to

Expectancy Theory and Behavioral Intentions to Use Computer Applications




to

Designing an ‘Electronic Village’ of Local Interest on Tourism: The eKoNES Framework




to

From Tailored Databases to Wikis: Using Emerging Technologies to Work Together More Efficiently




to

Multi-Agent System for Knowledge-Based Access to Distributed Databases




to

Ontology-based Collaborative Inter-organizational Knowledge Management Network




to

Development and Testing of a Graphical FORTRAN Learning Tool for Novice Programmers




to

Designing a Self-Assessment Item Repository: An Authentic Project in Higher Education




to

Adaptive Innovation and a MOODLE-based VLE to Support a Fully Online MSc Business Information Technology (BIT) at the University of East London (UEL)




to

An Initiative to Address the Gender Imbalance in Tertiary IT Studies




to

Factors Determining the Balance between Online and Face-to-Face Teaching: An Analysis using Actor-Network Theory




to

Clickers in the Laboratory: Student Thoughts and Views




to

Simulation Modeling of an Iron Ore Operation to Enable Informed Planning




to

Using Research Techniques to Teach Management of IT Concepts to Postgraduate Business Students




to

Examining a Flow-Usage Model to Understand MultiMedia-Based Learning




to

Analysis of Explanatory and Predictive Architectures and the Relevance in Explaining the Adoption of IT in SMEs




to

Back to Basics of Informing: The INIS Principle




to

(GbL #2) Constructive Simulation as a Collaborative Learning Tool in Education and Training of Crisis Staff




to

(GbL #1) Life Skills Developed by Those Who Have Played in Video Game Tournaments




to

Introduction to the Special Section on Game-based Learning: Design and Applications (GbL)




to

Barriers to the Effective Deployment of Information Assets: An Executive Management Perspective




to

Critical Success Factors for Implementing Business Intelligence Systems in Small and Medium Enterprises on the Example of Upper Silesia, Poland




to

Experiencing Creativity in the Organization: From Individual Creativity to Collective Creativity




to

(SNTL #3) Design and Implementation Challenges to an Interactive Social Media Based Learning Environment




to

Social Networking, Teaching, and Learning: Introduction to Special Section on Social Networking, Teaching, and Learning (SNTL)




to

Determinants of Intent to Continue Using Online Learning: A Tale of Two Universities




to

Critical Success Factors for ERP Systems Implementation in Public Administration




to

A Knowledge Integration Methodology for Developing Customized Maintenance Documents




to

The Generalized Requirement Approach for Requirement Validation with Automatically Generated Program Code




to

How the Use of ICT can Contribute to a Misleading Picture of Conditions – A Five-Step Process

This paper contributes to the limited research on roles ICT can play in impression-management strategies and is based on case studies done in the Swedish Police. It also gives a theoretical contribution by adopting a holistic approach to explain how ICT can contribute to giving a misleading picture of conditions. Output generated by ICT has nowadays a central role in follow-up activities and decision-making. Even if this type of output, often in colourful, presentable, graphical arrangements, gives the impression of being accurate and reliable there is a risk of defective data quality. The phenomena can be described as a process divided into five steps. The first step is about how the data is generated and/or collected. The second step is linked to how the data is registered. The third step is about the output generated from the ICT-systems. The fourth step is how the output of ICT is selected for presentation. The fifth step concerns how output generated by ICT is interpreted. This paper shows that ICT can easily be used in impression-management strategies. For example, that personnel take shortcuts to affect the statistics rather than applying methods that may give the desired effects.




to

Factors of Project Manager Success

This research seeks to analyse the project success factors related to project managers’ traits. The context of the research entails a ‘United Nations’ type of organization. Critical success factors from previous recent studies were adopted for this research. Nineteen factors were adopted and a survey methodology approach was followed. Sixty six participants completed the survey. Exploratory factor analysis results revealed the existence of two constructs: project manager engagement, and project manager certification. The total number of factors representing these two constructs after the factor reduction exercise is nine. Our findings indicate that the capacity for a project manager to communicate and lobby for the project to create and sustain positive perceptions, is the most important factor; whereas project manager credentials are viewed as not important for his/her success. The results may seem counter-intuitive, however, in the context of United Nations Organizations, consideration of their political, cultural and international nature reveals that the results apply.




to

Influential Factors of Collaborative Networks in Manufacturing: Validation of a Conceptual Model

The purpose of the study is to identify influential factors in the use of collaborative networks within the context of manufacturing. The study aims to investigate factors that influence employees’ learning, and to bridge the gap between theory and praxis in collaborative networks in manufacturing. The study further extends the boundary of a collaborative network beyond enterprises to include suppliers, customers, and external stakeholders. It provides a holistic perspective of collaborative networks within the complexity of the manufacturing environment, based on empirical evidence from a questionnaire survey of 246 respondents from diverse manufacturing industries. Drawing upon the socio-technical systems (STS) theory, the study presents the theoretical context and interpretations through the lens of manufacturing. The results show significant influences of organizational support, promotive interactions, positive interdependence, internal-external learning, perceived effectiveness, and perceived usefulness on the use of collaborative networks among manufacturing employees. The study offers a basis of empirical validity for measuring collaborative networks in organizational learning and knowledge/information sharing in manufacturing.




to

Intention to Use and Satisfaction of e-Learning for Training in the Corporate Context

