Determinants of continuance intention and word of mouth for hotel branded mobile app users.

This study examined the cognitive and affective factors that influence users\u27 post-adoption behavioral intention. Specifically, based on the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) (Bhattacherjee, 2001b) the impact of cognitive factors (i.e., perceived usefulness, confirmation of expectations, mobility, personalization and responsiveness) and affective factors (i.e., satisfaction, perceived enjoyment) on hotel branded mobile applications (apps) users\u27 continuance intention and WOM were examined. Hospitality firms invest considerable resources on technology solutions that are aimed at improving the consumer experience. However, for investments to be profitable firms must ensure that technology solutions are continuously used and ensure post-adoptive behaviors such as continuance intention and WOM. Data for the study were collected from 550 hotel branded mobile app users. After data were collected and cleaned, Partial Least-Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. The results of the structural model indicated that continuance intention and WOM were directly influenced by satisfaction and perceived enjoyment; with satisfaction exerting the most influence on continuance intention. Conversely, perceived enjoyment was most influential to WOM. All cognitive factors were found to influence satisfaction and enjoyment, except for responsiveness and perceived usefulness. The results show that contextual factors have a more significant impact than previously established constructs. The results of the study allow hoteliers and hospitality technology consultants to identify the influential factors impacting post-adoptive behaviors. The study extends the literature on post-adoptive behavior and the ECM by including context specific factors (i.e. perceived mobility, personalization and responsiveness). This study contributes to the scare literature in the lodging industry literature examining users\u27 evaluations of mobile apps and post-adoptive behaviors in the hospitality industry. The study adds to the post-adoptive behavior literature by adding WOM as a second outcome to continuance intention. The treatment of contextual factors in this study, allowed to show the impact technology characteristics have on technology post-adoption

POST ADOPTION BEHAVIOUR OF E-SERVICE USERS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON CHINESE ONLINE TRAVEL SERVICE USERS

Post adoption behaviours of e-service users are important for e-service providers to increase both their revenues and profits. This paper develops a model to investigate the factors influencing users’ post adoption behaviours, including continuance intention to use e-services and recommendation behaviour. The model is developed based on Expectation Confirmation Theory and includes two additional variables in it, namely perceived ease of use and recommendations. Based on 543 useful questionnaires, the model is empirically tested together with a number of hypotheses. The results show that both satisfaction and perceived usefulness positively impact users’ continuance intention. Continuance intention, together with perceived usefulness, has positive influences on users’ recommendations of e-service. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed as well

Factors Influencing ICT Usage Among Malaysian Small and Medium Agribusinesses: Conceptual Framework and Structural Model

Information and communication technology (ICT) adoption studies have identified ICT as a tool capable of spurring innovative business development in small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) if used wisely. Adopting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model approach with adjustments by integrating two externally derived constructs (SME Managerial Creativity and SME Organisational Size as predictors), this study investigated factors that influence ICT usage among Malaysian agro-based SMEs. A pre-tested survey instrument consisting of 132 items was administered to 400 purposively selected workers from 43 agro-based SMEs that were randomly selected at Selangor. The study was aimed to identify the predominantly used ICTs by the agro-based SMEs in their businesses, to determine factors that influence ICT usage among the agro-based SMEs and to determine the relationship between the six predictors: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, SME organisational size and SME creativity and innovativeness and the dependent variable: ICT usage. Objective 4 was to determine the moderating effect of gender, age and experience on the relationship. Factor analysis was run to reduce the voluminous data; a new, robust model was designed using Structural Equation Modelling. The study concludes that integrating firm and management characteristic constructs into UTAUT model provides a scale capable explaining ICT usage behaviour of Malaysian agro-based SMEs better. Keywords: Agribusinesses, Agro-based SMEs, ICT Usage, SME Management Characteristics, SME Organisational Size, UTAU

The gloom of COVID-19 shock in hospitality industry: a study of consumer risk perception and adaptive belief in dark cloud of pandemic

