Centralised Versus Market-Based Control Under Environment Uncertainty: Case of the Mobile Task Allocation Problem (MTAP)

This paper aims at comparing the centralised versus the market-based approach. This is done in the context of the mobile task allocation problem (MTAP) from the perspective of environmental uncertainty. MTAP is defined as an optimization problem for planning the assignment of service tasks to mobile workers. Environmental uncertainty is introduced through the injection of stochastic tasks and dynamic travel delays. A multi-agent simulator is employed to experiment the behaviour of each approach in reaction to different uncertainty levels. Preliminary results suggest a tentative conceptual model to evaluate the suitability of each approach to address MTAP in function of uncertainty. It is suggested that uncertainty’s effect on achieved performance is moderated by the timeliness of decision making, workers’ degree of local knowledge, and problem’s complexity and size

Development of predicting model for safety behaviour based on safety psychology and working environment

The increasing trend of occupational accident due to unsafe act and unsafe condition especially in construction site suggests the need for more proactive safety assessment model. Therefore this research aimed to establish a prediction model of safety behaviour based on safety psychology and working environment factors in construction site. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TpB) was adapted to examine on the prediction model of safety behaviour among construction workers using safety psychology representing unsafe act and working environment factors representing unsafe condition. A modified perception questionnaire named Safety Psychometric Model (SPM) was proposed based on TpB questionnaire and safety attitude questionnaire (SQA). Previously, the approach has successfully applied in health care and manufacturing sector. The questionnaire has been validated by three industrial and academic experts. A total of 554 respondents among 92 construction site were selected as the subjects for analysis. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was use for analysis purpose which involve correlation, regression and structural equation analysis. The results demonstrated that safety psychology and work environment factor was related positively with safety behaviour intention. The elements of workers’ attitude, subjective norm and perceived control that form the safety psychology context found to be significantly has the ability to predict safety behaviour. The demographics variances of personal and education background, working experiences and training background also determine as the factors of safety behaviour of the construction workers. The research also successfully established a safety behaviour prediction model that named Safety Psychometric Model. The model can be benefited by safety practitioners, organizations and researchers to explore the safety behaviour prediction. It also enhanced the knowledge in the area of employee behaviour prediction and modelling

Diffusion of e-health innovations in 'post-conflict' settings: a qualitative study on the personal experiences of health workers.

BACKGROUND: Technological innovations have the potential to strengthen human resources for health and improve access and quality of care in challenging 'post-conflict' contexts. However, analyses on the adoption of technology for health (that is, 'e-health') and whether and how e-health can strengthen a health workforce in these settings have been limited so far. This study explores the personal experiences of health workers using e-health innovations in selected post-conflict situations. METHODS: This study had a cross-sectional qualitative design. Telephone interviews were conducted with 12 health workers, from a variety of cadres and stages in their careers, from four post-conflict settings (Liberia, West Bank and Gaza, Sierra Leone and Somaliland) in 2012. Everett Roger's diffusion of innovation-decision model (that is, knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, contemplation) guided the thematic analysis. RESULTS: All health workers interviewed held positive perceptions of e-health, related to their beliefs that e-health can help them to access information and communicate with other health workers. However, understanding of the scope of e-health was generally limited, and often based on innovations that health workers have been introduced through by their international partners. Health workers reported a range of engagement with e-health innovations, mostly for communication (for example, email) and educational purposes (for example, online learning platforms). Poor, unreliable and unaffordable Internet was a commonly mentioned barrier to e-health use. Scaling-up existing e-health partnerships and innovations were suggested starting points to increase e-health innovation dissemination. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study showed ICT based e-health innovations can relieve information and communication needs of health workers in post-conflict settings. However, more efforts and investments, preferably driven by healthcare workers within the post-conflict context, are needed to make e-health more widespread and sustainable. Increased awareness is necessary among health professionals, even among current e-health users, and physical and financial access barriers need to be addressed. Future e-health initiatives are likely to increase their impact if based on perceived health information needs of intended users

The Business Model Handbook for Developing Countries

The Business Model Handbook (BMH) for developing countries is a proposition for a tool that has the goal to help Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) and local entrepreneurs to design business models that use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and particularly the Internet in the context of developing economies. It shall help to develop the urgently needed critical mass of knowledge workers, technology users, and motivated entrepreneurs in order to deploy ICT in businesses of developing countries. Never before the Internet it has been as easy to share and transfer knowledge in such an efficient and global way. The objective of this Paper is twofold. First it proposes a theoretical business model framework (BMF) which shall allow SMEs, but also motivated local entrepreneurs in developing countries to understand the most relevant business issues in the Information Society. The BMF gives special attention to the opportunities that arise out of the use of Information Technology (IT) and particularly the use of the Internet for businesses in emerging economies (i.e. e-commerce). The second objective, which is the introduction of the Business Model Handbook for Developing Countries, shall allow an efficient knowledge transfer of the concepts developed and illustrated in the BMF. Therefore, the BMH should be deployed as a Web based tool, which allows Users to navigate through the concepts and the corresponding real world examples (case studies) and easily learn about business opportunities.developing countries, e-business

