Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

The Impact of the contextual factors on the success of e-government in Lebanon: Context-System Gap

Purpose: The relationship between context and e-governance has been gaining a significant momentum in academic circles due its social and technical complexities. There are many challenges posed by the disparity between the context and the system when it comes to e-governance in developing countries. This research aims to reveal more successful adoption of e-governance initiatives and exposes factors that hinder its implementation. We develop a conceptual framework showing the reciprocity between the context and the system or what is termed “Context-System Gap”. Therefore, this research will study the appropriateness of the context and its influence on the system and the influence of the system on the context. The purpose of this research is to explore the factors that enable successful e-government adoption in Lebanon, where e-governance is still at its initial stage. Most empirical research and theories on the implementation of e-governance in developing countries remain at the macro-level and miss out on the complexities of the context of deployment and the role of the gap between the citizens and the government. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an empirical model differentiating between the electronic context and the electronic system and shed a light over a new gap, government-citizen gap, in the adoption of e-government. Design/methodology/approach: Following previous research on e-government services adoption, this study uses several technology use and acceptance models and literature to examine the elements behind the adoption and use of e-government services in Lebanon from citizen and government perspectives. The research strategy is a quantitative method approach employing questionnaire. Quantitative data will be collected from e-government users (citizens) and statistical tests will be conducted in order to examine the relation between variables. Practical implications: The findings are useful for policy-makers and decision-makers to develop a better understanding of citizens' needs. The proposed model can be used as a guideline for the implementation of e-government services in developing countries. Originality/value: This study is the only one to examine the dimensions influencing citizens’ adoption of e-government technologies in developing countries using a unified model merging context and system elements

A model for citizens' self-knowledge that influences intention to participate in e-government public decision making

The success of an e-government information system could be determined by the citizens' intention to participate in public decision-making to use the technology for future benefits. There is lack of participation of citizens in e-governments implementation in most developing countries where their opinions are not taken into considerations. This study has been conducted to identify the citizens' intentions to participate in the public decision-making of the e-government. The first objective of this research is to identify the factors that influence the citizens' intention to participate in the public decision-making of the e-government. The second objective examines the citizens‘ self-knowledge characteristics that will moderate the relationship between the influencing factors and the citizens‘ intentions to participate in the public decision-making of the e-government. The third objective is the development of a research model of the citizens' intentions to participate in the public decision-making of the e-government. The research utilised the quantitative approach by distributing 501 questionnaires to four groups of respondents. Only 474 questionnaires were usable, representing a 94.6 % rate. The data was analysed utilising SPSS v21 to examine the relationships between the study‘s contributing factors with the moderators. The following factors, the attitude towards act or behaviour (ATB), subjective norms (SN), social influence (SI), facilitating condition (FC), compatibility (CO), and culture (CU), were identified to influence citizen intention to participate. Their different requirements have a potential impact on the public decision-making in the e-government. The research also took into consideration other factors which would contribute as moderator factors like gender, age, level of education, social group, working sector, and Internet experiences. The research has contributed to the body of knowledge by merging the concepts of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), two concepts from the UTAUT2 theory, and one concept from the DOI theory in this research. A model for citizens‘ self-knowledge that influences intention to participate in e-government public decision making is presented

Behavioral Intention Factors for Prescription Deliveries by Small Unmanned Aircraft in Rural Communities