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads globally, the hospitality industry as the heart of implementing social distancing, a measure demonstrated to be effective in flattening the epidemic curve. Informed by the perceived risk theory, this research examines how the customer’s perception of the shock of coronavirus pandemic impacts on their belief and how their beliefs could influence their anticipated emotion (negative and positive) which could affect their future desire towards visiting restaurants. Structural equation modelling was used to understand the research constructs’ associations. This study provides three key implications (i) by categorizing incorporation of the restaurant business’s future desire for the hospitality sector and from the generalize key recommendations for future research. (ii) The hospitality industry requires to build on trust with their customers by supporting and resourcing consumer’s self-protection behaviour and adoptive belief. (iii) The economic influence and the continuous uncertainty and transformation of the restaurant businesses need the application of advanced localisation strategies, practices and performance

Quantitative approaches in support of the early development of T-cell redirecting therapies

T-cell redirecting therapies such as CD3-bispecific antibodies and CAR-T cells are promising assets in our fight against cancer. By redirecting T-cells towards tumour cells, these therapies induce efficient eradication of tumours. Many questions remain regarding their efficacy and safety in patients. The success of a drug candidate starts with nonclinical investigations before going into patients. This work focused on developing tools to improve the translatability of nonclinical research of T-cell redirecting therapies. In this work, a mechanistic in silico model was developed that integrates an in vitro dataset of the pharmacology of cibisatamab, a CD3-bispecific antibody. The model may serve as a tool in early development to explore and quantify the impact of target expression densities on the pharmacology of CD3-bispecifics. Also, this work proposed the collection of data over multiple time points and designed a new experimental setup and analysis that allows assessing the pharmacology in an unbiased and time-independent manner. As such, the kinetics of experimental readouts can be considered to make informed decisions about the development of the compound and assist in dose selection. Lastly, the work presents a fresh look on cytokine release syndrome and identifies drug-target disease related factors and individual risk factors as the root cause of CRS. It postulates a combination of mechanistic modelling with real world data to enable individualized risk assessment.Gerichtete T-Zell-Therapien sind ein vielversprechendes Mittel im Kampf gegen Krebs. Bei dieser Therapie werden T-Zellen auf Tumorzellen gerichtet, was zu einer hocheffizienten Abtötung des Tumors führt. Es bleiben viele Fragen bezüglich ihrer Wirksamkeit und Sicherheit offen. Der Erfolg eines Arzneimittels beginnt mit nichtklinischen Untersuchungen. Diese Dissertation konzentrierte sich auf die Entwicklung Instrumente zur Verbesserung der nichtklinischen Forschung von gerichtete T-Zell-Therapien. In dieser Dissertation wurde ein mechanistisches In-silico-Modell entwickelt, das einen in-vitro-Datensatz zur Pharmakologie von cibisatamab integriert. Das Modell kann als Werkzeug in der Entwicklung dienen, um die Auswirkungen der Targetdichten auf die Pharmakologie von CD3-bispezifischen Antikörpern zu quantifizieren. In dieser Dissertation wurde auch ein neuer Versuchsaufbau und Analyse entwickelt, die eine unverzerrte und zeitunabhängige Bewertung der pharmakologischen Aktivität ermöglicht. Auf diese Weise kann die Kinetik der Messwerte berücksichtigt werden. Dies ist von Bedeutung, um fundierte Entscheidungen über die Entwicklung der Wirkstoffe und die Dosisauswahl zu treffen. Schließlich wirft die Arbeit einen Blick auf das Cytokine Release Syndrome und identifiziert Risikofaktoren als Ursache für CRS und empfiehlt eine Kombination von Modellierung und real-world Daten zur Ermöglichung einer individuellen CRS Risikobewertung bei der Behandlung mit gerichteten T-Zell-Therapien

