E-Commerce Adoption in Nigerian Businesses: An Analysis Using the Technology-Organization-Environmental Framework

Business organizations around the world engage in e-commerce (EC) and e-business to support business operations and enhance revenue generation from non-traditional sources. Studies focusing on EC adoption in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) are just beginning to emerge in the extant information systems (IS) literature. The objective of this current study is to investigate factors impacting the acceptance of EC in small businesses in SSA with Nigeria as an example. A research model based on the Diffusion of Innovation (DIT) and the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) frameworks were used to guide this discourse. Such factors as relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, management support, organizational readiness, external pressure, and IS vendor support were used to develop relevant hypotheses. Questionnaires were administered to respondents in Nigeria and data analysis was performed using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. Predictions related to relative advantage, management support, and IS vendor support were confirmed; the other hypotheses were unsupported by the data. The study’s implications for research and practice are discussed in the chapter

Teaching and learning in virtual worlds: is it worth the effort?

Educators have been quick to spot the enormous potential afforded by virtual worlds for situated and authentic learning, practising tasks with potentially serious consequences in the real world and for bringing geographically dispersed faculty and students together in the same space (Gee, 2007; Johnson and Levine, 2008). Though this potential has largely been realised, it generally isn’t without cost in terms of lack of institutional buy-in, steep learning curves for all participants, and lack of a sound theoretical framework to support learning activities (Campbell, 2009; Cheal, 2007; Kluge & Riley, 2008). This symposium will explore the affordances and issues associated with teaching and learning in virtual worlds, all the time considering the question: is it worth the effort

Quality Assessment Methods for Textual Conversational Interfaces: A Multivocal Literature Review

The evaluation and assessment of conversational interfaces is a complex task since such software products are challenging to validate through traditional testing approaches. We conducted a systematic Multivocal Literature Review (MLR), on five different literature sources, to provide a view on quality attributes, evaluation frameworks, and evaluation datasets proposed to provide aid to the researchers and practitioners of the field. We came up with a final pool of 118 contributions, including grey (35) and white literature (83). We categorized 123 different quality attributes and metrics under ten different categories and four macro-categories: Relational, Conversational, User-Centered and Quantitative attributes. While Relational and Conversational attributes are most commonly explored by the scientific literature, we testified a predominance of User-Centered Attributes in industrial literature. We also identified five different academic frameworks/tools to automatically compute sets of metrics, and 28 datasets (subdivided into seven different categories based on the type of data contained) that can produce conversations for the evaluation of conversational interfaces. Our analysis of literature highlights that a high number of qualitative and quantitative attributes are available in the literature to evaluate the performance of conversational interfaces. Our categorization can serve as a valid entry point for researchers and practitioners to select the proper functional and non-functional aspects to be evaluated for their products

Transforming pre-service teacher curriculum: observation through a TPACK lens

This paper will discuss an international online collaborative learning experience through the lens of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. The teacher knowledge required to effectively provide transformative learning experiences for 21st century learners in a digital world is complex, situated and changing. The discussion looks beyond the opportunity for knowledge development of content, pedagogy and technology as components of TPACK towards the interaction between those three components. Implications for practice are also discussed. In today’s technology infused classrooms it is within the realms of teacher educators, practising teaching and pre-service teachers explore and address effective practices using technology to enhance learning

An empirical investigation into the drivers of re-subscription in massively multiplayer online games: a commitment trust theory approach

