Public Representation of Ubiquitous ICT Applications in the Outpatient Health Sector

ICT advances will bring a new generation of ubiquitous applications, opening up new possibilities for the health sector. However, the social impacts of this trend have largely remained unexplored. This study investigates the public representation of future ICT applications in the outpatient health sector in terms of their social acceptance. Mental models of ICT applications were elicited from inhabitants of Berlin, Germany, by means of qualitative interviews. The findings revealed that the interviewees felt ambivalent about anticipated changes; only if ICT use were to be voluntary and restricted to single applications and trustworthy institutions did they expect individual benefits. Concerns about data transmission to unauthorized third parties and widespread technological dissemination forcing compulsory participation led people to feel averse to such technology. Implications for potential implementation of future ICT applications in the outpatient health sector are discussed.

An Examination of Factors Associated with User Acceptance of Social Shopping Websites

Social commerce is the latest development in e-commerce to combine the power of online social networking with shopping. While the adoption of information technology is well studied, new theoretical development is needed to account for the specific characteristics of social commerce applications and their interactions with the user. This study examines factors that are associated with user acceptance of social shopping websites, which are sites designed specifically to support social interactions while users shop. This paper augments the Technology Acceptance Model with constructs that enhance the specificity of the model to the social shopping application of social commerce, including social comparison, social engagement, enjoyment as well as perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. The model was empirically tested, and the results provided strong support. Implications and directions for future research are also discussed.

Multimedia Technology in the Financial Services Sector

Participants (N=71) took part in mortgage interviews with a human agent interacting with a computer using four different communication modes: a standard video ink, a video link with video-data, the telephone and face-to-face. Video-plus-data came significantly higher in the rankings than phone. It is argued that video-plus-data was found to be more useful than phone, as it provided the participants with more feedback on their mortgage negotiation. Usability and preference were highest for face-to-face. Usability of video was significantly higher than video-plus-data. Comments made by the participants suggest that this may have been due to the split-attention effect and it is argued that this could be diminished by usability improvements. There were no significant differences in usability between the two video services and the telephone. Reasons for this are explored. Differences between genders were also discovered with the phone being judged to be less usable by male participants. If face-to-face mortgage interviews are to be supplemented by other communication channels then users would find video-plus-data the most acceptable, but there is much room for further improvements in usability.

The Influence of Information Control upon On-Line Shopping Behavior

Previous studies have explored privacy instruments and disclosures as factors that affect on-line shopping intentions or attitudes. However, few have evaluated how information control affects this behavior. This paper draws on psychological and social justice theories to gain an understanding of how information control impacts on-line purchasing directly or indirectly through the mediation of intrinsic motivation. The resulting causal model was validated using structural equations with data from 179 respondents. Results show that perceived information control affects cognitive absorption, and users, as expected, value procedural fairness.

IT Managers’ Narratives on Subordinates’ Motivation at Work

Little is known about managers’ perception of their subordinates’ motivation, especially how this perception influences managerial behavior. This study, conducted in the growing IT consultancy sector, focuses on how IT consultancy first-line managers construct their subordinates’ motivation. Since work motivation is a complex phenomenon, there is variation in how managers reduce this complexity. The empirical data was collected in semi-structured interviews with six team leaders (three female, three male) and are presented as narratives. In their narratives, the female team leaders present a more transformative view of their subordinates while the male managers present a more transactional view. The authors interpret this variation in the narrations as evidence that the issue of subordinate motivation is not seen as strategically important. This interpretation cast doubts on certain assumptions in organizational psychology theory.

Effects of Email Utilization on Higher Education Professionals

This exploratory study examines the impact of email as a primary communication technology upon the perceptions and work behaviors of higher education professionals who support university administrative functions. Based on the interviews and observations of 23 participants, key themes emerged regarding the relationship of email to the interactions of higher education professionals. Findings are presented in three sections: (1) impact on productivity, (2) impact on social interactions, and (3) impact on well-being. The professionals who participated in this study articulated the importance of face-to-face interaction particularly in complex situations; they recognize the need to manage email sender expectations to deal with their own work stresses, and strive to temper the negative impact of constant disruption by email on workplace productivity.

Barriers to e-Government Implementation in Jordan

This paper identifies and highlights the significance of Wasta as a barrier to e-government implementation within The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and is part of a wider qualitative research study of all barriers. A longitudinal research approach was applied to explore any dynamism within the presence of barriers over a three year study, as well as to seek a richer understanding of such barriers. Data, principally collected via interviews with relevant stakeholders, was analysed using Strauss and Corbin’s variant of grounded theory. Using illustrative quotations primarily from interview transcripts, this paper enunciates the significant and persistent role that Wasta plays in hindering Jordan’s e-government implementation, both as an explicitly mentioned barrier and as cause of other barriers. The paper supports the view that culture is a root cause of e-government implementation difficulty, and that barriers vary with the different country settings in which e-government systems are embedded.

An Office on the Go

In this paper, the authors examine how senior managers, as professional workers, in a leading ICT company use smartphones, according to new configurations of time and space. Of special interest is how smartphones act as comforting handheld consoles without being rooted in physical location. Three non-physical places, as spatial nodes, are presented: pause in the temporal current, place as a function of the intensity of communication, and place in terms of becoming rooted by felt value. The authors argue that highlighting non-physical places as structures emanating from the use of smartphones is an important variable to account for when studying how professionals use smartphones, both in instrumental and non-instrumental terms.

Student Perceptions and Adoption of University Smart Card Systems

This study investigated student adoption of university campus card (UCC) applications. A review of smart card, technology adoption and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) literature led to three focus groups and a survey of student perceptions and attitudes towards the university’s campus card. Perceptions of 17 UCC components differed significantly across four student variables – international versus domestic, willingness to load funds, gender, and university level – supporting and extending UTAUT. Willingness to load funds on their UCC differed significantly across 16 out of 17 components, followed by domestic versus overseas students differing on 14 components, university level differing on 13 components and gender on 10. Overall, students reported that extra UCC features would enhance the university’s image, improve their student experience, and encourage them to use UCCs. The results and managerial implications can help universities select and prioritise UCC functions for campus adoption and implementation.

Graduate Students’ Perceptions of Privacy and Closed Circuit Television Systems in Public Settings

This qualitative study used grounded theory to examine how university graduate students felt about closed circuit television (CCTV) as it relates to the privacy and safety of students on campuses. As a result of violence at a few universities, more administrators are considering the implementation of CCTV systems. Because graduate students are an important part of the university population, their views were solicited. A qualitative approach was used because of the lack of previous research on this particular topic. Themes that emerged from interviews with 10 graduate students at a large Midwestern land-grant university were identified as: right to safety, right to privacy, personal privacy responsibilities, post-CCTV sense of privacy, post-CCTV sense of safety, crime displacement, false sense of safety, and international perspectives. The findings provide insight into graduate students’ perceptions of a CCTV system and have implications for implementation decisions regarding such a system. Additionally, the findings were utilized to formulate hypotheses for a larger scale research project.