An investigation of the internet banking (IB) adoption, use, and success in Saudia Arabia (SA)

This thesis attempts to empirically investigate the different factors that have relation with the adoption, use and success (Dependent variables) of Internet Banking (IB). It extended the previous marketing literature and TAM model by investigating different factors that might have relationship with the adoption and use of the IB. In addition to that, and since the success of IB has not been found in the reviewed literature, this study introduces the success variable following the DeLone and McLean (2003) IS success model. This thesis responds to several researchers’ calls by conducting an investigation in Saudi Arabia (SA), where it has special socio-economic motives and social values such as Islamic Banking (IsB).The data of this study were collected through a survey (postal questionnaires), sample (n=1000), which has been conducted randomly using SA’s Residential Telephone Directory. A total of 228 usable questionnaires were returned (22.8% response rate). The data were analysed using descriptive statistics method, and a factor analysis was also used to classify the variables into a set of dimensions. Moreover, multiple regression analysis was performed to test the research hypotheses. As a result, the researches’ models of adoption, use and success have shown high, good and fair prediction powers (R²=62%, 39.4% and 30%, respectively), which are comaparable to other studies in the area.The research findings suggest that awareness, resistance to change, satisfaction, perceived ease of use, self-efficiency, high cost, availability of IsB services online, and income (independent variables) were affecting the IB customers’ adoption, use and success in different degrees. The awareness and self-efficiency of the IB were found to significantly affect the adoption of IB, whereas self-efficiency and satisfaction “convenience” significantly affect the use of IB. However, frequency and wide range of the used IB services, satisfaction “time saving and customers’ needs fulfilment”, income and the availability of IsB services were found to also affect the success of the IB services. Surprisingly, the research findings indicate that security does not contribute significantly to the adoption, use, and success of IB services and that is due to some reasons which is recommended for future studies. It is also essential to highlight that IB customers’ satisfaction was found to be a very significant factor in motivating the new adopters to use the services frequently, which will lead to a successful competitive performance. This thesis concludes with implications for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in addition to research limitations and recommendations for future studies

Teachers’ End-User Attitudes Toward the Implementation of School-Based Social Networking Sites in K-8 Schools: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

Advancement in technologies, such as smartphones and social networking sites (SNSs), are transforming traditional school-based communication in education. School-based SNSs are a web-based system that enables administrators and teachers to (1) create or join a semi-public online school community within a bounded system, (2) construct a virtual classroom with individual student profiles, or avatars, (3) invite parents and guardians to create a profile and link with their child’s profile, (4) and communicate with students, parents, and guardians about students’ school experiences using the classroom management and communication platform. ClassDojo, a school-based SNS, has over three million teachers and 35 million students using the platform (Williamson, 2017a). Teachers create and manage the virtual community; therefore, it is crucial to understand teachers’ end-user attitudes towards adopting school-based SNSs. An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) examined K-8 teachers’ end-user attitudes to integrate school-based SNSs in United States’ primary and middle schools. The TAM’s foundation, extensions, and correlation to teachers’ attitudes towards technology presented as an ideal model to ground the study. Thus, using theoretical and empirical studies related to teachers’ adoption of technology and SNSs, this research study extended TAM using the following factors: (1) perceived usefulness (PU), (2) perceived ease of use (PEOU), (3) security awareness (SA), (4) subjective norm (SN), (5) attitude toward using SNSs (ATT), and (6) intention to use SNSs (ITU). TAM research traditionally relies on obtaining self-reported data from participants through survey. This survey-research collected data from 264 kindergarten to eighth-grade teachers throughout the United States. The survey data was used to analyze descriptive statistics between TAM variables, as well as perform path analyses on the relationships between the TAM variables. In this study, the TAM was extended to include subjective norm (SN) and security awareness (SA). In summary, a majority of K-8 teachers had a generally favorable attitude about ClassDojo’s: (1) perceived usefulness, (2) perceived ease of use, (3) security awareness, (4) subjective norm, (5) attitude towards use, and (6) intention to use. Path analysis with latent factors utilized multiple regressions to assess the direct and indirect influences of variables within a model (Hatcher, 2013). The extended TAM model was reliable and illustrated that seven out of the eight path analyses were statistically significant. Teachers’ attitudes towards ClassDojo use had the most statistically significant influence on teachers’ intentions to use ClassDojo. Similar to findings from traditional TAM studies, perceived usefulness had the largest statistically significant influence on teachers’ attitudes toward ClassDojo use. A thematic analysis of teachers’ comments about ClassDojo provided support for the extended TAM path analysis. In conclusion, this study synthesized other TAM variables to establish, the Teacher Technology Acceptance Model of Social Networking Sites (T-TAMS), to identify and explore factors that positively influenced K-8 teachers’ end-user attitudes towards school-based SNSs use. Lastly, limitations and future research were presented. This study advanced research on teachers’ TAM of SNSs, teachers’ end-user attitudes toward ClassDojo, and school-based communication. Thus, these findings can be used to boost ClassDojo’s adoption rates among K-8 schools in the United States

