethink.
This paper proposes an integrated, ontology-based agricultural information system (AIS) to provide all-round and precise information for efficiently guiding farmers and agri-professionals to conduct agricultural processing. Since the existing independent AIS platforms can only offer specific but incomplete agricultural information service, aiming at this issue, the newly proposed AIS system employs ontology techniques, including RDF-based representation and semantic reasoning, to integrate the index information provided by all involved independent agricultural information platforms. As a result, this newly proposed AIS system can provide users with integrated and accurate response information. Through a realistic case study and relevant experiments, it is clear that the accuracy ratio and integrity ratio of response information offered by this ontology-based integrated AIS can be enhanced to a great extent. In summary, not only agri-professionals, but also farmers, who might not understand information retrieval skills, can benefit from this newly proposed AIS to conduct activities in agricultural production life cycle.
Although it seems that Government 2.0 will finally deliver the promise of a truly transparent government, many practitioners around the globe (particularly those in the developing world) are reluctant or unable to develop strategies and allocate resources to Government 2.0. As a result, governments around the world ignore or mishandle the opportunities and threats presented by Government 2.0. The primary reason underlying this behavior is the lack of understanding regarding Government 2.0. The purpose of the study is to address this gap in knowledge and understanding by presenting and illustrating fundamental concepts of Government 2.0. A web survey of 200 government websites from 40 countries (20 each from advanced and developing countries) and 45 Web 2.0 initiatives across the globe was used to present and illustrate fundamental concepts of Government 2.0. We suggested a three stage Government 2.0 Utilization Model (GUM) starting from information socialization (stage 1), and then moving on to mass collaboration (stage 2), and social transaction (stage 3). Based on the web survey, we also suggested three Government 2.0 implementation scenarios (i.e., standalone, nested, and hybrid implementation). The study will help researchers and practitioners in understanding the Government 2.0 phenomenon and the opportunities presented by it.
The study aims at probing the information seeking behavior of educational administrators in Pakistan. It also explores their administrative responsibilities for which they usually seek information, their use of the Internet, their preferences for format of reading material and language, etc. and the problems they face while seeking information. To achieve these objectives, a review of related literature, a questionnaire survey and personal interviews within Punjab province and Islamabad Capital Territory in Pakistan were carried out. In total, 297 (99 percent) responses were received and analyzed quantitatively. Recommendations and conclusions are also drawn in the light of findings of the study. The study reveals that educational administrators’ information needs and seeking behavior largely depend on the type of job and the level of decision making they are involved with. Most of the findings of the study correspond with the reviewed literature. The results of the study can be useful to design information services and facilities for educational administrators, not only in Pakistan but in other developing countries of the world as well.
This paper describes the perception of rural communities in the use of Mobile Enabled Social Hub (MESH) that was field tested in several villages across Sivaganga district in the southern part of rural Tamil Nadu, India, during May 2010 to December 2010. The present study was conducted through well structured pre-tested questionnaire with 90 users who took active participation throughout the project. The survey results showed that the rural communities perceived the MESH platform favourably, in terms of its usefulness and ease of use in exchanging information within their communities. Mann-Whitney U tests confirm that gender played a significant role in the perception of MESH as a means for effective communication. The Kruskal-Wallis test analysis also substantiated that people have perceived the MESH platform in an equal way, regardless of age group, education level and type of occupation.
Tackling inequalities in society remains a serious challenge for post-apartheid South Africa. This battle calls for a multifaceted approach that involves various stakeholders including community libraries. Community libraries are internationally recognised as social institutions that can effect social and economic transformation in society. In South Africa, this is clearly manifested by the provision of a conditional government grant for the development of community libraries in the country. The Department of Arts and Culture started this project in 2007. Despite this recognition for community libraries, their role in tackling inequalities in society is not always clear. Findings from the literature and reports from the Department of Arts and Culture suggest that community libraries are playing an important role in curbing inequalities. This article also attempts to report on the progress of the Department of Arts and Culture’s conditional grant community library project. Though there has been some progress in the project but challenges still exist and more effort and support are required. It is vital that community library services be developed and sustained as these libraries can have a positive influence on the development of society.