Together, the fields of education and information technology have identified the need for an online solution to training. The introduction of e-learning has optimised the learning process, allowing organisations to realise the many advantages that e-learning offers. The importance of user involvement in the success of e-learning makes it imperative that the forces driving intention to use e-learning and satisfaction thereof be determined. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between the metrics influencing intention to use and the satisfaction of using e-learning in companies. The results of a survey distributed amongst a South African software development company’s customer base revealed that the 94 respondents have positive enjoyment and self-efficacy levels, and low computer anxiety levels. Correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between enjoyment and self-efficacy and between enjoyment and satisfaction. Companies should therefore ensure that users enjoy using e-learning as it can directly influence satisfaction and self-efficacy.




to

Towards A Methodology for the Pre-Stage of Implementing a Reengineering Project

In order to reduce cost, improve functionality and gain competitive advantages, organizations resort to reengineering projects by developing and making changes to organizational processes. The absence of a unified methodology and appropriate analytic approaches prior to the implementation of reengineering projects has made authorities not to adopt correct decision making approaches in this respect. The objective of this paper is to propose a methodology that has to be adopted prior to the implementation of reengineering projects. The statistical population here consists of 25 expert analysts with MA and PhD degrees who are subject to answering a questionnaire. In this proposed methodology the Multi Criterion Decision Making model is applied to allow the analysts to select appropriate models for better and accurate implementation through the least failure coefficient. The Neyriz White Cement Corporation is selected as the subject and the obtained results are compared with the results obtained from similar implemented projects.




to

Analogical Thinking for Generation of Innovative Ideas: An Exploratory Study of Influential Factors

Analogical thinking is one of the most effective tools to generate innovative ideas. It enables us to develop new ideas by transferring information from well-known domains and utilizing them in a novel domain. However, using analogical thinking does not always yield appropriate ideas, and there is a lack of consensus among researchers regarding the evaluation methods for assessing new ideas. Here, we define the appropriateness of generated ideas as having high structural and low superficial similarities with their source ideas. This study investigates the relationship between thinking process and the appropriateness of ideas generated through analogical thinking. We conducted four workshops with 22 students in order to collect the data. All generated ideas were assessed based on the definition of appropriateness in this study. The results show that participants who deliberate more before reaching the creative leap stage and those who are engaged in more trial and error for deciding the final domain of a new idea have a greater possibility of generating appropriate ideas. The findings suggest new strategies of designing workshops to enhance the appropriateness of new ideas.




to

Factors Affecting the Adoption and Usage of ICTs within Polish Households

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) encompassing computer and network hardware and software, and so on, as well as various services and applications associated with them, are assuming a growing presence within the modern homestead and have an indelible impact on the professional and everyday life of people. This research aims to explore factors influencing the successful adoption and usage of ICTs within Polish households. Based on prior literature and practical experiences, a framework of success factors is provided. The required data was collected from a survey questionnaire administered to a sample of Polish households to examine this framework and identifies which factors are of greatest importance for the adoption and usage of ICTs within households in Poland. Based on 751 questionnaires the paper indicates that the adoption of ICTs within households is mainly influenced by the economic status of households and cost of ICTs, perceived economic benefits from the usage of ICTs, technological availability and security of ICTs, ICT competences and awareness, as well as satisfaction with the adoption of ICTs. Furthermore, gender, education, and place of residence do not reflect significant differences on the factors. Yet, there are significant differences among the factors that could be attributed to age. Both, policy makers and ICT providers can benefit from the findings with regard to bridging the gap of ICT adoption and use in the Polish households.




to

The Application of a Knowledge Management Framework to Automotive Original Component Manufacturers

Aim/Purpose: This paper aims to present an example of the application of a Knowledge Man-agement (KM) framework to automotive original component manufacturers (OEMs). The objective is to explore KM according to the four pillars of a selected KM framework. Background: This research demonstrates how a framework, namely the George Washington University’s Four Pillar Framework, can be used to determine the KM status of the automotive OEM industry, where knowledge is complex and can influence the complexity of the KM system (KMS) used. Methodology: An empirical study was undertaken using a questionnaire to gather quantitative data. There were 38 respondents from the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM) and suppliers from three major automotive OEMs. The respondents were required to be familiar with the company’s KMS. Contribution: Currently there is a limited body of research available on the KM implementation frameworks for the automotive industry. This study presents a novel approach to the use of a KM framework to reveal the status of KM in automotive OEMs. At the time of writing, the relationship between the four pillars and the complexity of KMS had not yet been determined. Findings: The results indicate that there is a need to improve KM in the automotive OEM industry. According to the relationships investigated, the four pillars, namely leadership, organization, technology and learning, are considered important for KM, regardless of the level of KMS complexity, Recommendations for Practitioners: Automotive OEMs need to ensure that the KM aspects are established and should be periodically evaluated by using a KM framework such as the George Washington University’s Four Pillar Framework to identify KM weaknesses. Recommendation for Researchers: The establishment and upkeep of a successful KM environment is challenging due to the complexity involved with various influencing aspects. To ensure that all aspects are considered in KM environments, comprehensive KM frameworks, such as the George Washington University’s Four Pillar Framework, need to be applied. Impact on Society: The status of KM management and accessibility of knowledge in organizations needs to be periodically examined, in order to improve supplier and OEM knowledge sharing. Future Research: Although the framework used provides a process for KM status determination, this study could be extended by investigating a methodology that includes KMS best practice and tools. This study could be repeated at a national and international level to provide an indication of KM practice within the entire automotive industry.




