Factors influencing the young physicians’ intention to use Internet of Things (IoT) services in healthcare

The Internet of Things (IoT) enabled technologies to have proliferated due to their abilities to capture and exchange quality information. This empirical study aims to investigate the factors influencing the intention to use IoT services in healthcare by young physicians. An integrated model based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and diffusion of innovations (DOI) theories are drawn upon and analyzed through a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with importance-performance map analysis (IPMA). Data were collected through a structured survey questionnaire. The results indicated that behavioural intention to use IoT in healthcare services vastly affected by the attitude and value co-creation. Attitude was found to be a principal determinant followed by the relative advantage towards behavioural intention to use IoT services. The novelty of this empirical study is that the proposed integrated model provides a meaningful application of the young physicians’ intention to use IoT in healthcare in developing countries.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs): The potential for enhancing the dissemination of agricultural information and services to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

The transformation of smallholder farming is poised to be one of the key drivers of achieving the dual objectives of food security and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Smallholder farmers account for between 60–80% of the food produced in the region but face many challenges that impede their productivity. Such challenges include a lack of timely access to appropriate agricultural information and services, which results in poor decision-making, particularly in addressing challenges and responding effectively to opportunities. In that context, the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in improving accessibility to appropriate agricultural information and services presents substantial prospects for transforming the productivity and livelihoods of the farmers. Currently, the region experiences massive penetration and propagation of mobile and web-based applications. However, there is a dearth of compelling, comprehensive reviews evaluating their importance in enhancing agricultural information and services dissemination to smallholder farmers. Therefore, the current review explores the potential of enhancing agricultural information and services dissemination to smallholder farmers through ICTs and highlights gaps in their development and deployment in SSA. Five existing mobile applications used to disseminate agricultural information and services to smallholder farmers were identified, and their advantages, limitations, and opportunities were discussed. These were Esoko, iCow, Community Knowledge Workers, WeFarm and DigiFarm. The development and deployment of user-driven mobile applications that provide curated skill-sharing platforms, encourage farmers to give feedback to extension systems in real-time and promote the participation of women and youth in agriculture are recommended.

Egyptian pregnant women's health information needs and behaviour: A qualitative study

The primary goal of this research is to examine Egyptian pregnant women's health information needs and behaviour in terms of their thoughts, perceptions, attitudes, motives, interests, techniques, preferences, tools, and other factors that influence their use of health information. Six focus groups with an effective size of 64 women were used in a qualitative approach. Approximately two-thirds of the Egyptian pregnant women sampled in this study were between the ages of 26 and 35, had a Bachelor's degree (BA), and were classified as upper-middle income. Approximately two-thirds of the pregnant Egyptian women sampled were able to precisely identify these needs and use appropriate means to meet them. Many of them preferred to communicate with their families, relatives, peers, and friends, particularly those who are currently pregnant or have recently delivered, via cell phones or inperson meetings. Verbal communication with mothers and relatives, friends, as well as gynaecologists and healthcare providers have been identified as the most commonly used communication channels. Pregnant Egyptian women surveyed used health information sources to assist with pregnancy-related tasks such as understanding the requirements for monitoring the foetus's health, nutrition, weight, growth, and movement, and finding suitable and affordable birthplaces. The majority of them have used a variety of technologies for day-to-day communication, particularly cell phones, the Internet, social media, and social networking sites such as WhatsApp and Facebook. Because of the difficulties associated with pregnancy, many pregnant women have stated that using any type of library to meet their health information needs plays no significant role. The most significant barriers encountered by Egyptian pregnant women in this study were a lack of time, a lack of money, and a lack of knowledge about appropriate sources of information.

The state of the professionalisation of the records and archives management profession in Zimbabwe

The professionalisation of any given field is at the heart of establishing the records and archives management profession as well as making it visible and respected in the work space. Without professionalisation, records and archives management professionals will continue to be undermined in the workplace and thus, struggle to pursue the mission and purpose of managing records throughout their life cycle. This study sought to investigate the state of professionalisation of the records and archives management field in Zimbabwe with a view to recommending ways through which the field can work towards professionalising. A quantitative research methodology, a cross sectional survey research design and systematic random sampling otherwise known as ordinal sampling was applied.

Antecedents of customer loyalty in mobile telecommunication companies in Cameroon

The mobile telecommunication (telecom) sector has become the basic source of information nowadays, especially in Cameroon. It is used to transfer and deliver information through voice, video, data, graphics, and more at perpetually increasing speeds. The quality of mobile services does not only impact the attraction of new customers but also to maintain the existing ones. The study uses relationship marketing theory and a quantitative and cross-sectional method with 200 respondents. Information was obtained from users of MTN and Orange mobile telecommunication networks. The analyses were done using SPSS version 20. Tangibility, reliability, and assurance dimensions of staff service quality showed a positive relationship with customer loyalty in mobile telecom companies in Cameroon. The findings also highlight the influence of service quality dimensions on customer loyalty in the mobile telecom companies of the country.

