A framework for the adoption and diffusion of Personal Learning Environments in commercial organisations: an exploratory study in the learning and development sector in the UK

This study presents an exploratory approach to identify the main factors of Personal Learning Environment (PLE) adoption and diffusion within commercial organisations. Utilising an inductive investigative approach via the use of Grounded Theory methodology, relevant adoption factors were identified and their resulting influence during various stages of the innovation diffusion process were proposed. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews followed by systematic analysis using a three-staged coding process. The results revealed 10 factors affecting the adoption of PLEs influencing the innovation diffusion process at various stages. Informed by the Technology Acceptance Model and Innovation Diffusion Theory, the proposed model could have important implications for key decision makers within commercial organisations, while adopting, rejecting and assimilating new technological innovations (e.g. PLE) for learning delivery

Diffusion Analysis of the Emerging Market for Low Emission Vehicles

Non peer reviewedPostprin

A Conceptual Model for Adoption and Diffusion Process of A New Product

In the past several years, researchers have started to notice successful products whose sales patterns show rapidly declining diffusion patterns. These products include certain movies, computer software, TV game software, music CDs, etc. (e.g., Windows95 (up grade version), Final Fantasy, Terminator 2; Sawhney and Eliashberg 1996, Yamada et al. 1997, Moe and Fader 1998). These declining diffusion patterns have been rather neglected in the field of marketing (Bass 1969) because they were regarded as being peculiar to unsuccessful products, even though before Bass (1969), Fourt and Woodlock (1960) predicted first purchases of grocery products by an exponential model and in theory Lekvall and Wahlbin (1973) raised the possibility of various diffusion patterns from a bell-shaped one (logistic model) to a rapidly declining one (modified exponential model) using a mixed model similar to the Bass diffusion model. Also after Bass (1969), Gatignon and Robertson (1985) discussed the same possibility with 29 propositions. Generally speaking, however, there were no such studies that include rapidly declining diffusion patterns until recently except for the above studies (e.g., Sawhney and Eliashberg 1996; Yamada et al. 1997; Moe and Fader 1998). However, the relative importance of the entertainment industry or contents industry and IT-related industry has become greater due to the growth of the "networked" society. We believe that it is time to take a closer look at these products showing rapidly declining diffusion patterns from product classification and diffusion theory points of view. Establishing a conceptual model of adoption and diffusion process of a new product, we proposed the third "high involvement" adoption model. We call such a product as an eagerly wanted product and define it as anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy an eager want or need. Then we establish operational hypotheses to test the conceptual hypothesis that an eagerly wanted product should take a rapidly declining diffusion pattern from the beginning. We tested the following operational hypotheses on sales patterns of 254 new popular music CDs including albums and singles sold in one of the national chains of convenience stores in Japan. Common practice of music CD consumers in Japan is that they first rent single CDs and then buy albums. H1: A popular music album CD is an eagerly wanted product, that is, its diffusion pattern is rapidly declining. H2: The fraction of rapidly declining diffusion patterns for album CDs is greater than that for single CDs. H3: Sales pattern of a new singer's debut single CD does not take a rapidly declining diffusion pattern. H4: The sales pattern of a debut single of a new group or a singer produced through a well-designed process is a rapidly declining one. We also tested sales patterns of new products of beer and low malt liquor as additional evidence to H2 and H3, because new beer products may be anticipated through promotional efforts but may not be awaited as eagerly as CD albums. We obtained favorable results on all four hypotheses. As an implication of this study, a set of strategies for product development and introduction for an eagerly wanted product is proposed: (1) One should let consumers be involved from the development stage (the outset); for example (a) the ASAYAN project of TV Tokyo (see Section 4.2); (b) the use of famous artists, movie stars, and directors; (c) creating a series etc. (2) Before the introduction of a new product, its promotion and publicity should be done as intensively and widely as possible in the target market. Use media mix, etc. (3) The initial price should be set at the most reasonable level possible or free if possible. (4) To obtain a large potential market quickly, make as many business alliances as possible.Innovation diffusion process, Product classification, Diffusion pattern classification, Popular music CDs,

Exploring the fit between CSR and innovation

An exploration of the fit or space between CSR and innovation is presented, based on the RESPONSE project, a 15-month study involving 60 SMEs throughout Europe. The main practical output of the project was the Social Innovation model, yet a conceptual understanding of CSR and innovation is best advanced through the three hypotheses that constitute the conclusions of the project: H1) The diffusion of CSR should be modelled on the diffusion of innovation; H2) CSR implementation and innovation can be configured to form a virtuous circle; and H3) There is a maturity path toward true integration of CSR and innovation. These three hypotheses inform, respectively, on the background, results and development of the project. H1 is framed within the context of the original European Commission call and proposal; H2 ties in with the Social Innovation model; and H3 is discussed in the light of a short case involving a high-performing SME. Since the hypotheses were the result of the project, we do not attempt to prove them here, but discuss their significance, with the idea that further research and community development will fully evaluate their accuracy.Corporate social responsibility; innovation; small and medium-size enterprises;