The successful control of information technology (IT) projects has received significant attention in academe and in practice. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of formal control modes in the performance of IT projects for project managers. However, little is known about the joint effects of risks and the two informal control modes, clan and self control, on the process performance of IT projects from the perspective of user liaisons. Based on data collected from 63 completed IT projects in China, we have found that both clan and self control are important from the perspective of user liaisons and that informal control is effective for the performance of different stakeholders. However, both team and planning and control risks suppress the effectiveness of clan and self control in process performance, indicating that IT project performance is not purely dependent on a single risk or control factor but on the balance between these two streams.
Libraries in higher learning institutions (HLIs) of Ethiopia have been providing electronic information (e-information) resources to users such as academics through different access models, including open access. Nonetheless, little is known about the academics’ attitudes toward open access journals. The study triangulated qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Data were obtained through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Out of 768 academics from seven selected universities in Ethiopia who were surveyed, 566 (78 percent) responded. The data were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively by means of content analysis and basic descriptive statistics respectively. The results of the study revealed that 78 percent of the academics were aware of open access journals. On the whole, they have a perceived positive attitude towards open access journals and would like to use them in the future. Moreover, they have been using open access journals as an alternative access model to the conventional journals subscription model; and yet to optimize the benefits of open access among academics, they expect university librarians to promote and enhance the accessibility of open access journals in their respective university libraries and in Ethiopia in general. Further studies using a similarly rigorous approach are required to determine the generality of this finding.
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that records surveys are a critical function that supports a framework for managing public records. The study was motivated by the recognition that the key step in ensuring that records are properly managed on a continuing basis at each stage of the life cycle is to examine all records created and maintained by an office through, among other activities, conducting a records and information management survey. The study employed a quantitative methodology to gather data using self-administered questionnaires completed by registry supervisors working in government ministries, face-to-face interviews held with former and current National Archives of Zimbabwe archivists and records management assistants as well as content analysis of records survey reports. The findings revealed that records surveys are a strong pillar supporting the framework for managing public records in Zimbabwe. However, most public registries have not yet realized the benefits of records surveys due to the difficulties that hinder them from implementing the recommendations. The study recommends that key records management activities such as records appraisal, developing a vital records management programme and creating retention and disposal schedules may be effectively managed if the recommendations of records surveys are implemented by public registries in Zimbabwe.
An Information Architecture is the basis for a comprehensive and integrated information system of any organization, capable of providing answers that meet the challenges posed by the contemporary competitive environment. In this paper we analyse a number of representative methodologies used in Information Architecture definitions and, based on a set of pre-defined criteria, we select the Adapted BSP (Business Systems Planning) Methodology to apply in a local public administration organization in Portugal. This methodology proved to be sufficiently flexible and suited to the goals proposed.
This article reports on an innovative project which grew out of the desire to facilitate access to information using the Quick Response (QR) Code. Easily read by mobile phones with cameras, the QR Code provides a simple but effective means for library patrons to access library resources. The article explores the need to use the QR Code in the Brand van Zyl Law Library, University of Cape Town (UCT), for accessing academic library services. Although relatively new in South Africa, QR Codes have been used successfully by some local educational institutions. Against this background, the article reports on a needs analysis which was conducted at the Brand Van Zyl Law Library and recommends the accelerating use of QR Codes in the academic environment.
