The Online Shopping Acceptance Model

E-commerce in general, and online shopping in particular, are becoming popular ways of utilizing the Internet throughout the world. Social media is also becoming a widespread tool, not only for interaction with others but also for marketing. Despite this trend, there is a dearth of knowledge about the acceptance of online shopping and the use of social media in developing countries such as Saudi Arabia. Technology adoption levels in Saudi Arabia are growing rapidly but have yet to reach their full potential. One of the leading theories explaining online shopping behaviour – the online shopping acceptance model (OSAM) – has not been employed in previous studies of social media use or in developing countries such as Saudi Arabia to understand online shopping. To address this research problem, the researcher implemented a study using a positivist approach. Quantitative data was gathered using an online survey. This survey was conducted with Saudi residents who engage with online shopping. A data set of 423 completed survey responses is used in this thesis for statistical analysis. The data was collected using a random sample and was collected from January to September 2015. The structural equation modelling tested the hypothesised relationships between the constructs as postulated in the model. Nineteen of the hypothesised links were supported and ten were rejected. Eventually, the model that has statistical and explanatory power was confirmed. The findings indicate a positive relationship between online shopping intention and other factors of online shopping acceptance in Saudi Arabia. A positive relationship is also seen between online shopping orientation and online shopping experience. The case examines the relationship between online shopping orientation and online shopping motivation. The same applies for the relationship between online shopping and social media through the mediation of online shopping intention. This research contributes to understanding the role of social media in OSAM in Saudi Arabia as a developing country, as OSAM incorporates social media as a new factor that influences acceptance aside from what is traditionally stipulated. A second contribution is the finding that shopping orientation is the most important construct affecting online shopping intention in Saudi Arabia

Optimal QoE Scheduling in MPEG-DASH Video Streaming

DASH is a popular technology for video streaming over the Internet. However, the quality of experience (QoE), a measure of humans’ perceived satisfaction of the quality of these streamed videos, is their subjective opinion, which is difficult to evaluate. Previous studies only considered network-based indices and focused on them to provide smooth video playback instead of improving the true QoE experienced by humans. In this study, we designed a series of click density experiments to verify whether different resolutions could affect the QoE for different video scenes. We observed that, in a single video segment, different scenes with the same resolution could affect the viewer’s QoE differently. It is true that the user’s satisfaction as a result of watching high-resolution video segments is always greater than that when watching low-resolution video segments of the same scenes. However, the most important observation is that low-resolution video segments yield higher viewing QoE gain in slow motion scenes than in fast motion scenes. Thus, the inclusion of more high-resolution segments in the fast motion scenes and more low-resolution segments in the slow motion scenes would be expected to maximize the user’s viewing QoE. In this study, to evaluate the user’s true experience, we convert the viewing QoE into a satisfaction quality score, termed the Q-score, for scenes with different resolutions in each video segment. Additionally, we developed an optimal segment assignment (OSA) algorithm for Q-score optimization in environments characterized by a constrained network bandwidth. Our experimental results show that application of the OSA algorithm to the playback schedule significantly improved users’ viewing satisfaction

Factors Influencing Online Purchase Intention of Millennial and Gen Z Consumers

This study examines the factors affecting millennials and generation Z’s purchase intention in online shopping. The variables under investigation, namely, impulse purchase orientation, quality orientation, brand orientation, online trust, and online purchase experience, were tested. The data collection approach used a web-based questionnaire that was created and distributed to 584 university students in Malaysia. Data were analyzed via the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to examine the posited research hypotheses. The results revealed that impulse purchase orientation was the strongest predictor of consumers’ online purchase intention in Malaysia. This is followed by online trust, and the online purchase experience and quality orientation. Meanwhile, brand orientation did not affect customers’ intention to purchase online. The results contribute new and extensive inputs into the marketing theory and expand the emergent literature on consumer intention to shop online in Malaysia, whereby rich multi-ethnic cultures should be fully exploited. Future directions are offered

Web Social Media Privacy Preferences and Perception

The proliferation of social media websites has led to concerns over privacy breaches, as these sites have access to users' sensitive and personal data. This study sought to investigate users' perceptions and concerns for social media websites, with the aim of developing a system that meets their requirements. To achieve this, a questionnaire was designed for privacy permissions on eight popular social media websites, and 425 completed answers were analyzed. The results revealed that users' concerns were diverse and differed across different social media platforms. Gender, age, education level, and IT proficiency were found to be weakly correlated with privacy concerns. Women expressed greater concerns than men, particularly for Twitter and Snapchat, while older users expressed greater levels of concern for Snapchat and Instagram. As education levels increased, users tended to express greater levels of concern, especially on WhatsApp and Snapchat. Furthermore, this study identified four hierarchical clusters of users based on their preferences and concerns regarding permission privacy for social media websites. The results revealed that the majority of participants (214 users) were highly concerned about privacy on social media, indicating that they were aware of the potential risks associated with sharing personal information online which represents the third cluster. The first and fourth clusters were the most unconcerned groups regarding permission privacy, consisting of a small number of users. The second cluster, comprising 124 participants, had an average score of 1.6, indicating that they were the second most concerned about privacy. Overall, the findings of this study could be useful for social media platforms in developing privacy policies and settings that align with users' concerns and preferences

Flyer News, Vol. 56, No. 05

Student-run newspaper of the University of Dayton

Flyer News, Vol. 56, No. 05

Student-run newspaper of the University of Dayton

COMPONENT TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR IMPACT UPON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Software development is beset with problems relating to development productivity, resulting in projects delivered late and over budget. While the term software engineering was first introduced in the late sixties, its current state reflects no other engineering discipline. Component-orientation has been proposed as a technique to address the problems of development productivity and much industrial literature extols the benefits of a component-oriented approach to software development. This research programme assesses the use of component technologies within industrial software development. From this assessment, consideration is given to how organisations can best adopt such techniques. Initial work focuses upon the nature of component-orientation, drawing from the considerable body of industrial literature in the area. Conventional wisdom regarding componentorientation is identified from the review. Academic literature relevant to the research programme focuses upon knowledge regarding the assessment of software technologies and models for the adoption of emergent technologies. The method pays particular attention to literature concerning practitioner focussed research, in particular case studies. The application of the case study method is demonstrated. The study of two industrial software development projects enables an examination of specific propositions related to the effect of using component technologies. Each case study is presented, and the impact of component-orientation is each case is demonstrated. Theories regarding the impact of component technologies upon software development are drawn from case study results. These theories are validated through a survey of practitioners. This enabled further examination of experience in component-based development and also understanding how developers learn about the techniques. A strategy for the transfer of research findings into organisational knowledge focuses upon the packaging of previous experience in the use of component-orientation in such a way that it was usable by other developers. This strategy returns to adoption theories in light of the research findings and identifies a pattern-based approach as the most suitable for the research aims. A pattern language, placed in the context of the research programme, is developed from this strategy. Research demonstrates that component-orientation undoubtedly does affect the development process, and it is necessary to challenge conventional wisdom regarding their use. While component-orientation provides the mechanisms for increased productivity in software development, these benefits cannot be exploited without a sound knowledge base around the domain