Intelligent Optimisation Agents in Supply Networks

This paper describes a model of intelligent supply network that improves efficiency within the supply chain. We argue that intelligence creates efficiency and results in chain optimisation. In particular, intelligent agents technology is used to optimise performance of a beverage logistics network. Optimisation agents can help solve specific problems of supply network: reduce inventories and lessen bullwhip effect, improve communication, and enable chain coordination without adverse risk sharing. We model the beer supply network to demonstrate that products can acquire intelligence to direct themselves throughout the distribution network. Further, they gain a capability to be purchased and sold while in transit. Overviews of the supporting technologies that make intelligent supply network a reality are fully discussed. In particular, optimisation agents have the characteristics of autonomous action, being proactive, reactive, and able to communicate. We demonstrate that agents enhance the flexibility, information visibility, and efficiency of the supply chain management. Suggestions and recommendations for further research are provided

Adoption and Non-Adoption: Profiling Internet Usage among Tourists to New Zealand

Since the explosion of the internet as a business medium, one of its primary uses has been marketing. The advantages of using the internet for business-to-consumer transactions are clear. The openness of the internet is creating opportunities for virtually all companies across various industries. The words 'internet', 'World Wide Web', 'www' or the 'web' refer to the same thing and are used interchangeably within this research study. The tourism industry is also experiencing a rapid adoption of the internet technology for marketing travel products and services. As a destination New Zealand is a small country comprising two main land masses and smaller outlying islands, with a population of about 4 million people (Statistics New Zealand 2004). Tourism is promoted as an essential part of the national economy, particularly to earn foreign exchange and generate employment. The number of international tourists visiting New Zealand is 2.2 million (Tourism New Zealand, 2006). In New Zealand almost all regional tourism organizations (RTOs) have a web presence, thereby exposing potential tourists to an array of destinations to visit. However, there are few New Zealand based studies that profile tourists based on their internet adoption and the differences between internet users and non-users. The question that baffles every business manager is what predisposes consumers to use a website? This is the fundamental question that motivated the study. While usability does play a major role in the adoption and use of a particular website, it is outside the scope of this project, otherwise the scope would have been too large and complicated to permit a useable questionnaire given the other concerns about respondents' past experiences and attitudes toward use of the net for the specific purposes of holiday purchases. The study draws upon innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and more recent conceptualizations of IT adoption behaviour to examine differences among Rogers' (1995) adoption categories. Within this context, 'adoption' refers to the stage in which a technology is selected for use by an individual. 'Diffusion' refers to the stage in which the technology spreads to general use and application. For this study an attempt is made to create a behavioural profile of visitors based on a sample of 517 overseas visitors to New Zealand. Visitors were asked to complete a questionnaire and provide information on their demographics, travel related behaviour, internet usage patterns, perceptions of the internet and online shopping in general. The thesis thus describes the initiation and evolution of an empirical research project, which investigates the adoption and diffusion of internet technologies amongst international visitors to New Zealand. The study was launched in an attempt to: 1) learn more about internet usage by visitors to New Zealand; 2) create a psychographic profile of visitors; 3) attempt to empirically validate the technology acceptance model (TAM); and 4) fill a noticeable void so that future researchers on IT and internet adoption by tourists in New Zealand have a foundation and starting point. Most of the previous research related to TAM has been in workplace related situations while studies in tourism have used students as subjects, rather than actual visitors to a particular destination (Shang et al., 2005, Moon and Kim, 2001, Klopping and McKinney, 2004). Specific market studies undertaken by destination marketing organisations or regional tourism organisations were considered only inasmuch as they aided generalization as place specificity hindered conceptual development pertaining to themes of adoption and general usage patterns. The study seeks to build on Rogers' (1995) seminal work on the diffusion of innovations and make a unique contribution to existing diffusion studies by its focus on the individual visitors as the unit of analysis and by its test of the TAM model. This study presents descriptive results via standard statistical analysis, a cluster analysis of users and a structural equation modelling of the TAM applied within a context of international visitors to New Zealand. The data were collected at major locations - the viaduct basin in Auckland and the international departure lounge at the Christchurch International Airport. The two locations were chosen to enable faster data collection. Initially the data was gathered at the viaduct basin in Auckland but the number of respondents was not many. Since the data collection was slow, decided to collect from Christchurch International airport where departing passengers could be approached. Individual passengers/tourists were approached and a screening question to ascertain if they were visitors or not was asked. If they were visiting, then they were asked to participate in the survey. No prior specific screening was undertaken to determine if they had used internet or not for their trip/travel to New Zealand. However, subsequent analysis shows that only 2.3% of the sample had not used the internet, and 31% of the sample had not bought tourism products or services over the internet. Therefore, overall, experience and internet usage was not uncommon for the majority of the sample, but a large proportion of non-users existed to permit comparative analysis. While there is a bias towards males in the sample, the 19-35 years age group was slightly more numerous for both genders, than were other age groups. The results indicate that mean internet usage is comparatively high, as is familiarity with many electronic consumer durables. The sample possesses a bias toward English speaking countries, younger people and educationally higher qualified people. Internet search engines seem to be the most popular source of search. The socio-demographic variables such as age, gender and educational attainment appeared to be but a moderate influence on general internet usage and thus on the use of the internet for booking holidays. Factor analysis of the attitudinal statements revealed six factors, which accounted for about 60 % of the total variance. The clear emergence of factors enabled the development of clusters. The clusters appear to have significance with reference to usage rates of internet. The home ownership of electronics shows a high percentage of respondents had mobile phones. This implies that New Zealand Tourism has to look at options or possible services it can introduce to market to these people who could be using mobile devices not only in their country but also while travelling in New Zealand. Wireless is another important development in the field of technology and many of the tourism DMO in other developed countries in Europe and US are adapting approaches based on these technologies to market to potential customers