This study was conducted to evaluate the contribution of four of the seven e-School dimensions to the success of the pilot phase of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) e-School project in Kenya. The study employed survey research methodology. All six of the NEPAD e-Schools in Kenya were included and the teachers and students in those schools formed the study population. Of the 5,186 students and teachers, a representative sample of 1,508 was selected using probabilistic techniques. Data was collected using observations and a survey questionnaire. It was established that all six of the e-Schools had installed the basic computing facilities required for integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning; all the e-Schools were observed to have the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) for Internet access in computer laboratories where a variable number of computers were installed. The ICT infrastructure provided modest communication capabilities. But while teachers received technical (ICT) training, they did not receive training on pedagogies for ICT integration in teaching and learning. We conducted hypothesis testing and confirmed that the four dimensions of E-School Success Model, investigated in the current study, positively contribute towards the success of the e-School. We therefore concluded that ICT infrastructure quality, content and communication quality, training effectiveness and use make considerable contributions to the success of the pilot phase of the NEPAD e-School project in Kenya. We recommend that stakeholders should continue investing in the NEPAD e-School project. Further studies on the impact of the other three dimensions of the e-Schools are recommended.
Bridging the gap of the digital divide can play an important role in education, employment and economic growth of any country. The present study attempts to examine and analyze the digital divide status of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries compared with countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other Arab countries. It uses 19 indicators of four factors adapted from The Global Information Technology Report 2009–2010 to measure the digital divide. Findings of the study indicated that GCC countries have a better ICT infrastructure than the ASEAN and other Arab countries. Similarly, the results of the study revealed that GCC nations have more ICT users than the ASEAN and other Arab countries. However, the study found no significant differences among these groups of countries in regard to government support and usage of ICT. Findings of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) show that, across the three groups of countries, the influence of ICT infrastructure is consistently significant in narrowing the digital divide. The regression results also prove a significant relationship between government support for ICT and government usage of ICT.
Information technology outsourcing (ITO) studies have been the focus of researchers for decades. One topic has been the factors and impact of ITO on organizations. Inconclusive findings about relationships between the levels of ITO and ITO success demands further exploration on this issue. In Thailand, the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) reported that the financial and banking industry has the highest spending on computer services primarily by outsourcing the core banking and service management system. Nonetheless, research on ITO in Thailand’s financial industry has been limited. This study is among the first to empirically investigate the relationship between the levels of ITO, defined as the percentage of IT activities and components selected to be outsourced, and ITO success, defined by the benefits received from outsourcing in Thailand. A three-pronged approach is used in this study. It began with a comprehensive literature review. This was followed by in-depth expert interviews with representatives from financial institutions, academia, and outsource vendors, all of who offered opinions that shaped the development of the research model. A survey was then carried out with 428 IT personnel from the Thai financial sector. The results were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Contrary to previous researches, this study found that internal uncertainty and internal IT skills were two factors that do not affect the levels of ITO, while transaction costs and specific assets do. In addition, it was found that levels of ITO have impacts on ITO success. In a real world application, this study focuses on the different levels of ITO implementation among Thailand’s top five banks and their effects on ITO success. The findings increase researchers’ understanding regarding the factors that affect the levels of ITO and suggest that practitioners must consider the levels of ITO, in addition to other factors, when making ITO decisions. The framework can help practitioners optimize ITO practice for successful ITO outcomes.
This study examined the influence of demographic characteristics, perception of food risks and health information literacy on the use of food product information among 561 female staff in eight State Universities in Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that age, perceived risks and health information literacy were the factors that influence the use or non-use of food product information among the respondents. Women who are above 50 years are more likely to use food product information in consumption decisions than younger women. Furthermore, the respondents showed high perception of food risks; however, about half of them have optimistic bias towards the hazards of eating unwholesome packaged foods. The study therefore recommends that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) embark on aggressive awareness campaigns on the health hazards associated with eating unwholesome packaged food, targeting younger female workers in Nigerian State Universities. Public health experts, librarians and other information professionals should also embark on enlightenment programmes for the public and the academic community. This study complements an earlier study which examined the use of various types of food product information in consumption of packaged foods among the same population.
This study treated college students whose Internet usage rate is 100 percent as subjects, and probed into the correlation between flow experience and continuance of leisure Internet usage. The findings demonstrate that college students tend to recognize use perception, flow experience, and continuance intentions in leisure Internet usage positively. Browsers and instant messenger are the most commonly used applications. Male and female users’ continuance intentions of leisure Internet usage are significantly different. Ease of use has significant difference in online games and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) use; use of online games and bulletin board systems show significant differences in continuance intention; use perception and flow experience have significant correlations with college students’ continuance intentions of leisure Internet usage.