Consenting to health record linkage: evidence from a multi-purpose longitudinal survey of a general population

Background: The British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) is the first long-running UK longitudinal survey with a non-medical focus and a sample covering the whole age range to have asked for permission to link to a range of administrative health records. This study determines whether informed consent led to selection bias and reflects on the value of the BHPS linked with health records for epidemiological research. Methods. Multivariate logistical regression is used, with whether the respondent gave consent to data linkage or not as the dependent variable. Independent variables were entered as four blocks; (i) a set of standard demographics likely to be found in most health registration data, (ii) a broader set of socio-economic characteristics, (iii) a set of indicators of health conditions and (iv) information about the use of health services. Results: Participants aged 16-24, males and those living in England were more likely to consent. Consent is not biased with respect to socio-economic characteristics or health. Recent users of GP services are underrepresented among consenters. Conclusions: Whilst data could only be linked for a minority of BHPS participants, the BHPS offers a great range of information on people's life histories, their attitudes and behaviours making it an invaluable source for epidemiological research. © 2012 Knies et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Actualising therapy 2.0: enhancing engagement with computerised cognitive behavioural therapy for common mental health disorders

Computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (CCBT) is a clinically effective method of delivering CBT which may help address the under – treatment of common mental health disorders (CMHDs) in the population. However, concerns regarding acceptability, attrition rates and the therapeutic alliance are obstacles to widespread population dissemination. This thesis aimed to address these implementation issues by applying concepts from human – computer interaction (HCI) and attachment theory to the field of CCBT. Chapter 1 presents a meta – analysis investigating the effectiveness of CCBT for CMHDs and moderators of this effect. Chapter 2 presents a systematic review and analysis conducted to examine predictors of CCBT engagement. A process – based model of engagement with CCBT developed from the findings of this review is also presented. Adult attachment is known to influence engagement and alliance in face to face therapies, but research has not explored whether these relationships are mirrored in CCBT. Four empirical studies intended to address this question. Study 1 used a student population based survey to explore the acceptability of CCBT in a student population and the associations with adult attachment. Results demonstrated adult attachment was not associated with acceptability of CCBT. Study 2a utilised an open trial of a supported CCBT program to investigate whether adult attachment would predict engagement and alliance in vivo. Results showed attachment did not predict these outcomes. Study 2b utilised an open trial with a non – supported online CCBT program. Results indicated attachment security was positively associated with program engagement and alliance. It is proposed a combination of attachment system activation and perceiving computers as social actors account for these findings. Study 3 used a randomised, experimental paradigm to test the benefits of security priming in CCBT. Security priming produced higher levels of program engagement and better working alliance compared to neutral primes. Furthermore these effects were not moderated by dispositional attachment styles. These results demonstrate something so uniquely human, dispositional attachment orientations, founded on the intimate bonds we form in infancy and in adulthood , extend their influence into the experience of unguided CCBT, a solely human – computer interaction. Unguided – CCBT, a highly cost effective intervention with the potential for considerable public health impact, may benefit from incorporating security priming techniques in program designs to maximise engagement and alliance. Engagement and alliance is attainable in CCBT and paying attention to the attachment styles of program users may present a distinctive opportunity to overcome these implementation barriers