Continuous Use and Extended Use of E-Government Portals

This study aims to investigate the level of user satisfaction with the services provided by e-government portals and to examine the influence of perceived value and virtual community engagement on citizens’ satisfaction and their continuous and extended use intentions. Primary data were collected from 409 users of e-government portals via a questionnaire survey. The findings show that citizens are generally satisfied with the services provided by e-government portals and have positive continuous use and extended use intentions. The actual usage is more prevalent among educational, banking and finance, and taxation related portals. Both perceived value and virtual community engagement relate positively with citizen satisfaction, with the former has a relatively stronger influence. Citizen satisfaction also leads to continuous and extended use intentions. The findings shed lights on dimensions of e-government portals that citizens considered valuable and the importance of the formation of virtual communities in influencing their satisfaction and subsequent use intentions

Fit and appropriation model for training:an action research study to advance mobile technology training in police forces

As police forces are information intensive organisations, the use of advanced Information Systems in policing has led to the transformation of the social and the organisational life in forces. Nevertheless, the results of a pilot study conducted after four years of the roll out of mobile Kelvin devices in a medium-sized Constabulary in the UK have revealed officers’ resistance to using the full range of functionalities offered by these devices. The Kelvin devices’ initial training did not accommodate for differences in officers’ IT skills, experiences, roles, work contexts and police culture (ensuring the existence of a good-fit between all these factors). Hence, officers were unable to efficiently appropriate the Kelvin devices’ functionalities in different contexts and to various tasks. Therefore, guided by the data collected from the pilot study, a Fit and Appropriation Model for training (FAMT) is posited. FAMT aims to rectify the causes of officers’ resistance by not only creating a learning environment that bridges the gap in technical knowledge and skills but also enables learners to use their work experiences to link technology features to various tasks and contexts. The impact of using FAMT on the learning process sheds light on the key deteriminants of delivering effective technology training in organisations. The findings of the study delineate fundamental super-user’ characteristics and police culture aspects that can influence the learning process during training. Furthermore, the study highlights the significant role of providing IT support during technology training. This role should not be underestimated by mangers as it impacts profoundly on the effectiveness of female learners’ technology sense-making. Besides, incorporating collaborative training methods into FAMT have enhanced learners’ ability to extend the use of features to different contexts. Therefore, using FAMT has been perceived by officers as an effective training method that facilitates a personalised technology training and extends their knowledge about useful features in their Kelvin devices