Development cooperation has to be visible in some form to ensure domestic political support for Official Development Assistance. This explains the frequent calls for greater visibility at the headquarters level of aid agencies. However, effective development cooperation is not compatible with every form of visibility. Aid practitioners at field level in partner countries report that actions geared toward increasing the effectiveness of development cooperation become more challenging if these actions lack a certain degree of visibility. Whether aid is delivered on or off the budget of the partner country or whether aid programmes are aligned to the partner country’s priorities is linked to the domestic pressure on development partners for visibility in the partner country. This paper analyses the influence of visibility on the implementation of the aid effectiveness agenda. It assesses the impact of visibility on the principles and commitments of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005), the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) and the Busan Partnership Agreement for Effective Development Cooperation (2011), and presents parameters of a ‘new’ visibility that is conducive to the agenda.
The use of food product information is a globally acknowledged food safety measure. This study surveyed the use of food product information as a determinant of consumption of packaged foods among 561 female academic and non-academic staff of eight state universities in Nigeria using the multi-stage random sampling technique. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistic and binary logistic regression. The findings showed that the use of food product information is a determinant of consumption of packaged foods among the respondents; however, the majority based their consumption decisions on the availability of a National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) registration number. The study concludes that female workers in Nigerian state universities are not taking full advantage of all the food product information available on packaged foods and therefore recommends that NAFDAC intensifies awareness campaigns on the importance of using all food product information available on packaged foods. Also, information professionals should collaborate with public health experts to organize seminars and conferences to further enlighten the public and members of the academic community on the usefulness of this food safety measure.
Under which conditions can ICT4D initiatives empower poor communities of developing countries? In this paper we evaluate the promise of development associated with the introduction of an ICT initiative in Nigeria. We employ the basic concepts of Sen’s capability approach to understand how the introduction of a prepaid electricity billing system has empowered people to participate in accessing electricity supply. Our analysis illustrates that various activities resulting from the introduction of the system allow for the participation of both consumers and electricity workers, and that in order for them to be empowered to participate in each of the activities, different resources are required. We conclude with some implications for policy makers advancing an agenda for ICTs for development.
The paper reports a research study aimed to explore the readiness for digital reference service (DRS) of university libraries of the province of Punjab, Pakistan, in terms of organizational awareness, willingness, planning and strength of resources. This descriptive research employed the survey method. The survey instrument (questionnaire) was reviewed by a panel of LIS experts of national level and was worded to achieve an official organizational response to probe the status. Thirty-eight libraries of Higher Education Commission (HEC) recognized universities participated in the study. The findings reveal that only a few libraries were at a level of DRS readiness while the others were adopting this system at a slow pace.
Despite the widespread use of social media by students and their increased use in higher education, very little empirical evidence is available concerning the prevalence of use among academic librarians. The objectives of this study are: a) to identify the prevalence of social media used in Malaysian academic libraries; b) to examine the reasons for creating a social media presence among academic libraries; and c) to understand the obstacles to social media participation among academic librarians. Data were gathered via three focus study groups with 22 librarians from three research-intensive universities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The results indicated that at least four types of social media are deployed in libraries to reach out to the users: blogs, multimedia sharing sites, social bookmarking and social networking sites (SNS). Facebook, Blog, Delicious, YouTube and Twitter are the tools mainly adopted by these libraries. The motives for librarians to use social media were to promote library services, manage organizational knowledge and receiving instant feedback from users. Workflow obstacles, technology obstacles, organizational obstacles and personal obstacles deter librarians from participating in social media. This study provides experiential evidence that Malaysian academic librarians are not very serious in engaging themselves with social media. Library managements need to provide support to mobilize librarians into a more active and participatory role in creating social media presence.