to

Accounting Information Systems Effectiveness: Evidence from the Nigerian Banking Sector

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the interrelationship among the quality measures of information system success, including system quality, information, quality, and service quality, that eventually influence accounting information systems effectiveness. Background: It is generally believed that investment in an information system offers opportunities to organizations for business process efficiency and effectiveness. Despite huge investments in accounting information systems, banks in Nigeria have not realized the full potential benefits of using these systems because of persistent failures. Few studies have been conducted to address the problem. Methodology: A survey research design was used to collect data, and a total of 287 questionnaires were retrieved from respondents in the Nigerian banking sector. Contribution: This study contributes to the understanding of the most important antecedent factors of the quality measures, the interrelationship among the quality measures, and the influence of these measures on the accounting information systems effectiveness. Findings: The result of the study revealed that security, ease of use, and efficiency are key features of system quality, while the information quality dimension includes accuracy, timeliness, and completeness. The result of the study further revealed that information quality and system quality have significant influences on accounting information systems effectiveness. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study provides practitioners with important measures for evaluation of AIS effectiveness in the context of Nigerian banks. Recommendation for Researchers: Future researchers may build on the findings of current study to conduct fur-ther research in the area of AIS effectiveness in different contexts. Future Research: This study examines only three quality measures of Delone and Mclean model and antecedents of information and system quality measures, neglecting contingency factor. Therefore, future study should include other factors to the AIS effectiveness model to help in developing more specific theory in AIS domain.




to

An Empirical Examination of Customers’ Mobile Phone Experience and Awareness of Mobile Banking Services in Mobile Banking in Saudi Arabia

Aim/Purpose: This work aims to understand why a disparity between the popularity of smart phones and the limited adoption of m-banking exists. Accordingly, this study investigates factors that affect a person’s decision to adopt m-banking services. Such an investigation seeks to determine if and to what extent customers’ mobile phone experience as well as their awareness of m-banking services influence their intention to use such services? Background: This study developed a conceptual model to determine the influence that users’ mobile phone experience as well as users’ awareness of m-banking services had on users’ behavioral intention to use m-banking in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: The quantitative method used to collect data was a survey questionnaire tech-nique. A questionnaire with non-structured (close-ended) questions was formulated. A random sample, targeting banking customers in Saudi Arabia, was selected. This study collected data using a cross-sectional survey. Of those surveyed, 389 provided valid responses eligible for data analysis. SPSS v.22 was used to analyze the data. Contribution: This study produced helpful results and a new m-banking conceptual model. The developed conceptual model focused integrally on users’ awareness and experience as antecedents of m-banking adoption and highlighted the im-portance of differentiating between measuring the users’ characteristics in adopting e-banking in general and m-banking services in particular. In addition, this type of model has the ability to synthesize new control variables as well as to study technology acceptance in developing countries. This study, based on an extended UTAUT model, set out to discover what factors might affect customers’ intentions to use m-banking in Saudi Arabia. Findings: The results show that service awareness has a direct effect on performance and effort expectancy, but not on perceived risk. Moreover, mobile phone experience fails to impact the relationships in the same hypothesized direction. As anticipated, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and perceived risk have direct and significant effects on behavioral intentions to use m-banking. However, customer awareness fails to impact the relationships of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and perceived risk on behavioral intentions to use m-banking. Recommendations for Practitioners: Banks should target customers by distributing useful information and applying measures to increase acceptance. Banks need to introduce something imaginative to convince bank customers to abandon existing service channels and adopt m-banking services. Banks should make m-banking services the easiest service for conducting bank transactions and/or help customers conduct transactions that they cannot do any other way. Recommendation for Researchers: Other factors, such as trust, culture, and/or credibility should be investigated along with user’s awareness and experience factors in m-banking services. There is a need to focus on a specific type of m-banking. Thus, it may be fruitful to study the adoption of different systems of m-banking services. Impact on Society: This study suggests that m-banking services should be designed and built based on a deep understanding of customers’ needs using extensive testing to assure that applications and sites function well in a mobile setting. Future Research: Future researchers should apply the conceptual model developed in this study in different settings, different countries, and to different technologies.




to

Typology on Leadership toward Creativity in Virtual Work

Aim/Purpose: This study aims to develop a descriptive typology to better identify leadership toward creativity in virtual work in different types of companies. Background: The study empirically explores how leadership toward creativity occurs in virtual work and uses the theoretical lenses of creativity-conducive leadership and heterarchy to generate a typology. Methodology : A multiple qualitative case study design, interpretivist approach, and abductive analysis are applied. Data is collected by interviewing 21 leaders and employees face-to-face in four companies in the ICT sector and one business advisor company. Contribution: The empirical evidence of this study enriches the understanding of leadership toward creativity in virtual work and contributes to the limited empirical knowledge on leadership that stimulates a virtual workforce to achieve creativity. Findings: The four different types of companies in the typology utilize various transitions toward leadership creativity in virtual work. The trend in leadership in the existing virtually networked business environment is toward the “collective mind” company, which is characterized by shared values, meaningful work, collective intelligence, conscious reflection, transparency, coaching, empowering leadership by example, effective multichannel interaction, and assertiveness. The findings empirically support applying a heterarchy perspective to lead a virtual workforce toward creativity and promote leaders who are genuinely interested in people, their development, collaboration, and technology. Recommendations for Practitioners: The typology helps professionals realize the need to develop leadership, communication, interaction, learning, and growth to foster creative interaction and improve productivity and competitiveness. Recommendation for Researchers: This study enables researchers to more rigorously and creatively conceptualize the conditions and relationships in leadership that facilitate creativity in virtual work. Impact on Society : The findings highlight humanistic values for developing leadership. The study strengthens the view that collective creativity in virtual work cannot emerge without virtual and physical interaction in appropriate spaces and caring for each other. Future Research: Future studies may focus on other fields, industries, networks, roles of materialities, and employees in fostering creativity and on theory development. Longitudinal studies are advisable.




