Information Development

In recent years, the hotel industry has increasingly adopted social media, which play key roles in advertising, marketing, and promotions within the hotel industry. However, there has been relatively little empirical research on the relationship between using social media and job performance in hotel employees. This study aimed to examine the relationships between social media usage, social capital, and job performance of hotel employees in Iran. In order to achieve the aim of the research, data were collected from 270 employees of Espinas Hotel in Iran by a simple random sampling method. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and the results showed that social media usage by hotel employees has a positive effect on the formation of structural, relational, and cognitive social capital. Moreover, structural, relational, and cognitive social capital formed as a result of using social media has a positive effect on job performance. This study advanced the previous knowledge of social capital theory for employees interacting with coworkers through social media in organizations.

With the unprecedented development of information and communication technologies, online learning is increasingly seen as an important channel for knowledge acquisition. Although knowledge payment platforms have attracted a considerable number of consumers, little is known about the determinants of purchase intention of online learning consumers for online paid courses (OPCs). In this study, we identify the mechanism underlying online learning consumers’ purchase intentions towards online paid courses (OPCs) based on outcome expectation and trust. We further examine the antecedents of performance expectation and trust from a learning-oriented perspective. Results indicate that trust and performance expectation play positive roles in consumer purchase intention. Moreover, perceived lecturer expertise, prior learning experience, and personal trial experience are positively associated with trust and performance expectation, which in turn influence purchase intention towards OPCs. The data were collected using a questionnaire survey of 443 users of knowledge payment platforms, and the proposed model was analysed through structural equation modelling. This study enhances the theoretical understanding of why consumers purchase OPCs in the knowledge payment context. For information system practice, these findings provide new insights for managers on how to conduct knowledge product transactions effectively.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which librarians in Nigeria engaged in professional development workshops during the COVID-19 era. The study adopted a survey method using an online questionnaire. Factors such as saving money, the free nature of workshops, eliminating travel risk, in the comfort of the home, and providing an opportunity for all were mentioned as the benefits of participating in online workshops using Zoom. Buying data bundle, lack of computer/Android phone/smartphone, ignorance or lack of awareness of up-coming workshops, lack of time, power outage, nonchalant attitude towards technology, and network failures were identified as challenges of participation. The Zoom platform can be adopted for organizing workshops and meetings, and for teaching and learning in the post COVID-19 era.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) supports the sharing of information to improve the Quality of Governance (QoG). Many studies found a relationship between ICT diffusion and globalization and between ICT diffusion and the Quality of Governance. This study investigates the influence of both ICT diffusion and globalization in explaining the country level QoG while incorporating gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, human capital, and government expenditure in the context of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation) region. To this end, we used Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) to analyze panel data from 1984 to 2017. In contrast to research conducted in other countries, our research shows that the impact of ICT diffusion on QoG is not significant in the ASEAN region. The findings can be explained by a lack of coherent ICT-strategy among the countries and a lack of institutional mechanisms to ensure ICT efforts’ effectiveness. However, the relationship between globalization and QoG is positive and significant.

Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is adversely affected by climate variability and change due to the dependence of its economies and livelihoods primarily on rain-fed agriculture. Agro-advisories boost informed decision-making as well as planning of farm activities. The purpose of this study was to characterize the pathways through which farmers receive usable location-specific agro-advisories as well as to evaluate the effect of the socio-economic environment in the access to such information. Data was collected from 400 randomly selected households in lower eastern Kenya in a cross-sectional survey. Multivariate probit regression was used to determine the factors influencing the choice of pathways used in accessing climate change adaptation information. Household socio-economic characteristics that were found to be significant in explaining access to disseminated agro-advisories include phone and radio ownership, level of education, marital status, and farm size among others. Based on these findings a conclusion is made that the socio-economic environment within which information is disseminated is vital in determining those who access information and probably act on it. Additionally, pathways found to be complementary or substitutable give information providers new insights on the channels to use in information dissemination. The study recommends that these factors be considered in efforts geared towards promoting agro-advisory preparation and dissemination to improve adaptation to climate variability and change in dryland areas.

Today, social networks are the most popular and widely used applications among smartphone users all around the world. Three years ago, the Telegram messaging app was the most widely used social messaging app in Iran due to its technical features and user-friendliness. Despite its popularity, Telegram caused controversial debates among policymakers and public opinion. To discover the nature of these conflicts, two main discourses were identified through qualitative data analysis based on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. Proponents of Minaret discourse consider the Telegram as a threat to national security, thus they have tried to provide favorable condition to limit using it, and develop alternative domestic apps. In contrast, Cylinder discourse supports using the Telegram app to fulfill citizens’ digital rights and their rights of privacy and freedom of expression. This discursive conflict among policymakers, along with users’ resistance, resulted in some failures in the adoption of foreign apps (e.g., Telegram). Despite the extensive technical, financial, and moral supports to popularize domestic apps, users still prefer foreign apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The analysis of emergent discourses demonstrates the origins of contestations and provides insights into how to adopt social messaging apps.