In a knowledge-based society, government organizations become more knowledge-intensive. Most governments which have not yet implemented effective knowledge management systems for government organizations have indicated concern about increasing the impact of knowledge sharing to promote the success of e-government implementation, and they have tried to determine what types of organizational social factors influence knowledge sharing among government employees. To provide insight into these concerns, this paper presents an empirical study of how major organizational social enabling factors influence knowledge sharing among employees by conducting surveys in a number of central government organizations that implement e-government strategies in Mongolia. The research model was analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) method. This study also investigates the mediating effects of knowledge sharing between the organizational social factors and employee performance with the moderating role of the e-government facilitating conditions. Leadership, reward and trust were revealed in this research as the components of the strongest foundation for knowledge sharing. The results also show that knowledge sharing plays a mediating role between these organizational social factors and performance. Moreover, this study finds that facilitating conditions play a key role as enablers of organizational performance improvements. These findings present important implications for policymakers to improve strategic planning for e-government implementation through investments that utilize the necessary facilitating conditions with sufficient knowledge sharing among employees of government so as to create a more conductive environment for improving organizational performance.
Research findings have reported lack of reliable health data and poor management for district health information systems in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). This paper aims to review the literature on problems with health data quality management and health information evidences and evidences of best practices and use at community and district levels in LMIC, with a view to making recommendations for future research. Research citations, conference proceedings and diseases surveillance reports from 2000–2011 were accessed in PubMed, Medline, LISTA (EBSCO), CINAHL, Cochrane, and Google. Relevant studies were selected, the methodologies critiqued and synthesized. The researchers accessed 1383, and 38 were reviewed by three reviewers. Poor quality health data, low level of health information use, and poor management of health information systems were found. These findings hinder evidence-based decisions based and planning at community and district levels in LMIC. Though poor practices were found, improved health care services delivery with improved health data efficiency was found to be possible.
The demand and support for enterprise applications integration (EAI) in Nigeria was investigated. The findings show that the demand and support for EAI are driven by a number of factors, including concern for data/information integration, a common interface for all enterprise applications, improved communication and faster data transfer, real-time data capture and access to information across various networks, as well as data and information integrity across various systems. The IT companies in Nigeria are following the progress of technology and are poised to respond to it in their approaches to EAI solutions. Their future approaches will be influenced to the greatest extent by progress in Graphical User Interface (GUI) and then by developments in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Operating Systems, Software as a Service (SaaS), Parameterization of applications for easy customization, Applications Service Provision, and Open Source Systems in that order. They believe that Nigeria has the greatest capacity in Software as a Service (SaaS) and Software as Secured Service (SaSS). A growing number of companies are using open source tools in developing and implementing EAI solutions, and this is an indication of a market that is taking on its own character but also a subscription to the democratization of software access. The popularity of SQL Server and its varieties, closely followed by Oracle and Java/Javascript, as EAI tools in Nigeria is probably a reflection of their prominence on the international scene.
Electronic records in China are defined as records that are created by digital devices and in a digital environment, exist in digital formats, rely on digital devices such as computers for reading and processing, and can be transmitted via communication networks. As a subset of electronic records, archival electronic records are those, based on their reference and use values, determined as needing to be preserved as archives. A gap was identified by reviewing literature that, although there are projects being conducted in a number of archival institutions, a systematic and standardized approach towards archival preservation of electronic records is currently lacking in China. In order to lay the foundation on which such an approach can be built, the present study was conceived to gain a comprehensive understanding of the preservation of archival electronic records in both the provincial and secondary provincial archives throughout the country. Relying on survey methodology and the OAIS reference model as the guiding theoretical framework, the study collected and analyzed data from a large number of archival institutions in China. As the first of its kind conducted in the geographical area of the Mainland China in terms of scope and subject matter, the investigation yielded empirical discoveries that over half of investigated archives had ingested electronic records with non-uniform and insufficient long-term preservation mechanisms. The study also pointed out that the issues surrounding electronic records management in records creating agencies were considered most challenging for long-term preservation, and that a national strategy with a top-down approach was called for, which could take full advantage of the Chinese archival system. It is believed that the findings generated by this study will be instructive and beneficial to the other types of archives in China and to the archival functions that operate internationally in similar or comparable environments.