Understanding Cross National Difference in Knowledge Seeking Behavior Model: A Survival Perspective

Electronic Knowledge Repository (EKR) is one of the most commonly deployed knowledge management technologies, yet its success is hindered by employees’ underutilization and further complicated when implemented in the multinational context. To address these challenges, we propose a research model by conceptualizing employees’ knowledge seeking via EKR as a survival-centric behavior, identifying the technology acceptance model as the individual-level explanation for EKR use, and drawing on the thermal demands-resources theory for explaining cross national behavioral differences. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we tested the model with data from 1352 randomly sampled knowledge workers across 30 nations. The results reveal interesting cross national behavioral patterns. Specifically, thermal climates and national wealth at the macro-level interactively moderate individual-level relationships between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and between perceived usefulness and behavioral intention

Role of Knowledge Creation and Absorptive Capacity: A Panel Data Study of Innovation

Purpose- Knowledge creation refers to the ability of firms to create new knowledge that starts from individuals to integrating the firms and then the overall economy. This study suggests that knowledge acquisition in a country has a significant relationship with innovative performance. Design/Methodology- Data from 48 highly HDI countries is taken from World Bank and World Economic Forum. Based on 480 country-year observations in a panel mediator model, it is revealed that the national efforts of boosting knowledge acquisition influence the firms’ innovative performance. Findings- Further, it is found that absorptive capacity in the employability of knowledgeable workers works as a mediator between knowledge acquisition and innovation. Whereby higher knowledge acquisition leads to higher absorptive capacity and higher innovation. Practical Implications- This study builds a quantitative model for the macroeconomic context of knowledge-based view

Understanding Cross National Difference in Knowledge Seeking Behavioral Model: A Survival Perspective

Electronic Knowledge Repository (EKR) is one of the most commonly deployed knowledge management technologies, yet its success is hindered by employees’ underutilization and further complicated when implemented in the multinational context. To address these challenges, we propose a research model by conceptualizing employees’ knowledge seeking via EKR as a survival-centric behavior, identifying the technology acceptance model as the individual-level explanation for EKR use, and drawing on the thermal demands-resources theory for explaining cross national behavioral differences. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we tested the model with data from 1352 randomly sampled knowledge workers across 30 nations. The results reveal interesting cross national behavioral patterns. Specifically, thermal climates and national wealth at the macro-level interactively moderate individual-level relationships between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and between perceived usefulness and behavioral intention

Investigating Knowledge Competence Of Civil Engineers In Malaysia

The competence of workers has always been regarded as the cornerstone of high performance and productivity of organisations, be it in the public or private sectors. It is generally accepted that competent workers significantly add values to their respective organisations. One of the key elements of competence of employees is knowledge competence. In the civil engineering field, knowledge competence is made of by a number of components, namely, engineering knowledge, engineering management knowledge, self-development knowledge, communication knowledge, IT knowledge, finance knowledge and legal knowledge. Without doubt, a civil engineer must possess these subject matters before he can be considered as a competent civil engineer. Nevertheless, no study had previously been conducted to determine such qualities. To fill this research gap, there is a need to develop a model of knowledge competence for civil engineers in the Malaysian context. To drive the research forward, the following objectives are utilise: to identify the knowledge competence components, knowledge competence components level, relationship between the knowledge competence components and the knowledge competence of civil engineers and to develop a framework of knowledge competence for civil engineers. A number of hypotheses have also been used to understand the relationships between knowledge competence requirements and knowledge competency of civil engineers

A conceptual model of knowledge work productivity for software development process: Quality issues

Knowledge is considered as the main competitive asset of the organization.Work on the knowledge work productivity has barely begun, but the most important contribution that management needs to construct in the 21st century is not only to increase the productivity of knowledge work and knowledge workers in the new century.The quality of knowledge work productivity are becomes pivotal in the context of software development today.Software development is a knowledge-intensive activity and its success depends heavily on the developers’ knowledge and experience. A conceptual model will be proposed on a way describing organization to improve quality of knowledge work productivity. The methodology begins with a reviewing a theoretical foundation and expert review that provides the scientific basis for knowledge work productivity specifically for software development. A questionnaire will be constructing in order to investigate the relationship between factors of knowledge work and quality of productivity on knowledge work. The respondents are software developers from Small Manufacturing Enterprise(SME). The data will be analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to identify the significant direct relationship effect among the factors. The proposed model will be helpful for the software developers to understand the determinant factors for knowledge works productivity

The Self and the Conduct of the People-Working Professions

This article discusses the evolution of people-working professions through four synchronic eras: 1) the traditional era, 2) the voluntaristic era, 3) the professional era, and 4) the cybernetic era. People-working professions are conceptually distinguished from traditional (craft) professions which serve as the model for most sociological analyses of the professions. In addition to differences in the nature of the knowledge used and the context of the service rendered, a distinction is drawn regarding the focus of the work done. People-workers give service to other selves (egos) while craft professions work with objects or parts of the person. The historical evolution of people-workers, as well as current issues and future prospects for the people-working professions, are considered within the context of this separate identity