Nearly half of the U.S. population regularly use and depend on prescription medications; however, pharmacy availability and access to pharmacy services are often lacking, particularly in rural communities. In an effort to meet local healthcare needs, delivery by sUAS is proposed to ensure the nearly 60 million rural residents have access to their prescription medications. As an emerging technology with little research into home delivery applications, the successful implementation of sUAS for prescription medication delivery requires public acceptance and positive behavioral intention toward its use. At the time of the current research, no prior studies have specifically focused on the individual factors that impact the behavioral intention of using sUAS for prescription medication delivery. This dissertation developed a modified behavioral research model to determine the factors that influenced individual’s behavioral intention to use sUAS for prescription medication delivery and the relationships between those factors. The model integrated factors from the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and added the factors of perceived risk and trust. Using random sampling through Amazon MTurk, participants accessed an online cross-sectional survey for data collection. Data analysis included descriptive statistics assessment, CFA analysis, and the full SEM process. Results indicated the research model had strong predictive power of sUAS use for prescription medication delivery with eight of the ten hypotheses supported. One new relationship was identified of subjective norms having a positive influence on perceived risk, though not supported by current literature. Further investigation into the relationship is warranted to better understand the impact. Additionally, all model factors were found to have a direct or indirect impact on behavioral intention, with perceived usefulness, trust, and subjective norms having the strongest effects. The current research filled a gap in existing literature by exploring factors associated with behavioral intention to use sUAS for prescription medication delivery. Additionally, a new research model was provided for identifying influencing factors for behavioral intention of this sUAS application and the nature of the relationships among the factors. Thus, this new model can be used for further sUAS research and may provide an adaptable model for other industries to facilitate new technology implementation

Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Applications in Economics and Finance

This book includes the 14 articles accepted and published in the Special Issue “Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM): Applications in Economics and Finance” of the MDPI journal Mathematics, which encompasses a wide range of topics connected with the theory and applications of PLS-SEM methodology. These topics involve, among others, prediction of stock market investment intention, institutional quality and international competitiveness, governance paradigms and public innovation, information and communication technologies in the supply chain, influence of the ability to absorb information from the environment and proactivity on the company's results, quality management, effects of the corporate social responsibility on financial performance, resource management for the improvement of the healthcare system, and the application of maximum entropy bootstrapping to time series. It is expected that the book will prove worthwhile and helpful for those working in the area of PLS-SEM, regardless of the field of application (economics, finance, marketing, education or other). Applications of higher order constructs, mediating variables, multigroup analysis and the latest advances in applied methodology can all be found in this book

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Parent Engagement in Evidence-Based Services Questionnaire

Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2016.Includes bibliographical references.Despite years of research supporting the efficacy of certain youth mental health treatments over others, actual use of these interventions in everyday clinical practice continues to be low. Most dissemination and implementation efforts to date have focused on increasing demand for and utilization of evidence-based services (EBS) with actual service providers. However, a promising complementary approach for increasing the uptake of EBS involves targeting intervention consumers, namely youth clients and their caregivers. The current study describes a psychometric evaluation of the Parent Engagement in Evidence-Based Services (PEEBS) questionnaire, a new instrument designed to assess parent consumer intent to engage in EBS for their children. First, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with data from 330 participants yielded five factors: (a) Evidence-Informed Action, (b) Barriers to Treatment Engagement, (c) Family Empowerment, (d) Limited Treatment Knowledge, and (e) Openness to Non-EBS. Second, a confirmatory analysis (CFA) with 304 additional participants confirmed the stability of this five- factor structure. Third, with regard to reliability, data across both samples offered evidence of poor to excellent internal consistency (i.e., Cronbach’s alphas of .55 to .94). The final 58-item version of the PEEBS yielded 2-week test-retest reliability coefficients of .44 to .76 in a sample of 47 individuals. Finally, participants completed the PEEBS along with two other measures assessing parent empowerment across settings, and general help-seeking attitudes, intentions, and stigmatization in order to assess convergent and discriminant validity. Results generally indicated that the majority of correlations supported convergence between the PEEBS subscales and these related constructs. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed

Navigating work 4.0 : the intricacies of digital work, job outcomes and individual differences by examples of Baden-Wuerttembergs public administration

