Gender Differences in the Determinants of Sharing Information via Mobile Phones

The notion of sharing information has become a critical element in competitive advantage for mobile phone companies. The purpose of this particular research is to collate, compare and prioritize gender differences in the determinants of sharing information via mobile phones. The content analysis and the analytic hierarchy process methods were made use of to collect and examine relevant data. According to the findings of this research, the determinants of information sharing via mobile phones may be arranged into four fundamental categories. The categories, in order of significant, are: situational factors (including time pressures, convenience, and price discounts), the unique characteristics of mobile phone senders (including personality, emotion, and verbal capability), informational factors (including private information, important information and interesting information), and mobile phone receivers (including personality, emotion, and verbal capability). There is no singular gender difference in the first two factors (situational factors and mobile phone senders). The results gauge and assess the determinants of information sharing by the way of mobile phones

Examining the impact of mobile interactivity on customer engagement in the context of mobile shopping

YesPurpose – This study aims to examine the impact of mobile interactivity dimensions (active control, personalization, ubiquitous connectivity, connectedness, responsiveness, and synchronicity) on customer engagement. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative field survey study was conducted to collect the required data from actual users of mobile shopping in three countries: Jordan, the United Kingdom (UK) and Saudi Arabia. Findings – The results are based on structural equation modelling and support the impact of five dimensions of mobile interactivity: active control, personalization, ubiquitous connectivity, responsiveness, and synchronicity. Research limitations/implications – This study only considered the shopping activities conducted by mobile channels, while other channels (e.g. online channels, traditional channels, and social media shopping channels) are not considered. Furthermore, the current model does not consider the impact of personal factors (e.g. technology readiness, self-efficacy, user experience). The results of the current study present a foundation that can guide marketers and practitioners in the area of mobile shopping. Originality/value – This study enriches the current understanding of the impact of mobile interactivity on mobile shopping, as well as how mobile interactivity can enhance the level of customer engagement

Consumer Adoption of Self-Service Technologies in the Context of the Jordanian Banking Industry: Examining the Moderating Role of Channel Types

YesThis study aimed to examine the key factors predicting Jordanian consumers’ intentions and usage of three types of self-service banking technologies. This study also sought to test if the impacts of these main predictors could be moderated by channel type. This study proposed a conceptual model by integrating factors from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), along with perceived risk. The required data were collected from a convenience sample of Jordanian banking customers using a survey questionnaire. The statistical results strongly support the significant influence of performance expectancy, social influence, and perceived risk on customer intentions for the three types of SSTs examined. The results of the X2 differences test also indicate that there are significant differences in the influence of the main predictors due to the moderating effect of channel type. One of the key contributions of this study is that three types of SSTs were tested in a single study, which had not been done before, leading to the identification of the factors common to all three types, as well as the salient factors unique to each type

Location Independent Working In Academia: Enabling employees or supporting managerial control?

In this article, we consider the extent to which the practice of location independent working (LIW) enables academic employees to make choices and have agency in their life-work balance, and the extent to which it may support (or potentially be used as a form of resistance to) increased managerial control. Set within the context of an increasingly performance-led, managerialist public sector landscape, the impact and implications of these working practices are examined through the lens of labour process theory. Drawing on findings from an ongoing in-depth ethnographic study set in a post-1992 university business school in central England, we suggest that the practice of LIW is being used both to enable employees and to support managerial control

U.S. Federal Government Telework Management Strategies

The Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 dramatically increased teleworking opportunities for federal employees. The increase in the number of teleworking employees presented numerous challenges for federal managers attempting to establish social networks, teamwork, and organizational commitment for their employees. This study used the case study design with a socio-technical conceptual framework as the basis to explore the strategies managers used. Data were collected via semistructured interviews with federal managers of teleworkers located in the Midwest region of the United States. A coding strategy was employed to organize the transcripts from the interviews into themes, and methodological triangulation was utilized by comparing the interview data with data from federal teleworking documents. From these analyses, 10 themes emerged: group meetings, knowledge-sharing networks, management of teleworkers, teleworker agreements, teleworker equipment, challenge of team building, telework as a reward, limitation on days teleworked, training, and flexibility of teleworkers. Managers incorporating these themes into best practices could have the tools and strategies to effectively implement and manage teleworking programs by helping to improve organizational commitment, teamwork, and socialization. The strategies could also help alleviate the isolation that some federal teleworkers experience. Widespread adoption of these strategies by managers could lead to increased teleworking opportunities for employees, thereby saving energy, reducing greenhouse gases, and reducing traffic congestion

Thrive in a Digital Age: Understanding ICT-enabled Work Experiences through the Lens of Work Design

As information communication technology (ICT) becomes ever more embedded in today’s organizations, the nature of employees’ jobs and work experiences are being strongly affected by ICT usage at work. Based on the work design perspective, I conducted three studies to understand the intertwined relationships among technology, human beings, and work. This thesis helps to deepen our understanding on ICT-enabled work experiences, to stimulate the development of work design theories in the digital era, and guide contemporary managerial practices

Working from Home in the Clinical Trials Sector: A Case Study of Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) in the UK

