Diffusion of Public Library Innovations: A Case Study on Parking Lot Wi-Fi Hotspots Diffusion Development

Public libraries have begun to provide services well beyond books and online databases. Prior to the pandemic, many libraries expanded their collection to include items like power drills or board games in their circulation. They also started partnering with social service organizations to better serve their patrons’ needs beyond those that are educational and entertainment based. Despite being broadly trusted by most people and having clever and innovative ideas, some public libraries’ budgets and time limits left marketing efforts at a minimum. In order to address the communication problem many public libraries face, in this study I sought to align Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory elements with public library staff’s promotional efforts. I served as a subject matter expert and participant-observer in this exploratory case study. The study focused on an innovation that has already been developed but was not being widely used in a medium sized public library in Pennsylvania. I worked with library staff who were employed by the public library to inform and help develop a diffusion plan. The results of this study are thematic and broadly offer evidence that public library staff can utilize components of DOI theory for promotional efforts. The study was a three-phase process that allowed the library staff to discover the importance of dedicated time and people as well as clear directions and defined roles. Identified obstacles include sustainability and communication breakdowns. The library staff identified the most important DOI characteristics when diffusing an innovation as relative advantage and complexity

Adoption of Information and Communication Technology in Teaching and Learning Environment in Jordanian Higher Education

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays an important role in modern institutions by facilitating and improving the teaching and learning process to be in line with the information technology age. Jordan, as one of the developing countries, highly values the importance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their role in achieving an economic prosperity through the development of human resources. Unfortunately, the adoption and usage of ICT in teaching and learning process is quite low among the academic staff in the public HEIs in Jordan. The main purpose of this study is to examine the potential prominent factors related to the adoption and usage of ICT in Jordanian HEIs among the academicians. The study provides an understanding on the ICT usage by applying the Diffusion of Innovation theory, Theory of Planned Behavior and the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior. A self-administered survey was conducted on 500 academic staff selected from public HEIs in Jordan. A total of 415 participants (83%) responded to the questionnaires. The findings showed that subjective norms, attitude towards technology, and perceived behavioral control positively affected the behavioral intention to use ICT in HEIs among academicians. The study provides recommendations to the higher education leaders and policy makers towards promoting a successful adoption and diffusion of technologies in the future. Besides, it offers a clear description about the adoption in the field of educational technologies in the context of developing countries and the Arab world in particular

Communication for Development: Theory and Practice for Empowerment and Social Justice, Third Edition

This third edition features significantly revised and updated chapters to include the latest scholarship on, and practices of, media and communication for development. It explores empowerment and social justice to individuals and communities around the world in the context of increasing globalization. Tracing the history of development communication, it looks objectively at diverse approaches and their supporters, and goes on to provide models for the future. It also offers a new chapter presenting the authors\u27 framework foregrounding empowerment and social justice as goals for development communication in the 21st century. The earlier editions of this book, Communication for Development in the Third World (1991 and 2001), are established core texts for courses on development communication throughout the world.https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bgsu_books/1004/thumbnail.jp

Technology adoption determinants: strategic management implications for small, owner-managed travel firms in Jamaica.

This thesis begins by thoroughly reviewing classical theories of adoption such as the diffusion of innovation theory, and the technology acceptance model, and subsequently analyses literature on pertinent theories which have been highlighted as drivers of adoption such as the Resource-Based View, Firm Strategy, Culture and the Digital Divide. Prior to this however, the afore-mentioned classical adoption theories were contrasted with the Post-Internet debate which explored Information Asymetry and Disintermediation. Having conducted this review it was determined that the leadership/ownership role had not been sufficiently emphasized in technology adoption, therefore this work sought to more clearly identify these personal factors in combination with the previously explored factors. The overarching theory of Organizational Decision-Making was used to provide a framework to identify drivers of decision-making processes in general and then apply these to the internet adoption context. This thesis aims to identify the combination of antecedents of technology adoption for travel firms and distil factors to identify the key determinant of the adoption of the internet for sales and marketing purposes in small, owner-managed travel firms. It examines the firm characteristics which are associated with adoption behaviour such as strategy and resources, as well as external factors such as culture and the digital divide. In addition to external and firm factors, personal factors such as ownership and leadership are explored at various stages of adoption. A predominantly qualitative methodology was used to interview travel agencies in the context of Jamaica. All firms which have similar characteristics in terms of ownership and management structure, in particular where owners are themselves the managers and provide leadership for the organization, were interviewed. The owner-managers of these firms were interviewed to gather deep perspectives from local industry experts on industry challenges, current technology involvement and future directions. Exploratory descriptive quantitative methods were used to analyze firm characteristics and their relationships to internet adoption for sales and marketing as well as the intention to use these technologies in firms, while a deeper exploration into owner-managers was achieved through qualitative enquiry. A pilot study and 2 phases of data collection were carried out. The findings indicate that the leadership role is more significant than has been previously posited. The contribution to knowledge is new in that it takes a unique approach to an understanding of technology adoption in firms by creating a comprehensive conceptual framework for adoption based on previous research and then creates a model that shows the factors and variables that drive adoption at each stage of the adoption process from a personal leadership perspective as well as the organizational perspective. Ultimately it is hoped that this focus on each stage of adoption will provide insights into firm adoption behaviour as a consequence of leadership characteristics