to

The Effect of Personality Traits on Sales Performance: An Empirical Investigation to Test the Five-Factor Model (FFM) in Pakistan

Aim/Purpose: The present study investigates the relationship between the five-factor model (FFM) of personality traits and sales performance in Pakistan. Background: Personality is a well-researched area in which numerous studies have examined the correlation between personality traits and job performance. In this study, a positive effect between the various dimensions of the five-factor model (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and open to experience) and sales performance in Pakistan is investigated. Methodology: Pearson’s correlation values as well as analysis methodologies were employed to gather descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and use the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Cronbach’s alpha value helped determine the internal consistency of the group items. Questionnaires were distributed among 600 salespersons in various cities of Pakistan from April 2015 to January 2016. Subsequently, 510 questionnaires were acquired for the sample. Contribution: The current study contributes to the literature on personality traits and sales performance by applying empirical evidence from sales managers in three industries of Pakistan: pharmaceutical, insurance, and electronics. Findings: The results affirmed a positive effect of the five-factor model on sales performance among various industries in Pakistan. The effect of each sub-factor from the five-factor model was examined autonomously. There is a favorable benefit to sales managers in considering FFM when making hiring decisions. Impact on Society: FFM offers important insights into personality traits that work well within Pakistani sales industry structure. Future Research: A broader rendering of the effects of FFM on sales organizations in other geographical locations around Pakistan should be considered. Additionally, an extended study should be conducted to investigate the effects of FFM on female sales employees involving religious and cultural forces within that country.




to

ICT-Platform to Transform Car Dealerships to Regional Providers of Sustainable Mobility Services

Aim/Purpose: The topic of this study is the ICT-enabled transformation of car dealerships to regional providers of sustainable mobility (e.g., car sharing). Background: Car dealerships offer specific conditions that enable a sustainable mobility offer, based on individual motorized transport like car sharing. This is especially useful in small towns or rural areas where people’s mobility is strongly dominated by private cars, and public transport coverage is limited. However, these new mobility services are combined services with the need of a deep integration of information systems, and these services are not yet related to car dealerships and customer acquisition has to be supported. Methodology: An empirical study with an inductive approach was chosen. The study consists of interviews with three focus groups of different stakeholders of car dealerships. Within the frame of the research project, “ReCaB – Regional Car-Balancing” a qualitative research approach was chosen. Within a design science approach the existing SusCRM architecture was adapted based on the elaborated requirements. Contribution: A software architecture is proposed, where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) components to market new sustainable mobility offers are vital parts and existing information systems of car dealerships are integrated. Findings: The basic feasibility of the establishment and customer acceptance has been demonstrated, at least in the area of car sharing within ReCaB. The execution in the car sharing field has already started and a number of car dealerships are already bringing their own offers to market. Major findings for the SusCRM architecture have been elaborated in a design science approach in the national German research project “Showcase for electro mobility”. Recommendations for Practitioners: There is still no fully functional prototype developed for this specific use case and evaluated in the car dealership environment. An implementation only, based on own efforts, is difficult for car dealerships because of the dealership’s lack of know-how as well as tight IT budgets. However, this approach appears particularly successful in rural areas where public transport services are heavily declining. For full implementation, the presented ICT support is imperative. Recommendation for Researchers: The research on the retailer level, especially in combination with a digital trans-formation by the use of ICT systems, is still fragmentary. Research in this area that both addresses sustainability goals on a general level and supports economical goals on the company level of automotive retailers would be useful. Impact on Society: Creation of sustainable offers as a substitute or supplement for mobility based on their own car is a promising way to reduce negative effects of mobility. Enhancement of the mobility of the people in rural areas is leading to a more active lifestyle by reaching the leisure facilities, workplaces and educational institutions in a sustainable manner. Future Research: In terms of the fast changing mobility landscape, especially on a technical level with the development of autonomous vehicles and digitalization of entire businesses new solutions are becoming accessible, that have to be integrated in further research.




to

Factors Affecting Re-usage Intentions of Virtual Communities Supporting Cosmetic Products

