The influence of national culture on the attitude towards mobile recommender systems

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V.This study aimed to identify factors that influence user attitudes towards mobile recommender systems and to examine how these factors interact with cultural values to affect attitudes towards this technology. Based on the theory of reasoned action, belief factors for mobile recommender systems are identified in three dimensions: functional, contextual, and social. Hypotheses explaining different impacts of cultural values on the factors affecting attitudes were also proposed. The research model was tested based on data collected in China, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Findings indicate that functional and social factors have significant impacts on user attitudes towards mobile recommender systems. The relationships between belief factors and attitudes are moderated by two cultural values: collectivism and uncertainty avoidance. The theoretical and practical implications of applying theory of reasoned action and innovation diffusion theory to explain the adoption of new technologies in societies with different cultures are also discussed.National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean governmen

Influences on the Uptake of and Engagement With Health and Well-Being Smartphone Apps: Systematic Review

Background: The public health impact of health and well-being digital interventions is dependent upon sufficient real-world uptake and engagement. Uptake is currently largely dependent on popularity indicators (eg, ranking and user ratings on app stores), which may not correspond with effectiveness, and rapid disengagement is common. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify factors that influence uptake and engagement with health and well-being apps to inform new approaches that promote the effective use of such tools. Objective: This review aimed to understand what is known about influences on the uptake of and engagement with health and well-being smartphone apps among adults. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies. Studies conducted on adults were included if they focused on health and well-being smartphone apps reporting on uptake and engagement behavior. Studies identified through a systematic search in Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, or MEDLARS Online (MEDLINE), EMBASE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsychINFO, Scopus, Cochrane library databases, DataBase systems and Logic Programming (DBLP), and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital library were screened, with a proportion screened independently by 2 authors. Data synthesis and interpretation were undertaken using a deductive iterative process. External validity checking was undertaken by an independent researcher. A narrative synthesis of the findings was structured around the components of the capability, opportunity, motivation, behavior change model and the theoretical domains framework (TDF). Results: Of the 7640 identified studies, 41 were included in the review. Factors related to uptake (U), engagement (E), or both (B) were identified. Under capability, the main factors identified were app literacy skills (B), app awareness (U), available user guidance (B), health information (E), statistical information on progress (E), well-designed reminders (E), features to reduce cognitive load (E), and self-monitoring features (E). Availability at low cost (U), positive tone, and personalization (E) were identified as physical opportunity factors, whereas recommendations for health and well-being apps (U), embedded health professional support (E), and social networking (E) possibilities were social opportunity factors. Finally, the motivation factors included positive feedback (E), available rewards (E), goal setting (E), and the perceived utility of the app (E). Conclusions: Across a wide range of populations and behaviors, 26 factors relating to capability, opportunity, and motivation appear to influence the uptake of and engagement with health and well-being smartphone apps. Our recommendations may help app developers, health app portal developers, and policy makers in the optimization of health and well-being apps

Conceptualizing human resilience in the face of the global epidemiology of cyber attacks

Computer security is a complex global phenomenon where different populations interact, and the infection of one person creates risk for another. Given the dynamics and scope of cyber campaigns, studies of local resilience without reference to global populations are inadequate. In this paper we describe a set of minimal requirements for implementing a global epidemiological infrastructure to understand and respond to large-scale computer security outbreaks. We enumerate the relevant dimensions, the applicable measurement tools, and define a systematic approach to evaluate cyber security resilience. From the experience in conceptualizing and designing a cross-national coordinated phishing resilience evaluation we describe the cultural, logistic, and regulatory challenges to this proposed public health approach to global computer assault resilience. We conclude that mechanisms for systematic evaluations of global attacks and the resilience against those attacks exist. Coordinated global science is needed to address organised global ecrime

Cross-cultural influence on diffusion and adoption of innovation: An exploratory case study to investigate the social-cultural barriers