A Model of Attitudes toward the Acceptance of Mobile Phone Use in Public Places

Since the first commercial launch of cellular telecoms by NET in Tokyo Japan in 1979 and the launch of the NMT system in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in 1981, the mobile phone has undergone continual incremental innovation for changing market needs. This study investigates the factors affecting the attitudes towards the social acceptance of mobile phones in public places and how this attitude affects its usage. Theories on innovation and technology acceptance were reviewed, and studies relating demographic factors to technology acceptance were examined. A model was proposed relating the usage frequency and attitudes towards acceptance of mobile phone in public places to demographic factors, such as country, age, education, gender, and work status. A survey was conducted among mobile phone users, and the sample consisted of 1079 respondents in the United States, France, Italy, Turkey, and Finland. A structural equation model was developed to analyze the survey data. Results of the analysis indicate that the attitudes about mobile phone use in public places depend on country, and age factors. This attitude in turn significantly affects the usage frequency of mobile phones. In addition, usage frequency also is affected by gender and work status. Implications of the findings for both academicians and practitioners are discussedAttitudes about Mobile Phone Use, Simultaneous Relationships, Demographic Factors, Mobile Phone Voice Messaging, Mobile Phone Text Messaging

Innovation attributes and managers' decisions about the adoption of innovations in organizations: A meta-analytical review

The adop­tion of in­no­va­tions has emerged as a dom­i­nant re­search topic in the man­age­ment of in­no­va­tion in or­ga­ni­za­tions, al­though in­ves­ti­ga­tions of­ten yield mixed re­sults. To help man­agers and re­searchers im­prove their ef­fec­tive­ness, the au­thors em­ployed a meta-analy­sis in­te­grated with struc­tural equa­tion mod­el­ing to an­a­lyze the as­so­ci­a­tions be­tween the at­trib­utes of in­no­va­tions, man­agers' be­hav­ioral pref­er­ences, and or­ga­ni­za­tions' in­no­va­tion adop­tion de­ci­sions in a me­di­ated-mod­er­ated frame­work. Our find­ings of­fer ev­i­dence that at­trib­utes of in­no­va­tions in­flu­ence man­agers' be­hav­ioral pref­er­ences and, con­se­quently, adop­tion de­ci­sions in or­ga­ni­za­tions. We also ob­serve the sig­nif­i­cance of the con­text in which the adop­tion de­ci­sion oc­curs as well as the re­search set­tings em­ployed by schol­ars. Fi­nally, we dis­cuss the the­o­ret­i­cal con­tri­bu­tion and prac­ti­cal im­pli­ca­tions of our meta-an­a­lyt­i­cal re­sults

Assessing regional digital competence: Digital futures and strategic planning implications

Understanding strategic decisions aimed at addressing regional economic issues is of increasing interest among scholars and policy makers today. Thus, studies that proffer effective strategies to address digital futures concerns from social and policy perspectives are timely. In light of this, this research uses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis tool to frame a regional strategy for digital futures to enhance place-specific digital connectivity and socio-economic progress. Focus group discussions and a structured questionnaire were conducted to examine a SWOT for a digital economy strategy in the Southern Downs Region in Queensland, Australia. The findings show that while the proposed regional strategies for digital futures are susceptible to internal and external forces, strategic planning makes them manageable. The study’s findings also reveal that adaptive strategic planning can help regulate the effects of internal and external factors that shape individual and organisational responses to digital transformation, and that these factors promote regional competitiveness

VISTAS Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Emerging Research on Education, Economy and Community

Abstracts of presentations given at the VISTAS Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Emerging Research on Education, Economy and Communit

Interests Diffusion in Social Networks

Understanding cultural phenomena on Social Networks (SNs) and exploiting the implicit knowledge about their members is attracting the interest of different research communities both from the academic and the business side. The community of complexity science is devoting significant efforts to define laws, models, and theories, which, based on acquired knowledge, are able to predict future observations (e.g. success of a product). In the mean time, the semantic web community aims at engineering a new generation of advanced services by defining constructs, models and methods, adding a semantic layer to SNs. In this context, a leapfrog is expected to come from a hybrid approach merging the disciplines above. Along this line, this work focuses on the propagation of individual interests in social networks. The proposed framework consists of the following main components: a method to gather information about the members of the social networks; methods to perform some semantic analysis of the Domain of Interest; a procedure to infer members' interests; and an interests evolution theory to predict how the interests propagate in the network. As a result, one achieves an analytic tool to measure individual features, such as members' susceptibilities and authorities. Although the approach applies to any type of social network, here it is has been tested against the computer science research community. The DBLP (Digital Bibliography and Library Project) database has been elected as test-case since it provides the most comprehensive list of scientific production in this field.Comment: 30 pages 13 figs 4 table