Aim/Purpose: This study uses a cosmetic virtual community (VC) as the research context and the UTAUT model as the theoretical structure aim to explore factors affecting the re-usage intentions of VC members. Background: The Internet use rate of VC was up to 50%, thereby implying that VC gained the attention of Internet users. Therefore, operating a VC will be an effective way to communicate with customers. However, to maintain an existing member is more efficient than creating a new one. As such, understanding determinants of VC members’ re-use intentions becomes important for firms. Methodology: Through an online survey, 276 valid responses were gathered. The collected data were examined by performing confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling procedures, as well as the moderator analysis. Contribution: This study shows the importance in the context of online cosmetics-related VC, which was rarely explored before. We provide issues for future research, despite the accumulated academic literature related to UTAUT and VC. Findings: Results show that only performance expectancy and social influence significantly affecting re-usage intentions and only gender has moderating effects on the path from performance expectancy to VC re-use intention and from trust to VC re-use intention. Recommendations for Practitioners : This study found that users emphasized performance expectancy most of all. A cosmetic product-related VC should introduce products abundantly, offer useful information, and help people accomplish tasks quickly and productively. Recommendation for Researchers: Future researchers may use our findings to conduct further positivist research in the area of social influence using different subjects and research contexts.




to

PRATO: An Automated Taxonomy-Based Reviewer-Proposal Assignment System

Aim/Purpose: This paper reports our implementation of a prototype system, namely PRATO (Proposals Reviewers Automated Taxonomy-based Organization), for automatic assignment of proposals to reviewers based on categorized tracks and partial matching of reviewers’ profiles of research interests against proposal keywords. Background: The process of assigning reviewers to proposals tends to be a complicated task as it involves inspecting the matching between a given proposal and a reviewer based on different criteria. The situation becomes worse if one tries to automate this process, especially if a reviewer partially matches the domain of the paper at hand. Hence, a new controlled approach is required to facilitate the matching process. Methodology: Proposals and reviewers are organized into categorized tracks as defined by a tree of hierarchical research domains which correspond to the university’s colleges and departments. In addition, reviewers create their profiles of research interests (keywords) at the time of registration. Initial assignment is based on the matching of categorized sub-tracks of proposal and reviewer. Where the proposal and a reviewer fall under different categories (sub-tracks), assignment is done based on partial matching of proposal content against re-viewers’ research interests. Jaccard similarity coefficient scores are calculated of proposal keywords and reviewers’ profiles of research interest, and the reviewer with highest score is chosen. The system was used to automate the process of proposal-reviewer assignment at the Umm Al-Qura University during the 2017-2018 funding cycle. The list of proposal-reviewer assignments generated by the system was sent to human experts for voting and subsequently to make final assignments accordingly. With expert votes and final decisions as evaluation criteria, data system-expert agreements (in terms of “accept” or “reject”) were collected and analyzed by tallying frequencies and calculating rejection/acceptance ratios to assess the system’s performance. Contribution: This work helped the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), a funding agency at Umm Al-Qura University, in managing the process of reviewing proposals submitted for funding. We believe the work can also benefit any organizations or conferences to automate the assignment of papers to the most appropriate reviewers. Findings: Our developed prototype, PRATO, showed a considerable impact on the entire process of reviewing proposals at DSR. It automated the assignment of proposals to reviewers and resulted in 56.7% correct assignments overall. This indicates that PRATO performed considerably well at this early stage of its development. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is important for funding agencies and publishers to automate reviewing process to obtain better reviewing quality in a timely manner. Recommendation for Researchers: This work highlighted a new methodology to tackle the proposal-reviewer assignment task in an automated manner. More evaluation might be needed with consideration of different categories, especially for partially matched candidates. Impact on Society: The new methodology and knowledge about factors influencing the implementation of automated proposal-reviewing systems will help funding agencies and publishers to improve the quality of their internal processes. Future Research: In the future, we plan to examine PRATO’s performance on different classification schemes where specialty areas can be represented in graphs rather than trees. With graph representation, the scope for reviewer selection can be widened to include more general fields of specialty. Moreover, we will try to record the reasons for rejection to identify accurately whether the rejection was due to improper assignment or other reasons.




to

To Read or Not to Read: Modeling Online Newspaper Reading Satisfaction and Its Impact on Revisit Intention and Word-Of-Mouth

Aim/Purpose: In this research, we examined the influence of the information system (IS) quality dimensions proposed by Wixom and Todd on reading satisfaction of online newspaper readers in Bangladesh, especially the readers’ intention to revisit and recommendations through electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Background: We identified the top 50 most visited websites, of which 13 were online newspapers, although their ranking among Bangladesh online newspapers varies from month to month. The literature illustrates that, despite the wide availability of online news portals and the fluctuations in frequency of visits, little is known about the factors that affect the satisfaction, word-of-mouth, and frequency of visits of readers. An understanding of reader satisfaction will help to gain richer insights into the phenomenon of readers’ intention to revisit and recommendation by eWOM. Stakeholders of online newspapers can then focus on those factors to increase visits to their websites, which will help them attract online advertisements from different organisations. Methodology: Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, from 217 people who responded to the survey. We used SmartPLS 3 to analyze the data collected, as it is based on second-generation analysis, which in turn is based on structural equation modeling (SEM). Contribution: This research explores the impacts of technological dimensions on readers’ satisfaction, as most of the previous research has focused on cultural or social dimensions. Findings: The results supported all of the hypothesized relationships between technological dimensions and reader satisfaction with online newspapers, except for one. The first, information, was predicted with accuracy and completeness, while the second object-based belief, system quality, was predicted by its accessibility, flexibility, reliability, and timeliness. Overall, quality factors influencing readers’ satisfaction were shown to lead to word-of-mouth revisit intentions. Our proposed model was empirically tested and has contributed to a nascent body of knowledge about readers’ revisit intentions and eWOM recommendations regarding online newspapers. It was also shown that strong satisfaction leads to higher revisit intention and eWOM. Recommendations for Practitioners: To keep the users satisfied, online newspapers need to focus on improving information quality (IQ) and system quality (SQ). If they do this well, they will be rewarded with higher revisit intention and recommendations by eWOM. Recommendation for Researchers: This study extends Oh’s customer loyalty model by integrating the Wixom-Todd model. This study reinforces an alternative rationale of the construct satisfaction. Future Research: We ignored negative stimulus like technostress, which can have an impact on satisfaction. In future, we will test the relationship between technostress and its impact on online newspaper reading.