The development of science and technology increasing rapidly; in many cases advantageous innovations find obstacles for their establishment and in some others they simply fail. The authors of this paper demonstrate that the reason this may happen, is not depended only form the innovation itself; but the socio cultural aspects plays a fundamental role for the diffusion and the adoption of innovation. A number of studies have dealt with the diffusion and the adoption of innovation but limited research has been done about how socio cultural aspects can influence the diffusion and the adoption of innovation. Therefore this research aims to investigate how socio cultural aspects can act like a barrier for the diffusion and the adoption of innovations in different nations. Furthermore, this research will look into the reasons why innovations not readily spread, even if backed by strong market research as well as, the fundamental reason of why some innovations succeed and some others not? The research study will be based on a normative literature review of the important parts of the theory (outline network and socio cultural theories in cross-cultural studies); then the author will construct the conceptual model which will be tested using a qualitative research approach. This is a research in progress paper and the authors will design a comparative multiple case study to test the phenomena in three different nations, namely England, Greece and Italy

THE role of the technology acceptance model in information systems research: a case study

Explaining the factors that lead to use and acceptance of information technology (IT), both at individual and organizational levels, has been the focus of information systems (IS) researchers since 1970s. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is known as such an explanatory model and has increasingly gained recognition due to its focus on theories of human behaviour. Although this model has faced with some criticism in terms of not being able to fully explain the social-technical acceptance of technology, it is still known as one of the best IS methodologies that contributes greatly to explaining it. This paper discusses, describes and explains TAM as one of the well-known information system research methodologies and attempts to demonstrate how this model can be applied in practice in IS research projects. TAM is widely used in different areas of IS studies such as e-commerce, e-business, multimedia and mobile commerce. This paper shows how TAM can be applied in an IS research project by referring to a case study conducted in the area of mobile banking in the UK. This paper aims to contribute to IS research by providing an informed criticism of TAM as well as a clear proposal on how to use it

Psychological contract and knowledge management mediated by cultural dynamics

Contact centres are the vital link in the value chain between the organisation and its customers because they offer essential front line sales and services of products. Evaluation of their success can be assessed in terms of customer retention, up selling and the promotion of the brand. This is brought into sharp focus if the centre is outsourced because of the impact of the strategic behaviour of the principal and its relation with its agents. The association of employees with the brand in outsourced operation is not as effective as in captive operations partly because communications from principal to agent are attenuated. Emotional connectivity, diagnostic skill set, requirement gathering, and knowledge are some of the most sensitive qualities required in agents working in the contact centres. These characteristics are found to differ according to whether this is in-house or outsourced operation and affect the psychological contract between the service provider and its employees. In addition, the employees are unlikely to achieve any rewards and are unable to offer any commitments to the customer in an outsourced operation; hence the “psychological contract” is breached. One of the consequences of this breach is on knowledge management. The knowledge of an employee regarding the products and services is lost with that employee’s attrition. Also employees’ then have little interest towards customer service and organizational welfare, which impacts on the customer centric goals of the principal. We argue that the psychological contract between employer and an employee and has positive influence on Knowledge Diffusion, mediated by cultural dynamics, which further contributes to the overall organizational effectiveness. This paper aims to investigate, as a pilot study, the elements of organisational culture and secondly its role in the diffusion of knowledge in contact centres, in-house and outsourced. We demonstrate how by deploying a blend of qualitative methods, it is possible to perceive the effect of each element of the cultural web on diffusion. Finally we propose a hypothesis of the role that Power Distance (Hofstede, 1980) can play, as a proxy for the Psychological Contract to leverage knowledge diffusion

The impact of national culture on e-government implementation: A comparison case study

Over the past decade there has been increasing interest in the IS research literature on the impact of cultural differences on the development and use of information and communications technologies (Ives & Jarvenpaa, 1991; Shore & Venkatachalam, 1995; Tractinsky & Jarvenpaa, 1995, Myers and Tan, 2002, Ali and Brooks, 2008). In this paper the authors explore the influence of national culture on eGov implementation. The authors have conducted a comparative case study in two different countries the UK as a developed country and Sari Lanka as a developing country. The research findings highlight the potential influence of cultural differences on eGov implementation