This dissertation, rooted in the VerDi project (digitalization of administration, German: VerwaltungsDigitalisierung), explores the broader impact of digitalization on administrative action in Baden-Wuerttembergs public administration. Adopting an interdisciplinary, individual-centric approach, it divides into two areas across seven manuscripts: 1) digital work (manuscripts 1-4) and 2) individual differences linked to digital work (manuscripts 5-7). The study introduces an original conceptual framework and the Digital Administrative Work (DiVa) questionnaire, designed to measure digital technology use. DiVa undergoes rigorous statistical refinement. From a multi-stakeholder perspective, the research offers an understanding of Good Administration essential for evaluating performance. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model is adapted to align with modern digital administrative action. Beyond VerDi, the dissertation delves into individual differences (Integrative Digital Agency (IDA)), enhancing job engagement and commitment. The IDA model underscores individual digital competence and affinity. The role of IDA in personnel development and selection is examined, spotlighting strategies to enhance digital skills. Employing a multifaceted methodological approach and robust statistical techniques, the dissertation stands as a notable contribution to behavioral public administration, emphasizing thorough, individual-centric interdisciplinary researchs relevance to both public and corporate sectors.Die vorliegende Dissertation, verfasst im Rahmen des Projekts VerDi (VerwaltungsDigitalisierung), untersucht die Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf das Verwaltungshandeln in der baden-württembergischen Verwaltung. Mit einem interdisziplinären, personenzentrierten Ansatz gliedert sie sich in zwei Bereiche, die sich auf sieben Manuskripte verteilen: 1) digitale Arbeit (Manuskripte 1-4) und 2) individuelle Unterschiede im Zusammenhang mit digitaler Arbeit (Manuskripte 5-7). Die Dissertation enthält ein konzeptionellen Rahmenmodell und korrespondierenden Fragebogen zur digitalen Verwaltungsarbeit (DiVa), mit dem die Nutzung digitaler Technologien gemessen werden kann. DiVa wird einer rigorosen statistischen Überprüfung unterzogen. Aus der Multi-Stakeholder-Perspektive bietet die Forschung ein Verständnis von guter Verwaltung, das für die Bewertung von Leistung wesentlich ist. Das Job Demands-Resources (JD-R)-Modell wird an das moderne digitale Verwaltungshandeln angepasst. Über VerDi hinaus befasst sich die Dissertation mit individuellen Unterschieden (Integrative Digital Agency (IDA)), um Engagement und Leistungsbereitschaft zu fördern. Das IDA-Modell unterstreicht die individuelle digitale Kompetenz und Affinität. Die Rolle von IDA in der Personalentwicklung und -Auswahl wird untersucht und Strategien zur Förderung digitaler Kompetenzen aufgezeigt. Die Dissertation, die einen vielschichtigen methodischen Ansatz und robuste statistische Techniken verwendet, stellt einen bedeutenden Beitrag zur behavioristischen öffentlichen Verwaltung dar und unterstreicht die Relevanz einer gründlichen, individuums-zentrierten interdisziplinären Forschung sowohl für den öffentlichen als auch den privaten Sektor

Empirical Analysis on Factors Impacting Mobile Learning Acceptance in Higher Engineering Education

Owing to technological advancements and decreasing costs of mobile devices and services, there is a significant change in learning environment that demands for mobility. Such change has enabled a new way of learning, that is, mobile learning. The emergence and prevalence of mobile learning helps flexibility in delivering education, meeting learners\u27 needs, and supporting learning activities without confining to physical locations or time. Mobile learning indicates a new opportunity for education system research and development. The acceptance of mobile learning by students is critical to the successful implementation of mobile learning systems. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors that affect students\u27 perceptions of mobile learning. Encouraged by this new trend in learning, this research employs both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to explore the factors that affect students\u27 intention to use mobile devices for learning. Based on the United Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this research formulates the factors, including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, self-efficacy, ubiquity, self-management of learning, attainment value, service quality, and perceived enjoyment, and testable hypotheses that are critical to answer research questions and fulfill research objectives. In order to quantify these factors and test research hypotheses, a data collection instrument adapted from previous studies is developed and administered. The results indicate that performance expectancy, perceived enjoyment, ubiquity, service quality, attainment value, and self-management of learning are significant predictors of behavioral intention to use mobile learning; facilitating conditions, social influence, effort-expectancy and self-efficacy are found to be insignificant. Additionally, this research examines the differences on intention to use mobile learning across student groups of age, gender, college level, years of using mobile devices, current and planned of mobile device ownership, and prior mobile learning experience via comparison analysis. This research provides university administrators and educators the understandings on the factors that influence student acceptance of mobile learning and the capability to build strategies and policies that incorporate these factors into planning and design phases of mobile learning system implementations