Human Resource and Employment Practices in Telecommunications Services, 1980-1998

[Excerpt] In the academic literature on manufacturing, much research and debate have focused on whether firms are adopting some form of “high-performance” or “high-involvement” work organization based on such practices as employee participation, teams, and increased discretion, skills, and training for frontline workers (Ichniowski et al., 1996; Kochan and Osterman, 1994; MacDuffie, 1995). Whereas many firms in the telecommunications industry flirted with these ideas in the 1980s, they did not prove to be a lasting source of inspiration for the redesign of work and employment practices. Rather, work restructuring in telecommunications services has been driven by the ability of firms to leverage network and information technologies to reduce labor costs and create customer segmentation strategies. “Good jobs” versus “bad jobs,” or higher versus lower wage jobs, do not vary according to whether firms adopt a high- involvement model. They vary along two other dimensions: (1) within firms and occupations, by the value-added of the customer segment that an employee group serves; and (2) across firms, by union and nonunion status. We believe that this customer segmentation strategy is becoming a more general model for employment practices in large-scale service | operations; telecommunications services firms may be somewhat more | advanced than other service firms in adopting this strategy because of certain unique industry characteristics. The scale economies of network technology are such that once a company builds the network infrastructure to a customer’s specifications, the cost of additional services is essentially zero. As a result, and notwithstanding technological uncertainty, all of the industry’s major players are attempting to take advantage of system economies inherent in the nature of the product market and technology to provide customized packages of multimedia products to identified market segments. They have organized into market-driven business units providing differentiated services to large businesses and institutions, small businesses, and residential customers. They have used information technologies and process reengineering to customize specific services to different segments according to customer needs and ability to pay. Variation in work and employment practices, or labor market segmentation, follows product market segmentation. As a result, much of the variation in employment practices in this industry is within firms and within occupations according to market segment rather than across firms. In addition, despite market deregulation beginning in 1984 and opportunities for new entrants, a tightly led oligopoly structure is replacing the regulated Bell System monopoly. Former Bell System companies, the giants of the regulated period, continue to dominate market share in the post-1984 period. Older players and new entrants alike are merging and consolidating in order to have access to multimedia markets. What is striking in this industry, therefore, is the relative lack of variation in management and employment practices across firms after more than a decade of experience with deregulation. We attribute this lack of variation to three major sources. (1) Technological advances and network economics provide incentives for mergers, organizational consolidation, and, as indicated above, similar business strategies. (2) The former Bell System companies have deep institutional ties, and they continue to benchmark against and imitate each other so that ideas about restructuring have diffused quickly among them. (3) Despite overall deunionization in the industry, they continue to have high unionization rates; de facto pattern bargaining within the Bell system has remained quite strong. Therefore, similar employment practices based on inherited collective bargaining agreements continue to exist across former Bell System firms

Benefits and challenges of Enterprise Resource Planning for Pakistani SMEs

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is used to combine all the functions happening inside the organization with the help of one software. All the data is centralized which makes it easy to manage information for all participants. The literature on ERP is studied thoroughly the whole process of adoption till the implementation and final evaluations. But studies that focus on small and medium sized enterprises are limited in number when compared to the large scale enterprises. In case of Pakistan, research is very limited. In this thesis, the author tries to analyze the current status of SMEs usage of ERP system. The benefits obtained and challenges faced by SMEs of Pakistan are studied. Framework presented by Shang and Seddon (2000) is used to understand the benefits obtained by the SMEs in Pakistan. This is a comprehensive framework that classifies the benefits obtained by the ERP adoption, into five categories: operational benefits, managerial benefits, Strategic benefits, IT benefits, and Organizational benefits. The results show that SMEs of Pakistan are also getting many benefits after adoption of ERP. Most of the firms had implemented SAP software. Operational benefits were mentioned by all the firms. The most important benefits were report generation, quick access to critical information, better product and cost planning. Respondents also mentioned that they had reduced corruption as a result of ERP implementation. It is also an important benefit considering high corruption rate in Pakistan. Along with benefits, challenges faced by Pakistani SMEs included infrastructure problems like electricity, difficulties with integration of one module with other module, costs of adoption and lack of skilled ERP consultants. Further studies in this regard can be conducted on cloud based ERP which is fast growing all around the world

