Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Empirical Evidence for an Individual’s Dispositional Resistance to IT-Induced Changes

As information systems (IS) usage is the missing link from information technology (IT) investments to the business value impact of IT (DeLone and McLean 2003), it is a significant issue for IS researchers and practitioners, if individuals resist using these systems. Several recent models have been developed in order to offer insights which perceptual beliefs foster user resistance. Results reveal perceptual beliefs as perceived threats, technostress, or switching costs as major determinants for user resistance. Nevertheless, user resistance has not been researched from a perspective of predisposed individual differences so far. Consequently, this paper proposes the new construct dispositional resistance to IT-induced changes. This reflects inclinations to resist any kind of IT-related change and discusses resistance from the perspective of individual differences. Within this approach, it is theoretically hypothesized, how this inclination influences perceptual beliefs, intentions, and behaviors. Empirical results reveal strong impacts of the newly proposed construct on technostress

Using User Personality to explain the Intention-Behavior Gap and Changes in Beliefs: A Longitudinal Analysis

The research reported in this article intends to investigate whether individuals a) update degrees of beliefs over time and b) transfer behavioral intentions into adoption behavior in a different manner based on their personality. Therefore, the personality trait dispositional resistance is discussed within the Integrative Framework of Technology Use. Results of an empirical longitudinal analysis (N=145) show that individuals update their beliefs based on prior beliefs and usage behavior differently in accordance with their personality. Results also reveal that individuals transfer behavioral intentions into adoption behavior differently based on their personality. Hence, we discuss our contributions to technology adoption research by highlighting the importance of personality traits when investigating technology-related beliefs and behavior over time. Results also include an assessment of the findings’ practical relevance by identifying which individuals maintain negative beliefs over time and by identifying the high extent of technology usage as a possibility for overcoming negative beliefs

Social Networking Site Use Resumption: A Model of Return Migration

This research explains why individuals resume using social networking sites (SNSs) after terminating their use. Drawing on return migration theory, we developed a theory-driven model of SNS resumption that includes two novel antecedents of SNS resumption behavior: nonuse-related dissatisfaction and use-related satisfaction. We also hypothesize that dispositional resistance to change moderates the impact of nonuse-related dissatisfaction and use-related satisfaction on resumption. We used a mixed methods approach to refine and evaluate the research model. Study 1 used the critical incident method to identify SNS-specific antecedents of nonuse-related satisfaction and use-related satisfaction, allowing us to refine the research model. Study 2 used structural equation modeling to evaluate our research model using two three-wave surveys: one with recent ex-users who recently decided to stop using and delete their profiles on Facebook and one with long-standing ex-users who stopped using and deleted their profiles on Facebook a long time ago. We found support for most relationships in our model: nonuse-related dissatisfaction and use-related satisfaction drive resumption intentions, and dispositional resistance moderates these relationships. Furthermore, we found that the time elapsed since users discontinued Facebook moderated these relationships such that the effect of nonuse-related dissatisfaction on resumption intention is stronger for recent ex-users and the effect of use-related satisfaction is stronger for long-standing ex-users. Our findings advance the understanding of resumption, an understudied behavior of the IT lifecycle and IT use and acceptance research