This article investigates the use of the Internet among Indonesian environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and how this use influences the mobilizing structure of the environmental movement. The discussion is informed by an explorative study of nineteen Indonesian ENGOs working in the domain of forest protection. The study reveals that the Internet empowers the environmental activism of these organizations by enhancing opportunities for political participation. A main finding in the article is that well-established organizations with well-developed international networks benefit the most from the use of the Internet in their activism. However, smaller organizations with more informal charters seemed to have a better capacity to connect unconnected communities to the global flow of information.
This paper examines the evolution of university libraries in Nigeria, the process of re-engineering of workers in an organization like the university library and good librarianship practice in this digital age. The paper advocates for effective motivation, training and development programmes for all categories of university library personnel. A model for integrating the different processes in a university library for optimal performance of library personnel is suggested for Nigerian university libraries.
Social networking sites (SNSs) and virtual communities (VCs) are popular online social media having similarities and differences. The paper investigated the difference in motivations and in the relationships from motivations to continuance intention between active users of SNSs and VCs. The results show that while connecting with old friends, meeting new people, seeking information, seeking entertainment, and seeking social support are significant motivations of both communities’ active users, active users of SNSs rate higher motivation to connect with old friends than VCs; seeking information and social support motivations have the same effect on the continuance intention of the both communities’ active users through attitude; connecting with old friends and meeting new people motivations have obvious different effects on continuance intention through attitude between the two communities’ active users.
This paper evolved from a project supported by the European Commission TEMPUS programme that provided technical assistance for developments in Armenia, Georgia and Uzbekistan. The project (NMPLIS) sought to underpin the modernization of library and information services by assisting the development of new Master’s Degree programmes in Librarianship and Information Studies. The paper addresses a wide range of issues that were encountered during the project, including the dissemination of research information as well as the state of publishing, bookselling, libraries, and information services in those countries. It draws attention to the relatively poor international and bilateral support for library development compared with that formerly received by the ‘developing’ countries, despite their economic similarities. It notes that the activities of international governmental and non-governmental agencies to offset the catastrophic effects of the disintegration of the centralized Soviet system have lacked coordination, and emphasizes the need for national governments to be encouraged to take a comprehensive, strategic approach to ensure more sustainable development of their library and information services, suggesting that this approach could be appropriate for the other post-Soviet Republics.
This paper examines the dialogic potential of insurance firms’ websites in Ghana. Research was executed via a content analysis of insurance companies’ websites in Ghana using Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic framework. Insurance companies in Ghana have been fairly successful in utilizing the dialogic features in their corporate websites. Out of the five dialogic principles proposed by Kent and Taylor (1998); the findings of the study show a preponderant use of the dialogic loop feature by the sampled insurance companies. Also comparing local and international companies, the local insurance companies seem rather more dialogic than the international companies. However the sampled insurance companies performed rather poorly on the principle of return visit and conservation of visitors. This study contributes to the scarce literature on dialogic potential of websites from a developing country context.
This paper is located within global debates about intellectual property. International agencies, mindful that third world/developing world resources are being appropriated by global corporate bodies, seek to intervene to protect countries that are unable to fend off the often subtle alienation of their national and natural assets. In this context, the cultural and intellectual resources of countries, peoples, communities and other collectives have become the subject of policy regulation. This paper focuses on policies developed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). WIPO attempts to protect Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) (folklore) against misappropriation and misuse. In this paper, the question asked is whether it is possible or desirable to protect all types of TK and TCEs that are constituent elements of indigenous knowledge and uses the case of Cameroon to provide examples to assist with answering these questions. It is argued that in some cases, it may be both possible and desirable, but that in other cases, there are constraints, as knowledge is secret or sacred. When such knowledge is not in the public domain it cannot be protected. Seeking to protect these types of expression and knowledge might, indeed, endanger them by removing them from the very context which provides their status as indigenous knowledge.
