Assessment of Personality Factors (Behavioral Motivators) & Attitudes Toward Group Experiences

The freshman experience typically requires a profusion of challenging adjustments relating to a new and demanding college environment. One significant force of attrition is transition or adjustment difficulties for freshmen. Successfully influencing freshmen includes efforts that focus on helping students make an academic, personal, and social adjustment to college. Group work provides opportunities for patterns of interaction (Evans, Forney, & Guido-DiBrito, 1998; Tinto, 2005; Upcraft, Gardner, & Associates, 1989). It is believed that there is intensity in temporary group environments due to a need for individuals to quickly evaluate and adjust to other members, with speed and accomplishment as driving factors (Huff, Cooper, & Jones, 2002; Meyerson, Weick, and Kramer, 1996). Individuals with low levels of urgency, however, prefer taking a slow and methodical approach when adjusting to unfamiliar people and new environments (Praendex Corporation, 1999). The purpose of this study was to investigate differences between and among personality factors relative to levels of urgency and student attitudes toward group experiences. The research question was: What are the differences between and among personality factors relative to levels of urgency and freshman attitudes toward group experiences?. This study took place with hospitality students at a midsize, private university in the Northeast. This quantitative, descriptive study employed two instruments: one measured student attitudes toward group experiences; the second measured personality factors utilizing the Predictive Index. Descriptive statistics, including measures of central tendency, measures of variability, and frequency counts were run and t-tests were used to determine if there were significant differences in attitudes toward group experiences based on personality factors. Freshman students (n=98) with low levels of urgency reported significantly less positive attitudes about trustworthy attributes in others (M=2.99, t=-3.21, p=.01, d=.65) than those without the factor (M=3.50); significantly less positive attitudes about benefits of groups (M=3.75, t=-1.97, p=.05, d=.40) than those without the factor (M=3.99); and significantly less positive attitudes about valuing other students (M=3.34, t=-2.37, p=.01, d=.47) than those without the factor (M = 3.70). This study provided an institution with proposed practices designed to influence freshman group experiences positively based on findings about student attitudes when taking into account personality relative to low levels of urgency. Recommendations include adjusting group experiences, by means of, inserting practices to address issues with temporary groups, and assigning freshmen to consistent groups during the crucial freshman adjustment period

Citizen Science: Reducing Risk and Building Resilience to Natural Hazards

Natural hazards are becoming increasingly frequent within the context of climate change—making reducing risk and building resilience against these hazards more crucial than ever. An emerging shift has been noted from broad-scale, top-down risk and resilience assessments toward more participatory, community-based, bottom-up approaches. Arguably, non-scientist local stakeholders have always played an important role in risk knowledge management and resilience building. Rapidly developing information and communication technologies such as the Internet, smartphones, and social media have already demonstrated their sizeable potential to make knowledge creation more multidirectional, decentralized, diverse, and inclusive (Paul et al., 2018). Combined with technologies for robust and low-cost sensor networks, various citizen science approaches have emerged recently (e.g., Haklay, 2012; Paul et al., 2018) as a promising direction in the provision of extensive, real-time information for risk management (as well as improving data provision in data-scarce regions). It can serve as a means of educating and empowering communities and stakeholders that are bypassed by more traditional knowledge generation processes. This Research Topic compiles 13 contributions that interrogate the manifold ways in which citizen science has been interpreted to reduce risk against hazards that are (i) water-related (i.e., floods, hurricanes, drought, landslides); (ii) deep-earth-related (i.e., earthquakes and volcanoes); and (iii) responding to global environmental change such as sea-level rise. We have sought to analyse the particular failures and successes of natural hazards-related citizen science projects: the objective is to obtain a clearer understanding of “best practice” in a citizen science context

Acceptance model of SaaS cloud computing at northern Malaysian main campus public universities

Technology advancement has side effects, although it has moved in a fast pace that facilitated life and increased business revenue. To cope with negative aspects while looking for friendly technology, Software as a Service (SaaS) Cloud Computing emerged to preserve natural resources, effectively utilize computing and power consumption, while achieving performance, decreasing cost, and increasing revenue. Yet, there are paucity in empirical studies investigating salient factors affecting the usage, acceptance, or adoption of SaaS services from the individual perspectives specifically in higher education sector. The main objective of this study is to investigate the salient factors with proper model that includes technical, social and control characteristics, as well as user security predisposition. Besides, educational level has also proven to be influential in adopting innovations. Hence, probing its role is another objective. The last objective is to investigate differences between student and lecturer groups in the relationships postulated in the model. A survey with questionnaires was conducted on students and lecturers in four public universities in Northern Malaysia. The scope of the acceptance is to investigate the personal-level use of SaaS services. Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) and Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) were applied. Results revealed appropriateness of the model although the role of Trialability and Subjective Norms were not significance. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge and literature in highlighting the role of these factors that SaaS providers could benefit in planning for new services and in promoting SaaS usage to universities

Green IT/IS investments evaluation within the aviation industry – a focus on indirect costs

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonWorldwide concerns over environmental issues and air travel’s continuous expansion have increased in recent years. This is due to rising carbon emissions caused by the aviation industry’s reliance on information technology and systems (IT/IS), which affects the environment. The review of the IT/IS and Green IT/IS investments evaluation literature has highlighted that there is a dearth of research on Green IT/IS evaluation regarding to the aviation industry. Most Green IT/IS evaluation studies focus mainly on benefits; however, cost is reported as one of the most crucial difficulties preventing organizations from adopting Green IT/IS. Generally, the focus is on the direct costs rather than the indirect costs because the latter are intangible and therefore hard to identify and quantify. However, they can have a great impact on the overall cost/budget and possibly on profitability. Although the traditional IS appraisal techniques are being used in the evaluation process, their incapability to capture the impact of intangibles and non-financial issues are apparent, which noticeably affects overall projects’ success. This research aim is to develop a model for Green IT/IS investments evaluation that enhances the understanding and management of the indirect cost associated with Green IT/IS investments within the aviation industry. The novel aspect of the model is its incorporation of the institutional theory, key internal organizational factors, together with human, organizational and environmental indirect cost factors into one model. This model was validated in the aviation industry in Thailand which had adopted and implemented Green IT/IS. The findings from an in-depth case study reveal that despite, Green IT/IS indirect costs not being perceived as costs and hence not being incorporated into the evaluation process, their effects remain, and lead to issues such as costs overruns, under-optimized budgets, and consequently projects failure. In addition, new Green IT/IS indirect cost factors have emerged which were missing from the current normative literature. Therefore, this research provides decision-makers with a useful model, a comprehensive taxonomy, a set of indirect cost factors that can be utilized during the evaluation process, and management strategies to assist in managing and controlling the impact of Green IT/IS indirect costs. Keywords: Green IT/IS Investments Evaluation, Indirect Costs, Costs Management, Costs overrun, Sustainability, Aviation Industry