to

Knowledge Management Orientation, Market Orientation, and SME’s Performance: A Lesson from Indonesia’s Creative Economy Sector

Aim/Purpose: Two research objectives were addressed in this study. The first objective was to determine the effect of knowledge management orientation behaviour on business performance, and the second objective was to investigate the mediating effect of market orientation in the relationship between knowledge management orientation behaviour and business performance. Background: In business strategic perspective, the idea of knowledge management has been discussed widely. However, there is a lack of study exploring the notion of knowledge management orientation especially in the perspective of Indonesia’s creative economy sector. Methodology: One hundred and thirty one participants were involved in this study. They were economy creative practitioners in Indonesia. Data were analysed by using Partial Least Squares. Contribution: Upon the completion of the research objectives, this study contributes to both theoretical and practical perspectives. From a theoretical standpoint, this study proposes a conceptual model explaining the relationship among knowledge management orientation behaviour, market orientation, and business performance in Indonesia’s creative economy sector. As this study found a significant effect of knowledge sharing in market orientation and market orientation in business performance, the study showed the mediation role of market orientation in the relationship between knowledge sharing and business performance. From a practical perspective, this study implies a guideline for business practitioners in enhancing business through the application of knowledge management orientation behaviour. Findings: The results show that organizing memory, knowledge absorption, and knowledge receptivity has a direct significant effect on business performance. However, in affecting business performance, knowledge sharing must be mediated by market orientation. Recommendations for Practitioners: Based on the results of the study, practitioners should enhance their behaviour in implementing knowledge management in terms of increasing business performance. In addition, it is suggested that business practitioners must be market driven, as market orientation was found to have an important role in affecting business performance. Recommendation for Researchers: Future researchers might integrate other constructs such as innovation, marketing capabilities, or organizational learning with this current conceptual model to have more comprehensive insight about the relationship between knowledge management orientation and business performance. Impact on Society: This study suggests that business practitioners must have knowledge management driven behaviour as well as market orientation to enhance the performance of their business. Future Research: Future research might add other variables to make the conceptual model more comprehensive and also replicate this study into different industrial settings.




to

Identification of Influential Factors in Implementing IT Governance: A Survey Study of Indonesian Companies in the Public Sector

Aim/Purpose: This study is carried out to determine the factors influencing the implementation of IT governance in public sector. Background: IT governance in organizations plays strategic roles in deciding whether IT strategies and investments of both private and public organizations could be efficient, consistent, and transparent. IT governance has the potential to be the best practice that could improve organizational performance and competency. Methodology: The study involves qualitative and quantitative approaches, where data were collected through questionnaire, observation, interview, and document study through a sample of 367 respondents. The collected data were analyzed using Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) for validating the model and testing the hypotheses. Besides, semi-structured interview, observation, and document study were also carried out to obtain the management’s feedback on the implementation of IT governance and its activities. Contribution: The results of this study contribute to knowledge regarding good IT governance. Practically, this study can be used as a guideline for the future development and good IT governance. Findings: The findings reveal that policy has a significant direct influence on system planning, the management of IT investment, system realization, operation and maintenance, and organizational culture. The existence of IT governance policies, the success of the IT process can work well. Monitoring and evaluation processes also significantly affect system plan-ning, management of IT investment, system realization, operation and maintenance, and organizational culture. It indicates the process of monitoring and evaluation required for indications of financial efficiency, infrastructure, resources, risk and organizational success. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is important for organizational management to pay more attention to the organization’s internal controls in order to create good IT governance. Recommendation for Researchers: A comparative study between Indonesia and developing countries on the implementation of IT governance is needed to capture the differences be-tween those countries. Impact on Society: Knowledge of the factors influencing the implementation of IT governance as an effort to implement and improve the quality of IT governance. Future Research: Future studies should look further at the policy and IT governance models, specifically in public organizations, besides other influencing factors. Moreover, the outcome of this study could be generated as a guideline for the advanced development of IT governance and as a point of improvement as a way to generate a better good IT governance. It is essential because such evidence is lacking in current literature.




to

The Effects of the Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation on the Comprehensive Achievement of the Crucial Roles of Information Systems in the Higher Education Sector