Applications of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) have become essential for physicians seeking to make appropriate decisions. The implementation of CDSS, however, is complicated if the factors affecting physician’s acceptance are not recognised. This study aims to explore the various factors that may influence the acceptance of CDSS in Saudi Arabia. A qualitative method was used to collect data from interviews with 54 GPs, with interviews conducted in three stages. The study then integrated the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Task-Technology Fit (TTF) models to communicate the findings. It is suggested that all factors of both UTAUT and TTF influence acceptance of CDSS by GPs, with the sole exception of the social influence factor. Some additional factors were also discovered by means of in-depth interviews, including accessibility, patient satisfaction, informativeness (increased knowledge), connectedness (informing patients), communication and shared knowledge, privacy and security, and perceived risk (functional performance risk and time risk). The study thus offers a new insight of the factors influencing GPs’ acceptance of CDSS.

This study aims to examine the impact of Internet development on the urban-rural income gap in China. By using a provincial level panel dataset comprising 31 of China’s provinces, it analyzes and compares the effects of the eastern, central, and western regions over the period of 2005–2016. The results show that Internet development aggravates the gap in the central region much more than that in the eastern and western regions. The trade openness expands the urban-rural income gap only in the eastern region. Urbanization reduces the urban-rural income gap in the western region more than that in the eastern and central regions. Additionally, the regional economic development level also reduces the urban-rural income gap in central region more than that in the eastern region. FDI reduces the urban-rural income gap only in the central region. Additionally, while the urban-rural income gap can widen further by Internet development with trade openness, it can be decreased if Internet development is combined with FDI and urbanization. To reduce urban-rural income gap, the government should accelerate the construction of Internet according to regional differences.

The current study examined factors affecting higher education students’ use of a mobile-based Learning Management System (m-LMS) for distance education during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). A survey instrument based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was established and validated. The primary data were gathered from 1032 responses. The data were computed in SmartPLS 3.2. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) procedures were conducted to assess the measurement and structural models. The proposed model is valid and reliable. Findings of the study show that relationships emerge in seven out of ten hypotheses. The strongest relationship is between Perceived Usefulness and Attitude while the weakest exists between Perceived Ease of Use and Attitude. This study emphasizes awareness about the use of m-LMS in education, especially during distance education due to pandemics like Covid-19. The model is expected to provide a useful base for future academicians interested in conducting similar topics of research.

This study investigated the spatial-temporal variation and trend of the Internet user percentage (IUP) at the country level in the world from 1996 to 2017. Several methods were applied including kernel density estimation, global autocorrelations, sigma-convergence detection, and hierarchical clustering. The results demonstrated that the spatial distribution of IUP at the country level showed significant positive autocorrelations indicating clustered spatial patterns rather than dispersed or random distributions. In addition, the temporal variation of the distribution disparity of IUP showed a decreasing trend at the country level during the study period. Further, sigma convergence of IUP during this period was detected according to the coefficient of variation. Last, the similarity of the IUP variation at the country level presented the spatial clustering feature with spatially contiguous countries in the world. In sum, the finding in this study indicated that Internet penetration may show the promotion of the balanced development trend over time in the world and the spatial characteristics of Internet development should be considered in the future policy globally.

Nowadays, municipalities can provide services to citizens through information technologies, improving their massification and access. These are generally provided based on a country’s laws, but digitalization dissimilarities and the lack of guidelines complicate an equilibrium in their provision between the different municipalities of a country. On the other hand, enterprise architectures can be used for standardization, convergence, and interoperability in electronic governments, as they allow a holistic perspective for viewing the information technology resources of a municipality and aligning them with their business strategy. The current proposal emerges in this scenario, with the objective of presenting a method for developing reference enterprise architectures based on e-services and its use in a specific case. Concretely, a reference enterprise architecture has been developed for a set of minimum e-services that must be provided by Chilean municipalities.

The study examined the relationship between information technology and insurance development in 40 sub-Saharan African countries during the period 2000-2017. The study employed System Generalised Method of Moment for the estimations. Life insurance premiums, non-life insurance premiums and total insurance premiums are used to measure life insurance, non-life insurance and total insurance, respectively. The information technology is measured by mobile phone, fixed telephone and Internet penetrations. The study found that the Internet promotes non-life insurance while its effect on life and total insurance is insignificant. The mobile phone produced a negative effect on life insurance, non-life insurance and total insurance. However, fixed telephone significantly contributed to life insurance, non-life insurance and total insurance. Based on these findings, there is a need for insurers to encourage their client to use information technology tools for insurance activities and also increase their interaction with their customers.