Forced Adoption: Diffusion And Perception Of Online Education By Postsecondary Faculty Members Before And During The Coronavirus Pandemic

Once considered a fringe and unreliable pedagogical approach for higher education, online learning has entered the mainstream. While the adoption of online learning has been on the rise for the past decade, higher education’s forced adoption of online learning in response to COVID-19 has accelerated the curve. It has raised questions on the viability, sustainability, and interest in online learning for teachers, students, and administrative leadership. The most important question is: has forced adoption forever changed pedagogical approaches for higher education? This research attempts to answer this question from the perspectives of the teachers and faculty forced to adopt online teaching in response to the pandemic. Working from Roger’s innovative-decision process and using a mixed- methods research design consisting of surveys and interviews of faculty, a new theory of diffusion was produced that includes forced adoption as a primary stage. The research focused on three crucial sub questions: (1) Will faculty choose to continue online teaching; (2) how has forced adoption shaped the innovation-decision process; and (3) what opportunities for professional transition does forced-adoption present. A new way of thinking about the diffusion of innovation has been produced, and offers what this might mean for the pedagogical future of higher education

The (m)Health Connection: An Examination of the Promise of Mobile Phones for HIV/AIDS Intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa

This thesis offers an examination of the complex opportunities and challenges that characterize the development of innovative, locally appropriate, sustainable, and scalable uses of mobile phones as instruments to support and advance HIV/AIDS work in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing together the fields of ICT4D and health communication, this thesis establishes a theoretical framework for mobile health (mHealth) interventions in developing countries from a critical media studies perspective. It interrogates the varied applications of mobile phones vis-à-vis health that have been identified, promoted, or piloted in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the Global South, focusing on the potential for mobile phones to enhance two interrelated aspects of HIV/AIDS work: 1) scaling-up prevention and awareness programs; and 2) enhancing access to treatment, care, and support for people living with HIV. By critically examining real-life applications, focusing in particular on a case study from South Africa (the pioneering mHealth organization Cell-Life), this thesis explores both the opportunities presented by the increasing ubiquity of mobile phones in this region, and the corresponding challenges, limitations, and critical issues that inhibit effective realization of mHealth’s potential in this context

TRANSPORTATION MANAGERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION WITHIN LOGISTICS CLUSTERS

The human capital capacity for innovation is crucial for business success. Cluster theory posits that this capacity for innovation is enhanced by industrial clustering geographic proximity. The innovative capacity is expected to be facilitated by institutions for collaboration, informal knowledge flow, short feedback loops, and collective action regimes. Research on logistics clustering has supported this supposition. Still, no research has explicitly examined whether being physically located in a logistics cluster enhances a company’s human capital capacity for innovation. This study uses the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach to determine the innovative operational processes involved in the diffusion of innovation within logistics and non-logistics clusters, particularly for vehicles engaged in commercial transportation use. This research conducts 18 semi-structured interviews of managers of commercial trucking companies regarding the diffusion of innovation (e.g., alternate fuels, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things, big data/artificial intelligence) in the trucking industry. Interviews were conducted in three logistics clusters, including Memphis, Atlanta, and Dallas, and non-logistic clusters in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The interviews results were triangulated and compared between cluster and non-cluster regions. The primary finding is that no noticeable difference exists regarding the diffusion of innovation in the trucking industry for companies in logistics clusters versus those not in logistics clusters. Without adequate, open, honest communication, innovation does not occur. Truck drivers want to be a part of a change in their work. Finding innovative, primarily managerial, solutions for trucker driver turnover is a common theme across all trucking companies, with turnover at greater than 100% in some companies; great focus has been directed to this issue. Although not the focus of this research design, hierarchical company structure and the number of terminal driver locations appear to influence the human capital capacity for innovation, which should be examined in future research