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine empirically the effects of certain key Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems on the comprehensive achievement of the crucial roles of Computer-Based Information Systems (CBISs) Background: The effects of the CSFSs were examined in the higher education sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) using a case study of the ERP adoption in Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University. Methodology: A theoretical model was proposed based on the literature written on the CSFs and the roles of CBISs in business. The model encompasses six key CSFs and their associations with the realization of the crucial roles of CBISs. To test the proposed model, a questionnaire was developed by considering the most frequently used measurements items in the ERP’s literature. The data were collect-ed from 219 key stakeholders. Contribution: This study acts as one of the few empirical studies in assessing the effects of the important CSFs for ERP implementation upon its successful implementation. Its outcomes provide more insights and clarifications about the effects of six key CSFs on the comprehensive achievement of the crucial CBIS’s roles. Particularly, the uniqueness of this study lies in addressing the effects of these CSFs on the achievement of the vital CBIS’s roles collectively rather than the achievement of each role individually. Moreover, the study examined these effects in the higher education environment, which is characterized by its own special business processes and services. Findings: The results reveal that the six key CSFs have a positive relationship with the comprehensive achievement of the crucial roles of CBISs. These findings are consistent with many previous studies on the effects of the CSFs on the realization of the expected benefits of the enterprise systems. Recommendations for Practitioners: The managers and other key stakeholders should carefully manage the vital aspects of the CSFs in order to realize the promised ERP’s benefits, including the CBIS’s roles. Future Research: Additional empirical examinations are needed to investigate the effects of the rest of the CSFs on realizing the roles of information systems.




to

Crisis and Disaster Situations on Social Media Streams: An Ontology-Based Knowledge Harvesting Approach

Aim/Purpose: Vis-à-vis management of crisis and disaster situations, this paper focuses on important use cases of social media functions, such as information collection & dissemination, disaster event identification & monitoring, collaborative problem-solving mechanism, and decision-making process. With the prolific utilization of disaster-based ontological framework, a strong disambiguation system is realized, which further enhances the searching capabilities of the user request and provides a solution of unambiguous in nature. Background: Even though social media is information-rich, it has created a challenge for deriving a decision in critical crisis-related cases. In order to make the whole process effective and avail quality decision making, sufficiently clear semantics of such information is necessary, which can be supplemented through employing semantic web technologies. Methodology: This paper evolves a disaster ontology-based system availing a framework model for monitoring uses of social media during risk and crisis-related events. The proposed system monitors a discussion thread discovering whether it has reached its peak or decline after its root in the social forum like Twitter. The content in social media can be accessed through two typical ways: Search Application Program Interfaces (APIs) and Streaming APIs. These two kinds of API processes can be used interchangeably. News content may be filtered by time, geographical region, keyword occurrence and availability ratio. With the support of disaster ontology, domain knowledge extraction and comparison against all possible concepts are availed. Besides, the proposed method makes use of SPARQL to disambiguate the query and yield the results which produce high precision. Contribution: The model provides for the collection of crisis-related temporal data and decision making through semantic mapping of entities over concepts in a disaster ontology we developed, thereby disambiguating potential named entities. Results of empirical testing and analysis indicate that the proposed model outperforms similar other models. Findings: Crucial findings of this research lie in three aspects: (1) Twitter streams and conventional news media tend to offer almost similar types of news coverage for a specified event, but the rate of distribution among topics/categories differs. (2) On specific events such as disaster, crisis or any emergency situations, the volume of information that has been accumulated between the two news media stands divergent and filtering the most potential information poses a challenging task. (3) Relational mapping/co-occurrence of terms has been well designed for conventional news media, but due to shortness and sparseness of tweets, there remains a bottleneck for researchers. Recommendations for Practitioners: Though metadata avails collaborative details of news content and it has been conventionally used in many areas like information retrieval, natural language processing, and pattern recognition, there is still a lack of fulfillment in semantic aspects of data. Hence, the pervasive use of ontology is highly suggested that build semantic-oriented metadata for concept-based modeling, information flow searching and knowledge exchange. Recommendation for Researchers: The strong recommendation for researchers is that instead of heavily relying on conventional Information Retrieval (IR) systems, one can focus more on ontology for improving the accuracy rate and thereby reducing ambiguous terms persisting in the result sets. In order to harness the potential information to derive the hidden facts, this research recommends clustering the information from diverse sources rather than pruning a single news source. It is advisable to use a domain ontology to segregate the entities which pose ambiguity over other candidate sets thus strengthening the outcome. Impact on Society: The objective of this research is to provide informative summarization of happenings such as crisis, disaster, emergency and havoc-based situations in the real world. A system is proposed which provides the summarized views of such happenings and corroborates the news by interrelating with one another. Its major task is to monitor the events which are very booming and deemed important from a crowd’s perspective. Future Research: In the future, one shall strive to help to summarize and to visualize the potential information which is ranked high by the model.




to

Contextualist Inquiry into E-Commerce Institutionalization in Developing Countries: The Case of Mozambican Women-led SMMES