Exploring models for the management of indigenous knowledge in academic libraries of Ghana

The need to manage indigenous knowledge (IK) as a key knowledge base of society has become vital in the era of information society. The lack of representation of IK is partly blamed on its exclusion from academia because IK is not primarily the core focus of academic library's collection. The study sought to explore existing models and develop a framework for the management of indigenous knowledge in academic libraries in Ghana. The qualitative methodology using content analysis was adopted for the purpose of the study. Data was analysed using themes developed from the documents and literature. It was evident that the library services and programmes did not reflect on the African content of knowledge management. For an integrated indigenous knowledge management system, stakeholder's partnership, policy guidelines and integration of IK into library's collection is instrumental. Transformation of knowledge systems was identified as the starting point of integration. Social inclusion of marginalised knowledge, equality, sustainable development was identified and recommended in the effort to integrate indigenous knowledge management systems into the library's collection. A proposed framework has been developed for the management of indigenous knowledge in academic libraries as a blueprint for any integration effort.

Knowledge Sharing through Social Networking Sites (SNSs): A Study of Pakistani Research Students

The present study investigated the knowledge-sharing behavior of library and information management researchers, using the lens of the theory of planned behavior. The study is quantitative and adopted a survey questionnaire as a data collection technique. The snowball sampling technique was considered suitable to recruit respondents to the study. Data were analyzed with the help of SPSS (20.0) and the ADANCO (2.0.1). The research findings confirm that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control have a significant impact on intentions to share knowledge, whereas knowledge sharing intentions have a statistically significant positive impact on knowledge sharing behavior through SNS among postgraduate students. Attitude towards knowledge sharing directly triggers knowledge sharing practices through social media networking sites. Intentions to share knowledge do not mediate the relationship of attitude and knowledge sharing behavior. The theory of planned behavior has widely been used to measure knowledge-sharing behavior in different sectors. However, the relationship between attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, intentions to share knowledge within the domain of social media is explored first time in this study, particularly in the context of the library and information science post-graduate students.

Measuring factors influencing quality of software-as-a-service

Various industrial and business sectors use Software-as-a-Service due to its fast services. However, Software-as-a-Service providers face various challenges in providing high-quality services while simultaneously managing vast multi-tenant infrastructure models and increasingly complex user requirements. To address these problems, we identified those factors that affect the quality of Software-as-a-Service from the perspective of provider–user relationship and investigated how service providers can objectively improve user satisfaction. In a case study, we evaluated the perceived service quality of an information system in the public sector based on user satisfaction with the quality of external outsourcing service in terms of assurance, empathy, responsiveness, reliability, and communication. We identified new sub factors (commitment, skills, effectiveness, change management, business processes, and motivation) and proposed action steps that can guide best practices in ensuring Software-as-a-Service quality. These factors are greatly influenced by the communication between providers and users.

Explicating the health-related digital divide: A mediation mechanism between education level and online cancer information seeking frequency among Chinese adults

In China, highly educated adults seek online cancer information more frequently than less educated adults. This health-related digital divide may impede the less-educated from effectively preventing cancer. To explicate the divide, we introduce informational subjective norms (ISN) and information sufficiency threshold (IST) as two socio-psychological mediators between education level and online cancer information seeking (OCIS) frequency. ISN represents one's perceived social pressure about seeking cancer information, while IST manifests individual evaluation of the amount of information needed to prevent cancer. An online survey supported a serial mediation effect of ISN and IST. ISN and IST also independently mediated the relationship between education level and OCIS frequency. Besides, the mediation effect of ISN was stronger than that of IST. The findings suggest that increasing ISN among less educated Chinese adults could facilitate their OCIS and to narrow the health-related digital divide. These implications may also inform other developing countries.

A CIO-centric local government data-sharing leadership ecosystem in China

The digital transformation of local government brings about massive change in IT leadership. As the strategic designer and process developer for government data sharing, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) needs to build self-centered leadership systems with strong coordination capabilities and adaptable mechanisms. Through a qualitative multi-case comparative study of three provinces in China, we applied IS innovation ecosystem theory to construct a CIO-centric local government data-sharing leadership ecosystem. The competencies, behaviors, and mechanisms of leadership roles are analyzed in five dimensions (personal, interpersonal, organizational, inter-organizational, and socio-economic and generation). Results show that a CIO-centric local government data sharing ecosystem can be resilient to administrative structure change, facilitating data sharing across levels, regions, and departments through collaborative networks and rotation approach. It provides useful insights into similar practices for constructing data sharing leadership ecosystem in local government, and can bring public value to citizens.