Cyber security fear appeals:unexpectedly complicated

Cyber security researchers are starting to experiment with fear appeals, with a wide variety of designs and reported efficaciousness. This makes it hard to derive recommendations for designing and deploying these interventions. We thus reviewed the wider fear appeal literature to arrive at a set of guidelines to assist cyber security researchers. Our review revealed a degree of dissent about whether or not fear appeals are indeed helpful and advisable. Our review also revealed a wide range of fear appeal experimental designs, in both cyber and other domains, which confirms the need for some standardized guidelines to inform practice in this respect. We propose a protocol for carrying out fear appeal experiments, and we review a sample of cyber security fear appeal studies, via this lens, to provide a snapshot of the current state of play. We hope the proposed experimental protocol will prove helpful to those who wish to engage in future cyber security fear appeal research

Developing an Intervention Toolbox for the Common Health Problems in the Workplace

Development of the Health ↔ Work Toolbox is described. The toolbox aims to reduce the workplace impact of common health problems (musculoskeletal, mental health, and stress complaints) by focusing on tackling work-relevant symptoms. Based on biopsychosocial principles this toolbox supplements current approaches by occupying the zone between primary prevention and healthcare. It provides a set of evidence-informed principles and processes (knowledge + tools) for tackling work-relevant common health problems. The toolbox comprises a proactive element aimed at empowering line managers to create good jobs, and a ‘just in time’ responsive element for supporting individuals struggling with a work-relevant health problem. The key intention is helping people with common health problems to maintain work participation. The extensive conceptual and practical development process, including a comprehensive evidence review, produced a functional prototype toolbox that is evidence based and flexible in its use. End-user feedback was mostly positive. Moving the prototype to a fully-fledged internet resource requires specialist design expertise. The Health ↔ Work Toolbox appears to have potential to contribute to the goal of augmenting existing primary prevention strategies and healthcare delivery by providing a more comprehensive workplace approach to constraining sickness absence

Experimental Evidence for Using a TTM Stages of Change Model in Boosting Progress Toward 2FA Adoption

Behavior change ideas from health psychology can also help boost end user compliance with security recommendations, such as adopting two-factor authentication (2FA). Our research adapts the Transtheoretical Model Stages of Change from health and wellness research to a cybersecurity context. We first create and validate an assessment to identify workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk who have not enabled 2FA for their accounts as being in Stage 1 (no intention to adopt 2FA) or Stages 2-3 (some intention to adopt 2FA). We randomly assigned participants to receive an informational intervention with varied content (highlighting process, norms, or both) or not. After three days, we again surveyed workers for Stage of Amazon 2FA adoption. We found that those in the intervention group showed more progress toward action/maintenance (Stages 4-5) than those in the control group, and those who received content highlighting the process of enabling 2FA were significantly more likely to progress toward 2FA adoption. Our work contributes support for applying a Stages of Change Model in usable security.Comment: 41 pages, including the stage algorithm programmed on Mturk, the survey flow and specific items used, and a link to download the five informational handouts used for the control condition and the 2FA intervention condition

Managing Climatic Risks to Combat Land Degradation and Enhance Food security: Key Information Needs

This paper discusses the key information needs to reduce the negative impacts of weather variability and climate change on land degradation and food security, and identifies the opportunities and barriers between the information and services needed. It suggests that vulnerability assessments based on a livelihood concept that includes climate information and key socio-economic variables can overcome the narrow focus of common one-dimensional vulnerability studies. Both current and future climatic risks can be managed better if there is appropriate policy and institutional support together with technological interventions to address the complexities of multiple risks that agriculture has to face. This would require effective partnerships among agencies dealing with meteorological and hydrological services, agricultural research, land degradation and food security issues. In addition a state-of-the-art infrastructure to measure, record, store and disseminate data on weather variables, and access to weather and seasonal climate forecasts at desired spatial and temporal scales would be needed