Evidence-informed regulatory practice: an adaptive response, 2005‑15

Overview: In this occasional paper, the ACMA reflects on its regulatory practice over the past 10 years; specifically, the role of research in evidence-informed decision-making and regulation. It looks at how the ACMA has used research in an environment of ongoing change to document and build evidence, inform public debate about regulation, and build capability among our stakeholders to make communications and media work in Australia’s national interest

Tying mobile health tools to the users’ needs – Motivational drivers

Objective: The primary aim of this thesis is to contribute novel insights into the distinctive attributes of ICT systems, with a particular emphasis on features preferred by users in the realm of mobile health (mHealth) applications and devices. The study aimed at identifying motivational factors that enhance and sustain the usage and adaption of mHealth applications, wearables, and trackers among both healthy individuals and those affected by chronic diseases (sickle cell and diabetes). Methods: In total, 584 participants completed the survey and answered the specific questions important for this thesis. A descriptive analysis of the demographics as well as regular use of tracking technologies and of the most motivating features of wearable sensors was performed. Further, the approach of binary logistic regression was applied to investigate the association between the importance of specific features and age, gender and health status. Results: The descriptive analysis revealed that relevant personalized feedback and the ease of use of mobile health apps, wearables and trackers represent the most motivating features for a prolonged use. The logistic regression analysis revealed a statistically significant and positive association between having a chronic disease, age, gender, and the importance of notifications of mobile phones and managing a condition. The point estimates for several features like sensor accuracy and range of values as well as ergonomic and design and personalized/tailored features indicated a positive association between people with chronic diseases, age and gender. But these results were inconclusive. Conclusion: This study provided valuable insight into the motivational drivers and adoption patterns of mobile Health applications and wearable devices among young and elderly individuals with and without chronic diseases. However, external validity and generalizability of the results was not given due to study limitation and low statistical power. Further research is therefore needed

Toward better allergy management in the digital era: empirical essays

The prevalence of pollen-induced allergies stagnates on a high level, ranging from 15% to 25% worldwide. Since allergy is a chronic health condition, it requires long-term therapy. The efficiency of every pharmacological treatment or supporting health behavior is limited by the patient’s cooperation, especially, if it requires self-administration and is performed outside of healthcare institutions. It is well-known, that most noncompliance is intentional. Thus, interventions focusing on improvement of health behavior of allergic individuals, should address the root causes of inappropriate health behavior. Anti-allergic medications are symptomatic and have to be taken as needed. Allergen avoidance strategies make sense only if performed at the moment, when airborne pollen concentration is high. Pollen information provided to allergic individuals via a pollen application, might become an important aid in avoiding exposure to allergenic pollen, as well as planning medication and outdoor activities. However, little is known about factors motivating sustained pollen application use. Depending on the phenological and meteorological factors, airborne pollen concentration shows considerable fluctuation in its amount during the main pollen season. Robust forecasting techniques providing prediction of airborne pollen levels on a diurnal scale are of paramount importance to support a proper allergy management. The doctoral thesis contains four contributions to scientific literature. Contribution 1 examines the current situation regarding the impairment caused by allergic symptoms and frequently performed health behavior. Contribution 2 investigates the influencing factors explaining the health behavior of allergic individuals. Contribution 3 focuses on influencing factors facilitating the acceptance and utilization of pollen applications as a supporting tool in allergy management. Contribution 4 is devoted to development of predictive models of airborne pollen concentrations on a 3-hourly scales of pollen data using time series analysis and machine learning techniques. The contribution 1 explores health behavior of allergic individuals by means of a cross-sectional study. It confirms that pollen allergy remains a serious health-related problem with a profound effect on the health-related quality of life of allergic individuals, with negative implications in social life, everyday activities, and significant decline of work productivity. Despite perceived symptoms, a considerably small proportion of the allergic individuals seek medical support or undergo specific immunotherapy. Allergen avoidance strategies and pollen information services are moderately used by allergic individuals. The biggest share of allergic individuals self-manages allergic symptoms using over-the-counter medication. The contribution 2 investigates the determinants of utilization of various allergy management measures using Protection Motivation Theory. It shows that the threat appraisal, consisting of perceived severity of the symptoms and perceived seriousness of allergy, is the most relevant motivator of allergy management efforts performed by allergic individuals. However, educational interventions aiming at promoting appropriate allergy management and raising awareness of health risks associated with inadequate allergy management should be accompanied by measures increasing self-efficacy of allergic individuals. The contribution 3 explores motivational factors facilitating the acceptance and utilization of pollen applications by allergic individuals. Empirical data collected in the course of an online experiment shows that the IT-driven factors have substantially greater influence on the acceptance of pollen applications, than allergy characteristics. Therefore, to assure sustained use, pollen applications have to focus on providing high quality health content and pollen information in order to be perceived as a useful supporting tool in allergy management. The contribution 4 tests ability of four forecasting techniques, namely ARIMA, dynamic regression, artificial neural network and neural network autoregression to accurately predict airborne pollen concentrations of Betula and Poaceae on a 3-hourly scale of data. In general, forecasting techniques explicitly using autoregression and considering external meteorological variables performed well in forecasting airborne pollen levels. However, seasonal ARIMA, being the simplest among tested forecasting methods, was superior in predicting Poaceae airborne pollen concentration. A possible extension of the present scientific work, is to test the utility of the provided recommendation using experimental and longitudinal study designs. These research questions are especially interesting in context of the third contribution presenting a pollen application as a supporting tool in allergy management