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

Technostress: Theoretical foundation and empirical evidence

In den letzten Jahrzehnten wurden die Vorteile des Einsatzes von Informationstechnologien (IT) durch die Forschung im Bereich der Wirtschaftsinformatik umfassend dargelegt. Unter anderem konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Nutzung von IT in Unternehmen mit einer Produktivitätssteigerung der Mitarbeiter einhergeht (Brynjolfsson and Hitt 1996) sowie das Verwalten und Bereitstellen von unstrukturierten Informationen effektiver und effizienter gestaltet (Laumer et al. 2013). Gleichermaßen wird IT auch für private Zwecke eingesetzt. Unter anderem werden Smartphones und soziale Netzwerkplattformen verwendet, um mit Freunden in Kontakt zu bleiben oder sich zu verabreden (Khan und Jarvenpaa 2010). Ungeachtet dieser Vorteile existieren erste Indizien, wonach IT für Endnutzer nicht uneingeschränkt positiv ist. Beispielsweise konnte Technostress als ein potentielles Problem der allgegenwärtigen IT-Nutzung für Endnutzer identifiziert werden (Ayyagari et al. 2011). Dies bedeutet, dass sich Personen von der IT-Nutzung gestresst fühlen (Ragu-Nathan et al. 2008). Eine Auseinandersetzung mit diesem Thema ist insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund, dass die IT-Nutzung in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung als einer der Hauptgründe von Burnout dargestellt wird, von großer Relevanz. Aufgrund dieser Relevant ist Technostress Gegenstand dieser Dissertation und die Forschungsfrage lautet: Was sind Ursachen und Konsequenzen von Technostress? Für die Beantwortung dieser Forschungsfrage ist die Dissertation in fünf Kapitel gegliedert. Kapitel 1 analysiert Ursachen und Konsequenzen von Stress bei der Nutzung von IT für Arbeitszwecke. Anschließend untersucht Kapitel 2, welche Ursachen bei der Nutzung von IT im Privaten Technostress auslösen und welche Konsequenzen dies für den Nutzer hat. Kapitel 3 und 4 thematisieren den Einfluss von IT-Abhängigkeit und Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen auf Ursachen von und Reaktionen auf Technostress. Abschließend wird in Kapitel 5 eine Methode diskutiert, wie Stressreaktionen objektiv mittels Eyetracking-Technologie und elektrodermaler Aktivität erfasst werden können. Die Ergebnisse der Dissertation zeigen, dass Technostress sowohl bei der IT-Nutzung in Unternehmen als auch im Privaten das Verhalten der Nutzer beeinflusst. Die Identifikation von Stressoren sowie die Reaktionen auf diese Stressoren sind ein zentraler Bestandteil der vorliegenden Dissertation, mit dem Ziel, Ursachen und Konsequenzen von Technostress aufzuzeigen. Im organisationalen Kontext werden Stressoren und Reaktionen sowohl bei der Nutzung von mehreren IT-Systemen, wie in bisherigen Forschungsarbeiten zum Thema Technostress üblich (Ayyagari et al. 2011), als auch für ein konkretes IT-System (SAP E-Recruiting 6.0 Enhancement Package 4) untersucht. Stressoren sind in diesem Kontext vor allem technologiebedingte Arbeitsstressoren und Technologiecharakteristika. Zu den Reaktionen auf diese Stressoren zählen unter anderem eine geringe Jobzufriedenheit und die Absicht, sich einen neuen Arbeitsplatz zu suchen. Im Kontext der privaten IT-Nutzung zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass neben Technologiecharakteristika insbesondere soziale Faktoren Stressreaktionen hervorrufen. Diese Stressursachen lösen eine generelle Unzufriedenheit mit der IT aus und veranlassen Personen dazu, die weiterführende Nutzung der IT kritisch zu überdenken. Darüber hinaus zeigen die Ergebnisse der Dissertation, dass die Nicht-Nutzung eines möglicherweise stressenden IT-Systems nicht zwangsläufig stressfreier ist, da notwendige Veränderungen und die Nutzung von alternativen Technologien ebenfalls Stress hervorrufen. Mit Hinblick auf aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse, welche die Bedeutung von Verhaltensabhängigkeit aufzeigen (Turel et al. 2011; Turel und Serenko 2012), beinhaltet die Dissertation eine Erklärung, weshalb Personen stressende