The study examined the records management practices in the major oil marketing companies (OMC) in Uganda. The aim was to ascertain the extent to which oil companies meet legal and regulatory requirements, as should be underpinned by effective records management for achieving their operational and strategic goals. The paper applies the perception of different levels of managers in 10 OMC to assess their records management capacity. Through structured interviews, the study investigated the records management legal framework, existing policy and regulations, ICT initiatives and their alignment to records management requirements, and the records management challenges faced. Results reveal that OMC face daunting challenges, including the ability to meet legal compliance to create and retain records in both paper and electronic format, inadequate records identifiers and access guidelines, a continuing need for storage space for growing volume of records and a pressing need for trained records staff. The paper concludes that records management should be supported with corporate policy, adoption of international records management standards, skilled people and streamlining storage as measures for the OMC to undertake to strengthen the management of their records to respond to customer needs more directly and effectively and open up communication channels and share information with the oil and gas sector regulating institutions.
This paper explores the influence of mobile phones on the micro-trading activities of women traders in Nigeria. This exploratory study adopts a qualitative research approach. A theoretical model based on the Technology Acceptance Model is used to analyse two case studies of the micro-trading activities of Nigerian market women. The findings suggest that, first, the benefits obtained by market women tend to be partly influenced by the extent of mobile access and usage by trading partners in their value chain. Second, the knowledge of the trader plays a critical role in determining the type of mobile functionality used. Market women who innovatively integrate mobile services, like mobile banking, stand to reform their market structural processes and become more economically empowered. In micro-trading activities, enhancing communication and trading processes through mobile phones improves revenue acquisition and enhances decision making and control. The research concludes with an emphasis for research and practice to increase the mobile capabilities of those at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ to beyond voice calls and text messaging. Research propositions and lessons for future research are also outlined. This paper generates new insights about the usage of mobile telephony for the enhancement of economic effectiveness of micro-traders.
This article claims to be both a review of international collaborative efforts in promotion of e-government as a universal value and an agenda-setting paper. The author argues that the e-government agenda in the international arena suffers from its overgeneralization as a tool to achieve better governance, which does not take into account heterogeneous political and institutional environments in different countries, and various disparities in harmonization of realization procedures on a global scale. In particular, the article reviews global collaboration efforts of the last two decades in the promotion of e-government, for instance, its political, economical and technological values, and argues why it is necessary to set an agenda that takes into account typical limitations developed and developing countries face in realization of e-government projects, and suggests ways forward.
Most research on Internet banking adoption has focused on a limited set of determinants that influence users’ initial trust. This study takes the uncommon approach of separating the constructs of trust, perceived security, and perceived privacy to reveal the impact that each of these distinct factors has on initial trust formation. A large-scale survey of prospective Internet banking service customers in Indonesia was conducted and the results analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. Perceived security, perceived privacy, relative benefits, company reputation, website usability, and government support are all factors that influence consumers’ initial trust of Internet banking. Banking firms interested in the expansion of online financial services in developing countries should enhance existing strategies or develop new approaches that account for these factors. Perceived privacy and government support had no impact on the intention to use Internet banking services in Indonesia.
Retaining users and facilitating their continuance usage are critical for mobile Internet service providers. From the perspective of resistance to change, this research identified the factors affecting continuance usage of mobile services. We collected data among mobile Internet users and conducted data analysis with structural equation modeling. The results indicated that trust and switching costs have strong effects on resistance to change, which in turn affects continuance usage. In addition, trust affects perceived usefulness and flow experience. The results indicate that mobile service providers need to increase users’ resistance to change in order to facilitate their continuance usage.
