Fashionable Functions: a Google Ngram View of Trends in Functional Differentiation (1800-2000)

Computer communication is revolutionizing modern society to the same extend as the invention of writing or the printing press have unsettled the archaic or the ancient society, respectively. In the present article, this idea will be exemplified by a demonstration of how the Google Ngram viewer – an online graphing tool which charts annual counts of words or sentences as found in the largest available corpus of digitalized books – al- lows for checks and challenges of familiar self-definitions of modern society. As functional differentiation is considered the central unique feature of modern societies, the hypotheses focus on the testing of prominent modern trend statements and predictions, such as the secularization, politicization, economization, and mediatization of society. All hypotheses are tested through a comparative analysis of word frequency time-series plots produced by means of the Google Ngram Viewer. The results show that the importance of individual function systems to society features signifcant change in time and considerable regional differences. Furthermore, the findings suggest adopting a skeptical position on some of the most frequent common senses of trends in functional differentiation and corresponding self-definitions of society

Continuance intention to use electronic collection system in Nigerian federal hospitals

Computerized information systems are being used by public sector organizations in the world over. However, studies have shown that there is under-utilization of such systems in the developing countries. Even though there are considerable numbers of studies that were conducted in finding out the influencing factors that lead to voluntary use of technology for personal use, still there are limited empirical studies that investigate the factors that influence continuance use intention of electronic information systems in mandatory system use environments in Nigeria. Thus, the purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the influence of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived information quality and perceived enjoyment on the continuance use intention of electronic collection system in Nigerian federal hospitals. It also examines the moderating effect of computer selfefficacy on the relationship between perceived usefulness and continuance intention; and perceived ease of use and continuance intention. The study employs a crosssectional survey and uses cluster sampling technique to collect data from 354 electronic collection system users with the help of self-administered questionnaire. Out of the 354 questionnaires distributed, 274 were returned, but only 231 responses representing 65% response rate were valid for analysis. The findings of the study revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived information quality positively and significantly influence continuance intention, whereas perceived enjoyment does not. In addition, the result shows that computer selfefficacy does not moderate the relationship between perceived usefulness and continuance intention; and perceived ease of use and continuance intention. Though the study had contributed in extending the Technology Acceptance Model to explain the behavior of public sector employees toward electronic system use in the workplace, it is only applicable to federal government hospitals alone. Therefore, further studies could be conducted to include other hospitals at both state and local government levels in Nigeria

Perceived Enjoyment and the Effect of Gender on Continuance Intention for Mobile Internet Services

International audienceBased on technology acceptance theory, the authors examined the effect of perceived enjoyment and gender on the intention to continue using mobile Internet services (MIS) in an everyday life context. A survey was conducted among 623 current MIS users to test the structural equation model. Their findings confirm the effect of perceived enjoyment on MIS continuance intention as well as the moderating effect of gender. Women expressed a stronger need for perceived usefulness and ease-of-use than men, while men expressed a significant need for perceived enjoyment. Interestingly, and somewhat contrary to previous findings, the effect of perceived usefulness on MIS continuance intention was stronger for women; whereas the effect of perceived enjoyment was significantly stronger for men. The authors findings suggest that MIS developers and providers should consider the gender of users when designing and offering MIS. The paper provides some guidelines regarding how MIS can be designed and customized for gender segments

Towards a theoretical framework for understanding the motivations of female South African university students to study Information Technology

The considerable growth of the global information technology (IT) sector demands a supply of suitable qualified workers. While universities are an important source of IT graduates, the number needs to be increased, especially those of women and underrepresented minorities. This study investigates the factors that influence the decision of female South African university students to study Information Technology. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach is followed. It consists of three phases of data collection: a quantitative phase consisting of two surveys (n=1518 and n=3289), a qualitative phase consisting of interviews (n=21) and another quantitative phase consisting of an open-ended questionnaire (n=253). Data collection across all phases is supported by a framework based on the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT. We found that female students from the African, Coloured and Asian population groups were twice as likely to choose an IT-related degree than female students from the White population group. This was possible due to the unique interaction of various relevant constructs from the framework. Students of lower socio-economic status availed themselves of government-sponsored bursaries and pursued IT studies fuelled by the opportunities in the IT industry. Tertiary institutions that offered introductory IT courses presented this opportunity to students who have no IT background. Strong female role-models destroyed any prejudices toward women in the IT workplace. IT majors were carefully chosen to exclude the overtly technical degrees such as Computer Science and Computer Engineering and favoured IT qualifications such as Informatics and Publishing. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory as a lens to interpret the results, this study concludes that Bourdieu’s argument regarding the perpetuation of social status via education does not hold in the case of information technology studies. In the IT field, students are assessed on merit and not on cultural habitus. A qualification in IT is attainable by any interested and suitably talented individual, irrespective of race, gender or socio-economic status. Implications for practice are that IT studies need to be promoted as attainable and promising excellent career prospects.Thesis (PhD (Information Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2020.InformaticsPhD (Information Technology)Unrestricte