IT-Systeme im privaten Umfeld weiter nutzen. Hier belegen Ergebnisse, dass abhängige Personen Verhaltensintentionen unterschiedlich in Nicht-Nutzungsverhalten umwandeln, als dies nicht-abhängige IT-Nutzer tun. Um zu überprüfen, inwiefern IT-Nutzer mit unterschiedlichen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen auf Stress reagieren, zeigen Ergebnisse, dass manche Persönlichkeitsmerkmale einen Einfluss auf Ursachen und Konsequenzen von Technostress haben. Abschließend zeigt die Dissertation, inwieweit objektive Methoden, wie die Verwendung der Eyetracking-Technologie und der Elektrodermalen Aktivität, im Rahmen der Technostressforschung eingesetzt werden können, um Verhaltensweisen erklärbar und nachvollziehbar zu machen. Mit den im Rahmen dieser Dissertation erzielten Ergebnissen können entsprechende Erkenntnisgewinne für die Forschung und Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik abgeleitet werden. Die Identifikation von Stressoren bei der IT-Nutzung (Ayyagari et al. 2011) ermöglicht es, Reaktionen auf Stressoren detaillierter zu verstehen (Tarafdar et al. 2010). Insbesondere die Wichtigkeit des IT-Nutzungskontextes als Einflussfaktor auf zu untersuchende Stressfaktoren und Reaktionen ermöglicht das Analysieren von Technostress in verschiedenen Nutzungskontexten. Mit der Identifikation von Stressoren als stärkste Einflussfaktoren auf die individuelle Nutzungsabsicht trägt die vorliegende Dissertation zu verschiedensten Technologieakzeptanzmodellen (z. B. Davis 1989; Venkatesh und Davis 2000) bei, indem es diese um den Faktor Technostress erweitert. Darüber hinaus belegt die Arbeit, dass Stress bei IT-Veränderungen und -Implementierungen insbesondere durch Veränderungsstressoren ausgelöst wird. Dies kann beispielsweise als Antwort auf eine Arbeit von Morris und Venkatesh (2010) verstanden werden, in der die Autoren eine Untersuchung von Stress bei IT-Veränderungen fordern. Ferner zeigt der Einfluss von Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen im Themenbereich Technostress, dass Personen in Abhängigkeit ihrer Prädisposition ein unterschiedliches Stressempfinden verspüren sowie unterschiedlich auf Stressfaktoren reagieren. Abschließend bietet die Dissertation einen weiteren Ansatz zur objektiven Messung von Reaktionen auf Stress, wie dies unter anderem von Riedl et al. (2012) und Ayyagari et al. (2011) gefordert wurde. Hinsichtlich der primären Motivation der Dissertation, Ursachen und Konsequenzen von Technostress zu erklären, kann abschließend festgehalten werden, dass die Stressoren vom jeweiligen Nutzungskontext abhängen und dieser die Reaktion der IT-Nutzer determiniert.The main objective of this dissertation is to provide theoretical explanations and empirical evidence for the causes and consequences of technostress. The results of this dissertation posit that the IT usage context matters. This means that users perceive technostress when using IT for work and for private purposes; but the causes and consequences differ for both contexts. In the case of using IT for work, technological characteristics and techno-stressors cause employees to feel exhausted at the end of their work day, feel dissatisfied with their job, and develop intentions to quit their job. In the case of IT usage for private purposes, social stressors are identified as new sort of stressor influencing psychological and behavioral strain even more strongly than techno-stressors. Although users of a stressful IT become dissatisfied with its usage and develop intentions to stop using it, the dissertation finds that switching to and using one or more alternatives can be even more stressful. In this context, this dissertation also emphasizes the influence of additional variables, such as user personality on technology characteristics, stressors and strain, concluding that the perception of stressors and strain varies among individuals. Bearing these conclusions in mind, IT can be seen as a double-edged sword: using IT can be a source of fun, but potentially also a source of stress to others and to ourselves