This is a relationship marketing PhD which is examining, using Commitment Trust Theory, the customer decision to maintain subscribing to a massively multiplayer online game. This PhD is not an examination of initial purchase decision, but of the ongoing, post-purchase, customer retention. In keeping with the contextual nature of Commitment Trust Theory, this study examines the antecedents of the re-subscription decision and their effect on the key mediating variables of Commitment and Trust and modifies the framework to model the subscription based nature of the business situation and the context. The key contribution of this research to the literature is the application of the Commitment Trust framework to a customer’s ongoing relationship with a massively multiplayer online game entertainment product; a situation and context which has not been examined in the literature. An online questionnaire survey was used to collect a sample of data from 2226 massively multiplayer online game customers. This sample data was then analysed using Structural Equation Modelling to test the relationship hypotheses between the constructs proposed by Commitment Trust Theory. Furthermore, hypotheses examining the effect of relevant demographic and categorical variables upon the constructs of Commitment Trust Theory were also tested and analysed using appropriate statistical techniques. Evidence was found to support the Commitment Trust Theory framework in a massively multiplayer online game subscription situation, with the study’s model explaining 85.7% of the variance of the sample data, with evidence presented to support the key mediating variable approach to modelling the circumstances. The study, based on examining the effect size of the construct relationships using standardised regression weights then gives evidence that a more parsimonious model which reduces the number of constructs from 16 to six (a 70% reduction in complexity) would still produce a model explaining 85.3% of the variance of the sample data (a 0.4% loss in explanatory power). The study concludes that the key antecedent constructs in the sample for a customer’s renewal of an online gaming subscription are current satisfaction, past satisfaction, the amount of game capital they have within the game and the metagame benefits they derive from the game. The study supports a key mediating variable structure, but provides evidence that while Commitment and Trust are both relevant and statistically significant, a more efficient explanation examining the effect size of the relationships as well, would focus on the antecedents of Commitment rather than Trust, as Trust and its antecedents were not found to have a significant effect size on the overall decision to re-subscribe

Design and Digital–material Possession: Sartre’s potential for mobile UI design

Jean-Paul Sartre’s conceptualisation of material possession contains rich insights for this study located at the intersection of visual communication, mobile UI design, human–computer interaction and design philosophy. Possession is a relational concept concerning more than just the ownership of things. It contributes to an understanding of self-identity via an individual’s relationship with the objects they see, use, use up and create. Initial ideas for a contemporary conceptualisation of digital-material possession presented in this study expands on Sartre’s philosophy enabling technologies such as the iPhone, including its hardware and software components, to be positioned as an entanglement of possessions. Likewise, the unique relationships between humans and their non-human technological and appearance-dominant things can be included among the many human–possession relationships that constitute an individual’s self-identity. This thesis uses the set of iOS7 app icon graphics and their redesign, conducted as part of this study, in the critique, expansion and application of Sartre’s material possession to the contemporary context. Reflection on the redesigned iOS prototypes shifted the original practice-based design research approach, to instead underpin a Research through Design investigation of the nature and agency of iOS graphics as exemplars of appearance-dominant digital-material possessions. Reflection on the prototypes through the lens of possession created a feedback loop between the speculative prototypes, Sartre’s philosophy of material possession and its expansion for the contemporary digital-material context. Possession and digital-material possession have interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary relevance. In the design context, together they enable increased understanding of the role of the designer, their design activities and design outcomes, and the role of individual users of designed things, their co-creation activities and outcomes. Beyond design, digital-material possession highlights Sartre’s contribution to the philosophy of technology

Virtual Heritage

Virtual heritage has been explained as virtual reality applied to cultural heritage, but this definition only scratches the surface of the fascinating applications, tools and challenges of this fast-changing interdisciplinary field. This book provides an accessible but concise edited coverage of the main topics, tools and issues in virtual heritage. Leading international scholars have provided chapters to explain current issues in accuracy and precision; challenges in adopting advanced animation techniques; shows how archaeological learning can be developed in Minecraft; they propose mixed reality is conceptual rather than just technical; they explore how useful Linked Open Data can be for art history; explain how accessible photogrammetry can be but also ethical and practical issues for applying at scale; provide insight into how to provide interaction in museums involving the wider public; and describe issues in evaluating virtual heritage projects not often addressed even in scholarly papers. The book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in museum studies, digital archaeology, heritage studies, architectural history and modelling, virtual environments