Urban and rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa are characterized by different HIV/AIDS epidemiological and socio-ecological contexts. Against a backdrop of such variations, the present study assessed the impacts of urbanity vs. rurality on HIV/AIDS-related information needs. Cross-sectional survey data were gathered from 995 respondents in northwest Ethiopia. The findings indicated that urban residents’ concern about and information needs on HIV/AIDS was greater than that of the rural populace. Urban and rural residents were also found to be significantly different in their preferences for specific types of HIV/AIDS-related information. While rurality was found to be associated with a preference for basic HIV transmission and prevention information, urbanity was associated with a preference for information on HIV/AIDS-related care and support. Implications for HIV/AIDS information campaigns are discussed.
According to the two-factor theory, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are different concepts. This study examines the influence of perceived ease of use (PEOU) as a context factor and perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived enjoyment (PEN) as content factors to further the influence on satisfaction, and dissatisfaction. The current study uses descriptive statistics, t-test, multiple regression analysis, ANOVA, and SEM. The study recruited 660 participants, of which 336 (50.90 percent) were males. The results not only confirm the two-factor theory but also indicate some interesting findings. The context factor not only impacted on dissatisfaction but also indirectly impacted the relationship between content factor and satisfaction. In a website which is not easy for using, the poor design would arouse the dissatisfaction of users. Users who accessed Facebook for communication seemed to ask for a website with higher usefulness, but users with playing purposes would try to explore it in an acceptable situation with lower perceived PEOU.
This research is one of the first few to investigate the acceptance of open source software in the context of developing countries, in this case Thailand. It also proposes a comprehensive model that integrates individual, social, and software characteristics to measure the acceptance of open source software. Based on the three-pronged approach, the study puts forward an integrated model consisting of the extended technology model, the innovation diffusion theory and software characteristics. A full-scale field survey of 1,005 open source software users was undertaken and both convergent and discriminant validities were conducted. The results of the structural equation modeling illustrate that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, intention to use, output quality, compatibility, software functionality, and software maintainability have a statistically positive relationship with open source software acceptance. Contrary to most studies, which did not find a positive relationship between visibility and trialability towards the acceptance of open source software, it is interesting to observe that this study did find a positive relationship. Conclusions and discussions of the findings, and their academic and practical implications are also presented.
This study aims to analyze managerial determinants, identify key stakeholders, and redesign managerial mechanisms for the task of horizontal integration of Chinese municipal e-government. Data were collected from a nationwide survey administered in selected municipal cities in China. Based on the Structural Equation Model, our research identified multiple managerial factors necessary for horizontal integration in e-government. These factors were Experience in general management, Reforming authority, Experience in projects, and Legal regulation. After hypothesis testing, all four determinants were found to significantly affect two intervening variables, Data integration and Business & IT integration. Furthermore, the two variables significantly predicted the dependent variable, Horizontal Integration. We then employed stakeholder analysis to find candidate stakeholders from the managerial institutions in the Chinese context, and furthermore, used a score-based approach to identify the key stakeholders corresponding to each of the above four factors. Our findings suggest that managerial mechanisms should be redesigned for a successful horizontal integration initiative.
This paper tries to identify what shapes the mobile services industry and what changes will take place to the worldwide mobile business. Two case markets are introduced for comparison and analysis: Japan and Finland. Japan is an exemplar country where both the mobile subscription penetration rate and the revenue from data transfer are world record high. Finland is a birthplace of the world’s leading handset manufacturer as well as the center for a substantial number of innovations in Europe. The two countries represent a stark contrast in the industry structure: vertical and integrated vs. horizontal and modular. After an in-depth comparison of the two markets, a brief prospect of the future mobile industry is provided.
This research focuses on the comparison of piracy behaviour between Korea and Vietnam, and empirical validation of a model of software piracy based on expected utility theory, deterrence theory and institution isomorphism theory. A survey of 132 (Korea) and 145 (Vietnam) respondents was carried out in 2008 and PLS (Partial Least Square) was utilized for the analysis. Our results indicate that the relationships between punishment certainty and attitude, and mimetic pressure and intention, are significantly different between Korea and Vietnam. Several implications are considered from the political and cultural aspects.