Resistance to IT-induced Change - Theoretical Foundation and Empirical Evidence

In this PhD thesis the question “Why do people reject technologies?” is investigated and a variety of theoretical founded and empirical evaluated answers are given. Too many IT implementation and organizational change projects in firms still fail as the underling Information Systems are inadequately used. The thesis evaluates the reasons for user resistance behavior including individual characteristics such as personality traits, process characteristics, technology characteristics, and characteristics of the change process. Moreover, it can be shown that user resistance is not only related to the observed usage behavior, but also in work- and process-related consequences. The results contribute not only to IT adoption and change management literature, but also to the literature on Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) as the thesis investigates employees’ reactions to information systems in HR departments

Understanding adoption and continual usage behaviour towards internet banking services in Hong Kong

Banks and financial institutions in Hong Kong are increasingly finding themselves facing rapid increases in turbulence and complexity, leading to greater uncertainty and increased competition. Customers are also becoming more demanding. Apart from the traditional type of banking services, customers today require more personalized products and services, and access to such services at any time, and at any place. Although there is no panacea for banks to stay competitive, Internet Banking is one of the advanced information technologies they can employ to achieve a high level of customer services. Internet Banking is an emerging technology that permits conduct of banking transactions through the Internet. From the banks’ point of view, it requires the lowest transaction cost among various channels, just one percent of branch-based banking. It also can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of corporate business processes through elimination of paper work. One of the many benefits of Internet Banking is that customers can use bank services 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world. This study investigates university students\u27 adoption/continual usage behaviour within the context of Hong Kong Internet Banking services. A research framework based on the extension of Technology Acceptance Model and Social Cognitive Theory was developed to identify factors that would influence the adoption/continual usage of Internet Banking. The framework includes subjective norm, image, result demonstrability, perceived risk, computer self-efficacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and intention constructs. A diverse sample of undergraduate and postgraduate students of seven universities in Hong Kong was used to test the models. Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine the entire pattern of intercorrelations among the eight proposed constructs and to test related propositions empirically. The results reveal that both subjective norm and computer self-efficacy play significant roles in influencing the intention to adopt Internet Banking indirectly. Perceived usefulness has significant positive effect on intention to adopt, this result supports the extension of the Technology Acceptance Model. Perceived ease of use has significant indirect effect on intention to adopt/continual usage through perceived usefulness, while its direct effect on intention to adopt is not significant in this empirical study. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented

TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE IN A MANDATORY ENVIRONMENT: A TEST OF AN INTEGRATIVE PRE-IMPLEMENTATION MODEL.

Technology acceptance has been studied extensively within the IS discipline. The introduction of the technology acceptance model (TAM) has given researchers the opportunity to produce a vast body of knowledge; however, existing gaps within the technology acceptance literature warrant further investigation of these understudied areas. Namely, few if any have studied end users’ acceptance of newly implemented technologies within organizational contexts before end-users start using the technology. Additionally, leadership is one of the areas that has not yet been sufficiently integrated with the technology acceptance literature. The Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory with its roots in the social exchange theory offers us an opportunity to investigate an overlooked facet of the social influence processes, specifically, the role of the direct leader (i.e. supervisor) as it relates to technology acceptance. In this research LMX, which captures the quality of the relationship between employees and their supervisors, is introduced as a moderating variable for many of the research model’s relationships. Thus, by integrating variables from multiple relevant literatures, this research attempts to answer this research question: Will the introduction of a richer model for technology acceptance in a mandatory adoption environment, specifically in the pre-implementation phase, allow us to capture and account for the complexities of organizational technology implementations? The research model was tested in an organizational setting where a new Content Management System was being implemented. One of the study’s major findings is that it reveals a relatively different pattern of relationships between the variables within the context of this research. A majority of the hypotheses were supported and the model has displayed relatively large explanatory and predictive power. LMX’s moderating role also highlighted the important role that direct supervisors play in the acceptance process; support was found that LMX strengthens the relationship between supervisor influence and behavioral intention, Perceived Behavioral Control, Appropriateness, Perceived Usefulness, Valence, and Perceived Ease of Use