A study of generation Y attitude towards usage of internet for e-commerce in MSC landmark, Kuala Lumpur & Selangor state

The last two decades have experienced rapid expansion of information and communication technology. This wide application of internet stated its influence on attitude and adoption of internet among various generations. The generation Y which is "the millennia1 generation", are the major one who has connected with the technology, especially internet usage, widely in every aspect of life. They adopt technology application in shopping product and services, moving away from traditional purchasing behavior of consumer. Though various studies have come out in the area of generation Y and technology adoption, very less studies are observed in the Malaysian context, considering the consumer internet usage attitude and e-commerce activities. Hence this particular study, then observe and analyze generation Y attitude towards internet usage and e-commerce activities with its moderating impact of computer literacy and gender variation

Insight-Driven Sales Management

In the new VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world that we live in, there are new rules that will reshape many of the components of sales management, from prospecting, to lead qualification, to closing and relationship management. This chapter will explore the impact of technology, data proliferation, and omni-channel customer touch points on how organizations will manage their sales process and the sales teams in the integrated online and offline worlds (O2O sales). The digital-age consumer and the digital-age sales team will have different communication needs and tools that need to be addressed by sales leaders to ensure their organizations’ success and competitiveness in this new landscape. Customer insights is the new name of the game and it needs to be developed using techniques such as content management, user experience management, performance analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Effectively and efficiently managing the sales process and the sales practices in the digital age will be the new challenge that organizations need to face as some types of sales jobs might disappear (order takers) and new jobs will need to be developed (sales analysts and data scientists). Todays sales managers need to put science into the art of selling

Deconstructing the information and technology adoption process for the NGO sector in Saudi Arabia

Despite the lack of scholarly attention given to the voluntary sector in Saudi Arabia, the need for a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the NGO landscape in KSA has never been greater. Given Saudi Arabia’s global leadership in humanitarian and developmental aid and the growing scrutiny over the management of its non-governmental organizations (NGOs), especially post 9/11, the Saudi voluntary sector finds itself at an important crossroads. Calls for introspection, renewed management, and improved mechanisms for evaluation, control and monitoring have steadily been growing. This study argues that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a central role to play in harnessing the NGO landscape of KSA. There are many benefits in the integration of ICT within the landscape of the Saudi NGO in providing better coordination and communication within and between stakeholders, knowledge and information transfer and sharing, the education and training for its staff and more rigorous evaluation, and the control and monitoring of initiatives. However, in order to advance the ICT agenda within the voluntary sector in KSA, a knowledge base regarding the sector’s attitude towards ICT adoption is essential. The aim of this study therefore, is to understand the dynamics of the technology adoption process in Saudi NGOs based on the experiences of Saudi NGO managers. Critically, the nature, i.e. whether technology adoption is based on personal, organizational or environmental and external factors, or a combination of these predictors forms the primary aim of this study. Second, the structure of technology adoption, in terms of determining which of these aforementioned factors generate a greater willingness to adopt new technologies forms a secondary objective. A third study objective seeks todeduce the managerial and public policy implications of a greater understanding of the nature and structure of technology adoption in Saudi NGOs.Post-positivist critical realist ontology is adopted to guide the mixed methods implementation of the research. An initial series of interviews with 12 Saudi managers is conducted to determine the key factors that influence technology adoption followed by the main element of the study, a survey of 287 NGO managers to test the conceptualization of technology adoption, and accompanying hypotheses, derived from the extant literature review and qualitative phase. Multi-variate, bivariate analysis and moderation analysis were used to test the proposed relationships. The initial interviews identified a modified version of the commonly applied technology acceptance model, the UTAUT framework, accurately reflected technology adoption in the Saudi NGO context and specifically proposed that the key predictors were a combination of personal factors (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived risk), external or environmental factors (government support and competitive pressure) and finally organizational factors (facilitating conditions and compatibility). Multi-variate analysis validated this multi-dimensional nature of technology adoption in Saudi NGOs, but did not find statistical support for perceived risk, government support and compatibility, and with the exception of social influence, nor for any moderating role of gender and age on the personal predictive factors. The study contributes to theory since previous studies exploring technology adoption have adopted unitary approaches whereas the current study validates a multi-dimensional perspective as more reflective of technology adoption in Saudi NGOs. The implications of this finding, and for the inclusion and exclusion of predictive factors, are discussed. Specifically, the implications for managers and public policy are also overviewed. Finally, this study concludes with limitations and recommendations for further research

Elderly and Internet Banking: An Application of UTAUT2

The present study aims to explain Internet banking use by the elderly, applying the UTAUT2 approach (extension of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology in the consumer context). A sample of 415 individuals over 55 years old has been analyzed. WarpPLS 3.0 was used for the measurement models analysis and the structural model analysis. The results show that the elderly’s people’s to accept Internet banking was significantly impacted by habit, performance expectancy, price value and effort expectancy, in this order of influence of strength. The actual behavior was influenced by behavior intention and habit. However, social influence, facilitating conditions and hedonic motivation did not play a salient role in affecting the actual adoption behavior of Internet banking. Gender was proposed as a moderator variable but the results did not support this role