Aim/Purpose: This study explores how women-led SMMEs in developing countries, specifically in the Mozambican context, institutionalise e-commerce by focusing on the ongoing interaction between the SMME, its context, and process of e-commerce institutionalization. Background: It is believed that institutionalization of e-commerce provides significant benefits of unlimited access to new markets, and access to new, improved, inexpensive and convenient operational methods of transacting. Although prior studies have examined the adoption of e-commerce and the enabling and constraining factors, few have examined e-commerce (i) institutionalization (that is, post-adoption), and (ii) from a gender perspective. This study aims to respond to this paucity in the literature by exploring how women-led SMMEs in developing countries, specifically in the Mozambican context, institutionalise e-commerce. Methodology: The study follows a qualitative inquiry approach for both data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were adopted for data collection and thematic analysis implemented on the data. SMMEs were purposively sampled to allow for the selection of information-rich SMMEs for study and specifically those that have gone through the experience of adoption and in some cases have institutionalized e-commerce. Contribution: The empirical findings explain how the institutionalization process from interactive e-commerce to transactive e-commerce unfolds in the Mozambican context. Findings: Transition from interactive to transactive e-commerce is firstly influenced by (i) the type of business the SMME is engaged in; and (ii) customer and trading partner’s readiness for e-commerce. Secondly, the transition process is influenced by the internal factors of (i) manager’s demographic factors; (ii) mimetic behaviour arising from exposure to (foreign) organizations in the same industry that have mature forms of e-commerce; (iii) the business networks developed with some of these organizations that have mature forms of e-commerce; (iv) access to financial resources; and (v) social media technologies. Thirdly, the process is influenced by external contextual factors of (i) limited government intervention towards e-commerce endeavors; (ii) limited to lack of financial institutions readiness for e-commerce; (iii) lack of local available IT expertise; (iv) consumer’s low purchasing power due to economic recessions; (vi) international competitive pressure; and (vii) sociocultural practices. Recommendations for Practitioners: The study provides SMME managers, practitioners, and other stakeholders concerned with women’s development with a better understanding of the process in order to develop appropriate policies and interventions that are suitable for the reality of women-led SMMEs in Mozambique and other developing countries with similar contextual characteristics. Recommendation for Researchers: The study contributes to the existing debate of e-commerce and the use of ICT for development in developing countries by providing a distinct contribution of the institutionalization process and how the contextual structures influence this process. Impact on Society: Women-led SMME managers can learn from the different experiences, and compare their e-commerce efforts with SMMEs that were able to institutionalize and make strategies for improvements within their organizations. Future Research: The manner in which women-led SMMEs employ e-commerce requires further investigation to understand how issues related to gender, the cultural context, and different regions or countries impact this process.




to

Revealing the Influential Factors Driving Social Commerce Adoption

Aim/Purpose: This study aims to identify the main factors influencing consumers’ adoption of social commerce (s-commerce). Based on the socio-technical theory, the study suggests a research model that investigates the key social and technical factors driving consumers’ decision to purchase from social commerce websites. In addition, the research model explores the interactive relationship among these factors. Background: The phenomenon of social commerce (s-commerce) has emerged due to the increased penetration of social media and the rapid development of Web 2.0 technologies. Electronic commerce (e-commerce) companies have made significant efforts to shift their operations to s-commerce. Therefore, to facilitate their efforts to transform, various research has been conducted to investigate the main factor influencing the adoption of s-commerce. Most of these studies have emphasised the social aspects related to s-commerce design features to understand how the use of advanced web technologies influence how customers interact with each other in s-commerce environments. However, s-commerce is viewed as a socio-technical system that requires the investigation of both social and technical factors to help in the design of effective s-commerce platforms. Methodology: To validate the proposed research model, 418 paper-based and online questionnaires were collected from online shoppers in Jordan. The Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Contribution: This study offers a research model that serves as a theoretical framework for investigating customers’ behaviour in s-commerce environment. It represents a strong context-specific model that includes both the technical and social facilitators of s-commerce. The research model participates in gaining an improved understanding of how customers’ intention, actual purchase and post-purchase experience are formed in the s-commerce environment. Findings: The results of Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) reveal that s-commerce constructs, familiarity and user experience have a positive influence on the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of s-commerce. In addition, perceptions of its usefulness and ease of use have a positive influence on trust, which in turn influences the purchase intention and the actual purchase. Finally, the post-purchase experience significantly influences both trust and purchase intention. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study shows that social commerce constructs strengthen customers’ perceptions of usefulness. S-commerce service providers are required to provide their customers with various channels to seek social support. Both familiarity and user experience are key enablers of customers’ perceived ease of use. S-commerce service providers consider the variation in customers’ familiarity and experience with s-commerce websites because this has a significant influence on purchase intentions and behaviour. Consequently, system designers should offer useful and sufficient information and tutorials that effectively guide customers in their searching, decision-making and purchasing activities throughout the shopping process. S-commerce service providers should understand the importance of providing secure payment systems and make their privacy policies clear to customers. Post-purchase experience has an influential role in reinforcing customers’ trust and purchase intention. The findings confirm the important role of post-purchase experience in retaining customers by improving their trust and repurchase intention. Therefore, making a customer’s post-purchase experience pleasant should be a key priority for s-commerce service providers because it has a significant influence on customers’ trust and repurchase intentions. Recommendation for Researchers: This study offers a unidimensional conceptualisation of the design features of s-commerce. These features include three main forms: recommendations and referrals, communities and forums, and reviews and ratings. Such conceptualisation provides additional insights and an understanding of the activities of information sharing in s-commerce. The significance of the technical side of s-commerce is highlighted and empirical proof is provided that social interactions guided by social technologies enhance customers’ perceived usefulness of an s-commerce website, thus increasing their trust and intention to purchase which leads to an actual purchase. This offers insights into the various types of s-commerce characteristics that contribute to facilitating customers’ purchase behaviour on s-commerce websites. Impact on Society: The findings offer insights which have important implications for research and practice to help facilitate the adoption of s-commerce. Future Research: This study considered the s-commerce websites as a homogenous online environment. Additional research could collect data from diverse online communities, such as professional groups, to provide a comprehensive understanding of how a wider variety of user behaviour is affected. Second, this was a quantitative study based on data collected in a questionnaire. Further studies may consider using qualitative or mixed methodologies (i.e. focus groups and interviews) to explore other technical and social factors that influence the use of s-commerce.