Information Development

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The theories of justice according to Rawls, Dworkin, Habermas and Sen, although from a predominantly Anglo-Saxon background, are useful for the Latin American reality. Such views of justice bring forward the requirement for developing indicators with a wider scope, so that they measure diverse aspects such as: income, commodities, freedoms, economic, cultural, educative, political and well-being factors. Concluding remarks summarize relevant aspects of justice that can enrich the needed reflection and discussion for new Latin American models of justice.

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