This study explores Working from Home (WFH) as a model of work in a public organisation in London, which operates in the clinical-trials sector. It argues that WFH is used as a strategy that offers benefits both to the organisation and its employees. WFH is offered to all Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) who work as monitors of the whole process of a clinical trial. Based on a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews of 29 CRAs, managers and administrative staff and secondary data, this single-case study focuses on five topics that are part of the CRAs’ everyday life. These are work-life balance (WLB), cost reduction, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) factor, the performance of the CRAs and the management of remote workers. In particular, the study identified that WFH had a positive effect on CRAs’ WLB. Moreover, it argues that WFH may offer significant assistance to organisational budgets and may reduce personal expenses. It found that existing ICT could cover all employees’ technological needs and reduce the requirement of managers to keep them physically present at a centralised workplace. Additionally, this thesis also identified that WFH improved CRAs’ performance, whilst it also highlighted that results-oriented management was the main managerial approach towards employees who work from a distance. The key contribution of the thesis is the examination of the CRA occupation through a contemporary perspective on the WFH phenomenon

A Spatial and Statistical Analysis of Commuting to Work in the UK: 1991, 2001 and 2011

There is a relative lack of academic research related to spatial and sociodemographic variations in commuting propensities, patterns and behaviours. This is surprising given that commuting is carried out, often daily, by the vast majority of individuals in employment. The expenditure of time and money travelling to and from work on a daily basis means that commuting is often a relatively important part of many people’s behaviour, with the nature of an individual’s commute impacting upon their lifestyle, both directly and indirectly. One of the key sources of information about commuting behaviour and patterns is the population census in the United Kingdom, through which travel to work characteristics are captured resulting in large and complex datasets that are disseminated by the census agencies as aggregate data (i.e. stocks of commuters based on where they live), interaction data (i.e. flows of commuters from where they live to where they work) and microdata (i.e. individual records of commuters). Spatial and sociodemographic variations in commuting propensities, patterns and behaviours, although often recognised in an everyday sense, have not been the subject of much academic research and are far from fully understood. With this in mind, this research employs spatial and statistical methods on the three aforementioned datasets to analyse spatial and sociodemographic variations in commuting. Geographical Information Systems have been used to visualise spatial variations in commuting propensities and patterns at both national and regional levels. Simple Linear Regression has been employed to examine the correlations and potential relationships between commuting indicators and important continuous socioeconomic variables. Binary Logistic Regression models have been calculated to demonstrate how commuting behaviours vary according to sex, age group, ethnic group and a host of other important categorical sociodemographic variables. Amongst other findings, the thesis has found that there was an increase in the national commuting rate between 1991 and 2011, that there was a general increase in very long-distance commuting over the same 20 year period, that there was a general decrease in the prevalence of commuting by public transport between 1991 and 2001 but a general increase between 2001 and 2011 and that substantial changes in commuting propensities and patterns have occurred in the Leeds City Region. The findings from the research have been used to make some recommendations for implementation of policies by national, regional or local governments or any other organisations with a responsibility to supply and maintain transport networks

Framing the work-life relationship: understanding the role of boundaries, context and fit

This dissertation presents four papers that seek to make theoretical and practical contributions to the literature on work-life boundary management. Specifically, this research explores new relationships between boundary antecedents, moderators and outcomes, tests the impact of different working arrangements, and uses multiple research methods in order to add to our understanding of how we can manage work-life boundaries in such a way that better work-life outcomes are recognized. The research makes contributions to three areas of work-life literature. First, this research contributes to literature on work–life boundary management by redefining the role of permeability as an essential mechanism by which boundaries can influence work-life outcomes. Using survey and daily diary data with homeworkers in the UK, this research suggests that permeability is a moderator that influences the impact of segmenting and integrating employment practices on work-life outcomes. Further, this dissertation also provides evidence to support the idea that the employment context in an important consideration when considering boundary management. Using qualitative and quantitative research conducted in both highly segmented and highly integrated work environments this research has underscored the importance of considering that boundary strategies are not 'one size fits all’. This dissertation also contributes to the growing body of literature that examines the relationship between individual preferences for integration or segmentation and the resources provided by their work environment. Drawing on Person-Environment Fit (Edwards, 1996, Rothbard, 2005) the research uses polynomial regression and response surface analysis to examine boundary management among employees working off-shore versus those in traditional office-based roles. ‘Fit’, as well as ‘misfit’ between segmentation-preference and segmentation-supply and the resulting impact on work-life outcomes is examined. Last, this research also makes a contribution to the literature that connects the Job Demands-Resources Model to the work-life interface (Demerouti et al., 2001). Drawing on Boundary and Border Theories (Zerubavel, 1991, Clark, 2000), this research uses data from a daily diary study of homeworkers to examine daily predictors and outcomes of boundary strength. In addition, the data demonstrate that boundary permeability acts a moderator that regulates the impact of job demands and resources, apart from just segmenting and integrating working practices, on work-life outcomes and well-being. Together, these papers reflect the importance of examining work/non-work boundaries through the lens of individual and organisational difference and allow us to better understand the mechanisms which can be used to better manage these boundaries