Determinants of internet banking adoption by banks in Ghana

Growth in information and communication technology (ICT) is drastically changing the way businesses, especially in the service industries, are conducted. The financial services industry and banking in particular, is not excluded from this technology explosion. Internet banking, even though not new in advanced countries, is a new transaction channel being used by banks in some parts of Africa, especially Ghana, to offer various products and services to their customers. However, this medium has not been fully exploited by these banks as there are many hurdles the banks must triumph over. In deploying this technology and these systems, there are several factors which banks must take into consideration before fully deploying such a system to their customers, hence the motivation for this study. The absence of suitable and sufficient knowledge on this topic also exposes a “rhetoric versus reality” argument of whether the intention to adopt Internet banking is critical to the strategies and ultimate success of banks in Ghana. For banks to stay ahead of competition as well as to attract and maintain their clientele, it is of paramount importance to gather and link the perspectives of both clients and bank managers in order for banks to ensure that they perform according to the needs and expectations of their clients. In order to achieve the intended results, an empirical study was conducted by taking into consideration the viewpoints of both bank clients and bank managers in determining the factors that customers take into consideration before adopting the Internet banking medium. The primary aim of this study was to quantify significant relationships between the selected variables. Therefore the positivism research paradigm was used, while the phenomenological paradigm was employed for the measuring instruments. Because multiple sources of data were used, from the perspectives of banking clients and managers in Ghana, methodological triangulation was adopted for this study. The results of the empirical investigation showed that both groups (clients and managers) considered the variables of market share, technology acceptance, diffusion of innovation, organisational variables, organisational efficiency, and business strategy to have direct influence on the adoption of Internet banking. However, they differed in opinion concerning the degree of influence of these variables. The bank managers’ responses leaned more towards strong agreement with the importance of these variables than did those of the bank clients. Thus, for bank clients to readily adopt the Internet banking medium for their banking transactions, bank managers must take a closer look at these determinant factors described in the study. The study showed that the population group, educational and income levels exerted an influence on the perceptions clients have regarding Internet banking adoption factors. It was found that the higher the education and income levels of the clients, the easier it was for them to adopt Internet banking. Also, the male group dominated the use of the Internet banking. This is supported by the fact that there is a growing middle class in Ghana that falls within this category of banking clients

Influencing attitudes, changing behaviours and embedding a pro-sustainability mindset in the workplace: An innovation diffusion approach to persuasive communications.

Although several sustainability implementation frameworks have been proposed, researchers have not yet proposed theories or models to help organisations speed up the rate of sustainability diffusion and narrow the gap between what is known and what is put into use. This study sought to fill this gap by proposing a sustainability diffusion model. The model was developed from an exhaustive review of the corresponding literature. It uses Rogers' (1962) diffusion of innovations theory and Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical foundation. The model was tested and its structural architecture was validated in three different sustainability contexts; namely, duplex printing in UK universities; sustainable computing in service-based businesses; and sustainability culture in UK universities. The primary data was analysed statistically using SPSS, and structural equation modelling (SEM) in particular was used to validate the structural architecture of the proposed model. The SEM results indicate that the structural architecture of the theory of planned behaviour is well-founded. All the hypotheses that underline the theory's paths were supported. In contrast, the structural architecture of the diffusion of innovations theory was weakly supported. Some of the paths were rejected in at least two occasions. For example, the relationship between pro-sustainability knowledge and attitude was neither statistically significant nor directional. Moreover, several components of the 'verified' model turned out to be statistically insignificant or were rejected altogether. These were knowledge, perceived self interest, perceived persuader legitimacy, perceived consequences, perceived argument quality, trialability and perceived source credibility. Accordingly, once these constructs were removed and the model was restructured in accordance with the results of SEM analysis, an entirely new version of the 'sustainability diffusion model' emerged (See Figure IX-2). The architecture of the new model suggests that in order to speed up the rate of sustainability diffusion, change agents must emphasise the relative advantage, compatibility, subjective norm and the urgency of the pro-sustainability initiative under implementation and de-emphasise any complexities or risks associated with its operationalisation. Unexpectedly, the new version of the proposed model relies more on Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical foundation than on Rogers' (1983) innovation-decision process model. In other words, the new model maintained almost all the features of the theory of planned behaviour, but it only absorbed some, but not all, of the components of Rogers' innovation-decision process model. Nevertheless, the new model maintained its holistic nature. It still takes into account both the person-specific and innovation-specific factors that influence the diffusion, adoption and actualisation of pro-sustainability behaviours/initiatives